Give China Mobile a call and Sign-up for IP Int’l Long Distance. Just send an SMS containing only “3211″ to 10086. Each time you want to dial an Int’l number, just add: 1259-00, then the country code and the number.
如果你忘记你的密码，就发密码查询的拼音到10086，那就是：MMCX
If you forget your password, just send MMCX to 10086
如果要查你的账户还有多少钱，发“余额查询”的拼音到10086，那就是：YECX
If you need you current account balance, send YECX to 10086
Commodity bull Jim Rogers notes that there are about 70,000 mutual funds in the world, and only about 50 that invest in commodities. He thinks the speculative bubble has a few years to go. But looking at the ’smart money’ — farmers and others who actually trade in and use the physical commodities — tells a different story. Net commercial shorts are 30% higher than a previous record.
Factors that could burst the bubble:
Even the slightest hint of a China slowdown (much of the bullish outlook is due to the perception of an ‘insatiable’ China).
A U.S. recession.
A stronger dollar (commodities are dollar-denominated).
A stronger stock market, leading people to put money back into stocks. (Or, conversely, a weaker market that sees traders liquidating commodity longs to meet margin calls. Barron’s doesn’t mention this, but it got some mileage when gold and oil dived suddenly a couple weeks ago.)
The CFTC changing its exemption of position limits on index funds.
Personally, my money’s on Jim Rogers, but we’ll see
If you’re a China Mobile user, you may or may not be aware that you can get inexpensive international long distance (国际长途）by dialing 17951＋00 then the country code and number you want to reach. You can actual save the full number in your address book (not like using a calling card) for the people you call most frequently and make the habit of saving a lot. Note that you don’t want to save this as the primary number in your address book, else you won’t be able to send text messages.
That is 2.2元／minute (See complete IP talk Rate Chart), compare this to the direct dial price of 0.8元/6 seconds - or 8.0元/minute, it’s a savings of almost 80%. At the currently miserable USD exchange rate, using “IP Phone” from China Mobile is just over USD 30¢/minute.
If you check the Skype Rate Chart, calling to a China Mobile phone is only 2.4¢/minute, so Skype In is still by far the cheapest way to talk to someone on your mobile for a long conversation. Here’s China Mobile’s post about Int’l Long Distance…
Had coffee last week with a reporter from The Atlantic, James Fallows. Just saw an excellent story he put together called “Countdown to a Meltdown”:
America’s coming economic crisis. A look back from the election of 2016
Countdown to a Meltdown
January 20, 2016, Master Strategy Memo
Subject: The Coming Year—and Beyond
It’s an excellent read. Check it out.
There’s also a great article called “Win the peace” with a speech from Thomas PM Barnett at the TedTalks. Watch it.
Baidu has put together an excellent Chinese to English dictionary. Apparently the source material comes from Dr.eye - 译典通. You can access it at dict.baidu.com. For example, I wasn’t sure how to translate withdrawal… This is often because there isn’t a real translation, but the following is pretty close… Nice job Baidu!
withdrawal
KK: []
DJ: []
n.[U][C]
1. 收回;撤回;撤清;撤退
They are trying to negotiate the withdrawal of 20,000 troops.
他们正打算协商有关两万人的部队的撤军问题。
2. 退缩;退隐
3. 停止吸毒
4. 【商】提款
It is not the bank’s policy to deduct interest on withdrawals.
I like a lot of things about the Firefox browser, but wish it blended better with the rest of the Mac OS X operating system. Adium fits into OS X perhaps better even that iChat, but the Firefox icon looks downright fugly compared to Safari… Well, a designer named Adam Betts put together an more aquafied alternative of John Hicks original. Download the new Icons or check out Adam Betts’ original post.
To further enhance the look of your Firefox, try the Mac OS X themes available at TakeBackTheWeb. GrApple (UNO) helps FF fit in.
Shortly after arriving in my new homeland, I remember reading an article called “The 5 Stages to Learning Chinese“… I remember that 2 years ago, I thought that I may have moved from the Intermediate to the Advanced phase, but looking back I can say 2 years ago I was certainly NOT at the advanced stage. 2 years from now, maybe I’ll have to look back and say the same thing… Time will tell.
“I’m just speaking Chinese” Stage (Advanced)
In this stage, the learner is not in the least surprised by his improved communication abilities because he got there through hard work. Learners who make it to this level can most likely read and write as well, because of the level of dedication involved. Also, learning advanced grammar patterns and expanding vocabulary is most efficiently accomplished through extensive reading in Chinese. You know for sure you’re in this stage when the only new vocabulary or grammar patterns come to you through reading or the news. At this stage the learner should have a lot of Chinese friends, but these friends no longer feel the need to compliment the learner’s Chinese because it’s just become so obvious at this point. For the most part, they treat you like you’re Chinese. Friends who might have once said, “you can’t understand because you’re not Chinese” will now reconsider that view. The learner understands everything that is said to him, and can express almost everything as well. What’s left for the learner at this point includes learning vocabulary of questionable usefulness (the names of the more famous hydrocarbons in Chinese, or of Western stars’ Chinese names, for example), working on expressing the most abstract concepts, and developing a sense for Chinese literature and poetry.
To get to the next level requires extreme dedication (obsession?) and probably some kind of formal coaching as well. Tones have already been completely mastered, but overall sentence intonation may still require a little work to be perfectly natural.
Live shrimp: Yue Lai Jiu Jia
Price: ¥25.
Availability: They’re open 24 hours, but if you’re coming just for this, it’s best to come in the early evening, as they sell out later on.
81 Huanghe Lu, near Fengyang Lu, 6327 1026
黄河路81号, 近奉贤路
Live fish: Spring Summer Autumn Winter
Price: Market price, depending on variety of fish. As a rough guide, expect to pay ¥150-200 per fish.
Availability: As long as there are fish in the tank.
3/F, Minfang Department Store, 593 Fuxing Lu, near Ruijin Lu, 2402 8111
复兴路593号民防大厦, 近瑞金路.
Live octopus: He Lin
Price: ¥15 per octopus.
Availability: November to February is the high season for eating octopus, and during that time you’ll need to call in advance to reserve.
232 Ziteng Lu, near Qingshan Lu, 3431 3930
紫藤路232号, 近青杉路.
Today was an extremely exciting day. I bumped into James Fallows again, after I had just met him for coffee yesterday.
Then, low and behold, in the parking lot behind me was the man who I came to meet, The Man Who Stayed Behind, and his wife Wang Yulin (王玉林). Today I had the fortune of spending most of the day with the two of them.
When Sidney was at the Stanford Language School, he had already realized America had a huge supply of technology and capital, and China, the largest and oldest country in the world was badly in need of technology and capital. The two made for such natural friends.
Today, when asked what one can do to help China, Sidney said that telling Americans about what is happening in China, trying to improve American support for Sino-American cooperation is very important.
The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan (Unabridged) Audible
God’s Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe, 570-1215 (Unabridged) Audible The Peloponnesian War Volume 1 and Volume 2 (Unabridged)
Blood and Thunder: An Epic of the American West (Unabridged: 20 hrs) and (Abridged: 6 hrs)
A History of the Jews (Unabridged 28 hrs) Audible
Fiction:
The Paris Option: A Covert-One Novel (Unabridged) Audible
The Cassandra Compact (Unabridged) Audible
The Lay of the Land (Unabridged) Audible
The Crazyladies of Pearl Street (Unabridged) Audible
Killing Rain (Unabridged) Audible
If you need to talk about Knight Rider in Mainland China, you just need to know he’s called 霹雳游侠 (pīlìyóuxiá). This phrase will come in handy when you’re showing all of your friends “The Hoff’s” amazing “Jump Into My Car” video. Yes, the girls in the video don’t look 20, and yes, the Hoff is officially 56!
So, that brings up the topic of a role model - usually a 偶像 (ǒuxiàng).
Every now and then, you run into a kindred spirit, a “志趣相投的人” (zhìqùxiāngtóu)…
By the way, ever wonder where the phrase “Who’s your daddy?” came from? It’s actually pretty hard to translate, even into english! Check out the article at the Washington Post, or the Wikipedia entry.
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