User Comments - jonsg

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jonsg

Posted on: Chinese Calligraphy
March 26, 2012 at 10:16 AM

I'd agree too. My written Chinese is extremely rudimentary anyway, but when I see hand-written notes, my heart sinks. It's like moving from Egyptian hieroglyphics to hieratic - in theory, the same thing; in practice, not.

Posted on: Plane Ticket Name Mix-Up
March 12, 2012 at 11:01 AM

All the characters running the country are Chinese?  Who knew?  ;)

Posted on: You Sing Terribly!
March 22, 2010 at 11:29 AM

Has anyone else spotted the irony in the transcript?

"You’re English pronunciation is wrong!"

Posted on: Big Bed
May 6, 2009 at 11:31 AM

I wonder if a 100 RMB note can make a twin room appear from the mist?

Posted on: Making Dumplings
January 27, 2009 at 1:22 PM

Loved the story about Marco Polo and his flat 包子 "pizza", but I'm afraid it's a funny fiction.  The Romans already had something like pizza - flat bread with toppings and melted cheese - and as johns says, the tomato arrived in Italy about 4-500 years after Marco Polo's travels.

Now here's a question for the Poddies here assembled: as someone whose only concession to meat-eating is seafood, how can I tell easily whether dumplings are non-meaty?

Posted on: Hungry Traveler: Hangzhou
December 25, 2008 at 12:51 PM

聖誕快樂你們! (she4ngda4n kuai4le4 ni3men)

Jon

Posted on: Asking for Leave
November 13, 2008 at 12:37 PM

In the UK, it's 20-25 days, plus national holidays that add another eight individual days.  On the other hand, we work more hours than any other European country, apparently, so I guess we earn them!

Posted on: The Mean Boss
July 7, 2008 at 10:02 AM

Uh, hate to say it guys, but that "gospel" intro was ... not good. I'm still de-cringing...!

Posted on: Sightseeing at Tiananmen
June 11, 2008 at 9:58 AM

A little word about Chinese perapera-kun - right now, it hasn't been updated to work on the most recent versions of Firefox and Thunderbird.

The writers suggest users "donate a cup of coffee" - in other words, a PayPal donation about the same amount as you'd pay for a cappucino at Starbuck's, which seems reasonable enough to me.  They've a link at their site at perapera.wordpress.com.  If enough of us donate, with a gentle hint in the "comments" section of the donation that we'd like updates in order to work with the latest Firebird and T-bird versions, I imagine it'll encourage them to get on with it! (And, yes, I've done it already.)  Moral blackmail. ;)

It's an excellent tool (when you can use it!), so it's definitely worth fuelling its writers' caffeine habits!

Jon

(who has no connection with the C-PPK people, just another C-PPK user ... when he can!)