User Comments - pearltowerpete
pearltowerpete
Posted on: No TV Before Your Test!
July 10, 2009 at 10:17 AMHi bababardwan,
I was also struck by this picture, which I'd say rises to the level of modern art. Credit goes to Jiaojie, who always chooses excellent pictures.
Hi raygo,
I agree that there is occasionally some good stuff on TV-- someone mentioned the History Channel in a message to me. But if it meant getting back to people playing music, reading, and just talking with each other, I would happily give up all TV, even the good stuff.
TV has destroyed political discourse, it has destroyed women's self-esteem (and it's working on us, guys), it has destroyed community activities (Bowling Alone) and it has wasted literally billions of person-hours that could've been spent in a garden or on a basketball court.
Instead of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, what we really need are a million Mr. Rogers all across the world, introducing kids to the joy of reality (and fantasy!) in a safe and friendly way. That would require a massive reorganization of society and our priorities as a species. But we've already let TV and the corporations do that once-- why not try it again? Maybe this time, the humans will win.
Posted on: 小太监进宫三
July 10, 2009 at 9:33 AMHi Changye,
哈哈，你这个话“不和谐，”但挺有趣。
而且，顺便跟大家说一下，我和长夜叔叔通过PM 刚进行了特别有趣的讨论，关于“侍寝”这个词。中国古代做法其实很多-- 有的朝代皇帝自己去找贵妃玩儿，但到了清朝，太监就会把贵妃送到皇上那边，方便了一些。
Posted on: No TV Before Your Test!
July 10, 2009 at 6:50 AMHi go_manly,
My argument isn't that intellectual progress has slowed in the last 50 years (Moore's law, etc.), but rather that TV has slowed it from what it should have been.
You can still go pretty fast in a Lamborghini with a flat tire, but if your car is tuned and in good repair, how much faster can you go...?
I often think that a good part of the success of people like Newton and Michaelangelo is that they simply had fewer stupid diversions.
But let's not get too side tracked in this lesson. If you want to keep this worthy discussion alive, let's make a separate conversation.
Posted on: No TV Before Your Test!
July 10, 2009 at 5:57 AMHi raygo,
I guess I was inspired by Homer Simpson:
Television! Teacher, Mother...Secret Lover!
But seriously, I rank TV with the automobile and the atom bomb as the worst inventions of the 20th century. The damage TV has done to intellectual progress and civil society is beyond our ability to calculate.
Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 10: Lao Wang Plans to Sue
July 9, 2009 at 3:08 AMHi editfish,
Good question. The Chinese 律师信 is quite vague, and could imply many different kinds of content. A summons is 传票, and a motion is 提议. The document here is basically just a notification.
Posted on: 小太监进宫三
July 9, 2009 at 3:04 AM灭九族 这个做法特别可怕。可能很多西方人会觉得非常不公平，就因为一个人的罪了皇上，要把他整个家庭都杀死。
这种政治体系会不会产生一些不良的后果...?
Posted on: Ordering Songs at Karaoke
July 8, 2009 at 9:43 AMI've been known to enjoy a KTV every now and again. Put on "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" and you'll get me off the big comfy sofa.
I saw Zang Tianshuo live in Nanjing a few years ago. The crowd bullied him into singing 朋友, after which most of them left. It was frustrating, but interesting.
Posted on: Directory Assistance
July 7, 2009 at 8:14 AMHi stevebroderick,
Thanks for some good questions.
If the person asked "哪个区? na3ge qu1" you wouldn't need a 吗. But the question is whether the person knows. If you omitted the na3ge qu, the question would be 你知道吗？which is correct.
People often leave out the hao4 in questions like this. From context, you can tell that they're talking about the phone number and not the physical telephone.
Posted on: Traveling around China
July 7, 2009 at 5:04 AMHi tvan
Hear, hear. I vigorously oppose language simplification when it leads to loss of color or depth (e.g. the blurring of disinterested/uninterested). But the various different 的, 地,得 stuff is just confusing.
Posted on: Ordering Songs at Karaoke
July 10, 2009 at 10:22 AMHi wolamwong1,
Our decision to mention Zang Tianshuo's popular song "Pengyou" is not an endorsement of his criminal activities. I agree that there are many good Chinese singers who are not criminals-- I have heard a lot of them at KTV.
The entertainment business (like many businesses) has a shady side. Look at Frank Sinatra, one of the most important figures in 20th century music. It might be possible to discuss popular music using only squeaky-clean people, but the discussion would be incomplete.