Picture - When grandma attacked his groin

:-(

(Image via http://goo.gl/CuOoe)

In the name of self defense. :-)


The kicked body part of the young guy was called "groin". Ouch. :-(

Graveyard shift store

After-hours are not off-hours
You stand behind the counter
Passing the stuff to customer
Nigh his girl at Tim Horton's

Times of getting taxed on RRSP and RESP

(This post is only applicable to Canadian residents.)

The principal of a RRSP is only taxed once during its lifespan, upon its payout. On the other hand, the principal of a RESP gets taxed twice during its lifespan, i.e. it's already post-income tax money when the subscriber (parent) contributes it into a RESP account and then is taxed again under the name of the beneficiary (child) when she receives it later on.

I'm ruminating over the reasons why they're designed so by the Canadian government and can't grasp them yet.

Blockbuster emporium

Under the roof the emporium buzzed and bustled
The merchant looked forward to linear prosperity
Society has evolved with unpredictability in vivo
YouTube and Vimeo are full of vim and character

(Note: This piece relates to the going belly up of the Blockbuster video rental company vis-a-vis the emergent successes of Netflix, YouTube, and the likes.)

Keen - Vintage music video - The Cranberries - Twenty One

Lyrics: http://goo.gl/j1FiN.

The Cranberries is yet another great music talent from Ireland. Gee. There are so many. And they, Irish musicians, almost have hold monopoly over my ears for years. Their nation must be quite poetic.

However, in stark contrast to that phenomenon, Ireland's financiers have been so disastrous. Now that prompts me to ask, is that poetic country also very scientific?

For the time being, I suspect the above particular song embodies some classic wounds of the Irish nation.

A tempest in a teapot (Version A)

Ruminating on the temperature of the water
The tea leaves flow low and high meandering
Their qualities preserved for so long a time
Will give out their hints once and for all

Bankers' hours nowadays

The purport of the phrase "bankers' hours" has deviated so much from its root. Nowadays (investment) bankers are so used to working graveyard shifts and day shifts back to back. Gone are the days of easy laboring in the banking industry. On the other hand, ironically, many civil servants in Canada tend to work bankers' hours with long coffee breaks blended in, day in and day out. Well, who doesn't want to be that kind of "servant"?

Levity

Ignorance breeds levity, in my experience.

Eye candy - Music video - The Corrs - Leave Me Alone

The lyrics are at: http://goo.gl/C527x.

The diversity of pretty ladies and eye candy videos knows no limits. The Corrs sisters for sure are one of them, aren't they? And man, can they smile! No wonder they had topped the pop charts worldwide. Their photogenic facial expressions and groovy music definitely could sell.

The Corrs' music

I've been listening to their music on and off. And I admit that it's lovely and lovable and it exceeds my initial expectations, for the most part. And, it's soothing for off-hours relaxing.

Savant (Part 2)

(Image via http://goo.gl/keAIl)

Sustenance in the bowels of the world
People say knowledge is a tepid thing
Yet you die with questions even more
Than even when you started out young

Savant (Part 1)

(Image via http://goo.gl/keAIl)

You know certainly there are many angles and levels
You try to maintain an impartial position all along
The myriad world is minified in your practiced mind
The jaded retinue keep going and going in the heath

Montreal's after-hours retailing market

The opening of Montreal's after-hours retailing market a few years ago has led to fierce competition and emotions nowadays. A for instance is partly manifested along this forum thread at Sinoquebec.com.

Article via web - 内地价管山雨欲来乎？

Here're some excerpts from （2010.11.23）内地价管山雨欲来乎？_张五常_新浪博客:

（二）十月份中国的消费物价指数上升百分之四点四，主要由食品物价带动，后者上升了百分之十点一。可能把温家宝先生吓倒的，是十八种主要蔬菜的平均批发价每公斤人民币三元九角，按年上升了百分之六十二点四！有报道说这急升是游资炒作的效果。炒作会增加市价的波动，但农业的蔬菜类是竞争非常激烈的产品，炒作不会导致这类产品的市价远离没有炒作之价。话虽如此，我认为蔬菜之价将会回落一点，因为农民的反应会转到增加蔬菜的种植。

解释过几次，中国农产品之价上升得比工业产品之价为速是好现象。若要马儿好，让马儿吃草。让农产品的相对价格上升是最可取的帮助贫困农民的方法。这些年那么多的农民转到工、商业去——工作年龄的四个转了三个——农产品的相对价格怎会不大幅上升呢？我认为目前的上升还不足够：长远一点看，蔬菜批发均价人民币三元九角一公斤还是偏低。我的估计，要让农民的生活水平追上城市的中等人家，非农产品之价不变，农产品之价还要上升大约一倍多。说过多次，农民的生活搞不起，中国的经济改革算不上是成功。要帮助农民，天下没有比多花几块钱购买他们的产品更好的方法。

（三）农产品的相对价格上升是好事，而蔬菜之价急升是大好特好。这是因为种植蔬菜每亩所需的劳动力大约是植稻所需的八倍（见拙作《佃农理论》一六七至一六八页）。蔬菜的培植是劳动力密集的玩意，灌溉、施肥频密，而中国人的口味苛求，某些蔬菜他们要吃鲜的，菜农要在天还未亮起床，拔菜清洗应市。因为需要密集的劳动力，蔬菜之价是个重要指数，其急升反映着农民劳动力之价升得好。三年前我对一位同学说，衡量农民的生活改进，不要多管其他数字，重点是看蔬菜的批发价变动。这是经济学。

（四）蔬菜之价急升，市民当然投诉，甚或怨声载道，但受益者是中国的农民。中国的经济改革是为苦了数千年的农民而改的。今天投诉菜价的市民，大部分不到三十年前也是农民。我们知道来自农村的市民的生活还不是很好，但有了大改进，回头帮一下还在种菜的老弱人家是他们应该做的事，怎会学得过桥抽板那样没出息？炎黄子孙的文化不是教道义的吗？没有其他方法能比多付一两块钱买一斤蔬菜更合乎经济发展原则的帮助。

（五）自公元二千年起，中国农民的收入上升大有可观，我在《中国的经济制度》中说是中国经济发展的两大奇迹之一。今年升得特别快，有两个原因。其一是北京两年前推出新劳动法后，月是故乡明，回乡归故里的流动人口多，跟着北京反应快（赞一赞），促成乡镇工业加速发展。其二是泰国的政局出事，加上越南等地乱来，一时间中国沿海一带的接单工业忙得不可开交，工资提升得快。农民的收入于是得到接单工业加薪的协助。

Unwieldy logistics of blogging outside the Chinese wall

(Image via http://goo.gl/Qi1bZ)

Effective blogging requires unwieldy logistics, especially due to the being of the Great Firewall in front of the willing readers of my blog who dwell in China. I did try to ferret out a blogging service which was hosted in China and I really liked, but that produced no result.

Article via web - Language as a Blunt Tool of the Digital Age

English learning has increasingly fallen to be a mainstream after-hours activity in a host of countries worldwide, I guess. Just how big the magnitude of that is, I have no idea yet.

On a different note, for those people who leave for an English-speaking nation from an East Asian one, including China, in their teenage years which deem them premature, we can consider the situation life puts them in, which possibly is that "They end up, as the Indian writer Pavan Varma has called them, “linguistic half-castes,” functional in many tongues, without command of any."(See below for the quote.) Think, and think twice about that, my friend.

There is an article published in January 2010 by The NYT: Currents - Language as a Blunt Tool of the Digital Age. Below go some excerpts:

Globalization, in bringing cultures together, exerts its own pragmatic pressure. With English the escalator of globalized success, the language’s center of gravity is tilting away from English-speaking lands. A stripped-down English of catchphrases and trite idioms, light on richness, is becoming the true global language.

The English-learning boom in developing nations also corrodes their own languages. Their young increasingly learn enough English to do a global-economy job but not so much as to be articulate in it. Yet many give up on mastering their native languages. They end up, as the Indian writer Pavan Varma has called them, “linguistic half-castes,” functional in many tongues, without command of any.

In the language-as-protocol worldview, the best lyrics are the least lyrical, because the greatest number can follow them. The most successful headlines are not those with the freshest word choices but those whose well-worn expressions are frequently Googled. The most effective communication at work is not the bulky memo, but the bullet-riddled PowerPoint presentation, which people from varied nationalities can absorb in very little time.

The real existence of labor unions

In Canada and USA, the real existence of labor unions, sometimes, is the elephant in the room. Have they been becoming increasingly irrelevant? You bet they have and you bet they will.

Vintage music video - The Beatles - Can't Buy Me Love (Live)

Here go the lyrics.

In or not in its own right, most people chase after money, some after fame, and some after love. Well, as the adages go, life's all about choices, and all's well that ends well.

Cenotaph (Part 2)

(Image from http://goo.gl/KhPDa)

Inscribed on his epitaph in a cemetery was
He liked the sounds of birds fluttering
He liked the look of flurries of skirts
But those things he fought for
He liked more

Cenotaph (Part 1)

(Image from http://goo.gl/KhPDa)

Most of them were good citizens
With vim for their home country
Mostly they would fight and fall
In order to keep a land for all