I was determined to advance my own English proficiency to a certain level, come hell or high water. I've done it.

In Roman mythology, Jupiter, the king of the gods, is also known as Jove. It appears that his beard is characteristic.

(By thisisbossi / http://www.flickr.com/photos/thisisbossi/3055427302/ / CC)

Telemarketers badger people to buy their long-distance phone call plans. No way. Most people know better to use free internet video or voice calls, perhaps.

The retirements of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates should be made ceremonial. And the two enemies should receive standing ovations for what they've done in their careers. Their efforts and competition have made our world more fantastic.

Now China is in the groove. But there are still lots of inefficiencies in China's economic and social life and fabrics. Can those inefficiencies be squeezed out gradually?

I don't understand how Intel only provides open office spaces for its employees, including its CEO, and can reach stellar results at the same time. How can the Intel workers be in the zone in their open office spaces?

貌似佛家認為，無論貴賤賢愚，每個人在自己的人生中都被 苦 所折磨。所以佛法之鵠的在於 滅苦 。

Many seasoned people get somewhat disgusted, so to speak, by counterfeit facades some people wear all the time.

Even at age one, our baby daughter typically got delighted by the presentment of blooms. Girls and boys are born to be different.

Sometime a "retrograde reader" is an intentional cultural "snob". How amusing is that people devise cultural classes and fit themselves in those.

See http://6thfloor.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/14/e-books-vs-real-books/ .

When Obama inaugurated, he's fairly seasoned in enchanting voters with his inspiring speeches, in organizing communities, and in politics; but he's a total noob in managing a gigantic economy.

(Image "The Scale of the American Economy" by asecondhandconjecture / http://www.flickr.com/photos/22994175@N03/2205172655/ / CC)

There's a "great-great-great-grandson" of an American president who lives in a hovel and delivers pizza for a living.

See http://www.nytimes.com/1999/01/03/nyregion/our-towns-impeachment-as-legacy-for-pizza-guy.html?ref=andrewjohnson .

That guy's presidential ancestor is Andrew Johnson, who "was the first U.S. President to undergo an impeachment trial" and "is commonly ranked by historians as being among the worst U.S. presidents". (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Johnson )

How come more and more Mainland Chinese feel tristful? Because they want more respect and love but they can't get it.

Immigrating to Canada from Mainland China offsets at least 3 years of efforts for a Chinese.

I just woke from a slumber in action on my chair moments ago. How sweet sleep is to a brain deprived of it.

'Such a deed' and 'sweet religion'

'O, such a deed
As from the body of contraction plucks
The very soul, and sweet religion makes
A rhapsody of words.'
--Hamlet, Act 3 Scene 4

It seems that Oracle bought Java and MySQL, and intended to create some vendor lock-in chains around those technologies, without surprise.

Well, perhaps what Oracle did is just to pluck both technologies from the open source sphere and make people who are used to them lose their way and then tell them, "well, pay me and I'll show you the way".

Personally I think that those intellectuals and others who claim that China will become the No. 1 country, GDP-wise, in the world have their heads in the clouds.

Things probably won't develop linearly in their current fashion in China before it reaches there.

Will China make a market for more sophisticated and reliable products and services than the currently prevailing ones?

Perhaps the iPhones and the like over there are going to drive up the tastes of Chinese consumers.

German quality is laudable. The quality of SAP products must be superior than that of Oracle products.