This pic is of a restaurant courtyard in Beijing, China. Lovely, isn't it?

Reminiscent of the lifestyle of Chinese people of previous generations.

See http://www.foodnut.com/i/No-16-Courtyard-Restaurant-Beijing-China/No-16-Courtyard-Restaurant-Beijing-China-Courtyard.jpg.

The restaurant info. is at: http://www.foodnut.com/425/no-16-courtyard-restaurant-review-beijing-china/.

China's state-run banks can always get away with lending huge sums of money to relatively incompetent state-run companies, which may not even boost employment.

Is unwriting history a crime?

"I think I'll just go with a Linux single booting, and add virtualized Microsoft Windows if needed," J said.

In a world with an abundance of crises, we still do what we do.

Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc. (大英百科全书公司) owns the venerable reference book. And it owns Merriam-Webster Dictionaries, beside others.

Interestingly, it is not a public company.

Now I more and more believe that only in kingdom come, an undemocratic country's government would PERSISTENTLY care about the life of its civilians.

T. X. had tried to get away with paper towels worth tens of dollars but got caught by the company.

In terms of vegetables consumption amounts, typical Canadian diets are so unhealthy compared to their Mainland Chinese counterparts.

Due diligence is important. But, it shouldn't be carried to the extreme where it stifles or suppresses customer needs.

I dislike the bureaucracy and red tape that I lately encountered from a sales clerk at a Videotron store.

Many aspiring entrepreneurs don't have the nous to make it.

That's life.

Stamp duty (印花税) is an interesting term.

I for one wonder how many remote places in China are gradually becoming somewhat lawless.

The officials over there think they can do anything to the local people?

Tar sands (a.k.a. oil sands) can also be called "bitumen".

In the job market, there's an imbalance which job seekers often don't pay attention to, I think.

For the most part, when a person applies for a job position, he actually needs a job, otherwise he wouldn't bother to apply for it. On the other hand, when an employer posts a job position, it may not have real intention to get it filled, for whatever reasons.

Shall we call it an "imbalance of good faith"?

Do I sound like I'm grumbling? Anyway, I'm not looking for a job right now. Just some observation of mine from others' examples, some of whom are job seekers and the others of whom are (potential) employers.

Apple's decision makers seem to be so resolute in the keeping of their walled garden so far.

For instance, Apple hasn't ported their iTunes software to Linux. That's to their own detriment, IMHO.

Samsung has run away with the consumer hardware battle, in terms of market share.

Is it entering the consumer software field now?

Long is the list of the word "list"'s definitions.

"List" is a good word, as Lisp is a good programming language.

Beijing and Shanghai will always stay to be real squashes with the government policies of China tremendously favoring the two mega cities and so people flocking there.

I guess the better part of people would roll their eyes if you talk with them about job security.