29 November 2008

Match Beta


"For me an object is something living. This cigarette or this box of matches contains a secret life much more intense than that of certain human beings." Joan Miro

一根火柴棒價值不到一毛錢;一棟房子價值數百萬元。

但是一根火柴棒卻可以摧毀一棟房子,可見微不足道的潛在破壞力,一旦發作起來,其攻堅滅頂的力量,無物能禦。

要疊一百萬張骨牌,需費時一個月,但倒骨牌卻只消十幾秒鐘。

要累積成功的實業,需耗時數十載,但要倒閉,卻只需一個錯誤決策。

要修養被尊敬的人格,需經過長時間的被信任,但要人格破產卻只需要做錯一件事。

一根火柴棒,是什麼東西呢?

它就是下列四項:

1. 無法自我控制的情緒

2. 不經理智判斷的決策

3. 頑固不冥的個性

4. 狹隘無情的心胸

檢查看看,我們隨身攜帶幾根火柴棒?

03 November 2008

Doublespeak Beta


"Commercials are not the only junk food in the speech market - indeed, when compared to shallow news reporting, vacuous television shows, or political doublespeak, commercials are not even the most harmful to mental health." Rodney A. Smolla

Doublespeak is language deliberately constructed to disguise or distort its actual meaning, often resulting in a "communication bypass."

Can Richard Eng help his students understand below?

It is fruitless to indoctrinate a super-annuated canine with innovative maneuvers.
Meaning: You can't teach an old dog new tricks.

Surveillance should precede saltitation.
Meaning: Look before you leap.

The person presenting the ultimate cachinnation possesses, thereby, the optimal cachinnation.
Meaning: He who laughs last, laughs the loudest.

Sorting on the part of mendicants must be interdicted.
Meaning: Beggars can't be choosers.

Exclusive dedication to necessary chores without interludes of hedonistic diversion renders John a heptudinous fellow.
Meaning: All work and no play makes John a dull boy.

Pulchritude possesses solely cutaneous profundity.
Meaning: Beauty is only skin deep.

Do not traverse a structure erected to afford passage over a waterway until the time of drawing nigh unto it.
Meaning: Don't cross that bridge until you get to it.

A plethora of individuals with expertise in culinary techniques vitiates the potable concoction produced by steeping comestibles.
Meaning: Too many cooks in the kitchen spoil the stew.

Male cadavers are incapable of yielding testimony.
Meaning: Dead men can't speak.

All articles that coruscate with resplendence are not truly auriferous.
Meaning: All that glitters is not gold.

Members of an avian species of identical plumage congregate.
Meaning: Birds of a feather flock together.

Eschew the implement of corrections and vitiate the scion.
Meaning: Spare the rod and spoil the child.

02 November 2008

Richard Eng Beta



The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms defines "beyond comparison" as below.

beyond comparison Also, without comparison or beyond compare. Too superior to be compared, unrivaled, as in This view of the mountains is beyond comparison, or That bakery is without comparison. The first term, more common today than the much older variants, was first recorded in 1871. Without comparison goes back to 1340, and without compare to 1621.

Pulchritude... why use such word when beauty has the same meaning? Is it simply an act of showing off? What does it take to be a good teacher?

Can Richard Eng be trusted?



I like him better, at least he looks more like a teacher.