Thesis/Shanghai Birch/Spam

Warning: Pointless entry.

• I've finished my thesis and it kicks asses! Yay!

• My blog in Blogcult is down, along with the host. They were kind enough to leave w/o saying a word.

However, all through my life on this planet I have learnt not to trust the others, and much less if they offer things for free, which is why I saved all the stuff I had on Shanghai Birch. Most of it is cybernetic rubbish and deserves oblivion, anyway.

• I have received an email:

Subj: Your help is greatly appreciated

First, I thought they would offer be a great deal with a bank account full of bucks in Nigeria. But they didn't:


Date: 6 Mar
From: XXXX
----------------------------------------------------------------
Hello,
I've just visited your blog and I truly appreciate it. It gives very valuable information on China. Since I'm very interested in China and the Chinese language, I'll visit your blog from time to time. I've recently made a website dedicated to the beautiful Chinese language. I would appreciate if you can visit my website and add a link to it in your blog's links section. I would like also to have your feedback on my website. As a person with deep knowledge of China, your feedback will allow me to improve my website.
My website : www.mxxxanxxxt.com
A sample link I suggest : Chinese-English dictionary
or better in HTML :
Chinese-English dictionary
I appreciate your help. Thank you.

Whoever
XaXXarXn Xlaxnxt


In my experience as a former Spammer, this is clearly a case of an ass-licking serial email to get a backlink from my humble and scarcely visited site.

Look at the "As a person with deep knowledge of China...". I feel everything but identified with that statement. It was clearly addressed to someone with deep knoweledge of China, and they haven't even changed it to better suit me.

Will I be wicked or good willed?

Comissatio Interrupta (for Character Creation)

Today Mr. Sinosplicer has published some ROTFL new characters of his own creation. These characters "are created by foreigners using existing character components ".

All this issue revived thanks to Mr. ChinoChano and his old post about New Characters in Chinese Tools.

I'm gonna prove here that New Characters can be created (albeit with a certainly surrealistic result) even with a ridiculous level of Chinese-Character recognition, like mine.

There they go:





This last one is a tribute to Sinosplice's Brokeback-Mountain character, this time representing all times idol Mary Poppins (Maybe you think I'm exaggerating: You're right) :

Orgy

I'm off to a one week long thesis-writing orgy. Doesn't it sound exciting?

Now you know how I discovered the thesis/shit pair.

88!

WHAT will be next??

I am depressed.

It was already hard to assume that a 5 months old Chinese baby knows already more Chinese than I will in all my life.

What has shattered my self esteem into thousands of invisible pieces, is to see that even a dumb seal has more of a calligrapher inside it than myself!

Look at the satisfied expression in its face! No wonder, since its abilities even grant him female admirers!:

Nothing else to add. I will nurse my frustration for a while. Meanwhile, those of you who speak Spanish can have a look at the web site where I snatched these pictures from: Chino-China.

R!:My rabbit aches!!**

The following pair is tricky only for myself:

What's the big issue about this pair, then?


In Chinese, the difference would not be so much that of /t/ vs /d/, but of /th/ vs /t/.

This is, both are voiceless stops, but the first one (th) is aspirated.

And yes, I admit it:

• Sometimes I forget the aspiration.

• If it wasn't enough, I live with 2 rabbits.

• In my mother tongue, conejo (rabbit) also refers to the **female reproductive organ**, so uttering "my rabbit aches" is embarrasingly ambiguous.
  

From Sinosplice to The Hall of Fame?

I am excited, thrilled.

Lord SINOSPLICEr has NOT ONLY been here (circumstance which already makes me nervous). He has even reproduced one of my graphics, isn't it fantastic?

I'm posting here the testimony, for eternity to witness:

(sorry for the quality, mobile phone pictures)

What will be next?

If I solution some technical issues, and start posting photoshopped pictures of myself, I might even become some kind of blogging demigoddess!

Ct: Panoramic China.

Yesterday I found two interesting web pages:

The first one is called Four German Students in Shanghai. Their stage in China is over, and they have left behind a comprehensive archive of panoramic images of China. (The image above is theirs).

The second one, Panorama, has great panoramic images from all over the world. HERE, you can stand right in the middle of the People's Square in Shanghai.

Panoramic images Shanghai, Panorama

Ct: China Pictures

Some of the most beautiful China pictures, I believe, are those taken by Professor Sung, from Lawrence University. Ethnic minorities, landscapes and everyday life are wonderfully represented. Portraits are also a real asset in the archive. Have a look!

In the picture, a Dai Girl from Ruili.