Crossing Road

Many of us have wondered how entrepreneurs turn their bright ideas into financial windfalls. The usual answers are: hard work and perseverance. But for Steve Chen and Chad Hurley of YouTube, the correct answer was: create a product people want to use. 
Chen, twenty-nine, and Hurley, thirty, met while working at PayPal. Along with friend Jawed Karim, the young men were annoyed about having no easy way to share their video of a San Francisco dinner party. At the time, video files were too large for most e-mail applications and finding a place to post videos on the Internet was not a straightforward task. The trio thought there should be a better way.

With Swinger Website and sex-oriented adult dating sites, and lots and lost of pornography, the internet certainly has no shortage of territory for the naughty net surfer.
As if that wasn’t enough, there is now a wide-range of website that specializes in helping people breaking their marriage vows and cheats on their spouses.The most common type of new business that is designed to do marriage a disservice is the married-but-looking-for-dating-services.These are like any normal on-line dating service, as in one can post a profile and photos if they dare, except that they are specific for married people.

五柳先生傳: 原文 & 翻譯:  先生不知何許人也 亦不詳其姓字 宅邊有五柳樹 因以為號焉 這傢伙不知道是誰 也不知道叫什麼 組合房旁邊剛好有五棵柳樹 就當作綽號吧 閑靜少言 不慕榮利 好讀書 不求甚解 每有會意 便欣然忘食 做人孤僻 不愛賺錢 喜歡看書卻不太認真 每次懂了點東西 就爽到忘了吃飯 性嗜酒 家貧不能常得 親舊知其如此 或置酒而招之愛喝酒 又買不太起 親戚朋友知道這點 偶而會請他喝一杯 造飲輒盡 期在必醉 既醉而退 曾不吝情去留

今天讀十月biz 全球趨勢一文，本月探討一挺有趣的現象—Working at Home.內容講述愈益廣受注目的E-work(在家裡利用電腦工作)。 目前在美國，『電子通勤』(telecommuting)已有近2千4百萬人之多。

(操縱電子設備的聲音)萊拉：路西法德，買回來囉，紫色天堂最新期！路西法德：（迫不及待地撕開包裝）嗯…目次是…啊！有了──陷於愛情如置身神幻世界，在第51頁……萊拉：等著！路西法德，你那是啥態度，我可是為了買你這本書排了半天的隊，你不覺得欠我一句『銘謝五內』的回禮嗎！路西法德：如果我說要自己去，你又要生我的氣！萊拉：廢話！拜託你不要再讓我更丟臉了！路西法德：我就不會覺得難為情嗎？

吾が凧
海に浮かぶ方舟のように行ったり来たりーー未知なる世界は何処まで広げてんの。我らが踏む土、それとも向こうの輝く砂浜ーー辿り着くまで夢へ漕ぐ舟の楫を握ってーーその手で。 Like sailing ships,Our kites all fly

Of course, hoarding coins for greed goes back to the beginning of coinage.  Hoarding coins for artistic value is almost as old.  Known as “the Hobby of Kings,” coin collecting was begun in ancient times.  In fact, Julius Caesar, the first Emperor of Rome, was an avid coin collector and actually published the first know book on the subject.基於貪婪而收集錢幣可追溯其鑄造之初，而為了藝術價值而收藏錢幣的歷史竟可與之競短長。收藏物本身就是一種易物象徵，一般人自然無福享受此樂趣，因此蒐集錢幣被喻為『國王的興趣』。據說羅馬的第一位君主凱撒大帝就是此中愛好者，甚至以此為主題出版過書。 時間推到近代，到了20世紀，埃及開羅也出現一位史上錢幣收藏量最豐的怪胎國王(oddball)──Farouk，他同時也是一個揮霍無度，惡名昭彰的紈絝子弟。(a notorious playboy and spendthrift)雖然位高權重、富可敵國，這位國王從不疲於累積自己的財物，更醉心於『物質』的堆積來彰顯自己的擁有。(never tired of amassing material wealth)之所以被稱為史上最怪異的國王乃因他是個偷竊高手(kleptomaniac)，同時擁有可跟怪盜亞森羅蘋比美的易容術(disguise)，時常潛入民間行竊。

It’s been called a literary sleeper, in reference that the fact that it hasn’t been in any hurry to turn into a bestseller.  But selling well is what A treasure’s Trove, started doing soon after its author appeared on network TV in America early last December.  The timing meant no small number of copies ended up amid the piles of gifts beneath trees in living rooms across America last Christmas. 這本書被稱為『文壇黑馬』著實不為過，畢竟它在發行之際一點都沒有透露未來可能行情看漲的跡象。然後就在去年12月，A Treasure’s Trove的作者現身美國電視節目後，這本書的銷售量開始看翹。這樣一個時機意謂著在平安夜當晚，此書將躺在聖誕樹下，成為美國許多孩童的禮物。

The world Health Organization says the planet is too fat, with more than 300 million of its citizens being obese.  The 2003 global survey showed Kuwait, Panama and Peru to be the three countries hit hardest by fat, and the United States ranks fourth with a shocking 31% of its citizens listed as obese.  Even China is fattening up, as 20% of its people are now overweight.世界衛生組織披露一筆數據，指出我們所處的星球正遭『肥胖』危害！全球竟有超過三億人口過重，該局列出全球超重人口最多的前三名國家，分別為：科烕特、巴拿馬、秘魯。而美國則以其驚人的肥滿人口，31%排名第四。就連中國都晉身肥胖之林，目前有20%的人口超重。 全球『吹氣球』(plumpness)的原因其實可以想像；現代人餐餐都講求快速，外食選擇常是沒有營養徒具高熱量(high-in-calorie)的速食及精緻化食物(enriched foods)。
而且大部份的國家都已脫離未開發之國，邁向開發中或已開發之途，人們再不須流血流汗掙錢求溫飽，大部份的時間都是坐在有隔間的辦公桌前(cubical offices)，對著電腦作業。

                  A Little Piece of me

 　　When he told me he was leaving I felt like a vase which has just smashed. There were pieces of me all over the tidy, tan tiles. He kept talking, telling me why he was leaving, explaining it was for the best, I could do better, it was his fault and not mine. I had heard it before many times and yet somehow was still not immune; perhaps one did not become immune to such felony. 這樣的話我已聽過無數遍，卻怎麼也無法從語言的咒詛中掙脫；或許，根本沒有人可以對這樣的話語一笑置之吧！ 　　He left and I tried to get on with my life. I filled the kettle and put it on to boil, I took out my old red mug and filled it with coffee watching as each coffee granule slipped in to the bone china. That was what my life had been like, endless omissions of coffee granules, somehow never managing to make that cup of coffee.　就像我的人生，不斷流失的小片段，無可遏止地奔流；卻怎麼也匯聚不了一杯香醇的咖啡。