I'm not either of the parent posts, but I'll answer anyway.
I moved to China.
Not necessarily because it's more anonymous, or because the government seems more rational that that of the US at the moment. Or because it gives me a chance to live in, and understand a little better, a country that most Americans will never see. Or because it gives me a chance to learn the language from "life"rather than from a textbook. Or, because the women here are hot.
Oh wait... That last one is pretty much a major reason I'm here.
The Pinyin system actually did quite a bit to increase the literacy rate in China.
I would argue that a large reason for the low literacy rate in China is the fact that parents must pay for their child to attend school. Even grades 1, 2, etc are not free.
Many rural parents cannot afford the payments. Therefore, the child doesn't attend school. Hence, low literacy.
1) Chinese doesn't have an alphabet. 2) And the number of unique strokes is actually quite small. It's the combinations of strokes that makes it difficult.
I'm an American schoolteacher in China. Am I allowed to order multiple machines on behalf of my students, plus one for myself?/I'm guessing not... These are for under-developed countries. China would never let itself be grouped with "under-developed" countries.
Pronunciation is one thing, but official spelling is another.
Also...
The rules of shopping in Beijing... -Prices are negotiable. (Sometimes, somewheres) -Bartering is expected. (Usually, but not always) -If you are non-Chinese, be prepared to pay more than the locals. (Always)
When it comes to "vendors", as opposed to "stores", there is a "rule of thumb" for: what the vendor asks for vs. what they really expect to get. -I'm not gonna tell you what it is. -Come to the Beijing Olympics. Hire me as a guide. Then, I'll help.:)
Modern China is all about capitalism. Really. No joke./US citizen//Basic Whitey///Lives in Beijing
-Get a life outside of work. But, if that's not right for you, -Craigslist seems like a worthy option. Local jobs and contacts. You never know... -Robots for fun is a worthy idea, as is pretty much any other OSS project, as (many) other people have mentioned.
Personally, I would say that you should FORCE yourself to do something non-programming related. -I'm guessing you're in your early 20's. -20 years from now, you'll be kicking yourself for spending all your time coding and not doing something "different" . --Like movies? Make one. --Like music? Play some. --Like books? Write one. --Like food? Learn to cook. --Like coding THAT much? Teach it to kids.
Taiwan doesn't have sweatshops and they haven't had them for a few decades now. China and southeast Asia does. Get your facts straight.
Taiwan is China. -Part of the Mainland, or -Legitimate rulers of the Mainland
Re:China has cheap broadband access
on
Spam from Taiwan
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· Score: 1
Re: Cheap broadband in China
I live in Beijing. I have DSL from CNC (China NetCom).
I pay 105RMB/month for unlimited hours on the net. Normal price is 120RMB, but I signed up during some promotion or another.
105RMB is cheap to me, and totally worth it. For many Chinese in rural areas, 100RMB is their TOTAL monthly wages, so it would be considered expensive by them.
For what it's worth, 1USD is about 8RMB, so I pay the equivalent of about $13USD per month for DSL in Beijing.
Oh, and btw... the DSL speed isn't that great. I had WAY faster back in the States. (I guess the NSA's computers sift through online traffic more efficiently than the PRC's do.)
If I attempt to go to a page that I'm not suppossed to, I get a "Problem Loading Page" message.
As everyone knows, wikipedia is off limits. So are BBC and Geocities pages.
A few weeks ago there was an article on slashdot regarding Freenet. I couldn't read that article or the comments. All the other stories that day were fine. I only had a problem with that one.
As far a search results: I use English language google, not Chinese. And, I can't read enough Chinese to tell you the differences between equivalent searches on each one.
http://dailyrotation.com/ has headlines from 300+ (mostly) IT related sites.
You can pick and choose which sites you want to see headlines from. I've had the site bookmarked and/or homepage for a many years.
I'm not either of the parent posts, but I'll answer anyway.
I moved to China.
Not necessarily because it's more anonymous, or because the government seems more rational that that of the US at the moment. Or because it gives me a chance to live in, and understand a little better, a country that most Americans will never see. Or because it gives me a chance to learn the language from "life"rather than from a textbook. Or, because the women here are hot.
Oh wait... That last one is pretty much a major reason I'm here.
The Pinyin system actually did quite a bit to increase the literacy rate in China.
I would argue that a large reason for the low literacy rate in China is the fact that parents must pay for their child to attend school. Even grades 1, 2, etc are not free.
Many rural parents cannot afford the payments. Therefore, the child doesn't attend school. Hence, low literacy.
1) Chinese doesn't have an alphabet.
2) And the number of unique strokes is actually quite small. It's the combinations of strokes that makes it difficult.
Not all ACs are morons, but this one is.
1) Unicode is flawed
2) Unicode is used for non-English languages
3) Many spammers, etc are from non-English writing countries
Someone smarter than me should be able to fill in steps 4) and 5)
Umm. I live in China.
...
What does Microsoft censor here?
Sure, there is lots of censorship. But, what exactly is MS censoring?
? Web searches? - Replace Microsoft with *
? WGA? - Puh-leez
If MS is doing something, that I don't know about, I would actually appreciate you filling me in.
I used to handle contracts between various government agencies (GSA, etc) and a computer oem.
You haven't seen legalese, until you've seen government legalese.
Great job. Loved it.
Always hated that game. I was always the most trusting player, and therefore the first to get screwed by my "friends".
Risk and 1942 I always kicked their butts. So I guess it balances out.
Working more than 40 hours per week is commonplace in all of China.
The government has rules re: how much work vs how much pay. But, those rules are regularly ignored.
Article in todays China Daily regarding this topic.
\FWIW... I live in China.
I'm an American schoolteacher in China. Am I allowed to order multiple machines on behalf of my students, plus one for myself? /I'm guessing not... These are for under-developed countries. China would never let itself be grouped with "under-developed" countries.
I'm a US citizen that lives in China. It's actually pretty cool here.
... George Bush is not "minor crap". He's a "huge pile of shit".
And, FWIW, IMHO, ETC
live = verb life = noun Get it right please.
/Failed grammar nazis is the funniness.
"Live" is a verb, while "Life" is a noun.
Punctuation, capitalization, and grammar. Please use them rightly.
Pronunciation is one thing, but official spelling is another.
:)
/US citizen //Basic Whitey ///Lives in Beijing
Also...
The rules of shopping in Beijing...
-Prices are negotiable. (Sometimes, somewheres)
-Bartering is expected. (Usually, but not always)
-If you are non-Chinese, be prepared to pay more than the locals. (Always)
When it comes to "vendors", as opposed to "stores", there is a "rule of thumb" for: what the vendor asks for vs. what they really expect to get.
-I'm not gonna tell you what it is.
-Come to the Beijing Olympics. Hire me as a guide. Then, I'll help.
Modern China is all about capitalism. Really. No joke.
Sorry for replying to myself, but I forgot to mention, that I DO like this idea.
It's kinda like what they do at http://newsinchinese.com/ And, sorta like the firefox extension from http://www.asdotrans.com/.
I could see myself using a modified version of this.
--
The negative tone of my parent post was unintentional
WSJ doesn't do "at", "to", or "the"
Submitter site didn't do "to", "the", or "XSLT".
Am I missing the concept of "any word"?
I agree with the AC parent.
-Get a life outside of work. But, if that's not right for you,
-Craigslist seems like a worthy option. Local jobs and contacts. You never know...
-Robots for fun is a worthy idea, as is pretty much any other OSS project, as (many) other people have mentioned.
Personally, I would say that you should FORCE yourself to do something non-programming related.
-I'm guessing you're in your early 20's.
-20 years from now, you'll be kicking yourself for spending all your time coding and not doing something "different" .
--Like movies? Make one.
--Like music? Play some.
--Like books? Write one.
--Like food? Learn to cook.
--Like coding THAT much? Teach it to kids.
Taiwan doesn't have sweatshops and they haven't had them for a few decades now. China and southeast Asia does. Get your facts straight.
Taiwan is China.
-Part of the Mainland, or
-Legitimate rulers of the Mainland
Re: Cheap broadband in China
I live in Beijing. I have DSL from CNC (China NetCom).
I pay 105RMB/month for unlimited hours on the net. Normal price is 120RMB, but I signed up during some promotion or another.
105RMB is cheap to me, and totally worth it. For many Chinese in rural areas, 100RMB is their TOTAL monthly wages, so it would be considered expensive by them.
For what it's worth, 1USD is about 8RMB, so I pay the equivalent of about $13USD per month for DSL in Beijing.
Oh, and btw... the DSL speed isn't that great. I had WAY faster back in the States. (I guess the NSA's computers sift through online traffic more efficiently than the PRC's do.)
Notice that he said "VB3" programmers.
My thought is that...
VB3 - 100 programmers, 90 were "real" programmers
VB6 - 1000 programmers, 800 were "real" programmers
You have to keep in mind the time-frame, and the relative prevalence of computers, in the times.
There are more (quantity) real programmers now, but the percentage of people with actual skills now has decreased.
--
Then, again. I could be wrong. I'm sure someone will let me know if I am.
Hopefully, it won't be like...
The rainforest(s).
Lots of potential, but wasted.
Call me clueless, if I am the only one that has never seen this before. Nice.
I need help with the Feng Shui on this...
If my bedroom features a mirror on the ceiling, a heart-shaped bed that rotates, satin sheets, and a wet bar...
Which wall becomes the light? East side?
I wouldn't want to mess this up.
Ask me... I live in China.
If I attempt to go to a page that I'm not suppossed to, I get a "Problem Loading Page" message.
As everyone knows, wikipedia is off limits. So are BBC and Geocities pages.
A few weeks ago there was an article on slashdot regarding Freenet. I couldn't read that article or the comments. All the other stories that day were fine. I only had a problem with that one.
As far a search results: I use English language google, not Chinese. And, I can't read enough Chinese to tell you the differences between equivalent searches on each one.
I'm not surprised that a search for "Tienamen Square" doesn't bring up the image you want.
It's spelled "Tiananmen".
hehe ... Seems like 95% of the foreigners in Beijing are in Haidan. Another 4% are in the Embassy Area. And then you have oddballs like me.
:)
I'm a 1%er
I literally go for weeks at a time without seeing a non-Chinese person. And the ones I do see down in this corner tend to be Russian or German.
Not that thats a bad thing