2/26    Why did it take so long to get the Min-Nan language a unified pronunciation
        system? Mandarin did it looong time ago with Jhuying, then Tongyong Pinyin, and
        finally Hanyu Pingyin. Now if only the Cantonese pronunciation system
        is unified as well:
        http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2006/02/23/2003294235
        \_ unified under nuclear fire.
	...

3/4     Apparently reading Japanese is hard, even for the Japanese:
        http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090304/ap_on_re_as/as_japan_reading_japanese
        \_ Well, yeah.  Japan has the most BS writing system ever developed.
           It's managed to get all the detriments of both pictoral and phonetic
           writing, with none of the benefits of either.  This for a language
           that, phonetically, can fit within a subset of the latin characters.
	...

8/20    So is the correct pronunciation PeKING, Beijing, Pecking, etc?
        I've seen it spelled as Peking, Beijing, and pronunciated like
        PAY-jing, pay-JING, pay? Jing, etc. How do I say it?
        \_ bay-jing is accurate. Mandarin is tonal and the tones are
           hard to describe with English analogies, so you really just
           have to listen to how a native speaker says it. If you learn
	...

3/12    What is the definitive pronunciation of Thermopylae?
        \_ see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermopylae
        \_ The OED says ther-MAW-pih-lee or ther-MAW-pih-lie.
        \_ see http://tinyurl.com/3cckho
           \_ I did, but I'm not exactly fluent in IPA. -op
        \_ I was taught that the proper pronunciation was something
	...

2/21    What is the correct pronunciation for "le boeuf sur let toit"?
        Is it "le buu sir ley tuahh?" Am I close?
        \_ Yup, that's almost exactly right.  The f in boeuf isn't
           silent, though.  (Did you mean "le boeuf sur le toit"?)
        \_ Yup, that's almost exactly right.  You do pronounce the f
           in boeuf, though.  (Did you mean "le boeuf sur le toit"?)
	...

1/20    http://www.glossika.com/en/dict/taiwanese/index.php
        Really good Min-nan Taiwanese lessons. It's really sad that
        pronunciation formalization is done by a whitie instead of
        a native Min-nan speaker. Do Min-nan natives even care that
        their language is dying? Why don't they write something
        about themselves?
	...

12/21   What's the difference between a real estate agent and a realtor?  Thx.
        \_ Main Entry: Re·al·tor
           Pronunciation: 'rE(-&)l-t&r, -"tor, ÷'rE-l&-t&r also rE-'al-t&r
           Function: collective mark
           -- used for a real estate agent who is a member of the National
           Association of Realtors
	...

12/20   I want to learn to input Chinese characters. What is the best
        thing to learn, pinyin, jhooyin, romanization, etc? It's so
        complicated when you have MPS2, Sin Wenz, Hanyu pinyin, Tongyong
        pinyin, etc. When I was little I learned jhooyin but it seems
        like it's becoming out of flavor.
        \_ I'd recommend pinyin input.  It matches the english typing skills
	...

7/25    What's up with that moving bit pattern that Win7 displays when it
        boots up?  (It's the one that's like in the Apple II days when you
        use the graphics memory for code or data while it's still in HGR
        mode.)  Is there a way to disable that?  It slows things down a lot
        every time I reboot my Win7 VM on my office machine if I RDP to the
        machine via DSL.  Thanks in advance.
	...

1/22    looking to buy a new development laptop
        needs ssdrive, >6 hr possible batt life, and runs linux reasonably
        Anyone have a recommendation? Thx.
        \_ thinkpad t23 w ssdrive and battery inplace of drive bay
        \_ Ever wondered what RICHARD STALLMAN uses for a laptop?  Well,
           wonder no more!
	...

12/26   Hey you stupid web developers, stop making web sites with
        CONSTANT FONT SIZE and CONSTANT WIDTH/HEIGHT. Dumb ass
        graphics artist... please learn something about computers
        and usability!
        http://browsersize.googlelabs.com
        \_ "Stupid web-developers" is redundant. "Stupid" or
	...

11/24   What is the best 25-32" monitor out there? I am ready to upgrade
        my 9 year old CRT. -ausman
        \_ How much money are you willing to spend, and how good do you
           really need it to be good? Are you willing to pay $900 for the
           industry standard monitor used by graphics artists, or are you
           so cheap that you'll only want to pay up $400 for something that
	...

10/24   How well do you see color? I got 8, how about you?
        http://www.xrite.com/custom_page.aspx?PageID=77
        \_ 7
           \_ what monitor did you use?
              \_ LCD on thinkpad x32, under not so great lighting conditions.
        \_ I scored 101, which seems impossible. Then again, I didn't
	...

1/19    Mirror's Edge review:  meh
        Great tech demo, not a very good game.
        \_ Agreed. Graphics and visual style were really, really good, but the
           plot was utter shit. The parkour was pretty fun, but in the end, all
           it really was was Parkour: The Game. --t
	...

12/7    What kind of adapter do I need on my Thinkpad to drive that new 30"
        Apple Cinema display?
        \_ New? Well, though I didn't know there's a new model, I'm pretty sure
           that like the old one, you'll need something with Dual-link DVI, or
           if they moved to DisplayPort (or whatever its name was), you'll need
           that. Basically, with such a large monitor, it needs a lot of
	...