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Category Archives: meta

Sinoglot: more about China and language

In language, as in every other aspect of human activity, China sometimes gets presented as monolithic when it is anything but. Just consider the term “Chinese” which includes, by some definitions, multiple language families.
Chinese “not being a monolith” goes much further than saying it’s made of distinct chunks, of course. A bit of the catalyst [...]

Posted 11 February 2010 † syz § Blogroll ‡ Comments (0) °

Excerpts from the 2009 Accountant’s Report

Right, you wouldn’t normally be reading this. It’s fine. No one’s going to tell your spouse how you’re wasting your time. But let’s just be honest with each other and talk about some of life’s indulgences: if the accountant is lively and the books well-cooked, these reports can be great with a dish of roasted [...]

Posted 10 October 2009 † syz § ‡ Comments (7) °

Sound off: thoughtful spam

On spammers being a part of the main

Spare a moment for the Turing test — you remember: the one where the wily computer is supposed to get the best of human interlocutors by convincing them that it’s a person. The sci-fi romance version might have human interrogator falling in love with machine, then experiencing an [...]

Posted 19 July 2009 † syz § ‡ Comments (5) °

What happened to the BJS homepage sidebar?

[Update: Problem is fixed, but without much knowledge of why. Technical team fired en masse. Details at bottom if you're a glutton for this kind of thing.]

Posted 11 June 2009 † syz § ‡ Comments (6) °

For the record

Don’t you hate it when bloggers post about the most recent tweak they made to their color scheme or their home page graphic? It’s kind of like looking at pictures of other people’s babies — a bit grotesque.

Posted 17 December 2008 † syz § ‡ Comments (13) °

Zhonglish / Chinglish conference (would-be) attendees

Apologies for the administrivia. I just discovered that a couple folks who rsvp-d for the Nov 17 event were stuck in spam filters of one sort or another.
If you have responded but not heard back from me, please write again (bjshengr -AT- gmail -DOT- com). If you’re still not getting through, you can always leave [...]

Posted 06 November 2008 † syz § ‡ Comments (0) °

The rearview mirror

On Beijing Sounds’ first birthday, the year’s stats, wasting time, and the fastest recitation of 千字文 ever recorded

Posted 10 October 2008 † syz § personal ‡ Comments (0) °

About

As the Beijing Sounds (BJS) studios approach the one year birthday in October 2008, you might not be wondering about the various characters known to congregate here. You might not have any interest in what they do outside the studios or how they relate to each other. Don’t worry, you wouldn’t be the only one. [...]

Posted 07 September 2008 † syz § ‡ Comments (0) °