纸包不住火

Pinyin: zhǐ bāo bú zhù huǒ

Meaning: Lies cannot be concealed forever.

Phrases such as "the truth will shine forth" may be semantically similar, but the mandarin version of this phrase has a negative connotation that implies the recipient of this phrase is being deceptive and the deception will be exposed soon.

Translation & Pinyin

Let no one rule your mind or body...

Garrow, from the book: Eragon

"First, let no one rule your mind or body. Take special care that your thoughts remain unfettered. One may be a free man and yet be bound tighter than a slave. Give men your ear, but not your heart. Show respect for those in power, but don't follow them blindly. Judge with logic and reason, but comment not. Consider none your superior, whatever their rank or station in life. Treat all fairly or they will seek revenge. Be careful with your money. Hold fast to your beliefs and others will listen. Of affairs of the love... my only advice is to be honest. That's your most powerful tool to unlock a heart or gain forgiveness."

Josh Worth explains: If the moon was only a pixel

Pixel Space Solarsystem

"It seems like we are both pathetically insignificant, and miraculously important at the same time"

Who would dare criticize The Big Bang Theory

PZ Myers of course.

She’s an actor who plays Sheldon’s girlfriend on Big Bang Theory. Right there, as far as I’m concerned, we have a major strike against her: I detest that show. It’s the equivalent of a minstrel show for scientists, where scientists are portrayed as gross caricatures of the real thing — socially inept, egotistical jerks who think rattling off an equation is a sign of intelligence. I think it’s literally an anti-science communication show. Who in their right mind would want to be anything like Sheldon, the narcissistic nerd? Who would want to work with people like that? The message it’s sending instead is that if you are a superficial asshole, you should become a scientist, where you will be loved for personality traits that would get you shunned in civilized company. (We also see the same phenomenon in atheism, where so many people think it’s a great excuse to be the insensitive Vulcan.) But OK, that’s a matter of taste, I will admit, and maybe not enough of a reason to be appalled to think she is going to be speaking to science teachers (although it’s enough for me). And she does have a Ph.D. in neuroscience, you have to respect that.

I will admit to somewhat enjoying TBBT, but perhaps now it's more clear why so much of the rest of the world (who clearly AREN'T nerds and geeks) also like watching the show: They're laughing at us. And we foolishly think we are so clever as we chortle at the high-brow humour we are so sure those others only pretend to understand!

Violence in Video Games

True story.

I was playing "Tomb Raider - A survivor is born", mostly late at night when my 1- and 3- year-olds are in bed. But the other day I fired up the game early in the evening. My 1-yo son was close to the TV when I started playing. Lara was high up on a cable-transport platform when she was attacked. Pinned to a wall and about to be nailed with an arrow, suddenly a shot came out of nowhere. The bad guy screamed and fell off the platform where he was standing.

My son suddenly burst into tears. He had been watching and was obviously traumatised by the event. I quickly stopped playing and comforted him. All the while making the mental note: Gosh, he's barely a week more than one-year old. I didn't realise how much he would comprehend the scene in the game.

Suffice to say that now, not only do I never play Tomb Raider whilst my children are around. I am now acutely aware of the need to be always vigilant about what exactly is on TV. Especially in regards to the potential for any violence

So anyway, it's just a story. I'm not trying to make a stand about violence in video games. Obviously we become quite desensitised to the level of violence when we play/watch and it took that episode to make me realise how much I need to protect my kids from that violence until they are older. I'm now much more attentive to the TV ratings when a program is starting, and to be honest, there's basically very little (mature programming) we would watch now whilst the kids are still up!

Interesting Words

adversary
n. [ad-ver-ser-ee]

1. a person, group, or force that opposes or attacks; opponent; enemy; foe
2. the Adversary, The Devil; Satan

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bonanza
n. [buh-nan-zuh]

1. a rich mass of ore, as found in mining
2. a source of great and sudden wealth or luck; a spectacular windfall: The play proved to be a bonanza for its lucky backers

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cronyism
n. cro.ny.ism [kroh-nee-iz-uhm]

1. the practise of favouring one's close friends, especially in political appointments

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git
n. [git]

1. a foolish or contemptible person

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prevaricate
v. [pre-var-i-keyt]

1. to speak falsely or misleadingly; deliberately missate or create an incorrect impression; lie

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propensity
n. [pruh-pen-si-tee]

1. a natural inclination or tendency; a propensity to drink too much
2. Obs. favorable disposition or partiality

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qintar
n [kin-tahr] (One of the few words with 'q' NOT followed by 'u')

1. a money of account of Albania, the 100th part of a lek

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ubermensch
n. [y-buh-mensch]

1. superman

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Erich Fromm

Link to Fromm on Wikipedia


Bibliography(Source: Wikipedia)

• 1941 - Escape from Freedom (US), The Fear of Freedom (UK)
• 1947 - Man for himself, an inquiry into the psychology of ethics
• 1950 - Psychoanalysis and Religion
• 1951 - The Forgotten Language; an introduction to the understanding of dreams, fairy tales, and myths
• 1955 - The Sane Society
• 1956 - The Art of Loving
• 1959 - Sigmund Freud's mission; an analysis of his personality and influence
• 1960 - Zen Buddhism and Psychoanalysis
• 1961 - May Man Prevail? An inquiry into the facts and fictions of foreign policy
• 1961 - Marx's Concept of Man
• 1962 - Beyond the Chains of Illusion: my encounter with Marx and Freud
• 1963 - The Dogma of Christ and Other Essays on Religion, Psychology and Culture
• 1964 - The Heart of Man, its genius for good and evil
• 1965 - Socialist Humanism
• 1966 - You Shall Be as Gods: a radical interpretation of the Old Testament and its tradition
• 1968 - The Revolution of Hope, toward a humanized technology
• 1968 - The Nature of Man
• 1970 - The Crisis of Psychoanalysis
• 1970 - Social character in a Mexican village; a sociopsychoanalytic study (Fromm & Maccoby)
• 1973 - The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness
• 1976 - To Have or to Be?
• 1979 - Greatness and Limitation of Freud's Thought
• 1981 - On Disobedience and other essays
• 1993 - The Art of Being
• 1994 - The Art of Listening
• 1997 - On Being Human