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Published Thursday, November 30, 2006 by Robin.
Slightly adapted from the movie Les Poupees Russes
Xavier: When I think about all the girls I've known or desired, they're like a bunch of Russian dolls. We spend our lives playing the game, dying to know who'll be the last. The teeny-tiny one, hidden inside all the others. You can't get to her right away. You will have to follow the progression. You have to open them, one by one, wondering, "Is she the last?"
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Published Sunday, November 12, 2006 by Robin.
Talked to my mum over the phone on Thursday morning and she asked about the mid-term elections going on over here.
Frankly, not much. Pennsylvania is staunchly Democrat; and prior to the elections, most people were having no doubt that the Democratic challenger is going to unseat the incumbent Republican senator. Other than a few campaign posters, decals and anti-Republican stickers, there is hardly any hint of an election going on. Here in Pittsburgh, you don’t find the excitement in the air that comes around once every four years; the buzz that comes along with garlanded men in white, Teochew rallies, the Bak-Chor-Mee man, Ling Howe Doong’s terrible hairdo, political debutantes trying too hard to be at home with hawkers, an opposition leader forgetting his forms and the Prime Minister smiling at you from every lamp-post. At the risk of inviting accusations of me being a geek, I confess to being something of a political junkie: I read Chee Soon Juan’s Dare To Change in primary school; I attended my first political rally when I was 12; election night 1996/1997 was the first time my mum allowed me to stay up past bedtime (it was the night before the first day of school and the results for Cheng San GRC came in very late); I read LKY’s memoirs in secondary two; and I was one of those at the Worker’s Party rallies earlier this year.
Ironically, I have been hearing a lot more about Ah-Bian and Taiwan than Bush’s political woes. While the corruption going on in the Taiwanese presidency is nowhere near the level of countries such as Indonesia, it is ridiculous how a democratically elected leader can be so shameless in trying to milk the most out of his presidential perks. The political culture in Taiwan is also unlike anything we will find in most democracies.
Check out these two clips from Taiwanese news that had me Laughing Out Loud.
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Published Tuesday, November 07, 2006 by Robin.
Saw this in my mailbox last week and I immediately replied to fix an appointment. Students in the CMU ECE department are doing a study on Singaporean accents. We are paying students from Singapore $5.00 !!!!!!!!!! to read three brief sentences into a computer and would love for you to be a participant in our study. If interested we will be at:
Sunday, Nov. 5th [4pm-12am] ==>New House (Main Lounge)
Monday, Nov. 6th [6pm-10pm] ==>New House (Main Lounge)
Tuesday, Nov. 7th [6pm-10pm] ==>New House (Main Lounge)
Wednesday, Nov. 8th [6pm-10pm] ==>New House (Main Lounge)
Our email is chumphre@andrew.cmu.edu please feel free to contact us [w/ the time] if you will be participating. The study should take no more then 15-20mins. Hope to see you soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Learnt from the person organizing the study that the point of her research is to find out how voice recognition systems, especially those used for commercial transactions over the phone, can be adapted to better meet the needs of people with distinctive accents.