Randomness

From CNN, the day that Martha got out:

WOLF BLITZER: Up first this hour, Martha Stewart, ex-con. Having paid her debt to society, the hyper-successful entrepreneur bids adieu to a federal prison. And by all indications, she's poised to resume her stellar business career. [...] Mary, set the stage for us. Tell us what has happened since she arrived there.

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, she's certainly getting her first taste of freedom after spending five months in prison. Earlier this morning, she came out. She's certainly not shying away from the cameras.

She told reporters that she's feeling fine, that she's feeling great. And she even offered reporters and photographers camped outside of her house some coffee and doughnuts. And she also shared a story about not having cappuccino in prison.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTHA STEWART, MARTHA STEWART LIVING OMNIMEDIA: And this is a funny. All (UNINTELLIGIBLE) asked the guards every day for a cappuccino. You know, just as a joke. And they'd come in with their cups of coffee and stuff.

And so I get here, and I have a spot for a cappuccino machine. And it didn't work. So I don't have any cappuccino.

MALE REPORTER: She doesn't have any cappuccino.

FEMALE REPORTER: Want me to get you one?

STEWART: No.

MALE REPORTER: She doesn't have any cappuccino. The cappuccino machine does not work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

House of Smoke and Mirrors by Matthew Good
I think I've listened to this song ten or twelve times in a row now.

There's the house
There's the doorway
Been locked out
The lights are out anyway
And loosely reconditioned
To be just so refined
A last grasp at the life worth living
In these standard shoes and what's left of my lines
You can see right through me

Hey
I've been thinking
Why don't we get out of here tonight?
Get in the care and just start driving
Fuck them if they can't take a joke
Right?

I've fallen asleep again
And when I wake up you won't be here
Don't you think I don't know?
I've been asleep for years

You can see right through me

Conversation with Jordan
Jordan says:
heh, yeah i tried calling you after i met joanne and amanda

James says:
ahhh i see

James says:
yeah i slept in and then planned to do work and didn't do any.

James says:
wasted my day and now i feel like crap

Jordan says:
i know the feeling

James says:
but it's okay. i'll shoot myself later. too lazy right now.

Conversation with Aaron
Who is in China right now.

James says:
is internet use restricted in China at all?

Aaron says:
yes

Aaron says:
i tried to go to the government of taiwans website and then the internet logged off and didnt get back online

Aaron says:
and it has done that to be before

Aaron says:
but only whenb i try to access informayion on china

Aaron says:
like chinese news sites

Aaron says:
and the bbc

James says:
wow. that's impressive.

James says:
can you get any news?

Aaron says:
ya just about anything

Aaron says:
but things about china are sketchy

Aaron says:
and they started to monitor the internet here a lot

Aaron says:
its really sensored

James says:
how many languages are spoken in China? Chinese and Mandarin?

Aaron says:
chinese isnt a language

Aaron says:
it is a group

James says:
good to know

Aaron says:
mandarin is "standard chinese" used in the government, businesses and stuff, spoken natively in beijing, and where i am, but the rest of the country is like a patchwork of dilects that cant understand eachother

Aaron says:
cantonese is spoken in the guangdong province and hong kong

Aaron says:
90% of chinese people in canada are cantonese

Aaron says:
so maybe you have never heard standard chinese

James says:
it's possible, i guess.

James says:
so if i was to learn 'chinese', i should learn mandarin or cantonese? what would be more useful.

Aaron says:
if you want it for government/education/business, deffinately mandarine, but if you want to communicate with chinese people in canada, cantonese

James says:
how different are they?

Aaron says:
they cant understand eachother at all

Aaron says:
like english and french

Aaron says:
but all chinese has the same writing system

James says:
like french and english have the same writing system

Aaron says:
well no

Aaron says:
like french and english are both romantic languages so lots of stuff are similar, but even cognates have different accents

Aaron says:
but in chinese all the characters are the same no matter what dilect

James says:
oh

Aaron says:
but then again there is traditional chinese, and simplified chinese, and they might use traditional around hong kong

Aaron says:
but i dont think thats directly realtyed to cantonese

James says:
so the same character means then same thing in cantonese and mandarin?

Aaron says:
yes

James says:
but it's said differently?

Aaron says:
but i think in hongkong and maybe taiwan they use characters that are a bit different

James says:
or, spoken differently?

Aaron says:
different accent

Aaron says:
so different that they cant understand eachother

Aaron says:
like another language

James says:
okay, now i'm starting to get it

Aaron says:
i am sure there is something on the internet that can explain it better than me

Aaron says:
i am going to mcdonalds

Aaron says:
talk to you later

And
And that's it. I'm done here. Thanks for listening.