白宫在新加坡？

由 chys 发表于 2010 年 02 月 19 日

偶然注意到这个图标不太对：

（题外话：His Majesty 叫 “陛下”，His (Royal) Highness 叫 “殿下”，His Excellency 叫 “阁下”，His Holiness 叫什么下？好像没法翻译了……）

www.whitehouse.gov 的 DNS 解析过程，真曲折：

换了一个网站查，还是新加坡：

再换一个网站，还是新加坡：

ps. www.whitehouse.gov 不止一个 IP，有一些（例如 173.222.58.135）确实各种数据库都显示它在美国。

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加州不叫加利福尼亚共和国

由 chys 发表于 2010 年 02 月 06 日

因为加州州旗（上图）的缘故，我以为加州的正式名称是 “加利福尼亚共和国”（California Republic）。维基上说不是，说美国 50 个州除了四个（KY, MA, PA, VA）叫 Commonwealth 以外，其他都规规矩矩地叫做 “State of Xxxx”。州旗上的共和国字样是历史上的加利福尼亚共和国（California Republic, 6/14/1846 – 7/9/1846）遗留下来的。

二战后日本把国号从 “大日本帝国” 改成了 “日本国”（State of Japan），前室友说：这是为以后加入美国做准备的，可以继续叫 “State of Japan”，一个字母都不用改。

说到旗帜，南北战争 100 周年的时候（1961 年)，南方好些州政府公然悬挂美利坚联盟国（Confederate States of America，CSA，即南方判乱政府）国旗纪念叛乱（兼抗议民权运动）。其实这是违反联邦法律的，但是在人家自己的地盘上挂一天，挂了就挂了，联邦法院想下禁制令也来不及。长期挂就不行，所以他们钻空子改挂南方军旗，甚至一挂就是几十年一直到现在。现在 150 周年快到了，政治气氛跟 50 年前很不一样，他们还敢不敢把国旗拿出来？


南卡州议会前的南方军队战旗（via）

在 Amazon.com 上搜过国旗，搜 PRC 国旗的时候，下面会建议你连 ROC 国旗一起买；搜 USA 国旗的时候，也会建议你连 CSA 国旗一起买……

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引号用法一问

由 chys 发表于 2010 年 01 月 28 日

用引号引用多段文字时，英文的规范用法是每一段前面加左引号（“），只在最后一段结尾处加右引号（”），如维基上引用的《傲慢与偏见》其中一段：

The letter was to this effect:

“My dear Lizzy,

“I wish you joy. If you love Mr. Darcy half as well as I do my dear Wickham, you must be very happy. It is a great comfort to have you so rich, and when you have nothing else to do, I hope you will think of us. I am sure Wickham would like a place at court very much, and I do not think we shall have quite money enough to live upon without some help. Any place would do, of about three or four hundred a year; but however, do not speak to Mr. Darcy about it, if you had rather not.

“Yours, etc.”

又如美国的法律文件——国会某决议文里的用法：

JOINT RESOLUTION

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution extending the right of suffrage to women

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by three-fourths of the several States.

“Article __________.

“The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

“Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”

中文里面，“正式” 或者说 “规范” 的用法也是这样的么？印象中貌似见过，但是现在找不到例子。《标点符号用法》里面没讲这个问题。

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好=女子

由 chys 发表于 2010 年 01 月 21 日

见奇文一篇：《16汉字之错：既不尊重女性 又误导儿童人生观？》，作者号称是某律师，主张 “奸” “嫖” “妒” 等字涉嫌性别歧视，应该修改。例如 “奸” 字改成 “犭行”，这样明确告诉人们这是一种兽行，“可以减少百分之二十的强奸（犭行）罪”。

如果要改，我觉得最该改的是 “好” 字，因为这是小学生学习的第一个或第二个女字旁的字。为啥女子就好，男子就不好呢？我印象非常深刻，当初我学这个字的时候就对它的组成很不解……

小学生最早接触的另一个女字旁的字是 “妈”，这个要不要改呢……

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又出这种事

由 chys 发表于 2010 年 01 月 02 日

我指的是新年夜浙大那事。Sigh…

初中有一次学校要迎接一个什么检查，要先背一些莫名其妙的题。其中有一道选择题，大意是：“在公共汽车上看见有人偷钱包，你应该怎么办？” 标准答案是 “冲上去与歹徒搏斗”。班主任看不下去了，说了一句：检查的时候按答案选，但其实 D（悄悄提醒被偷的人）更好。

Anyway, happy new year.

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A politically incorrect argument

由 chys 发表于 2009 年 12 月 31 日

If sexual orientation is indeed determined by genetic factors that can be inherited, as suggested in recent years by science or what claims to be science, people who hate homosexuality should support legalizing gay marriage.

Warning: The following paragraphs can be offensive.

In the good old days when homosexuality was not accepted and even punishable by penalty, most gay people still engaged in traditional, heterosexual marriages and have sons and daughters, and thus their homosexuality genes got passed down from generation to generation.

If we allow gay people to marry each other, it’s less likely they will have a chance or even any interest to pass their genes down, and the frequency of homosexuality genes in our species will decrease, and gay haters will have no person to hate at all in the long run.

For straight people, you will no longer have to risk marrying some one who pretend to like being with you but whose genes find it disgusting because of your sex.

In conclusion, legalization of gay marriage is good for everyone, gay and straight, proponents and opponents of gay rights.

Of course, all these are based on the assertion that sexual orientation is determined by genes, which argument you and I may not believe.

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