In his Re: What Is This?: ÒµÎñÁªÏµ (1/31/2002) Carl Lee wrote:
<<All of these are from China. It can be read by Chinese browser. They are
commercial advertisements. It is extremely irresponsible, and must be
stopped.This list is not for junk mails such as these.>>
I certainly agree that said messages are inappropriate for this news list
and ought to be stopped. However, I have a couple of picky, picky
amendments to offer.
At least a few of them are from Korea. I've checked out the country codes.
I suspect that most of them are indeed commercial advertisements.
However, I managed to get to one of the sites -- via a hyperlink I thiiiiiink!!!
One, from China, was very attractively formatted, with some English text
that aroused my interest. Can't remember exactly why Also learned that,
should one be desirous of so doing, 'tis possible to download software
from the Windows Update site which will transliterate stuff like this>´«Í³µÄ¼ÒÍ¥×°ÊÎ×°è«£¬ÃÅ¡¢´ into Chinese characters.
I know, I know, whoopee!!! But, hey, there might just be some subscibers
who read that language. Of course, they would most probably already
have access to a browser of the kind Carl mentions.
Can't resist a relevant anecdote. Had a blonde, rosy cheeked friend of the
female persuasion who spoke Cantonese (wasn't it?) with ease. Her parents
had been missionaries. We went to a Chinese restaurant and I coaxed
her into ordering in that language. A passing busboy dropped a tray he
had been balancing over his head. I know it sounds apocryphal but I
swear its true. Cross my heart and hope to double die.
Comparable programs are available for other languages as well. However,
given what I know about the online translators readily available for German
French, Spanish and Portuguese (which languages I read with ease) I
am not very sanguine about their utility. Experience has shown that
one really needs to be fluent in *both* of the languages at issue -- and
have a good imagination as well -- in order to make any sense out the
translations they generate.
Have a prosperous palindromic year,
Aitchoo aka H(arley) U(pchurch)
