| Wen sees bright prospects for Sinao-Japan ties
TOKYO: In the first speech by a Chinese leader to the Japanese parliament in 22 years, Premier Wen Jiabao yesterday envisioned bright prospects for bilateral relations but emphasized that the lessons of history must be learnt. In his 40-minute speech carried live on TV in both countries, Wen reviewed the long history of friendship and exchanges between the two neighbors for more than 2,000 years - only to be disrupted by nearly 50 years of painful, unfortunate history. Japan's aggression caused great suffering and tremendous human and economic losses to the Chinese people, Wen said. "The deep scars left in the hearts of the Chinese people are beyond description." Japan's invasion of China also brought enormous suffering and pain to the Japanese people, he noted. "While contemplating history, we can have a deeper understanding of how peace and cooperation between China and Japan are vital for the two countries and the welfare of their peoples," Wen said.
Expert gets the word out on online predators
The 13-year-old tells the Interpol consultant: "I just wanted him to pop my cherry." She's talking about a 30-year-old she met online, who ended up at her house where they had sex. "She's in love with the guy. He's her best friend," says Robert Farley, a child sexual exploitation expert for the international police organization Interpol. He tells stories like this one -- about victims who don't even consider themselves victims -- at workshops such as the upcoming Madison event on "Teens, Tweens and the Internet: How to Keep Your Kids Safe." The former Chicago cop knows way too much about that world to retire from the field. He's busier now than when he served as commanding officer of the Cook County (Illinois) sheriff's child exploitation unit through 2003.
If We Taught English the Way We Teach Mathematics...
Imagine that your only contact with "English" as a subject was through classes in school. Suppose that those classes, from elementary school right through to high school, amounted to nothing more than reading dictionaries, getting drilled in spelling and formal grammatical construction, and memorizing vast vocabulary lists -- you never read a novel, nor a poem; never had contact with anything beyond the pedantic complexity of English spelling and formal grammar, and precise definitions for an endless array of words. You would probably hate the subject.You might come to wonder what the point of learning English was. In response perhaps the teachers and education system might decide that, to help make English relevant to students, they need to introduce more "Applied English". This means teaching English students with examples from "real life" (for varying degrees of "real") where English skills are important, like how to read a contract and locate the superfluous comma.
BBEdit updated to 8.6.2
Bare Bones Software has released a maintenance update to its popular text and HTML editor BBEdit. A free update for registered users, BBEdit costs US$125 (crossgrades, upgrades and discounts are available).
BBEdit features capabilities for editing, searching and manipulating text, such as grep matching, search and replace across multiple files, syntax colouring for various source code languages, code folding, FTP and SFTP support and more. .
Minister opens Pan Celtic festival in Letterkenny
MINISTER Eamon O'Cuiv launched the Pan Celtic International Festival in Letterkenny on Tuesday which is expected to attract around 12,000 people to the town. Celts from Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, the Isle of Man and Brittany have converged on the town for a celebration of culture through music, song, dance and craic. This is the second year Letterkenny has hosted the festival which provides colourful street parades, band and choral performances in all of the Celtic languages. The opening ceremony on Tuesday night was attended by around 650 people and all of the different Celtic nations gave a display of music and dancing. In tandem with the Pan Celtic International Festival the town this week was also hosting the Oireachtas na Casca which runs until Sunday.
Movable Type Gets Security Update, Easier Downloads
Six Apart have announced an important security update recommended to all of its Movable Type (MT) users. Additionally, the new MT 3.35 — or MT 1.53 Enterprise — features an easier download and install process including the use of a wizard for first timers. First and foremost, this release fixes the cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability that was found in the comment preview code. Specifically, default templates have been modified to include the encode_html="1" attribute to properly escape user submitted data found in the "Comment Preview" system template. Users are required to apply this fix manually to any pre-existing blog they may have in their system. .
Festival will celebrate the food, dance and cultures of the world
Gilbert is the world this weekend. The third annual Gilbert Global Village Festival will bring together the cultures of about 30 countries, including Australia, Pakistan, Haiti, Ireland and Russia. Test your geography skills The festival is a celebration of Gilberts growing diversity. Were no longer a white, Anglo-Saxon community, and were very proud of that, says festival founder Elizabeth Cress-Sweet. We are the multicultural town of Gilbert. Featured at the festival will be the music, cuisine and dances of Spain, India, Ireland, Mexico and the Philippines. A parade of nations featuring Gilbert schoolchildren will begin at 11 a.m., and an international bazaar will sell imports from India and Mexico. Culture doesnt always mean different shades of color, says Cress-Sweet. It also means different ways of life.
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