Sunday, August 19, 2007
IAN SAMUEL LIN
IAN SAMUEL LIN. he is an indonesian from palembang. his wooden hut collapsed because a coconut fell on it.
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Classical Education
From wikipedia
Classical education as understood and taught in the Middle Ages of Western culture is roughly based on the ancient Greek concept of Paideia. China had a completely different tradition of classical education, based in large part on Confucian and Taoist traditions. This article concerns the Western tradition.
Classical education developed many of the terms now used to describe modern education. Western classical education has three phases, each with a different purpose. The phases are roughly coordinated with human development, and would ideally be exactly coordinated with each individual student's development.
"Primary education" teaches students how to learn.
"Secondary education" then teaches a conceptual framework that can hold all human knowledge (history), and then fills in basic facts and practices of the major fields of knowledge, and develops the skills (perhaps in a simplified form) of every major human activity.
"Tertiary education" then prepares a person to pursue an educated profession, such as law, theology, military strategy, medicine or science.
Primary education
Primary education was often called the trivium, which covered grammar, logic, and rhetoric.
Logic and rhetoric was often taught in part by the Socratic method, in which the teacher raises questions and the class discusses them. By controlling the pace, the teacher can keep the class very lively, yet disciplined.
Grammar
Grammar consists of language skills such as reading and the mechanics of writing. An important goal of grammar is to acquire as many words and manage as many concepts as possible so as to be able to express and understand clearly concepts of varying degrees of complexity. Very young students can learn these by rote especially through the use of chant and song. Their minds are often referred to as "sponges", that easily absorb a large number of facts. Classical education traditionally included study of Latin and Greek, which greatly reinforced understanding of grammar, and the workings of a language, and so that students could read the Classics of Western Civilization in the words of the authors. In the modern renaissance of classical education, this period refers to the upper elementary school years.
Logic
Logic (dialectic) is the art of correct reasoning. The traditional text for teaching logic was Aristotle's Logic. In the modern renaissance of classical education, this logic stage (or dialectic stage) refers to the junior high or middle school aged student, who developementally is beginning to question ideas and authority, and truly enjoys a debate or an argument. Training in logic, both formal and informal, enables students to critically examine arguments and to analyze their own.
Rhetoric
Rhetoric debate and composition (which is the written form of rhetoric) are taught to somewhat older (often high school aged) students, who by this point in their education have the concepts and logic to criticize their own work and persuade others. According to Aristotle "Rhetoric is the counterpart of dialectic." It is concerned with finding "all the available means of persuasion." The student has learned to reason correctly in the Logic stage so that they can now apply those skills to Rhetoric. Students would read and emulate classical poets such as Ovid and others in learning how to present their arguments well.
Secondary education
Secondary education, classically the quadrivium or "four ways," classically taught astronomy, arithmetic, music and geometry, usually from Aristotle and Euclid. Sometimes architecture was taught, often from the works of Vitruvius.
History was always taught to provide a context, and show political and military development. The classic texts were from ancient authors such as Herodotus, Thucydides, Livy, Cicero and Tacitus.
Biographies were often assigned as well; the classic example being Plutarch's "Lives." Biographies help show how persons behave in their context, and the wide ranges of professions and options that exist. As more modern texts became available, these were often added to the curriculum.
In the Middle Ages, these were the best available texts. In modern terms, these fields might be called history, natural science, accounting and business, fine arts (at least two, one to amuse companions, and another to decorate one's domicile), military strategy and tactics, engineering, agronomy, and architecture.
These are taught in a matrix of history, reviewing the natural development of each field for each phase of the trivium. That is, in a perfect classical education, the historical study is reviewed three times: first to learn the grammar (the concepts, terms and skills in the order developed), next time the logic (how these elements could be assembled), and finally the rhetoric, how to produce good, humanly useful and beautiful objects that satisfy the grammar and logic of the field.
History is the unifying conceptual framework, because history is the study of everything that has occurred before the present. A skillful teacher also uses the historical context to show how each stage of development naturally poses questions and then how advances answer them, helping to understand human motives and activity in each field. The question-answer approach is called the "dialectic method," and permits history to be taught Socratically as well.
Classical educators consider the Socratic method to be the best technique for teaching critical thinking. In-class discussion and critiques are essential in order for students to recognize and internalize critical thinking techniques. This method is widely used to teach both philosophy and law. It is currently rare in other contexts. Basically, the teacher referees the students' discussions, asks leading questions, and may refer to facts, but never gives a conclusion until at least one student reaches that conclusion. The learning is most effective when the students compete strongly, even viciously in the argument, but always according to well-accepted rules of correct reasoning. That is, fallacies should not be allowed by the teacher.
By completing a project in each major field of human effort, the student can develop a personal preference for further education and professional training.
Tertiary education
Tertiary education was usually an apprenticeship to a person with the desired profession. Most often, the understudy was called a "secretary" and had the duty of carrying on all the normal business of the "master." Philosophy and Theology were both widely taught as tertiary subjects in Universities however.
The early biographies of nobles show probably the ultimate form of classical education: a tutor. One early, much-emulated classic example was that Alexander the Great was tutored by Aristotle.
Modern interpretations of classical education
Much of the current and modern renaissance of classical education is owed to the Dorothy Sayers essay "The Lost Tools of Learning", in which she describes the three stages of the trivium, grammar, logic and rhetoric, as tools by which a student can then analyze and master every other subject.
"The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home," by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer (W.W. Norton, 1999), is a modern reference on classical education, particularly in a homeschool setting. It provides a history of classical education, an overview of the methodology and philosophy of classical education, and annotated lists of books, divided by grade and topic, that list the best books for classical education in each category.
"The Grammar of Our Civility: Classical Education in America," by Lee T. Pearcy (2005) provides a theoretical and historical account of classical education in the United States and suggests the need for a distinctly American approach to ancient Greece and Rome.
Marva Collins has successfully taught a rapid-fire classical education to inner-city deprived children, many of them labeled as "retarded."
Also of note is "A New Trivium and Quadrivium," an article by Dr. George Bugliarello (Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, Vol. 23, No. 2, 106-113 (2003)). In it, he argues that the scope of the classical liberal education is inadequate for today's society, and that people should also be conversant with the basic facts of science and technology, since they now form a much more important part of our lives than did the tertiary studies of antiquity. He argues for a new synthesis of science, engineering, and the humanities in which there is a balance between what can be done and what ought to be done, between human desires and earthly consequences, and between our ever-increasing power to affect our surroundings and the ever-present danger of destroying the ecological and environmental systems which allow us to exist.
No discussion of classical education could be complete without mentioning Mortimer Adler and Robert Hutchins, both of the University of Chicago, who set forth in the 1930s to restore the "Great Books" of Western civilization to center stage in the curriculum. Although the standard classical works—such as the Harvard Classics—most widely available at the time, were decried by many as out of touch with modern times, Adler and Hutchins sought to expand on the standard "classics" by including more modern works, and by trying to tie them together in the context of what they described as the "Great Ideas," condensed into a "Syntopicon" index and bundled together with a new "five foot shelf" of books as "The Great Books of the Western World." They were wildly popular during the Fifties, and discussion groups of aficionados were found all over the USA, but their popularity waned during the Sixties and such groups are relatively hard to find today. Extensions to the original set are still being published, encompassing selections from both current and older works which extend the "great ideas" into the present age and other fields, including civil rights, the global environment, and discussions of multiculturalism and assimilation.
There still exist a number of informal groups and professional organizations which take the classical approach to education seriously, and who undertake it in earnest. Within the classical Christian education movement, David Hicks, author of Norms and Nobility, the Society for Classical Learning, the Association of Classical and Christian Schools, and the CiRCE Institute, founded by Andrew Kern, co-author with Gene Edward Veith of Classical Education: The Movement Sweeping America, play a leading role.
In addition to many middle-schools and high schools across the country, there are at present several universities or colleges in the United States wherein such an Oxonian classical education is taking place:
St. John's College (two campuses, one in MD and one in NM);
Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, CA;
New Saint Andrews College in Moscow, ID; and,
The Torrey Honors Institute at Biola University, in La Mirada, CA.
Gutenberg College in Eugene, OR
At each of these institutions some variation of the Canon of Western Great Books is used as the primary course material, and tutor-lead "Socratic discussions" are the primary vehicle for ingestion and digestion of the selected works.
A more traditional, but less common view of classical education arises from the ideology of the Renaissance, advocating an education grounded in the languages and literatures of Greece and Rome. The demanding and lengthy training period required for learing to read Greek and Latin texts in their original form has been crowded out in most American schools in favor of contemporary subjects. Latin is taught at some schools, but Greek rarely.
Classical education as understood and taught in the Middle Ages of Western culture is roughly based on the ancient Greek concept of Paideia. China had a completely different tradition of classical education, based in large part on Confucian and Taoist traditions. This article concerns the Western tradition.
Classical education developed many of the terms now used to describe modern education. Western classical education has three phases, each with a different purpose. The phases are roughly coordinated with human development, and would ideally be exactly coordinated with each individual student's development.
"Primary education" teaches students how to learn.
"Secondary education" then teaches a conceptual framework that can hold all human knowledge (history), and then fills in basic facts and practices of the major fields of knowledge, and develops the skills (perhaps in a simplified form) of every major human activity.
"Tertiary education" then prepares a person to pursue an educated profession, such as law, theology, military strategy, medicine or science.
Primary education
Primary education was often called the trivium, which covered grammar, logic, and rhetoric.
Logic and rhetoric was often taught in part by the Socratic method, in which the teacher raises questions and the class discusses them. By controlling the pace, the teacher can keep the class very lively, yet disciplined.
Grammar
Grammar consists of language skills such as reading and the mechanics of writing. An important goal of grammar is to acquire as many words and manage as many concepts as possible so as to be able to express and understand clearly concepts of varying degrees of complexity. Very young students can learn these by rote especially through the use of chant and song. Their minds are often referred to as "sponges", that easily absorb a large number of facts. Classical education traditionally included study of Latin and Greek, which greatly reinforced understanding of grammar, and the workings of a language, and so that students could read the Classics of Western Civilization in the words of the authors. In the modern renaissance of classical education, this period refers to the upper elementary school years.
Logic
Logic (dialectic) is the art of correct reasoning. The traditional text for teaching logic was Aristotle's Logic. In the modern renaissance of classical education, this logic stage (or dialectic stage) refers to the junior high or middle school aged student, who developementally is beginning to question ideas and authority, and truly enjoys a debate or an argument. Training in logic, both formal and informal, enables students to critically examine arguments and to analyze their own.
Rhetoric
Rhetoric debate and composition (which is the written form of rhetoric) are taught to somewhat older (often high school aged) students, who by this point in their education have the concepts and logic to criticize their own work and persuade others. According to Aristotle "Rhetoric is the counterpart of dialectic." It is concerned with finding "all the available means of persuasion." The student has learned to reason correctly in the Logic stage so that they can now apply those skills to Rhetoric. Students would read and emulate classical poets such as Ovid and others in learning how to present their arguments well.
Secondary education
Secondary education, classically the quadrivium or "four ways," classically taught astronomy, arithmetic, music and geometry, usually from Aristotle and Euclid. Sometimes architecture was taught, often from the works of Vitruvius.
History was always taught to provide a context, and show political and military development. The classic texts were from ancient authors such as Herodotus, Thucydides, Livy, Cicero and Tacitus.
Biographies were often assigned as well; the classic example being Plutarch's "Lives." Biographies help show how persons behave in their context, and the wide ranges of professions and options that exist. As more modern texts became available, these were often added to the curriculum.
In the Middle Ages, these were the best available texts. In modern terms, these fields might be called history, natural science, accounting and business, fine arts (at least two, one to amuse companions, and another to decorate one's domicile), military strategy and tactics, engineering, agronomy, and architecture.
These are taught in a matrix of history, reviewing the natural development of each field for each phase of the trivium. That is, in a perfect classical education, the historical study is reviewed three times: first to learn the grammar (the concepts, terms and skills in the order developed), next time the logic (how these elements could be assembled), and finally the rhetoric, how to produce good, humanly useful and beautiful objects that satisfy the grammar and logic of the field.
History is the unifying conceptual framework, because history is the study of everything that has occurred before the present. A skillful teacher also uses the historical context to show how each stage of development naturally poses questions and then how advances answer them, helping to understand human motives and activity in each field. The question-answer approach is called the "dialectic method," and permits history to be taught Socratically as well.
Classical educators consider the Socratic method to be the best technique for teaching critical thinking. In-class discussion and critiques are essential in order for students to recognize and internalize critical thinking techniques. This method is widely used to teach both philosophy and law. It is currently rare in other contexts. Basically, the teacher referees the students' discussions, asks leading questions, and may refer to facts, but never gives a conclusion until at least one student reaches that conclusion. The learning is most effective when the students compete strongly, even viciously in the argument, but always according to well-accepted rules of correct reasoning. That is, fallacies should not be allowed by the teacher.
By completing a project in each major field of human effort, the student can develop a personal preference for further education and professional training.
Tertiary education
Tertiary education was usually an apprenticeship to a person with the desired profession. Most often, the understudy was called a "secretary" and had the duty of carrying on all the normal business of the "master." Philosophy and Theology were both widely taught as tertiary subjects in Universities however.
The early biographies of nobles show probably the ultimate form of classical education: a tutor. One early, much-emulated classic example was that Alexander the Great was tutored by Aristotle.
Modern interpretations of classical education
Much of the current and modern renaissance of classical education is owed to the Dorothy Sayers essay "The Lost Tools of Learning", in which she describes the three stages of the trivium, grammar, logic and rhetoric, as tools by which a student can then analyze and master every other subject.
"The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home," by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer (W.W. Norton, 1999), is a modern reference on classical education, particularly in a homeschool setting. It provides a history of classical education, an overview of the methodology and philosophy of classical education, and annotated lists of books, divided by grade and topic, that list the best books for classical education in each category.
"The Grammar of Our Civility: Classical Education in America," by Lee T. Pearcy (2005) provides a theoretical and historical account of classical education in the United States and suggests the need for a distinctly American approach to ancient Greece and Rome.
Marva Collins has successfully taught a rapid-fire classical education to inner-city deprived children, many of them labeled as "retarded."
Also of note is "A New Trivium and Quadrivium," an article by Dr. George Bugliarello (Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, Vol. 23, No. 2, 106-113 (2003)). In it, he argues that the scope of the classical liberal education is inadequate for today's society, and that people should also be conversant with the basic facts of science and technology, since they now form a much more important part of our lives than did the tertiary studies of antiquity. He argues for a new synthesis of science, engineering, and the humanities in which there is a balance between what can be done and what ought to be done, between human desires and earthly consequences, and between our ever-increasing power to affect our surroundings and the ever-present danger of destroying the ecological and environmental systems which allow us to exist.
No discussion of classical education could be complete without mentioning Mortimer Adler and Robert Hutchins, both of the University of Chicago, who set forth in the 1930s to restore the "Great Books" of Western civilization to center stage in the curriculum. Although the standard classical works—such as the Harvard Classics—most widely available at the time, were decried by many as out of touch with modern times, Adler and Hutchins sought to expand on the standard "classics" by including more modern works, and by trying to tie them together in the context of what they described as the "Great Ideas," condensed into a "Syntopicon" index and bundled together with a new "five foot shelf" of books as "The Great Books of the Western World." They were wildly popular during the Fifties, and discussion groups of aficionados were found all over the USA, but their popularity waned during the Sixties and such groups are relatively hard to find today. Extensions to the original set are still being published, encompassing selections from both current and older works which extend the "great ideas" into the present age and other fields, including civil rights, the global environment, and discussions of multiculturalism and assimilation.
There still exist a number of informal groups and professional organizations which take the classical approach to education seriously, and who undertake it in earnest. Within the classical Christian education movement, David Hicks, author of Norms and Nobility, the Society for Classical Learning, the Association of Classical and Christian Schools, and the CiRCE Institute, founded by Andrew Kern, co-author with Gene Edward Veith of Classical Education: The Movement Sweeping America, play a leading role.
In addition to many middle-schools and high schools across the country, there are at present several universities or colleges in the United States wherein such an Oxonian classical education is taking place:
St. John's College (two campuses, one in MD and one in NM);
Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, CA;
New Saint Andrews College in Moscow, ID; and,
The Torrey Honors Institute at Biola University, in La Mirada, CA.
Gutenberg College in Eugene, OR
At each of these institutions some variation of the Canon of Western Great Books is used as the primary course material, and tutor-lead "Socratic discussions" are the primary vehicle for ingestion and digestion of the selected works.
A more traditional, but less common view of classical education arises from the ideology of the Renaissance, advocating an education grounded in the languages and literatures of Greece and Rome. The demanding and lengthy training period required for learing to read Greek and Latin texts in their original form has been crowded out in most American schools in favor of contemporary subjects. Latin is taught at some schools, but Greek rarely.
Friday, August 3, 2007
Nostalgic Poetry
From speareseuss.blogspot.com
IAN LIN very FAT!
Pang sai need a MAT
A CAT sits on the MAT
And the FAT SHAT (past tense of shit) on the MAT with the CAT
# posted by Fish @ 6:00 PM
Fish is ALSO HERE!
# posted by Fish @ 4:57 PM
IAN LIN IS HERE!
# posted by NIL NAI @ 4:47 PM
hello! here are some of our damn pro VERSES
Gobi very fat
More fat than a cat
He is Kevin Koh
Drink lots of cocoa
My friend Michael Yue(pronounced YOU)
Eat lots of DAO YOU
Ian Lin has a GUN
Inside got a BUN
OH is a faggot
like to eat MAGGOT!
He is Lim tak KEET
He got Big armpit
His name is JASBIR
He like to eat DEER
Darren Chew on ice
Got a lot of mice!
Chieh yao has an ear
he like to drink BEER
Hongyi very fat
He eat too much crap
This is lim Chan Tuan
Her nose look like Phuan
hello i can see!
i can see you pee!
Ian Lin has no brain
He fell into DRAIN
Ian Lin full of shit
he's a stupid git
His name is IAN LIN
He look like DUSTBIN
Dickson no muscle
only got PIMPLE
Juin Shiong big arse man
drink soft drink from CAN!
He is MISTER MA
He look like pizZA
I put on my SHOE
And stepped into POO
If you make me cry
I hoot you with a BHAI
My friend ANDREW YOUNG
Live in pulau PISANG
IAN LIN very FAT!
Pang sai need a MAT
A CAT sits on the MAT
And the FAT SHAT (past tense of shit) on the MAT with the CAT
# posted by Fish @ 6:00 PM
Fish is ALSO HERE!
# posted by Fish @ 4:57 PM
IAN LIN IS HERE!
# posted by NIL NAI @ 4:47 PM
hello! here are some of our damn pro VERSES
Gobi very fat
More fat than a cat
He is Kevin Koh
Drink lots of cocoa
My friend Michael Yue(pronounced YOU)
Eat lots of DAO YOU
Ian Lin has a GUN
Inside got a BUN
OH is a faggot
like to eat MAGGOT!
He is Lim tak KEET
He got Big armpit
His name is JASBIR
He like to eat DEER
Darren Chew on ice
Got a lot of mice!
Chieh yao has an ear
he like to drink BEER
Hongyi very fat
He eat too much crap
This is lim Chan Tuan
Her nose look like Phuan
hello i can see!
i can see you pee!
Ian Lin has no brain
He fell into DRAIN
Ian Lin full of shit
he's a stupid git
His name is IAN LIN
He look like DUSTBIN
Dickson no muscle
only got PIMPLE
Juin Shiong big arse man
drink soft drink from CAN!
He is MISTER MA
He look like pizZA
I put on my SHOE
And stepped into POO
If you make me cry
I hoot you with a BHAI
My friend ANDREW YOUNG
Live in pulau PISANG
Saturday, July 28, 2007
The Highland Charge
The Highland charge was a battlefield tactic used by the clans of the Scottish Highlands in the 17th and 18th century. It was developed as a response to the evolution of firearms. Previously, Highlanders had fought in tight formations, led by a heavily armoured warrior elite, that carried heavy battle-axes or two handed broadswords known as claidheamh mor or "claymores" -meaning "great sword" in Scottish Gaelic. However, with the widespread use of muskets and cannon, such formations became vulnerable. As a result, in the 17th century, Highlanders developed a lighter, one handed claymore with a hilt that protected the hand. This was generally used with a shield or "targe" strapped to the body and a "dirk" or biotag (long knife) held in the other hand.
From the 1640s onwards Highlanders in battle would launch rapid charges, firing their own muskets at close range, before closing with their enemy hand to hand. This became known as the "Highland charge." Its advantage was that it allowed the Highlanders to cover the range of the enemy muskets quickly, before the enemy could inflict many casualties. The Highlanders could then exploit their skills in hand to hand fighting. In this way, they could overwhelm regular troops who were better armed and more conventionally trained.
In practice, the Highland charge proved so effective as much because of its psychological impact as its physical one. Regular troops, when faced with a tide of screaming Highlanders, often lost their heads, fired off an un-aimed volley and began to run away. They would then face the charge not as a disciplined unit, but as a mass of panicked individuals, whom the Highlanders would cut down with impunity. This happened at such battles as Tippermuir and Falkirk. However when, as at the Battle of Culloden in 1746, well trained regular troops kept their composure, the Highland charge was raked with musket volley fire, then faced with an unbroken line of bayonets and beaten off with heavy losses. Cannon firing grapeshot also helped beat off the Highland Charge at Culloden.
The Highland charge was used widely during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and the Jacobite Risings. The Historian David Stephenson has credited its invention to Alasdair MacColla, who pioneered its use in Ireland and Scotland during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Other historians have questioned this, and suggest that the charge was evolved gradually, to meet a particular set of battlefield challenges. They point out that conventional armies of this era also sometimes used rapid charges with swords, pikes and bayonets when the situation demanded. In the contemporary French army, this was known as an "a prest" attack.
From the 1640s onwards Highlanders in battle would launch rapid charges, firing their own muskets at close range, before closing with their enemy hand to hand. This became known as the "Highland charge." Its advantage was that it allowed the Highlanders to cover the range of the enemy muskets quickly, before the enemy could inflict many casualties. The Highlanders could then exploit their skills in hand to hand fighting. In this way, they could overwhelm regular troops who were better armed and more conventionally trained.
In practice, the Highland charge proved so effective as much because of its psychological impact as its physical one. Regular troops, when faced with a tide of screaming Highlanders, often lost their heads, fired off an un-aimed volley and began to run away. They would then face the charge not as a disciplined unit, but as a mass of panicked individuals, whom the Highlanders would cut down with impunity. This happened at such battles as Tippermuir and Falkirk. However when, as at the Battle of Culloden in 1746, well trained regular troops kept their composure, the Highland charge was raked with musket volley fire, then faced with an unbroken line of bayonets and beaten off with heavy losses. Cannon firing grapeshot also helped beat off the Highland Charge at Culloden.
The Highland charge was used widely during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and the Jacobite Risings. The Historian David Stephenson has credited its invention to Alasdair MacColla, who pioneered its use in Ireland and Scotland during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Other historians have questioned this, and suggest that the charge was evolved gradually, to meet a particular set of battlefield challenges. They point out that conventional armies of this era also sometimes used rapid charges with swords, pikes and bayonets when the situation demanded. In the contemporary French army, this was known as an "a prest" attack.
Development Economics
FROM THE DESK OF,
MR.MATHIEU TRAORE.
DIRECTOR AUDITING AND ACCOUNTING UNIT,
BANK OF AFRICA.(BOA)
OUAGADOUGOU -BURKIN
private email:mathieu_traore@myway.com,
Phone: + 226 76 38 87 74.
VERY URGENT AND CONFIDENTIAL.
Dear Friend?
This message might meet you in utmost surprise, however,it's just my urgent need for foreign partner that made me to contact you for this transaction.
I am a banker by profession from Burkina faso in west Africa and currently holding the post of Director Auditing and Accounting unit of the bank.
I have the opportunity of transfering the left over funds $7.7m ( one million seven hundred million u.s dollar.)of one of my bank clients who died along with his entire family on 31 july 2000 in a plane crash.You can confirm the genuiness of the deceased death by clicking on
this web site http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/859479.stm
Hence,i am inviting you for a business deal where this money can be sharedbetween us in the ratio of 60/30 while 10% will be mapped out for expenses.If you agree to my business proposal.further details of the transfer will be forwarded to you as soon as i receive your return mail.
have a great day.
Your Faithfully
Mrmathieu traore:
Phone + 226 76 38 87 74
NB, MAKE SURE YOU KEEP THIS TRANSACTION AS YOUR TOP SECRECT AND MAKE IT CONFIDENTIAL TILL WE RECEIVES THE FUND INTO THE ACCOUNT THAT YOU WILL PROVIDE TO THE BANK. DONT DISCLOSE IT TO ANY BODY "PLEASE", BECAUSE THE SECRECY OF THIS TRANSACTION IS AS WELL AS THE SUCCESS OF IT.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sur Windows Live Ideas, découvrez en exclusivité de nouveaux services en ligne... si nouveaux qu'ils ne sont pas encore sortis officiellement sur le marché ! Essayez-le !
Maybe we really do need extra government spending on public goods so that people like these won't mistake $7.7m for one million seven hundred million us dollar
MR.MATHIEU TRAORE.
DIRECTOR AUDITING AND ACCOUNTING UNIT,
BANK OF AFRICA.(BOA)
OUAGADOUGOU -BURKIN
private email:mathieu_traore@myway.com,
Phone: + 226 76 38 87 74.
VERY URGENT AND CONFIDENTIAL.
Dear Friend?
This message might meet you in utmost surprise, however,it's just my urgent need for foreign partner that made me to contact you for this transaction.
I am a banker by profession from Burkina faso in west Africa and currently holding the post of Director Auditing and Accounting unit of the bank.
I have the opportunity of transfering the left over funds $7.7m ( one million seven hundred million u.s dollar.)of one of my bank clients who died along with his entire family on 31 july 2000 in a plane crash.You can confirm the genuiness of the deceased death by clicking on
this web site http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/859479.stm
Hence,i am inviting you for a business deal where this money can be sharedbetween us in the ratio of 60/30 while 10% will be mapped out for expenses.If you agree to my business proposal.further details of the transfer will be forwarded to you as soon as i receive your return mail.
have a great day.
Your Faithfully
Mrmathieu traore:
Phone + 226 76 38 87 74
NB, MAKE SURE YOU KEEP THIS TRANSACTION AS YOUR TOP SECRECT AND MAKE IT CONFIDENTIAL TILL WE RECEIVES THE FUND INTO THE ACCOUNT THAT YOU WILL PROVIDE TO THE BANK. DONT DISCLOSE IT TO ANY BODY "PLEASE", BECAUSE THE SECRECY OF THIS TRANSACTION IS AS WELL AS THE SUCCESS OF IT.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sur Windows Live Ideas, découvrez en exclusivité de nouveaux services en ligne... si nouveaux qu'ils ne sont pas encore sortis officiellement sur le marché ! Essayez-le !
Maybe we really do need extra government spending on public goods so that people like these won't mistake $7.7m for one million seven hundred million us dollar
Some things about China
CHINA
Social Indicators
Poverty Line: Official- 680 yuan (US$85) per capita net income a year
International- 2920 yuan (US$365) per capita net income a year
Number of people below poverty line: Official- 23.65 million people (1.81%)
Estimated- 120-130 million people (9.2-9.9%)
Income Inequality: Gini Coefficient: 0.496 (On a scale of 0 to 1)
Infant Mortality Rate: 22.12 (est., per 1000 live births)
Nutrition Rate: 12% (about 156,444,120 people)
Literacy Rate: 90.9% of total population
95.1% of males
86.5% of females
Economic Indicators
Population Growth Rate: 0.606%
Dependency Ratio: 1:2.5, or 40% (2.5 people in the labour force supporting 1 not in the labour force)
Unemployment Rate: 4.2% in urban areas(Official figures)
Substantial rural unemployment and underemployment
Resources Endowment: coal, iron ore, petroleum, natural gas, mercury, tin, tungsten,
antimony, manganese, molybdenum, vanadium, magnetite, aluminum, lead, zinc, uranium, hydropower potential (world’s largest)
Colonial history: The Germans were the first to establish a sphere of influence in 1898 and militarily occupied China, resulting in foreign intervention in China’s policies. This later led to the Boxer Rebellion which was ultimately suppressed. Later, both Japan and the United Kingdom colonially ruled parts of China.
Growth Rates: China’s GDP averaged a 6.4% annual increase in the last ten years.
Per capita GDP: US$7,700 per capita
Population Size: 1,321,851,888 (2007 est.)
0-14 years: 20.4% (male 143,527,634/female 126,607,344)
15-64 years: 71.7% (male 487,079,770/female 460,596,384)
65 years and over: 7.9% (male 49,683,856/female 54,356,900)
Structure of industry:
Type of Industry %
Primary industry 12.5
Secondary industry 47.3
Tertiary industry 40.3
Obstacles to Growth
Provision of healthcare and education: The provision of healthcare in China is becoming more and more privatised today. As such, workers in the rural areas are less medically catered to, and because there is a high prevalence of infectious diseases in poor rural and urban areas in China, this creates an obstacle in the further expansion of large-scale capitalist development. As of now, the health status of this 15% of the total population is similar to that of the least developed nations.
Banking and Financial Services: Banking in China is currently inefficient and ill-equipped to handle the country's emerging complex market system, due to an insolvent banking system which has bad loans totalling 25 to 30% of the gross GDP; however, it is in the middle of a transition from Chinese to Western style banking, and banking reforms are currently being conducted by the People’s Bank of China to improve this situation. As China has had a historical reliance on banking rather than financial markets, the lack of a good banking structure significantly impedes growth.
Legal System: China’s legal system is currently subject to the China Communist’s Party’s (CCP) total control. This results in a lack of accountability which leads to many mistrials at the district level. As convictions are obtained in a large part on the basis of confessions, the use of torture on innocents in order to extract confessions is not uncommon. Ultimately, the lack of trust in the judicial system has caused many protests against the legal system, with many calling for legal reforms.
Political Stability: The CCP, as a political regime, faces weak political opposition domestically, and possesses relative elite cohesion as a political party (in contrast to previous power struggles at the top). This promotes it as a formidable force in power (the last political crisis faced was in 1989, when leaders promised but failed to deliver political reform). However, they are now facing a narrower base of support, an absence of effective institutions to resolve conflicts within the state (lack of federalism) and weak institutional channels of resolving state-society conflict, resulting in many more protests to express public grievances. It can be concluded that the CCP possess short term, but not long term political stability.
Corruption: Rising levels of corruption in the higher echelons of the CCP have created public distrust of the government in China. News about official actions can be classified a state secret. Local party officials have immense power they often abuse. Unless China adopts a political system with transparency and real checks and balances, maximum growth cannot truly have been achieved.
International Trade Barriers and Capital Flight: China is currently facing a large inflow of capital as opposed to human capital flight; this is brought on by worldwide recognition of its status as an emerging global superpower. However, an enormous amount of trade barriers in China prevent trade with the rest of the superpowers in the world, including the US and European Union. Effectively, this allows China to retain domestic monopolies over industries such as the aviation, steel, and telecommunications industry. This causes China to have a trade surplus, which has fueled complains that the yuan is intentionally being undervalued so as to provide exporters with an unfair price advantage. However, on the national level, industrialization has allowed China to manufacture many various goods at low prices, and this is essentially allowed it to overcome any possible disadvantages of not trading with others, as it can produce a large range of goods at extremely low prices.
Social Indicators
Poverty Line: Official- 680 yuan (US$85) per capita net income a year
International- 2920 yuan (US$365) per capita net income a year
Number of people below poverty line: Official- 23.65 million people (1.81%)
Estimated- 120-130 million people (9.2-9.9%)
Income Inequality: Gini Coefficient: 0.496 (On a scale of 0 to 1)
Infant Mortality Rate: 22.12 (est., per 1000 live births)
Nutrition Rate: 12% (about 156,444,120 people)
Literacy Rate: 90.9% of total population
95.1% of males
86.5% of females
Economic Indicators
Population Growth Rate: 0.606%
Dependency Ratio: 1:2.5, or 40% (2.5 people in the labour force supporting 1 not in the labour force)
Unemployment Rate: 4.2% in urban areas(Official figures)
Substantial rural unemployment and underemployment
Resources Endowment: coal, iron ore, petroleum, natural gas, mercury, tin, tungsten,
antimony, manganese, molybdenum, vanadium, magnetite, aluminum, lead, zinc, uranium, hydropower potential (world’s largest)
Colonial history: The Germans were the first to establish a sphere of influence in 1898 and militarily occupied China, resulting in foreign intervention in China’s policies. This later led to the Boxer Rebellion which was ultimately suppressed. Later, both Japan and the United Kingdom colonially ruled parts of China.
Growth Rates: China’s GDP averaged a 6.4% annual increase in the last ten years.
Per capita GDP: US$7,700 per capita
Population Size: 1,321,851,888 (2007 est.)
0-14 years: 20.4% (male 143,527,634/female 126,607,344)
15-64 years: 71.7% (male 487,079,770/female 460,596,384)
65 years and over: 7.9% (male 49,683,856/female 54,356,900)
Structure of industry:
Type of Industry %
Primary industry 12.5
Secondary industry 47.3
Tertiary industry 40.3
Obstacles to Growth
Provision of healthcare and education: The provision of healthcare in China is becoming more and more privatised today. As such, workers in the rural areas are less medically catered to, and because there is a high prevalence of infectious diseases in poor rural and urban areas in China, this creates an obstacle in the further expansion of large-scale capitalist development. As of now, the health status of this 15% of the total population is similar to that of the least developed nations.
Banking and Financial Services: Banking in China is currently inefficient and ill-equipped to handle the country's emerging complex market system, due to an insolvent banking system which has bad loans totalling 25 to 30% of the gross GDP; however, it is in the middle of a transition from Chinese to Western style banking, and banking reforms are currently being conducted by the People’s Bank of China to improve this situation. As China has had a historical reliance on banking rather than financial markets, the lack of a good banking structure significantly impedes growth.
Legal System: China’s legal system is currently subject to the China Communist’s Party’s (CCP) total control. This results in a lack of accountability which leads to many mistrials at the district level. As convictions are obtained in a large part on the basis of confessions, the use of torture on innocents in order to extract confessions is not uncommon. Ultimately, the lack of trust in the judicial system has caused many protests against the legal system, with many calling for legal reforms.
Political Stability: The CCP, as a political regime, faces weak political opposition domestically, and possesses relative elite cohesion as a political party (in contrast to previous power struggles at the top). This promotes it as a formidable force in power (the last political crisis faced was in 1989, when leaders promised but failed to deliver political reform). However, they are now facing a narrower base of support, an absence of effective institutions to resolve conflicts within the state (lack of federalism) and weak institutional channels of resolving state-society conflict, resulting in many more protests to express public grievances. It can be concluded that the CCP possess short term, but not long term political stability.
Corruption: Rising levels of corruption in the higher echelons of the CCP have created public distrust of the government in China. News about official actions can be classified a state secret. Local party officials have immense power they often abuse. Unless China adopts a political system with transparency and real checks and balances, maximum growth cannot truly have been achieved.
International Trade Barriers and Capital Flight: China is currently facing a large inflow of capital as opposed to human capital flight; this is brought on by worldwide recognition of its status as an emerging global superpower. However, an enormous amount of trade barriers in China prevent trade with the rest of the superpowers in the world, including the US and European Union. Effectively, this allows China to retain domestic monopolies over industries such as the aviation, steel, and telecommunications industry. This causes China to have a trade surplus, which has fueled complains that the yuan is intentionally being undervalued so as to provide exporters with an unfair price advantage. However, on the national level, industrialization has allowed China to manufacture many various goods at low prices, and this is essentially allowed it to overcome any possible disadvantages of not trading with others, as it can produce a large range of goods at extremely low prices.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Numismatics
The antoninianus was a coin used during the Roman Empire thought to have been valued at 2 denarii. It was initially silver, but was slowly debased to bronze. The coin was introduced by Caracalla in early 215 and was a silver coin similar to the denarius except that it was slightly larger and featured the emperor wearing a radiate crown, indicating that it was valued at twice as much. Antoniniani depicting females (usually the emperor's wife), featured the bust resting upon a crescent moon.
But even at its introduction its silver content was only equal to 1.5 denarii. This helped create inflation - people rapidly hoarded the denarii, while both buyers and sellers recognised the new coin had a lower intrinsic value and elevated their prices to compensate. Silver bullion supplies were running short since the Roman Empire was no longer conquering new territory, and because a series of soldier emperors and rebels needed coin to pay their troops to buy loyalty. So each new issue of the antoninianus had less silver in it than the last, and each contributed to inflation. By the late third century the coins were almost entirely made of bronze or orichalcum from melted down old coins like the sestertius. Vast quantities were being produced, with a large proportion of the stocks being contemporary forgeries, often with blundered legends and designs. Individual coins were by then practically worthless and were lost or discarded in their millions. Today the coins are extremely common finds. The situation was not unlike the hyperinflation of the Weimar Republic in 1920s Germany when paper money was printed in reckless abundance. The coin ceased to be used by the end of the third century when a series of coinage reforms attempted to arrest the decline by issuing new types.
Modern numismatists use this name for the coin because we do not know what it was called in antiquity. The name was given to it because an ancient Roman document called the Historia Augusta (of generally low reliability) refers to silver coins named after an Antoninus on several occasions (several Roman emperors in the late second and early third centuries bore this name among others). Because Caracalla's silver coin was a new issue, an association was made with it, and although the association is certainly false, the name has stuck.
But even at its introduction its silver content was only equal to 1.5 denarii. This helped create inflation - people rapidly hoarded the denarii, while both buyers and sellers recognised the new coin had a lower intrinsic value and elevated their prices to compensate. Silver bullion supplies were running short since the Roman Empire was no longer conquering new territory, and because a series of soldier emperors and rebels needed coin to pay their troops to buy loyalty. So each new issue of the antoninianus had less silver in it than the last, and each contributed to inflation. By the late third century the coins were almost entirely made of bronze or orichalcum from melted down old coins like the sestertius. Vast quantities were being produced, with a large proportion of the stocks being contemporary forgeries, often with blundered legends and designs. Individual coins were by then practically worthless and were lost or discarded in their millions. Today the coins are extremely common finds. The situation was not unlike the hyperinflation of the Weimar Republic in 1920s Germany when paper money was printed in reckless abundance. The coin ceased to be used by the end of the third century when a series of coinage reforms attempted to arrest the decline by issuing new types.
Modern numismatists use this name for the coin because we do not know what it was called in antiquity. The name was given to it because an ancient Roman document called the Historia Augusta (of generally low reliability) refers to silver coins named after an Antoninus on several occasions (several Roman emperors in the late second and early third centuries bore this name among others). Because Caracalla's silver coin was a new issue, an association was made with it, and although the association is certainly false, the name has stuck.
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