The Space around The Corner

下文转载自友人Red的Blog。

唐僧师徒一行经历九九八十一难终于见到了如来佛求取真经。
如来问：“你们带U盘了么？”
唐僧师徒……
如来又问：“移动硬盘呢？”
……
如来继续问：“iPod也可以哇。”
悟空挖起耳朵来。
如来叹了口气：“那只有网上发给你们了，你们就原路回去吧。”


回去后唐僧打开QQ，发现如来没有传过来。
于是Q如来：“是不是我们网络太差传不过来？”
如来说：“那你再来一次吧，带上U盘。”


于是唐僧师徒带上U盘一行再次经历九九八十一难终于见到了如来佛。
如来问：“带U盘了？”
唐僧师徒：“带了。”
如来继续问：“多大的？”
唐僧师徒：“2G。”
如来深深叹气：“真经太大，U盘太小，回去带个4G的。”
……

于是唐僧师徒回去之后又带上了移动硬盘，还是1000G的。
想：他妈的这次有多少经都给你带回去。
一行再次经历九九八十一难终于见到了如来佛。
如来问：“你们怎么又来了？”
唐僧师徒：“你不是说让我们带大点的U盘过来吗？我们带了个1000G的硬盘。”
如来继续问：“你们回去没有开QQ吗？”
唐僧师徒：“我们回去之后就直接买了硬盘就过来了啊。”
如来深深叹气：“靠，一群傻X，我给你们在QQ里留了言，经书已经放在我的服务器里了，你们随便下载！”
……

唐僧师徒回去后打开如来的服务器下载，发现服务器中了木马，不能下载
于是带上1000G的硬盘继续了上路，想：早知道这样，他妈的就拷回来，这次无论如何得拷回来。
经过九九八十一难终于见到了如来。
如来问：“带纸了没？”
……
如来继续：“哎，这次服务器中了木马，电子版的经书全毁了，我看你们还是手抄一份吧！”
……

再接着之前的续一个。
唐僧师徒这次学乖了，买好纸，带上硬盘一上路了；之前还用QQ给如来发了个信息确认。
经过九九八十一难又见到了如来。
为防有变，唐僧先说话了：“木马破解了没？”
如来：“没。”
唐僧：“那我们可以抄了吧？”
如来：“可以。”
唐僧师徒花了10年的时间终于把经书抄好了，准备去跟如来告别。
唐僧：“我们花了10年时间把经书抄好了，现在跟佛祖告别回大唐了。”
如来“……”，“一群傻X，有复印机干吗不用？”

     吕不韦贾于邯郸，见秦质子异人。归而谓父曰：“耕田之利几倍？”曰：“十倍。”“珠玉之赢几倍？”曰：“百倍。”“立国家之主几倍？”曰：“无数。”曰：“今力田疾作，不得暖衣余食；今建国立君，泽可以遗世，愿往事之。

     读罢，方知早在战国时代，我国古代的商贾先哲早就为这个国家奠定了“官商”的理论基础了。

     1984年6月6日，一个游戏神作开始发行了。前苏联科学家阿列克谢.帕基特诺夫Alexey Pajitnov在不经意间编写的游戏程序开创了一个时代。

5/29/2009 12:01 AM ET

The global economic slide has combined with increased retail competition to pressure the glamorous industry, forcing many stores to consider closing.

By Catherine Holahan

from MSN Money

New York's diamond district was just as dazzling as ever on a recent Tuesday afternoon. Shop windows sparkled with stones capable of stealing a tourist's attention away from midtown Manhattan's skyscrapers. Sellers, attempting to catch buyers' eyes, made sweeping gestures over their wares, hands adorned with thumbnail-sized jewels.

Despite the impressive displays, though, the diamond business has lost much of its brilliance in recent months.

"It was horrible from January to March," says Wendy Gandola, a saleswoman at Millman Diamond in the heart of a 47th Street stretch renowned for the precious stones.

Jewelry sales are down about 14% in the first three months of the year compared with the same period in 2008, according to the International Diamond Exchange, an online stone exchange for jewelers that also provides industry research.

Now, thanks to "wedding season," business has picked up slightly, Gandola says, though it's still down from previous years. "People are not buying 'just because' anymore."

Diamond sellers, in particular, are caught between a rock and a hard place. The recession has put a severe damper on demand, but retailers can't offer significant discounts without drastically cutting into their margins, because of recent actions to keep diamond prices artificially high.

"If you get a deal, it is not coming from De Beers -- it's coming from the vendor," says Norman, a seller at Blauweiss/Berkowitz jewelers, declining to give his last name.

Privately held De Beers, led by its largest shareholder, Anglo American (AAUK, news, msgs), and Alrosa, Russia's state-controlled diamond company, together wield monopoly power over diamond production. The pair accounted for more than 65% of all rough diamonds last year. That enables the two companies to set the price for the gems, in much the same way the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries can set the price of oil, by ramping up or cutting back production.

De Beers has been rapidly shuttering mines, cutting production by more than 90%. Alrosa, meanwhile, has begun stockpiling diamonds, declining to sell a single stone since December, according to a New York Times article this month.

"The recent recovery in rough diamond prices may be presenting an illusion that there has been a significant recovery in demand for diamond jewelry," says Des Kilalea, an industry analyst at RBC Capital Markets. "In fact, most retailers report quite the opposite."

Many diamond retailers have already sliced their profit margins. Traditionally, jewelers sell diamonds for 49% more than the wholesale cost, according to Harry Winston Diamond and the International Diamond Exchange. But competition from online retailers such as Blue Nile (NILE, news, msgs) and Amazon.com (AMZN, news, msgs), which sell diamonds at a markup below 25%, has made it more difficult to continue charging such high prices.

"Buyers now do a lot of investigation," says Norman, of Blauweiss/Berkowitz. "They know the price from Blue Nile."

Unable to reduce prices further, many jewelers are watching shoppers pass them by and struggling to stay in business.

Blauweiss/Berkowitz has been around for nearly 100 years and isn't going anywhere, Norman says. But more than 30 jewelers nationwide declared bankruptcy in the first half of this year, according to the Jewelers Board of Trade, an industry research and marketing group.

Despite making business more difficult now, some jewelers are positive about recent actions by De Beers and Alrosa. After all, diamonds are appealing, in part, because their worth is supposed to be relatively stable. A fire sale in the short run -- though it could help jewelers increase sales -- could seriously dampen the jewels' future appeal.

"It's a good thing if buyers see a stable market," says Josef Millman of Millman Diamond. "They will want to buy more."

Excluding recent events, the price of diamonds has remained relatively stable for the past five years, according to IDEX, a diamond exchange for jewelers that tracks prices.

To further this view, De Beers has started promoting diamonds as investments. The Financial Times reported this month that the company had launched a global advertising campaign to attract investors who are concerned that inflation could erode the value of their money and are seeking a stable alternative to holding cash.

Diamond sellers, however, say that plan is unlikely to prove attractive. Most diamond buyers, says Blauweiss/Berkowitz's Norman, buy jewels as adornments. Unlike gold, diamonds are not openly traded on an exchange, making investors less likely to view diamonds as an investment, some sellers say.

The experience of many diamond owners who look to sell their jewels also is unlikely to win over investors. Typically, sellers get much less than the amount on the jewels' appraisal certificates, say jewelers.

Recently, however, it has become slightly easier to sell diamonds. A year-old Web site, I Do Now I Don't, is dedicated to giving diamond owners a way to sell their unwanted jewelry from failed relationships. Jewelers also buy diamonds, though they may want just the stone and not the setting. Sellers and buyers are also finding eBay to be a good secondary market.

"It's good that buyers know diamonds don't spoil," Millman says. "They retain their value."

Flags fly outside the General Motors world headquarters in Detroit, Michigan, last week.

This morning GM filed for bankruptcy of protection. A long suffered patient met his destiny at last. An era is over.

What Am I to You

Rendered by: Norah Jones

from Album “Feels like Home”

what am i to you
tell me darling true
to me you are the sea
fast as you can be
and deep the shade of blue
when you're feeling low
to whom else do you go
see i cry if you hurt
i'd give you my last shirt
because i love you so
and if my sky should fall
would you even call
opened up my heart
i never want to part
i'm giving you the ball
when i look in your eyes
i can feel the butterflies
i love you when you're blue
tell me darlin true
what am i to you
yah well if my sky should fall
would you even call
opened up my heart
i never wanna part
i'm givin you the ball
i look in your eyes
i can feel the butterflies
could you find a love in me
could you carve me in a tree
don't fill my heart with lies
i will you love when you're blue
tell me darlin true
what am i to you
what am i to you
what am i to you