Maxime's life & work

廣東省預測2015年經濟總量可超韓國 廣東省經濟總量去年已經超越臺灣
本報產業部記者 金承范 (2008.01.29 15:10)

全方位投資中國》1億家庭消費力完全引爆 ( 2007/10/29 18:10 鄭國強 )

resource from: http://www.meaningfullife.com/social/
Women & Men - Different but Equal?
After thousands of years of male dominance, we now stand at the beginning of the feminine era, when women will rise to their appropriate prominence, and the entire world will recognize the harmony between man and woman
-- The Rebbe A couple who was having communication problems came to see the Rebbe. The woman said that her husband was consumed with his work, and that when he finally found time to speak with her, he criticized her and ordered her around. The husband said that his wife had no respect for him and didn’t listen to any of his suggestions.
“Why do you think your wife should listen to you?” the Rebbe asked. “Because a woman must listen to her husband,” he replied.
“But why should a woman listen to her husband?” the Rebbe asked. “Because the man is the master of the house.”
“No,” said the Rebbe. “The first thing that you as a man must follow is the edict that ‘a man should honor his wife more than he does himself.’ And then the righteous woman will have a husband she can respect and love. If the man does not fulfill his role, then it is the woman who must respectfully bring it to his attention.”

resource from: http://www.spiked-online.com/Articles/0000000CA4A5.htm
Are the visual arts racist?
Trying to be equal but different
[26-Mar-2004]
Working as a critic in the London art world, it is true that I rarely encounter a black or Asian artist, curator or critic - and certainly no collectors! But we have to consider carefully what we infer by this absence. The art world is not, by and large, particularly representative of broader British society, and if we approach the 'evidence' of racism merely on the basis of the marginal representation of black and Asian practitioners, we could just as easily come to a whole other set of negative conclusions about who the art world represents.

The public art world has indeed 'bent over backwards' over the past decade to encourage representation, participation and inclusion; but such attention is damned if it does and damned if it doesn't include black artists. Black critics of arts policy such as Raimi Gbadamosi accuse multiculturalism of tokenism and containment by an intractably white, conservative middle-class art establishment, while old-fart white conservatives such as David Lee accuse multiculturalism of tokenism and the imposition of politically correct agendas by贰n intractably lefty, bleeding-heart liberal art establishment!

Clearly there is a fantasy art world, which both Gbadamosi and Lee inhabit, and into which each projects their particular political and cultural anxieties, and there is a real art world, in which a complicated, imbalanced mix of people and interests has to face a political culture that assumes that racism is everywhere in British society. Manick Govinda and Gbadamosi are rightly suspicious of how cultural diversity policy continuously emphasises and ingrains the notion of cultural difference in the name of 'celebrating' it. Unfortunately, they fall for the same contradiction that informs the multiculturalism that they seek to criticise, wanting to be equal while wanting to be recognised as different.

But now that 'recognising' and respecting different identities has become the accepted norm in mainstream culture, multiculturalism's demand for recognition takes on a new character. Rather than confronting the false universalism a racist white culture, multiculturalism now imposes an equally false and unchanging notion of cultural difference, in which the possibility of identities forged out of new encounters and experiences between individuals is constantly restricted.

It is the tension, between wanting to be accepted as an equal in an open and liberal art world, while being constantly encouraged to celebrate one's attachment to a specific culture, that is most destructive to the ambitions of black and Asian arts practitioners. After all, if an artist's work is only understandable to people of one cultural group, how can you expect the rest of the art world to engage with it? Art always has to deal with a process of translation and negotiation in the creation of new cultures of meaning, rather than the lifeless reiteration of fixed meanings and the fixed identities that receive them.

If racism is not a common aspect of art world encounters, the policing of difference is. Rather than the endless hand wringing in response to accusations of 'institutional racism' at the level or art institutions, we should be making a more sober appraisal of both the practical and cultural reasons why black and Asian people do not pursue careers in the visual arts today. People tend to forget that art is a career, and entry into the art world is still dominated by some form of formal training. For young people from already less advantaged economic backgrounds, the prospect of an uncertain future in art may mean studying business instead.

But again, if one's initial encounter with the eccentric world of visual art is already viewed through the lens of one's cultural origins, and the overarching apprehension that what happens in contemporary art is 'for white people', it is hard to see how a creative, open and productive engagement can occur.

JJ Charlesworth, UK

資料來源: http://www.wretch.cc/blog/bajenny&article_id=6113440
《食記》板橋裕民街夜市小吃筆記: 頂好潤餅捲 《食記》板橋裕民街夜市小吃筆記
夜市和四維路交叉口的這間頂好潤餅捲(四維路325號)

Politics and work can be volatile mixtureAs presidential race heats up, injecting ideology on the job has risksresource from:  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22900670/  
By Eve TahminciogluMSNBC contributorupdated 1:50 p.m. ET Feb. 4, 2008Robert, a physical therapist from Wilmington, Del., says he doesn’t like to talk about politics at work because sometimes the discussions get “too volatile.” But in the same breath he launches into how interesting the race for the White House is this time around given that an African-American and a woman are running.

資料來源: http://money.chinatimes.com/newmoney/stat/HotNews_Content.aspx?sid=255792
渣打：人民幣升值 Q2破7

彭媁琳／綜合報導 　在國內通膨壓力和國際美元走貶的影響下，人民幣升值腳步越走越快，兌換美元中間價昨（十九）日，突破七．一六心理關口，達到七．一五七四元人民幣兌換一美元。渣打銀行預測，今年第二季末，人民幣匯率將衝至六字頭的水準。

　自二○○五年七月匯改以來，加計人民銀行的調整幅度，累計人民幣已經升值了一五．四一％。

　渣打銀行經濟師張淑嫻日前指出，人民幣兌換美元匯率，將在今年第二季末，北京奧運前進入「六」字頭的時代，可望在六月底就達到六．九四的水準，全年升值幅度達到九％。摩根士丹利全球研究部門則預測，今年底人民幣匯率將達到六．九五元兌換一美元的水準。

　甚至，也不用等到第二季結束，人民幣匯率就可能升破七．○。人民幣海外無本金遠期交割外匯（NDF），三個月期的報價就達到六．九八二。因此最快在五月份，人民幣匯率就能達到六字頭的水準。

　近期，美元走貶和國內通膨擴大的壓力，是使人民幣頻頻升破歷史價位的主要原因。美國聯準會主席柏南克日前暗示，將繼續降息來刺激美國經濟，致使國際美元價格走貶，堆高了人民幣幣值。

　另外，中國國家統計局昨日發布數據指出，在大雪災的影響下，一月份消費者物價指數（CPI）上漲幅度達到七．一％，是十一年來的新高點。而生產者價格指數（PPI）則較去年同期上升六．一％，創下三年來的新高。

　同時一月份廣義貨幣供給量（M2）較去年同期增加了一八．九四％，是為十九個月以來成長最快的月份。各項經濟數據無不顯示出，中國大陸內部通貨膨漲的壓力與日俱增，尤其是在雪災之後更為明顯。

　就如同過去各界一直呼籲的，中國大陸政府應加速貨幣升值的腳步與幅度，才是徹底改善流動性過剩的最好方法。

resource from: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23278830Chinese factories losing competitive edgeCountry losing claim on cheapness as labor and energy costs riseupdated 2:47 p.m. ET Feb. 21, 2008SHANGHAI, China - The teddy bears selling for $1.40 in Shanghai's IKEA store may be just about the cheapest in town, but they're not made in China — they're stitched and stuffed in Indonesia.The fluffy brown toys reflect a new challenge for China: Its huge economy, which has long offered some of the world's lowest manufacturing costs, is losing its claim on cheapness as factories get squeezed by rising prices for energy, materials and labor.Those expenses, plus higher taxes and stricter enforcement of labor and environmental standards, are causing some manufacturers to leave for lower-cost markets such as Vietnam, Indonesia and India.

French investigators looking for a third traderA possible third person linked to $7 billion scandal at Societe Generaleupdated 8:37 a.m. ET Feb. 19, 2008PARIS - Investigators are trying to confirm the existence of a third person with possible links to a $7 billion trading scandal at French bank Societe Generale SA.A trader and a broker who have been the focus of the investigation made multiple references to a mysterious third trader — known simply as Mat — whom investigators have so far been unable to locate, Isabelle Montagne, a spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutors’ office, said Tuesday.Trader Jerome Kerviel has said he was working alone but that his bosses at Societe Generale must have been aware of his massive positions, and turned a blind eye as long as he was making money for the bank.Investigators are searching for others who could have known about, or participated in, what the bank says was Kerviel’s unauthorized activity. They have questioned broker Moussa Bakir, an employee of Newedge, a joint venture between Societe Generale and Calyon bank, through which Kerviel passed some of his trades.