Three fashion indicators under economic crisis

1. lipstick indicator 口红指数

One Depression-era pattern in female spending was the 25 percent increase in cosmetics sales. When a similar spike occurred during the economic doldrums of 1990 and 2001, this type of consumer behavior didn't elude Leonard Lauder, chairman of Estee Lauder Companies, which manufacture the cosmetic lines Estee Lauder, Clinique and MAC.

Lauder took particular interest in the rise in lipstick purchases. In the fall of 2001, when the economy buckled after the Sept. 11 attacks, Estee Lauder lipstick sales jumped 11 percent. That trend in discretionary (or nonessential) spending has become known as the lipstick indicator.

When women can't afford pricier indulgences, Lauder mused, lipstick offers a cheaper compromise. If a woman aches for a new Chanel handbag that far exceeds her budget, opting for a $30 tube of lipstick may feel like a thrifty shopping decision. Also, women who wear lipstick probably reapply at least a few times per day. Such instant gratification can ease the urge to shop more.

2. Hemline index 裙长指数

The shorter the skirt the stronger the economy, at least that's how the theory goes

In 1926 US economist George Taylor coined the theory of the hemline index. It was a kind of frock exchange using skirt lengths as a signal of the state of the economy .

Anyone applying this theory to the New York autumn/winter 2008 shows, would predict that we are hurtling towards a recession. Hemlines at Marc Jacobs, Jonathan Saunders and Phillip Lim were all resolutely below the knee.

Looking back over the decades it is easy to see why the connection has been made: a glimpse of leg gives a sense of independence and confidence; a sweeping skirt is a sign of modesty and austerity.

3. Hairstyle Index 发型指数

It is almost a century since the US economist George Taylor came up with the revolutionary "hemline index". Now the fashion world has finally offered up an alternative indicator of the country's economic state. The length of women's hair may no longer be seen as a result of the vagaries of fashion, but as an accurate barometer of the nation's wealth.

Japanese researchers have found that when economies are doing well, women wear their hair long; when there is a slump, they cut it short.

People enjoy fewer material pleasures in periods of recession, so want more visual pleasures, and there's more variation among short haircuts than long

If it is not love…

A girl and a boy were on a motorcycle, speeding through the night. They loved each other a lot.

girl: slow down a little.. i’m scared..
boy: no, it’s so fun.. 　　
girl: please...it’s so scary.. 　
boy: then say that you love me..
girl: fine..ilove you..can you slow down now 　　
boy: give me a big hug..
the girl gave him a big hug. 　　
girl: now can you slow down 　　
boy: can you take off my helmet and put it on, it’s uncomfortable and it’s bothering me while i drive. 　　

Then next day, there was a story in the newspaper, a motorcycle had crashed into a building because its brakes were broken. There were two people on the motorcycle, of which one died, and the other had survived... 　　
The guy knew that the brakes were broken. He didn’t want to let the girl now, because he knew that the girl would have gotten scared. 　　
Instead, he was told the last time that she loved him, got a hug from her, put his helmet on her so that she can live, and die himself...
Once in a while, right in the middle of an ordinary life, love gives us a fairytale...

No Painful Waking Up

The slower you build up energy in the morning, the more painful waking up will be. What's better, spending thirty minutes wrestling with the snooze button followed by an hour ramp up to normal mental functioning or quickly starting the day with energy?

Here are a few things to reduce the transition period from being asleep to becoming fully alert. Not only does speeding up this wake-up process save time, it makes waking up less of a struggle.

­1. Light 灯光

Your body's natural clock is tuned to the amount of light. Turn on all the lights in your room right after waking up. Getting bright lights can help trick your body into thinking it is time to get out of bed.

­2. Exercise 运动热身

Put something physical right at the start of your morning. In the summer, I did a quick morning run and found it helpful in shaking off any sleepiness. Considering the outside temperature hovers around -30 C, I've stuck to doing a few pushups in my room. The exercise gets your heart pumping and snaps you out of a groggy state.

­

3. The 10-Minute Rule 10分钟原则

If you want to stick with a consistent wake-up time, practice the ten-minute rule. This means you commit to staying awake for at least the next ten minutes. Once you get over that initial period, the temptation to go back to bed is usually gone.

­4. Active Work 主动的工作

Start your day with work that actively uses your mind. Creative activities like writing, drawing, programming or designing work better than passive activities like reading. By focusing your mind early you can stay focused and brush off any unwanted drowsiness.

­5. Don't Skip Breakfast 吃好早餐

Wake up early enough to get something to eat. Skipping meals throw your metabolism out of balance, causing you to gain fat and lose energy. Skipping breakfast also means your blood sugar will be low in the morning and energy levels down.

­6. Commit to a Sleep Schedule 按时睡觉

The obvious solution to combat sleepiness is to get more rest at night. Carrying a sleep debt throughout the week with the hopes of paying it off on the weekend is a bad strategy. Instead, compress your work into the morning hours so you can get the 6-8 hours you need each night.

­7. Turn Up the Volume 播放音乐

I've found listening to music or audio books helpful in keeping myself awake during the morning. Best of all, if you put on an audio book from your favorite speaker, you can get some encouragement to start your day.

From:http://tr.hjenglish.com/page/69309/

What has made the learning of Chinese difficult?

In some foreigners eyes', the learning of Chinese has become the most difficult thing for them. The tones of Chinese and Chinese characters all seem to be a difficulty. Then what has made the learning of Chinese difficult?

Top 1 Because the writing system is ridiculousThe beauty of the characters is indisputable, but these ideograms weren't too practical for daily use. It is absolutely true that Chinese is hard because of the huge number of characters one has to learn. And Chinese is not very phonetic, which means that often you just completely forget how to write a character, if there is no obvious semantic clue in the radical, and no helpful phonetic component somewhere in the character

Top 2 Because the language doesn't have the common sense to use an alphabetThe English is so easy because of the skills needed to master the writing system are 26 letters and they are written from left to right ,horizontally, across the page, with spaces to indicate word boundaries. In comparison, Chinese has nothing that corresponds to an alphabet, though there are recurring components that make up the characters. It can be said that the components of Chinese characters are arrayed in two dimensions, rather than in the neat one-dimensional rows of alphabetic writing.

Top 3 Because even looking up a word in the dictionary is complicatedOne of the most unreasonably difficult things about learning Chinese is that merely learning how to look up a word in the dictionary is about the equivalent of an entire semester of secretarial school. Chinese must also be one of the most dictionary-intensive languages on earth for there are various dictionaries

Top 4 Because there's classical Chinese (wenyanwen)Whereas modern Mandarin is merely perversely hard, classical Chinese is deliberately impossible. Classical Chinese really consists of several centuries of esoteric anecdotes and in-jokes written in a kind of terse, miserly code for dissemination among a small, elite group of intellectually-inbred bookworms who already knew the whole literature backwards and forwards.

Top 5 Because there are too many romanization methods and they all suckPerhaps that's too harsh, but it is true that there are too many of them, and most of them were designed either by committee or by linguists, or -- even worse -- by a committee of linguists. It is, of course, a very tricky task to devise a romanization method; some are better than others, but all involve plenty of counterintuitive spellings.

Top 6 Because tonal languages are weirdIt's one of the most common complaints about learning Chinese, and it's also one of the aspects of the language that westerners are notoriously bad at. As non-native speakers, you must memorize along with the vowels and consonants. The real difficulty comes in when you start to really use Chinese to express yourself. Intonation and stress habits are incredibly ingrained and second-nature.

Top 7 Because there is culture differenceOne of the main reasons Chinese is so difficult for westerners is that the culture between the East and the West has been isolated for so long. China has had extensive contact with the West in the last few decades, but there is still a vast sea of knowledge and ideas that is not shared by both cultures. When westerners and Chinese get together, there is often not just a language barrier, but an immense cultural barrier as well.

ESPN interview with LeBron James personal series

LeBron James 08 season best 10 ball

LeBron James NIKE ads

My shopping experience

Like most of the female students,I like shopping.And in suzhou,the place we usually go to shop is The Guanqian Street.There are two department stores in the westside of the street that both sell well,one is called Dayang,and the other is The No.1 Department Store.
They take different business strategies.Dayang always gives their customers shopping voucher if the customer buy many things from it. For example,you buy 600RMB things,they give you 300BMB voucher to buy more.For me, I don't like this way,because I don't like to buy many things at one time.But maybe it is to your profit if you and your friends buy things together. Instead, I like The No.1 department store better . Because they usually give their customers a direct discount in the promotion activities. So I won't anxious about why this clothes cost me 599 RMB that I can't have the shopping voucher.

Kobe personally teach you "凌波微步", you may not be satisfied

11-year-old boy American amazing basketball talent

Seven times have I despised my soul

Seven times have I despised my soul:

我的心悲伤过七次

Kahlil Gibran，1883—1931 纪伯伦

The first time when I saw her being meek that she might attain height.

第一次，是当我看到她本可进取，却故作谦卑时。

The second time when I saw her limping before the crippled.

第二次，是当我看到她在瘸子面前跛行而过时。

The third time when she was given to choose between the hard and the easy, and she chose the easy.

第三次，是当她在难易之间，却选择了容易时。

The fourth time when she committed a wrong, and comforted herself that others also commit wrong.

第四次，是当她犯了错，却借由别人也会犯错来宽慰自己时。

The fifth time when she forbore for weakness, and attributed her patience to strength.

第五次，是当她因为软弱而忍让，却声称为自己的坚韧时。

The sixth time when she despised the ugliness of a face, and knew not that it was one of her own masks.

第六次，是当她鄙夷一张丑恶的嘴脸，却不知那正是自己面具中的一副时。

And the seventh time when she sang a song of praise, and deemed it a virtue.

第七次，是当她吟唱赞歌，却自诩为一种美德时。

Honor on Kobe Bryant——04

Honor on Kobe Bryant——03

Honor on Kobe Bryant——02

Honor on Kobe Bryant——01