A year from 2005-03-16: In memory of the rebirth of SMTH

In 3/16/2006, as the result of one of the most stupid and disgusting decisions made by the adminstration of "you know who" department, the original SMTH BBS was forced to reject any connection from outside Tsinghua. (See my archived posts or wikipedia for more details.) Tens of thousands of users, who suffered this sudden loss, would not easily give up their precious online paradise, which, first opened in 1995, was one of the earliest BBS (online forum) in China. They tried all sorts of ways, hoped that the decision could be reversed. But all those efforts were in vain. At last, when all hopes seemed to be faded, they had to use the last resort: to set up a new server, and make it independent of the university. This is how NewSMTH.net comes into being, recognized as the rebirth of SMTH. One of the original domain names of SMTH, smth.org, have been redirected to the new site after it is set up.

From then on, I have not been to bbs.tsinghua.edu.cn, although I have been told a few months later that they re-open the site with some restrictions (such as requiring registration with real names). I know it is no longer the same site I have been constantly visiting since the end of 1996. It is no longer the wonderland that we can freely discuss technologies and share jokes.

Fortunately, we have the newsmth. It might not be perfect, but it is some place we love. May a bright future be with you!

Front page of www.NewSMTH.net on March 16, 2006

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Good news and an interesting article

Congratulations on vv's passing the qualify exam!

And here is an interesting article:
《出租司机给我上的MBA课》by 刘润。

BTW, is there something like "trackback" here at blogger?

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找对联有感

苟有恒，何必三更眠五更起
最无益，莫过一日曝十日寒

很早以前听过这么一幅对联，今天用到但是个别字眼不是很确定，于是临时上网搜索了一下。相关的结果不少，但其中有个别字眼上却有出入。例如，有的版本用的是“贵有恒”而不是“苟有恒”，有的版本说“三更起五更眠”而不是“三更眠五更起”，还有的用“只怕”取代“莫过”。平仄押韵啥的我不太懂，只能根据语义上判断。从意思上看，“贵”跟“苟”在这里的区别不是很大，感觉都有可能；“只怕”和“莫过”也差不多；“三更眠五更起”似乎就不太合理了。于是我选了上面的那个版本。

当我想查它的出处的时候，又发现了一些矛盾的地方。有人认为它是毛泽东的作品，但根据焦凤鸣发表在《新闻战线》（2004年第1期）的一篇名为《“治学联”不可张冠李戴》的文章，此联是明朝学者胡居仁（1434——1484）所作，而非毛泽东原创——虽然后者当年在湖南第一师范求学时，曾把这副对联抄录于床头，作为座右铭。

我无法也没有时间去考证到底哪个说法才是对的。对我来说不确定的东西只能尽量不去用它。也许应该有什么人、某个企业或者政府部门给个比较可靠的出处来供大家参考。互联网上类似的问题是屡见不鲜的。传统媒体如报纸、新闻本来应该做得好一点，但现在也没有把好关，经常错别字连篇，很多时候还成了以讹传讹的帮凶。也许编辑们关心的都是别的问题，比如“和谐”。

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