Richard Roman's Blog (150)

Mason is this jolly chap who keeps stealing content from this site and posting it elsewhere without asking us! Jolly good show. That is what I like to see - ethical business practices!

Anyway - he is very elusive - no-one has ever seen him! Is he the figment of some master of the Universe?

We seek him here!

We seek him there!

We Frenchies seek him everywhere

Is he in heaven?

Is he in hell?

Come on Mason, please…

The Harbin-Dalian high-speed rail will officially open on July 1st. Once open, the trip from Changchun to Dalian will only take two hours, and the trip from Changchun to Harbin or Shenyang will only take about an hour.

http://www.echinacities.com/changchun/city-in-pulse/changchun-dalian-high-speed-rail-opens-on-july-1st.html

I have created a new box on the front page to link to useful websites which are relevant for living in Changchun

I have started off with two:

ChangchunLive

and

an online site for learning Chinese

The box can be found under the Videos.

If you know of other useful sites, please let us know and we will put them in

While former U.S. president Richard Nixon was advised to avoid drinking "baijiu," or Chinese liquor, during his visit in 1972, the emperors of a 1,000-year-old dynasty craved the drink, according to researchers in northeast China's Jilin province who are working to analyze the oldest alcohol-distilling devices ever found in the country.

Feng Enxue, an archaeologist from Jilin University, said Monday that researchers have been brought in to study two large iron boilers, as well as…

All hail the firgotten fountain pen - from the letters page of the daily Telegraph

 awesome and funny!

http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/MJDI-f11zf4

I'm up for it it!

Most of the world drives on the right side of the road, but a minority of countries drive on the left. How do countries decide which side they’ll drive on

The answer varies from country to country, but in most cases, the side a country drives on comes down to history and economics. In feudal Europe, people would travel on the left side of the road because most people were right-handed and wanted the arm that they used for their sword (or other weapon) between them and anyone…

......British people tend to give this question due reverence – as, indeed, do our kindred in the Anglopshere, from Bombay to Bermuda. I've found, though, that the only EU states where you can rely on decent tea are those which, at one time or another, were under the Crown: Ireland, Malta and Cyprus. Elsewhere in Europe, tea means half a cup of lukewarm water with the teabag, still wrapped in paper, on the saucer.......

Some of the comments are great! here are one or two of…

Oh Dear!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2129385/Exhausted-man-flees-night-stand-demands-sex.html

I love the bit at the end where it states:

If that wasn't enough, when officers arrived she even tried to lure them into her den.  

here is an updated version of the famous Sgt pepers album done by the same artist peter Bllake. Who has been added?…

Some amazing photos of London life at the lower end in the 1870's

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2123212/Black-white-pictures-capture-lives-Londoners-1800s.html

I don't really count the Aussies as they just shorten perfectly good words such as barbeque to barbie

With the aim of avoiding such fraught linguistic ambiguities, I have produced, below, a list of the British words  along with their American equivalents. God save the Queen!

Wellies: Rubber boots

Newsagent: Newsdealer

Candy floss: Cotton candy

Flat: Apartment

Bum bag: Fanny pack

Holiday: Vacation

Victoria sponge: Sponge…

LOL! This is funny

I love the way that Batman shakes all the police officers hands!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newsvideo/weirdnewsvideo/9177439/Batman-and-his-Batmobile-pulled-over-by-police.html

Just missing out on a top 10 spot was Switzerland in 11th place. The United States came fourth while the United Kingdom came 28th, below Hong Kong (13th), Korea (15th), France (20th), Singapore (26th) and the Czech Republic (27th).

Top 10 happiest countries

1. Norway

Life expectancy at birth (years): 81.1

Income (GNI per capita): US$47,557

Population: 4.9 million

2.…

Idi Amin. Idi Amin, dictator of Uganda in the 1970s, was fascinated with Scottish culture, giving his sons Scottish names and declaring himself King of Scotland. He also had a deep appreciation for bagpipe music—even attempting to create a personal bodyguard comprised of 6’4” bagpipe-playing Scotsmen.

Kim…

For all our lambton friends - I came across this article

http://www.theobserver.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3499971&;

At first glance, Bert VandenHeuvel and Yisha Wang don’t have a whole lot in common.

VandenHeuvel is a 73-year-old retired teacher and lifelong Sarnian, while Wang is a 22-year-old business administration student from northeastern…

Here are the final 10 matches for the season - with the eventual winners - Congrats to City!

Man Utd - 89 points

Wolves -a W

Fulham - h W

Blackburn -W

QPR - W

Wigan - L

Aston Villa - W

Everton - D

Man City - L

Swansea - W

Sunderland - W

Man City - 89points

Chelsea - h W

Stoke -a…

Kris, who is a good friend and is a member here is quoted:

Nordic and downhill ski venues are cropping up across China’s northern provinces, according to Kris Van de Velde, director of sport for Nordic Ways International, the Swedish company that organizes Vasaloppet China in partnership with local authorities. But although many here still regard skiing as an activity one tries for novelty’s sake - like bungee jumping - young Chinese are beginning to consider it a…