timeline, Swan song, storyline, monsoon, hot air

MIT Technology Review

Facebook might understand your romantic prospects better than you do. (via The Atlantic)








When You Fall in Love, This Is What Facebook Sees
“During the 100 days before the relationship starts, we observe a slow but steady increase in the number of timeline posts shared between the future couple.”
THEATLANTIC.COM|作者：ROBINSON MEYER

How do I post to my Timeline? | Facebook Help Center | Facebook

Your Timeline is where you can see your posts or posts you've been tagged in displayed by date. YourTimeline is also part of your profile. You can post to your ...

動態時報

How do I post to my Timeline? | Facebook Help Center | Facebook

Your Timeline is where you can see your posts or posts you've been tagged in displayed by date. YourTimeline is also part of your profile. You can post to your ...

動態時報

Vanity Fair

“They’re like people in a heat wave waiting for the monsoon.”

Silicon Valley’s Exodus Begins

Hot air isn’t the only thing escaping the tech bubble.

VNTYFR.COM|由 MAYA KOSOFF 上傳

Photo: A student sat barefoot in a flooded classroom at Lopang Domba Elementary School in Serang, Indonesia. The school has flooded during each monsoon season for more than seven years.

More in Pictures of the Day on Lens: http://nyti.ms/1bvsSpP

Oh, for the Days of a Courtly Vampire’s Love

By MIKE HALE 5:16 PM ET

“True Blood,” which begins its sixth season on HBO, signals an effort to return to simpler story lines.

timeline

Pronunciation: /ˈtʌɪmlʌɪn/

Definition of timeline

noun

a graphical representation of a period of time, on which important events are marked.

storyline

Pronunciation: /ˈstɔːrɪlʌɪn/

Definition of storyline

noun

the plot of a novel, play, film, or other narrative form.

 Intel Historic Timeline

1989 Intel announces the 80486 processor Red X advertisement campaign begins, which is target directly at consumers, not manufactures ...

Swan song

Meaning
A final gesture or performance, given before dying.
Origin
This term derived from the legend that, while they are mute during the rest of their lives, swans sing beautifully and mournfully just before they die. This isn't actually the case - swans, even the inaccurately named Mute Swans, have a variety of vocal sounds and they don't sing before they die. The legend was known to be false as early as the days of ancient Greece, when Pliny the Elder refuted it in Natural History, AD 77:

"Observation shows that the story that the dying swan sings is false."

Nevertheless, poetic imagery proved to be more attractive than scientific method and many poets and playwrights made use of the fable long after Pliny's observations. Chaucer included this line in the poem Parliament of Fowles:

The Ialous swan, ayens his deth that singeth. [The jealous swan, sings before his death]

Shakespeare, the Swan of Avon no less, used the image in The Merchant of Venice, 1596:

Portia: Let music sound while he doth make his choice; then, if he lose, he makes a swan-like end, fading in music.

The actual term 'swan song', with its current figurative meaning, doesn't crop up in print until the 18th century. The Scottish cleric Jon Willison used the expression in one of his Scripture Songs, 1767, where he refers to "King David's swan-song".
The poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) turned the phrase on its head in the poem On a Volunteer Singer:

Swans sing before they die; ’twere no bad thing
Did certain persons die before they sing.

If people ever did believe in the 'singing before death' story, few would now claim to do so. 'Swan-song' is now used figuratively and most commonly to refer to celebrated performers embarking on 'farewell tours' or 'final performances'. Those ironic quote marks were never more appropriate than in the case of Nellie Melba, whose swan song consisted of an eight year long string of 'final concerts' between 1920 and 1928. This led to the popular Australian phrase - 'more farewells than Nellie Melba'.

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monsoon

Pronunciation: /mɒnˈsuːn/

Translate monsoon | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish

noun

• a seasonal prevailing wind in the region of South and South East Asia, blowing from the south-west between May and September and bringing rain (the wet monsoon), or from the north-east between October and April (the dry monsoon).
• the rainy season accompanying the wet monsoon.

Derivatives

monsoonal

adjective

Origin:

late 16th century: from Portuguese monção, from Arabic mawsim 'season', from wasama 'to mark, brand'

monsoon

 

音節

mon • soon

発音

mɑnsúːn | mɔn-

レベル

社会人必須

monsoonの変化形

monsoons (複数形)

[名]

1 ((the 〜))モンスーン：インド洋・南アジアで吹く季節風

the dry monsoon
冬モンスーン（北東風）

the wet monsoon
夏モンスーン（南西風）.

2 ((the 〜))（インド・南アジアの）夏モンスーン期, 雨期.

3 （一般に）季節風；海陸風；((略式))豪雨, 大雨.

［オランダ語←アラビア語mawsim（季節）］

mon・soon・al

[形]

exordium, mob,softie, softy, lynch mob, softening economy

Scarily accurate...

Someone made a map of the world according to Donald Trump

INDY100.COM

Don Juan: CANTO THE TENTH

I

When Newton saw an apple fall, he found

In that slight startle from his contemplation --

'T is said (for I'll not answer above ground

For any sage's creed or calculation) --

A mode of proving that the earth turn'd round

In a most natural whirl, called "gravitation;"

And this is the sole mortal who could grapple,

Since Adam, with a fall or with an apple. II

Man fell with apples, and with apples rose,

If this be true; for we must deem the mode

In which Sir Isaac Newton could disclose

Through the then unpaved stars the turnpike road,

A thing to counterbalance human woes:

For ever since immortal man hath glow'd

With all kinds of mechanics, and full soon

Steam-engines will conduct him to the moon. III

And wherefore this exordium? -- Why, just now,

In taking up this paltry sheet of paper,

My bosom underwent a glorious glow,

And my internal spirit cut a caper:

And though so much inferior, as I know,

To those who, by the dint of glass and vapour,

Discover stars and sail in the wind's eye,

I wish to do as much by poesy.

softening economy

G-7 Softens Criticism of China's Currency Policy

The U.S. and its major allies softened their criticism of China's controversial currency policy.

As Credit Tightens, the Auto Industry Feels the Pain

By ERIC DASH 6:28 PM ET

Squeezed by the credit crunch and the softening economy, the American auto industry faces what may be its worst year in more than a decade.

At Foreclosure Auction, Misery of Many Becomes the Fortune of Some

By FERNANDA SANTOS 32 minutes ago

A mob of potential buyers convened at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York on Sunday to bid on foreclosed homes at below-market prices.

Today in History

The Beatles in the US, 1964

• British invasion: The Beatles arrived in US for the first time and were mobbed at JFK International Airport (1964)

‘I Will Fight,’ Blagojevich Unapologetically Vows 
By SUSAN SAULNY and MONICA DAVEY
Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich broke his public silence, denying any criminal wrongdoing and vowing to fight what he called “false accusations and a political lynch mob.”



lynch mob noun [C]
a group of people who want to attack someone whom they think has committed a serious crime


mob (GATHER)
verb [T usually passive] -bb-
to gather around someone in a crowd to express admiration, interest or anger:
They were mobbed by fans when they arrived at the theatre.
Let's not go to the Old Town tonight - it's always mobbed (= there are always a lot of people there) on Fridays.

mob
verb [I or T] -bb-
When a group of birds or small animals mob a fierce bird or animal that is hunting them, they attack it together and force it to go away.
tr.v., mobbed, mob·bing, mobs.

1. To crowd around and jostle or annoy, especially in anger or excessive enthusiasm: Eager fans mobbed the popular singer.
2. To crowd into: Visitors mobbed the fairgrounds.
3. To attack in large numbers; overwhelm: The quarterback was mobbed by the defensive line.

mob (CROWD)
group noun
1 [C] USUALLY DISAPPROVING a large angry crowd, especially one which could easily become violent:
The angry mob outside the jail was/were ready to riot.
a lynch mob
Fifty people were killed in three days of mob violence.

2 [C] INFORMAL a group of people who are friends or who are similar in some way:
The usual mob were/was hanging out at the bar.

3 [S] INFORMAL an organization of criminals:
a New York mob leader
See also mobster.

mob

 

━━ n. 群れ; 暴徒の群; ((形容詞的)) 暴民の; 〔軽蔑〕 （the ～） 大衆; ((形容詞的)) 大衆の; 〔話〕 盗賊の一味.
━━ v. （-bb-） 周りに群がる, 取囲む; 群をなして襲う.
 mob・cap　(18-19世紀ごろの）室内用婦人帽.
 mob law　暴民政治, リンチ.
 mob psychology　群集心理.
 mob・ster
　〔俗〕 ギャング, 暴力団（員）.

soft (GENTLE)
adjective
1 not forceful, loud or easily noticed:
a soft voice/sound
soft music/lighting
a soft glow

2 DISAPPROVING not severe or forceful enough, especially in criticizing or punishing someone who has done something wrong:
She thinks I'm too soft on the kids when they misbehave.
The government can't be seen to be taking a soft line (= not being severe enough) with criminals.

soften
verb [I or T]
to become more gentle, or to make someone do this:
The news will upset him - we must think of a way to soften the blow (= make the news less unpleasant for him).
Would you say the government's stance on law and order has softened?

softie, softy
noun [C] INFORMAL
a kind, gentle person who is not forceful, looks for the pleasant things in life and can be easily persuaded to do what you want them to

softly
adverb
gently:
She speaks softly but usually gets her own way.



soft (NOT HARD)
adjective
1 not hard or firm:
soft ground
a soft pillow/mattress
soft cheese
I like chocolates with soft centres.
Soft tissue, such as flesh, allows X-rays through.

2 describes things, especially parts of the body, which are not hard or rough and feel pleasant and smooth when touched:
soft lips/cheeks/skin/hair
soft leather

3 INFORMAL DISAPPROVING Someone who is soft is not very healthy and strong:
Look at you! You need more exercise. You're going/getting soft.

soften
verb [I or T]
to become soft, or to make something soft:
You can soften the butter by warming it gently.
These dried apples will soften (up) if you soak them in water.

softener C or U]
a substance used to make something soft:
(a) fabric softener

softness 

exordium

n., pl. -di·ums or -di·a (-dē-ə).
A beginning or introductory part, especially of a speech or treatise.

[Latin, from exōrdīrī, to begin : ex-, intensive pref.; see ex– + ōrdīrī, to begin.]

exordial ex·or'di·al adj.

Quince

Dominic Cheung 新增了 2 張相片。

Quince, the pride of winter.
榲桲，冬的驕傲，花極美，果極香。

孫金君 神話𥚃的金蘋果！

Quince
Cydonia oblonga fruit and tree

Cultural associations[edit]

• ...Although the book of Genesis does not name the specific type of the fruit that Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden of Eden, some ancient texts suggest Eve's fruit of temptation might have been a quince.^[20]
• In Plutarch's Lives, Solon is said to have decreed that "bride and bridegroom shall be shut into a chamber, and eat a quince together."^[21]
• In the famous children's poem, "The Owl and the Pussycat" by Edward Lear (1871), "they dined on mince and slices of quince ..."

tresses, perfectionate

When Parisians learned last week that President François Hollande paid his hairdresser more than $10,000 a month to cut his hair, a howl was heard from Montmartre to the Marais. Not since President Bill Clinton shut down two runways in 1993 for a $200 trim aboard Air Force One have the tresses of a head of state been so widely discussed.


"We are unfashioned creatures, but half made up, if one wiser, better, dearer than ourselves — such a friend ought to be — do not lend his aid to perfectionate our weak and faulty natures."
--Victor Frankenstein from FRANKENSTEIN by Mary Shelley



 Long, long, let me bite your black and heavy tresses. When I gnaw your elastic and rebellious hair I seem to be eating memories.” 

【髮茨中的半球】

『讓我久久地咬碎妳濃密的,黑色地髮瓣.當我咬妳那富於彈性且具有叛逆性的頭髮時候,我好像在吞食回憶。』

Brune/Blonde, The Online Exhibition, 2010 A hemisphere in your hair, Charles Baudelaire, 1862 1 Charles BAUDELAIRE A hemisphere in your hair (Published in 1862 in, Le Spleen de Paris). 

tress 

Pronunciation: /trɛs/ 

NOUN

(usually tresses)

A long lock of a woman’s hair:her golden tresses tumbled about her face

More example sentencesSynonyms

VERB

[WITH OBJECT] archaic

Arrange (a person’s hair) into long locks.

Derivatives

tressed

ADJECTIVE

[USUALLY IN COMBINATION]: a blonde-tressed sex symbol

More example sentences

tressy

ADJECTIVE

Origin

Middle English: from Old French tresse, perhaps based on Greek trikha 'threefold'.

perfectionate

Pronunciation: /pəˈfɛkʃəneɪt/  /pəˈfɛkʃ(ə)neɪt/ 

Now rare

VERB

[WITH OBJECT] To bring to perfection; to make perfect or complete; to perfect; to make (a person) perfect in (a study, etc.).

Origin

Late 16th century; earliest use found in John Foxe (?1517–1587), martyrologist. Fromperfection + -ate, after Middle French perfectionner. Compare Catalan perfeccionar, Spanishperfeccionar, Italian perfezionare.

foregather, far-fetched, round out/round off, Shangri-La

Driverless cars arrived in 2016. Our video exploring how this seemingly farfetched future came to pass was one of our most popular this year

Mars has always been Shangri-La for space buffs. But past private missions were aborted or very far-fetched. From the archive



There are good reasons to object both to the timing and the details of the spending cuts. But the idea that they will produce anything like a stripped-down state looks far-fetched.
我们有充分的理由反对支出削减的时机和细节。但认为这将缔造一个“瘦身”政府的想法，听上去也太牵强了。

Samsung Readies New iPod Rival

Samsung will sell a stripped-down version of its Galaxy S smartphone as a digital media player, move that will round out a series of Galaxy-named gadgets that matches Apple product for product.

Shangri-La 

Pronunciation: /ˌʃaŋɡrɪˈlɑː/ 

1A Tibetan utopia in James Hilton’s novel Lost Horizon (1933).

1.1(as noun a Shangri-La) A place regarded as an earthly paradise, especially when involving a retreat from the pressures of modern civilization:we moved out of Los Angeles and created this mountain-top Shangri-La

More example sentences

Origin

From Shangri (an invented name) + Tibetan la 'mountain pass'.

round out

1. See round off, def. 2.
2. Grow or develop to a round form, as in The tree was spindly when first planted, but it has since rounded out nicely. [c. 1900]

round off

1. Change a number to the closest whole number or the closest multiple of 10. For example, Rounding it off, I expect the new school addition will cost a million dollars.
2. Also, round out. Finish, complete, especially in a neat or perfect way. For example, They rounded off the dinner with a magnificent liqueur, or That stamp rounded out his collection. [Mid-1700s; variant, mid-1800s] Also see round out.

far-fetched (färfcht)

adj.

Not readily believable because of improbable elements therein: a far-fetched analogy; a far-fetched excuse.

[kjv] And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.
[bbe] So Judah and Israel were living safely, every man under his vine and his fig-tree, from Dan as far as Beer-sheba, all the days of Solomon. 】
It was Mrs. McCool's night to go with the can for beer. So she fetched
it and sat with Mrs. Purdy in one of those subterranean retreats where
house-keepers foregather and the worm dieth seldom.

王永年譯：「這晚輪到麥克庫爾太太去打啤酒。她去打了酒來，

同珀迪太太一起坐在地下室裡。那種地下 室是房東們聚會的地方、也是蠕蟲不會死的地方*。」

hc評：去『拿罐子』漏了。不過加一注，相當精彩。*參見新約馬 可 福 音 第9章第48節：「在那裏（地獄）蟲是不死的、火是不滅的。」

for·gath·er (fôr-găTH'ər, fōr-)

also fore·gath·er
intr.v., -ered, also -ered, -er·ing, -er·ing, -ers, -ers.

1. To gather together; assemble.
2. To meet another, especially by accident.

Meaning #1: collect in one place
Synonyms: meet, gather, assemble, foregather