Warner Baxter (1889-1951)


Warner Baxter (1889-1951)

Warner Leroy Baxter (March 29, 1889 – May 7, 1951) was an American actor, known for his role as The Cisco Kid in In Old Arizona (1929), for which he won the second Academy Award for Best Actor in the 1928–1929 Academy Awards. Warner Baxter started his movie career in silent movies. Baxter's most notable silent films are probably The Great Gatsby (1926) and The Awful Truth (1925). Today The Great Gatsby is one of many lost films of the silent era. When talkies came out, Baxter became even more famous. Baxter's most notable talkies are In Old Arizona (1929) 42nd Street (1932), and the 1931 20 minute short film, The Slippery Pearls.


Quotes·Quotation by Warner Baxter

Warner Baxter as Julian Marsh from 42nd Street

¶ Sawyer, you're going out a youngster, but you've got to come back a star!


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warner_Baxter

Vera WANG (王薇薇, 1949- )

Vera Wang (王薇薇)


Vera Ellen Wang (Chinese: 王薇薇; pinyin: Wáng Wēiwēi; born June 27, 1949) is an American fashion designer.[1]



@ I hate phones. All businesses are personal businesses, and I always try my best to get back to people, but sometimes the barrage of calls is so enormous that if I just answered calls I would do nothing else. [Wall Street Journal, Jul 24, 2013]



[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vera_Wang

WANG Ming (王明, 1904-1974)

WANG Ming (王明, 1904-1974)

Wang Ming (Chinese: 王明) (23 May 1904 – 27 March 1974) was a senior leader of the early Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Wang was also a major political rival of Mao Zedong during the 1930s, opposing Mao's nationalist deviation from the Comintern and orthodox Marxism and Leninism lines. The competition between Wang and Mao was a reflection of the power struggle between the Soviet Union, through the vehicle of the Comintern, and the CCP to control both the direction and future of the Chinese revolution.


@ “今天中國面臨的是‘兩國之爭’,即新生的'中華蘇維埃共和國'與腐朽的'中華民國'的鬥爭”,“‘兩國’之爭,決定著中國目前的全部政治生活”,“‘兩國’政權的尖銳對立,是目前中國全部政治生活的核心。(見《王明傳》)
Translation:Today China is facing The struggle between two nations, the struggle between new born Chinese Soviet Republic and the rotten Republic of China, the struggle between these two nations, determined the whole of political life of China, this sharp confrontation between these two regimes, is the core of the total of the current Chinese political life. [華夏歷史:命運多舛的時代:中華民國(大陸時期) (九)]


http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wang_Ming

WANG Zhaojun (王昭君)

WANG Zhaojun (王昭君)

Wang Qiang (王牆 also 王檣; 王嬙), more commonly known by her style name Wang Zhaojun (王昭君) was a real person, born in Baoping Village, Zigui County (in current Hubei Province) in the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC - 8 AD).[1] was sent by Emperor Yuan to marry the Xiongnu Chanyu (呼韓邪) in order to establish friendly relations with the Han Dynasty through marriage. She is famed as one of the Four Beauties of ancient China and her story as a ‘political bride’ has handed down to generations.


Role in the "Four Beauties" legend

According to the most prevalent version of the "Four Beauties" legend, the quartet's members are Xi Shi, Wang Zhaojun, Diao Chan or Diaochan, and Yang Guifei. They are described by four parallel Chinese quotations: "Xi Shi sinks fish; Wang Zhaojun drops birds; Diao Chan eclipses the moon; Yang Guifei shames flowers."[2] Wang Zhaojun's portion of the legend is that on a bright autumn morning she left her hometown on horseback and began a journey northward. Along the way, the horse neighed, making Zhaojun extremely sad and unable to control her emotions. As she sat on the saddle, she began to play sorrowful melodies on a stringed instrument. A flock of geese flying southward heard the music, saw the beautiful young woman riding the horse, immediately forgot to flap their wings, and fell to the ground. From then on, Zhaojun acquired the nickname "fells geese" or "drops birds."


Wang Zhaojun in History

Entering the harem

Wang Zhaojun was born to a prominent family of Baopin village, Zigui country (now Zhaojun village, Xingshan county, Hubei) in the south of the Western Han empire. As she was born when her father was very old, he regarded her as "a pearl in the palm". Wang Zhaojun was endowed with dazzling beauty with extremely intelligent mind. She was also adept in pipa and master all the Four Arts of the Chinese Scholar – Guqin, Weiqi, Calligraphy and Chinese painting. In 36 BC, Emperor Yuan chose his concubines from the whole state. Because of Zhaojun’s fame in the county, she was his first choice for the concubine from Nan county. Emperor Yuan issued the edict that Zhaojun should enter the harem soon. Zhaojun’s father said that his daughter was too young to enter the harem, but could not violate the decree. Zhaojun left her hometown and entered the harem of Emperor Yuan in early summer. According to the custom in the palace, when choosing a new wife, the Emperor was first presented with portraits of all the possible women. It is said that because of Zhaojun's confidence of beauty and temperament, she refused to bribe the artist Mao Shouyan as other women did.[3] As a reprisal, Mao shouyan painted a mole of widowed tears on Zhaojun’s portrait.[4] As a result, during her time in the Lateral Courts, Wang Zhaojun was never visited by the emperor and remained as a palace lady-in-waiting. Wang Zhaojun's portrait was either never viewed by the Emperor, or was not in its true form, and therefore the Emperor overlooked her.[5]

Zhaojun Departs for the Frontier

In 33 BC, Huhanye Chanyu visited Chang'an as part of the tributary system that existed between the Han and Xiongnu governments. He took the opportunity to request to become an imperial son-in-law, which is recorded by Lou Jingde under Emperor Gaozu of Han. As Queen Mother Lü had only one daughter she did not have the heart to send her too far away. Typically the daughter of a concubine would then be offered, but, unwilling to honour Huhanye with a real princess, Emperor Yuan ordered that the plainest girl in the harem be selected.[6] He asked for volunteers and promised to present her as his own daughter. The idea of leaving their homeland and comfortable life at the court for the grasslands of the far and unknown north was abhorrent to most of the young women, but Wang Zhaojun accepted. When the matron of the harem sent the unflattering portrait of Wang Zhaojun to the emperor he merely glanced at it and nodded his approval. Only when summoned to court was Wang Zhaojun’s beauty revealed and the emperor considered retracting his decision to give her to the Xiongnu. However, it was too late by then and, in anguish, the emperor presented Wang Zhaojun to Huhanye, who was delighted. Relations with the Xiongnu subsequently improved and the court artist, Mao Shouyan, was subsequently put to death for deceiving the Emperor.[7]

Life with the Xiongnu

Wang Zhaojun became a favourite of the Huhanye chanyu, giving birth to two sons. Only one of them seems to have survived, Yituzhiyashi (伊屠智牙師). They also had at least one daughter, Yun (雲), who was created Princess Yimuo and who would later become a powerful figure in Xiongnu politics. When Huhanye died in 31 BC, Wang Zhaojun requested to return to China.Emperor Cheng, however, ordered that she follow Xiongnu levirate custom and become the wife of the next shanyu, the oldest brother (or her stepson, born by her husband's first wife) of her husband. In her new marriage she had two daughters.

Wang was honoured as Ninghu Yanzhi(寧胡閼氏 "Hu-Pacifying Chief-Consort").[8]


Evaluation

Zhaojun’s life became the household tale of "Zhaojun Departs the Frontier" (昭君出塞) in the history of the friendship and unity among Chinese nationalities as well as a popular subject in Chinese poetry, drama and novels. She advised Huhanye not to wage war and spread the Han culture and civilization among the Xiongnu tribe. As she was loved and respected by the Xiongnu, Huhanxie Chanyu conferred on her the title of the First Lady of Xiongnu Peace, eulogizing Zhaojun as a queen who had brought peace and security to the Xiongnu tribe. Peace was maintained for over 60 years between China and the Xiongnu with her contribution. Since the 3rd century, the story of Wang Zhaojun had been elaborated upon. The Communist government of the People's Republic of China uses her as a symbol of the integration of Han Chinese and ethnic minorities of China. There is a Memorial to Zhaojun in Inner Mongolia. Although it is called a "Tomb", she is not actually buried there. Her date of death and true grave is unknown.


References

[1]^ "王昭君简介". www.365zn.com.
[2]^ Xinhuanet.com. "纪连海叹说四大美人". Retrieved on 2010-02-20.
[3]^ baike.baidu.com. "王昭君". zhiyang2005.
[4]^ baike.baidu.com. "王昭君". zhiyang2005.
[5]^ baike.baidu.com. "王昭君". zhiyang2005.
[6]^ baike.baidu.com. "王昭君". zhiyang2005.
[7]^ baike.baidu.com. "王昭君". zhiyang2005.
[8]^ baike.baidu.com. "王昭君". zhiyang2005.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Beauties
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_Zhaojun
人物: 王昭君 (Wang Zhaojun)

WANG Anshi (王安石, 1021-1086)

WANG Anshi (王安石, 1021-1086)

Wang Anshi (Chinese: 王安石; December 8, 1021 – May 21, 1086 [3]) was a Chinese economist, statesman, chancellor and poet of the Song Dynasty who attempted controversial, major socioeconomic reforms. These reforms constituted the core concepts and motives of the Reformists, while their nemesis, Chancellor Sima Guang, led the Conservative faction against them.

In economics, his reforms expanded the use of money, broke up private monopolies and introduced some forms of government regulation and social welfare. In military affairs, he supported the use of local militias; and in education and government, he expanded the examination system and tried to suppress nepotism. Though successful for a while, he eventually fell out of favor of the emperor.


References

[1]^ hence referred to as Wáng Jīnggōng 王荊公
[2]^ hence referred to as Wáng Wéngōng 王文公
[3]^ 6th day of the 4th month of Yuanyou 1 (元祐元年四月六日), which corresponds to May 21, 1086 in the Julian calendar.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_Anshi
人物: 王安石 (Wang Anshi, 1021-1086)
人物: 王安石 (왕안석, Wáng ānshí, 1021~1086)

Walt Disney (1901-1966)


Walt Disney (1901-1966)

Walter Elias "Walt" Disney (December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966) was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O. Disney, he was co-founder of Walt Disney Productions, which later became one of the best-known motion picture producers in the world. The corporation is now known as The Walt Disney Company and had an annual revenue of approximately US$36 billion in the 2010 financial year.

Disney is particularly noted as a film producer and a popular showman, as well as an innovator in animation and theme park design. He and his staff created some of the world's most well-known fictional characters including Mickey Mouse, for whom Disney himself provided the original voice. During his lifetime he received four honorary Academy Awards and won twenty-two Academy Awards from a total of fifty-nine nominations, including a record four in one year, giving him more awards and nominations than any other individual in history. Disney also won seven Emmy Awards and gave his name to the Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resort theme parks in the U.S., as well as the international resorts Tokyo Disney, Disneyland Paris, and Disneyland Hong Kong.

The year after his December 15, 1966 death from lung cancer in Burbank, California, construction began on Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. His brother Roy Disney inaugurated the Magic Kingdom on October 1, 1971.


Quotes·Quotation by Walt Disney

Celebrities

¶ I love Mickey Mouse more than any woman I have ever known.

Confidence

¶ Somehow I can’t believe that there are any heights that can’t be scaled by a man who knows the secret of making his dreams come true. This special secret, it seems to me, can be summarized in four C’s. They are curiosity, confidence, courage, and constancy, and the greatest of these is confidence. When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Disney

Walter Benjamin

Walter Benjamin

Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin (July 15, 1892 – September 27, 1940) was a German Jewish literary critic and philosopher. He was at times associated with the Frankfurt School of critical theory, and was also greatly inspired by the Marxism of Bertolt Brecht and the Jewish mysticism of Gershom Scholem.



@ There is no document of civilization which is not at the same time a document of barbarism. [Theses on the Philosophy of History (1940) VII]

@ This is how one pictures the angel of history. His face is turned toward the past. Where we perceive a chain of events, he sees one single catastrophe which keeps piling wreckage upon wreckage and hurls it in front of his feet. The angel would like to stay, awaken the dead, and make whole what has been smashed. But a storm is blowing in from Paradise; it has got caught in his wings with such violence that the angel can no longer close them. This storm irresistibly propels him into the future to which his back is turned, while the pile of debris before him grows skyward. This storm is what we call progress.


http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Walter_Benjamin

Walter Brooke (1914-1986)



Walter Brooke (1914-1986)

Walter Brooke (October 23, 1914 – August 20, 1986) was an American actor. Brooke is best known for playing Mr. McGuire in The Graduate, where he said his famous line, "Plastics".

He is also remembered for playing district attorney Frank Scanlon in the television series The Green Hornet. Brooke appeared on stage in the 1957 production of Hide and Seek at the Shubert Theatre in Washington, D.C.

Brooke died from emphysema on August 20, 1986, aged 71.


Quotes·Quotations by Walter Brooke


Walter Brooke as Mr. Mcguire from The Graduate (1967)

Plastics.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Brooke

Wall Street


Wall Street

Wall Street is the financial district of New York City,[1] named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, the American financial sector (even if financial firms are not physically located there), or signifying New York-based financial interests.[2] It is the home of the New York Stock Exchange, the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies.[3] Several other major exchanges have or had headquarters in the Wall Street area, including NASDAQ, the New York Mercantile Exchange, the New York Board of Trade, and the former American Stock Exchange. Anchored by Wall Street, New York City is one of the world's principal financial centers.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]


Quotes·Quotations of Wall Street

Chance

¶ You always need a catalyst to make big things happen.

Crowd

¶ You cannot outperform the crowd when you are part of it.

Emotions

¶ Don’t get emotionally involved.

Finance

¶ It's only when the tide goes out that you learn who's been swimming naked. [Warren Buffett]

Gambling

¶ Gambling begins where we risk what we can't afford to gain something we haven't earned.

Investment

¶ A man adapts himself to conditions so quickly that he loses the perspective.

¶ Don't try to be a jack of all investments.

¶ Great minds have purposes; others have wishes.

¶ If a company has dynamic growth prospects, do not sell it just because it looks temporarily too high.

¶ If you are a ten-share man, don't be ashamed of it.

¶ It's never too late not to invest in an unproven enterprise.

¶ Leave short selling to experienced professionals.

¶ Nothing could be more bullish than begrudging admiration from a rival.

¶ Stock investing merely attempts to anticipate the inevitabilities of future changing condition.

¶ The best possible time to invest is when the sky is black with clouds.

¶ The big money in booms is always made first by the public on paper, and it remains on paper.

¶ There are times when one should invest, and just as surely there are times when one should not.

¶ This time is never different.

¶ Where are the customers’ yachts?

Investor

¶ Investors are not rewarded for activity. They are rewarded for being right.

¶ It is the duty of shareholders to periodically suffer loss without complaint.

¶ Nobody can be successful by speculating every day or every week.

¶ Successful investor must not only observe accurately but remember what he has observed.

¶ There are really no more brilliant investors than brilliant lawyer or top-flight surgeons.

¶ When enough investors find themselves shorn, scapegoats will be sought.

Leverage

¶ Don’t speculate with another person’s money.

Money

¶ Little and often fills the purse.

News

¶ There is never any news on a bull market.

Panics

¶ Panics on Wall Street are notoriously periodic.

Patience

¶ One of the essential qualifications of the successful investor is patience.

Portfolio

¶ Don't shape your portfolio on what your barber advice.

Risk control

¶ Never make a bet you can’t afford to lose.

Risky asset

¶ The longer a risky asset is held, the less the chance of a loss.

Speculation

¶ The game of speculation is the most uniformly fascination game in the world.

Stock

¶ All stock-market mistakes wound you in two tender spots, your pocketbook and your vanity.

¶ Like the ocean, the stock market is never still.

¶ Stocks always look worst at the bottom of a bear market and always look best at the top of a bull market.

¶ The stock market merely registers, and does not cause, what takes place in the realm of business and profits.


References

[1]^ Profile of Manhattan Community Board 1, retrieved July 17, 2007.
[2]^ Merriam-Webster Online, retrieved July 17, 2007.
[3]^ World-exchanges.org
[4]^ "UBS may move US investment bank to NYC". e-Eighteen.com Ltd. Retrieved 2011-10-16.
[5]^ "The World's Most Expensive Real Estate Markets". CNBC. Retrieved May 31, 2010.
[6]^ The Best 301 Business Schools 2010 by Princeton Review, Nedda Gilbert. Retrieved May 31, 2010.
[7]^ "New York Eclipses London as Financial C in Bloomberg Poll". Bloomberg News. October 29, 2009. Retrieved March 30, 2011.
[8]^ "The Tax Capital of the World". The Wall Street Journal. April 11, 2009. Retrieved May 31, 2010.
[9]^ "JustOneMinute – Editorializing From The Financial Capital Of The World". Retrieved May 31, 2010.
[10]^ "London may have the IPOs...". Marketwatch. Retrieved May 31, 2010.
[11]^ "Fondos – Londres versus Nueva York" (PDF). Cinco Dias. Retrieved May 31, 2010.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_Street


Wallonia and Walloons

Wallonia and Walloons

Wallonia

Wallonia (French: Wallonie [wa.lɔ.ni], German: Wallonie(n), Dutch: Wallonië [wɐˈloːnɪə] or [βɐˈloːnɪə], Walloon: Walonreye) is the predominantly French-speaking southern region of Belgium. It is governed as the Walloon Region, which makes up 55% of the territory of Belgium but with only a third of its population. Contrary to the situation in Flanders, the Walloon Region was not merged with the French Community of Belgium, a political level responsible for matters related mainly to culture and education. The small German-speaking minority in the east forms the German-speaking Community of Belgium, which has its own government and parliament for culture-related issues. The demonym for Wallonia is Walloon.

During the industrial revolution, Wallonia was second only to the United Kingdom in industrialization, capitalizing on its extensive deposits of coal and iron. This brought the region wealth, and, from the beginning of the 19th to the middle of the 20th centuries, Wallonia was the more prosperous half of Belgium. Since World War II the importance of heavy industry has greatly declined, and the Flemish Region surpassed Wallonia in wealth as Wallonia economically declined. Wallonia now suffers from high unemployment and has a significantly lower GDP per capita than Flanders. The economic inequalities and linguistic divide between the two are major sources of political conflict in Belgium.

The capital of Wallonia is Namur, and its largest metropolitan area is Liège, while its most populous municipality proper is Charleroi. Most of Wallonia's major cities and two-thirds of its population lie along the Sambre and Meuse valley, the former industrial backbone of Belgium. To the north lies the Central Belgian Plateau, which, like Flanders, is relatively flat and agriculturally fertile. In the southeast lie the Ardennes; the area is sparsely populated and mountainous. Wallonia borders Flanders and the Netherlands in the north, France to the south and west, and Germany and Luxembourg to the east.


Walloons

Walloons (/wɑːˈluːnz/; French: Wallons, IPA: [walɔ̃]; Walloon: Walons) are a French-speaking people who live in Belgium, principally in Wallonia. Walloons are a distinctive community within Belgium.[1] Important historical and anthropological criteria (religion, language, traditions, folklore) bind Walloons to the French people.[2][3] More generally, the term also refers to the inhabitants of the Walloon Region. They speak regional languages such as Walloon (with Picard in the West and Lorrain in the South).


Walloon proverb

@ Pus n-y-a-t-i d' cohun divins n'couhenne, pus male est l'sope.
Idiomatic translation: ”A public hall is never swept.”


Footnotes

[1]^ Ethnic Groups Worldwide, a ready reference Handbook, David Levinson, ORYX Press, (ISBN 1-57356-019-7), p. 13 : « Walloons are identified through their residence in Wallonia and by speaking dialects of French. They, too, are descended from the original Celtic inhabitants of the region and Romans and Franks who arrived later. Walloons are mainly Roman catholic. »
[2]^ Ethnic Groups Worldwide, a ready reference Handbook, David Levinson, ORYX Press, ISBN 1-57356-019-7, p.13 : "Walloon culture was heavely influenced by the French"


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walloon_Region
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walloons
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Walloon_proverbs