light bulb moment — A light bulb moment is when you have a sudden realisation about something, like the light bulb used to indicate an idea in cartoons [UsingEnglish] [also see urbandict]

This news reports a potent idea of using natural gas pipes for broadband service. An American friend told me that a company in his hometown had already done something similar — by laying optical fibres within the gas pipes. But the cost is high. The new idea in the article exploits the “negligence” of the US federal regulation on radio signals UNDER the ground, and adopts wireless ultra-wideband (UWB) transmissions. The inventor hatched this idea at the “light bulb on the head moment“, according to the article.

knock-off — An unauthorized copy or imitation, as of designer clothing [dict]

On ‘Monk’, Monk and his assistant, Natalie, went to a a fashion show to investigate a murder crime. The fashion designer noticed Natalie’s wear, and screamed at her: “That bra … It is a knock-off from one of my designs.”

throw a monkey wrench — Sabotage or frustrate a project or plans [answers]

The Poincare Conjecture — the gem of the mathematicians’ crown — has finally been proven after a century of effort. Perelman, a Russian mathematician, is widely recognized for his main contribution in solving this problem. Fairly speaking, the final result bears the efforts of several people, with Perelman’s work based on an earlier breakthrough by Hamilton and later perfected by two Chinese mathematicians, Cao and Zhu.

However, recently, a professor at Peking University openly undermines Cao-Zhu’s work in his blog (Chinese). He accuses the two of “throwing a monkey wrench” and gleaning the credits in proving this conjecture. I feel sad as a professor at one of the most prominent universities in China criticises his peers in this way, not based on scientific facts but citations of several newspapers (he may forget that journalists are often terribly wrong in reporting science news). I have never seen such a thing happened abroad; it will be a long way for Chinese academia to move on in the right direction.

dust off — Restore to use. This usage alludes to cleaning and thereby renewing some object. [dict]

Steven Hawking, the renowned astrophysicist, is looking for a graduate student to assist his work. To many his admirers, this is, perhaps, the most tempting job opportunity . “Dust off your CVs”, urged by a guy who spread this news.

throw one’s hat into the ring — To enter a political race as a candidate for office [dict]

From an ‘economist’ article, Mr Zuma, a potential candidate for the next South African president, is facing another trial on charges of corruption and fraud, not long after he had just been cleared of a rape charge. To his opponents, whether Zuma is really guilty is not important, what really matters is that the trial should drag on. The article reads: “The longer the trial persists, the harder it is for Mr Zuma to throw his hat into the ring.” It’s just another political game.

come out of the closet — to admit that one is gay so that it is no longer a secret [thefreedict]

The host Conan O’Brien appeared in a funny film at the opening of the 58th Emmy Awards ceremony. In the film, he locked himself up in a closet, and shouted: “(Tom) Cruise is in the closet too!” The audience bursted into laughter at the line: “Conan O’Brien does not come out of the closet.” It is a good pun.