I was raised a Lutheran, Missouri Synod. We kept the Sabbath: church in the morning, quiet afternoons at home.
It seems far away, but I was frequently chosen as acolyte. Church included Sunday School and Catechism classes, of course. One Sunday morning when I was in about the fifth grade, our teacher asked us, “What is the Pentecost?”
I immediately replied, “That’s when they found out that a penny costs a cent.” I spent the rest of the morning standing outside the room in the hallway. As luck would have it, my father, an elder in the church, was on hall duty that morning. We had a short discussion, to be continued at home, and I was invited to refrain from dinner that day.

很多朋友跑魚船，幾十年來聽過很多打架的故事，都是為了爭魚場。有時候臺漁打他們，有時候他們打臺漁，輕重都有，不是甚麼稀奇的事。反正，消費者要吃魚，就造成這種事。
這次跟菲律賓鬧這麼大，我總會想，怎麼一回事？我想，有三種可能。一、偶發，如此而已。二、臺灣新聞唯恐天下不亂，故意滋事(這個機會最大)。三、或許我多心，可是會想，如若臺菲僵局，誰得利？誰想要在太平洋擴展勢力、誰有這個能力？近兩三年美國一再強調，太平洋是美國與中共一起發展影響力的地方：如若臺菲僵局，中共站哪一邊？還用問？中國海軍出入巴士海峽，對他們只有好處沒有壞處。

哈哈，我們可是國際名狗！Please note: this fine example of the Taiwan Dog is none other than our one and only Byajing.

Happy Mother’s Day and all that, but isn’t this going a bit far?
Elizabeth Ann Buttle is the mother who holds the record for the longest interval between the birth of two children. She gave birth to Belinda on May 19,1956 and Joseph on November 20, 1997. The babies were born 41 years 185 days apart. The mother was 60 years old when her son Joseph was born.
The highest officially recorded number of children born to one mother is 69, to the first wife of Feodor Vassilyev (1707-1782) of Shuya, Russia. Between 1725 and 1765, in a total of 27 confinements, she gave birth to 16 pairs of twins, seven sets of triplets, and four sets of quadruplets. 67 of them survived infancy.
His first wife! How many did he have altogether?

「而已」古合為耳，文獻不乏例。
論語‧陽貨：子之武城，聞弦歌之聲。夫子莞爾而笑，曰：「割雞焉用牛刀？」子游對曰：「昔者偃也聞諸夫子曰：『君子學道則愛人，小人學道則易使也。』」子曰：「二三子！偃之言是也。前言戲之耳。」
孟子：梁惠王曰：寡人之於國也，盡心焉耳矣。
禮記‧祭統：上有大澤則惠必及下，顧上先下後耳。
戰國策‧秦策：范睢曰：臣聞始時呂尚之遇文王也，身為漁父而釣於渭陽之濱耳。
云云耳。一般人到了中年，聽覺衰退，這很正常。而過了中年，不需復戒之扗鬥，已知天命，已順矣，故夫子曰，六十而已順。後世傳抄訛誤，變成六十而耳順，不通。清末大師俞樾群經評議已言之極詳，唯淺人不求甚解耳。

蛓，毛蟲也。从虫[才戈]聲。千志切

爾雅•釋蟲：蛁，毛蟲。疏：蛁，一名毛蠹，卽蛓也。今俗呼爲毛蛓，有毒螫人。王逸•九思：蛓緣兮我裳。

亦作蚝。唐韻：七吏切。同蛓。韓愈•城南聯句：㾕肌遭蚝刺。(蛓、蚝同，ㄘ四聲。)

剛搬到烏來，一位太太跟我說，「我不怕蛇，可是我怕毛毛蟲。」心裏暗笑，偌大個好達彥，還怕毛毛蟲！？嘿！

後來知道利害。蛇，對氣非常敏感，你不懷敵意，以平常心相待，蛇很好相處。毛毛蟲體積小，躲扗樹草中，根本看不到。蛇多少有腦筋，毛毛蟲沒有腦筋，太靠近牠，不管三七二十幾，噴！

一般來講，被噴，很癢，過一、兩個小時就會好。十年前吧，有一次夏日烈陽下工作，只穿一條短褲，砍了樹枝，往草叢丟，從左脅擦身而過，才發現樹枝下面幾百隻毛毛蟲。過了幾分鐘，左脅、左手都腫、呼吸困難、心臟亂跳、癢到麻了。趕快去沖冷水澡、拿水晶排氣。過了五、六天，左手指不太好彎。知道利害了！

When I first moved to Wulai, a lady told me, “I’m not afraid of snakes, but I am afraid of caterpillars.” I didn’t say anything, but I privately said pooh-pooh! and thought, ‘Caterpillars!? What kind of Tayal are you?’

I soon learned. Snakes are extremely sensitive, so if you’re not hostile, they’re easy to get along with. Caterpillars are small and blend in with the foliage. Snakes have small brains, but they do have brains, but caterpillars have none. Approach, and they don’t ask any questions, they just spit.

Caterpillar spit itches for a couple hours and you’re okay. But once, about ten years ago, I was working on a hot summer day wearing nothing more than a pair of shorts. I chopped a branch down and threw it into the undergrowth. As I threw, it brushed by my left side, and I saw that the underside was covered with caterpillars. In minutes, my left ribs and arm started swelling, my heart was beating irregularly, and breathing was difficult. My left side itched so bad that it became numb. I took a cold shower and expelled the bad stuff. Five or six days later, I still had trouble making a fist with my left hand. That’s how I learned respect for caterpillars. Not love, but respect.

A little boy got a kiddie rifle for his fifth birthday, a .22. He shot and killed his two year old sister. To some this may be tragic, but to others, it’s money in the bank. Somebody made money selling the rifle, and somebody made money selling the bullet. This is why the US will never have reasonable gun control.

link

There’s nothing wrong with profit in itself, but guns aren’t good for much but shooting things, and when profit outweighs the suffering inflicted, that is not an honorable way to make money.