今晚看了月亮嗎？嫦娥奔月，應該是看了這種月色，怎樣也不悔偷靈藥。人間可媲美的，只有「求主垂恩」；請聽。The moon tonight is so beautiful that the only way to describe it in human terms is to compare it to the Tallis Scholars singing Miserere. If you haven’t heard this recently, do yourself a favor and listen again now:

下過大雨，
一群人走過森林，
穿過草叢；
猜一個成語。

答案：link

From strange cosmos, on whales:
They are the biggest living creature you'll ever see live.
Okay, I’ll bite. What’s the biggest living creature I’ll ever see dead?

魏晉南北朝亂到極致，進兩年才開始整理出頭緒。以孫秀為例：：(依通鑑)
晉武帝泰始六年(西元二七零年)
吳主從弟前將軍秀為夏口督，吳主惡之，民間皆言秀當見圖。會吳主遣何定將兵五千人獵夏口，秀驚，夜將妻子、親兵數百人奔晉。十二月，拜秀驃騎將軍、開府儀同三司，封會稽公。
按：秀乃吳主權弟匡之孫。
晉武帝泰康元年(西元二八零年)
朝廷聞吳已平，群臣皆賀上壽。…驃騎將軍孫秀不賀，南向流涕曰：「昔討逆弱冠以一校尉創業，今後主舉江南而棄之，宗廟山陵，於此為墟。悠悠蒼天，此何人哉！」
晉惠帝永康元年(西元三零零年)
右軍將軍趙王倫執兵柄，性貪冒，可假以濟事。乃說孫秀曰：「中宮兇妒無道，與賈謐等共誣廢太子。今國無嫡嗣，社稷將危，大臣將起大事，而公名奉事中宮，與賈、郭親善，太子之廢，皆云豫知，一朝事起，禍必相及，何不先謀之乎！」秀許諾，言於倫，倫納焉，遂告通事令史張林及省事張衡等，使為內應。
事將起，孫秀言於倫曰：「太子聰明剛猛，若還東宮，必不受制於人。明公素黨於賈后，道路皆知之，今雖建大功於太子，太子謂公特逼於百姓之望，翻覆以免罪耳，雖含忍宿忿，必不能深德明公，若有瑕釁，猶不免誅。不若遷延緩期，賈后必害太子，然後廢賈后，為太子報仇，豈徒免禍而已，乃更可以得志！」倫然之。
秀因使人行反間，言殿中人欲廢皇后，迎太子。賈后數遣宮婢微服於民間聽察，聞之甚懼。倫、秀因勸謐等早除太子，以絕眾望。
晉惠帝永寧元年(西元三零一年)
春，正月…相國倫與孫秀使牙門趙奉詐傳宣帝神語云：「倫宜早入西宮。」散騎常侍義陽王威，望之孫也，素諂事倫，倫以威兼侍中，使威逼奪帝璽綬，作禪詔，又使尚書令滿奮持節、奉璽綬禪位於倫。左衛將軍王輿、前軍將軍司馬雅等帥甲士入殿，曉諭三部司馬，示以威賞，無敢違者。張林等屯守諸門。乙丑，倫備法駕入宮，即帝位，赦天下，改元建始。帝自華林西門出居金墉城，倫使張衡將兵守之。
丙寅，尊帝為太上皇，改金墉曰永昌宮，廢皇太孫為濮陽王。
癸酉，殺濮陽哀王臧。孫秀專執朝政，倫所出詔令，秀輒改更與奪，自書青紙為詔，或朝行夕改，百官轉易如流。張林素與秀不相能，且怨不得開府，潛與太子荂箋，言：「秀專權不合眾心，而功臣皆小人，撓亂朝廷，可悉誅之。」荂以書白倫，倫以示秀。秀勸倫收林，殺之，夷其三族。秀以齊王冏、成都王穎、河間王顒，各擁強兵，據方面，惡之。乃盡用其親黨為三王參佐，加冏鎮東大將軍，穎征北大將軍，皆開府儀同三司，以寵安之。
自冏等起兵，百官將士皆欲誅倫、秀，秀懼，不敢出中書省；及聞河北軍敗，憂懣不知所為。孫會、許超、士猗等至，與秀謀。或欲收餘卒出戰；或欲焚宮室，誅不附己者，挾倫南就孫旂、孟觀；或欲乘船東走入海，計未決。辛酉，左衛將軍王輿與尚書陵公漼帥營兵七百餘人，自南掖門入宮，三部司馬為應於內，攻孫秀、許超、士猗於中書省，皆斬之，遂殺孫奇、孫弼及前將軍謝惔等，漼，人由之子也。王輿屯雲龍門，召八坐皆入殿中，使倫為詔曰：「吾為孫秀所誤，以怒三王，今已誅秀。其迎太上皇復位，吾歸老於農畝。」傳詔以騶虞幡敕將士解兵。黃門將倫自華林東門出，及太子荂皆還汶陽裡第，遣甲士數千迎帝於金墉城。百姓咸稱萬歲。帝自端門入，升殿，群臣頓首謝罪。詔送倫、荂付金墉城。

當然，事情沒結束，又繼續亂下去，但孫秀就結束了。阿彌陀佛，幸虧我們不是那個時代的人。

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.