今早很特別：日出邊的雲似有彩虹(照片左邊山上)，沒看過這種情形‧...也許因為不常早起.... This morning there was like a rainbow in the clouds by the rising sun. I had never seen this before, which may be because I don't get up early enough.

今天到北投文物館聽Amis旮亙演奏。他們下個月到蘇格蘭愛丁堡參加藝術節，所以今天找來臺灣唯一的風笛手來助興：風笛一吹就別想聽鼻笛的聲音，但是不失為一個很成功的演奏。很多精彩畫面，我拍了幾十張照片，但是相機不喜歡拍照，所以只有Ka’ing吹莫拉克笛一張照片勉強可以看。Today we went to a concert by Amis Kakeng, who are preparing for next month’s trip to the Edinburgh Art Festival. They found the only bagpiper in Taiwan, who performed gustily: when the bagpipe plays, forget about hearing the ngusut tipolo (nose flute), it’s drowned out. But it was a great performance, with many wonderful scenes. An Olympus camera is not designed to take photographs, so of the dozens I took, only one could be called presentable, Ka’ing playing the Morokot flute. It was a great concert. Too bad you missed it. 

It should be interesting to see how this works out. On the one hand, French wine growers are buying up land in southern England, because due to global warming, in another couple decades France will be too warm for wine, and England will be just right. On the other hand, solar spots are not appearing as they should. Sunspots follow an eleven year cycle, usually, but now, at a period when they should be near their peak, the number of sunspots recently is the lowest on record. So astronomers say we may be heading into a thirty year cold snap. Stay tuned for further developments.

Go ahead and buy up land in southern England. If you can’t grow grapes, maybe you can raise polar bears.

for more on sunspots, start here::

麥德姆颱風來過。沒想到那麼猛，還吹倒了我們的巨竹，嗚嗚嗚嗚哇哇嗚~~Typhoon Matmo has come and gone. It was more powerful than I anticipated. It blew over our giant bambooooowoowawawaaaaaaa 

康熙皇帝云：「從來國運之興衰，關乎主德之善否‧…有德者昌，無德者亡。」

諦哉是言！而今尚民主，民為主，故國運之興衰，關乎人民之修德與否。

Pardon my asking, but 

how stupid do you have to be 

to want to run with the bulls in Pamplona? 

Or anywhere?

If you can possibly go,
be sure not to miss this!
If not here,
then in Scotland.

bagpipes + nose flute

who could resist that?

who could hear the nose flute?

美國權力典章保障新聞自由，為的是讓民眾多了解時事，知道政策得失，因而可以慎重考慮如何投標。

老師教我們，報導新聞必須力求客觀：新聞報導不得有立場；若要為民主服務，立場必須超然。新聞報導中不可以參雜報社的意見。如果主編有意見想發表，那就是社論。編輯高興寫甚麼都可以，但那是社論，必須與新聞分清楚。嚴格講，新聞版不得發表意見；要看意見，請翻開社論版。

當然要新聞完全客觀，是不可能的：最起碼，他們會選擇哪些事情要報導，哪些事情不報導。

請參考美國報紙報導珍珠港事件。日本軍閥偷襲美國領土，而新聞報導依然冷靜、客觀，就事論事報導這件事。

日本投降，美國報紙的頭條寫：日本投降。 

新聞是新聞，社論是社論，河水不犯井水，界線分明。

前幾天看到臺灣某家大報紙的頭條：

教長扯謊

該下台！

第一，「扯謊」字眼太不客觀。第二，「該下台」是意見，不是新聞，不該放入新聞版。

當然，解嚴後，臺灣的新聞越來越離譜。反正，他們寫的越煽情，銷路越好。大概只能怪讀者。花錢買這種報紙、花時間看這種新聞廣播，就是鼓勵他們濫用新聞自由、愚民、妨礙民主。

An intrepid Tea Party candidate in Arizona (where the sun mercilessly shines and apparently cooks brains) went out to block a bus full of illegal immigrant children. Unfortunately for him, they were all American kids returning from summer camp.

LINK

Sounds like a farce. But then, that’s exactly what the Tea Party is. Gives tea a bad name. 

真了不起！多年來最大一次雷震雨：房子震動，安全起見我還拔了一些電器的插頭，免得房子被震、電器燒壞。這是經驗：雖有避雷針，電力太強。幸虧沒事。可真壯觀！

@@@@@@@@@ The biggest thunderstorm in years is overhead. The house is shaking. I pulled the plug on some electric devices, lest they get burned if the house is struck. (This has happened before, even though we have a lightning rod.) Fortunately, the storm is passing, no problem. Wow! 

Approaching his teens, Prince Ethelwulf was a naughty, sassy boy. One day, he gave the Royal Witch a bit too much lip, and she turned him into a toad. Actually, Prince Ethelwulf enjoyed hopping around in the mud, catching flies with his tongue, as would any high-spirited boy. However, an important ceremony was approaching, and it just wouldn’t do to have the Prince hopping around the Royal Chamber catching flies, so the King asked his neighbor, King Edwy, to send over his daughter Princess Osburh to break the spell. Cursing her luck under her breath, Princess Osburh dutifully kissed the toad prince, and Prince Ethelwulf was restored to his former condition.  

But not for long. Once again he got the Royal Witch’s hackles up, and she turned him into a toad again. This time, however, His Majesty immediately ordered the Witch to turn him back into a prince, much to Prince Ethelwulf’s disappointment.

The King summoned the Prince, and said to him, “We have ordered our Witch to turn you back into a Prince because, my son, you shouldn’t have to be toad twice.”

三十年前，跟臺灣學生說，「你可以進步」，他們發奮圖強。

十五年前，跟臺灣學生說，「你可以進步」，他們當耳邊風。

現在，跟臺灣學生說，「你可以進步」，他們就不高興：我已經很完整，憑甚麼說我有進步的空間？ 

§

我在課堂上沒閒功夫講解教育理論：我是老師，你相信我就不會錯。我向來不準學生上課查字典，甚至教準留學生不要隨身攜帶字典：會障礙進步。

一直到兩、三年前，一個大學生上課查字典，我說：「課堂上不準查字典。」繼續講課。

第二天，他媽咪打電話來投訴，說我叫她兒子不要查字典，她兒子受傷了。

§

我們補習班暑假開SAT班，小留學生從世界各地回來準備考試。上課都用英文講。

那天開新班，跟學生講規矩，說課堂上不要用手機: “On the one hand, if you have your phone on, it means you're not concentrating on the material. On the other hand, how do you like it, when you're concentrating and trying to learn something, and you hear the person next to you saying, 「我現在上課，晚一點再打電話給你」? It ruins your concentration, right? We’re here to concentrate and learn something, not phone. So no phones in class.” 馬上有學生滑手機傳line跟媽咪說，老師講中文，媽咪馬上打電話來教務處投訴，老師上課講中文，不是全英文教學嗎？罵的很凶。

我有三個疑問。第一，我不是在說上課不要用手機？你幹麼line給媽咪？

第二，也許學生只覺得新鮮，媽咪抓住機會過度反應，亦未可知。

第三，那堂課，我講解字彙時，舉法、德、俄、拉丁文的例子，媽咪沒投訴。第二節知道有家長投訴我還故意舉排灣語的例子，看媽咪會不會投訴，可是沒有。所以結論是，全世界的語言都可以說，就是不準說中文。媽咪覺得講中文很可恥嗎？ 

§

某國立大學的學生叫老師改變教學法，還威脅老師說，「我們背後有三十幾個家長。」

§

為甚麼我這一代的人當父母那麼失敗？

When I see photos of people doing their “open carry” thing >>LINK<<, I wonder, why are these people so afraid that they have to tote around their firearms?

When I was 17, I was running all over the Viet Nam war zone (from the Delta to the DMZ), through areas where everybody knew there were North Viet Namese regulars, in known VC villages, past firefights, explosions, the usual stuff of wars, and I was never so frightened that I felt I had to carry a gun. Maybe I'm just dumb. But to me, these open carry people look like cowards.

Would the gun people be so enthusiastic about open carry if African Americans and Hispanics also exercised their rights to carry around their guns? >>LINK<<

In the summer of 1974, when I was 21, I worked on a volunteer project with a bunch of VN college students to rebuild a school in Quang Tri destroyed in the fighting. It was about 100 meters from the border with North Viet Nam. At night, we could hear the drumming of their psychological warfare troops, and we could see the gun flashes and artillery flashes of fighting in the nearby hills. We were told to sleep fully clothed and shod, with our documents in our pockets. Every night after we lay down to sleep, our leader told us, "Remember which direction South is. If anything happens, get up and run south, just run, don't ask questions, don't stop, just run south."

But I was never so frightened that I felt I needed a gun. Why are these people so frightened that they can't put down their firearms?