Homemade costumes are always best.

常問學生兩個問題，臺灣學生一定答錯。

一、萬聖節是甚麼時候？

二、美國人過萬聖節嗎？

公佈答案：萬聖節是十一月一日，在美國聽都沒聽過萬聖節。我來臺灣之前不知道有萬聖節。

美國人過的是鬼節, Halloween: hallowed e’en←eve，即萬聖節前夕。十一月一日，萬聖節，All Saints’ Day，說真的，我不太清楚是哪裏的節日，好像是天主教的吧。

I am hardly a raging feminist, but I do believe in fairness. 

Recently, every single Republican in Congress voted against 

equal pay for equal work.

Now this gem:

Those who suspect this was taken out of context may read the entire speech HERE::

讀南北朝史，看胡夏霸王賀連勃勃四處攻擊，攻擊是為了屠城，屠城是為了斬首，斬首是為了高築骷髏臺，就是這樣。

臺灣何等僥倖。北京很有耐心慢慢斡旋慢慢磨，已經磨了幾十年，讓我們過了幾十年安定生活。萬一哪一天蠻橫武將殺出一條血路，推翻共產黨，自立為帝，如瘋狗狂咬，一旦發兵收臺灣，只需曲指之力，我們午餐來不及吃已經成為戰俘。

福中要知福，而臺灣目前力氣耗在入室操戈。內訌沒有建設，只是敗亡的預兆。大家好好修行吧。

In 1909, Jack London wrote A Piece of Steak; an aging boxer, Tom King, loses a critical match because he is too poor to buy a piece of steak to give him power: for want of a piece of steak, a boxing match was lost. LINK

As a su-veg martial artist, I have always doubted this. I practiced martial arts for over 15 years before I dropped all animal products from my diet, and immediately found my power and stamina markedly improved. 

Where did Chinese martial arts come from? From the “fighting monks” of 少林寺Shaolin temple; the su-veg diet is Buddhist (no animal products, no garlic, leeks, onions). Don’t try to tell me that monks in such a strict temple did not 守戒follow the precepts!

An interesting archeological find shows what Roman gladiators ate: mainly beans and grain, not meat. Romans called gladiators hordearii, meaning they ate barley. LINK

Put down Tom King’s loss rather to that pipe he was smoking, which robbed him of his wind. 

“NASA has observed, studied, and then confirmed that the Dust Bowl of 1934 was the worst in 1000 years for North America.” LINK

hard times, hard times, they weren't kidding when they said hard times.

The most vivid image of the Dust Bowl from Mom was that when the dust storms came, they would stuff towels under the doors and around windows, but so much of the fine dust came in that she could continuously wipe a table, and it would never be free from dust.

現在石油降價了，九五才31.5。很後悔。前一陣子很貴，三四、三五，早知道就等降了再加油。

萬般不捨。十年前，買了幾件達彥包，都是耆老用傳統方法編苧麻。其中一個背網被蛀，沒辦法救。只好把能用的部位取下來~苧麻繩真難剪！剛好有一棵沉香想種，就供背網的殘片來滋養：達彥的織品，終歸達彥的地。A dozen years ago, I bought some Tayal bags, woven out of ggi/ramie by tribal elders, in traditional style. One of them, a tokan/pack, got eaten by bugs and was beyond repair. With great reluctance, I removed the salvageable parts, and with great difficulty, too, because cutting ggi twine is like trying to cut steel. I happened to have a tree to plant, so I offered the remains of the tokan to the tree: Tayal weaving returning to Tayal land.

現代生活煩躁、聒噪：生活空間狹隘、生活壓力大、機械的噪音不斷，所以現代音樂也跟著聒噪。聽一下流行音樂：一言以敝之，就是「哇哇大叫」。

天下最內斂的樂器大概是古琴。很幸運，我們買到「太古遺音」最後兩張票，「十二位青年琹人展演；彈的是名副其實的「古」琴：現代琴一床，由琴匠親彈；明琴四床、元琴二床、宋琴四床、唐琴一床。或許今天世界上臺演奏的樂器，這床「驚濤」唐琴最古老。很高興看到這麼多青年延續這個古老、優雅的藝術。

超的青訪朋友錦德是舞臺監督，說這場表演的音響特別難搞，因為古琴的音與其它樂器不同，麥克風非常難處理，而每床琴又不同。但我們坐觀眾席聽得音很豐富、堅實、多層、空曠，欲言之，辭窮矣。其音之寂靜，它樂之所無也。

We live in such a noisy world that even our music is noisy.

We went to a concert of twelve up-and-coming artists playing the ch’in (qin, guqin), the most introspective of musical instruments. The instruments they played were, with one exception, old. The exception was a modern ch’in played by the luthier who made it. Four of the ch’in in the performance were from the Ming dynasty (say about 500 years old), two from the Yuan (600 years, think Marco Polo), four from the Sung (a thousand years old), and one from the Tang. That would make it roughly 1300 years old, probably one of the world’s oldest musical instruments being performed on in concert.

Sabiy’s friend Chingdeh was stage manager. He says the ch’in is unlike any other instrument, and not only presents unique acoustic problems, but also, each ch’in is different: a real headache for setting up microphones.

The sound, indescribable: rich, varied, overtones, layered, but with a quiet and elegance found in no other instrument.
here is an example of the ch'in; this lady did not perform tonight. 

舞臺上屏風錄「列子御風」琴譜。其詞曰

凭虛馭風

俯視寰壤

渺焉六合

不知風乘我

不知我乘風

志在沖漠

遊神太清

長嘯空碧

振衣罡颷

This is a few days late, but….

On October 13, 1362, for the first time ever the Chancellor of England opened Parliament with a speech in English. The same Parliament passed a Statute of Pleading which permitted members to use English in debate, making it an official language of law and legislation.

October 13 is now English Language Day. 

Some very creative use of English in an article with the headline

BAYERN NEXT YEAR TO CHINA HAVE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE MELON HANDSOME HARD COACH

It’s apparently about a German football team. The interviewer asks probing questions, such as “You earned a pours?”

A fascinating question. I am not sure how I would have answered. But then, I admit I am not a melon handsome hard coach.

LINK

To be sure, we don’t pay all that much attention to Hungary, unless we’re making puns on the word Hungry, with Turkey nearby. Yes, it is the home of Dracula, it has the world’s highest concentration of people named Kovacs, and its language, Magyar, is of interest. Other than that, what’s going on in Hungary? Who knows? Who cares?Maybe it’s time to look more carefully. They are moving right in a disturbing manner. Their president, Viktor Orban, has plans to turn Hungary into an “illiberal state.” Doesn’t sound promising.
LINK

A very interesting video on sunspot cycles. We could be heading into a mini-ice age. If so, food production will drop, the rich will get the food, and the poor will not just lie down and die. There could be chaos coming. Now is the time to prepare, so that disaster can be averted. 

大家都認識很多姓劉的人吧。可是姓項的，少見。

但如果困在垓下的是劉邦而不是項羽，也許今天項是大姓，很少遇見姓劉的人。

當然，歷史好玩就在于因緣千變萬化，絕無必然。劉邦建立漢朝，有蕭何為股肱，種種條件，而劉邦出生民間，所以漢能歷數百年，子嗣繁多。而項羽為楚貴族，能不能得民心、立政能不能久存，實無法論斷。