Saturday, April 30, 2016

林則徐轉世了!六三禁菸節,四卅禁牙節。A difficult but great step in saving elephants and rhinoceroses. Officials in Kenya burned 105 tons of elephant ivory, 1.35 tons of rhino horn, animal skins, and sandalwood, medicinal bark, and other contraband products. Kenya Wildlife Service Director General Kitili Mbathi said. "The only value of the ivory is tusks on a live elephant." Hear, hear!

Friday, April 29, 2016

蛇很有耐心,可以靜止不動很久,但若要快,速度閃電快。看到門前一條蛇來訪,出去打招呼,Ksasan聽到我出來了,她來看我要不要玩,看到蛇就很有興趣。蛇離場。Snakes can remain immobile for a long time, but when they want to move, they are lightning. I saw a snake outside the front door. I went out for a closer look. Ksasan heard the door open and came to see if I wanted to play. The snake took off.

Thursday, April 28, 2016

A reconstruction of music from the middle ages.

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

蛇維護生態。如果沒有蛇,我們人類遭殃了。
如果你在臺灣爬過山,你一定曾在近距離與蛇邂逅,只是你可能不知道。蛇在草叢、在枯葉行走是沒有聲音的。如果你聽到蛇,是蛇放出聲音跟你打招呼。
今天到外面,聽到竹簧有聲音,一條過山刀過山,至少一百八十公分。很美!
Snakes can glide silently across brittle dead leaves. If you hear a snake, it made a sound for you to hear.
This afternoon I was outside. I heard a noise by some bamboo. There was a Big Eyed Rat Snake (Zaocys dhumnades), at least 180cm long, passing by. Isn’t this a beauty!

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Former House Speaker Hastert is facing up to six months in prison for illegal payments to one of the boys he raped when he was a wrestling coach (LINK). He says that he doesn’t want to go to jail because he has “suffered enough.” He has “acknowledged” but not apologized for raping teenaged boys.
He has his backers, such as Rep Tom DeLay of Texas, who has called Hastert a man of integrity and strong faith. Well, that’s a powerful recommendation that carries great moral authority, seeing as it comes from a man who managed to overturn his conviction for money laundering (LINK)
Come on, let’s be realistic. If Hastert was still a high school wrestling coach, he’d be lucky if the local people didn’t lynch him, and would be sure to spend decades enjoying his position in a penitentiary as a known child molester. Should his sentence be reduced simply because he acquired political clout?
Should, not will. Should, absolutely not. Will, very likely.

Monday, April 25, 2016

I was raised a Lutheran, so I grew up reading the Bible carefully. Of course I left the church years ago, so my memory may be hazy, but I disremember Jesus saying, Violence solves problems, or, Honor the Second Amendment above the Sixth Commandment, or, Carry weapons when you come to worship.

Sunday, April 24, 2016

點進去探索吧! This is wonderful. You can click in and explore.

Egyptian tomb LINK

Saturday, April 23, 2016

赴華山藝文區臺灣文博會。To commemorate the 400th anniversary of the death of William (“The Bard”) Shakespeare, we went to the Huashan Cultural Center to visit Ljuyan at the Taiwan Creative Expo. One has nothing to do with the other, but one excuse is as good as another.
外面一大群人野餐。臺上一個極其顛覆傳統的樂團演奏:鼓的節奏與吉他不同,吉他打破我們對旋律、音準的期許,女歌手創出自己的路,勇敢地立于鼓、吉他之外,也很瀟灑地、即興唱出自己獨特的音準、節拍 ,完全擺脫「旋律」的束縛,真是難得。越難得越好。Outside there was a huge crowd picnicking. An amazingly avant garde band was playing: the drum was in a different realm from the guitars, and together they broke down our expectations of melody and tune. The singer bravely took her own route, totally divorced from the drummer and guitarists, and spontaneously created her own intonation and beat, freeing herself entirely from the constricts of melody, truly a unique performance. I hope.

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

A fascinating journey into 17th century London, before the Great Fire. These are the streets that Shakespeare, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Sir Francis Drake would have been familiar with.

Monday, April 18, 2016

網路上看到一篇國外的報導,說全世界都有臺灣詐欺集團,還感謝中共為民除害。中午在小餐廳吃飯,心中正在唏噓,聽到隔壁桌,兩個三十來歲的上班男性,甲問乙有沒有衛生紙,乙得意說,「很多!衛生紙、面紙,我都拿辦公室的,我根本不用花錢買!」
網路盛傳大陸順口溜,這還怪誰?

十個台胞九個騙,還有一個當教練;
十萬台胞九萬騙,還有一萬在訓練;
藍綠名嘴當教練,總部設在立法院;
肯亞印尼菲律賓,處處都有連鎖店;  
狂發簡訊打電話,誓把大陸搜刮遍;
核心技術不外流,台灣騙術有夠賤;
如果被抓不要怕,遣回台灣繼續騙;
法官輕放滅天理,下流無恥不要臉;
立委瞎挺還敢辯,法務部長照樣電;
大家跟我一起唸,只要不怕討人厭;
坑爹騙娘無上限,保你發財賽火箭;
歡迎加入詐騙鍊,得手有錢氣勢燄;
禮義廉恥全不見,啊,台灣經驗真驚艷。

Friday, April 15, 2016

A brave man saved four hundred thousand ancient manuscripts from mad dogs in Timbuktu.
LINK

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Just an iguana out for a swim.

Monday, April 11, 2016

我小時候,噴射機時代來到了,很多美國人到歐洲觀光。不久聲浪彈回美國,歐洲人認為美國人沒水準,不懂文化,財大氣粗,不歡迎。
我十幾歲時,日本開放國民出國觀光,很快就引起公憤:全世界認為日本人很沒水準,文化水準太差,講話又大聲,不懂禮貌,財大氣粗,加上日本人出國一定要買醉、買春,不歡迎這種沒水準的觀光客。
我大約三十歲時,中華民國開放觀光護照,國民可以出國觀光。很快就引起公憤:全世界認為臺灣人沒水準,講話太大聲,文化水準低,不懂禮貌,財大氣粗,不歡迎。
這幾年中華人民共和國開放出國觀光,真沒想到吧,很快就引起公憤:很多人認為大陸人沒水準,財大氣粗,不歡迎。
這裏又出現了一個很有趣的雙重標準。蔡英文競選時「保證」來臺的陸客不會減少;一度我還佩服她,看樣子已經與北京周旋,耍出一點政治手挽。選舉後幾天,大陸宣布來臺陸客要減三分之一。選舉前開的支票顯然是空頭支票,引起了公憤嗎?哈哈,只有國民黨做的事才要引起公憤,很多人馬上站出來說,減的好!全不要來最好,我們喝西北風照樣可以喝飽。
有那麼簡單嗎?過中正紀念堂,可以看到很多遊覽車帶陸客玩。遊覽車公司是臺灣的,司機也是臺灣的。假如陸客銳減,遊覽車的生意必然受影響,司機之外,會波及周邊還很多人會:保養遊覽車的廠、員工,堤共輪胎、零件的員工、遊覽車的會計等員工等等。喊「減的好!」也許很爽,可是這些人還要吃飯。
有人罵陸客,說一名德國客人來臺的消費,可以敵過三個陸客。很好,但是有沒有注意到一個問題?我在很多地方遇過陸客,很少遇到德國客人:人家 不想來臺灣。買春的到泰國,看風景的到大陸,臺灣能吸引多少歐洲遊客?通常是常出國、有經驗的遊客把亞洲走得差不多了才會想到臺灣。請比較墾丁與海南三亞:不管沙灘、大飯店、價錢,你是歐洲客人,你會選哪一個?這是很現實的問題。遊客沒有義務來臺灣玩。提一下:臺灣遊客出國常逛書店嗎?這幾年,我幾乎每次逛台北的書店,一定會遇到陸客(陸客真是沒水準齁!),看他們買不少書。如果陸客不來,看樣子臺北很多書店的收入也會受很大的影響。他們願意被犧牲嗎?
臺灣一個很大的問題是,很難就事論事,只管罵,很少冷靜探索,只管反對, 極少建設性建議。一定要把「黨」的利益擺在第一。這樣很難進步。

Saturday, April 09, 2016

So what I’m going to do is rent out your place to somebody, taking their money and giving them a real, official lease, and you have to let them stay. Isn’t that great!?
Does that make any sense to you? Sure doesn’t to me!

Friday, April 08, 2016

How awkward. The brother of President-Elect Tsai has popped up in the Panama Papers. 我們小老百姓要乖乖納稅,但是如果很有錢,可以找專門逃稅的律師、顧問:給他一百萬,他幫你規避一千萬的稅,很划算!你我找不到這種律師,但是很有錢的人知道門路。
最近巴拿馬一家專門幫人逃稅、洗錢的律師事務所的秘密文件曝光,就是所謂的Panama Papers。有趣的是,臺灣也有人在名單上,就是蔡瀛陽,蔡英文的哥哥是也。也許純屬巧合吧。蔡家律師解釋公司是投資使用,現在已經沒有營業。好吧。
但是,總覺得有雙重標準。如果馬英九的甚麼親戚在名單上,一定是頭條新聞,天天大做文章,很多人在臉書盡其能事把他罵的越難聽越爽。但是蔡英文的哥哥嘛,純屬巧合吧,律師一萬五千個客戶都在逃稅,我想蔡哥哥應該是投資而已,我們來看看影星有沒有聞。

Wednesday, April 06, 2016

巳時,蟬始鳴 The first cicada has announced 
the coming of summer.

Tuesday, April 05, 2016

兩年沒射箭,拇指肉都軟了。
We haven't shot for two years. My thumb is all soft.

Sunday, April 03, 2016

Announcing a new concept in aviation: Peach Airways! ----just watch the video, you'll be able to figure it out. April 1st 2016 | Peach Aviation (樂桃航空)

Saturday, April 02, 2016

An amazing announcement, too good to be true.

Friday, April 01, 2016

記得歌星劉文正嗎?
我朋友是。。電視台新聞主編,今晚新聞要爆料,劉文正要回來擔任文化部長。
而更有趣的是,劉是某一位重要人物少女時期的偶像,這麼多年沒結婚,原來劉是她的秘密情人。
如今,事業有成,今天的半年後,101日,他們要在101頂樓舉行結婚典禮:
為了慶祝,每位納稅人可以領一瓶香檳!
大家等著看好戲!!
💃🏽🐵💃🏽
😁😜😁
🐵💃🏽🐵
Who needs April Fools when Trump is on the loose? He is the original fool, year round.

LINK