假設你坐飛機被劫機，半夜下降，根本不知道是甚麼地方，把你趕下飛機，問你行李要帶不要帶？也許你行李裝的都是冬衣，這是熱帶，但是好歹總是帶比丟好，對不對？因為行囊縱沉重不合用，或許幾件衣服可以典賣，買適合的衣服或者食物。有了這個行李再想辦法。

以前聽過人說，中國悠久的歷史很沉重，留下很重的包袱。確實，中國傳統社會是農業時代的產物，時代突然變了，許多方面與世事，銜接不上。

但從另一方面來看，它是一個浩瀚的源頭。畢竟累積幾千年的生活經驗，無論各種藝術(從字畫到烹飪到刺繡、建築、歌舞、傢俱)、哲理、文章詩詞曲、歷史、稼穡、武藝、小學(即字形音義學)、天文等等，無不有卓越成就，捨棄它作啥？

子曰：遊于藝。真好玩！不玩，可惜。

沒有人教你囫圇吞棗、盲從、折腰；你不加思索一味接受，反而辜負了殷裔叔梁家的孔仲屔先生。孔子絕不盲目崇拜、保守祖先留下的禮樂；他取捨有方，應和世勢。故繫辭下傳曰：窮則變、變則通、通則久。

窮則拋棄的話，是一種逃避心態，既不健康，又無益于世。

中華道統，肇于農代，自有不合今世。說西潮、說洋化，不如說現在臺灣工商化。若干所謂「西風」，于西亦為不古(所以從前美國古板夫看不慣時潮，諸如男生蓄長髮、女生穿褲子等等，一概歸咎共產黨的陰謀)。社會有生命，當然會演變，不變就窒錮；若緊抓傳統不予變，傳統會枯竭。以前的口號，復興固有文化，我常問：復興哪一個固有文化？三代？六朝？穿長袍，要復興滿清文化嗎？要衣逢掖之衣？冠章甫之冠？

今世如斯，臺灣工商化，是好現象，因為到清末，華夏文化快被學匠悶死，把活生生的孔子用鐵鍊鎖緊，儒學上了桎梏不得舞動，社稷已硬化，即將窮，不變就不通。莫怪「西風」；倘自身站穩，西風吹不動。反像大樹有枯枝，颱風一吹，死木颾颾吹走，樹幹彌堅，正好生新芽。

冬天衣服在熱帶穿，不會變通；可是有這件衣服，

好歹也可以把褎子剪掉、扣子不闔上，總比精光無衣好。

時代不同

古

晉、潘尼、乘輿箴：人主所患，莫甚于不知其過；而所美，莫美于好聞其過。若有君于此，而曰，「予必無過」，惟此言而莫之違，斯孔子所謂「其庶幾乎一言而喪國」者也。

今

陳總統曰，「阿扁我有錯嗎？阿扁有錯嗎？」

This morning when I went out the front door, I noticed a small rock that wasn’t supposed to be there… then it started moving. A turtle, about the size of the first knuckle on my thumb.

Reference: those humongous things on either side of the turtle in the second photo are my fingers, and those ropes are dog hair.

times change!

Guess who said this? “I just don’t think it’s the role of the United States to walk into a country and say, ‘We’ll do it this way; so should you.’”

Sounds like a protest against the war in Iraq, where thousands of Americans and more thousands of Iraqis have died in the struggle to impose American ways on Arab society.

The speaker was President George W Bush, about seven years ago.

民進黨當初強調本土文化；陳總統執政，最成功的本土化，是給英文加上很濃厚的本土味。若學英文是為了國際溝通，奉勸諸君盡量不要看臺灣到處寫的「英」文。但這些/英/文當作謎題猜，有時候很好玩，可是謎底可真難猜耶！

路上有人塞一分房地文宣給我：先題外講一個問題，在臺灣這種傳單往往叫dm，可是dm的意思是direct mail，不是郵寄不講dm；可以說flyer。斯flyer非飛，而指白紙，如flyleaf是也。言歸正傳：文宣例行加/英/文標題，第一題差點把我難倒了：BY EXPORT NO.6 OF METRO TAIPEI STATION, SO CONVENIENT!何謂export no.6？偷看一下中文：捷運江翠站六號出口…. 不可否認，「出口」是export的意思….

Taiwan being neither Christian nor Western, Christmas has never been much here, except among the Aborigines, who are Christians so they can look down on the heathen Chinese. December 25 used to be celebrated as Constitution Day, but President Bean knocked that off the calendar because it doesn’t fit his political ambitions.

Long ago, when dancing was not permitted as being bad for public morals – yes, hard as it may be to believe, there was a time when the government of Taiwan felt duty bound to place morals over political expediency – a time long gone – in those days it was sort of a game. College students would spend what they thought was a typical American Christmas: gather on Christmas Eve, play records (Moon River, The Green Green Grass of Home, Knock 3 Times) as loud as possible, dance (foxtrot and waltz), and drink yourself into a coma, isn’t that what Christmas is all about? and the police, often tipped off by neighbors who couldn’t stand the racket, would try to break up the parties and confiscate the record player: a real public service if you ask me. Now you can dance any time you like, as much as you like, so the fun’s gone out of that. If you think that’s fun. Silent Night, anybody?

For some years, the business community tried to turn Xma$ into a commercial opportunity, so consumers were bombarded by all those Xmas carols you hate: the good ones never made it to Taiwan. Frosty the Snowman, Winter Wonderland, yuck! Jingle Bells ad nauseum. In Taiwan snow is as rare as horses, so how are consumers going to be titillated into spending big bucks by songs about one horse open sleighs? Much less when they don’t understand English lyrics.

Fortunately, the last couple years, Xma$ has petered out, so in the city you are not subjected to such a relentless blitz of ugly commercial Christmas songs and store girls wearing elf hats. The aborigines still celebrate Christmas as it should be celebrated, in church, but nobody pays them much attention. They used to go caroling; every year, a few nights before Christmas, they could come at midnight and sing a carol for Dali Watan, the old Chief. Aborigines are superb singers, so that was a treat. This year either I slept through it or they did.

To each his own. Here is a Christmas memory from cousin Kurt, who was yanked out of high school in California and hauled off to Cambodia, where his father, my uncle Jim, was running an airline after the pizza business in Viet Nam slowed down. Kurt?

When I was living in Cambodia with Zack and Jamie at Xmas in 1972 the Filipinos that worked for my dad cooked a young pig in an underground pit that they dug in the front yard and placed coals and leaves all around this small pig (shoat??) and covered it up for hours on end. They finally pulled it out at dusk and we began feasting. It was one of the best meals I have ever had, not just because the pork was literally falling off the bone but because people were drinking and badly singing Christmas songs and the whole feeling was pretty magical. Very weird in wartime Cambodia when at any moment a B-40 rocket or two could be flying in. Had not thought of that for many a year. This year I drank a quart of milk to celebrate the day.

Riotous living, Kurt! A whole quart? Anyway, happy constitution day to all.

I have a couple cardboard boxes stuffed loosely with old paper bags and whatnot that I use for archery targets. When I am not shooting, I stack them out of the way, out of the rain, along the east side of the house.

This morning I discovered that an ingenious beagle had made a nest out of my targets. He’s protected from the back by the step, and from the front by the box my new bread-making machine came in.

養狗仁者，我希望你們給愛犬植晶片。我今天遇到一位beagle獵兔小姐，善心人在路上揀到的，狗妹迷路了；因為沒有晶片，不知是誰家的狗(…不知狗的養人是誰)。~~~那位beagle妹很乖，讓我難以置信，與Yumin算同一種品種的狗。可是她看起來有點不安，因為不知她老家在何方，身旁都是陌生人。如果早已植入晶片，一驗便知了誰家養，人狗重逢，不是很開心嗎？

所以，我希望，如果你養狗，一定要給牠(們)植晶片！

Think of a natural community of wildlife, such as those on the plains of Africa. Probably the image that comes to mind is huge herds of antelopes, wildebeests, and zebras, with lots of giraffes, a bunch of elephants, and circling around a couple lions and a pack of painted dogs. In any community, prey far outnumber predators: herbivores outnumber carnivores.

There cannot be too many predators lest predators eat more than an environment can sustain. The rule is 10:1. Ten units of food produce one unit of energy, so ten units of grass produce one unit of zebra energy, and ten units of zebra energy produce one unit of lion energy, so one unit of lion energy is one hundred units of grass. For this reason, predators are scarce.

Predators usually attack animals smaller than themselves. To take down large prey, smaller predators hunt in packs; think of wolves and dingoes. But because of the energy conversion restriction, large predators cannot form large packs. A pride of lions may have ten lions all told. Even a wolf pack has only about that number.

Large packs or herds appear among herbivores; again, think of those endless herds of large mammals on the African savannah, or troops of dozens of baboons. Large carnivores do not band together; big herds of large animals are herbivores (I am discussing life on the land; porpoises may hunt fish together.)

I am using the terms carnivore and herbivore conveniently. All animals are omnivores. No carnivore is 100% carnivorous, no herbivore is 100% herbivorous. Tigers eat grass from time to time, and even a panda or a koala eats the occasional bug or shrew amongst the leaves. Carnivore and herbivore refer to the balance of diet; no need to be pedantic.

The human being is a large animal. We are larger than 99% of all species of life on earth. The natural grouping for human beings is about 150 persons in one group; in other words, a much larger herd than arises among carnivores. To drive the nail home: large carnivores do not form large groups; large groups of mammals are herbivores. This is just one of many observations that point out what you should be stuffing your face with: nature designed you to be a vegetarian.

Because of the Great American Steak religion, Americans in particular like to see a past peopled by The Great Hunter striding across the Pleistocene clubbing animals to eat. In truth, the diet of human beings has never been predominantly carnivorous, excepting Inuit. Meat has always been eaten sparingly, mostly as a status meal, with the bulk of the diet procured by women out gathering.

But consider the Inuit meat diet: in the Artic before the 20^th century, the seals, whales, and fish Inuit ate were entirely free of chemicals and pollution, and did not have the kind of fat domesticated animals (excluding you and me, naturally) develop. Try to find any meat today that is free of ghastly chemicals and toxins.

Plants may have been sprayed with pesticides, but investigations comparing the most polluted vegetables with the least polluted meat show the meat carries 40 times more chemicals than the plant.

Obviously, you are free to eat whatever you please, nails and ground glass if it takes your fancy. But if you want good health, figure out what nature designed you to eat: vegetables, grains, fruits, and nuts; nothing with a face. You want to know what good health is? Knock off the meat.

公車上的跑馬燈寫

請勿大聲喧嘩

這好難！！我一直設法遵守，可是實在拿捏不住，大聲喧嘩與小聲喧嘩的界限到底何在？我希望公車處可以明確指示。

A young couple, about 20, on the MRT(Taipei subway), very hip very fashionable, both dressed daringly in black: she, heavy green eye makeup, five or six cheap shiny earrings in her left ear; he, a black baseball cap with cheap shiny metal ornaments and the visor turned towards 2 o’clock oh how audacious! They: leaning against each other heads together, not exchanging a word, totally ignoring each other as they concentrate intensely on the life and death matter of busily playing video games on their cell phones.

Is it any wonder the divorce rate is so high?

It’s a scene all Americans who have taken a long car trip as or with kids recognize. Big Brother and Little Sister are bickering in the backseat.

BB: Moooom! She touched me!

LS: I did not!

BB: You did too!

LS: You started it!

BB: Did not!

LS: Did too!

Mother: Okay you two, stop it right now!

BB: Moooom! She touched me again!

LS: I did not!

BB: You did too!

LS: You started it!

Mother: Little Sister, keep your hands to yourself! Stop touching your Big Brother!

BB snickers.

LS: But he touched me first!

BB: Did NOT!

Mother: Stop it right now, both of you!

LS: But he touched me first!

Mother: I don’t care who started it! Stop it right now!

LS: You’re no fair! You always take sides! I hate you!

Father: All right, that’s ENOUGH out of BOTH of you! Stop it right this instant!

Mother: You two stop bickering so Father can concentrate on driving.

LS: But he touched me first! I hate all of you!.

Mother to Father: Can’t you do something about your kids?

Father: Don’t make me come back there!! If I have to stop the car, YOU’LL BE SORRY!

LS to BB: See? It’s all your fault!

If you recognize this scene, you understand what’s going on in Taiwan’s politics. Little Sister, the reigning DPP of President Chen, is going out of its way to provoke reactions out of the KMT. In almost eight years in office, President Chen has done nothing constructive, but everything possible to divide the popular consensus: he’s renamed the post office, renamed the airport, he’s trying to rename Taipei’s favorite landmark, the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial: nickel and dime stuff that doesn’t accomplish anything, done solely for its irritation value.

Mother you could say is the US, trying to keep down the squabbling and avoid a wreck. You can probably figure out who Father is.

L M Boyd, in his column Trivia wrote: “Go stand next to a wall. Put your right foot sideways against it. Put your right cheek against it, too. Keep them there. Now try to lift your left foot. Can’t do it, can you? Thought not. Nobody can.”

Mom threw down the gauntlet: “Think you can do this without falling down?”

I couldn’t take that sitting down. I lined the outer edge of my right foot and stuck my right cheek against the living room wall, then tried to pick up my left foot. I discovered that your whole center of balance is off. Repeated experiments showed that you can pick up your left foot, but you can’t keep it up. Intrigued, I tried various ways of holding out my arms, pressing, bending knees. Then I happened to look outside. The dogs were watching me intently.

Good things dogs can’t talk. “I just can’t describe it. We looked in and there he was, with his lips all twisted up, flinging his arms to and fro. We thought it must have been some sort of attack.”

The Bible may not specifically forbid parents to kill their offspring, but the laws of the state of Illinois most definitely do, so during summer vacation, our Sunday School at the Lutheran Church in Ottawa, Ill. had activities during the week to keep us out of our parents' hair.

The activities were pleasant, with lots of arts and crafts projects. In particular, there was one where each little monster excuse me each tyke was given a clear yellow plastic V shaped slat, some Elmer's glue, and the letters D, E, G, I, L, O, O, S, and V. These the child glued onto the plastic thing so you had a nice clear yellow plastic sign, suitable for placing on a desk, proclaiming GOD IS LOVE.

All very well, until my sister Steph was put to work on this project. She was sent home in disgrace, clutching her piece of yellow plastic onto which she had very neatly glued

I LOVE DOGS.

I remember admiring her handiwork and ingenuity ~who would have imagined you could arrange the letters to spell anything but the approved slogan?~ but the Authorities deemed it blasphemous. I disremember what awful punishment was meted out, or promised her in the afterworld, but I do know that when it was my turn for that activity, the teachers hovered over my desk so constantly and intrusively that I ended up with most of the letters glued onto my nose and forehead.

歐陽修送徐無黨南歸序：孔子弟子，有能政事者矣，有能言語者矣；若顏回者，在陋巷、曲肱飢臥而已；其群居則默然，終日如愚人。然當時群弟子，皆推尊之，以為不敢望而及。

“I don’t know what is wrong with those two. Every time they got together they would end up fighting. They would fight at least four out of five schooldays every week. When they got to school they would be friendly and chat with each other, but sooner or later, for some reason, they would start fighting. They would fight until they were both bloody, and then go off to eat noodles together, hand in hand. They’d be great friends until the next day. Then they’d fight again, and then become friends again. This went on and on.

“We got tired of all their fighting, so one morning when they started up again, a bunch of us chased them out of the schoolyard. That didn’t stop them, but there was a policeman there. He took them off to the police station and had them stand at attention all day long. They couldn’t move or talk until the police let them go after dark. As soon as they got out of the police station, they went off to sing karaoke together. I don’t know what’s wrong with them.

“One day they were fighting again in the classroom. You know those red felt tip pens teachers use to mark papers? They were stabbing each other with one of those when Teacher walked in. They both turned on Teacher and started beating him up. The police came and put them both in the reformatory, and I haven’t seen them since.

“I bet they’re still fighting each other every day in the reformatory. That’s fine with me, just so they don’t bother me with all that fighting. I sure can’t figure out what’s wrong with those two.”

In March I accrued a pile of bisque fired pottery with plans of野燒firing them on an open fire (if you’re interested, please read this blog for January 17, 2006)I arranged my bricks, procured metal cans (for燻燒), stacked wood, and waited for good weather.

March. We’ve had a lot of rain this year, even for Wulai, and Wulai is rainforest.

Finally, on Sunday it stopped raining. On Tuesday, I had time to clear up my firing spot; the firewood had sprouted some intriguing fungi, and the ground and bricks were thoroughly soaked. I set a fire to dry things out.

Yesterday I had to go to the city to teach, but again, I set a fire to parch the soil a bit. Last night I got off the bus at the bridge and lifted my eyes to a sky bright with stars.

I went to bed smiling with the idea of starting the fire up early so I would have a good bed of flame in the afternoon.

This morning I woke up just in time to hear the rain begin to fall.

Maybe next year?

Author Larry McMurtry said, “We came as pioneers, we worked extremely hard, for a time we prospered; then the old folks died and their children died; little by little hard-acquired land got sold and vanished, making it a close question as to what exactly we won. Strong lives, I suppose.”

Francis Parkman crossed the Great Plains to the Rockies in 1846, with great difficulty, danger, and suffering. He was keenly aware that the whole savage beauty of the region would soon be swept away, and in The Oregon Trail wrote that when civilization reached the Plains, they would lose their danger and charm.

An interesting comment that bears reflection. In places Parkman stood guard all night long to protect his companions from attacks by wolves or Indians, now you can probably get a Big Mac in an air conditioned mall. Progress!

The elders in this photo are my mother’s grandparents.

時代不同

從前，如果家中少女足不出戶，日日夜夜守在家裏，稱為深宮閨秀，家族為榮。

現在，如果家中少女足不出戶，日日夜夜守在家裏，稱為宅女，家族煩惱不已。

A very interesting difference between the West and East, specifically China, is that in the West, gods are born and not made, but in China, gods are made and not born. Every god in the West, from Zeus to Jesus, was born a god, but not so in China. Chinese gods are ordinary people who have achieved divinity by experiencing life to the fullest and learning its lessons through and through: 媽祖本是湄州一姑娘，關公初為漢末一勇將；所以古人說，「釋迦不從地湧、太上不從天生」。

I am not sure which is the cause and which is the result, but Western society, specifically Europe, has had classes: the hoi polloi led by the aristocracy and royal family. In China, with its 科舉 civil service exams, any boy who learned to read and write could take the imperial exams and rise to power and prominence. This system was inspired by Confucius, who believed 有教無類 that education should be available to all, and that 犁牛之子，騂且角，雖欲無用，山川其捨諸？ what matters is virtue (achievements + reflection) rather than birth.

If you ask me, the Chinese attitude is far more democratic (although saying that is, obviously, reading modern priorities into ancient thought).