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。

孔子誕辰現在不是國定假日，我們還需要管它嗎？臺灣教育最重要的任務，早已經不是甚麼增強國力啦、栽培人才啦、訓練思考能力啦、培養人格啦、德育群育體育美育智育這些老套，我們講白一點，好不好？臺灣教育最重要的任務，是討好家長、讓她們不要投訴。萬世師表下臺鞠躬。

嗚呼~~~~~~~

Today is Confucius’s Birthday; in the ROC, it used to also be a national holiday, Teacher’s Day, until politics was deemed more important than education.

No matter what, take a moment to day to consider what you have learned since last Confucius’s Birthday. Mentally thank your teachers. You may not have been standing on the shoulders of giants, but even standing on the shoulders of a midget, you can see further than you could just standing on the ground.

Now get off that midget, find some great books to read, keep learning, and keep growing.

教師節放假，一個重要意義，是讓學生知道教育是崇高的：放假不是為了哪個部隊殺死了哪個部隊、不是為了某些人認為天上有哪些神明不高興就可以讓我們下地獄、不是為了哪個政治人物爬到了別人頭上，而是為了提醒我們，人是個能思考的動物，是這個世界上唯一能夠思深慮邃的動物：我們能思考，我們的思考可以進步，如果有老師開導，可以少走千年百歲的冤枉路。我們可以訓練我們的腦筋、可以突破現狀、可以發揮潛力。而自古啟迪我們的，是夫子，從小領導我們的，是老師。這還不夠我們放假嗎？

有人說，假期太多，只好刪，以免影響臺灣的競爭力。學生天天上課，但是倘若教育不受重視、家長對老師頤指氣使，再上多少課也不會增強臺灣，卻讓臺灣每下愈況。如果學生知道教育地位崇高、受社會重視，是傳遞經驗、陶冶人格最重要的過程，即使多放一天假，利遠遠多于弊。

北魏‧崔浩曰，「為國計者，惟社稷是利。」我管你甚麼政治利益、爭權籌碼的假日，有比「尊師重道」更能利社稷的嗎？

Pearls of Chinese wisdom

中文：心無旁鶩

英譯：He has no duck beside his heart.

按：說文：騖、亂馳也，从馬敄聲。兦遇切

說文：鶩、舒鳧也，从鳥務聲。莫卜切

心無旁騖，多訛為心無旁敄鳥，非也。除非要強調心邊沒有鴨子。

A primary goal of education is to teach you how to think: how to concentrate on the subject at hand to reach a solution. This requires… well, what do you know? concentration requires concentration, that you focus on your object and ignore extraneous data.

It should come as no surprise to anyone that what you do regularly influences your thinking and thus your mind. If you keep your mind active, your mind is active; if you live on soap operas and singing shows, you probably think Dubya was a great president.

Studies in Britain show that second screening, or watching tv while surfing the internet and facebook, may alter the brain, cause brain damage, and even cause depression and emotional problems.

LINK a very interesting article, worth reading.

資治通鑑記南燕王慕容超侵信其大臣公孫五樓：

公孫五樓（活躍于西元400年前後），南燕左衛將軍、武衛將軍、征虜將軍、屯騎校尉、侍中、尚書。

外傳：公孫氏，其父有庶長子，名曰公孫地下室；公孫五樓之後裔，于今為第二十八代，名為公孫電梯大廈。

說有多無聊~~~~哈。

I should have become a surgeon. LINK This guy sent in a bill for US$117,000 for just standing by the operating table. Heck, I don’t even have to become a surgeon, I’ll just stand there for US$20,000. You get the same results, and what a bargain!

九二一地震已經十五年了

紀念一下、珍惜平安的日子。

My mother lived on a farm in Baca County, Kansas, and yup, they were right there when the Dust Bowl hit.

But they had some good years before that. Everybody worked hard, and  everybody had chores to do. Mom’s included feeding the animals, during harvest waking the hired help, helping with the cooking, and so on.

For help with the harvest, they hired big strong young men who worked hard for their pay. They would start the morning’s work, eat breakfast, do more work, eat lunch, work more, eat supper, work more, eat dinner, work more, and drop into a dead sleep. They were usually too tired to even change clothes before they went to bed, or rather, dropped onto the bed. They were probably asleep even before they reached the mattress. It wasn’t always easy to wake them in the morning.

One evening, Mom realized her kitty cat was missing. She searched everywhere for it, but couldn’t find it. Finally, it was getting late, so she decided she’d just have to go to bed and worry about it the next day.

Early the next morning, she went to wake up the hired hand. He was dead to the world, but she shook him for a while, and he managed to sit up in bed. 

When he sat up, Mom found her kitty cat: apparently it had been snoozing on the man’s nice warm bed when he hit the sack. The cat was flattened out, like a pancake. The hired hand saw Mom’s expression and then saw the cat. He had been so tired that he slept on top of the cat the whole night without even noticing it.

As they watched, the cat slowly pulled itself back into a three dimensional shape, shook itself a few times, and wandered off, a bit unsteadily.

Mom said it was like something you’d expect to see in a cartoon. She said, he was a good worker, but you could tell he was no princess.

Passengers waiting for a connecting flight were told that the plane hadn’t arrived, because of the weather. The airline staff told them they might have to wait from two to five hours.

The passengers complained, “Can’t you be more specific? When will the jet get here?”

The airline people shrugged and said, “It’s up in the air.” 

猜一個成語

AAAAAAAAAAAA

BBBBBBB勢BBB

CCCCCCCCCCCC
DDDDDDDDDDD
EEEEEEEEEEEEE

解答：按======

The American Bar Association Journal ::link:: reports that an atheist soldier in the US Air Force was not allowed to reenlist because he declined to swear an oath with the words “so help me god.”

This intrigues me. If you don’t believe in god, you aren’t permitted to kill your fellow man.
Dunno why, but Alice's Restaurant keeps running through my head.

Qimpahu:龜殼花：Trimeresurus mucrosquamatus: pit viper

連續三個晚上回家時，在水缸遇到這位小鄰居，恐怕是等著青蛙吧。也許吃飽了，因為後來沒再出現。For three nights in a row, when we came home we found this little neighbor perched on one of our urns. It was probably waiting for frogs, got one, and didn’t come back.

景公出獵，上山見虎，下澤見蛇。歸，召晏子而問之，曰：「今日寡人出獵，上山則見虎，下澤則見蛇，殆所謂不祥也？」晏子對曰：「國有三不祥，是不與焉。夫有賢而不知，一不祥；知而不用，二不祥；用而不任，三不祥也。所謂不祥，乃若此者。今上山見虎，虎之室也；下澤見蛇，蛇之穴也。如虎之室、如蛇之穴而見之，曷為不祥也？」(In the 6^th century BC,) Duke Jing of Chi was out hunting. In the mountains he saw a tiger, and in the wetlands he saw a snake. Returning, he called for his great minister Yen Ying and asked, “These must be unlucky omens, right?” Yen replied, saying, “There are three unlucky omens for a country, and these do not count. The first unlucky omen is there are able and virtuous people that the government doesn’t know about. The second unlucky omen is that the government knows about able and virtuous people but doesn’t use them. The third unlucky omen is that the government uses these able and virtuous people but doesn’t give them a free hand. These are the three unlucky omens, and that’s all there is to it. If you see a tiger in the mountains, the mountains are the tiger’s home; if you see a snake in the wetlands, the wetlands are the snake’s home. If you see a tiger or snake in its home, what can be unlucky about that?”

很可憐：怎麼跟親朋好友解釋是誰把他打的鼻青臉腫？How can this poor guy possibly explain who beat the stuffings out of him? Hahahaaaa!!!!

用龍眼碳燒端午水泡普洱、鐵觀音，與太座賞月、吃月餅，人生如此自可樂！We enjoyed the moon along with some of our best tea. All the best for the Moon Festival!

中秋節賞月，清雅！烤肉，搞得污煙瘴氣~~

但怎麼樣，要烤肉不需要烤自己的肉！

No matter how much you like barbecues, this is taking
‘active participation’ too far!

LINK:::::

Our friends the Japanese are cheerfully wiping out whales and calling it “research” ::LINK::. I guess sort of like the “research” they did on citizens in northern China during WWII ::link::. 

Meet Laniakea. LINK

Let’s round out the figures and say a typical long-distance passenger jet flies at a speed approaching 1000kph. At that speed, you can fly across the Pacific in about nine or ten hours, from Taiwan to LA. Once I flew from Hong Kong to New York and back, about 16 hours non-stop each way (which is really longer than you want to sit on a plane). 

If you could fly to the sun at that speed, without stopping, you would reach the sun in about twenty years. Think of all the inflight movies, and shudder!

How big is our sun? If you take all the mass in our solar system, the sun is about 99.8% of all that mass, and Jupiter is about 0.18%, so you and I, Mars, Venus, the asteroid belt, all that, are what’s left over.

It takes light about eight minutes to reach us from the sun. Okay? And it takes light four years and four months to reach the next star over.

Light from the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way, travels 25,000 years to reach us, and the Milky Way is about 100,000 light years from side to side, give or take a few weeks. 

Our sun is just an average star, not too big, not too little. Let’s say there are a hundred more times stars in the Milky Way than there are people on Earth.

Our galaxy is just an average galaxy, not too big, not too little. It belongs to a larger group, called a supercluster, the Laniakea I just introduced you to. There are about 100,000 galaxies like ours (galaxies, not stars) in Lankiakea, and it has 100,000,000,000,000,000 (100 quadrillion) times the mass of our sun. 佛說「恆河沙諸佛」，不是隨便說的，天星比恆河沙多以億倍計。

Laniakea is Hawaiian, and means “immense heavens.” Immense indeed. 

While we are busy wiping out species right and left, we are also realizing that the ecosystem is far more complex, and holds far more variety, than we had imagined.

Off the coast of Australia, scientists have found “deep sea mushrooms” which do not fit into any known category of animal life. 

This article ::LINK:: was issued “as a cry of help,” so if you can figure out where these deep sea mushrooms belong on the tree of life, do take some time to relieve the anxiety which these scientists are undergoing. 

Bet you’ve never heard of Washtub, either. You weren’t supposed to.
In 1950, the US was so worried that the USSR would invade Alaska that the FBI trained SBA: stay behind agents, those who would stay in Soviet occupied Alaska and feed intelligence to US forces. 
A fascinating look at a very tense time: LINK::

Bye bye Martha. Martha was the very last passenger pigeon. She died one hundred years ago today. LINK

Remember that only a few decades before, there were billions of passenger pigeons. John James Audubon wrote about a flock in western Kentucky that took three days to pass overhead. Flocks were so big that simply by perching in trees, their weight broke thick branches.

And then they were all killed, all except Martha and George in a zoo. George died, then Martha, and none remain. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am pleased to announce the invention of the long-awaited

BAMBUBA /竹巴

or, the bamboo tuba/竹製土巴/低音號

My giant bamboo was knocked over in the last typhoon, so I have used this chance to make a Bambuba, complete with bamboo mouthpiece. The bamboo is fresh cut and not entirely dry, so it now weighs about 15kg, so don’t ask me to join your marching band just yet. I am still considering whether or not to carve in tone holes. If I do, obviously the instrument will be tuned to the key of B, for Bambuba.

I am patiently awaiting news from Sweden, from the Nobel Prize Committee, to see if they will award me the Nobel Prize for Music and Magnanimous Contribution to Humanity this year, or if it’s too late this year, then next.

In the meantime, I am busy transcribing the score of Bach’s Unaccompanied Cello for the Unaccompaniable Bambuba. Wait for the world premier!

Today’s nomination for a Darwin Award goes to ::::::: link

” A 9-year-old girl accidentally killed an Arizona shooting instructor as he was showing her how to use an automatic Uzi.”

Where do we begin to count the ways that’s wrong? 

All who are surprised that such a thing could happen in Arizona, please bang your head on a wall until you have some more sense. 

颱風把巨竹吹倒了，現在將做為弓、鼓、鐘、碗等等材料。起勁的話，也可以幫巨人做一雙竹筷。

罪右邊的那枝長一百九十公分左右。

The last typhoon blew over my giant bamboo (sob sob), so now to make good use of the bamboo, to make bows, bowls, bells, drums, or maybe a pair of really ferocious numchuks.

The shortest one, on the far right, is about six feet long.

今早金、木星聯珠 Jupiter and Venus lined up early this morning. Very early. Having taken some photos, being a sensible person, I went back to bed.

also here

聽說有木，謂大丁紅，一條如指粗以打人，內傷不治。

上網查，藥材有丁紅草，顧名思義，是草。

或曰，土杜仲亦名大丁紅、 本杜仲、 疏花衛矛，但又曰泰雅語為supea；supea當為spia誤，而spia當為梓樹。未聞spia有此威力。

我有一弓，傳統達彥製，為spia木。誠徵有志之士，願為科學冒險，有奉獻精神，供我以spia弓打，以驗其果有威力與否。有意者內洽。

When you least expect it, suddenly, out of nowhere! the missing foot!! ATTACKS!! aaaarrraaAAAAAHHHH!!! BEWARE!!!

Golly wolly, are we doomed? An asteroid is headed our way, at a speed of nine miles a second. Look at that headline!

HUMAN LIFE COULD BE WIPED OUT BY ASTEROID TRAVELLING AT 9 MILES A SECOND

The report says, “Human life could be wiped out by a huge asteroid that is heading for earth at a speed of 33,800 miles an hour. With the force of around 44,800 megatonnes of TNT, scientists say that there is a good chance it will hit earth on March 16, 2880.”

2880? Well, okay, good to know, I’ll be sure to note that on my calendar, but I’m not going to worry about it just yet. 

I’m no runner. I will walk or ride a bike all day long, but don’t ask me to run for ten minutes. It bores me. If I have to, I can run on and on, but I’m not fast. But one time I ran very fast.

Since junior high, my avocation has been martial arts, and since high school, mountaineering. Football, basketball, baseball, ball games bore me. In school, ball games were sacred, but they still bored me, even more than running.

I went to high school in Pasadena, CA, not too far from Camp Pendleton, the Marine base. Most of our PE teachers had been Marine Corps drill instructors. The rumor was that they chewed through their chains at night to escape, and came to PHS to teach PE. Sounds about right. Maybe they really did even hold midnight rituals, sacrificing kids (goat and elementary school) to the gods of football and basketball.

To say they were serious about football and basketball is sort of like saying the surface of the sun is warm. We had endless drills. If I did not show sufficient reverence, or maybe even misbehaved (who, me?), Coach would tell me to run ten laps. No big deal, okay, I’d finish ten laps more bored than before, and misbehave again. I mean, do you really have to put the stupid basketball through the stupid hoop every time? Can’t you be creative from time to time and bounce the ball off someone’s shoulder? That takes some good aim, a moving target like that, and it’s even better if you miss and hit something else. I would rather run laps the whole period than shoot baskets.

But what I really wanted to do was practice Kenpo Karate. In junior high, I had the extravagant good luck to become a student of the great Ed Parker, the Big Kahuna himself, at his home base, the Pasadena studio. A good Hawaiian, Parker loved to break heads, ribs, and other vital organs.

One evening when I was 17, say December 1970, I was making my way home to Sierra Madre after a good workout at the studio.

In those days, I wore my hair long, partly because it bugged the teachers at school so much. Long for those days: long enough to reach my mouth in front and hang over my collar in back. For those days, long.

It did get in my way when I was practicing Kenpo, so I knotted together a broken shoestring for use as a headband. This particular evening, I still had my headband on, because I was walking and trotting.

I was following Sierra Madre Boulevard, the route of the Rose Parade, which ends at PHS. I had just passed a Chevron gas station, crossed a street, and was walking by the wall surrounding the gas works. (Through the miracle of Google maps, I see the gas works – Pasadana Propane – is still there, but the wall is moved back from the sidewalk, and lower. 250 – 268 N Sierra Madre, Pasadena CA, if you’re interested. I am checking the next couple street names on Google maps.) Further up Sierra Madre was a dead zone of torn down houses, making way for the new freeway they were putting in, the Foothill.

Although there were very few cars on the road, I thought I might hitch a ride, so once I crossed the street, I turned around, just as two guys appeared from around the wall. They were coming at me. “Hey, hippie, give us the headband.” Everybody knows hippies are all peace and love and flower power and don’t fight. But I wasn’t a hippie. I knew what they wanted. After a good two or three hour workout, I was primed, and more than eager to kick their heads for them, since that’s what they wanted.

We engaged in creative dialogue. “I don’t want to give it to you.”

“Then we’re going to take it.” Chicano accents.

They were black silhouettes against the gas station lights. I saw the one next to the wall was holding a ballpeen hammer, down his right leg. Okay, you go down first. Next to the wall, he couldn’t get a good swing. I was adjusting my angle of attack when suddenly a car roared out from behind the wall and stopped just behind me, cutting off my rear.

My reaction was instant. I turned, lifted my heels, and flew.

They hadn’t expected that, so they were just a bit slow in taking off. I heard them floor the engine. I crossed Del Rey Avenue – a two lane LA size street – in two steps. I ran so fast the car couldn’t catch me.

I reached the first house, on the corner of Bella Vista and hammered on the door. Just as the car pulled up and slammed on the brakes, the door opened. 

I told the young man who opened the door, “They’re chasing me.” He took in the situation in an instant. He stepped back, I stepped in, and we shut the door. The car waited a moment, and drove off.

The family asked if I wanted to phone the police. I didn’t, because first, the police probably wouldn’t care about a long-haired hippie in a headband. And what could they do? I could hardly ask them for a ride home, and Sierra Madre was out of their jurisdiction anyway.

I figured the guys in the car would think I’d phoned the police, so they wouldn’t wait around. I guessed I had spoiled their evening; they were done with me. I waited a while, all was quiet, so I set off again. I was a bit antsy going through the dead zone, but I got home without further event.

Maybe they had noticed that when they showed me the hammer, I wasn’t afraid; instead, I was getting ready to fight. Not easy prey, forget it.

Later I asked around. I had brushed into some nasty guys. They had strayed from their usual base in El Monte or somewhere. Nobody knew why they had come to Pasadena, but people knew about them. The car was full of more nasty guys with hammers and saws for their evening’s entertainment.

In the following months, before I went to Viet Nam, I never heard about their coming back to Pasadena. Maybe they figured that if people in Pasadena run that fast, chasing them is a waste of gas. Could be.

“Captain, Captain, what are we to do? The sea is as smooth as glass, and there is not a breath of wind.”

“Alas, me matey, bad luck is upon us! I fear we are becalmed in 

the doll drums!!

When he was in junior high, my brother Peter and his friend John Tuck killed a rat. Certainly you should be able to find something creative to do with a perfectly good dead rat, right? Especially if you’re Peter.

I don’t know if it’s the same anymore, but in those days, the Vice Principal was in charge of discipline and maintaining order. The Vice Principal at Henry Huntington Jr High (San Marino, CA) was Mr Gilligan. So Peter got to thinking, hmmm, Mr Gilligan’s door opens inwards. He doused the rat corpse in gasoline, tied its tail loosely to the nameplate on the door, lit it, hammered ferociously on the door, and disappeared.

Right on plan, Mr Gilligan waxed wroth, came steaming out of his office to see who dared to hammer on his door, yanked the door open, and the rat flingo!! flew flamingly into his office. Without missing a beat, Mr Gilligan screeched, TALOVICH!!!

Small wonder I had such a hard time when I got into HEH Jr High. Mr Gilligan had some sort of grudge against me. 

“Congress is trying to use the impeachment process to besmirch a political career. It didn’t work well with Clinton. They didn’t convict him. It’s not going to happen with Obama.

"It's political shenanigans. Republicans like to wrap themselves in the Constitution but they have to understand what the impeachment clause is there for – it’s not just because you have political differences with a president. It’s a checks and balances system. It was with the greatest reluctance it was used in the Nixon situation.”

Wise words spoken by none other than John Dean, who knows a thing or two about impeachment. Comments on Nixon, Watergate, and Obama: well worth reading: LINK

LDSD? LSD is more like it!

Link:::

Halong,

too long,

so long,

time for this typhong

to be gong.

我不是要危言聳聽，但這幾天想個問題。九二一大地震後才曉得，地震前幾個月一次大規模停電，來自一處高壓電塔傾倒；而地震後發現電塔傾倒的起因是深處地層下陷，其實是大地震來臨的前兆。

這次高雄氣爆，可不可能是地層移位，讓管子洩漏氣體？

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?