If I were to visit your home, I would hardly slaughter your daughter because her presence was inconvenient, smother your brother because I thought he might prove aggressive, or murder your mother because I thought she might resemble some criminal I vaguely remembered seeing a photo of.

Snakes are very sensitive, even more sensitive to moods than dogs. If you are nervous, they get nervous; if you are calm, they don't get nervous. The mountains are the snakes' home. They were here long before us. It would be impolite to slaughter or murder them simply because they are there. I never play with snakes. I treat them with respect, but not fear.

Some people barely dare to move around the wilderness for fear of snakes (but they blithely cross busy city streets, a far more dangerous undertaking). My dogs crash around the underbrush with never a care. Certainly they have crossed paths with snakes, but they have never been bitten. This observation led me to understand that snakes do not lurk around waiting for something to bite. Rather, they will avoid biting when possible.

I probably have more experience with snakes than most people, and this is important to me, as I go barefoot the year round. There are plenty of snakes in Wulai; on my little plot of land I have encountered six species of poisonous snakes, and there are plenty more out in the jungle, where I meet them frequently. Three in as many days this week. But I treat them with the respect due neighbors, and we get along fine. I never leave the house at night without a light, to avoid stepping on them or startling them.

Case in point: last night I stepped outside to observe the weather. A few steps from the door my flashlight discovered a qimbahu龜殼花 pointed-scaled pit viper (protobothrops mucrosquamatus), a very poisonous viper which has a reputation for being very aggressive. Of course my immediate reaction was to race into the house for my camera, and on the way back out I picked up a long bamboo cane.

As I rushed forth to snap photos, silly sappy Tlahuy gleefully led the way ~~ and almost stepped right on the snake. That's impolite, so I hastily called him back. He was so flustered that he just stood there and wagged his tail guiltily, not being able to figure out what he had done to make me raise my voice. His feet were a palm's width from the snake’s head, and I can assure you, from experience, that when it wants to, the qimbahu moves so fast that you have to see it to believe it.

But it didn't want to. Finally I dragged Tlahuy away by the collar and took a few photos. Then I explained to the snake that the walkway wasn't a good place for it, especially if irascible Yumin came and started barking. I gently prodded it with the cane, and it slowly, with dignity intact, slithered off into the grass and into the night.

Overall, I believe that nature knows best. When you are befuddled by the complexities of modern life, consider what is natural: 順其自然.

易曰，一陰一陽之謂道。先有夫婦而後有父子，有父子而後有君臣上下：禮始于夫婦。The human being is 'designed' by evolution to be born, nurtured, and reared by a father and a mother. That's natural, isn't it? In a nutshell, that sentence captures the essence of millions of years of evolution and development. Obviously, exceptions abound, but I'm trying to trace the main flow of human development, to see what is natural for us, to see what we were 'designed' for.
(I put 'design' in quotes because certainly I know evolution does not work towards set goals; I am using the word as a convenience.)

Recent news has informed us that a woman in California had octuplets, and that now a 66 year old woman in England is expecting her first baby. Whatever became of ZPG? Questions of overpopulation aside, I wonder, where is the father?

The report I saw on Yahoo showed a 61 year old woman with 3 year old twins, a boy and a girl. The girl was proud of her sparkly Cinderella shoes and the boy was more interested in his toy train than the tv cameras. Has this mother taught her children the appropriate gender roles? Or is something more basic, more unconscious, at work? in other words, nature.

But if human nature exists, which should be a proven fact by now, then back to Chou I: 一陰一陽之謂道。For a healthy, happy development, these kids should have one father and one mother; this is how we were set up. Artificial insemination deprives children of a father's role in their development.

I may be selfish to say, ZPG forever, I don't want to bring any kids into this world to suffer the aftermath of our generation's rape of the ecosystem. But it may also be selfish to say, Okay, I think I want to have a kid to amuse myself with but I don't want to bother myself with providing the kid with a live-in father role model.

Since they're an English school, you'd think that they could at least write their own sign in English.

以前教育概論老師跟我們說，現在的大學跟古代的太學有甚麼不同？
答：太學比大學好一點。

The world is struggling with the problem of Somali piracy. Should merchant ships be armed? Which nations should patrol the sea? Great people are working hard on this problem.

Now a minor barbarian is going to throw in his two cents worth, with a solution that will take longer to put into practice, but provide lasting results: try to solve the problem at the root. Why do pirates become pirates? A few are sociopaths, okay, shoot them and be done with it. But for the most part, I believe pirates become pirates for lack of other means to support themselves and their families: poverty, lack of education, lack of anything better to do. Okay, great, how much fuel does a navy ship burn up in one day? I don't know, but I will bet that it is a lot more expensive than building schools that can stand for decades, or for educating young people to become teachers for decades.

Use the navy ship's fuel money for the second day to build basketball courts, provide free basketballs, uniforms, and coaches, form teams, and keep the young men busy shooting baskets. Shoot baskets, not sailors.

One big problem is, of course, that Somalia has no government. Nuts, contract it out to Chinese businesspeople, from Taiwan, PRC, and Hong Kong, and they'll have a government. That sentence would probably give a lot of Washington bureaucrats the heebie-jeebies: What!? expand the Chinese presence in Africa? But first tell me, pleased, what the US is doing to bring Somalia back to order, aside from shooting their pirates.

A Strange Encounter
This afternoon as I was carving outdoors, all of a sudden a horrendous racket came from the ravine out front, of a dog in pain. Naturally Tlahuy, Byajing, and Yumin charged out to see what was going on, and I followed. Nobody sets traps around here, or rather, they'd better not! but since the dog was not running back and forth, it sounded like it was trapped.

I followed our dogs, and found that the dog was trapped. The long hair of its tail had gotten tangled in the thorns of a rattan vine, and probably by struggling it had gotten its whole tail wrapped around the vine and stuck fast. Rattan thorns are long, sharp, and hard; I don't like to step on them barefoot, because they go into your feet and break off.

I talked quietly to the dog, and recited Amitabha. It calmly waited for me to do something. I couldn't peel off its tail from the rattan. Sabiy followed soon to see what the ruckus was about, so I asked her to get a saw and my headhunting knife.

I stayed with the trapped dog. Tlahuy and Byajing looked down from above with great concern. Yumin licked its face.

When Sabiy brought me the saw, I started to saw off the vine above the dog's tail (you didn't think I'd saw off its tail, did you!?) It patiently waited without writhing or twisting; it knew that I was trying to free it. Yumin kept licking its face, comforting it.

Rattan is hard to saw, especially at that angle, but finally I got almost all the way through, and chopped the last bit with the long knife. I had intended to saw off the piece below the tail, but the dog twisted and with a great wrench, freed itself.

Maybe the dog's name is Absolom. Anyway, it's the first time I've seen a dog in that predicament.

Overheard in Wulai: You Light Up My Life
「你小時候有沒有吃過蠟燭？」

"Did you ever eat candles when you were little?"

從前在臺灣常看到一個標語：四海之內，皆兄弟也。也常聽很多人講這句；尤其我一個外僑，常有人對我說，「在臺灣我們不分省籍，不在乎國籍，大家都一樣：四海之內，皆兄弟也。」很簡單，可是也很感人。

但是十幾年來，很少講到這一句。我覺得很可惜。或許是爭權的政客，為了拉票源分化民眾，排斥異己，不把其它黨籍人士當同胞看待，不鼓勵從前的肚量、包容。可是套一句林肯的話：A house divided against itself cannot stand。

我還是比較喜歡那句：四海之內，皆兄弟也。or，四海之內，皆兄弟姊妹也。希望大家想一想，身體力行。搞甚麼分化、歧視、族群、黨籍、省籍、國籍，多無聊！畢竟我們人類的祖先老家都一樣在非洲，所有人類，全都是非洲人，四海之內，皆非洲人也。兄弟！

Dali Silan has three fine hunting dogs. Each is larger than Tlahuy, my largest. They are trained to attack boar.

His dogs and ours have been quarreling over territory. Last week when we got home from the city, Byajing and Yumin came down to greet us just as Dali's hunting dogs came out to investigate what was going on, but they beat a hasty retreat when Byajing and Yumin charged them, even though each of them is much larger and heavier than either Byajing or Yumin.

Yesterday afternoon there was a terrible ruckus. Dali and I reached the scene at the time, from opposite directions. Apparently the hunting dogs had stepped across the border between our territories, and Yumin sailed into them so fast the Tlahuy and Byajing couldn't keep up. One little beagle against three big hunting dogs. By the time I got there, Yumin was covered with blood and standing off all three dogs. They had bitten his hind legs and back, but he fought so ferociously that they were driven off. Dali took his dogs and I brought Yumin home. He has been licking his wounds, eating grass, and resting a lot. He will be okay. That was really impressive, though, Yumin howling with rage keeping the three bigger dogs from advancing.

hard headed beagle....

十幾年前常去陽明山一間小道場。沒有雄壯建築獅座，也沒有琉璃瓦雕柱，更沒有彩繪門窗斗栱，十分樸素，只是圍牆寫幾個大字：南無阿彌陀佛。常住僅一位老比丘尼，從小在那裡修行。

可是有一段時間，老尼師很不順，各方業障現前。沒辦法，他想，雖已圓頂多年，仍居五行中，只好請地理師來看。地理師一看，說，「哎呀老菩薩，您門開錯了！怎開側邊？要開正中央，大大方方的，保證一切順利。」好吧，老尼師請工人來，改了門，果然一轉，一切順利。

美中不足的是圍牆。開了新門，沒錢粉刷圍牆，所以老遠看到四個大字：
南無阿佛

其實我感覺到滿親切。進大殿頂禮，心念：阿佛今天好嗎？

A neighbor sawed down a camphor tree which was threatening to fall on his house. We sawed up the pieces, and I brought home two blocks weighing over fifty kilograms each, which I plan to carve eventually.

Now they are drying under the stairs, and the whole house smells sublime, if you like the smell of camphor.

My grandfather certainly did. Hale and hearty into his late 80s, he attributed his strength to the two drops of camphor oil he faithfully rubbed into his chest every morning.

Interesting speculation: for the greater part of Grandfather's lifetime, Taiwan was a main producer of camphor; much of it came from Wulai; in Wulai, this area I live in now is noted for camphor; thus, it is quite possible that some of the camphor Grandfather absorbed in Kansas originally came from this very neighborhood.

utux mqu

若遇無足小祖
莫懼莫驚
毋攻毋近
靜下心，站遠一點觀賞
各走各的
If you meet a snake, don't be afraid, and don't get close.

Admire it from a distance, and go your own way.

這是楠樹的籽。如果想要種的話，需要一個女生陪同，種的時候要吻一吻。
為甚麼？應該知道，古人說：種楠親女。

As I reported earlier on this blog ::click here:: smoking has been banned in many public places throughout Taiwan. In Tainan, I was pleased to see that the ban is taken even further. Smoking is banned outright anywhere on the campus of 成功大學 National Cheng Kung University, and what's more, you are not even permitted to smoke on the streets around the campus.

Commemoration: this afternoon in Wulai, the humidity is 20%. Usually it ranges from 60% to 99%; Wulai is, after all, rainforest. This is the driest it has been since I put up the hydrometer. All day long, bamboo has been cracking from the aridity; the bamboo grove sounds like a tank is driving through it.

After lunch, we had tea, as usual, after which I turned the tea utensils upside down to dry. An hour later everything was bone dry. In only an hour? I'm not even sure it's legal in Wulai for anything to dry out that quickly.

Very questionable taste. At the 臺南孔廟 Tainan Confucian Temple, a high school jazz orchestra prepared to perform. First they took half an hour to make sure no two instruments were in tune with each other. Then they launched into a raunchy rendition of the Clint Eastwood theme song, A Fistful of Dollars (or, as it is called in Taiwan, 荒野大鑣客, A Fistful Of Dollar), followed by one of the three Taiwanese folk songs, which is extremely Politically Correct, although Politically Right would fit better. Correct or Right referring to the ideology, not the attempted harmony.

Whether or not a Muzak jazz orchestra belongs in a Confucian Temple is another issue. My concern is for poor old Confucius, who was a highly sensitive, devoted, and talented musician. Were they butchering music to honor Confucius, or to bury him? Rend me your ears.

The lady on the left in my photo had the right idea: grab your kid and git while the gitting's good!

PS: ### 五月五日是舞蹈節，舞舞舞！

If there is such a thing as an ugly tree, it must be the result of human interference and 'beautification.'

Taiwan has some especially beautiful trees. We spent the weekend in 臺南Tainan. Chao was helping in a Dance Therapy workshop, and I wandered around 成大 National Cheng Kung University, admiring their campus, and especially their trees.

My beloved alma mater, NTNU, would fit in the space occupied by their library. Our entire 'landscaping' consisted of a row of five or six draggly palm trees and the grass on the athletic field. When the janitors mopped the corridors, we counted that as 'landscaping,' too, for lack of anything better to admire.

師大的學生、校友到外地遊玩，最好不要去參觀其它的大學，因為不管到哪一所大學去看看，都會發現，校園、設備、腹地、建築，除了教學以外，甚麼都是我們師大最爛。這個weekend在臺南。發現成功大學的圖書館又新又漂亮，可是我看，僅是圖書館佔的地，恐怕比我們師大的校園還要大。嗨~

當然，讀大學，教學最重要。不可否認，師大教學最扎實。可是…我大三時，班上一位同學要請他的就讀東海的高中同學來參觀師大。東海的看看校區，問，你們師大有沒有甚麼景觀？師大的回，有！帶他去看普遍教室大樓外的一排棕櫚樹，六七株，約兩層樓高，零零落落，長在一片光光赤土上(還好沒下雨變泥濘)。東海的默然，看了一會兒，若有所不解地問，這個？？

嗨~

高雄從前叫打狗，嘉義民雄叫打貓。我聽過這麼一個故事：話說當年鄭成功帶了兩隻老虎來臺，沒想到兩隻都從籠子逃出來跑掉了。一隻往北跑，一隻往南跑。往北跑的，到了一個地方，農民看到，打死了，可是打死之後，大家討論，這到底是甚麼東西？討論的結果，應該是貓，所以為了紀念這樁怪事，就把地方名字叫做打貓。另一隻往南跑，到了一個地方，農民看到，打死了，可是打死之後，大家討論，這到底是甚麼東西？討論的結果，應該是狗，所以為了紀念這樁怪事，就把地方名字叫做打狗。

跟我講這個故事的朋友講完時，十分得意地說，看吧，這就證明嘉義人比高雄人聰明。…猜得出來吧，那位朋友恰恰好本身是嘉義人；真巧。
故事好玩，可是牽強附會，望文生義。打貓、打狗之名顯然本非中文，譯音而已。打貓本是平埔Hoanya洪雅族Dapyo (Taneaw) 社；打狗是Makatao馬卡達奧族語Takau，義為竹林。

不懂的字，總要想辦法懂。類似情況，在雲南也有。普洱府志曰，「六茶山遺器俱在城南境，舊傳武候遍歷六山，留銅鑼于攸樂，錛于莽芝，埋鐵磚于蠻磚，遺木梆于倚邦，埋馬鐙于革登，置撒袋于慢撒，因以名其山。」

諸葛亮從未到過思茅、西雙版納，即使去了，會那麼無聊嗎？老遠跑到瘴氣瀰漫的南方作啥？帶了一快鐵磚啊，當然是要找個地方掩埋也！

Overheard in Taitung
妻對夫：「我想要買個骷髏頭。」

Wife to Husband: "I want to buy a skull."