教育、國之本：a country stands or falls on how well it educates its citizens: ALL its citizens.

This is worth reading and pondering.LINK:

also worth learning about: toxic stress.LINK::

伊能嘉矩著「平埔族調查旅行」記載大屯莊(今淡水市靠北的屯山里)的情形：

大屯社原是漢人所命名的，社蕃自稱Keipakton(圭北屯社)‧…大部分的社蕃已忘記自己的固有語言，只有一個六十一歲的老人，他是社內年齡最大的人，還記得一些蕃語：

頭          aohu

頭髮       aopa

耳朵       tsana

眼睛       mata

鼻子       arum

嘴          arivun

手          arei

腳          ahha

腹部       atten

一則感慨于語言的消失，一則很懷疑，怎麼那麼多a開頭的字？我懷疑，老人家是不是一直掏記憶：鼻子。鼻子。阿~阿~鼻子叫做阿rum!

也許吧。

A hundred years ago, a Japanese anthropologist, Ino Kanori, recorded the last remembered words of the aborigines in northeastern Taipei:

Head = aohu; hair = aopa; nose = tsana; eyes = mata; nose = arum; mouth = arivun; hand = arei; foot = ahha; abdomen = atten.

On the one hand we perceive the tragedy of a vanished language. On the other hand, we wonder why so many words began with a? Visualize the serious anthropologist questioning the aged aborigine, who scratches his head and casts back for vocabulary that sank into forgetfulness decades before: nose, yes, yes, ah, ah, let’s see, nose, ah, ah, ah rum! and the serious anthropologist diligently records: nose = arum. 

後趙、石勒曰：大丈夫行事，宜磊磊落落，如日月皎然。

In 322AD, Shih Le, founder of the Later Chao dynasty, said, When a real man does things, that should be as direct and powerful as a rockfall, as clear and open as the sun and moon. 

通鑑九五、一

Fascinating: A young boy buried 24,000 years ago in Mal’ta, near Lake Baikal, has DNA that matches Western European genes, and also matches the DNA of about 25% of living Native Americans.

Link:::

People my age will be among the last to have personal memories of the Kennedy assassination.

I was in fifth grade in Stoneman Elementary School in San Marino, California, which in those days was so conservative that the John Birch Society was suspected of having leftist sympathies. We were not only Democrats, but also named Talovich, so obviously we were dirty Russian commies: case proved. Fortunately, I was too dense to take much notice of this. (San Marino in those days was lily white, populated by good solid Republicans with good solid names like Smith, Taylor, Hunter, Miller, and for variety Vosburg. The racial minority at Stoneman was a Jewish family trying to pass under the name Bloom, and then the Yugovich twins, Eddy Godycki, and Talovich. The Yugoviches were of course highly suspicious, but at least they voted Republican, and although Eddy Godycki was a Democrat, and clearly a dirty Rusky commie, he also kept up on all the latest television shows, which removed a bit of suspicion about his loyalty, but the Taloviches read books instead of watching television, which proved that we were dirty Rusky commies.)

That day we were in class when the principal came in, whispered something to the teacher, and then both of them turned and gave me a long look. My immediate reaction was, Uh-oh, what’s my brother done now? Years later I realized they looked at me because I was the highly suspicious Democrat.

A few minutes later, a public announcement was made that John F Kennedy, the President of the United States, had been assassinated in Dallas, Texas. We were let out of class, and all the students milled about on the playground in confusion. We had never had a President assassinated before, and didn’t know what we should do. A kid came over with the news, “Eddie Godycki’s crying!” For a moment we were all stunned by the shame of a boy crying in public, and the next moment, every kid on the whole playground was crying, tears streaming down our faces, our tribute to our fallen President.

Amitabha, rest in peace.

顏氏家訓、勉學：

梁朝全盛之時，貴遊子弟，多無學術…‧無不熏衣剃面，傅粉施朱，駕長簷車，跟高齒屐，坐棋子方褥，憑斑絲隱囊，列器玩於左右，從容出入，望若神仙。…當爾之時，亦快士也。及離亂之後，朝市遷革，銓衡選舉，非復曩者之親；當路秉權，不見昔時之黨。求諸身而無所得，施之世而無所用。被褐而喪珠，失皮而露質，兀若枯木，泊若窮流，鹿獨戎馬之間，轉死溝壑之際。當爾之時，誠駑材也。

漢唐盛世，讀書人可投筆從戎，錚錚佼佼丈夫也。至宋理後，白臉書生主世，中華力衰勢弱。但至少，古代白臉書生，望之翩翩欲仙，而今之白臉書生，低頭族耳，彎腰駝背，甚無氣勢。

手彈棉被已經不容易找到，但二十年前在三重李大川買的幾床被，墊被好像古代雅士的胸懷：自有山壑。講白一點，都是窟窿。最近訂了一床八斤的雙人墊被，今天去拿了。她們裝棉被套好像變魔術，一攤二綁三翻好了。新的墊被很厚很酥很想趕快關電腦去睡。It’s hard to find old-style handmade cotton blankets anymore, but Li Dachuan in Sanchung still makes them. We had a nice thick foundation blanket made, and picked it up today. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to sleep.

李大川棉被店

新北市三重區重新路一段71號

02 2972 3320

This is hardly surprising: a white supremacist took a DNA test and found out that he’s part black. This is even less surprising: he doesn’t believe the results of the test, once they’re out.

People who hate exorbitantly generally know they have that trait themselves. So what does this tell us about those vile church people in Wichita who defile funerals howling Dog Hates Figs?

Link:

Irony is delicious. 

Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy: “We now conclude that independent expenditures, including those made by corporations, do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption. That speakers may have influence over or access to elected officials does not mean that those officials are corrupt. And the appearance of influence or access will not cause the electorate to lose faith in this democracy.”

link

touche!

安皇帝隆安三年、北魏拓跋珪問博士李先曰：「天下何物最善，可以益人神智？」對曰：「莫若書籍。」珪曰：「書籍凡有幾何，如何可集？」對曰：「自書契以來，世有滋益，以至於今，不可勝計。苟人主所好，何憂不集！」珪從之，命郡縣大索書籍，悉送平城。

In 399 AD, Kui, the ruler of the Toba Hsienpei kingdom Northern Wei, asked the learned man Li Hsian, “What is the best thing in the whole world, which can improve people’s spirit and knowledge?” Li answered, “Nothing better than books.” The ruler asked, “How many books are there? How can they be gathered?” Li answered, “Since the invention of writing, books have multiplied generation after generation, so by now, there are more than can be counted. If the ruler considers this good, there is no need to worry that they will not gather.” The ruler followed his words. He ordered local officials to gather books and send them to the capital. 

通鍵百十一、二下

LINK  << Interesting information that dog breeds originated in Southeast Asia. But Byajing says this is nothing new, she knew it all along.

custom hearse

I wouldn’t be seen dead in a hearse like this. 

我十八歲來華學中文。那時的臺灣與現在迥然不同。家父按月匯一百元美金到一家銀行，由他們轉到臺灣的第一銀行；美金受管制，不能碰，但照當時匯率，我每月得四千元新臺幣，夠用。我與幾個美國朋友在新生南路一段157巷租了一間三十坪的公寓，月租三千元，我們平分。在龍泉街吃自助餐，我胃口大，常常一餐要花十塊錢。若有餘錢，我都拿去買書。沒有餘錢，我也買書。

學國語八個月開始讀文言，一觸即癮。十九歲就讀師大國文系，讀論語、韓非子，迷上了先秦，也迷上了中華書局的古籍因為校對謹慎印刷好字型大而且最好的是沒有標點因為我一發現古書原無標點就發現標點是多餘的沒有標點就需要用心看是另一番感覺讀沒有標點的書最好看

大一買了一套中華書局的史記，八冊，大一暑假就花了三四週看完；最讓我遺憾的是，只有八冊。意猶未盡。

大二開學，我二十歲，上說文解字。我學中文，本來就是因為愛上了國字，上說文，如魚得水。

但生活出了問題：銀行說家父的錢沒送到，沒錢入帳。那時別想打越洋電話，我們班上三十七個同學，只有五、六個家裏有電話。打電報很貴，只好寫信告急，希望航空快點。少吃一點，盼望錢早點進戶頭。三兩天跑到中山北路的銀行去問(沒有電話，只好自己跑)。戶頭快見底了，還沒消息，只好跟朋友借五十塊、一百塊。能省的就是少吃一點，所以一天只吃一碗陽春麵。

偏偏在國際學舍的體育館開了書展，可能是臺灣第一個書展。肚子餓，到書展逛逛，轉移肚子的注意力。偏偏中華書局參展。有一套資治通鑑，二十冊，還打折！只有那一套，但我真的沒錢。只好常去看看有福氣的人有沒有買回家。所幸，還擺在那裏。真漂亮。書展只剩幾天就要結束，還沒人買，但我也沒錢。

大概是吃了兩個多星期快三個星期的陽春麵獨餐，一天晚上餓醒，房子旋轉，想吐。但真的太餓，我沒力氣站起來，所以只好慢慢爬進廁所，坐地上抱著馬桶吐，可是肚子空空如也，吐好久，吐不出東西來，喉嚨痛、嘴裏怪味道而已，只好慢慢爬回房間躺下，等屋子不轉。睡了。

早上，室友們看我沒動靜，很體貼敲門問，你昨晚把我們吵醒了，你死了嗎？看我躺著不動但沒死，幫我熬一碗青菜湯。我還站不起來，只好早上翹課。中午比較有體力，上學去了。同學看我早上沒上課，太意外，很體貼說，看你沒上課，以為你死了。差不多。一位好心的同學特地幫我買了一條明星的黑麵包；當年臺灣的麵包都不能吃，只有軟軟的白麵包，唯獨武昌街的明星，老闆是俄國人，懂得做麵包。我坐在英文系外的魚池邊吃了麵包，晚上同學請我吃晚餐，感覺體力好很多。

第二天，郵差送來掛號信，我媽在一封信裏藏了六張十元美鈔；這嚴重犯法，但我不管，拿到錢往衡陽路衝。衡陽路的銀樓有後室，可以偷偷換美金。我立即換了兩千多元，錢拿到手，衝出去上公車直殺信義路國際學舍體育館，緊張萬分去看：資治通鑑還擺在那兒，還沒賣掉！太好！在書展結束之前兩個小時把銀樓給我的鈔票幾乎全部塞給書局的職員，心滿意足抱著我的資治通鑑二十冊回家。書放好，我才想到，我很餓！到龍泉街自助餐花了十元飽吃一頓。

過了幾天，父親送來的錢終于入帳了。又過一段時間才知道，美國幾十年來唯一倒店的銀行就是負責匯款給我的那一家，但是美國政府很快處理，所以後來家父的錢入帳沒有問題。 

 當然迫不及待讀通鑑，讀到漢朝，課業重，沒時間看。十幾年前又從頭讀，但到了魏晉南北朝，實在太亂，搞不清楚，暫時放一邊。現在大陸史學興盛，這幾年讀「華歷血時代」、「五胡錄」等書終于開始理出頭緒。現在南北朝有了概念，我又在讀通鑑。為了方便攜帶，阿超幫我封了一個書套，不怕把書磨壞。
這套書對我多方面意義重大。買資治通鑑的那天是民國六十二年十月三十日，剛好四十年。以此紀念。

I came to Free China when I was 18 to study Chinese. Taiwan was vastly different then. Every month my father sent US$100 to a bank to transfer to my NT account here. Green was strictly controlled, but at the exchange rate then, every month I got NT$4,000, enough to live on. With some American friends, I rented a 3 bedroom apartment on Canal Street (Hsin Sheng South Road) for NT$3,000; we split the rent. I have always had a hearty appetite, so in the cafeterias on Lungchuan Street, I might pay as much as NT$10 a meal. When I had money left over, I bought books. When I didn’t have money left over, I bought books.

When I had studied Mandarin for eight months, I started learning Classical, and was immediately addicted to its beauty and economy. When I was 19, I began studying in the Chinese Lit department at NTNU. I had courses in the Analects and Han Fei Tz, and fell in love with the pre-Chin period. I also fell in love with books published by Chung Hwa publishers, because they were carefully printed with large clear characters and no punctuation Chinese books traditionally were not punctuated once you get used to it reading unpunctuated books is a lot more fun than reading texts all cluttered up with a bunch of periods and commas which are once you think of it really quite unnecessary just think more carefully as you read

In my freshman year, I bought an eight volume set of Records of the Historian, published by Chung Hwa. During the summer vacation, I finished it in three or four weeks. My only regret was that there were only eight volumes. 

When I went back to school, as a sophomore, at the age 20, I had Etymology. I took up the study of Chinese because Chinese characters fascinate me, so Etymology was just what I wanted to study.

But problems came up in my life. The bank said that no money had come from my father. In those days, international phone calls practically belonged to the realm of fantasy, and anyway, of the 37 people in my class, only five or six had phones at home. Sending a telegram was expensive, so I had to content myself with writing an airmail letter for help, and hoping the post office delivery was quick. I cut down on food, and looked forward to money coming into the account, the sooner the better. Every couple of days I would trot up to the bank, on Chungshan N Rd; there weren’t many phones in those days, so you had to go yourself. I was almost out of money, and there was no news, so I had to start borrowing from friends, fifty NT here, a hundred NT there. The only thing I had left to scrimp on was food, so I ate only one bowl of plain noodles a day.

As luck would have it, there was a Book Fair, one of Taiwan’s first, at the International House gym. I was hungry, and looking at the books could keep my mind off food. As luck would have it, Chung Hwa had a stall, and they had a set of Tzu-chih T’ung-chien, twenty volumes, on sale! Just the one set, but I really didn’t have money. All I could do was stop by every day or so to see if some lucky person had taken it home. Fortunately, it was still there. What a beautiful book! There were only a few days left before the Fair ended, and nobody had bought it, but I still had no money.

(Compiled during the Sung dynasty [in the eleventh century], the Tzu-chih T’ung-chien [Comprehensive Mirror to Promote Governing, Zizhi Tongjian] runs to over three million characters, and covers over a thousand years of Chinese history, from 403BC to 959AD.)

After two, almost three weeks on a diet of one bowl of noodles a day, one night I was so hungry I woke up. The room was spinning, and I wanted to throw up, but I was so hungry I couldn’t stand up. I slowly crawled into the bathroom. I sat by the toilet to heave, but my stomach was so empty that nothing would come up. I barfed for a long time, but nothing came up. All I got was a sore throat and an awful taste in my mouth, so I slowly crawled back to my room and lay down on the tatami, waiting for the room to stop spinning. I finally fell asleep.

In the morning, my apartment mates noticed that I wasn’t up and around, so they very thoughtfully knocked on my door and said, “You woke us up last night with your retching, are you dead?” I was out flat but still alive, so they made me some vegetable broth. But I was still too weak to stand, so I cut class that morning. By noon I had regained some strength, so I went to class. My friends said that they were surprised I hadn’t come to class that morning, and very thoughtfully said, “When you didn’t come to class, we thought you must be dead.” Pretty close. One very considerate friend brought me a loaf of black bread from the Astoria. Bread in Taiwan in those days was atrocious: fluffy, white stuff that was inedible. A Russian ran the Astoria on Wuchang Street, so he knew how to make bread. I sat by the English Department’s fish pond and ate my bread. A friend bought me dinner, and I felt much stronger.

The next day, the mailman delivered a registered letter. My mother had stapled six ten dollar US bills inside a letter. This was highly illegal, but I didn’t care, I took the money and ran to Hengyang Street. A jewelry store on Hengyang Street had a backroom in which you could illicitly exchange green. I got two thousand and some. Money in hand, I raced to the bus stop and headed directly for the International House gym. In a tizzy, I raced to the Chung Hwa stand, and the T’ung-chien was still there! It hadn’t been sold! Wonderful! Two hours before the Book Fair ended, I stuffed most of the money the jewelry store gave me into the hands of a Chung Hwa clerk, and triumphantly carried my twenty volume set of T’ung-chien home. Once I got home and put the books on the shelf, I realized, hey, I’m hungry! I went to Lungchuan Street and spent ten NT on a big meal in a cafeteria.

A couple days later, money from my father entered my account. I soon learned that for decades, the one and only US bank to go belly up was the one transferring my father’s money to me. The US government cleaned up the mess quickly, and there were no more problems after that.

I started reading the T’ung-chien, and got to the Han dynasty, when schoolwork intervened and I had to stop. I started again from the beginning about 16 years ago, but the Wei Chin Southern and Northern dynasties were so chaotic that I was stopped because I couldn’t figure out what was going on. In recent years, scholars in mainland China are doing superb work on history, and with recent publications, I have finally gotten a handle on the Southern and Northern dynasties, so I am reading T’ung-chien again, and this time I will finish. I carry the volumes around, so Sabiy has made a case to protect the books. They are already pretty old, after all.

The book is important to me in many respects. The day I bought T’ung-chien was October 30, 1973, forty years ago. This is a good day to commemorate that. 

光復節，已被淡忘，而現在很多人熱中鬼節Halloween，卻誤以為是萬聖節。

了解我們現代社會，這句有沒有甚麼啟發？

按：萬聖節=All Saints’ Day，美國幾乎沒有人聽過。Halloween = Hallowed E’en (evening)萬盛節前夕，鬼節。

I can’t be reading this right. It looks like it says the cop who pepper-sprayed those students last year got US$38,000 in compensation. Is that right?

If it is, I’m going to go out to buy some pepper spray and spray my students. It’s a lot easier to make money that way than by teaching them.

LINK

…. and more fun, too.

教徒今天該慶祝，因為有人依據聖經推算，上帝創造天地是西元前四00四年十月二十三日早上九點半。遇到這種腦筋，我真不知道要怎麼說…

Celebrate, believers, today is the birthday of heaven and earth: October 23, 4004 BC at 9:30 AM. To tell you the truth, I really don’t know what to say about anyone who believes in that sort of thing.

What some fail to understand is that first, “truth” is the realm of religion or scientism, not science. Good science only tells us that to date, we know that this has not yet been disproved. Second, the sciences interlock: physics cannot contradict chemistry cannot contradict astronomy cannot contradict biology cannot contradict medicine. The chemicals in your cough medicine would not work if the same rules did not hold for chemistry and physics. Medicine is based on biology, and as Theodosius Dobzhansky said, “Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.” If evolution were not valid, your doctor would have no way to stitch up a gash or perform a CAT scan. They may be several steps removed, but a jet flying through the air, a piston firing in a lawn mower engine, and ¹⁴C all work on the same interlocking principles. In other words, you nitwits, if your computer can go online, that means that, albeit several steps removed, evolution must be considered proven; not a religious truth, but as reliable as gravity or the electric lights overhead. In other words, will you please stop wasting people’s time with creationism? Evolution is for real. Get over it. 

Hello Kitty已經夠糟，現扗全臺灣扗瘋三歲小朋友洗澡玩的黃色小鴨子。大家好，我們可不可以長大？

為甚麼有人情願一直停留扗幼稚、懵懂的狀態？原因當然很多：商家鼓吹「心動不如行動」以便撈取更多錢；政客激起憤怒，以便操控民眾；「愛臺灣」的背後往往是「害怕世界」；等等。但教育也要負很大的責任。其中一環是，以前的教育比較硬：不管小毛頭懂不懂，不管小毛頭有沒有興趣，你現扗念，以後你就懂，你長大以後這些東西夠你用一輩子。所以小小的小孩也念大學、論語、三字經。現扗的教育軟到沒骨沒神：要把課程降低到小毛頭的程度，適應現扗的興趣、了解；很好玩，很容易懂，但保證這些東西對你以後沒有用。所以小朋友長大，無法懂大人如何思維。

Three Boy Scout leaders in Utah intentionally knocked over an ancient rock formation and posted a video online. Now that they are facing charges for destroying a natural masterpiece, they are claiming to be selfless saints whose only concern was the public safety, because these rocks, which have stood firm for 170,000,000 years, might topple over and hurt somebody.

Assuming we believe that, we learn that they are teaching that it is not necessary to report conditions to authorities or people who know more about these things than you do, take it into your own hands. If you see a traffic light that doesn’t work, just climb right up and change the bulb. If someone falls over on the street, don’t call an ambulance, just cut him open and treat him yourself. In other words, Zimmerman was right. If you see someone you suspect might commit a crime, you just get out your gun and shoot him. 

All vandals should be responsible for their acts. I don’t care if they are sanctimonious white men, I say throw the book at them. 

LINK 1

LINK 2

Okay, so two convicted murderers, sentenced to life, walked out of a Florida prison on forged papers. LINK Then they very compliantly registered with local authorities as convicts, and nobody paid any attention except the families of their victims. Now everybody is wondering how such a thing could happen.

Well, it did. Now tell me, how much do you trust the voting machines in this state?