IMHO, this is reasonable. In 1938, average annual income was US$1731, a new house US$3,900, a new car $860, and a year tuition at Harvard US$420. In other words, a new house cost about two years and three month’s pay. A new car cost roughly six month’s pay, and a year at Harvard only about three month’s pay.

Nowadays, the average annual income per household in the US is about $50,000. A new house costs roughly $800,000, A new car costs an average of $31,252, and a year tuition at Harvard $32557; if you include room and board, because it’s nice to eat when you go to college, the figure is $47100.

So now a new house costs 16 years’ pay, a new car about six month’s pay, and a year tuition at Harvard a little more than six month’s pay.

臺灣算平均年薪三十七萬元。平均房價是二十三萬元一坪，三十坪就要七百萬左右，所以買房子要吃掉十八年半的薪水。(臺北市平均房價是六十五萬五千一坪，三十坪一千九百六十五萬，只要工作五十三年，把所有薪水交給建商，就有自己一棟房子，真窩心。)一台Toyota Camry約八十五萬臺幣，Altis要六十五萬，算兩年薪水吧。唸哈佛一年要百萬上下。還好我們家三個小朋友追貓咪不必念大學。

happy new year to all. 

黃昏從臺北回山上，先到忠治部落外的Yummy小吃店吃義大利麵、喝咖啡，真好吃！

回家過烏來部落，遇到娜魯彎，要去接她老公軋輅下班。過Ive家看到Miko與小Sabiy，Miko問我們要不要跨年？我們說，不玩那些。她說，回家躺在床上睡也是跨年。有道理！

沒燄火、不湊熱鬧、沒有擁擠的人群，沒有淹沒腳板的垃圾；吃的很飽，跟鄰居寒暄，回家小狗迎接，跟老婆喝茶，這是最美好的跨年。

祝大家平安，喜氣洋洋。

We came back from the city at dusk, and had dinner at a little restaurant perched over the valley at Kayu. Coming through Ulay village, we came across Naluwan, going to pick up her husband Qalux after work. Then we passed Ive’s house, where his wife Miko and daughter Sabiy wished us well, and asked how we were going to celebrate the new year. Nothing, we said. Miko said, Lying in bed asleep is a good way to celebrate the new year. Agreed.

No noisy fireworks, no pulsing crowds; a filling dinner, quiet chats with neighbors, dogs to welcome us home, and tea with the wife, this is the best new year’s celebration for me.

Best wishes to all for the coming year. 

洋猩曰，一切男子皆女生。

何以說之？

易耳，

請問，

哪一個男子不是女人生的？

祝

行憲紀念日快樂

最近看到有人列出「十大惡人」。一方面，狠狠地罵人，抒洩內心的惡毒，一方面，罵得越凶就越證明自己是大聖人。

我無取于斯。我不想知道他們認為其它的惡人是誰，我寧想十大善人。大善人，不必列那些捐大錢的人，因為他們已經得到了宣揚。

要我列大善人，我第一個想到一位默默無聞的少年。幾年前，他混黑道，錢來得很輕鬆；錢的來原在此不細述，但日夜花天酒地，錢用不完。經過感化，他痛改前非，離開以前的伙伴，搬到中南部找工作。工作，是在工地搬磚塊。看倌搬過磚塊嗎？工作極其辛苦，卻沒有地位，人人頤指氣使，天天低聲下氣。他每天累的不成人形，賺的錢一點點，勉強夠吃簡單的菜。

他這樣改變自己的生活，是多麼不容易的事！沒有哪一個單位給他表揚，但我心中很誠摯地佩服。

討論大陸與臺灣的青少年。法師說，

「四、五十歲的臺灣父母把孩子當寵物，只有寵愛，沒有管教。」

臺灣的民主，被怒吼犧牲掉。

今天聽到：「沒有人要吃紫米，因為假的太多。政府無能，沒辦法管食品安全。」

政府要管事，那麼民眾拼命騙人，連紫米也造假，難道這些經營假貨的人沒責任嗎？我們百姓有沒有守法的義務？或者樣樣事情罵政府就盡了我們的責任？

古代的理想是「無為而治」。政府可無為，因為百姓各司其職，安分守己，不逾矩；孔子說「必也使無訟乎」就是百姓潔身自愛、誠實守法。

美國憲法的設計，說穿了就是盼望政府能力不要太強；美國人至今怕政府能力太強，因為能力強就管太多。

昔云，國家興亡，匹夫有責。

今云，國家興亡，匹夫都責備。

My mother taught painting in a high security penitentiary. The inmates taught her, Say law, never say justice.

LINK:

I ran across a magnificently euphonic phrase today: early Xochipala Olmec art.
Read that again, and listen to the vowels, the cadence. You can remove the early, and just say Xochipala Olmec art. A mellifluous phrase, well worth repeating daily. 

December 8 is National Brownie Day. Let’s get our priorities straight, people. I mean, really, how important can Christmas be when you’ve got a National Brownie Day?

You have to know what’s important in life.
:-目

In Taiwan, what passes for brownies, 布朗尼, is more like devil’s food cake. The best place for real brownies is coco。Brownies: here::

臺北小市民生活歷史綴筆，投報篇

到七十年代，站扗新生南路、信義路口，可以看到觀音山、大屯山、中正山、七星山、陽明山、拇指山、以及南邊崢嶸嶙峋的雪山山脈，無比美。

視野那麼寬廣，因為臺北房子很少超過四層樓，很少人家有電梯，爬樓梯，無形促進國民健康。

很多房子頂樓加蓋，形成另一個城市面。扗頂樓，可以看很遠，但看不到街路巷弄、看不到車輛行人、看不到幾個招牌，卻看到很多空中花園，另有天地。

由于報禁，每天報紙兩三大張，比較不浪費紙，也比較不浪費民眾的時間。送報紙的，多數是老兵，一大早騎著笨重腳踏車大街小巷送報。送到樓上怎麼辦呢？不難！把報紙一捲，手一揮，就把報紙投到陽臺上。他們奇準無比：二樓、三樓、四樓，一樓一樓投進陽臺，很少掉落。我住忠孝東路巷子裏一棟四樓的二樓，一樓空了多年，但囤積在一樓庭院的落雁報，不到十分。

早上睡意猶濃，聽到陽臺玻璃「噔」一聲，就知道報紙飛上來了。

Up until the 1980s, from downtown Taipei you had a good panoramic view of the mountains surrounding the city. You could see all the way down to 三峽 Sanhsia and the beautiful peaks marking the southern edge of the Taipei basin. This was because few buildings were more than four stories.

In the days before the press was released upon the public, newspapers were only two or three sheets. They were delivered by old soldiers, mostly, who pedaled their heavy bikes up and down the streets and alleys at the crack of dawn. To deliver papers to upper floors, they would twist the paper, cock their arms, and let fly. Their aim was astonishing. They would send their newspapers winging up to the second, third, and fourth floor balconies, with rarely a miss.

Early in the morning before the sun began to shine, a thunk! on the balcony glass doors would announce the arrival of the morning’s paper.

Udis?

You would hardly expect it, but for religious tolerance, few countries can top Azerbaijan, which is 96% Muslim.

LINK

post 2500!

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