薄荷遇难史

两个月前在Sprouts买了一小盆儿薄荷，和国内的常见薄荷不太一样，叶子上有绒毛，镶白边，清凉味也不那么强烈。这个pineapple mint品种的老家是欧洲，多毛也不奇怪啦。买来是想吃它的，可以做摩洛哥薄荷茶、薄荷菠萝、mojito种种，那就先养肥再收割吧，于是置之一边任其发展。放养1个月不见长势，根部叶子枯黄凋零，大概是盆太小了无法伸展？这货喜欢扩张地盘，根部能扎到很深。于是我又去nursery抗了一大袋盆栽土和一个25厘米口径的陶盆给它安新家，原本狭小的塑料盆里根部都绕了好几圈了，果然是空间不够限制生长了啊。移完盆看小样（因为被岁月折磨的略枯黄，确切说是老样）在风中摇曳嘚瑟，再撒点水给它洗个澡好不舒服，心想这样该成了吧，迅猛往上窜吧~~~

然后然后，杯具发生了。其实我估计杯具一直都在，只是今天大爆发了，或者是咱今天鬼使神差的痴迷的盯着薄荷盯出来了。。 好多芽尖啊，心里美滋滋，凑近欣赏~~~ 再近一点儿~~ zoom in & in & in & 我靠！！！ 一簇簇芝麻粒裹着丫杆一动不动的，蚜蚜蚜蚜蚜蚜蚜蚜蚜蚜蚜虫虫虫虫虫虫虫虫虫虫虫虫虫虫虫虫虫虫虫虫虫虫虫虫虫虫虫虫 (plural)！！！呀啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊！！ 芽灭爹！！！怪不得老是有枯黄的叶子，摘一片多一片除也除不净 T__T

赶紧google 'kill mint aphids'各种关键词组合，有意无意浏览了各种密集恐怖的蚜虫肖像。。。（呕）顺带复习了高中生物，神马phloem, xylem， 最后在网民们的智慧指引下，调制凶猛洗碗液狂喷蚜虫集散地，屠杀嫩蚜青蚜老蚜无数。我家可怜的薄荷555，你受苦啦。某网民说肥皂水还是肥料，但我还是担心肥皂水会不会损伤薄荷，希望它能逃过一劫。也有天然食物链疗法，可以买活瓢虫（我也是最近才知道有live ladybug可以买），但听说过不了多久虫虫又会崛起。蚜虫一年能有10多代，繁殖能力超强（某些种还能无性繁殖）一个排能迅速变一个团。想想都起鸡皮，必须密切观察一个礼拜。

估计是这样的，移栽前蚜虫就有了，但数量不多没被发现。移栽后新土养分过甚一下子把薄荷给喂肥了，蚜虫吸饱了汁液也大爆发。

继而担心plant lice会不会变hair lice，貌似不会。

顺便明白了另一件事，有时候走过大树下会被黄色的粘状液体滴到，车窗上也会有。这不是鸟屎，也不是花粉，是蚜虫便便。right, aphid poo. 但不是普通意义上的大便，是蚜虫分泌的honeydew。。。 哎呀，谁要好奇可以尝尝也无妨，应该是甜的吧，我就pass了。

祈祷我家薄荷能挺过风暴。

 

刚买来时的青葱小样儿

 阳台四人帮

 搬新家鸟~~

乱草丛中花骨朵，会是什么颜色的花呢~~~

The one who makes wads of money is someone else,Che!

Alberto Korda is the obscure photography behind the famous pop icon Che Guevara... yea, you can google.

Who's Che Guevara. If you don't know him you must have spotted his T-shirt print somewhere without knowing who that head belongs to. Or watch the Motorcycle Diary.

To cut it short, really short, Alberto Korda(fake surname) caught the historical, epic face of Che at the right moment and kept it one of his personal collections. A businessman was looking for Che's portrait and Korda generously gave it to him as present. Right after Che died, 1000+ prints of that were released which is of course how the head made it to our T-shirt now. At least that's how the story started.

Alberto wasn't paid any royalty.(But if it's any comfort, he should realize Che wasn't either...but Che wouldn't care coz he's dead)

Albert0 stretching out the original negative


Rough sketches






有个山寨版的搜索引擎叫Baigoohoo
www.baigoohoo.com

界面是这个样子的


虽说是山寨，应该还挺好用的。可惜现在无法搜索，估计涉及版权问题被禁了。

成品成品

之前说的那个填词已经重录出来了，歌手是谁不知道，声音不错可是...我不得不翻出原本的歌词回顾一遍，完全听不出在唱啥呀。

这里听
http://www.sendspace.com/file/6ibs81

歌手不明，作曲/编曲：Colin

[A Verse]
Took a wrong ride headed for highway
you look desperately for a road sign
driver's blind fuel's running low
ask where it's going they tell you I don't know
what a road with only straight lines
clouds are rolling storm's coming
is it too late to ever turn around
there's still some way to find your old dream


[Chorus]
I say change
You should change your way of life
You'd better change
you'd better stop your waste of time
I'm on my way
you'd better watch out for the sign
You should change
You should change your way of life


[B Verse]
The sky is coming down in thunders
Pounding on yours nerves like drumbeats
Fix your gaze upon rising high way
Your hands are clammy they can't hold no more
you know fate sometimes makes no sense
don't despair there's a silver lining
if you fall to the bottom of abyss
take wings don't just go down and down down

[Chorus]
I say change
You should change your way of life
You'd better change
you'd better stop your waste of time
I'm on my way
you'd better watch out for the sign
You should change
You should change your way of life

Change,change,chage your life, change it right now...

***
尝了一下所谓的“浙江熏豆茶”，被我们同事说成土茶或咸汤。茶叶、胡萝卜干、青熏豆、芝麻，俨然一杯咸汤！是说最早估计只有青熏豆的，后来有了点钱就开始搞创新，只要能吃的都往里扔，按这逻辑可以自己调配，加点胡椒粉、西瓜籽儿之类的。



亲爱的Sumo肚朝天晒太阳


今儿买了张苏州地图慢慢研究中，我彻头彻尾一个异乡人= =！！！常去逛的凤凰街上那家摇滚廊竟然消失了！！我伤心啊啊！

7 Star Hotel

Slept fitfully for less than five hours and woke up two minutes before alarm for fear of oversleeping-missing exam-throwing 250 bucks away. The morning test was so boring I kept drifting into daydreams of getting a ticket to TO and travelling up Montreal to see Rufus (sorry he's not home). This actually sent me grinning in the middle of an exam. O I can't believe myself... but with Xmas in the air the itch to 回娘家 has spread into an inflaming mosquito bite...wow, mental simulations are joyous free rides! Need I tell anyone the gloomy fate of having the last alphabet at the start of a surname...I ended up in the last interview shift which requires 4 hours of waiting! And I wandered the streets of downtown, and wandered, and wandered...in retrospect, I might as well sleep on 98B-line and let it loop three rounds.

When it was my turn, the interviewer did a name check and! she pronounced my name perfect!I asked if she studied Chinese. She said she lived in China before and is still taking Chinese courses at SFU. Good for ye!

Right~ hotel ratings! I might be hopelessly obsolete.It's the first time I ever heard of '7 Star'. Lizzie (a co-worker who's an interior designer) described this Arabic hotel equipped with gold coated washroom. That includes taps, and to my disgust, toilet bowls(first thing popping to mind is 黄金大便). Turned out hotel rating hasn't been unified internationally.Anyway, local comparisons seem more practical.

The renowned,self-claimed?, world's only 7 Star hotel standing as of present
- Burj al arab! (tower of arab), designed by Tom Wright

It's shaped like a 'V' sail and stands on an artificially constructed offshore island.

Deluxe accommodation comes at deluxe price!
The cost of staying in a suite begins at $1,000 per night; the Royal Suite is the most expensive, at $28,000 per night.

***
Saw the Japanese version of Catcher in the Rye, translated by 村上春树.I was just...huh?

孤齿食姑米

今天偶然因为堂哥的一封信了解到了台湾的民俗

From Brian
ying yue, alex is growing his first tooth! we can see a little white spot on his lower gum. according to taiwan tradition, that is called a "lonely tooth" (gu ya) - as normally baby has two teeth growing on lower gum at the same time - his aunt (gu) has to do something. since you are his aunt (gu), so it falls on you! the tradition goes that you have to buy him a pair of shoes and a bag of rice. don't ask me why. Daphne does not know why either. so for the good of alex's other tooth (on his lower gum), would you be a kind aunt and buy (and send ) him a pair of shoes (for 6-12 month baby or slightly bigger) and a small bag of rice (in case you wonder, any type of rice will do and it really only needs to be a very small bag). you can even put the rice bag inside one of his shoes!)Thanks a million!(on behalf of alex).

大概就这么回事，外甥长了颗孤牙他们很紧张，轮到姑姑我捎鞋子和米避灾。

百度“台湾 孤牙 鞋子 米”只有一条搜索结果，毫无帮助，Google倒是有一摞：
原帖

婴儿成长过程中，长牙齿时的忌讳处理。一般所谓「七坐、八爬、九发牙」是描述小孩子初期成长发展阶段，大约七个月会坐起，八个月会爬行，九个月开始长牙齿，通常一次长二颗牙，但如果有一次长一颗时，称为「孤齿」，传统以为这是一种不正常的现象，因而心生恐惧，可能是「孤」跟「姑」同音，所以要请小孩的姑姑洗米，将洗米水煮沸冲泡牛奶给婴儿喝，就是「水米」；也有人是将泡过水的米煮成稀饭给婴儿吃；还有一说是要姑姑买奶粉给婴儿吃。。而如果婴儿后脑勺头发长得稀少，都集中在头顶的地方，有明显的一条界线，即俗谓「生孤路」，一般观念担心这样的小孩会「走孤路」，要由姑姑买鞋送小孩穿，这就是所谓的「生孤路，穿姑鞋；发孤齿，食姑米」。

***

看了Body of Lies，Leo的演技日益成熟，变得很有味道了！Do not lie to me. Trust me. 这些话在葫芦里卖的不知是啥药的国度里都是一个意思，whatever!

非常期待The Curious Case of Benjamin Button，讲的是一个生下来就80多岁，外貌（岁数）越活越小，思想却逐渐变老的特异人。生物钟倒走的人生旅途中，只有步入“中年”才表里一致？那当他入土的时候就是字面意义的返老还童了。

左右

先概括说说加拿大的政府结构，常言道a little learning is dangerous。一知半解的我极有可能误导良民，所以事先申明我对以下内容概不负责（啊pia pia俩耳光抽飞）。

那么，名叫加拿大的蛋糕有3层，加上最顶层的蜡烛勉强就说4层吧。


Top Tier: 由于加拿大是英联邦的一员，政治上也世系英国皇家结构，最顶层的蜡烛就是英女皇伊丽莎白II世了（请参见两块头硬币），她老人家的烛光普照蛋糕上上下下里里外外。说穿了，皇家就是用来摆样和提供娱乐八卦的装饰品。

2nd Tier: 以总督（Governor General）为代表的Sovereign。总督是伊莎II的分身、马甲、代表，每个英联邦国都该有这么个相应职位，同样出于摆设和公关之仪所需。毕竟是小马甲，么有英国皇室那么娱乐。

3rd Tier：总理（Prime Minister），多数党派的党魁，现任总理为保守党代表Stephen Harper。

4th Tier：被压最底层的是最厚实的，这就是百人会了，由参议会(Upper House,或Senate）和众议会（Lower House，或House of Commons）组成。参议会共105席，由总理亲自推荐、小马甲点头批准。众议会308席，由全加拿大公民选出<- 说到这里你该明白所谓的“联邦大选”是指308席位的争夺战。形式上参议会比众议会高，而实际讨论和投票都在众议会进行。这308席来自加拿大各省各市，和地方人口量是成正比的，好比说ON有106个名额，而BC只有36个。每个地方的竞选政客都来自不同的党派，可以是自由党（Liberal）、保守党（Conservative）、绿党（Green）等等，最后统计的时候，308席的多数党派就是那届的执政党，执政党选出自己的党魁，也就是总理了。

加拿大主要俩党派是自由党和保守党，可以从字面上理解：一个说我们裸奔吧！一个说我们要加三层内裤。哎，当然他们的政纲么这么写。举个例子，Bill C-38同性婚姻法最初是自由党通过的，Stephen Harper上台后把旧案翻出来重审，看这投票结果

On restoring traditional definition of marriage


好在反对“传统婚姻”的在多数，如果说那年同性婚姻被推翻了，那已经结婚的和正打算结婚的咋办？是否要立刻制定同性离婚赔偿法 =.=||| 老百姓的命运可以随便玩儿吗？可惜大多数情况都得看308罗汉的脸，就说移民法吧，已经时晴时雨三百六十变了，移民的血泪史可以写本辞海。最有争议的是华人人头税（Chinese head tax），80年代末有大批华人入境加拿大给洋鬼子铺铁路，工资和生活待遇都受严重歧视。85年起每位入境都要缴50大洋人头税。后来50利滚利变成了500。这笔钱不是一般的重，当时都够买别墅的！现在是废除了，用了约100年的时间，想想那些被迫游离的家庭和无数被埋没的不满多心寒。Richmond的华人众议员陈卓愉在人头税的问题上处理的相当不光彩，他和联邦拟定“妥协不道歉”的幌子政策打发人头税受害者，老一辈移民都恨死他了，连带他代表的自由党也一起恨到骨头里去了。

最近的民意投票中保守党仍占人气上席，不知最终结果怎样。话说现在参与投票的人越来越少了，比起80年代下降了10个百分点！如果有投票权的话还请多了解些信息再投呢，不过政客总说一套做一套，上台前的美言不久就在现实数据中石灰了。

还有就是，议员在开会投票的时候要一个个站起来说“Yea”或“Nay”

Both Houses may determine motions by voice vote; the presiding officer puts the question, and, after listening to shouts of "Yea" and "Nay" from the members, announces which side is victorious.

这种形式的投票在我看来有点搞笑，还很落后... 想到后天要去参加朋友的居里会（类似物业管理局召开的邻里大会），看了下会纲里有不少决议要投票（2/3通过），如要发表意见也要先站起来，自报Unit number，然后发言，限时两分钟 =.=||||||听上去就够蠢的

***
柚子蜂蜜 + 牛奶超美味啊~


钟爱的糖罐头


可怜的IBM爆线了，电源时不时就断，还要重买个adaptor T^T

Sunny day,Salmon

This nerdy post is about a type of fish called salmon...

Salmon's not on my top list but it's a relatively expensive commodity due to rarity of wild catch (limited to one or two per day in accordance with fishery law - what's that?), unusual spawning pattern and exotic pink flesh. Anyway, we went to west van. for family branch and salmon was brought up amongst the chatters. British Columbia is famous for salmon (as Canada is known for maple, just to draw some parallel significance) and over 80% of farmed catch is exported to the States. Lots BC residents buy boxed salmon from Cosco as souvenir gifts...not that many people actually appreciate the delicacy of salmon (count me in).The Pacific coast (Toronto area) should also have plenty stocks as salmon return to freshwater lakes to spawn. The most common species is called Sockeye (scarlet body and green head during spawning). Others include Chinook(Kings,they can be gigantic) and Coho(Silvers). 2 nutritional facts about salmon: rich in omega-3 and carotenoids(explains for pink color as they consume carotenoid-rich marine life).

Sockeye


Sockeye salmon underwater during a peak run at Adams River, British Columbia, Canada, in October 2006 (video from plbman)


And as a 'retired'/'retarded' biochemist, I remember salmon sperms are rich sources of DNA. They're abundant and relatively easy to extract. I remember someone (a famous biochemist, but not so lucky at the start of his career) was sent to salmon fishery up west where he successfully purified DNA thanks to the large stock of sperms. Just who is it?

Great sunshine on a Sunday afternoon


View of lion's gate, stanley park, and downtown Van from the west hill


sunny tiger


sunny glove

Dear concentration span

Today I did an one-time meticulous counting: My concentration span is 9 B5-sized pages of text, and anything after 9 pages will be, Oh let the thinker sits on a spinning clockwork mechanism, a stray cat steps over the neon light, Hmm soon it'll be closing time when should I go etc etc, while my eyes zap back and forth along the same line that doesn't image on my brain.

Something interesting about perfume:
The indigestible part of giant squid, in particular their beaks, accumulate in sperm whales' stomachs into the substance known as ambergris(wiki), which is used as a fixative in perfumes. The next time you spray on Chanel No.5(assuming you do), you may wish to reflect that you are dousing yourself in distillate of unseen sea monster.
- From 'A short history of nearly everything'by Bill Bryson, footnotes of a certain page



To sum up my reading, ambergris is a chunk of sweet-smelling wax (amber-like?) which I suspect, is something like seasoned squid you find in a snack pack.But it's pricey!and before it's reduced to the highly sought-after form, it's just shit-smelling waste from the whale.

Wild, beautiful China

Wild China (or beautiful China) is a BBC-CCTV collaboration that showcases China's landscapes and wild life. It features 6 episodes of one hour duration each and is currently showing on CBC network. Great tourism and cultural campaign for the Olympics =D

CBC network, Eastern Time
Thursdays, 10:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.
Fridays, 1:00 a.m. - 2:00 a.m.

Or you can resort to LD, small window youtube

Eipsode info on wiki



***

I watched Wall-E again yesterday and gladly noted there're two major flying scenes which seem to pay tribute to Miyazaki. I'm sure the old man will grin behind his thick glass frames. It's beautiful, the speed and freedom in dimensionless air.

Language as a way of reasoning

I came across an interesting bit on how English language could hamper mathematical learning. Take the counting system for example, Chinese is one of the best (simplified, logical) system as it's clear the numerical ladder is built on '10'. Our eleven is 10+1, twenty is 2x10 etc. while English injects irregular terms such as 'eleven', 'twelve', 'twenty' rather than 'oneteen','twoteen' and 'twoty'. I'm not sure about French as their counting system is more complicated, eg. 80 is quatre-vingts, as in 4x20. Read more here: English words may hinder math skills development

On a side note, it's interesting to do cross culture comparisons but imagine making a living on it! Publish or perish conundrum returns.Published studies should also be taken with a grain of salt as one might well be forcing results in the direction of thesis, eliminating complex variables. As you know English kids probably hang too much of their life on calculators for good. Wouldn't that be the dominant factor. Culture or nurture?

Something else here under the discussion title 'Why use kanji?' (for Japanese learners). Please ignore any political subcontext/provocation and focus on the linguistic point of view. The essential idea is that logogram ('shapes',like kanji) is more efficiently recognized compared to phonogram (alphabets, like the kanas) as our brain processes shapes and sounds differently, the latter more prone to damage. That's why dyslectics can still read logograms but not phonograms.

Excerpt (written by Takasugi Shinji)
- btw, someone tell me the html code for quote please!

It's a common misunderstanding that logograms are obsolete and phonograms are modern. In fact, linguists have proven that a human being can read logograms faster than phonograms if trained to read. There are some Japanese who have been trying to write Japanese only in kana or only in alphabets with no success. If you write Japanese without kanji, you will forget the meanings of morphemes. The disadvantage of logograms is their difficulty to learn, but the fact that developed nations such as Japan and Taiwan have a very low illiteracy rate indicates it is not so hard to learn kanji as you might think, if good education is available.

The reason why most people in the world don't use logograms is that it needs hundreds of years to build a writing system based on logograms. Ancient people who invented first characters had a plenty of time, and the Japanese are the only major people who have successfully integrated foreign logograms into their native language. On the other hand, importing phonograms is very easy. The problem of using phonograms is the gap between spelling and pronunciation caused by inevitable pronunciation change. Do you know Japan had a different orthography of kana before World War II? Japan easily changed its orthography of kana after the war because that didn't affect most words that have kanji. If Japanese had given up kanji long ago and used only kana, the orthography wouldn't have been changed, and the sentence "今日 (きょう) 東京 (とうきょう) で洋服 (ようふく) を買 (か) った" (I bought clothes in Tôkyô today) would be: けふ とうきやうで やうふくを かつた. The gap between spelling and pronunciation would be wide.

みずお願いします

最近在学日文，50音暂且不谈，就说常用语言打招呼、道歉、询问之类，我练习下来的最大感触是“口干舌燥”。归结主要原因为す・し・た・が 这类的音太多了，特别是し(shi) 这一小撇让舌头表层水分蒸发的格外之快。mashita, mashitaka, shimasu, desu 等等需要向外鼓风的磨擦/爆破式结尾让我很没耐心，好像一个人在说“是不是？是不是啊？是啊是啊”。ははは。。。无力-.-!

实用语：
I'm thirsty: Nodo (throat) ga (is) kawaki (thirsty) mashita.
I'm hungry: Onaka (stomach) ga suki (hungry) mashita.

以下翻译过来都成了“Excuze moi'
Sumimasen （请问，那个，呃。。。）
Shitsurei shimasu/shimashita ( 失礼了）
Ojama shimasu （我来拜访了，打扰了）

*** 贴首诗

还乡
车前子

我在寒冷的天性中旅行，
路边银铺买本地产的甜糖。
还有不甜糖吗？“有，不甜糖”，
只在贵族与世家流行，
秘书般不轻易示人。
“我终于不知道已经大吃苦头”。
我买了一袋甜糖。
旅行者持有大面额钞票。
她找零于我，
有我认识的十块五块，
和我不认识的十块五块。
我不认识的十块五块，她说：
这是本地产的钞票。
钱柜掏空了，还缺几块钱，
她就在另外的孔里搜寻，
递给我一张手写的十块钱。

我在寒冷的天性中旅行，
路边金铺买本地产的饮料。
她满满一杯随时就要溢出似的
持来了本地产的
一种嗜好沼泽地里的
蕨类植物的
蚂蚁的
血。
很名贵。蕨类是沼泽地的大宗族。
很好喝。蚂蚁是蕨类的大宗师。
我决定把一张手写的十块钱花掉，
自始至终我没有和它建立起信任。
她飞速地找零于我，
有我认识的五块两块一块，
我吃一惊，手里全是我认识的钞票，
我又有了伟大的现实感？

还乡途中，我恰当地赞赏了本地产的饮料，
和她的美貌。她代表性地抱住我，
于是在他世界：他们藏在书架上的暗箱中：
引起一阵劈劈啪啪。“劈劈啪啪”。

她的乳房像算盘上的算盘珠一样可以上下砍动。
2006-11-24，上午

Educate ourselves

(L)China, a heated discussion(see post comments)

Understanding is bilateral and it only makes sense to see through different perspectives to locate the crux.

We all long for peace, but we battle for dominance in resources and military power. That's as easily understandable as survival instinct (philanthropy clearly out of the picture). Don't even condemn the politicians as everyone has their own games to play, whether it's on a tiny or giant chess board. In either case you don't want checkmate. I might just throw it aside in frustration as the complex world loses me but I think it's best to continue to educate myself on the various OS the world's running on.

And if there's any message I'd like to bring into a discussion, that will be see as far as you can. Surface above troubled water.

小王讲了一个冷笑话

小王讲了一个冷笑话,他讲的是——
小王讲了一个冷笑话,他讲的是——
小王讲了一个冷笑话,他讲的是——
小王讲了一个冷笑话,他讲的是——

点看他讲的到底是

***

我发现不会写1-10的中文大写了，复习一下：
壹贰叁肆伍陆柒捌玖拾

典故：
“叁”是会意字，本是“参”字的俗体字
“伍”也是会意字，本义指军队的编制，五人为一伍

据说，武则天时代，各地国库管理混乱，出现了许多贪赃枉法的官吏。武则天为了加强国库的管理，不给贪赃枉法官吏以可乘之机，让他们不能随意涂改数据，就下令有关部门，统一汉字的数目字。他们就找了读音相同或相近的笔画繁难的十个文字，作为十个小写数字的另一种写法。这十个文字就成了汉字的大写数字。于是，在武则天时代，就出现了汉字的大写数字。应该说，统一规范汉字数字，用大写数字代替汉字的小写数字，这是武则天的一大贡献，功不可没。

还有一种说法是明朝的开国皇帝朱元璋。。。 更多

不可抗力

最近在翻译一份建筑工程协议，其中的一章是专门词汇定义。诸如承包人、分包人、开工日、竣工日云云，相当枯燥脑残。我看到了这么个词“不可抗力”：指代不可预知、不可避免、不可克服的客观情况。翻译成英文就是Force Majeure, or Act of God: unforeseeable, unavoidable, insurmountable objective conditions。我想说不定可以翻成Act of Buddha。

今年的Pirelli calendar舞台设于上海，这是自发行起首次定点于亚洲。简单来说，Pirelli Calendar等同于'Nobel prize in fashion photography'，负责此项目的摄影师和被选入镜的模特都享有极高的声誉。这次以旧上海为主题也是首次吹起“亚洲风”。邀请的模特里有张曼玉、杜鹃和Mo Wandan（谁？）XD

Image archive: 官方网站

60%的布景还挺有上海味的，可那个妆倒像艺妓，旗袍也没露个面，都是些半改装的唐服配蕾丝束腰。猛一看是“东方”，渗透却不够彻底。作品本身非常漂亮，无争议。

Copyright (c) Pirelli Group
This's a personal blog. Photos shown here are for aesthetic appreciation not commercial use. So don't hurt me.

Saudade

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudade

I'm afraid it's a word I'll never truly understand. 渴望？

杂谈

很久不看TedTalks，今天兴致来了看了一期 - 讨论话题为Meme。这词我貌似认得，但又很肯定大学课堂上没专门提出过。

Talks Dan Dennett: Ants, terrorism, and the awesome power of memes


看完了模糊得出的结论是：

1. Meme是人文化的思想产物(culture,propaganda,idea,habit etc.），是个中性词，起源于The Selfish Gene这本著作（没读过-.-）。

2. 学术牛逼们认为Meme以生物繁衍的行为传播，在达尔文的魔爪下进化/淘汰。（可以形象理解为“病毒”，但介于“病毒”贬义居多，不是很确切。）

3. 怎样对待Meme：分析事实，不要被洗脑、不要强加于人、莫激动。

如果任何一个定义(idea, oncology)都算是Meme，那Meme这个词的存在也是Meme？我想到final fantasy电影里那一根根虚无的'thought threads'，有点像？？

***

我的外甥与08年2月27日出生，是个肥仔！中文名字没起呢，英文名倒有了，叫Mr.亚利克斯！

标准肉包子


河东狮吼！！ 我已经瞧见他的表演天分了！


起名字真是太讲究了，我哥说起“浩业”（汗一滴！），我爸说起“聃灵”（汗两滴！！）。Mr.亚利克斯肉包子的生辰八字里缺“火”，所以我爸狂加火。我(Z)问老爸(xl)我缺什么，对话如下：顺便一提，我爸不是风水先生，他是网上查来的。。。

xl says:
你的本命属鼠，海中金命。五行土旺缺金；日主天干为土，生于春季。
（同类土火；异类木水金。）
Z a maze of boxes says:
缺金，没钱？？？
xl says:
按此所，你的名字的颖如果改成银就补了一些，不是缺钱的意思。
Z a maze of boxes says:
不要！ 好难听！
xl says:
或者用 蓥 也很好
汉语拼音一样
Z a maze of boxes says:
还是颖好，谐音就行了

***

昨天看了Plata Quemada（Burnt Money）,讲的是以小说改编的真实故事。一对形影不离的“双胞胎”恋人Nene & Angel合伙抢劫，Angel受了伤，警察也在全面搜查。那伙人一时拿不到逃离用的护照被困，期间Angel在宗教和感情间挣扎逐渐疏远Nene，Nene很郁闷一直在外鬼混，两个人越搞越僵。后来护照落空，Nene的婊子被甩了很不爽就告发了他们，最后俩人和警察对战死在火焰中。

我介绍的很RP。。。俩男主角表演精湛很有感染力，属于心理虐待类作品，喜欢沉痛话题的人不妨看看。

片断节选
大概是讲：Angel受伤了Nene帮他取子弹，因为没有麻药很痛，Nene让那女的拿Whiskey给Angel壮胆。Nene看那女的在一旁不走很烦，就说“那你来动手术啊”，女的说不会，Nene一下子狂吼“那还不走！” 取子弹时说了一泡分散注意力的话“英语单词我一个都不会，以后去纽约你一定要帮我，不然厕所都上不了。”后来老头子来了，开始严肃的话题。


土豆网上的翻译真不是人看的，比如Nene取子弹时哄Angel说'Easy Easy'，翻成“容易 容易”-.-！ 我看到后来完全凭中文来猜英文，累啊！

小说翻译 (原文)

他们被称作双胞胎，因为他们形影不离。但其实他们并不是兄弟，长得一点也不像。说实话，这世上再难找到两个比他们更不相像的人了。他们的共同点是看人的样子——灰白、平静的眼睛狠狠盯视着一张可疑的脸。多尔达阴沉、安静，红润的脸庞上挂着安逸的微笑。布利诺涅纤瘦、灵活，有着黑色的头发与苍白的皮肤，看上去好像他在监狱里呆的时间比实际上要长。

他们从Bulnes的地铁站出来，在一家照相馆的窗前停下来，确认自己没有被跟踪。他们那像一对拳击手一样显眼的外表很容易引起别人的注意。他们精致考究地穿着黑色双襟西服，指甲和头发都经过精心修剪。傍晚十分宁静，是一个带着清澈白色光芒的干净的春日傍晚。人们正在下班赶着回家，流动的空气包围着他们。

History of Religion

See its conquest nature?

What do you put into a Haida spirit box? Lovely as it is.

先来一张好看但没那么好吃的蟹肉sushi拼盘


今天整理房间时挖出一份礼物，无论是手感还是光泽都没得挑剔，更适合博物馆而不是某人的猪圈！这是加拿大西海岸土著人的传统手艺，叫'Hadia spirit box'。这一图腾系列共有七款（由Tom Mcphee设计），分别是海水獭（我这个）、虎鲸、雷电鸟、乌鸦、角鲨鱼、熊和青蛙、海豹。更多图片这里瞧。

每个动物都有独特的代表意义，对海水獭的描述是'Sea otter is the spirit of playfulness. He teaches us the need for lightheartedness and to enjoy the world around us.' 虽然青面獠牙的甚为狰狞，却是一副玩世的态度，这个好！



你觉得里头除了首饰还能放啥？ XD 糖果？绣花针？维生素片？瓜子？

昨天和Jady讨论firefox theme时截下来的图，非常喜欢scribblies kids的设计！
这里下载


街上到处都是圣诞节的气息，不由得想到世井仓平的画，若能走进他笔下光影交错的帝国。。。我大概会眼盲！

去年做的世井仓平迷你网站，有他的基本资料和图片：
Teppei Sasakura

如果能买到这张的poster。。。继续yy

Black Sunday

感恩节后的第一个周五传说叫Black Friday，黑色周五，是圣诞节大采购正式开始的一天，就像中国人要过年了开始筹备年货。至于为什么叫Black,有说法那天交通拥挤容易出事故,也有另一种解说是那天商店开始大赚，所谓的'turning black'。很搞笑的是，温哥华曾经带头组织了'Buy nothing day'（啥都不买日），专门针对黑色周五的反消费游行，似乎没有显著效应。

持续下雪的周日，我在家里憋得慌就出去购物了。昨晚坐着硬板凳翻译血凝机制，真真把生化、医药、免疫集大成复习了一遍。“血凝酶和凝血酶”，一个是Haemocoagulase，一个是thrombin，很不赞这种耍赖的命名！

路上满是车轨的蹂躏痕迹，贴着人行道急速行驶的小汽车全都成了洒水车，一定要快快闪开。拍了几张外景，比昨日的雪要猛。

这是窗口望出去的，有点Rear Window的悬疑效果。


门口


写着'No Trespassing'的地方，不知何人居住。


去CD店逛的时候看到长得极像苍井优的店员小姐，好漂亮好可爱，可惜我不是男的，也许男的审美观也不同吧。我问有没有张悬的第一张CD，还写了下来，但她不懂简体字，问我“悬”字怎么个用法。我说，suspense，悬疑？字是打出来了，没有货存。记得在哪里读到过张悬的悬字是有来历的，张是张爱琳，悬呢？

给各位买了非常实用的圣诞礼物，请等待签收。

这家购物中心相当冷清，前周来了个新店铺（临时招揽人气的），卖一些spick & span现代小设计。设计师大多是中日韩人，东西都带着亚洲风，很优雅很可爱。这是他们的网站：http://www.spickspantrading.com，平时是做批发的，零售的极少（零售 时用的是另一个招牌），一般是以小展览的形势出现。



买了两个小东西自己用 =D

这貌似插手机的东西其实是个喇叭，不需要任何电池/电源，一根线可接ipod/电脑/手机/电话等等，用的是这些电器的电力。音质还可以，唯一欠缺的地方是输出功率低，声音小。但看你这么可爱方便原谅你了。


来这儿后买了两头刺猬了。这是肚肠（CD）外漏的刺猬二号。


近照


最近沉迷于sleepy.ab，特别是“梦的花”一曲，看现场他们一起点头沉醉的样子，真的是很美好的一刻啊。
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Now playing: sleepy.ab - fluid
via FoxyTunes

Tidbits

Break Time! Do you know?

奶牛分公母么？

分，大家都说奶牛，顾名思义，“产奶的牛”，都是母的，后来又在网上了解了一下，其实，奶牛，是从经济学上来定义的，有公有母，不过，奶牛厂要严格控制公奶牛数量，保持在8：100左右，公奶牛的主要任务就是配种，保证每头母奶牛都在哺乳期，因为只有在受精后母奶牛才产奶。现在奶牛厂一般采用人工受精的方式促进奶牛产奶，因此，公奶地位日下，主要被用来吃肉了。公奶牛和母奶牛模样差不多，也有大乳房，只不过不产奶 。


为什么银行门口的外国狮子一个张口一个闭口呢？

民间习俗狮子是镇宅神兽。也有避邪的作用，而且狮子的嘴一个张开一个闭合，两者代表吐纳之意，有些放麒麟，麒麟也是神兽，而且有助于风水，特别对那些门对水（河，江）的，有驮水的作用。银行前面的狮子嘴巴一张一闭，张是招财，闭是守财，钱财只吃不吐的意思。古老的庙前正门两侧的石狮左公右母，公狮张口注视来往信众；母狮子闭口护子，表现传统社会男尊女卑、各司其职的特性。还听说一种说法是它们在念佛号，一个“阿”，一个“弥” 。

很多银行门口的并不是石狮，而是貔貅。

貔貅，音读“皮休”，是龙的第九子。貔貅是一种凶猛瑞兽。 在南方，一般人是喜欢称这种瑞兽为"貔貅"，而在北方则称为"辟邪"。貔貅有镇宅辟邪，趋财旺财的作用，所以股票交易所、银行、赛马、期货等行业的机构喜欢在门口摆放貔貅。貔貅为什么有趋财旺财的作用呢？，据说貔貅没有“屁眼”，只往里进，不往外出，所以有敛财的作用。这应该算是我国的传统——在汉书“西域传”上有一段记载：“乌戈山离国有桃拔、狮子、尿牛”。孟康注日：“桃拔，一日符拔，似鹿尾长，独角者称为天鹿，两角者称为辟邪。”辟邪便是貔貅了 。


Art & Fashion, interesting anecdote from 'History of Fashion'

Collaborations between artists and designers are very much a current trend. In addition to designers being inspired by paintings from long ago, they are also commissioning art works specifically for their garments.

One of these is Issey Miyake, who has recently commissioned guest artists to paint their masterpieces onto the front of his pleated dresses. One was by the Chinese artist Cai Guo Quiang. They say that art is in the eye of the beholder, a lady who wore this dress to a London restaurant had waiters rushing over with tissues because they thought she had spilled her dinner all down the front of her dress.

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Now playing: Rie fu - dreams be
via FoxyTunes