／Fengzi

I like the metaphor of the poem. It reminds me of an installment in Mrs. Cowman's classic STREAMS IN THE DESERT. In that elegant short prose, which I'm attaching below, she described in great detail the metamorphosis of a moth, and discussed how such process may be related to our experience in life. Made Perfect Through Suffering by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Rom. 8:18).

I watched the movie over the weekend and felt it's just another movie. I wish Harrison Ford was in it, not that he would have made it any better, but that I like the professors he has played in a few movies. Tom Hanks is great but I always associate him with Forrest Gump, dumb, funny, but not that intelligent. The book is a well researched piece, strewn together by several intertwined threads, spanning 2,000 years and several continents. Although the plot is not that remarkable, I do feel the combination

Alibaba Saddam Jihad Allah Osma bin Ladin Abu Genie Aladdin !!!

In ancient times, people “stole light” through the cracks on the walls of an illuminated house. Some of them even dug or enlarged an opening to adjust brightness. These people were lauded, for more than two thousand years, obviously not for their intentional damage of other’s property or invasion of privacy (an ear close to the bedroom wall, aided by prying eyes, always serves to remove the last veil of privileged family life), but for their assiduity. Now we have this Information-Age form of “steal

These are nice too. I personally like short pieces. They are like light, bite-size snacks, a brief nap in a hot summer noon, or an ornament on the mantel. I'm helplessly confined, like many other contemporaries, to a common bad reading-habit of our times: we often read only the first and last paragraphs of a piece of writing. Therefore, the only way for us to go through an article in its entirety, hence to fully relish its brilliance, is to read one having only two paragraphs, or less. Classical litera

Ultimately, all these differences can be traced back to the geographical inequalities 15,000 years ago, at the dawn of human history. (And that basically is the thesis of Jared Diamond in Guns, Germs and Steel—one of my favorite books) The separation of church and state, the conflicts between nobles and kings, the middle class,* and the lack of a super power to unify the warring states in Europe (due to geographical barriers), all contributed to the initial notion and subsequent realization of liberty and

I remember a friend of mine used to have in her room a little pillow. On it was embroidered "God created men first, 'cause you always make a rough draft before a masterpiece."

After posting the piece above, all of a sudden I remembered the theory of "gonzo journalism." I'm not sure how well my convictions to the power of simple and true facts (or raw data, so to speak) may sit with that school of thought, which I also feel equally intriguing. For those who might be interested in the theory or are actually practicing it with no formal acknowledgement, "gonzo journalism" is a news writing style, based on the idea that fidelity to fact did not always shed light on truth. Instead, th

哦，今天是该诗发表一周年。明年今天可以来个“《春》第二年”（简称《第二春》）研讨会了，嘿嘿。

I like it!

A very nice piece indeed! People in the West tend to evaluate another civilization in terms of how different it is from the western civilization. This propensity has been repeatedly admonished against by many scholars in the west, yet unfortunately, has been repeatedly manifested in the government propaganda and the main stream media eager to please the government. The net results of such collusion are that most people in North America have accepted the version imposed upon them by the media as objectiv

Thanks a lot. I think that's enough to keep my folks busy for a while. :)

A very interesting read. It reflects the ever evolving notion of "citizenship" within the meaning of the Constitution. In an earlier, and more infamous, case, Scott v. Sanford (decided in the mid-1800s), the Supreme Court declared that the black people or slaves were not citizens of the United States, but were instead the "properties" under the Constitution. The outbreak of the subsequent Civil War was due in no small measure to the decision of that case. In the following Webster, http://www.creator.org

a very nice piece of work!

These are such lovely little poems!! I always like reading short poems. "Brevity is the soul of wit," so said Shakespeare. Poems like those are indeed fine distilment of wisdom and enlightenment of life. They are like still-life snapshots that artfully and permanently capture our treasured moments in life. I'm just wondering whether there is any connection or interaction between Tabuboku and his contemporary, R. Tagore.

Prof. Richard Henry is waging a web-based campaign to reform the calendar around the world. The upshot of his proposal is that by using his new calendar you can keep using the same old calendar (with your favorite movie stars in it) for five or six years and, best of all, you will get a week-long "mini-month" between June and July every five or six years (leap years will be eliminated) during which period, subject to your boss's permission and your spouse's approval, you may take a paid vacation off to meet

对，这样刺眼爽口的街景许多地方都有。腊肉、腊鱼、腊肠都是如此晒制。这属于好吃不好看的。下面属于好吃不好闻的。:)

A very nice topic! An even better response!!

A Chicken sacrificed in Science’s name, Is as happy as one grilled in the BBQ flame. Necessity, my friend, rules in man’s game Although we all know that defense is lame. Creatures dissected in the labs, Are luckier than the Iraqis killed, but not by stabs, How many are those? no one can keep on tabs, All we know out there are a bunch of fabs. Over a dead chicken some may weep, In a bath of blood most are asleep. To those with a heart of a little sheep, Reaching out far is a gift to keep.

玉婆结婚－－7上8下，一个比一个差。

刚读到这，我以为你会接着说“历史其实是关于未来没有发生过的事…”。如果如此就更有意思了。:) 预测是许多科学的目的。历史通过对“事实”的梳理与模型化处理应该也具这个功能才对。所以，或许我们不久就会不光学习十九世纪欧洲的历史，也要学习二十五世纪中华民主合众国的历史。

可以改。这同主要看原文件的性质、公证的方式等。如果中国公证的生日是错的（比如due to clerical error)，就只能再重新弄一张正确来。这当然需要一些说明及对原件的真实性、错误等进行论证等。但如果 你从护照到驾照到移民文件都已经用了那有误的生日， 而要改的文件太多， 被改的时间出入不大， 你又不愿于过多麻烦自己， 你没有成为某项基金或遗嘱的受益人而它对受益的人年龄有具体要求， 并且你也没有签任何对年龄有要求的合同或其它法律文件其中年龄的错误将实质性地影响文件条款的实施， 将错就错也无大碍（特别是这错误可以让你平空免

好！这贴子是这店里最独特－－也最特毒－－的一个。它毒得都没人敢碰它一下。:)

It is always easier to opine a dichotomous view than to articulate a nuanced position. Black-letter rules and bright lines, although rare in the real world and seldom reflective of its complexity, are nevertheless favored by the majority of the population. An approach which calls for factually based analysis, principled reasoning, the painful abandonment of our prejudice or even suspension of our value system, is almost invariably a path less traveled.

A comparative study of literature in different cultures is both interesting and difficult. It is interesting because by examining a home system through a foreign analytical frame, or vice versa, one can always come across some new insights or perspective about the subject. The changed viewpoint, however, may also affect one’s evaluation of the subject itself, if one also implicitly adopts in his analysis the latent value system in that reference framework. There lies the inherent danger that comes with the

Classification of people by the government is indeed a source of social injustice. It is also a widely used tool by the politicians. Nazi Germany, for instance, had mastered it and skillfully deployed it to its own advantage. This philosophy was captured in a former Nazi officer’s commentary, "… Naturally the common people don't want war: neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and i

This picture from Rense.com goes perfectly with the article here. :)

I like XW's signature approach: a methodological use, if not reliance, on stories (including folklore, fables, etc.) and story-telling in unraveling and parsing the often encrypted messages in Chinese classics and many other literature works. At a philosophical level, this might echo what the German philosopher Hans Vaihinger has termed "fictional thinking." Vaihinger posits that in addition to inductive/deductive thought, there exists an original thought form: fictional thinking. Myth, religious allego

给私人的捐款一般是不能减税。但是－－（以下的话是疯话）－－假如你捐了Maya文学基金一百块，又捐了Good Wills一百。报税时你说捐了后者两百，税务局是不会找您什么麻烦的。当然把货币单位由“百”变成“万”这条“规律”就不成立了。:)

A very nice piece of work!! 属于现代、儿童版的“天问”但却不失深度。