Le Blogger

I'm continuing to collect images and memories "retrieved" from the recent trip to Hualien (see Youthful Reminisces ). I started writing this post on March 16, 2019. Most of the documents included are from a time period in my rearing when I began to explore possible career options and interests, in some way setting the path to where I am today. BitSmart: Ron Huang, Ted Way, Me, My Mother, Albert Lin, Helios Yu. [see an older, rambling article here] During my high school years (1995-1998), the Internet with hypertext html was beginning to develop rapidly. For those of us that played around with computers, we were already using messaging programs ( ICQ later AIM), text based email ( Eudora , pine ) and bulletin board systems ( ptt.cc ). Developing webpages was, for me at least, a neat idea and way to write and record a little something about myself. In particular, webpages were not just text based, rather a key component that made the internet fun for me was the ab

These past four days have been a trip down memory lane. I'm going to try to organize some of the memories for blogging, though not all in this post. My parents, M and I took a road trip to Hualien, partly as a family get-away, and also to introduce our Taiwanese hometown to a group of my brother's ( Albert Wu see here and here ) students from France. Albert and his wife are jointly teaching a course in history in Paris, and over the last few weeks they have been taking their students on an abroad research-coursework-fun tour of Taiwan. If you know my father, he tends to try to get involved in some way with any of his sons' projects, and from our perspectives, it's great to get his help and/or just advice (from time to time). My brother and his wife planned a historical, social justice introduction to Taiwan (I wrote about a visit to Dadaocheng ). Important components to understand the complex identities and mindsets of Taiwanese today involves understanding the Ea

See the post title. ***** If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea. -Antoine de Saint-Exupery, author and aviator (1900-1945)    "No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true. Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions d

I was cleaning out old draft emails when I came upon these quotes. 1. “Set your goals high; make friends with different kinds of people; enjoy simple pleasures. Stand on high ground; sit on level ground; walk on expansive ground.” 2. In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit . -Albert Schweitzer, philosopher, physician, musician, Nobel laureate (1875-1965) Both quotes resonated with me, and both quotes provide profound, provoking, prose projecting providence. But for the first quote I'm not sure who to attribute, and for the second, while I'd like to imagine he said that, I'm not really sure if Dr. Schweitzer did (because I have never met him!). In the internet age, I think it really behooves one to critically analyze everything read online. Does X make sense, did X say that? Sometimes it&

A page for parents (and how to stay classy!) Addendum : This post originally written Nov. 29, 2018.

My son and I went exercising at the gym this morning (Feb. 2, 2019). We had physical and mental workouts, and I was full of pride to see him put together this exhibit. He called it, "Train." The work is abstract, with the cone symbolizing the engine and the ball can be pictured as "balls of steam" that roll out of the chimney or exhaust system! Train

In the last few months several well known figures in the literary/movie business passed away (see here ). Louis Cha in particular was a giant known for his set of kung-fu novels, that, according to some well known members of academia, was a pre-requisite for studying any of the hard sciences (such as physics). In their honor, since kung-fu novels and movies have been a part of my upbringing (in probably a large proportion of other people in my generation as well), I went in search of a lunch spot with soupy noodles, not quite HK style but similar, and definitely with an older, more traditional Asian decor and flair. By the way, the yearly Golden Horse Movie Awards are coming 'round, maybe something worth watching ? Addendum : This post was originally written in mid-November of 2018.

I used to dabble a bit in poetry writing, and thinking about it I wonder why I stopped. The deeper question is, perhaps, is writing poetry or poetry writing? Depending on ones views, you can make some inferences, though they are just that, guesses as to what a person's character is, based on their answer to the question above. Without actually having meaningful conversation in person (and even better is to converse a few times), it is often extremely difficult to gauge in any way character. I would think? All this is very vague, if you get what I mean (do you?).   But back to the original question, I think poetry is a form of writing, well defined (or is it)? If we look at examples of "good" poetry, it's typically a more condensed form of writing than the essay or short article (or is this again a misconception?). A question arises, is a blurb poetry? A gazette? When in doubt, refer to some definitions. So I looked up the following definitions in Merriam Webster

In the still, silent hours before morn, My mind is not tired, it cannot rest. The rest of me is distraught, torn; Why does the Sandman mock and jest? No sprinkles of magical dust, To banish thoughts so bountiful Such that the mind ne'er goes to rust, Forever sharp and never dull. Still sleep must come, for a new day Fastly approaches. Until then, ***** Addendum : This post from several years ago (possibly as early as 2005), I can't remember where the poem is from. In any case, it should see the light of day!

A few days ago I was pondering the question of how our notion of common sense, perhaps considered by some to be a form of intuition (maybe), develops in the mind. Questions such as these seem to be more pertinent to me recently, whether because I am aging, or because I happen to have young children at home (I think the latter is predominantly the cause), I'm not entirely sure of. I phrased this statement in this way because common sense is complicated. On the one hand it is thought to be something "intuitive," but what is intuitive can be environmentally and socially influenced. So I thought, a good way to understand how common sense develops is to first understand and compare what might be considered common sense. In my mind, this is not a "lecture" after all, just a jot down of several notions that flashed into thought. I want to use a few of these concepts of what I consider common sense for more in depth analysis, and this blog seemed a good space for me

A week ago at the breakfast table, I noticed D reading an interesting article in the Economist. "What if Leonardo da Vinci visited 2019?" What would be some of the first things Leo would want to notice and compare? More generally, worth asking too, what if some other historical figure with known documented life events were to visit our time today, in the 21st century? What if Napoleon visits (what would he comment on foreign affairs)? What if 武則天 visits (would she comment on the feminist movement)? What would a farmer, from 1000 A.D., notice in 2019? "What-if" questions like these, while purely speculative, help to set a framework for inquisitive research. The Economist made mention of "oil" known as "naphtha." A quick search defines this as C10H8, used in mothballs and probably burned in oil lamps centuries, 400-500 years, ago during the Renaissance. Leonardo likely had some lamps in his workshop from which he could "burn the midnight

I went to an exhibit at the Farglory Museum in New Taipei City in the fall of 2018 showcasing various teapots, 藝壺百映 [Multifarious Splendid Art Teapots]. On display were teapots of various sizes, design, color, material, and even some that on first glance did not resemble a "conventional" teapot at all. I'm thinking teapots such as those in "I'm a Little Teapot" the children's song , not quite (the awesome) Benedict Cumberbatch version of it . The teapots were collected and exhibited following the 7th Taiwan International Gold Teapot Prizes Pottery Design Competition and Exhibition 2018. On showcase were over 200 individual teapots, some selected and awarded from the competition and some from previous years. Selection of teapots is probably a very personal choice (for those that collect teapots, that is), and much may be conjectured of a teapot's owner by those privy to it, I would think. The teapots on display were all functional (I would guess th