crap

昨天晚上 妹妹到洛杉磯訪友
進海關前 排了很久的隊

為了加快通關的速度
美國海關通常都會派人在隊伍間檢查大家填的入境表格
昨晚也不例外
只是 這個東方臉孔的海關人員不斷告訴大家
台灣不是個國家 你們國籍不能填台灣
台灣是中國的一部份 國籍必須寫中國
每檢查一個人 就這樣嚷一遍

大家敢怒不敢言 大多也只能照做
誰知道這是不是美國的新政策呢
若是真的 也許以後到美國前就都得受這樣的屈辱了
但是 這若是美國的政策
一定會是個大新聞
不可能會由這樣一個三流角色口中來宣告
合理的推論 這應該是那個人的個人認知

因此 也不用跟那樣的人辯解
就照著美國簽證上面的國籍欄來寫吧

當然也希望不要再有代表著美國的海關人員
這樣的公開修辱台灣人民
希望外交部能追查這件事
讓這事件中的海關知所警惕

pavarotti

dies at 71.

deep trouble

one of the special features of the blue planet series dvd is called "deep trouble", in which they tried to draw people's attention to the human impact to the fish, or, life in the ocean. polution of course is fatal, but equally devastating is fishing.

as quoted by bill bryson in his short history of nearly everything, kurlansky said "fish is whatever is left" in the sea. however, because this all happen under the surface, most of people are not aware of it.

leave those dwelling in the sea alone. we should just eat meat or veggie.

feynman

there are several public lectures delivered by feynman available on google video. very worth watching.

comparing one lecture series given at the university of auckland in '79, with another one given at cambridge in '86, you'd be surprised by the aging of the physicist. it's probably the cancer...

blue planet

this is a series produced by bbc, describing the beauty and marvel worlds of the seas.

both of the two of the most astonishing scenes are related to killer whales. in the first one, a group of killer whales attacked the migrating grey whales, just off shore california. a mother grey whale traveled with her calf, which was the target of the killers. they chased the greys for five hours, until the calf was totally exhausted, then drowned and torn apart the calf.

in the second, killer whales attacked seal calfs while they were learning to swim. in one particular case, a calf was caught, but was not eaten right away. instead, the killers tossed it high above the ocean surface like playing volley ball. cruel creatures.

mstislav rostrovich

died at age 80.

i listened to his performance once, in taipei.

after the concert, we waited for quite some time to have him sign his new cd, bach's suites for unaccompanied cello. with the ink still wet, my friend put the booklet back to the closet, and ruined his signature...

be generous

i seldon watched er. but once in la serana, i watched the episode where dr. green died.

his last words, speaking to his daughter, were: be generous, with yourself, with your life, with your love. just be generous.


among the many great characters that people will remember him with, bohdan paczynski was a very generous person.
he's generous in sharing his ideas, which may not be that common in the science community.

bohdan paczynski

died last evening.

people talked about him during coffee this morning, remembering his insights, legacy, and character.

it's really a pity that i didn't dare to talk to him at all when he's still able to come to the department.