#earthday 2021

又到了地球日，各種地球美景呈現在手機上，海洋樹林等等的音樂直接收集到面前，人們彷彿不用出門就可以接觸到各種大自然了....

我以為宅，還好啊，可能就內向... 之類的... 事實並不是如此，年輕人的宅，是真的沒有接觸大自然，搞不清楚打獵與釣魚不只是為了興趣；搞不懂什麼叫生態平衡，以為庭院花園跟水族箱都跟打電動一樣；更搞不懂大自然不只是山跟水跟動物跟植物，還包括了噁心的昆蟲、微生物、病毒...

真的現在年輕人才如此嗎？其實不是，是我心胸變狹窄了，身邊同儕沒接觸大自然的，當年就已經一狗票，我以為大家都跟自己一樣，對於露營健行登山等活動，都是含蓄地不張揚罷了。只不過現在年輕人更有一個熟悉的虛擬世界支撐，不，不只一個，看電影不用出門、吃飯不用出門、健身運動不用出門... 老天最公平的一天 24 小時，可以任由他們徜徉其中，地球日說不定就只剩下一個 hashtag...

 

最後，就只能點歌了，老師，音樂請下：

Big Yellow Taxi - Joni Mitchell

[轉貼] 在盛怒下讓國民黨下架以後呢？

我常常跟朋友提一個故事，當年剛畢業出社會，我第一個工作就是跟對岸的幾間中型公司合作（它們現在已經超大），屢次跟各個客戶群開會，跟我握手的，從經理、資深經理到副總，年紀竟然都跟我差不多大，私底下真的有點嚇得漏尿。當時還認為自己是剛出社會的小毛頭，但是對岸的社會結構，已經是讓跟我年紀一樣的年輕人帶領蝦兵蟹將往前衝了。

今天再翻到多年前看過的文章，台灣高傲的狀態依舊沒變，多了川貴人一手撐起的仇中保護傘與戴上白內障眼鏡，我預估，多年後大陸的生醫產業，就跟當年的電子業一模一樣，且最後必須用不要臉的手段制裁，不然，你想擋也擋不住。

Four Notes Paul's Tune

80歲英國老翁保羅，透過兒子給他的四個音階，即興演奏出一段美麗的旋律.... Beautifuuuuuullllll....

Dad’s ability to improvise and compose beautiful melodies on the fly has always amazed me.

Tonight, I gave him four random notes as a starting point.

Although his dementia is getting worse, moments like this bring him back to me. pic.twitter.com/dBInVCTmfF

— Nick Harvey (@mrnickharvey) September 17, 2020

Paul Harvey 去年被診斷患有失智症，這段即興演奏獲得廣大的點閱率，隨後在國際失智症日的活動中播出，最後英國BBC 愛樂管絃樂團邀請並錄製成單曲，一路衝上蘋果與亞馬遜的排行榜。

該曲的收益將分給英國阿茲海默症協會與Music for Dementia組織

#差點在辦公室噴淚

無題

我其實覺得 Big Fish 的整個情節並沒有那麼好看，因為很多情節闡述太過明白，尤其真實女巫 Jenny 與病房醫師所做的解釋，讓最後葬禮的驚喜感大為降低，全劇也因此少了許多想像的空間。 

回顧自己這幾年的人生，七年了吧？我似乎是試著把它冷凍起來，按下暫停鍵，等著我心愛的人回到身邊，好讓我繼續暫停的時間。至於，到底會等到什麼，我自己也似乎也不清楚...

Curiosity out of Antique

Coming across this video, I'm really intrigued by this curator, Dr. Irving Finkel. He is definitely a poker-faced comedian. He also reminds me of my experiences when taking young friends to Exploratorium at San Francisco. Some youth didn't feel quite attracted and some totally indulged in all facilities. For me, there are million of stories, science and knowledge behind those seemingly big toys. Why can't some youths feel the fun out of them while also complaining how boring of their textbooks? I might actually know the answer. Video games nowadays are like drugs dominating their sensations.

無意間被這位館長 Irving Finkel 博士的影片所吸引，他絕對是個冷面笑匠。不過他也讓我想起帶年輕朋友去舊金山探索博物館的記憶，有些孩子非常盡興，有些則意興闌珊。對我來說，那些看似玩具的背後有數不盡的故事與科學知識，為何年輕朋友抱怨教科書無聊，卻也不能被這些器材激發興趣？我猜，或許是電動已經把他們的感官給麻痺了。

amnesia

Gattaca in 1997. I almost forgot this is one of my favorite movies since youth.

And I almost forgot the dreams I held back then.

[轉貼] 新冠疫情暴露台灣「異常醫療行為」 外科醫嘆：扭曲健保原意

所以麻煩對橄欖子們，鞭小力一點。

為什麼一定要假設出國就是高大上呢？美國學費過去一路漲，有些留學生連車子都不敢買。比較晚來的移民，語言沒那麼輪轉，工作競爭力也不一定拼得過各色人種。很多社群鄉民的留言，對真正無法發聲的族群來說，跟「何不食肉糜」是一模一樣的。

媒體能不能對數據做真的詳細的分析與報導，而不是馬上挑腥羶的點大肆渲染呢？或許有，但是可能人氣不夠高，無法排到我的螢幕前.....

1 day of Autumn

There once was a girl already going through a dozen of relationships, telling me whom she ending up with must not be the one she really loves. She always failed to get a enduring relationship with a person she truly loved.

During this tough period of my life, I often think back of the old days. How are my friends doing, mostly for those who were really close but lost in contact? Is it because my motivation has gone to the lowest so stop and look-back becomes handy? Or it's just because having too much personal time makes me nostalgia.

In the end of their talk on the bench, Tom said "I really do hope that you're happy." I would do the same too.

The girl I met in 2005 probably is gone. I hope she will come back.

給我自己 To Myself

#389【谷阿莫】7分鐘看完電影《高年級實習生》

人類

起源於一個無聊早晨的賴床，看到鄰居在 Nextdoor 社群網站哀怨自己的貓被 Coyote 北美郊狼咬死了，才驚訝的發現自家南邊的水溝 San Tomas Aquinas Creek 其實是郊狼的獵食公路，話說這一帶人口密度不低，竟然還有這類動物的生存空間。
之後，我的焦點轉移到社群的回應，有人好心提醒，最好把家貓留置戶內，尤其是在夜晚。隨即收養野貓的一派就斥之以鼻，因為野貓若被侷限則會顯得焦躁，終究必須放風。戶內與戶外的意見看似僵持不下，有人也趕緊跳下來提醒要尊重原帖的喪貓之痛。
莞爾的是，隔天另外有人又開一帖正經的討論到底該怎麼對待愛貓，接踵而至的回文當然又是公說公有理、婆說婆有理。我已經把整個討論串剪貼到底下，以供日後回味。
把來龍去脈交代完了，多年過後，我已忘記當初想寫這篇部落格的初衷了，可是自己的一些觀念應該沒變: 人類是多麼自我中心又自私的生物。貓與郊狼究竟誰可憐？動物一定需要具有「可愛」的相貌才值得維護嗎？沒有表情與誘人體態的魚類、昆蟲等等，其實終究無法上主流社群版面的，不是嗎？

在此套用留言裡，有幅漫畫網頁細說了，家貓到底殺害多少生命。
How much do cats actually kill? - The Oatmeal

... 三個家貓中有一個，一週內會殺害兩次性命，牠們，真的，如你想像的，那樣可愛嗎？


Coyotes and the Indoor/outdoor cat debat
https://nextdoor.com/news_feed/?post=62956296
Dave Horwitz, Westmont

This is likely to be controversial but maybe worth airing out in a focused discussion. I just read yet another post about someone finding their cat had been killed in the night by coyotes. Very tragic very sad. They were unaware of the coyote situation in the area. Naturally the topic of indoor/outdoor cats was brought up (and maybe squelched as being wrong time and wrong post). I thought maybe a separate thread might be of value. I will start it off with my views (which I'm open to having changed since I'm not a naturalist/ecologist): I believe many, if not most, are aware of the coyotes. We live next to the foothills which is their natural habitat. Under various climate conditions they will range further for food. They naturally avoid humans but will overcome that for readily available, nearby food source. They have to work hard for food where they live and will get it elsewhere if it is more readily available or easier to obtain. They eat small animals. I think all that is a given and not likely to change in the near (or even distant) future. Someone posted a week or so ago that they had a friend who lived elsewhere where they had coyotes. They told of their friend buying roasted chickens at the grocery store and leaving them out for the coyotes and that the incidents seemed to abate. They were suggesting that we might try something like that... I'm sure they meant well but it was an eye opening post. (I had visions of truck loads of roasted chickens and fat and sleepy coyotes ... and an influx of mountain lions looking for coyotes). In short, my view is that letting your cats out (more so at night) is much the same thing. I think everyone agrees with this but the counter argument is that some cats are outdoor cats (like rescued feral cats) and would be unduly stressed if forced to live indoors. That they will have a better life even given the risk of it ending prematurely. I can understand that. On the other hand maybe this is not the area to have a such a cat? If the cat is part of the family already then your options may be harder. Moving, or making arrangements for another home for you family member might be difficult or out of the question and you're willing to take the risks with your cat. I can understand that as well. What I don't think most people consider is that, if you go that route, you are also impacting the community. More readily available food, more coyotes. Put bluntly but I did not intend it to be inflammatory.

6 Sep 17 · 35 neighborhoods in General