請花一點時間，連署拯救花蓮七星潭自然景觀的活動！
秀麗山水是我們最寶貴的資源，幾乎是我們唯一可以留給自己和子孫、還給大自然最無價的寶藏！不要滿足不肖商人為權為利的貪婪，不要放縱某些官方體制的無明。捍衛家園是身為臺灣子民、地球子民，每一個人的義務。
進入下方連結：
http://campaign.tw-npo.org/campaign/sign.php?id=2009111918201900
頁面的最下方可選擇加入個人連署或團體連署，
日行一善，不難。

希望集結眾人的力量與能量，讓我們的自然美景可以長久一點～

1PM ...Well, I Don't Mean It in a Sexually Harassing Way, Sir...
Trainee: This customer is mad because we won't cover an accident that happened before he was insured with us. He won't stop yelling!
Trainer: Ha! He's gonna have to suck eggs on that one! Sucks for him. But seriously, go through the facts and dates with him and explain why we won't cover it. Stay calm and apologize. You can do this!
Trainee, to customer: Thank you for holding. This... uh... Okay. My manager says you have to suck eggs, I'm sorry.

Riverview Parkway, San Diego
via Overheard in the Office, Nov 30, 2009

A violent killer sentenced to 95 years in prison in Arkansas has allegedly killed four Seattle policeman. What, you ask, why wasn't he in prison in Arkansas? We need the Republicans to stop all these left-wing shenanigans, these bleeding-heart liberals who aren't tough enough to take pride in law and order!

Softly, softly. The convict was pardoned by the governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, once Republican contender for the presidential nomination.

But all is well: On Sunday, Huckabee issued this statement on his Web site: "Should he be found to be responsible for this horrible tragedy, it will be the result of a series of failures in the criminal justice system in both Arkansas and Washington state."

Isn't that beautiful? As we say in Chinese, 推得很乾淨, he pushed that one away from himself very cleanly. It’s not Huckabee's fault he pardoned a deranged violent criminal, it's the fault of the criminal justice system, and not just in Arkansas, but in Washington state too!

Pardon me while I vomit.

I was recording a flock of 白喉笑鶇 (白喉噪眉)　White-throated laughing thrush (Garrulax albogularis) that was passing by. As I tried to record them, the dogs started singing.




I have other clips of the dogs singing on YouTube click here::

Tnaq tasiq loziq na itan

我念大學時，大約民國六十三、四年，有一次從盧山出山準備回紅塵，遇上一群上山的泰雅，好像剛從埔里採購回山。他們看到我，每一個都笑。後面一位文面老太太，看到我也笑：她的眼睛顏色跟我很像，是綠色的，大家都笑說，「你看，她的眼睛跟你一樣！」Balay!

我一直沒弄懂，是yagi白內障，或者眼色本來這樣？她不會說國語，而且大家都笑的很開心，來不及問，大家揮揮手，各走各的。

One time when I was in college, in the early 70s, I was coming out of the high mountains in central Taiwan and met a group of Tayal coming back from shopping in town. Every one laughed when they saw me; something was going on. Towards the rear of the group was an old lady with traditional face tattoes ~ and very untraditional green eyes. We all laughed and they said, "See, her eyes are the same as yours!" Balay!

I never figured out if she had cataracts or her eyes were naturally green. She couldn't speak Mandarin, and I couldn't speak Tayal then, and anyway everybody was laughing too hard. Before I could figure it out, everybody waved and we went our separate ways.

Not necessarily.

Columbia guy: So my friend has this idea for our project to put generators on playground equipment that could let kids power the lights in the park. I told him my only problem with it is: what if we end up electrocuting the kids accidentally? That would be really bad.

--1 Train Overheard by: Nathan

夫子說：辭，達而已矣。寫作要素，盡在其中。

文筆要好，不外乎：一、名正言順。二、無贅字。

名正言順，必須掌握字、詞正確意義：上溯古人用法，一脈相傳、演變、涵義等等，下字才得體。如果我們對一個字、詞、片語沒有共同認識的話，語言功能就廢了。例如，我剛提出「古人」，我假定讀者看到斯詞想到古代的人，而不是長的很高的人、樹上的小鳥、或者餐桌上的白色小湯匙。當然，我有我的自由：我高興的話，我說「古人」指「電腦螢幕」，但這麼一搞，語言、溝通就解體了。

無贅字，文筆精要，多一字不可，少一字不可。要作到這一點，真是功夫。

一個很奇怪的現象：同一行，甚至同一嗜好的人，往往有共同點，而斯共同點，超越時空、國籍。大凡，律師文筆不好。臺灣律師文筆之差，早已證明。例如，英文的intellectual property rights，在臺灣居然將intellectual翻成「智慧」，多荒謬！智慧，是經過多少事、多少反省而修出的結晶，絕不同于人家發明新機器、寫書、作曲的智力或知識。Gilbert Hyatt發明microprocessor，非常聰明，但與「智慧」扯不上邊。

所以，大陸翻「知識產權」，合理多了。真希望臺灣依樣可以改正。…. 不太可能吧。嗌。

了解嗎？好，我出個題目：decriminalize翻「除罪化」，問題出在哪？

這就犯了第二條。英文字的詞性很清楚，中文則未必。為了顯示這是動詞，所以英文加字尾~ize；嚴格說，這種文筆本來就不漂亮，很多~ize字尾的字，極為笨拙，如finalize, pressurize, privatize, colorize, prioritize，都是極不優美的英文，少用為妙。但無論如何，英文確須詞性。若說詞性，「除」已表明動詞，所以「除罪化」的「化」，是多餘的。

設問：「除罪」與「除罪化」有甚麼不同？沒有的話，就選比較精簡的「除罪」。

當然，這牽涉到前提：文章要優雅呢？或者讀起來艱澀難懂、以作者強勝的學術來懾服讀者？