Sphere of Reason: Blog

Congrats, 詹郎

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 01:28:22 GMT

落雁沈鱼新嫁娘

于归詹府俊儿郎
宜家宜室唯文静

生女生男看翊强

Moira 的

贺詹郎. 依韵和陈骅

良缘早定属天香

三十年后验异邦

孟夏晴明上吉日

亲朋齐聚慕鸳鸯

Doggy 的

“顶真”戏和小刘

天香红线缚詹郎

异邦烛下拜高堂

吉日良时休恨短

鸳鸯帐中风光长

Coffeehead 的

辘轳体接小犬

帐里鸳鸯乐未央
天香红线缚詹郎
吹箫唇下追萧史
举案眉前比孟光

负笈千朝别故邦
洞房金榜两茫茫
天香红线詹郎缚
原是温柔在异乡

半生不遇又何妨
且把真心细细藏
三世良缘石上刻
天香红线缚詹郎

doggy 又作:

萧史天纵解宫商

弄玉灵心更无双

阳台月下奏一曲

激越悠扬动四疆

平生所长赤玉箫

相授良徒未辞劳

羡煞扬州韩判官

择遍玉人不堪教

Onion 依韵和:

窗前红炬正高烧
烛下佳人弄玉箫
花落双眸尤带雨
颜开两颊倍含娇

苏五十

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 22:49:17 GMT

长河落日, 大漠龙沙. 既寻苏五十不见, 东风(OSLC)亦不与陈郎便. 不得已落魄玛拉笛(前旗与乌审旗间,蒙语牧民之义). 大炕同眠四人, 闲来得律两首, 记此定边之旅:

夕照龙沙上, 苍凉唯落晖
南征北战罢, 西气东输归
车显风尘貌, 人多关塞衣
今宵羌曲里, 挑灯会张飞

边城一别百千里, 大漠长驱三两天
车自重庆发长庆, 人由延边戍定边
黄沙划地胡风泣, 红日升空娇客眠
总为苍天红粉妒, 忍将锦绣付油田

PetroChina's Sulige field to have 4 bln cu m of production capacity by yr-end
November 18, 2007: 09:51 PM EST

Nov. 18, 2007 (Thomson Financial delivered by Newstex) --

BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) - The Sulige gas field, operated by PetroChina Co Ltd (HK 0857), the country's largest oil and gas producer, is expected to have production capacity of 4 bln cubic meters by the end of the year as more wells come onstream, PetroChina parent China National Petroleum Corp said.

The gas field, located in northern China's Inner Mongolia region, had gas output of 270 mln cubic meters in 2006.

Currently, the field produces over 10 mln cubic meters of gas per day, it said.

Sulige, in the Ordos Basin, has proven gas reserves of more than 100 bln cubic meters.

The field is near a pipeline which links western China with major customers in Shanghai and Nanjing.

In March 2006, PetroChina Co Ltd signed an agreement with France's Total SA (NYSE:TOT) to jointly develop Sulige.

七律 - 中秋

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 19:15:36 GMT

客有不期馈月饼, 始知昨夜是中秋.
众家团圆之夜, 对影独斟之时;
正值半分秋色, 斜看十成月华, 拈来

秋来方两日, 去国又三年
驽马恋旧栈, 池鱼思故渊句

再半晌, 有

胡尘何日尽, 汉月几时圆
不若从斯去, 犹得半生闲

然平仄既不谐, 韵脚又不对, 终改五绝为七律:

屈指秋来方两日, 不期去国又三年
十停驽马恋乡栈, 三跃池鱼思故渊
滚滚胡尘何日尽, 悠悠汉月几时圆
折腰陶令五斗米, 负郭苏秦二亩田

七绝 . 观四郎探母有感

Mon, 24 Sep 2007 03:31:11 GMT

何用金批生入关
唯求马革裹尸还
不学乃父碑前死
宁效李陵苟世间

翟建东的杨延辉, 王芳的铁镜公主.

四郎探母 . 坐宫:
（公主）听他言吓得我浑身是汗，十五载到今日他才露真言。原来是杨家将把名姓改换，他思家乡想骨肉不得团圆。
我这里走向前再把礼见。（白）驸马！
（公主）[西皮流水]尊一声驸马爷细听咱言，早晚间休怪我言语怠慢，不知者不怪罪你的海量放宽。
（杨）公主啊！[快板]我和你好夫妻恩爱不浅，贤公主又何必礼义太谦，杨延辉有一日愁眉得展，忘不了贤公主恩重如山。
（公主）讲什么夫妻情恩德不浅，咱与你隔南北千里姻缘，因何故终日里愁眉不展，有什么心腹事你只管明言。
（杨）非是我这几日愁眉不展，有一桩心腹事不敢明言，萧天佐摆天门两国交战，我的娘压粮草来到北番。我有心回宋营见母一面，怎奈我身在番不能过关。
（公主）你那里休得要巧言来辩，你要拜高堂母是我不阻拦。
（杨）公主虽然不阻拦，无有令箭怎过关。
（公主）有心赠你金批箭，怕你一去就不回还。
（杨）公主若肯赐令箭，不出天明我即刻还。
（公主）宋营离此路途远，一夜之间你怎能够还？（杨）宋营离此路途远，快马加鞭一夜还。
（公主）适才叫咱明誓愿，你对苍天就表一番。
（杨）公主叫我盟誓愿，双膝跪在地平川。我若探母不回转，（公主）怎么样啊？（杨）罢！黄沙盖脸尸骨不全！
（公主）言重了！一见驸马盟誓愿，咱家才把心放宽。你到后宫巧改扮，盗来令箭你好出关哪！
（杨）公主去到盗金枇箭，本宫才把心放宽。扭转头来叫小番，备爷的战马扣连环，爷好过关。

pensées agitées

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 02:34:29 GMT

pensées agitées,
pourquoi, dis-moi, c'est toi,
je laisse pas tomber

喝火令 - A bea

琴动纱窗外

棋敲银幕前

换得今夜不成眠

转眼玉绳低转

转眼换流年

也有时时念

依然淡淡悬

似那琴声有无间

道是相思

未见片音传

道不是相思也

何必解连环?

In the mood for Haiku

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 00:44:32 GMT

夏川を

越すうれしさよ

手に草履 -与謝蕪村

It’s my strong believe that it should not be the victim’s duty to remember the cruelty brought to them; it’s the invader’s.

It’s my strong believe that the beauty of poetry is without border.

What a cozy breeze

In blue sky flying pink kites

White and black stones

Bruit des oiseaux

S’endormit au bord de l’eau

La joueuse de Go

沉李浮瓜天

鳕鱼岬外水相连

棋声惊昼眠

自注: 清风破暑连三日,是日也, 云淡风清, 海鸥徐行, 携新朋旧友游于鳕鱼岬. 龙虾既啖, 海水尚凉,雅性忽至, 棋瘾方长, 乃划纵横十九道, 拈黑白数十石. 其时周十八受陈三四子, 逐鹿正酣; 刘十一赵四观战于旁. 昼眠者, 刘郎女公子霏儿也.

悼张馥宝先生

Tue, 15 May 2007 20:18:32 GMT

惊悉张先生逝世，曷胜悲痛！张先生一生致力教育与物理. 为人师表, 病不缀耕. 七律一首, 谨志哀悼。

吾方十六沐师恩, 格致堂前细细陈
师表一别十数载, 先生十载不停耕
千旬忙碌执鞭教, 一日闲来驾鹤升
古圣先贤今若在, 两班分列请先生

劝刘郎不饮

Fri, 16 Feb 2007 04:10:22 GMT

五律-劝刘郎不饮并序

十六字令

（三洗）　喝
（一刀）　老婆说让我不喝
（三洗）　也得喝
（一刀）　那我也不喝

我饮不须劝
杯中物已空
无为三十载
有酒九千钟
但买今宵醉
何愁明日穷
笑吟风与月
此外百无功

Every hand is a loser

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 22:58:10 GMT

Xmas eve, 3am, I was on one of the $4/8 tables at Bellagio, looking into the eyes of a drunk compatriot across the table and pondering hard on the following hand:

Pre-flop: (7 players) Hero is on the button with black nines
Under the gun raises, 3 folds Hero raises, blinds fold, UTG calls.
Flop: 3c Ks 4s (7.5 Small Bets, 2 players)
UTG bets, Hero…?

I could:

- Raise the flop, plan on betting the turn and checking behind on the river.
- Raise the flop, plan on checking the turn and calling one on the river.
- Call the flop, plan on raising the turn.
- Calldown.
- Fold.

What should I do? Well, There’s a phrase that gets beaten to death in scientific circle, almost to the point of being a bad joke. “It depends.” If you’re clever enough, you can make yourself a whole career as a scientific advisor/researcher by saying those two words again and again in different ways and contexts (just different enough to keep things fresh).

OK, to be ironic to the research work I am doing daily is not the purpose here, my questions at the particular moment were: “What does his bet mean about his range of hands?” and “How will he respond to aggression from me?” There are so many variables that it might take me a Ph.D. thesis to fully analyze this situation. I didn’t have the luxury on the table.

我是不是该安静地走开?

Folding is attractive if my friend is exceedingly tight and unpredictable. Exceedingly tight should be obvious. After all, if he will always have at least a king to bet, then it’s an easy fold. But most players aren’t anywhere near that tight and definitely not this drunk Chinese guy. Unpredictable should also make you more willing to fold. For instance, say your opponent has a king 70% of the time when he bets, and doesn’t have a king the other 30%. But he’s 100% predictable. If you call the flop, he’ll bet again with a king or better and check without. Then your strategy is to call the flop, folding to a bet, or betting after a check. Given the status my compatriot was then, it was hard to predict his behavior.

还是该勇敢留下来?

If your opponent is looser (more willing to donk bet with weaker pairs and as a semi-bluff), then folding with position and a solid pair becomes the wrong play. Say your opponent likes to go nuts on the flop with lots of hands, but he slows way down on the turn. You should exploit that fact by raising and reraising with him on the flop. After all, your pair of nines is still ahead of lots of hands, and you should take advantage by getting in the bets when you can get them. But you should slow down as well on the turn and river, since if your opponent is still raising you, it likely means trouble for you. So against someone who puts in a lot of flop action, I might put in four bets on the flop and then put in one bet each on the turn and river. (I.e., if he checks, you bet. If he bets, you call.)

Now say your opponent is more timid than that. His donk bet is significantly likely to be a king, but not likely enough that you should fold. And when it’s not a king, it might well be a semi-bluff. (Say he flopped a gutshot with A5 or a flush draw.) And if you raise him, he’ll probably not 3-bet you as a bluff. Then raising immediately can be a good play. If you get 3-bet, you can either fold immediately (if you’re quite sure he wouldn’t 3-bet as a bluff) or you can call and see what happens on the turn, planning to fold to a bet.

If he might 3-bet you with a flush or straight draw on the flop, then you might try a different line. You could call the flop, planning to raise the turn and check the river. This “free showdown” play works great on hands like this one when you can count on your opponent backing down to the turn raise. So the action would go like this. Bet and call on the flop. Bet, raise, and call on the turn. Then check and check on the river. If you get 3-bet on the turn, you simply fold. This line gets maximum money out of a draw, but gives up relatively little if your opponent is almost certain to have at least a king if he 3-bets the turn.

If your opponent is tough and extremely unpredictable - a real threat to 3-bet bluff you on the turn - then just calling all the way down can be ok also (generally betting if your opponent checks). It’s not a great line to take, but sometimes it’s best if your opponent is bluffing too often to fold, if your opponent would reraise as a bluff, but if that reraise would signify that you’re usually behind. That is, just calling down may be best if you would groan if your opponent 3-bet, but then you would look at the size of the pot and decide that you still had to call down anyway because of the odds you were getting.

I don't like raising the flop and checking the turn. The best place actually to use that line is if you think there’s a good chance you’re behind, and if you think checking the turn is likely to induce a river bluff from a hand like a gutshot. If there’s a good chance you’re behind, you want to minimize betting. But you also want the extra chance to snap off a bluff on the end. (If you thought that your opponent wasn’t that likely to bluff the river, then raising the flop and betting the turn, planning to fold to a check-raise would be better.)

Whichever way I was about to choose, the bottom line is: The #1 priority in hands like this one is to decide as soon as possible whether I am taking the hand to showdown or not. Either fold early, or go to showdown. Once made that decision, HOW to get to showdown isn’t that important. Raise the flop, raise the turn, check the turn, check the river. . .

The top question is stay or go. And the decision is to be made in the beginning, not the end. Everything after that is details.

If I have decided to FOLD one year ago, why am I beating myself to death 365 days after on the details?

You got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em,
Know when to walk away and know when to run.

P.S.

I rerasied the flop, he 3-bet, I capped. He checked the turn, I bet, he check-raised. I backed off and called. He checked the rive, I checked the river. He showed me pocket 7's while I collected a nice pot of $90 after tossing a couple of blue chips to the dealer. A good start of my Vegas venture.

Every hand is a winner; every hand is a loser.

忆少年

Tue, 05 Dec 2006 05:36:11 GMT

Hey, there. . .

it has been long time. . .

if my memory serves me well, this should be your 18th anniversary since we knew each other. . .

A long long time, n'est-ce pas?

忆少年

昔时年少,

昔时巧笑,

昔时美目.

良辰又近也,

怎留时光住?

忆往事、依稀在眼前，

到如今,

燕归何处？

闻说子执手，

惹相思无数.

寄西

Wed, 22 Nov 2006 04:33:24 GMT

余自弱冠始, 不断西迁, 所写的文书自然便一直寄往东方.

一壶浊酒尽新欢
两道清泉洗旧颜
四海游踪遍西域
三秋羁旅在南蛮
行吟句句师唐韵
卧读时时思汉关
莫道西天应在此
加州更隔万重山

fall

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 19:54:25 GMT

After having donated my Legend, I have to go shopping on foot. In the street, colorful leaves were dancing in the wind, flying from one corner of the sky to the other. Will they one day finally lie peacefully onto their own root?

飞

细雨斜风不须归

红叶落

清水魲鱼肥

Soar,

After four continents and three oceans I want to see more;

but when red leaves fall,

it's the taste of the homwtown bass that I recall.

七律 -- 中秋夜思

Sat, 07 Oct 2006 01:27:50 GMT

听着范林元的三笑, 瞥见窗外的明月, 终究还是不能免俗, 遂提笔应应景.

又见中秋明月天
他乡羁旅第八年
远邦谁诵婵娟句?
异域有无明月圆?
鲁酒两杯神半醉
吴音一曲意三迁
愿将来世相思泪
换取今宵不入眠

不羁的风

Sun, 17 Sep 2006 05:11:20 GMT

What then should he choose? Weight or lightness?

Parmenides responded some twenty-six hundred years ago: light is positive, weight negative.

Was he correct or not?

Maybe even before he makes his choice, he needs to confirm whether it was love. Was it love? The feeling to be so peaceful beside her might still be reasonable, while the feeling of wanting to die on her bed was clearly exaggerated: he had begun to know her no more than a couple of days! Was it simply the hysteria of a man who, aware deep down of his inaptitude for love, felt the self-deluding need to simulate it? His unconscious was so cowardly that the best partner it could choose was someone who pratically had no chance to expose him to any danger?

Looking out over the window, he reslized that he had no idea whether it was hysteria or love.

Is it better to be involved, or to remain alone?

There is no means of testing which option is better, 'cause there is no basis of comparison. The first rehearsal for life is life itself.

Einmal ist keinmal, he said to himself. Three years ago when he left her and the old continent behind him, he celebrated it the way others celebrate their reunion. He understood that he was not born to live side by side with any woman and could be fully himself being a bachelor.

He was distressed in a situation where a real man would instantly have known how to act. After having thought of this, he realized that he was far from a responsible man, and that not knowing what he wanted was, actually, quite natural for him.

-- Milan Kundera

从前如不羁的风不爱生根
我说我最害怕誓盟
若为我痴心便定会伤心
我永是个暂时情人

曾扬言不羁的心只爱找开心
快慰过了便再独行
浪漫过一生尽力笑得真
掩饰空虚的心

你偏看透内心苦恼
你以爱将心中空隙修补
使这片风愿做你的俘虏

停住这风baby 长夜抱拥daring
如今这个浪人只想一生躺于你身边
停住这风baby 长夜抱拥daring
如今这个浪人只想一生躺于你呼吸侧边

停住这风

Carta credito

Sat, 09 Sep 2006 02:29:35 GMT

Hua, for the first time in his life, has successfully applied AND got approved for a REAL Carta credito!

Yoooohoooo!!!

Who wants to buy me a beer? Cheers!

赠PZ

Fri, 18 Aug 2006 02:00:04 GMT

赠PZ

十七初识君
貌美似钗裙
闻声思子建
谋面知安仁
举止无拘束
谈笑有风生
梦语两三点
常念六七人
动则驰球场
静可推棋枰
枉称英雄汉
不识庞若鸣

男儿思饮水
女子宛清扬
子贤女亦肖
弃理乃从商
十八离家去
求学在北方
十九去国远
负笈往异邦
二十意气发
举足跨西洋
历时方三月
游迹遍四方
铁塔穿云过
镜厅壁辉煌
花神甜点好
双偶咖啡香
卿言西蒙傲
我笑萨特狂
睡莲垂莫奈
乡村推塞尚
偶见马第思
红与绿相当
既辞花都别
相约游北方
亚深甜酒暖
莱登海风凉
游子行路长
望月微有霜
两年踪无定
一朝归故乡
徐汇既复见
相约在茶房
杯中琥珀光
灯前劝陈郎
新欢如胶漆
鸳鸯各一方
相思在两地
动如参与商
尔等若相爱
久别非长方!

弹指六年过
故友竟相访?
银塔酒正酣
金波夜已凉
与卿叙别话
卿言尤不忘
和欢信难寄
久别非良方!
三冬复三夏
游子终断肠
卿弃游子去
怎不忍别伤?
弟作游子归
孤胆又何妨?
但得有闲日
伴卿游四方
再别花都行
驱车往南疆
涧深碧湖底
桥高蓝天旁
小镇山颠坐
轻帆水上扬
断桥舞清影
旧宫参教皇
转眼一旬过
别卿意何伤?

昔日别君时
孑然是一身
今朝君身后
阿猫伴佳人
佳人好颜色
好客又殷勤
水木校花貌
美东才女名
文能撰小说
下笔如有神
武能长竞走
踢球总她赢
打牌愿服输
赢得六爬名
若到拼酒时
一气灌一瓶!
妻贤主内外
子肖绕膝行
君非池里物
岂在匣中鸣
一朝若得意
平步上青云

之山复之水
若酒亦若醴
有妻贤若此
有妹美如斯
使君幸何至
双姝生同日?
幸逢双星降
长歌以咏志

七律 – 远足消夏偶得

Mon, 14 Aug 2006 22:38:58 GMT

久闻西康州山川秀丽, 景色怡人, 正值周末天朗气清, 惠风和畅, 乃携友北上, 游KENT FALLS, 复泛舟WARAMAUG湖上. 归程引擎过热, 久等AAA不来, 偶得.

远足处处绿成行
聊以消得夏日长
一道素雪喷壁洒
几弯清水浣足凉
烟波淡荡摇空碧
楼殿参差倚夕阳
独立黄昏谁是伴
海棠花对读书郎

七律 -- 七夕忆陈舍旧友

Mon, 31 Jul 2006 20:43:55 GMT

陈舍朋从者, 旧年于陈(骅寒)舍喝酒吃肉的朋友是也. . . 昨远足归来, 夜观天象, 见碧落星垂, 云河烟冷, 念及去年此时, 尝作采桑篇应景, 今年是日, 友朋康桥谢桥, 两地闲愁. 忆昔有感.

去年曾赋采桑篇
天上人间又一年
陈舍朋从今好在
旧时云汉故依然
人间纵有伤心事
怎比牵牛织女闲
若是三生石上刻
何须羡作鹊桥仙

千秋岁

Tue, 25 Jul 2006 21:49:54 GMT

宙斯為了紀念這頭巨獅的驍勇善戰，便照牠的樣子變成了獅子座。

Even with a strong interest in Astrology, I never believed in the theory of Horoscope. But I did find it pretty accurate in predicting temperament, as far as it concerns Aquarius and Leo. I once mentioned that a lot of my male friends are NTs (Rationals) and a lot of my female friends are NFs (Idealists). I didn’t mention another observation I made: a lot of my male friends are AQUARIUS and a lot of my female friends are LEO. It could be some correlation there: AQUARIUS's are more rational and logic thinking, while LEO's are most likely Idealists.

Noble, energetical, shining like the sun, LEO’s are just splendid and attract Aquarius, as the sun does to the earth. As the summer is coming, my LEO friends will have their birthdays soon. J happens to be the first one on the calendar.

千秋岁 - JHBDK

前情弃久
惆怅仍依旧
风满袖
人空瘦
梦回凉汗透
酒醒愁肠柔
凭谁问
衣不如新人如旧

别后终难偶
卿复知郎否
再聚首
黄昏后
花前同携手
更尽杯中酒
亲击缶
贺珺东海南山寿

キャプテン翼

Mon, 03 Jul 2006 21:00:59 GMT

Boys of my age in East Asia must know this name, or its equivalent in their mother language. In China, it is translated into "足球小将", or "大空翼". Actually the manga is widely spread even in the western countries. I have seen it several times on French TV.

Do you know why Les Bleus won the 1998 WC and the 2000 EC? Do you know why they beat Brazil again after 8 years? A wild guess might very well match the name in your mind now: yes, you are right, Zizou, the most talented soccer player in the world, after Diego Maradona.

Do you know why Zizou started playing soccer? Guess wild again. . .

He read the manga in French version.

キャプテン翼 came to my mind when I saw Japan playing in this World Cup. Of course they don't really own any Ozora Tsubasa now, maybe not even Kojiro Hyuga "小次郎". Kawaguchi is not as good as Genzo Wakabayashi "若林源三" neither, altho he made several sensational saves.

If there is one talented Japanese player who is worth mentioning, it is 中田英寿 (Hidetoshi Nakata). He is retiring after this world cup, as well as other soccer manga fans, including Zizou.

新しい旅はこれから始まる。

今後、プロの選手としてピッチに立つことはないけれど
サッカーをやめることは絶対にないだろう。
旅先の路地で、草むらで、小さなグラウンドで、誰かと言葉を交わす代わりに
ボールを蹴るだろう。子供の頃の瑞々しい気持ちを持って――。

Time to say goodbye to the soccer heros, they are the pride of their nations, they are artists.

人生とは旅であり、旅とは人生である

So long Hide, so long Zizou. . .

Price of the priceless

Tue, 20 Jun 2006 14:57:28 GMT

The day before yesterday Neue Galerie in NYC paid a record US$135m for the Klimt painting Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I.

Those that we thought to be priceless, such as art, science, love, life, actually are never genuinely priceless.

Most of the world's most famous paintings are owned by museums, which very rarely sell them. As such, they are quite literally priceless; if a painting like the Mona Lisa were to become available, it would almost certainly sell for much more than the Klimt. The Guinness Book of Records lists the Mona Lisa as having the highest insurance value for a painting in history. It was assessed at US$100 million on December 14, 1962, before the painting toured the U.S. for several months. However, the Louvre chose to spend the money on security rather than insurance. Of course, who cares about the money anymore if the priceless was lost? At least, I guess we normal people would rather be able to see the painting available, than Louvre getting $100m and losing the masterpiece.

Science can also be valued. Not only I am paid to do my research job :-), but Einstein's brain could be on sale. Love can't be bought by money? You kidding me. . . And even life, here is a hilarious one: One day XiaoMing was asked to write an essay on "the value of life". Here is what he wrote: I observed that on the fish-market, those alive ones are sold for 30RMB/kg, while those dead ones are sold for 15RMB/kg. This, is the value of life.

Allez les bleus!!!

Tue, 13 Jun 2006 16:00:05 GMT

Go GO GO!!!

Fri, 09 Jun 2006 14:41:15 GMT

Some Americans were refering the World Cup as Soccer World Championship. . . What a strange name!

THere is only one World Cup in the world. and it is starting its first match after 4 years. . . in less than 80mins.

Nothing special, just want to vent my excitement, and tell you my picks before the matches begin:

GER : CRC draw

POL: ECU win

Loafing life

Thu, 08 Jun 2006 16:48:05 GMT

To conduct a loafing life is the motto of the training camp. As for the money needed to run the camp, well, to tell the truth, who cares?

左手棋枰右手书
此生何用学陶朱
放歌夜夜八千首
纵酒年年三万壶

贺新娘

Fri, 02 Jun 2006 20:07:43 GMT

J wrote a lyric, congratulating her first love getting married soon. It was a couple of days ago. I did not expect that I would be doing the same thing a couple of days later.

贺新娘

昨夜梦回处

细思量, 这场婚事, 怎生分付?

眼角眉梢都是恨, 热吻欲倾还住

忆往日, 一一低诉

知己人间卿与吾, 试问江山万里何处?

鸿陆远, 与谁书?

今朝梦醒扬州路

待明年, 花前对酒, 忍不堪触?

携子故人应笑我, 尤是天涯孤旅

明日起, 为人新妇

今夜洞房停红烛, 赴阳台当就云和雾? (excuse me for being blatant here, I think I need somehow a "closure", as Moira always did)

君且去, 休回顾

干

Mon, 22 May 2006 19:28:58 GMT

饮酒有豪饮(将进酒杯莫停), 雅饮(忍把浮名换了浅斟低唱)之分. 这回试的是痛饮.

干

一饮一升不解谗

千杯少

壶罄意未阑

Vous etes vivant, Restez-le!

Mon, 15 May 2006 15:46:44 GMT

Nationale Sept
Il faut la prendre qu'on aille à Rome à Sète
Que l'on soit deux trois quatre cinq six ou sept
C'est une route qui fait recette
Route des vacances
Qui traverse la Bourgogne et la Provence
Qui fait d'Paris un p'tit faubourg d'Valence
Et la banlieue d'Saint-Paul de Vence
Le ciel d'été
Remplit nos cœur de sa lucidité
Chasse les aigreurs et les acidités
Qui font l'malheur des grandes cités
Tout excitées
On chante, on fête
Les oliviers sont bleus ma p'tite Lisette
L'amour joyeux est là qui fait risette
On est heureux Nationale 7.

-- Charles Trenet, Route Nationale 7

So on Route Nationale 7 we were riding, towards la Porte d'Italie. In the Peugeot 1007 Ray Peterson was singing,

No one knows what happened that day
Or how his car overturned in flames
But as they pulled him from the twisted wreck
With his dying breath, they heard him say

Tell Laura I love her
Tell Laura I need her
Tell Laura not to cry
My love for her will never die

Near Lyon there were several electrical sign boards on which read some warnings, such as Moderez votre allure en Pluie, Vous etes vivant, restez-le. I was thinking about car accidents and was happy that compared to Tommy, I was still alive, driving with my good friends on la Route Bleue. Of course I had not thought for a second that the same thing could happen to us during the very next hour.

The Route Nationale 7, a.k.a. La Route Bleue, is one of the longest and most famous National road of France. It links Paris to the famous Cote d'Azur (where the name Route Bleue came from), through la Province. The famous RN7 starts from Notre-Dame de Paris (do not ask me why it always has sth. to do with this Victor Hugo place), leaves the French capital via la Porte d'Italie. Near Lyon, it first reaches Roanne, then by Col de Pin-Bouchin (about 10km north to Tarare), it passes right thru a tiny town called Tarare (about 10k population). For some strange reasons, from Lyon we decided not to take the Autoroute A6 Lyon-Paris, which we took last Nov., but the Nationale 7. I guess the previously cited French chanson was one of the reasons.

Let me quote the Wikipedia about this "col du Pin-Bouchin: est le point culminant de la RN7, à 760m d'altitude, quelques 10 km de Tarare. ", because it is the place where I stayed for more than 48 hours in the centre hospitalier de Tarare and where the whole story started.

I am never good at narrative writings, so I will just keep the long story short: May 8th, Monday, 2:30pm, on the Col du Pin-Bouchin, after making a 180deg (speaking of 180deg turns, I identified a lot of divine places, which are even better than Mt. Akina, for you Drifting-lovers, in the Province) right turn, the steer was blocked and I could not readress it back. The Peugeot kept turning right and ended up in the roadside trench, where it made a splendid 120deg overturn and threw everthing in the car upside-down. Two of my friends got injured and were sent to the Centre Hospitalier de Tarare. One of them had her head hit hard and stayed 2 days and 2 nights under suiveillance. She is still feeling dazed now. Oh, did I mention that it rained very hard and we had to stay in the heavy cold rain for about an hour before the ambulance could carry my friends to the hospital? We were the second of the three accidents within that same day at Col Pin-Bouchin, and we were told that this is a killer place, esp. in rainy days. Next morning I saw our appearance on the local section of Le Progres:

Pin-Bouchin: trois blese apres une sortie de route

Tandis que la pluie rendait hier vers 14 h 45 la route particulierement glissante, un vehicule a quitte la chaussee alors qu'il circulait en direction de Roanne. A son bord, cinq personnes dont trois ont ete legerement blessees. Deux d'entre elles ont ete touefois transportees al'hopital de Tarare. Dans le meme secteur, d'autres vehicules ont egalement glissee mais sans gravite.

Again, we were extremely lucky. What if the car went to the other side of the road, where the cliff of the Monts du Lyonnais locates? What if there was a car running fast and hit us from behind, as shown in the French TV publicite? what if . . .

Life is all composed of hypotheses, and yet it is so fragile that if one of them was placed wrong, in a matter of seconds, you are crossing the line between life and death.

Cherish the life, mes amis, as long as you still possess it.

On chante, on fête
Les oliviers sont bleus ma p'tite Lisette
L'amour joyeux est là qui fait risette
On est heureux Nationale 7.

须作一生拚，尽君今日欢

Wed, 03 May 2006 15:48:51 GMT

Spring is coming to its end. Actually, as Moira pointed out, we are already in summer according to the Chinese calender. Some people keep on trying, searching and fighting , because they believe that their spring will come one day, yet very few realizes that from the moment his/her spring arrives, it won't be far before it leaves you. and there will be an entire year/life in front of you to forget about it.

尽君一夕欢之后，若真的一生能休则罢，不能休才是煎熬。

Feast in May

Wed, 19 Apr 2006 21:08:30 GMT

In those days, though, the spring always came finally but it was ftightening that it had nearly failed.

-- Ernest Hemingway

The last May I spent in Paris was 3 years ago, right before my thesis defense.

I knew I should have no problem with my French carta visa, after all, I spent 5 years there. But it was frightening when I was told that this and that documents, along with the critical visa appointment, were missing. I thought it had almost failed to come, just like the spring in Paris.

and Now ladies and gents, let's celebrate the spring, the youth, and the life in the city of light, en mois de mai !!!

Dinner at Le Chateau, anyone?

Tue, 18 Apr 2006 20:16:26 GMT

While reading an anthology of Su Dong-po last night, I ran into this following one, which perfectly reflects, IMHO, an Aquarius's Carpe diem life style:

So why not make the most of my leisure, and take advantage of the fact that I am not yet too old, indulge myself to wildness.

In this short life of hundred years, you should let yourself get drunk in at least thirty-six thousand times.

Being in a high mood after getting my French visa, I am offering a decent dinner here at Le Chateau, to whoever first comments this entry with the citation of this lyric in Chinese.

Good luck!

67.5

Tue, 18 Apr 2006 04:30:44 GMT

Ming seems to be losing weigh after the crazy party (pictures here). I did not eat much, and I guess I lose appetite for crawfish, for at least six months. . . why on the earth am I gaining weigh?

On this new continent called America

Sat, 08 Apr 2006 02:41:47 GMT

It is very common for people from the old continent to think that America is a boring and uncomfortable place to live. terrible food, government-controlled media, conservative (at least half of the population) political and religious opinions, boring and savage sports, and most important, a short history which everybody seems to be proud of. I have never been a chauvinist, on the contry, I always love all kinds of cultures and love to meet different civilizations, that's one of the major reasons that I am here today. for example, i never thought that Chinese people is the most diligent and smart people in the world, as a lot of my compatriots believe (although Chinese culture is one of the most glorious in the world, since we have such a long and unique history). That being said, when i came to this continent, I never thought one day i would really like it and be willing to stay here for good.

Today, still not willing to settle down in any place, I have to admit that I began to like this place. Apart from NYC and a bit of Boston, I didnot know any other city of North America. I have been to Philly and Houston but I didnot like them. I have been to key west, Miami, Savannah, but they are just vacation destinations, not culturally rich enough to live in. I admit that I love to live in big cities. Small towns like Ridgefield are nice, but to tell the truth, they are soooo boring.

Two recent trips changed my views on American cities, DC last weekend and Ottawa today. I made a big mistake to have underestimated the museums in DC, only had time to finish about a third of the National gallery of Art. I was surprised by both the permanent collections (I happened to run into the west wing where a substantial collection of impressionism was exhibited) and temporary exhibitions (I re-found the Dadaism which I enjoyed 5 months ago in Pompidou, and Cezanne in Province which I sadly missed also 5 months ago in Aix-en-Province.)

Today again I made the same mistake at the Canadian capital. I seriously underestimated the capacity of the National gallery of Canada. I spent half a day there and yet have not finished the permanent collection. The European collections are as great as those in National gallery of Art in DC. Hope I of Klimt, a couple of ready-mades and fauvism painting of Duchamp, Henri Matisse, a lot of Pissaro, Sisley, Delacroix, Van Gogh, Degas. Sculpture of Rodin, and masterpieces of Cezanne, Monet, even Millet. The Canadian collections are also impressing. I liked the Pavane by Jean-Paul Riopelle a lot.

Then I made another mistake by underestimating the cold weater in Canada in April, instead of driving my rental car, I crossed the Alexandra Bridge in a heavy cold rain on foot, getting almost all wet. But the Museum of Civilization in Gatineau was worth it, esp. the temporary exhibition on Petra, which starts only today. I was chanceux, as said the Quebequois, to have just been here in time to catch it. I always wanted to be a historian/archeologist; this visit only strengthened my dream. For those who plan to visit Ottawa in 2006, I strongly recommend this exhibition. And do not make the same mistake as I did, book enough time for Ottawa, it’s a city full of charm. Speaking of a big city’s glamour, my friends, I really like the mélange of the English and French cultures in this capital city, everything is in bi-language, even the dancing girls in the bars!!!

Bien, mes amis, I can not waste my last night on the Ottawa river in front of my laptop, Ciao!

Carpe diem

Fri, 31 Mar 2006 19:12:10 GMT

Dum loquimur fugerit invida aetas. Carpe diem quam minimum credula postero.

- Horace

Moira recently published her (first?) novel on her blog, most readers did not like Yue Qi, figuring that she is too "cheap". Come on guys, could you make an effort, and have a peek further into her heart? Here is why I like Qi so much, Carpe diem, mes amis!

The Carpe diem poetry I like most in English:

To His Coy Mistress

by Andrew Marvell

Had we but world enough, and time,
This coyness, Lady, were no crime
We would sit down and think which way
To walk and pass our long love’s day.
Thou by the Indian Ganges’ side
Shouldst rubies find: I by the tide
Of Humber would complain. I would
Love you ten years before the Flood,
And you should, if you please, refuse
Till the conversion of the Jews.
My vegetable love should grow
Vaster than empires, and more slow;
An hundred years should go to praise
Thine eyes and on thy forehead gaze;
Two hundred to adore each breast,
But thirty thousand to the rest;
An age at least to every part,
And the last age should show your heart.
For, Lady, you deserve this state,
Nor would I love at lower rate.
But at my back I always hear
Time’s wingèd chariot hurrying near;
And yonder all before us lie
Deserts of vast eternity.
Thy beauty shall no more be found,
Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound
My echoing song: then worms shall try
That long preserved virginity,
And your quaint honour turn to dust,
And into ashes all my lust:
The grave’s a fine and private place,
But none, I think, do there embrace.
Now therefore, while the youthful hue
Sits on thy skin like morning dew,
And while thy willing soul transpires
At every pore with instant fires,
Now let us sport us while we may,
And now, like amorous birds of prey,
Rather at once our time devour
Than languish in his slow-chapt power
Let us roll all our strength and all
Our sweetness up into one ball,
And tear our pleasures with rough strife
Thorough the iron gates of life:
Thus, though we cannot make our sun
Stand still, yet we will make him run.

The one in Chinese:

金缕衣

by 杜秋娘

劝君莫惜金缕衣, 劝君惜取少年时

花開堪折直須折, 莫待無花空折枝

and I saved the best for the last, in French:

Mignonne, allons voir si la rose

A Cassandre

by Pierre de Ronsard

Mignonne, allons voir si la rose
Qui ce matin avoit desclose
Sa robe de pourpre au Soleil,
A point perdu ceste vesprée
Les plis de sa robe pourprée,
Et son teint au vostre pareil.

Las ! voyez comme en peu d'espace,
Mignonne, elle a dessus la place
Las ! las ses beautez laissé cheoir !
Ô vrayment marastre Nature,
Puis qu'une telle fleur ne dure
Que du matin jusques au soir !

Donc, si vous me croyez, mignonne,
Tandis que vostre âge fleuronne
En sa plus verte nouveauté,
Cueillez, cueillez vostre jeunesse :
Comme à ceste fleur la vieillesse
Fera ternir vostre beauté.

Quantum immortality

Thu, 23 Mar 2006 21:00:23 GMT

WARNING: if you have innocent mind on the sensitive issues (religious, life/death, Quantum Mechanics, gambling) included in this entry, or if you are under 18, please stop here, do NOT read on!

Death is the price of living, so live as happily as you can, cause when you check out, the price is huge and you wonot have a second chance to check-in again.

– random thought that I had this morning.

It’s such an intriguing and complex topic that the more I am thinking into it, the more freaky ideas were coming to me quickly, to a point that I am overwhelmed by my own thoughts.

Just to sum up (I learnt recently a very sophisticated way to make a effective presentation: put the conclusions ahead, make your points clear, before you deverge yourself to a point that it’s no longer convergeable.):

in this article, there will be a lot of abstract talks and thinking process, concerning gambling, philosophy, religion, life/death, physics, history, and more. So if you are not in your peak mental status, better to avoid this and stop reading on.

The gourou of Poker world (actually, a true genius and expert in gambling world), David Sklansky, a reasonable (in the sense that he can be reasoned, and loves to reason things instead of taking them for granted) theist, recently started a heat topic in the Science, Math, Philosopy sub-forum of his 2+2 forums, pointing out that just because there is a non- God explanation for something doesn't mean that God didn't do it. Conversely just because we don't have a non God explanation for something doesn't mean there isn't one.

Every time (and I love to do so) I am involved in reading/thinking/debating topics related to philosophy, I got excited and I found I always improved my understanding (tho really trival compared to the whole complexity of the truth, which might simply be unknowable) after each thinking/debating.

David made four fundamental points in his essay, to support the idea of God‘s existence:

1. There is something rather than nothing.

2. The universe and especially this planet, contain an amazing array of incredibly complicated living and non living things.

3. There is a "you" that knows it is alive in ways that animals or computers don't.

4. The spookiness of some aspects of relativaty and even more so, quantum theory.

The first and second point, IMHO, are really the same thing and they are easy for me to defend from an atheist’s point of view: Something can't come from nothing? Sounds reasonable but how does the existence of god from nothing get explained?

I do agree on the point that anything beyond the point of big bang (if there was one) or anything outside of the time/space range (beyond the concept of time, to be specific) is not a question of science, and can never be answered by science. It’s METAphysics, or beyond physics, literally.

The third point, the self-awareness or self-consciousness, will be my main topic today, conbined with the mysterious 4th point, on the QM. Just to make my point clear, about ten years ago I attempt to study both relativity and QM, to me, relativity is not spooky at all. As to QM, I have found it sometime beyond science, and could touch the limit of philosophy. The following is why:

Quantum immortality.

Let’s start with Quantum suicide experiment, a thought experiment which was independently proposed in 1987 by Hans Moravec and in 1988 by Bruno Marchal, and further developed by Max Tegmark in 1998, that attempts to distinguish between the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics and the Everett many-worlds interpretation by means of a variation of the Schrödinger's cat experiment. The experiment essentially involves looking at the Schrödinger's cat experiment from the point of view of the cat.

In this experiment, a physicist sits in front of a gun which is triggered or not triggered depending on the decay of some radioactive atom. With each run of the experiment there is a 50-50 chance that the gun will be triggered and the physicist will die. If the Copenhagen interpretation is correct, then the gun will eventually be triggered and the physicist will die. If the many-worlds interpretation is correct then at each run of the experiment the physicist will be split into one world in which he lives and another world in which he dies. After many runs of the experiment, there will be many worlds. In the worlds where the physicist dies, he will cease to exist. However, from the point of view of the non-dead physicist, the experiment will continue running without his ceasing to exist, because at each branch, he will only be able to observe the result in the world in which he survives, and if many-worlds is correct, the physicist will notice that he never seems to die.

Unfortunately, the physicist will be unable to report the results because, from the viewpoint of an outside observer, the probabilities will be the same whether many worlds or Copenhagen is correct.

A variation of this thought experiment suggests a controversial outcome known as quantum immortality, which is the argument that if the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics is correct then a conscious observer can never cease to exist.

I did have the same thought before, it had nothing to do with QM, it basically is based on Descartes’s Cogito, ergo sum, but my primary thought was, if I am facing an accident, and there is a chance that I will die (just as the gun experiment), how could I know if I did not survive? In case I did not, I would have died and not be able to “think”, thus, the fact that I could think (or have the concious) that I am still living sortof “forced” the result of accident (or experiment) to be in my favor, at least in “my” favor in the world I am still living. Basically my original idea doesnot differ too much from Max Tegmark’s thought experiment (and I did it much earlier than 1998 J), I did not know QM then (well, I have to confess that, I donot know it now neither), but I did emphesize on the concept of concious, which is the basic idea of quantum immortality.

I was playing poker online last evening. I made a silly decision not to stick with my pocket Aces on an extremely coordinated river (6 6 7 8 9) and was bluffed out. I played only small stake limit HE, so my loss due to my dicision was no more than a decent diner at Bernard's, or not even half of a bottle of 1er grand cru at la Tour d’Argent. But according to many-worlds interpretation (MWI), if I allow myself to push further, basically every (minor) accident will cause the world to spit into different parallel worlds in the next instant, (of course, according to theory, these world are independent in thesens that there wonot be any information trasfered between the parallel worlds). So if, say, in a parallel world, the online shuffler (or the random number generater, whatever) gave a different river card and I wasnot bluffed out of the pot and won it instead. Things are certainly different in that world. And things will be different in the worlds which split from that world later on (say, I will date a girl with that won money at Bernard's which fundamentally changes my life).

All these sound logical and clear till now (if you did follow me till here), until I ask the question: who am I? Since we are talking about conciousness, an important question is, whose conciousness is it, in every world? The obvious answer is I am who I am, the one who is thinking now in this current world. But think it a bit further, that might not be the true answer, I am the current-me now, because I am concious now, how about next instant? Do I have the right to choose which world to live on? NO. There will be several (or zillions of ) me living in different world in the next second, each one thinking differently, experiencing differently. Who am I? Some accident happens to me and now (then), I have to (out-of-controlly) be chosen to be the me who is not dead by the accident, the dead me cease to exist in the world where odd chose to determine so, my friends will be sad in that world, but that has nothing to do with the world where I survived, I will continue to live happily, with my friends?

That looks at the same time encouraging, and depressing. It’s encouraging because therefore you wonot die, any concious being wonot die. It’s depressing because, hey, my friends, my beloved one could not “live” with me in "my" world, cause I donot control, or have their concious, so they have to die one day in my world, again, determined by odd (if “I” am lucky, the current “i” will be distributed to a paralle world where my friends and relatives will live longer and happier there, if I am unlucky, I will be sent to a world where a lot of brutal and sad things happen to them). This brings the pb of not only the parallel world of my concious, but of the others, the (at least, if we donot count dauphins and monkeys on the earth, not to mention the ETs)) billions of concious beings’s parallel world.

Can I, choose to live in a world where my friends live forever as I do? The answer is appearently not. Could science advance in such a way that one day, we are able to choose which parallel world we want to live? Probably not (Seoul in 2009 and Vanilla sky are movies).

And is there an intellegent super power out there who is looking and laughing at what I am typing? Maybe.

P.S.

I got a flash this morning under shower on the Quantum immortality: Can you manage to suicide, being concious?

my answer to this is, to be able to creat a possible parallel world in which you could survive your suicide (jumping from the top of Eiffel Tower, e.g.), the universal law (or, any partial known physics law that is applicable) should not be violated. It might still be possible to "imagine" a senario where you wonot die after jumping from the top of Eiffel Tower, but. . . how about detonate an A-Bomb 1 meter next to you? No biological cell could survive a temperature of millions of degree. So any senario (or world) where you survive yourself after an A-bomb would violate the known physics and biological laws.

maybe another more concise answer which makes more sense is, most ppl lose their concious several milli-seconds, or several minutes, or several years before they die. So the most important condition of Quantum immortality, being concious, is no longer valid.

Oh no, I just theoretically killed a possibility to be immortal. Any mortal should not possess such power!