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Tea Barista

noreply@blogger.com (littlefield) — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 22:35:00 +0000

日月潭飄茶香遊客體驗茶藝美

【簡體版】【不顯現/顯現圖片】

台灣名茶「日月潭挑TEA」活動8日在日月潭向山遊客中心登場，現場布置60道茶席，茶師中有1名熱愛茶藝的美國籍大學生孫小田（前右），泡茶與愛茶人士交流。（中央社）

台灣名茶「日月潭挑TEA」活動8日在日月潭向山遊客中心登場，鏡面水池上茶師表演饒富詩意的水上茶藝，茶香、樂音與山水相輝映，構成一幅美麗風情畫。（中央社）

【大紀元10月8日報導】（中央社記者林恆立南投縣8日電）日月潭向山遊客中心今天茶香四溢，現場精心布置60道茶席，吸引來自各地的愛茶人士及遊客，在花藝及非洲鼓、二胡演奏中，與湖光山色進行品茗對話，體驗分享茶藝之美。

南投縣魚池鄉農會主辦的台灣名茶「日月潭挑TEA」活動，8日起一連3天在台灣紅茶的故鄉、風光明媚的日月潭向山遊客中心登場；南投縣政府也於現場舉辦宣傳活動，為22日起一連9天於中興新村舉行的「南投世界茶業博覽會」暖身。

日月潭挑TEA活動在國際級非洲鼓演奏家鄭振炫的悠揚鼓樂揭開序幕，向山遊客中心旁的鏡面水池架起舞台，3名茶師詮釋饒富詩意的水上茶藝演出，茶香、樂音與山水相輝映，構成一幅美麗風景畫。

會場60道茶席座無虛席，由60名茶師（司茶人）主泡，悠揚古典樂聲中，參加人員欣賞茶藝表演，並與茶師進行品茗交流，體驗一場知性、感性的茶藝之旅。

茶師中有一名「阿兜仔」，他是來台已10多年的美國籍大學生孫小田。他說，學習茶藝約2、3年，覺得泡茶很有意思，可提升生活情趣。遊客品嚐他泡的茶，頻頻誇讚「好喝」。

「南投世界茶業博覽會」22日起將在中興新村登場，南投縣副縣長陳志清及魚池鄉農會總幹事王威文特別手持布袋戲偶，講述凍頂烏龍茶的起源與故事，並邀請全國民眾到南投賞美景、喝好茶。

陳志清表示，南投世界茶業博覽會邁入第2屆，除展示南投好茶、台灣各茶產區茶文化特色，以及各國茶席、茶道，還有千人茶席、千人揮毫、世界茶道表演、全國兒童茶藝比賽及茶與音樂饗宴等。

Epoch Times 2011-10-08 18:30:12

Anti-I.Q. I.Q.

noreply@blogger.com (littlefield) — Mon, 25 May 2009 16:40:00 +0000

Have you ever taken an IQ test? I know given the “opportunity”, I’d bomb it, even with a sense of pride, given my skepticism towards the value of such a test. But when I saw the New Yorker cartoon IQ test, I couldn’t pass up the chance. After all, cartoons are funny, and humor IQ is probably the anti-IQ IQ. The ones below aren’t funny as New Yorker cartoons go, and I missed one, but not enough to keep me from blogging this.

CARTOON I.Q. TEST: I DON'T GET IT!

Here are five recent cartoons that confounded our readers. It’s up to you to determine whether the original rationale is any less silly than the others.

You answered 4 out of 5 questions correctly.

(a) "Airy" is a terrible consistency for meatballs. Ideally, you want them to be dense and chewy.

(b) She is being sarcastic. The meatballs have made her sick and now she is off to the hospital, posthaste.

(d) It is funny that meatballs were served at such a fancy dinner party.

Correct. You answered D.

(a) The cowboy just realized the terrible faux pas he made earlier by calling the Native Americans "Indians."

(b) The cowboys' enemies are lighting the arrows in order to burn down the nearby rocks and cactus.

(c) The enemies are lighting their arrows, but, for the cartoon to make sense, the men should have been in a fort or some other structure that can actually burn down.

(d) These cowboys are spying on Native Americans who are attacking some other cowboys, in a faraway fort.

Incorrect. The correct answer is C.

(a) The two woman are suffering from heat stroke—they actually believe that they are eighty years old.

(b) Just as "hang ten" refers to a surfing maneuver, "turning eighty" is young people's slang for playing in the water.

(d) Each woman is turning forty years old, for a combined age of eighty.

Correct. You answered C.

(a) The text was not meant to be printed in the magazine but, rather, is a reminder that the artist wrote to himself about his podiatrist appointment next week.

(b) Life is short and precious. It's important to get outside and enjoy nature, especially on Tuesdays around ten.

(d) The cartoon is poking fun at the interchangeability of events. Next Tuesday around ten is the same as next Friday around four.

Correct. You answered D.

(a) In lovemaking, as in all things, practice makes perfect.

(b) Yoga is so popular these days it's everywhere—even in the bedroom.

(d) The man represents Obama and the woman represents McCain, or vice versa.

Correct. You answered C.

Pasted from <http://www.newyorker.com/humor/polls/cartoonidontgetit/081103sh_shouts/results/?entryId=7456076>

http://alexlittlefield.com/blog.aspx

noreply@blogger.com (littlefield) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 18:00:00 +0000

Happy Valentine’s Day!

noreply@blogger.com (littlefield) — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 08:00:00 +0000

Every day is February 14 around me, right? Love ‘ya Mrs. Littlefield.

D’ya Know the Fonts?

noreply@blogger.com (littlefield) — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 06:39:00 +0000

Alex Littlefield

Alex

LITTLEFIELD

Alex
Littlefield

AlexLittlefield

Alex Littlefield

Summary of my Master's Thesis in Chinese

noreply@blogger.com (littlefield) — Thu, 15 May 2008 13:26:00 +0000

Professor 李福隆 (Matt Lee) summarized my master's thesis in Chinese. This presentation was May 10 at the 2008 真理大學(Aletheia University) 國際經貿學術研討會議程. I first presented it in English but no video of that part of the presentation. One paper down and maybe many more to go since I my press on for yet more skool'n. The topic of this thesis is a international relations theory approach to the (WTO) TRIPS conflict, which was no fun to write and surely less fun to read. But Professor Lee did a great job explaining my thesis and we only met the day of the conference with no prior discussion.

Technorati Tags: education,thesis,aletheia university

Buying Bikes Directly from Giant Factory

noreply@blogger.com (littlefield) — Thu, 01 May 2008 09:58:00 +0000

Technorati Tags: Giant,Decathalon,cycling,Taiwan

Joshua from Sawyer, MI and anyone else who is wondering: I didn't see any sort of retail bike sales at the Giant bike factory in Da Ya, Taichung County. But there is an outdoors store called "Together" in Taichung City on Wen Xin RD and Wu Chuan West RD, which is run by Giant and the prices on the bikes are pretty good. The store sells Scott as well since Giant is Scott's OEM. Last year they had a carbon mountain bike MCM V LTD for about USD$680 with Rock Shocks suspension (See Photo). Wish I bought the MCM then, can't find it anymore, the bike or the price. Well the bike certainly lived up to it's namesake LTD, just too limited for me. If you like Decathalon mountain bikes, they also have a store nearby.

Get in the game and smack that blasted wiffle ball.

noreply@blogger.com (littlefield) — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 11:11:00 +0000

Technorati Tags: sentimental,motivational,inspirational

No 3 strikes and you’re out in life. Duh. So then why do people stop swinging at the blasted ball? Swung and hit a lot of air, missed opportunities, characterized many a game no longer played. There’s no need to fret too much if one hits that single early or late in the game. New pitches are always there, but you’ll have to come back up to the base and be willing to swing at air and look foolish again and again. Hey and don’t swing like a madman, go for a single. Hah! Why nothing grander? A simple splendid single, standing out in a stadium full of spectators, is perfect enough. Life doesn’t need to be all or nothing. If one is after a home run (early in life) or nothing, then he will likely get nothing. Perhaps missed a home run in your so called prime? Surely, you know more than you did then, so shouldn’t that increase your chance of success this time around? Be conservative (realistic?) with your goals, but not conservative to the point of not participating. Moses wasn’t 80 until he was called to confront Pharaoh and liberate the Hebrews. So, dear sir, swing at that wiffle ball till you hit it. And no need to take yourself or life too seriously, have fun swinging at the wiffle ball of life while there's still breath in you.

(After writing this motivational piece I realize it looks a lot like those maudlin e-mails that get forwarded; at least I’m not emailing it to anyone and it is a product of my own sentimental thought.)

Kansas City Star Tribute

noreply@blogger.com (littlefield) — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 16:48:00 +0000

Click on the above newspaper article image to enlarge .

A Young Man's Life (.wmv)

noreply@blogger.com (littlefield) — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 15:47:00 +0000

The video montage of Luke was made by a good friend of his. My Dad has a cameo in one of the pictures, he was intentionally looking mentally retarded (literally). All in good fun.

This video format is for Windows Media Player.

Luke, You're a Good Sport.

noreply@blogger.com (littlefield) — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 13:59:00 +0000

Here are some (not all) of my photos and videos of Luke. Out of respect for his family's privacy, I've only posted ones of him solo or with my posse. These photos and videos were taken January 2006 in Kansas City and December 2006 in Taiwan. He visited again April 2007 but I only got a few pictures when we visited the Doulos. We did a lot together on the April visit, but then I didn't bother taking any pictures. Thanks Luke for being a good sport; I never once heard you complain in any circumstances, and you never objected to having your picture taken.

del.icio.us Tags: luke,doulos

Gmail Story: My Use of Gmail and Reader

noreply@blogger.com (littlefield) — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 12:50:00 +0000

Click on the above Title to see the Gmail Story in higher resolution. I created this presentation in response to a public invitation to share one's experience with Gmail.

Second Life and Mr. Blessed

noreply@blogger.com (littlefield) — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 06:39:00 +0000

Always interested in trying a new web application I checked out the online "game" Second Life. Well new to me anyway, I only first heard of it earlier this year on the Business Week Podcast. As the name implies, SL is a virtual world were participants can create a second life and interact with each other via IM or even VOIP (which can be disabled). The SL program is a free download and does not require any kind of credit card information making the decision to try it out it all the easier. After completing a standard application it was time to begin my new second life. For my new identity I was asked to choose a last name from a drop down list of last names and add a first name of my own. The last names aren't really family names in any language, one of the few real last names I saw was "Wycliffe." Many common first names like "John" or "Johnny" were already used up. I went ahead and chose the last name "Blessed" and used my own real last name as my first name. "Blessed" at least is a word, whereas many of the last names are hard to pronounce let alone remember being that they are not even words, Pig Latin included. After coming up with a name, the next step was designing an avatar to give my new character Mr. Blessed a look.

This is the fun part of the game. The facial and body options are detailed enough to create an avatar that pretty closely resembles the creator himself. And if most players are going for an accurate resemblance of themselves, SL is played almost exclusively by models and MTV dancers; well defined pecs and skin tight outfits are the norm. The method for creating the character's appearance is by intuitive scales one can slide between two extremes for example: raising or lowering eyebrows, eyes far apart or close together, going from knock-kneed to bowled legged and so on. Clothes can range from tight fitting to loose fitting. I wanted Mr. Blessed to be as short as possible but even then he is not conspicuously short. If any midgets want to play SL and are going for accuracy they'll be disappointed. For my part I made my character a caricature of myself: baggy clothes, extra long arms, as short and skinny as the game permits topped off by an awkward gait as a result of the long swinging arms. For the next 2-3 hours I was absorbed by the game and began to neglect my First Life. Luckily for me the program frequently crashes on my computer (weak graphics card?) so I had to give it up. Still I find that I play Second Life in one form or another. For example, I wrote this blog during a 3 hour sleepy lecture on pink sheets and why firms de-list.

Happy 100th Birthday Ur Oma

noreply@blogger.com (littlefield) — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 10:29:00 +0000

Someone in this picture just turned 100 last Wednesday. Born in Luxemburg 1907/10/10 to a German father and French mother, it's Carola, or as I like to call her "Ur Oma" which means Great-Grandma in German. Here we are together last July in her "old folks home" in Erfurt. She speaks, French, Portuguese and German and she's proud of that so I'll brag on her behalf. Her mind is clear and she is healthy but weak from old age. The sad thing is, she told me it is a struggle to just make a cup of coffee and she doesn't have any sort of motivation to live. Usually what keeps most of us going are plans and dreams of sorts (and hopefully the happiness/ sense of purpose in the present), but at 100 it's not that hard to understand that she probably isn't setting a lot of goals for herself. She asked when we'd meet again and I replied in 3 years which is about how often I go visit. She smiled at my reply because she knew I was expecting her to be around in 3 more years. Her daughter (my Grandma) said the mayor visited and was mentioned in a local newspaper. She and my Mom went to visit this weekend and Ur-Oma's son Sylvester lives in the same city as her.

3 Friends and Counting

noreply@blogger.com (littlefield) — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 11:03:00 +0000

I only started blogging this year and part of my hesitation is that I like to think of myself as discreet. I don't think I have to worry though about unwanted publicity, since there are more blogs than readers and after all it's probably only my friends (current and past) who will ever find my blog. So much for discretion and I'm happy to say that long lost friends from the past have found me. Not surprisingly two of the three are also bloggers. Rick originally from Chicago has a personal blog and Karina originally from Cagayan de Oro has a medical blog. All 3 are friends whom I met in 1991-1992 as a result of working on the MV Doulos.

Coffee Branding

noreply@blogger.com (littlefield) — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 08:49:00 +0000

Coffee should always be served with water, that is if you take a long time drinking it. The Austrians serve water with their coffee and this is a logo of their famous national brand of coffee called Julius Meinel. European coffee marketing and branding is snazzy. Even the names are snazzy Illy, Lavazza, versus Folgers/ Maxwell House. I'd like (if I can go from start to finish) to brand/market/distribute and as much as possible standardize oolong tea and green tea. The problem is tea culture is all about taking a long long time to brew and drink the tea and this approach doesn't fit most people's lifestyles so this is definitely a niche product and market. I have a very unfinished website for this purpose called teabarista.

Back From Summer Journey

noreply@blogger.com (littlefield) — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 11:49:00 +0000

We're back in Asia after 3 weeks in Germany followed by 3 more in Czech Republic. Germany we were in the North Sea area, and former East Germany in the state of Thuringa along the Saale River. Czech we were in West and South Bohemia including the Sumava National Park on the Austrian and German borders, and did a quick overland stint to Austria just to say we crossed the border. My interest was to avoid cities and stick to nature and small towns as much as possible since I live in the city. Some of my best photos were never taken because in my enthusiasm to shoot a photo of a train coming around a bend in a forest I dropped the camera (I was cycling and the camera strap caught the brake and it crashed and broke and so many pictures live in my memory). Click on my album to see more photos.

Trip to Giant Bike HQ/ Factory

noreply@blogger.com (littlefield) — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 09:51:00 +0000

Visited the Giant bike factory 28/5. This just a few days after the founder Mr. Wang did his promotional cycling trip around Taiwan.

Can You Think of One More?

noreply@blogger.com (littlefield) — Fri, 25 May 2007 08:44:00 +0000

Trying to avoid the technology for technology's sake trap, I pondered what productive/fun uses I had for a computer. Here's what I came up with. Can you think of a function that isn't already included in the diagram? Please leave a post. The only other one I can think of is gaming/ entertainment which I left out since that's not a function I use. Notice the 2 grey circles in the 5 and 6 o'clock positions are primary support functions for the other 6, even though there's other interaction and support going on, and hey this is only a simple diagram I made in a test run of Concept Draw.

Using Concept Draw

noreply@blogger.com (littlefield) — Wed, 16 May 2007 17:54:00 +0000

This is the file I produced in Concept Draw, only a portion of it can be viewed here in the blog. To see the entire "diagram" please click here: Entire Diagram.

Free Software Hit and Miss

noreply@blogger.com (littlefield) — Wed, 16 May 2007 17:21:00 +0000

There are many pleasant surprises on the internet and one of them is "Giveaway of the Day." See link to the right. Each day a new program is offered for free which would otherwise have cost a pretty penny. I check the sight almost daily because each day only one download is offered and only for 24 hours (to download and register) but once registered it's yours for keeps just as if you had purchased it. I admit most programs I pass up but it's worth the watch and wait. A few days ago downloaded a program I like very much called "Concept Draw" by Mind Map. Yesterday using this program I created a simple diagram of my ideal computer set-up and then saved it in Google documents. Currently, Google's Docs service cannot upload .pdf so I saved it as a .jpg which worked.

By Bike to Brewery

noreply@blogger.com (littlefield) — Fri, 11 May 2007 11:48:00 +0000

Today we rode from our house to the brewery and had a great time, avoided a lot of the traffic by taking the back roads through the rice fields. Click here to see more photos.

E-Portfolio Award and Presentation

noreply@blogger.com (littlefield) — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 15:00:00 +0000

See the March 29 "I Won!" blog for more about this.

Thereafter was presented with a little certificate
and a few days after that was asked to give a presentation of my E-portfolio .

I seldom win anything or get any sort of special recognition, so this was fun for me, and there was even a small pecuniary award.

Perfect Panniers

noreply@blogger.com (littlefield) — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 14:10:00 +0000

Wow finally my local "Together" Store (a subsidiary of Giant Bicycles) are carrying panniers. I've spent the last six months looking for decent panniers (Arkel, Vaude, Ortlieb, Nashbar) but for price and quality I have these at the top of my list for things I'll get for my Germany/Czech cycling adventure this summer. The local retail price is around US$ 80, which is less than half of some of the brands mentioned above and yes these panniers are made from 3M waterproof material.

This sharp looking bicycle is a new touring model by Giant called Adventure 1 and like they say if there's a 1 that mean there's also a 2.

Doulos visits!

noreply@blogger.com (littlefield) — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 16:18:00 +0000

"World's Oldest Ocean Going Passenger Ship" the MV Doulos visited our port recently, so our little international group visited this international ship of Goodwill.