Dick Ling’s Wacky World of Cartooning 林哲的漫畫

Sagrada Família, Vience

2026-03-27T19:42:31.849-07:00

More about the European Cruise which we took at the beginning of October:

Sagrada Família 聖家堂

An image downloaded from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagrada_Fam%C3%ADlia

We made a short visit to this church the day before our European Cruise started in Barcelona. The church is still under construction since 1882 and is expected to be completed in 2026. I took some pictures but its very difficult to find a vantage point to grasp the full impact of the structure which is unfortunately hidden behind surrendering buildings, shops, construction cranes, fences and of course herds of tourists, including us. Therefore, I download a much better picture from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
File:Antoni Gaudi 1878.jpgA lot of great things have been said about the architect Antoni Gaudi, aka God's Architect. It was a humbling experience when I finally stepped into this breathtaking master piece. All I could say was simply, awesome, because I was at awe and speechless. I won't regurgitated what have been said but a short segment of CBS 60 Minutes summarized them all the best:
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50148541n

I was blown away by Gaudi's abilities to visualize and able to express his vision into a great structure more then 100 years ago when the computer and CAD were not even born. Now I saw the design team were using 3D software to analyze and understand Gaudi's design in order to carry out the remaining works.

We spent about 3 hours in the church as well as climbing up to one of the towers. Was 3 hours enough to know Gaudi's work? Of course not, and I hope I will still be kicking around and be able to visit the completed church in 2026.

這個教堂1882年開始到今仍在建造，預計將在2026年完成. 建築師是有名的安東尼高迪，又名上帝的建築師. 請看哥倫比亞廣播公司“60分鐘一小段介绍他的成就：http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50148541n

我們花了3個小時左右參觀，也上了其中一高塔。3小時夠嗎？當然不夠，我希望在2026年参观完工後的教堂。

Where is David? 大衛是在哪裡？

The rumor started at the beginning of the cruise that David, the favorite son and most famous man of Italy had retired from standing in the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence and was vacationing in Europe or even joined the cruise. But, so far we had not spotted the man wearing a birthday suit in the crowd. We were ready to be disappointed but continued to look for him.

謠言說意大利人最自豪的大衛雕像已經退休，正在歐洲度假，甚至加入了我们的郵輪。但是，到目前為止，我們還沒有發現這位光身的帥哥。我們準備失望，但还繼續找他。The last day of our 12 day cruise was visiting Venice, the world famous city on the water. After the cruise ship docked, we boarded a water shuttle and headed to the famous St Mark's Square http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piazza_San_Marco.

旅遊的最後一天，世界著名的水都威尼斯，郵輪停靠後，我們登上了小艇，前往著名的聖馬庫斯廣場。

The traffic was hectic, all types and shapes of ships, boats and yes, gondolas, were crisscrossing along the channel. I settled on the upper deck next to the skipper's cabin and I was in horror to see him gracefully negativing the boat using his feet while crouching on the captain's chair, texting on one of his three cellphones, occasionally glanced over a monitor at the side while chatting and trading jokes with the tour guide.

當時在水上交通忙亂，各類大船，小船，漁艇，还有聞名的軽舟，穿梭其間，我當時站在船長艙外面，注意到他優雅地半躺在椅上用腳掌舵，同时用三个其中的一台手机發簡訊，偶爾瞄一下側面的過顯示器，並和女導遊聊天說笑話.

Suddenly, just when the boat was ready to make a left turn toward the marina then I saw a gigantic stature sitting on the channel bank in front of St George Church.

The stature was white, huge and naked.

Wow, was that David? Look at the weight it gained, must be from the foods on board of the cruise ship.

Well, it turned out it was a 35ft-tall artwork created by Marc Quinn, a British artist, and depicts Alison Lapper,a disabled artist who was born with no arms, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alison_Lapper when she was eight months pregnant.

Obviously, this artwork created stirs and criticism from many: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/10090015/Alison-Lapper-artwork-criticised-at-Venice-Biennale.html

突然，然後我看到岸边聖喬治教堂前一座巨大白色赤裸人像,
哇，是大衛？看來他在郵輪吃得太多啦. 肥得不成帥哥型了.
後來發現其實這是表揚一位無手的殘疾藝術家艾莉森的35呎高冲氣座像，http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alison_Lapper
。
顯然，這件藝術品創引來了許多正負面的批評：

O.K. We were still on the water shuttle boat and continued being entertained by the skipper:

The skipper steered the boat toward the marina by turning left but he might have made the turn too wide so the tip of the bow did not clear the dock piling, OUCH!
此時船向碼頭左轉，但他可能𨍭過頭㕸錯过了碼頭, 啊喲！

BRAVO! 精彩

I would love to see him to parallel park a Lamborghini on dry land.

Yup, these are pics what people often see in Venice aren't they beautiful? I mean the tourists.

啊，威尼斯景色美嗎？我的意思是說遊客們美嗎？

Instead of backing up and retry, he simply rammed the boat to the piling, using it as a pivot point, gunned the engine, pushed the bow forward while steering to the right. By doing so the stern was forced to turn left so he was able to free the bow, move forward and docked the boat successfully. Dents and scratches on
the bow? Why bother, there were plenty of them already.
他居然不慌不忙的直接用船頭擠向馬頭柱樁，用它作為一個支點，加足馬力頂，促使船尾向左彎，讓船頭轉直，成功停靠在碼頭.船頭凹了，也有刮痕，没有𨶹係，己経太多啦!

Add caption

Can you spot us standing next to Waldo?

The tour guide said that we were lucky because Venice was often flooded. 導遊說，我們是幸運的，因為威尼斯經常像這樣的洪水氾濫。

Believe it or not? 信不信,由你了？

Gondola 軽舟

When visiting Venice, gondola ride seems to be on any tourists' to do list. Before we left, the images below were on our minds, beautiful people are in Venice. 在威尼斯坐軽舟，似乎是任何遊客的的首選. 下面的圖片是都在我們的腦海中，事实呢？自己去品嘗吧.

To find out who are these celebrities, check out http://www.barnorama.com/retro-glamour-celebrities-in-venice/ 這些漂亮的男女是誰呢,請上網：

O Solo Mio 我的太陽

Speaking of gondolas, images of the gondoliers serenade O Solo Mio comes to people's mind.

According to Wikipedia:"'O sole mio" is a globally known Neapolitan song written in 1898. Its lyrics were written by Giovanni Capurro and the melody was composed by Eduardo di Capua. There are other versions of "’O sole mio" but it is usually sung in the original Neapolitan language. ’O sole mio is the Neapolitan equivalent of standard Italian Il sole mio and translates literally as "my sunshine".

But, according to a retired gondolier, Alberto whom I met at St Marcos Square, that the legend was not quite so romantic. He said that his grand papa told him that dating back between year 600 to 1000 when the vessel evolved from Maltese, Greek or Turkish for "cup" or "mussel" to the present day as we know now the gondola. During those days, life were tough for gondoliers and they often brought home next to nothing so after kids were fed, there were hardly anything left to eat. So when the gondoliers returned home after a hard day's work they often found only pizzas with anchovy topping but without the pricy cheese. Out of frustration, the gondolier belched out:

"O Sorrow Meal".

So the tradition stuck but later it became O Solo Mia, for commercial purpose.

“ 'O SOLE MIO ”是全球知名的那不勒斯浪漫歌曲寫於1898年。直譯為“我的太陽＂
但是，我在聖馬科斯廣場遇見一個退休船夫阿爾貝，他說他的曾祖父告訢他，追溯到西元600年至1000之間時，船夫們生活是非常艱難的，經常回家餵了孩子後，有幾乎沒有什麼吃的，所以面對難於入口的剩飯，他們喊出了，＂啊呀，我的悲傷晚餐” 。後來，為了啇業價值，改成了浪漫的，＂啊呀，我的太陽＂.

O Solo Meal 這是我的午餐。

A gondola ride or street performance by the tourists to entertain the crowd?

遊客乘坐軽舟是自娛，還是娛人？

David sighting 看到大衛啦

The rumor was true, some people reported seeing David came out of retirement and became a gondolier to supplement his retirement income.

謠言是真的，有人看到大衛成為一個船夫，以補充他的退休收入。

謠言是真的，有人看到大衛成為一個船夫，以補充他的退休收入。

Other bits and pieces from our trip:

我們其他旅遊中的點點滴滴

Purto vs Terminal: When we checked out of the hotel in Barcelona downtown and hired an taxi to take us to the cruise terminal. The taxi driver spoke no English nor do we spoke Spanish but it seemed he understood where we were going. The taxi passed though the city streets and onto a freeway then I suddenly saw the freeway sign said: Airport. Wow, he was taking us to the airport instead of the port, AHHHHGH!

We managed to make him exited of the freeway, parked at a side street nearby and started primitive communications by hand gestures and pointing at the map. Then we realized that when we said cruise terminal, what he heard was the word "terminal" which in Spanish meant airport. A cruise terminal is a port or Purto in Spanish for harbor, cruise terminal in Spanish is terminal de cruceros.

Fortunately, we realized the understanding early without too much extra Euro but the lesson was priceless.

在巴塞罹那市中心上了計車, 由於語言不通，我們要去港口上船，他差一奌把我們送去了機場.

Piracy at high sea: WiFi on the cruise ship for causal users cost 75 cents per minute or $45 per hour. I brought along my iPad and iPhone but I refused to pay the ransom, so for days I became a nonperson who was disconnected from the world unless I could find a MacDonald or Starbucks at ports which might have free WiFi access. However, the last two days of the cruise, I needed to find out if BART drivers would be on strike and I would need to arrange alternate ways to go home so I reluctantly gave in and signed on to the satellite WiFi to get some information. I logged on, downloaded emails, searched the key words for BART strike. As soon as I glanced through the headlines, I immediately logged out because I learned that the BART won't go on strike yet. The user log detailed my usage which showed that I spent 10 minutes, or $ 7.50 and downloaded puny 11.6 MB of data, OUCH!

海盜行為：在邮輪上上網是敲竹槓，一分鈡要 0.75 美元或是45 美元一鈡頭，這不是海盗搶劫？

Homebound:We took Air Canada flights home which made a stopover at Toronto. We were surprised to have to process through US Custom and Immigration at the airport. No fellow passengers could answer my questions:

1. Were agents working at the check points citizens of US or Canada?

2. Once cleared the procedure, were we entering into US territory and the remaining flight from Toronto to San Francisco became a domestic flight?

3. When we landed, we were directed to pick up our luggage at Luggage Claim no. 3, Domestic Flights, which seemed to have answered my last question.

I dared not to ask the agents there for fear of being suspected as a terrorist with a big mouth.

我們採取了加航航班回程在加拿大多倫多轉机。我們很驚訝的在機場居然辦理美國海關和入境手續，我的疑問是：

1。𨶹口官員们是美國或加拿大公民？

2。一旦入𨶹，我們是己经進入美國境內，從多倫多飛往舊金山的航班，成為是美國國內航班？

3。我們降落時，被指定向3號国内航台取行李，這似乎已經回答了我的上一個問題。

我不敢問官員，生怕被懷疑為大嘴巴的恐佈份子。

Home sweet home: Returned home on October 14 and glad that BART was not on strike. But, US Government remained shot down, impasse on the Debt Ceiling and Budget were still being played out by the politicians. Then I saw this piece, Washington's open secret: Profitable PACs on CBS 60 Minutes http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50157523n which aired last week.

Aren't we, US Citizens, had enough and should start to do the right thing?

10月14日, 回到家了，很幸運 BART 还没有罷工。但是，美國政府還關門，国債問题没下落，政客們还在玩，雖然後來解决了，但我看到了這一段 CBS 60分鐘的報導：＂華盛頓的公開的秘密＂，非常憤怒.
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50157523n

我們美国公民是否應該開始做正確的事情嗎？

2022-06-07T13:07:00.000-07:00

I have moved the contents in my blogger to my new website: Dick Ling's Wacky World of Cartooning

http://www.dicklingtoons.com/

Stickers/emojis for Halloween

2017-10-08T08:13:00.002-07:00

Sticker design for Halloween

Funky Halloween
https://mojilala.com/stickers-emojis/packages/funky-halloween

These are a set of stickers/emojis which I designed for the this Halloween.

To my friends

2017-02-02T18:26:00.000-08:00

Hi Friends,

I feel bad that it has been years without publishing a post.

Since I first stated my blog in 2011, for 5 years I have almost 70,000 visitors and I received many valuable responses, encouragements and made a lot of online friends. During this period I only received two who asked to be removed from receiving my blog updates. So I sincerely thank you for either liking, tolerating or simply chose to ignoring my posts.

However, after I published my last blog in February 2015, I start feeling the pressure of keeping my blog current so I decided to put my blog in indefinite hibernation and would continue publishing my cartoons on Facebook, which I updated constantly.

If you would like to continue viewing my cartoons, please go to dick.ling.12@facebook.com, or contact me by email, dickling@gmail.com. If you want to friend with me, simply make the request but be sure to add a note that you are from readers of my blog since I do not add friends randomly.

Happy New Year of the Monkey, 恭禧發財, Super Bowl and more.

2016-02-07T20:40:00.000-08:00

Year of The Monkey

Gung Hei Fat Choy

Monkey (zodiac)

Excerpts from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_%28zodiac%29

"Year of the Monkey" redirects here. For the Pushmonkey album, see Year of the Monkey (album).

The Monkey (猴) is the ninth of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. The Year of the Monkey is associated with the Earthly Branch symbol 申.

Years and the Five Elements

The three wise monkeys over the Tōshō-gū shrine in Nikkō, Japan

Monkey Statue at a Shinto shrine in Tokyo

People born within these date ranges can be said to have been born in the "Year of the Monkey", while also bearing the following elemental sign:^[1]

Start date	End date	Heavenly branch
6 February 1932	25 January 1933	Water Monkey
25 January 1944	12 February 1945	Wood Monkey
12 February 1956	30 January 1957	Fire Monkey
30 January 1968	16 February 1969	Earth Monkey
16 February 1980	4 February 1981	Metal Monkey
4 February 1992	22 January 1993	Water Monkey
22 January 2004	8 February 2005	Wood Monkey
8 February 2016	27 January 2017	Fire Monkey
26 January 2028	12 February 2029	Earth Monkey
12 February 2040	31 January 2041	Metal Monkey

Chinese Zodiac Monkey

Personality

Occupying the 9th position on the Chinese Zodiac, the Monkey possesses such character traits as curiosity, mischievousness, and cleverness. Forever playful, Monkeys are the masters of practical jokes. Even though their intentions are always good, this desire to be a prankster has a tendency to create ill will and hurt feelings.
Although they are inherently intellectual and creative, Monkeys at times have trouble exhibiting these qualities. When that happens, they appear to others to be confused. But nothing could be further from the truth as Monkeys thrive on being challenged. Monkeys prefer urban life to rural, and their favorite pastime is people-watching.

The myth of the three wise monkeys

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the Turkish film, see Three Monkeys.

"Sanzaru" redirects here. For the game company, see Sanzaru Games.

"See no evil hear no evil" redirects here. For the 1989 comedy film, see See No Evil, Hear No Evil.

The three wise monkeys over the Tōshō-gū shrine in Nikkō, Japan

The three wise monkeys (Japanese: 三猿 Hepburn: san'en or sanzaru^?, alternatively 三匹の猿 sanbiki no saru, literally "three monkeys"), sometimes called the three mystic apes,^[1] are a pictorial maxim. Together they embody the proverbial principle "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil".^[2] The three monkeys are Mizaru, covering his eyes, who sees no evil; Kikazaru, covering his ears, who hears no evil; and Iwazaru, covering his mouth, who speaks no evil.
There are various meanings ascribed to the monkeys and the proverb including associations with being of good mind, speech and action. In the Western world the phrase is often used to refer to those who deal with impropriety by turning a blind eye.^[3]
Outside Japan the monkeys' names are sometimes given as Mizaru,^[4] Mikazaru,^[5] and Mazaru,^[6] as the last two names were corrupted from the Japanese originals.^[7]^[8] The monkeys are Japanese macaques, a common species in Japan.

It is now 2016, I think it's about time to add a fourth monkey to the lineup:

It's time to bid farewell to the Year of the Ram as the Year of the Monkey is here. To welcome the New Year with gusto, grab some bananas and let's watch The most famous monkey in China who is non-other than the Monkey King.

Below is an animation " Monkey King conquers evil" which was released in China in 1985.

Thirty years later in 2015 a new version of the Monkey King animation was released,"The hero is back" in China. Below is the full version of the film in YouTube.

Published on Dec 28, 2015

Arguably, the technique in making the animation is probably better now then the similar one above made in 1985 but in my opinion that the script is shallow without substance. I like the older one although it pretty much adhered to the traditional story line but artworks made by brute force is superb although I hated the annoying background music.

2015 was a year full of turbulence and tragedies, while celebrating the arrival of the New Year of the Monkey, may Peace on Earth be with all of us during 2016 and beyond:

The arrival of the New Year has stirred up some heated debates over the chosen mascots for the Year of Monkey between Mainland China and Taiwan. People say these mascots are too ugly, well, you will be the judge:

Monkey1: Boy, you are ugly. Monkey2: I am humbled by your kindness, but you are really uglier.

Super Bowl 2016

Now that we all know Denver Bronco is the winner and Coldplay, Bruno Mars and Beyonce performed at the half time show. Do you remember Madonna, who took the center stage at the half time in Super Bowl 2011?

Hey, are you watching the game or Madonna?

Actually, while the Super Bowl was playing in California this year, Madonna took center stage and is performing at the other side of the globe, Taipei, Taiwan.

In recent years, it is believed that because of the Global Warming, extreme weather patterns are becoming norm, such as drought in California, flooding in many places and extreme frigid weathers in the east:

Christmas 2015.

3-D printed Turkey

2015-11-25T15:21:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving 2015

How would you like your turkey to be cooked; baked, roasted or printed?

Published on Orinda News 11/1/2015

Are you ready for 3-D printed foods? Yes, 3-D printed foods are coming, fast and furious.

It's a tradition to watch Charlie Brown Thanksgiving:

Things you may not know about 'A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving'

Gillian Pensavalle (@GillianWithaG) tells you some fun facts you may not know about Charlie Brown Thanksgiving; Check out this story on USATODAY.com: http://usat.ly/1ji9BQ6

Halloween 2015

Bosses' Day 2015

Drought in California is getting worse

The road untraveled, an article by Ada Tseng,

2015-09-10T18:43:00.002-07:00

THE ROAD

UNTRAVELED

It may be cliché to say that as Asian Americans, we’re often pressured to forgo our more artistic or creative passions for a stable career path. And yet this was even more the case for generations past, who had few role models and their sights set on a better future for their children. But some are finding a newfound freedom after a lifetime of raising families and paying the bills. Here, three stories of Asian American retirees who are using their sunset years to recapture dreams once left to the wayside.

story Ada Tseng

In 1969, Dick Ling, a new immigrant from Taiwan, took the subway to Chicago’s Michigan Avenue carrying two portfolios: one for architecture and one for cartooning. He had crashed on his friend’s dormitory floor the night before, and he was looking for the Playboy corporate headquarters.

     Not for what you might think- though he was pleasantly surprised by the gorgeous female receptionists and the artful mosaic of nude women on the wall. He wanted to draw cartoons for the magazine. Growing up in Taiwan, Ling’s dream was to be a cartoonist. He’d get in trouble at school for drawing epic spaceship battles on top of brand-new classroom desks. And he was very inspired by Western-style cartoons, from Bugs Bunny to Disney films, so his father, knowing his son’s passion for American comics, subscribed to Mad magazine — and occasionally Playboy.
     Ling imagines the staff at Playboy must have been confused when he showed up unannounced at their offices. “The receptionist looked me up and down and asked, ‘How long have you been in Chicago?’” he remembers. “I said, ‘Second day!’”
     The chief editor at the time was nice enough to sit down with him and take a look at his cartoons. Though there wasn’t a position open for a cartoonist, the editor admired his gumption and gave him three people to contact who might be hiring. One actually offered Ling a job as an apprentice at a photo lab, but it only paid $70 a week. Figuring it’d be difficult to survive on that kind of salary, he politely declined.
     “To this day, I still wonder what would’ve happened if I had taken that job,” he says. Ling is now 70 years young. He smiles. “Would I even still be alive?”
     For the next few decades, Ling would try and forget about cartooning and concentrate on his architecture career. It was what he had studied in school and what was allowing him to stay in America on a student visa. But dreams don’t die so easily. He kept coming back to cartooning, even if he was drawing on the side.
     In the 1970s, he developed a comic strip called “The Woks” (later renamed “Potstickers”), which was a Chinese American version of Charles M. Schulz’s “Peanuts,” about a young boy named Chung, his younger siblings, his friends, a dragon and a philosopher named Buddha. He submitted to all the major syndicates in the United States but was met with rejection, as editors politely told him that their audiences weren’t interested. He finally sold it to TransWorld News Service in Washing-ton, D.C., in 1977, but before they could distribute the comic strip, the news agency filed for bankruptcy, and he was never able to resell it.
     More than 30 years later, after making a living for his wife and two kids as a licensed architect, Ling has re-tired and returned to his true love. He is now the editorial cartoonist for Orinda News, a community newspaper in Northern California.
     Looking back, does he have any regrets? “Sometimes you take a step that’s right at the time, and you don’t know what the outcome will be until 15 to 20 years later,” he says. “But I think my decision was still correct if I wanted to better myself financially and raise a family. It was the safe route. Becoming a cartoonist during that time was really unknown territory. It would have been too scary.”
     If there is still some truth to the cliché that Asian American youth are often discouraged from pursuing the arts and pressured into stable careers like medicine, law or engineering, imagine what it was like 40 years ago.
     “At that time, we were taught that we have to bring pride to the family, especially the elders in our home country,” Ling says. “And I think that’s a very heavy burden. If you want to excel at the arts, you have to give 100 percent and be fearless, but sometimes that means you can’t be as responsible.” He shrugs. “Some people might think it’s sad that I decided to get the steady pay-check, but that’s the choice I made.”
     It wasn’t just the traditional cultural pressures that were prevalent in that generation of Asian Americans. The landscape of the time period was entirely different as well. Sure, in the early ’60s, there was the groundbreaking film Flower Drum Song, an Asian American musical starring Nancy Kwan and James Shigeta, but it was also the era where Mickey Rooney’s buck-toothed yellowface portrayal of Mr. Yunioshi in Breakfast at Tiffany’s was seen as a laugh riot. Most Asians in the media were still depicted as villains, laundromat owners or untrustworthy foreigners. Bruce Lee wouldn’t emerge as a star until the early 1970s.

So there may have been glimpses of the American Dream, but when it came to the arts, lack of support (Ling didn’t know any other Asian American comic artists at the time) and lingering anti-immigrant sentiment suggested that your average paying American wasn’t interested in Asian American stories. And even if there were Asian American talents, it would have been extremely rare for one to be able to make a decent living at it.

     “I WAS LUCKY if I got one acting job every six months,” Stephen Woo remembers, back in the 1970s when he was trying to make it as an actor. Woo grew up in California on movie sets, introduced to the entertainment industry by his uncle, actor Walter Soo Hoo. Stephen worked as an extra to make money through college, mostly in war movies or films with Chinatown scenes, though when he started pursuing acting more seriously, he was constantly frustrated with the limited and stereotypical roles that were available.
     “My agents would send me out on these auditions for kung fu masters and Chinatown bandits,” he says, “and I’d think, ‘I’m not going to get this. Why can’t I just play a normal person?’”
     While he was still struggling to make ends meet, he fell in love with his future wife, Barbara, who told him that she’d only marry him if he got a “real job.” So he gave up his SAG card, started a business in marketing and telecommunications, raised two beautiful daughters and didn’t look back — until he retired.
     In 2014, he decided to give it another shot, just for fun. But this time, he’d include his wife in the process. “I started using all my marketing and sales skills to market us as a husband-wife acting team with 2Woos.com,” he says. Within a week of Barbara retiring, they had a Skype audition for the reality pro-gram Freakshow and booked the gig. Soon, the 60-something duo found themselves filming a scene in Venice as a suburban couple who is invited over to their neighbor’s house to meet a bunch of “freaks,” including the tallest man in the world, the shortest woman in the world, a red-bearded woman, a man who’s in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the most body piercings, and a performer who can swallow 27 swords at one time.
     “It’s an irresistible industry,” says Barbara, who grew up in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, and loved musicals as a kid (and was even in a high school production of Flower Drum Song). But she

never, ever imagined herself as an ac-tress. Now she loves it.
     “One day, I could be a nurse, the next day I could be playing Harry Shum Jr.’s mother [in the Wong Fu Productions short Single by 30]. Another day, we could be doing a Maroon 5 video [for the hit song “Sugar”] or we could be on the set of Pitch Perfect 2, the only seniors with a whole cast of youngsters dancing under a bridge.”
     That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Stephen was in the Ed Sheeran music video “Sing”; they hung out with Nicole Richie in her reality show Candidly Nicole, playing members of her home-owner’s association; they’ve been in Buzzfeed videos and Funny or Die sketches. In contrast to the old days when Stephen struggled to book one gig every six months, the couple now aver-age a job a week and are constantly traveling from place to place for last-minute auditions.
     “I see kids now, and they’re so open to trying new things,” says Stephen, of the Asian American online creators they often work with. “They can write and direct their own stories, use YouTube to reach millions of people overnight for free. In some ways, I envy them, and I wish I were 30 to 40 years younger so I could be a part of that. But I actually used to be really timid and shy for an actor. Now I have more life experience and more confidence. So we’re doing our own thing, which is pretty good, too.”

IT’S NATURAL TO wonder what could have been. When people have to give up their dreams for their families, it’s often described with some cynicism

— the idea that the passion of youth must eventually make way for the practicalities of adulthood and “the real world.” But for some people, this view is short-sided and overvalues the priorities of an individual pursuit versus a happy and comfortable home life.
     Richard Liu, 66, was a trombone player in the Taipei Municipal Sym-phony Orchestra when he was a young man. “I had a lot of dreams,” Liu re-members. He grew up in a farm in a mud house and remembers not even having electricity when he was in high school. They’d use oil lamps and steal the light from their neighbors. That said, he was an extremely resourceful child and loved music.
     “Because we didn’t have any money, in elementary school, I’d make my own instruments,” he says. “In the fifth grade, I made my own erhu [Chinese violin].” He created it out of bamboo from his backyard. “One day I couldn’t find it and turned out someone had used it to make a fire!” he remembers, laughing. “I cried when I found out.”

As a teenager in the military, he was in a band, and once he finished his service, he was accepted into the Taipei Municipal Symphony Orchestra, where he played trombone for 10 years. But because the job only required him to work at night, he experimented with many different things during the day to make money for his family. At first, he and his wife, Mary, ran a noodle shop. Later, they turned it into a flower shop. He was even a re-porter for a couple years.

      In 1980, the Lius decided to bring their young children to California. And though he would still play with a band when he first arrived in the U.S., he eventually gave up his music for over 30 years in order to concentrate on building a landscaping business.
     That said, he doesn’t see his choice as a difficult sacrifice at all. “Our family is the center of our lives,” he says. “And now, our kids are like our friends. We can talk to them about anything, and we’ve already achieved everything we ever dreamed.”
     Liu’s unique designs were such a success that he was featured on CTS-TV, a Chinese television station, in a story about overseas Chinese who had become successful abroad. In addition to their company, Beautiful Landscape, Liu and Mary opened up a nursery, Rosemead Gardens, to provide other professionals with the tools to create gardens for their clients.
     About six years ago, Liu decided to retire and revive his passion for music, though this time, he decided to teach himself the saxophone and clarinet. He’s constantly playing music, whether it’s performing at local concerts around Southern California, weddings, cultural events or even at home, where he can jam with his friends for up to seven hours, not realizing how much time has flown by.

     THE GREAT THING about returning to one’s passions after building a stable base is that artists like Ling, Liu and the 2Woos now have the freedom and flexibility to pursue their dreams on their own terms.
     For Liu, his artistry extends past his music. He used his landscaping skills to turn a 350-year-old California live oak tree in their backyard into a five-story treehouse using found items.

“He turns trash into treasures,” says Mary, describing the antique headboards he bends into lounge chairs, the branches he finds on hikes that he turns into banisters, and abandoned metal furniture pieces he uses to create an overhead wine glass holder in the treehouse bar. (Yes, there’s a bar in the treehouse.) He and his wife often throw parties for friends and family — which now include three adult children and six grandchildren — in their backyard, where he and his band plays. Even now, living out his musical dreams inherently involves his family. Forty years ago, he’d write his wife poetry every day, and she’d go to all of his shows; now he plays her the saxophone every day, and she’s still his biggest fan.
     Similarly, Ling doesn’t need the approval of national syndicates anymore. He loves his gig at Orinda News because it allows him the creative freedom to cartoon about whatever he wants. Every month, he publishes a single-panel comic series called “The Wobblers,” where he makes lighthearted observations on every-day life. He doesn’t feel the pressure to represent Asian Americans (as he did when he first created “The Woks”). He’d rather make harmless puns about national holidays, make fun of Kim Jong-un’s haircut, or joke about the older generation not understanding how to text or young people and their selfies. He just wants his comics to
bring a smile to people’s faces.
     As for Stephen, he now often acts as his own agent. “The Internet has done for acting what it’s done for travel and real estate,” he says. “It’s good to have a travel agent or real estate agent, but you don’t need it. When I left the [acting] business, it was controlled by big studios and unions, but now, I submit ourselves for everything, not just Asian specific roles. And many times, we’ll get [cast], which is very cool.”
     “And it’s different now because we don’t need it,” says Barbara.
     Stephen agrees. “When I was younger and I didn’t get a job, I’d get really depressed because I had to pay the rent,” he says.
     “But now,” Barbara continues, “if we don’t get a job, we’ll laugh about it. Now we watch commercials really diligently, and if we see an ad for a Tempur-Pedic mattress that we auditioned for and lost to a younger couple, we’ll say, ‘What? They think those youngsters can bounce better than us?’”
     Because at this point of their lives, the pressure’s off, and it’s all about having fun. “I’m so happy that at the last phase of our careers, we’re doing some-thing we enjoy, and we get to do it together,” says Stephen. “I’d hate to retire and do nothing. Instead, this is all new to us; the more we do it, the better we’ll get, and we’re constantly learning, growing, meeting new people and having new experiences.”
_____________________________________________________
    This original article was written by Ada Tseng, Managing Editor for Audrey Magazine, but I have to convert its format slightly in order to post on the Blogger. I was trying to convert and embed the original pdf to the post but failed after many attempts. You can view the original article on Fall issue of the magazine, http://audreymagazine.com/.

Happy 4th of July, OULUUUU and Meow

2015-07-03T21:59:00.001-07:00

In addition to the celebrations in major cities of the US, many local cities and communities, such as in my hometown, Orinda, California, has parades which are participated by the residents.

The rumors have been passed around that some newcomers are participating in this year's parade:

In our neighborhood there are plenty of turkeys, no, they did not come from the White House, and they are fearless, running around the neighborhood, daring the residents, stopping cars and they are loud.

I think they will quiet down when Thanksgiving nears.

OK, time for a great party.

Cat library

Happy Father's Day, American Selfie, Persistence of Time

2015-06-19T18:41:00.002-07:00

Published on Orinda News 06/01/2015

9 Funny Father’s Day Jokes for Dad

Double the fun of Dad's special day with our funny Father's Day jokes!

Compiled by Amy Zerello from readersdigest.com

Dad holds a special place in our hearts, and on Father’s Day, he deserves the best! Pass our funniest fatherhood submissions on to a dad in your life and share the priceless gift of laughter!

The Right Choice My 16-year-old brother, Ryan, was out late with friends one night. Suddenly he realized it was Father’s Day and he had neglected to buy a card for our dad. After much searching, Ryan located an open store, but was disappointed to find only two cards left on a picked-over rack. Selecting one, he brought it home and, somewhat sheepishly, presented it to our father.
Upon opening it, Dad read this message: “You’ve been like a father to me.” He looked at Ryan, puzzled.

“Well, Dad,” Ryan tried to explain, “it was either that or the card that said, ‘Now that I’m a father too!'” — Submitted by Anne Carlson

The American selfie

Persistence of Time

a famed painting by surreal artist Salvador Dali in 1931

I propose that the painting be updated in 2015:

Dogs are wimps:

These Big, Strong Dogs Have The Same Tiny, Fluffy Phobia

weloveallanimals.com

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY, The Woks is 35 years old and more

2015-05-10T10:42:00.001-07:00

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Kim Jong Un Debuts Sculptured New Haircut And Trimmed Eyebrows

The Huffington Post | By Ed Mazza

Posted: 02/20/2015 1:46 am EST Updated: 02/20/2015 3:59 pm EST

Here's a side-by-side comparison of Kim's new look with an image taken a year ago:

For the entire article, please visit:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/19/kim-jong-un-new-haircut_n_6718380.html

A hair raising tale and how the awesome hairdo was made.

California's sever drought is getting critical:

5/1/2015 Orinda News

What happened in March?

3/1/2015 Orinda News

What happened in April?

4/1/2015 Orinda News

The Woks

After I published the post, Fresh off the Boat (FOB) and Popstickers. I received many inquires about the status of The Woks, the comic strip which I signed with now defunct Trans World News Services in 1979. Fifteen years later, in 1994 I updated the strip, changed the title to Popstickers and tried to publish to no avail. I begun to realize that the concept of a comic strip about an immigrated family in the US would still be way ahead of its time.

For years, I kept the original strips in the closet without showing them around because I felt the strips and the characters were so outdated and my drawing style and subjects matters have also changed drastically. I chose to redirect my career as an Architect and being a family man.

I am now encouraged by the success of FOB, it seems that people in the US are ready to accept foreign and diverse topics. I decided to dust off the copies and publish the complete set of The Woks comic strip which I submitted to the syndication in the 70's. Admittedly, some topics in the strips are so old and younger generations now may have no clue about how people could actually survive without computers, tablets, smart phones or social networking.

Fresh off the boat, Potstickers, Happy New Year of the Ram 喜羊羊 andHappy Valentine's Day

2015-02-11T09:35:00.000-08:00

Fresh off the boat.

A new TV series "Fresh off the boat" from ABC premiered on Feb 4, 2015. I am very happy about the show which portrays an immigrant family with the same roots which we shared.

http://abc.go.com/shows/fresh-off-the-boat

I think the show hit home with many immigrant Chinese families in the US. Without going in deep analysis on my own about the show, I find below the article is very well said:

Fresh Off the Boat Series Premiere Review: Stop Being Uppity and Just Laugh By Tim Surette

For the entire article, please visit http://www.tv.com/m/news/fresh-off-the-boat-review-season-1-episode-1-episode-2-pilot-home-sweet-home-school-142289959641/

For years, Asians in the US have been working hard to fight the stereotype of exclusion or hostility and perpetual foreigner who would not blend into the American culture. The stereotype of Asians portrayed in entertainment industry had not been very kind, such as Fu Manchu: "evil" East Asian, Charlie Chan: "good" East Asian, China doll, etc.

In recent years, only a few Asians made it briefly to prime time entertainment, such as:
Margaret Cho:

Joe Wong 黃西

I am a cartoonist and licensed Architect who have been drawing cartoons for years, had my first drawing published on a children section of a major newspaper in Taiwan when I was a second grader. My cartoons are self taught which have been greatly influenced by Peanuts by Charles Schultz and Mad Magazine. After I moved to the United States in the 70s, I continued pursuing my cartooning career with limited success and now I am publishing my monthly Editorial Cartoons for Orinda News.

Ever since I landed in the US, I had a dream of publishing a comic strip of an immigrant Chinese family in the US. I knew then and still believe now that good humor can be found by poking fun on culture and lifestyle differences so I developed a comic strip titled The Woks. The hero of the strip is a preteen boy Chung, younger sister Mei-Mei 妹妹 and a toddler kid brother DiDi 弟弟 who had not learned to speak English. Chung had two white buddies named Mike (actually my son's best friend) and David. Chung also had a dog, CoCo (my childhood Cocker Spaniel). Also, I included two Chinese mythical characters who would appear in the background, Lung 龍 , the prankster and Smiling Buddha 笑彿, the philosopher. In the strip, no faces of the parents or adults would be shown; only their backsides and legs are shown, just like how kids see the adults.

At that era and before internet, publishing artworks on newspapers/magazines though syndication, just like Peanuts, would be the ultimate success and to get rich fast. I submitted the strips to probably 10 major syndicates in the US, Canada and actually met with some of the editors face to face for discussions. They were polite but the subtle messages were that the topics would not be readily accepted by the readers.

My good luck came in 1977, I received and signed a contract with TransWorld News Services in Washington D.C. for them to distribute the strip. I was more than elated and thought my life would be forever changed; fame and fortune would soon follow.

Unfortunately, for two years, nothing happened, no drawings were published or sold and the news agency filed for bankruptcy. I updated and renamed the strip to Potstickers, tried to resell it without success except received an award from Marin County Fair in 1994. So my dream died.

With the success of the Fresh off the boat, I look back at my strip and see some of the parallel and similarities, such as an immigrant family with both parents; a preteen boy with siblings; a non English speaking member of the family; friends in diverse ethnic backgrounds and humors were drawn from trying to adjust lives in diversities and poking fun towards stereotypes and racial sensitivities. I believe the show will touch some raw nerves and should be braced for receiving cynical negative criticisms for racism just like I did in the 70’s. I recall that I once did a cartoon in 1979 and some critics said that drawing was an insult to Chinese. I did not know how to respond eloquently at the time but now I can respond politely by quoting what Mr.Tim Surette stated in his article which I shared in the beginning of the blog: Stop Being Uppity and Just Laugh.
I am not trying to hop on the bandwagon, attempting to take the advantage of the hype or realigning my comic strip to the new found interests in Asian cultures brought on by the show. I am merely trying to point out that even though the medias are different, Fresh off the boat on TV sitcom vs Potstickers on newspaper prints, they all share the same goals to embrace, inform and raise the tolerance of cultural differences in humorous way, not to spread racism.

So in a broad sense, why Fresh of the boat is accepted while my strip went nowhere? I think one of the main reasons of my comic strip’s failure was that the timing of my topics were off for a few decades and at the time when diversities, tolerances, inclusiveness and acceptance of differences were none existence. The other reason was that I did not know how to promote my product or had not tried hard enough during the years when I had been working comfortably as an Architect. Or simply put it, my comics was not good.

Do I want to try to revive my comics strip and continue? Not sure, years ago when the strip was first published it was perhaps ahead of the time but the strip and its contents are now far behind the time. It would take tremendous efforts to pump in new blood in order to resuscitate the aging bodies, the strip and I. But if anyone who wants to take over and also develop it into animation, please contact me for copy rights. In the meantime, let us enjoy the show and
I am sincerely wishing Fresh off the Boat's a long lasting great success.

Fresh off the drawing board:

Happy New Year Year of the Ram

恭喜發財, 羊年喜羊羊，情人節讓有情人蹦出愛的火花

Happy Valentine's Day

Published on Orinda News 2/1/2015

An old editorial cartoon from 1999


Yes, no bow and arrow this year. I'm shooting Viagra backed by popular demands.

Happy Holidays

2014-12-21T18:07:00.000-08:00

Seasons Greetings and HAPPY NEW YEAR 2015
Yes, it's the time again to argue whether to say Seasons Greetings or Season's Greetings. I would like to direct your attention to the end of the blog.
Taipei 101 New Year fireworks

2014 is the Year of Horse, let's welcome the arrival of 2015, the Year of Ram

2014 Taipei 101 New Year fireworks

Christmas

How Christmas are celebrated around the world http://www.whychristmas.com/cultures/

Some funny quotes about Christmas from famous people:

The one thing women don't want to find in their stockings on Christmas morning is their husband.

- Joan Rivers

I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six. Mother took me to see him in a department store and he asked for my autograph.

- Shirley Temple

The main reason Santa is so jolly is because he knows where all the bad girls live.

- George Carlin

The Supreme Court has ruled that they cannot have a nativity scene in Washington, D.C. This wasn't for any religious reasons. They couldn't find three wise men and a virgin.

- Jay Leno

What I don't like about office Christmas parties is looking for a job the next day.

- Phyllis Diller

For more jokes, please visit http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/12/13/funny-christmas-quotes-jo_n_2283747.html 15 Funny Christmas Quotes The Huffington Post UK

Some interesting statistic about Christmas

Among the religiously unaffiliated, 87% say they celebrate Christmas, including 68% who view Christmas as more of a cultural holiday.

Roughly eight-in-ten Americans (79%) say they plan to put up a Christmas tree this year. By comparison, 92% say they typically put up a Christmas tree when they were children.

Nearly six-in-ten Americans say they plan to give homemade gifts this holiday season, such as baked goods or crafts. There is a big gender gap on this question; two-thirds of women (65%) plan to give homemade gifts, compared with 51% of men.

Those who celebrate Christmas as more of a religious event are much more apt than those who view it as a cultural occasion to say they will attend religious services this Christmas (73% vs. 30%) and to believe in the virgin birth (91% vs. 50%). But on other measures, the differences in the ways the two groups will mark the holidays are much smaller. Roughly nine-in-ten in both groups will gather with family and friends and buy gifts this Christmas, and identical shares of each group will pretend to get a visit from Santa Claus on Christmas Eve (33% each).

For entire article, please visit:

Celebrating Christmas and the Holidays, Then and Now December 18, 2013
http://www.pewforum.org/2013/12/18/celebrating-christmas-and-the-holidays-then-and-now/

Jensen Beach mansion decorated for Christmas
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10152407629370882

Should you send ‘season’s greetings’ or ‘seasons greetings’?

By Jeff March and Marti Childs

While preparing your holiday cards, you may be stumped by a recurring December dilemma: should you write “season’s greetings” or “seasons’ greetings”? Or “seasons greetings,” with no apostrophe at all?
Please read the entire article: http://www.davisenterprise.com/business/business-columns/should-you-send-season%E2%80%99s-greetings-or-seasons-greetings/

It's my point of view that life is too short to worry about rules or rightness in daily writing, as long as the writer can get his/her points crossed and that should be enough. In this example, with ' or without, would it affect the well meaning of the sender? I like to see life becomes simpler and I am longing for the day when I can say, I eat my dinner last night, is acceptable. So take it easy, Spelling Beasts and Grammar Nazis, life is wonderful without constantly worrying about proper writings.

Happy Holidays

Happy Thanksgiving, It's time to talk turkey

2014-11-26T18:18:00.000-08:00

It's Thanksgiving and time to talk turkey:

Are male and female turkeys eaten on Thanksgiving? Someone did a research:

The author discovered most female turkeys are used for Thanksgiving. They get a faster turn over on the farms with the females, as they grow faster than the males. Most male turkey meat is used for deli products and turkey burgers, as they can get up to 35 lbs. , which is way to big to fit in an oven. Males ARE called Toms, Females called HENS, younger birds are called JAKES. Females also have more meat on them for the size they are. Females do cost more than a male, but again, most turkeys are females.

http://www.answers.com/Q/Are_male_and_female_turkeys_eaten_on_Thanksgiving,

More gobbles:

25 Thanksgiving Jokes That Will Get You Through Dinner With Your Family http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/21/thanksgiving-jokes_n_6201374.html

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving:

http://youtu.be/LQ961y0VKEk

SCAAARY---------

2014-10-30T21:24:00.000-07:00

Halloween is here, so scary!
美國鬼節萬聖節來了, 孤魂野鬼出籠，嚇死人啦。

Hello, November. The election day is November 4th and this is also the month when people start selecting best turkeys for the holidays, so many choices, so scary .
美國選舉日是11月4日，這也是當人們開始選擇最佳的火雞的時候，巧合嗎？嚇死人啦。

The worst drought on record is happening in California and residents are asked to curb water usages and soon the people here will smell like their pets, so scary!
最大的乾旱發生在加利福尼亞州，居民被要求限制水的用途，不久這裡的人們聞起來就像自己的寵物了，嚇死人啦。

At the other side of Pacific Ocean in Taiwan, a general election will be held on November 29th, so scary!
在太平洋另一邊，11月29日台灣的九合一選舉嚇死人啦。

Treat or Trick

Published on Orinda News, 10/5/2014

Watch out, your neck could be on the line:

吸血鬼想做你臉書的朋友，當心你的脖子了.

幾年前所作有關萬聖節的漫畫 Old and vintage Halloween cartoons which I did years ago:

Woman says to the kid:" Cute gorilla costume".

Kid says to his father after Treat or Trick:" Cool human costume, Dad".

United States elections, 2014 November elections

美國大選，2014年中期選舉

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_elections,_2014
Not sure this is a real life Treat or Trick from the City of Berkeley, California.

27,000 Vote-By-Mail Envelopes Sent To Berkeley Voters Have Wrong Election Date, OUCH!加州柏克萊發送選民郵件信封上的投票日居然錯了，哎喲！

BERKELEY (CBS SF) — Alameda County officials want to remind voters that Election Day is Nov. 4 after the county’s registrar of voters sent return envelopes that say, “Election Day is November 5, 2014” to 27,000 Berkeley voters. For more, please read:

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2014/10/21/27000-vote-by-mail-envelopes-sent-to-berkeley-voters-have-wrong-election-date-alameda-county-registrar-of-voters/

VOTE Just received the following timely joke from a long time friend, Jamie.

While walking down the street one day a Corrupt Senator (that may be redundant) is tragically hit by a car and dies.
His soul arrives in heaven and is met by St. Peter at the entrance.
"Welcome to heaven," says St. Peter. "Before you settle in, it seems there is a problem. We seldom see a high official around these parts, you see, so we're not sure what to do with you."
"No problem, just let me in," says the Senator.
"Well, I'd like to, but I have orders from the higher ups. What we'll do is have you spend one day in hell and one in heaven. Then you can choose where to spend eternity."
"Really?, I've made up my mind. I want to be in heaven," says the Senator.
"I'm sorry, but we have our rules."
And with that, St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell.
The doors open and he finds himself in the middle of a green golf course.
In the distance is a clubhouse and standing in front of it are all his friends and other politicians who had worked with him.
Everyone is very happy and in evening dress. They run to greet him, shake his hand, and reminisce about the good times they had while getting rich at the expense of the people.
They played a friendly game of golf and then dined on lobster, caviar and the finest wines and champagne.
Also present is the devil, who really is a very friendly guy who is having a good time dancing and telling jokes.
They are all having such a good time that before the Senator realizes it, it is time to go.
Everyone gives him a hearty farewell and waves while the elevator rises.
The elevator goes up, up, up and the door reopens in heaven where St. Peter is waiting for him, "Now it's time to visit heaven...”
So, 24 hours passed with the Senator joining a group of contented souls moving from cloud to cloud, playing the harp and singing. They have a good time and, before he realizes it, the 24 hours have gone by and St. Peter returns.
"Well, then, you've spent a day in hell and another in heaven. Now choose your eternity."
The Senator reflects for a minute, then he answers: "Well, I would never have said it before, I mean heaven has been delightful, but I think I would be better off in hell."
So St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell...
Now the doors of the elevator open and he's in the middle of a barren land covered with waste and garbage.
He sees all his friends, dressed in rags, picking up the trash and putting it in black bags as more trash falls to the ground.
The devil comes over to him and puts his arm around his shoulders.
"I don't understand," stammers the Senator. "Yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and clubhouse, and we ate lobster and caviar, drank champagne, and danced and had a great time. Now there's just a wasteland full of garbage and my friends look miserable. What happened?"
The devil smiles at him and says,"Yesterday we were campaigning,
Today, you voted."

Vote wisely in November!!!

The problems are that there are too many candidates, measures, propositions, etc.

Published on Orinda News, 11/1/2014

A tale of two political systems

兩個政治制度的一個故事

台灣選舉史上最大規模, 2014年九合一選舉http://udn.com/vote2014/
台灣選舉免不了還是藍綠對決，曾在2006世界日報上發表過對台灣選舉的看法，8年後仍然有同樣的感覺：

Drought in California 加州大乾旱

California is enduring the most severe drought in history, http://www.cnbc.com/id/102102504. I published an Editorial Cartoon on Orinda News in March 2012, 加州大乾旱己有多年，我在2012年3月在奥林達新聞發表了一篇社論漫畫：

Now the situation is not getting better and I feel it's time to change the traditional California flag
現在的情仍然没有改善，我在奧林達新聞發表建議更改加州的州旗，

from:

to:

Published on Orinda News, 8/1/2014

November 27, 2014, Thanksgiving
感恩節來臨對火雞來説大屠殺的日子就快來了.

老公, 又做噩夢啦？

The "lost" trip to Russia and more

2014-09-01T11:42:00.000-07:00

We took a 16-day trip in a group of total 47 to Russia and Scandinavia countries from 8/1 to 8/16 in 2014. I won't write an essay about the trip because the similar subjects have been well written by others which can be viewed online. I only share my personnel experiences and lighthearted moments during the trip.

For this journey, losing things seem to dominate our entire journey so I call it:

The "lost" trip to Russia and beyond
俄國北歐「失落」之旅

Lost our tour guide: Two days before the trip, we were notified that our original tour guide won't make the trip due to the serious injury he suffered two months earlier. Fortunately, a very experienced veteran travel guide stepped in at the last minute to save the trip.

Lost two luggage from Hong Kong to Moscow: First day of the trip, two of the group members from Taiwan lost their luggage through Hong Kong. Fortunately, the luggage were safely delivered two days later.

Lost a camera: The third day, an expensive professional camera was stolen from our group at the hotel dining room in St Petersburg.

Lost 23 luggage, ouch:
On the 7th day, 23 luggage out of a group of 47 were lost from St Petersburg to Copenhagen. It was a total chaos at Copenhagen airport since everyone was trying frantically to find his/her luggage. The only thing we could do was filling out missing luggage reports to the airport and hope for the best.

The airport was very compassionate and gave each of us an overnight care kit, consisted of a pair of long black socks, some personal hygiene items, such as tooth brush, tooth paste, brush, etc. Interestingly, the kit included a large undershirt but no underpants.

I wonder if the locals do not wear underpants, prefer being butt naked and letting it all hang out. Or perhaps it would be more sanitized being naked down under than wearing the same underpants for days. I also noticed an extra large tube of deodorizing cream, not sure if that was a hint that the luggage might take a long long time to arrive. SIGH!

你們的行李找到了，還要點除臭劑嗎？

According to our guide, for her entire career, she encountered a few missing luggage, but this was the first time ever, 23 luggage were lost at one time.

Luckly, these luggage were located and delivered to the port before the ferry left. We were told that the ferry was actually delayed 30 minutes, never happened before, in order to accommodate the delivery of the luggage.

Lost two passports: Two days before the end of the trip, while checking into the hotel a thief managed to steal a backpack from a couple while they were chatting with other members at the lobby. Two US passports and some cashes were all gone. Fortunately, temporary passports were able to be issued by US Embassy the next day which was Friday, one day before returning home.

Beware of thief and pickpockets signs can be seen throughout Russia.

Check out this video below and be prepared for the next trip:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=824653544226219&id=100000447438404

Moscow

One of the highlights of our trip was to visit Red Square in Moscow. At the square, I saw and touched St. Basil's Cathedral, it was awesome.

Do you recall seeing a picture which showed big shots of Soviet Union stood on top of Lenin's Mausoleum viewing the parade and acknowledging the crowds below?

Photo downloaded from the web

I think this photo was carefully cropped in order to make the viewing stand appeared to be much grandeur when comparing it to the current picture which I took below:

I walked on the square which was crowded with tourists; it appeared small and less intimating than it was in Cold War days.

A little past: Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin and officials review a parade of Soviet troops in Red Square

The next day we visited Kremlin.

Photo downloaded from the web

We walked pass a non descriptive big office building and the local guide said Russian President Putin works there.

Photo downloaded from the web

I was not able to see or grasp the size of the entire complex and would not able to compare it with our White House but was told that Putin does not live in the building where he works. I dare not to peek through the entry and see if Putin really was working there. When I returned home, I found the site plan of Kremlin:

Photo downloaded from the web

From what I saw in about an hour or so, Kremlin was not as mystery and scary as I thought it would before the trip. For more about Kremlin, please visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow_Kremlin

St Petersburg

Russian Empire Catherine Palace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_Palace

Photo downloaded from the web

Peterhof Palace garden

Photo downloaded from the web.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peterhof_Palace

It's not fair, being a drought stricken Californian like me, to see so much water are being "wasted". Maybe soon it would be cheaper to travel to St Petersbug for a hearty shower without feeling guilty.

加州缺水，能將這裏噴泉改成澡堂，多理想呀！

I find it'd be impossible to learn the Russian history in five days, but I have found this hour long clip, Engineering an Empire: Russia, to be extremely helpful.

American Invasion

I saw American culture everywhere in both Russia and Scandinavia countries which we visited during the trip. We saw a McDonald, I forgot to get a menu to see how they would call Big Mac or Quarter Pounders' equivalent in metric, we dined at a Hard Rock Cafe

and saw all the same decor and displays as if we were still in the US. The hostess looked like an American teenager and happily posted for a picture.

We stopped at a busy section of Karstad, Sweden for lunch and saw many US fast food joints, such as McDonald, Burger King, and Subway and on and on. Not sure if Walt Mart was hiding somewhere. When I turn around I saw a roll of Tesla super charging stations all eight of them.

Boarder crossing at a Tax Refund building between Sweden and Norway along route E18. The unassuming building looked more like a gas station convenience store. I did not see gates, tall fences, barbwire, concrete walls and check points, guards with Uzi or Ak47 or Storm Troopers. No immigration offices, people come and go as they please. What about illegals aliens, drug smugglers, terrorists and what about Homeland Security? NAAAH, not a problem, unless you are an America, SIGH!

While members of the group were filing tax refunds for big purchases, people could use the free public restrooms, yes there were free to do business here unlike many rest rooms in Russia which you would have to pay in order to deposit your DNA.
When I approached the rest room, or they are called toilets outside of US. I noticed this sign:

Yes, Europeans are very compassionate and thoughtful toward to all kinds of people.
這是給沒頭沒腦人尃用的.

Gustav Vigeland park, Norway

Yes, we saw the famous Angry Boy sculpture. Do you know why he is so angry?

鴿子又在你頭上撒野啦, 當然生氣，憤怒啦

Little Mermaid of Copenhagen

Do you know the Mermaid is 101 years old?

Still watching a naked old women? You are sick!

Her life hadn't been all that easy; she was beheaded twice, right arm was cut off, her body was blown off, etc., but she recovered and still looked beautiful. For continued reading, please visit:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Mermaid_%28statue%29

R.I.P. Robin Williams (1951-2014)

During our trip somewhere in Norway, I heard the sad news about my favorite comedian Robin Williams on Aug, 11, 2014.

赫爾辛基尿尿小童

Last day of the trip, we had some free time before catching the flights in Helsinki so we did some sightseeing. We saw this gigantic stupid sculpture at the river front.

I did a little search after the trip and below is the excerpt from an article:

Tommi Toija is better known for his gigantic sculpture of a boy peeing in the river flowing through Örebro, Sweden, called BadBad Boy. What we normally see from this artist are smaller, clay works of little unsmiling boys doing everyday things like throwing tantrums, standing on the sidelines, holding onto balloons. His intriguing works are at the Amos Anderson Museum as part of the Helsinki Festival.http://www.helsinkithisweek.com/articles/cultivating-culture

我建議換隻尿尿狗狗比較恰當

From my point of view, the sculpture should be considered as a decorative item for backyard gardens but not for public places. If I had my way, I would replace it with my own design which I think is more elegant, WOOF!

The trip was not just about the lost, I also found Mr. Know-it-all.

I encountered Mr. Know-it-all in our group twice; one was at on the first day of the trip at JFK airport where all members met for the first time. Not even aware that he was standing next to us, he immediately start interrogating then scolding us for giving in to the airline agent's request by removing the jackets from the passports. He chew us out that it was a no no and demonstrated how tough he would deal with the airport personnel. What a nonsense and very rude. Apparently he tried to establish his superiority by making us feel so insignificant, small and worthless. Since then I would try to maintain a safe distance from him and ignore his unsolicited advices to all of us. Unfortunately the last unpleasant encounter was when we crossed path at the Stockholm Town Hall tour and he rudely barked "SHHH" at me and another member of the group for behaviors which might not have met his approval.

Oh well, I had not been treated like a child for a long long time so actually it's a blessing and refreshing that he made me feel sooooo young again, Thank you Mr. Know-it-all.

你，不夠格

萬事通先生

在我們旅程的苐一天，各地來的團員在紐約甘乃迪機場集合，大家都還不認識，就來了位仁兄指著我們護照，審問為何將䕶照從封套拿出了？他不滿意我們的回答，很嚴厲的指責說我們應該堅持要求櫃檯人員自己將護照套拿出來等等，我們驚呆了，哇噻，居然這老中有種，敢向權威硬槓，佩服呀，我們自比不如，所以從那時起就對這位漢子敬而遠之，

遊途中他經常自動熱心給大家指導，顯然他博學淵源，無所不知，尊称萬事通先生不為过. 团員中也有人讚賞他的言行，很敬佩的說從來沒見过這麼衝的人，

下一次有幸承蒙萬事通先生的指奌是在参覌斯德哥爾摩市政廳，他居然对我和另一团員很粗魯的嘘了一記，顯然他又不屑我们的言行了，我非常慚愧，居然不當心又惹了他.

說真的，現在年紀一大把，还有人對我像孩子般的的苛責，讓我感觉有再年轻，又回到快樂童年時光. 多谢您，萬事通先生.

世界有很多傲慢和自大的人，認為自己是最聰明的，什麼都知道，除了他們以外都是笨蛋. 有幸遇到這種人，可以參考以下方式來對付：

How to Deal With a Know-It-All | eHow http://www.ehow.com/how_2107585_deal-knowitall.html

Fortunately, losing things are painful but none of us have lost their minds and we all returned home safely and happily. It was a good trip.

Let's all be better prepared for the next trip:

http://www.chinatimes.com/realtimenews/20140825003783-260408

Back to the US, let's celebrate the Labor Day on September 1, 2014

什麼粗活都是咱們做，人類居然有臉慶祝勞工節.
Published on Orinda News, http://orindaassociation.org/online-edition/

Happy Birthday Prince George and secret Royal pictures

2014-07-22T06:49:00.003-07:00

July 22, 2014 British Prince George is one year old.

According to Camilla Turner

7:57AM BST 21 Jul 2014

Queen is expected to attend Prince George's birthday party

Clarence House distances itself from rumors that George’s grandmother, Carole Middleton, hosted a rival Peter Rabbit-themed party

The Queen is expected to attend Prince George’s birthday party, while the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall are expected to be otherwise engaged.

Following the release of an official picture of Prince George to mark his first birthday, speculation has been growing about the details of his “private” birthday party.
Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/prince-george/10979632/Queen-is-expected-to-attend-Prince-Georges-birthday-party.html

Yes, private birthday party indeed, rumor says below is the picture of the party which has been leaked out:

Yep, princes are supposed to be forever young, handsome and cute, right?

Prince Charles and Princes Ann about 60 years ago .

Prince Charles now:

What would Prince George look after 60 years? Why should I care from six feet under?

Who is this awesome elegant looking woman?

She is none other, the Queen Elizabeth II after coronation in 1952.

The black and white pictures above were taken by photographer Kenneth Clayton, read more about the royal family secrets with pictures which have been hidden for more than 60 years: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2098719/REVEALED-First-pictures-Elizabeth-Queen-unveiled-family-portraits-taken-death-father-King-George.html

Happy 4th of July and the day after

2014-07-04T09:25:00.001-07:00

恭喜美国238歲生日

So we will be enjoying the fireworks on 4th of July but what about the day after?

This editorial below was published on July issue of the Orinda News in California. 本图刊登在美国奧林達新聞 Orinda News.

Fun facts for July 4 美國國慶趣聞

By Pam Tobey July 3 at 5:00 AM

Steven Barnes, right, and Kiana Murray, center, reach for candy to add to their bags during the Dale City 2013 Fourth of July Parade in Dale City, Va. (Photo by Eva Russo for The Washington Post)

It’s time for fireworks, hot dogs, flags and fun facts about our country and Independence Day.
The population of the United States in 1776 was about 2.5 million, which was spread around the 13 states. On its 238th birthday, the U.S. population is estimated by the Census Bureau to be about 318.4 million, which is spread throughout the 50 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. territories. That makes a 12,636 percent increase in population since 1776.

Happy Father's Day, California June Elections and more

2014-06-09T07:41:00.000-07:00

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

Only a month ago we celebrated Mother's Day, now comes Father's Day on June 15, 2014.

Do you know the history of the Father's Day?

Check her out on the second video clip http://socialtimes.com/top-10-videos-to-wish-your-dad-a-happy-fathers-day_b15587

Best custom made Father's Day card by a four year old son.

Returning from a family trip to South Korea, the father was horrified to find his passport page was drawn over beyond recognition by his four year old son. The father was denied boarding at the airport.

護照遭兒塗鴉中國爸困韓國

http://www.chinatimes.com/realtimenews/20140604003468-260408

A Chinese Ming Vase for a Father's Day gift?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3e0yZCLjwfU

The Father's Day Spending Gap: Why Does Mom Always Win?

Pam Goodfellow , Contributor

Comment Now

Follow Comments

With the average American planning to spend about $120 for Father’s Day this year, it appears that Dads across the country will be in for a treat. That is, until you compare this figure to the amount spent on Mom: planned spending for Mother’s Day 2013 was 40% higher, at $168. And with this spending gap the widest since 2008, is appears that Dad increasingly isn’t getting his due.

So what’s the deal with Dad? A few of my theories:

Read more: http://www.forbes.com/sites/prospernow/2013/06/10/the-fathers-day-spending-gap-why-does-mom-always-win/

This Mother's Day gift idea arrives a little late but I am sure she would love to have one at any day.

This is the real Iron Chef in action.

More fun pics about fathers which were download from the web:

YEEECK!!!!

You got mail------ (no interpreter is needed)

http://www.liveleak.com/ll_embed?f=d51b0650e695

California Statewide Direct Primary Election was held on June 3, 2014. http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/statewide-elections/2014-primary/

This cartoon was published on Orinda News 6/3/2014

At last, all the election signs and posters are gone and no more solicitation phone calls.

A smart cat

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

2014-05-10T21:36:00.002-07:00

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

April Fools, IRS and more

2014-03-31T18:15:00.000-07:00

Watch out, April is here.

April Fools' jokes?

有一天我们可以用推特来報稅

What is IRS?

IRS 是什麽？

The best April Fool's Joke of the day.


不要怕，4月1日起我開始吃素啦.

A mouse trap designed for the Generation Z.

本世紀最新發明的老鼠夾.

So, what are Generations X, Y, Z and others? Please visit:

http://www.socialmarketing.org/newsletter/features/generation1.htm

Generations X,Y, Z and the Others
William J. Schroer

Chicken or egg, who comes first? The answer: rabbit.

Happy Easter (4/21/2014).

It will be a chick. No, it's a bunny.

According to Farmers Almanac, First Day Of Spring 2014 Arrived on Thursday, March 20.

兒子搃算在清掃他的房间了 ----
真乖，清完之很請他來我们家幫忙----

http://www.almanac.com/content/first-day-spring-vernal-equinox

Why do we traditionally clean our homes at the beginning of spring?

http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/home/spring-clean-in-spring2.htm

------------------------------

Die Maiers, truly one of the most superbly orchestrated and physically dexterous clown acts ever created, are impressive as hell.

One of my friends forwarded the following articles to me, their origin are unknown:

Men and Women

A group of women were at a seminar on how to live in a loving relationship with your husband.

The women were asked, "How many of you love your husband?"
All the women raised their hands.
Then they were asked, "When was the last time you told your husband you loved him?"
Some women answered today, a few yesterday, and some couldn't remember.
The women were then told to take out their cell phones and text their husband: "I love you, sweetheart."
The women were then told to exchange phones with another person, and to read aloud the text message they received, in response. Here are some of the replies:

1.   Who the hell is this?
2.   Eh, mother of my children, are you sick or what?
3.   Yeh, and I love you too. What's up with you??
4.   What now? Did you crash the car again?
5.   I don't understand what you mean?
6.   What the f*ck did you do now?
7.   ?!?
8.   Don't beat about the bush, just tell me how much you need?
9.   Am I dreaming?
10. If you don't tell me who this message is actually for, someone will die.
11. I thought we agreed you wouldn't drink during the day.
12. Your mother is coming to stay with us, isn't she??

Men in Heaven Moment of truth

When everyone on earth was dead and waiting to enter Paradise, God appeared and said, 'I want the men to make two lines. One line for the men who were true heads of their household, and the other line for the men who were dominated by their women.'

I want all the women to report to St. Peter. Soon, the women were gone, and there were two lines of men.

The line of men who were dominated by their wives was 100 miles long, and in the line of men who truly were heads of their household, there was only one man.

God said, 'You men should be ashamed of yourselves, I created you to be the head of your household! You have been disobedient and have not fulfilled your purpose! Of all of you, only one obeyed. Learn from him.'

God turned to the one man, 'How did you manage to be the only one in this line?'

The man replied, 'My wife told me to stand here.

20 Clever Ways to Tell Someone:
"Your Fly Is Open!" (without actually saying it)

(This Comedy Bit is on loan from TopFive.com, the Official Brewer
of all comedy.)

20. The cucumber has left the salad.
19. I can see the gun of Navarone.
18. Someone tore down the wall, and your Pink Floyd is hanging out.
17. You've got Windows in your laptop.
16. Sailor Ned's trying to take a little shore leave.
15. Your soldier ain't so unknown now.
14. Quasimodo needs to go back in the tower and tend to his bell.
13. Paging Mr. Johnson... Paging Mr. Johnson...
12. You need to bring your tray table to the upright and locked
position.
11. Your pod bay door is open, Hal.
10. Elvis Junior has LEFT the building!
9. Mini Me is making a break for the escape pod.
8. Ensign Hanes is reporting a hull breach on the lower deck, Sir!
7. The Buick is not all the way in the garage.
6. Dr. Kimble has escaped!
5. You've got your fly set for "Monica" instead of "Hillary."
4. Our next guest is someone who needs no introduction...
3. You've got a security breach at Los Pantalones.
2. I'm talking about Shaft, can you dig it?

AND THE NUMBER ONE WAY TO TELL
SOMEONE HIS FLY IS UNZIPPED...

1. I thought you were crazy; now I see you're nuts!

Chinese New Year of Horse, 徐悲鴻 and more

2014-01-19T17:16:00.000-08:00

凖備好接收新年了嗎？這棟豪華蛇洞己裝潢好啦 ----
唉！看來是棟爛屋翻修的貨色 ----

Chinese New year of the Horse arrives early on January 31, 2014.

Myths and stories about the Year of the Horse, read excerpts from Chinese Zodiac - Horse:

The spirit of the horse is recognized to be the Chinese people's ethos – making unremitting efforts to improve themselves. It is energetic, bright, warm-hearted, intelligent and able. Ancient people liked to designate an able person as 'Qianli Ma', a horse that covers a thousand li a day (one li equals 500 meters).

Strengths
People born in the year of the horse have ingenious communicating techniques and in their community they always want to be in the limelight. They are clever, kind to others, and like to join in a venture career. Although they sometimes talk too much, they are cheerful, perceptive, talented, earthy but stubborn. They like entertainment and large crowds. They are popular among friends, active at work and refuse to be reconciled to failure, although their endeavor cannot last indefinitely.

Weaknesses
They cannot bear too much constraint. However their interest may be only superficial and lacking real substance. They are usually impatient and hot blooded about everything other than their daily work. They are independent and rarely listen to advice. Failure may result in pessimism. They usually have strong endurance but with bad temper. Flamboyant by nature, they are wasteful since they are not good with matters of finance due to a lack of budgetary efficiency. Some of those who are born in the horse like to move in glamorous circles while pursuing high profile careers. They tend to interfere in many things and frequently fail to finish projects of their own.

Celebrities Born in the Year of the Horse
Louisa May Alcott, Chopin, Davy Crockett, Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin, Sandra Day O'Connor, Rembrandt, Teddy Roosevelt, Sir Isaac Newton, Barbara Streisand, Cindy Crawford, Cynthia Nixon, Denzel Washington, Harrison Ford, Jason Biggs, Jackie Chan, Jerry Seinfeld, John Travolta, Leonard Bernstein, Oprah Winfrey, Paul McCartney, Rembrandt, Ashton Kutcher, Emma Watson, Josh Hartnett, Katie Holmes, Kristen Stewart, Kobe Bryant, Genghis Khan, Emperor Kangxi and Yongzheng of China’s Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911).

For more, please go to: http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/social_customs/zodiac/horse.htm

Horses are well liked by all and for centuries, they have often been portrayed elegantly in endless paintings, sculptures, etc. But have you heard about a horse painting which was bought at an auction in China for 17M RMB, or $2.89 M USD, in November 2010?

Xu Beihong's "Galloping Horse" auctioned for 17 mln yuan

Famous Chinese painter Xu Beihong's "Galloping Horse" painting, which had a starting price of 5 million yuan, was finally auctioned for 17 million yuan after several rounds of bidding. It received the highest bid out of about 600 contemporary painting and calligraphy auction items during the autumn art works auction hosted by Beijing Rongbao Auction Company in the Beijing-based Asia Hotel on Nov. 13.
For more: http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90782/7202369.html

No doubt, Xu Beihonfg was one of best and most famous painter in China. According to Wikipedia, Xu Beihong (19 July 1895 – 26 September 1953) was a Chinese painter born in Yixing, Jiangsu province.

He was primarily known for his Chinese ink paintings of horses and birds and was one of the first Chinese artists to articulate the need for artistic expressions that reflected a modern China at the beginning of the 20th century.

He was also regarded as one of the first to create monumental oil paintings with epic Chinese themes – a show of his high proficiency in an essential Western art technique.

For more about Xu, please visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xu_Beihong

徐悲鴻的奔馬圖
（殷傑《徐悲鴻的馬》，痔貌原載《藝術世界》１９８１昜貌年第六期）
　　徐悲鴻善畫馬，所畫之貌笢馬形神俱備，論氣派，論神貌昜態，在近代國畫界中，是數一數昜痔二的。徐生平畫馬不下千幅，最後一貌幅作品，也是繪贈前線貌痔戰士的馬。
……
　笢昜　徐悲鴻的馬，在美術界中昜痔曾有過一些爭辯，有人昜貌認為，馬場上能跑的馬，都笢痔是壯碩的馬，徐悲鴻所畫的馬，痔昜如放之馬場競技，必敗無疑。壯碩馬善跑昜，那也可能是事實，但貌作為藝術品欣賞者，我是更喜歡徐悲鴻的貌笢馬。因為繪畫的特點，不完全是自然笢貌界的寫實，應該是把握貌對象的特征，經過提煉，准確地描繪貌昜他的神態，即所謂以形貌寫神。徐悲鴻的馬，正象教痔育完善的青年，生意活躍，雄姿痔昜英發，孕育著多少青春活力！

更多訊息，請閱讀 http://www.gg-art.com/famous/more_b.php?exhibitionid=24

徐悲鴻的“奔馬”畫，在11月13日舉辦的北京榮寶拍賣公司北京的亞洲大酒店中
的其中有500萬元的起拍價，多輪競價後，最終拍出了1,700萬元。

它獲得了最高出價出約600當代書畫拍賣品秋季藝術品在拍賣的作品總部位於。

2014 一月已近尾聲，你是否還記得 2013 年發生了什麼？
WOW, the January is almost over, do you still remember that 2013 was only a month ago:

What have happened in 2013?

These were some funniest commercial we may have seen in 2013:
2013年的一些最有趣的電視廣告

There is another video which I found to be very funny but may be considered vulgar and would offend some readers so I would not provide a link here. However, for those brave hearts with thick skin in humors please search the web: FUNNIEST Banned Commercials 2013. There are quite a few of them under the same search term but click on the one done by TopClips247, there are 7,354,008 hits for this clip already. Why these commercials were banned and by whom, I have no clue.

綱上還有些有趣，非色情，却被取締的廣告，但我不會提供下載綱址，但如果你實在好奇，請自行搜索:FUNNIEST Banned Commercials 2013 by TopClips247

2014 is in the second decade of the 21th century, have you thought about what had happened in the last century? Do you know which decade in the last century had the following statistics?

Population 132,122,000
Unemployed in 1940 - 8,120,000
National Debt $43 Billion
Average Salary $1,299. Teacher's salary $1,441
Minimum Wage $0.40 per hour
55% of U.S. homes have indoor plumbing
Antarctica is discovered to be a continent
Life expectancy 68.2 female, 60.8 male
Auto deaths 34,500
Supreme Court decides blacks do have a right to vote
World War II changed the order of world power; the United States and the USSR become super powers
Cold War begins.

That was the decade of 1940's, according to the information posted on
American Cultural History[Lone Star College-Kingwood Library], and there are more fascinating information and statistics for the decades between 1900-1990.
http://kclibrary.lonestar.edu/decade40.html

So much for the good ole' days, DUH?

O.K. enough nonsense, start thinking about Valentine's Day which is just around the corner.

Christmas, Happy 2014, Happy 103 Birthday, Tyrus Wong,

2013-12-20T19:07:00.002-08:00

Happy Holidays

節日快樂

啊呀，聖誕老人要我用不超過140字來描述我是個好孩子 -----

Ready for some good ol' noise for the holidays? Check this one out. Walt Disney Cartoons Donald Duck's Christmas Snow Fight

http://youtu.be/3wPGEdzKOrE

Happy New Year, 2014 2014新年快樂

早就不用砂漏鐘啦，我用智慧型手机 ------

可以在電視上看3D煙火--- 酷，過癮！

O.K. This is the real fireworks: 2013 Taipei 101 new year fireworks 台北101

Coming to San Francisco Bay area soon? In addition to the typical tourist attractions, such as Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, Chinatown, Coit Tower, etc., I would recommend you to include a visit to the Disney Family Museum at the Presidio near the Golden Gate Bridge. There is a wonderful on going exhibit until February 3, 2014:

Water to Paper, Paint to Sky: The Art of Tyrus Wong

If you are a Disney fan, you must have seen Bambi and Mr. Wong was one of the major artistic contributors behind the scene. Wong turned 103 this year and thus became the oldest living Chinese American animator in the US.

See more at: http://www.waltdisney.org/wong#sthash.2UdSjyW5.dpuf

來到舊金山灣區？除了典型的旅遊景點，如金門大橋，惡魔島，唐人街，科伊特塔等等，我建議你參觀在金門大橋附近迪斯尼家庭博物館。有一個很值得一看的展覽，展覽將於二零一四年2月3日結束:

水，紙張，畫到天空：黃齊耀的藝術

http://www.waltdisney.org/wong#sthash.2UdSjyW5.dpuf

Happy 103 Birthday, Tyrus Wong!

By Ju-osh M. October 25, 2013 Cartoons

Like most animation fans, I first heard of Tyrus Wong via his work on Bambi. Legend has it, that’s the first time Walt Disney heard of him, too!

Okay, so the story goes…

Walt was chomping at the bit to make Bambi, only he was having trouble finding the ‘look’ he wanted for the film. He’d tried ultra-realism, but nixed it. He switched to super cartoony, but again, nope. It was beginning to look like the film would get shelved until late one night, while wandering through his studio, Disney happened upon a small stack of unusual watercolors. They were by a fella named ‘Wong,’ and they were…well, different.

For the entire article, please read: http://skunkandburningtires.com/happy-103-birthday-tyrus-wong/

Happy 103 Birthday, Tyrus Wong!黃齊耀103歲生日快樂

如果你是一個迪斯尼迷，你一定看過小鹿斑比. 但你知道黃先生是幕後的主要藝術的貢獻者嗎? 黃先生今年103歲，成為美國最年長動畫的美裔華人。

當年迪士尼準備拍小鹿班比，但一直為動畫中背景畫煩惱，因為在他拍過的動畫中的背景都比較死板，不適用在在小鹿和叢林中生動的互動，直到有一天深亱他経過一間畫室，在圖桌上發現了一疊不尋常的水彩畫，打聼之下，原來是一個姓黃的小仔畫的，哇呀，從那時起，黃就被發覺，成為班比小鹿動畫的最大功臣.

Reading from other articles from the web, you will find Wong's life is quite interesting; he was born October 25, 1910 Taishan, Guangdong, China 台山 In 1920, when he was 9 years old, Wong and his father emigrated to the United States, and never again came into contact with Wong's mother and sister. Tyrus was held on Angel Island initially, due to the Chinese Exclusion Act. He was separated on the island from his father, the only child in sight. "Nine years old, I was scared half to death," he said.

After his release from Angel Island, he and his father initially relocated to Sacramento, and then his father decided to move to Los Angeles.

Wong worked for Disney from 1938-1941 It was his lush pastels that served as inspiration for Bambi (1942) where he was the lead artist of the project.

Wong left Disney studios shortly after finishing Bambi, due to repercussions from the Disney animators' strike. Later, he designed popular greeting cards for Hallmark, some of his Christmas cards selling over 1 million copies.

After retiring in 1968, Wong continued to create colorful kites (usually animals such as pandas, goldfish, or centipede). He spent his Saturdays flying his creations on the Santa Monica Pier.

Excerpts from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrus_Wong

從網路的其他文章描述中你會發現黃的生活是很有趣的，他生於1910年10月25日廣東台山，1920年當他9歲那年，他和父親移居美國。但和父親分離被關在天使島.

從天使島放出來後他和父親開搬到加州薩克拉門托，然後搬到洛杉磯。

1938-1941 黃在迪斯尼負責小鹿斑比的首席藝術家。後來由於迪斯尼動畫師罷工影響,黃離開迪斯尼。後來，他設計的賀卡，一些聖誕賀卡銷售超過100萬份。

1968年退休後至今，黃熱衷於創造五顏六色的風箏（通常以動物為造型，如大熊貓，金魚或蜈蚣）。

上文節錄自:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrus_Wong

-----------------------------------

Remember Everly Brothers? If you do, OUCH, you’ve just revealed your age ----

The Everly Brothers Reunion Concert

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXkXY_BEd4Y

記得艾佛利兄弟樂團？如果你記得，哎喲，你剛剛透露出了你的年齡----

The Everly Brothers Reunion Concert 1983
1983艾佛利兄弟團圓音樂會

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXkXY_BEd4Y

Water to Paper, Paint to Sky: The Art of Tyrus Wong

August 15–February 3, 2014

- See more at: http://www.waltdisney.org/wong#sthash.2UdSjyW5.dpuf

Water to Paper, Paint to Sky: The Art of Tyrus Wong

August 15–February 3, 2014

- See more at: http://www.waltdisney.org/wong#sthash.2UdSjyW5.dpuf

Water to Paper, Paint to Sky: The Art of Tyrus Wong

August 15–February 3, 2014

- See more at: http://www.waltdisney.org/wong#sthash.2UdSjyW5.dpuf

Happy Thanksgiving

2013-11-25T15:01:00.000-08:00

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

感恩節快樂

GOBBLE, GOBBLE 咕嚕，咕嚕嚕嚕嚕咕嚕嚕嚕嚕---

每年感恩節我們火雞命就不保，我們真是憤怒鳥呀！

火雞價年年漲，我們顧客才是蠢火雞呀！

OUCH, holiday travel has arrived--

哎呀，假日擠飛機的日子又來啦----

我是火雞，叫我鴨.蠢！

叫你躲不聽，你才蠢得像火雞

感恩節火雞慘案

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

查理布朗的感恩節卡通

More Thanksgiving classics:

更多感恩節經典卡通：

Black Friday 黑色星期五

根據維基百科，自由的百科全書
According to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_%28shopping%29:

黑色星期五，顧客血拼瘋狂搶購.

The day's name originated in Philadelphia, where it originally was used to describe the heavy and disruptive pedestrian and vehicle traffic which would occur on the day after Thanksgiving. Use of the term started before 1961 and began to see broader use outside Philadelphia around 1975. Later an alternative explanation was made: that retailers traditionally operated at a financial loss from January through November, and "Black Friday" indicates the point at which retailers begin to turn a profit, or "in the black". For large retail chains like Walmart, their net income is positive starting from January 1, and Black Friday can boost their year to date net profit from $14 billion to $19 billion.

For many years, it was common for retailers to open at 6:00 a.m., but in the late 2000s many had crept to 5:00 or even 4:00. This was taken to a new extreme in 2011, when several retailers (including Target, Kohl's, Macy's, Best Buy, and Bealls) opened at midnight for the first time. In 2012, Walmart and several other retailers announced that they would open most of their stores at 8:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day (except in states where opening on Thanksgiving is prohibited due to blue laws, such as Massachusetts where they still opened around midnight), prompting calls for a walkout among some workers. Black Friday shopping is known for attracting aggressive crowds, with annual reports of assaults, shootings, and throngs of people trampling on other shoppers in an attempt to get the best deal on a product before supplies run out.

黑色星期五的名字起源於1961年美國費城，最初是用來描述發生在感恩節第二天瘋狂購物產生的嚴重的行人和交通問題。1975後這日子也成了美國聖誕新年購物促銷的起跑日.

多年以來，感恩節後許多商家提早在早上 6 點開店，但在2000年以後商家開始更提早營業，從早上 5 點，甚至 4 點。2011年，大百貨業者（Target, Kohl's, Macy's, Best Buy, and Bealls）開始在午夜開門營業， 2012年，他們宣布將在感恩節當晚 8 點開門營業. 瘋啦！

10/22/2013 Sagrada Família, Vience

2013-10-28T16:42:00.001-07:00

Test run: New Comic Series, SillyCom Alley 戱谷。 This new comic series portrays the high tech field from the viewpoint of a self proclaimed high-tech idiot. Topics focus on California Silicon Valley anecdotes and madness, including computers, mobile phones, Internet, Facebook, online dating, cloud world, etc. More to come in the future.

As always, your comments are welcomed.

測試: 新漫画系列 SillyCom Alley 戱谷。這系列漫画是描述高科技白痴戱看加州矽谷相関的趣事，包括電脳，手机，網路，臉書，網上交友，雲端世界，等等。歡迎指教。

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

http://youtu.be/GkBDRUO8hAo

A cute costume.

I did this cartoon in 1996

More about the European Cruise which we took at the beginning of October:

Sagrada Família 聖家堂

An image downloaded from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagrada_Fam%C3%ADlia

We visited this church the day before our European Cruise started in Barcelona. The church is still under construction since 1882 and is expected to be completed in 2026. Its very difficult to find a vantage point to view and grasp the full impact of the structure which is unfortunately hidden behind surrounding buildings, shops, construction cranes, fences and of course herds of tourists, including us. Therefore, I downloaded a much better picture from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

It was a humbling experience when I finally stepped into this breathtaking masterpiece. A lot of great things have been said about the design and the architect Antoni Gaudi, aka God's Architect. All I could say was simply, awesome, because I was at awe and speechless. I won't regurgitated what have been said but a short segment of CBS 60 Minutes which summarized them all the best:
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50148541n

I was blown away by Gaudi's abilities to visualize and able to express his vision into a great structure more then 100 years ago when the computer and CAD were not even born. Now the project team is using 3D software to retrace, analyze and understand Gaudi's design in order to carry out the remaining works.

We spent about 3 hours in the church as well as climbing up to one of the towers. Was 3 hours enough to appreciate Gaudi's work? Of course not, and I hope I will still be alive, kicking and be able to visit the completed church in 2026.

這個教堂1882年開始到今仍在建造，預計將在2026年完成. 建築師是有名的安東尼高迪，又名上帝的建築師. 請看哥倫比亞廣播公司“60分鐘一小段介绍他的成就： http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50148541 n

我們花了3個小時左右參觀，也上了其中一高塔。3小時夠嗎？當然不夠，我希望在2026年能够有幸参观完工後的教堂。

Where is David? 大衛是在哪裡？

The rumor started at the beginning of the cruise that David, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_%28Michelangelo%29 the favorite son and most famous man of Italy had retired from standing still in the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence and was vacationing in Europe or even joined the cruise. But, so far we had not spotted the man who wore the birthday suit in the crowd. We were ready to be disappointed but continued to look for him.

謠言說意大利人最自豪的大衛雕像已經退休，正在歐洲度假，甚至加入了我们的遊輪。但是，到目前為止，我們還沒有發現這位光身的帥哥。我們準備失望，但还繼續找他。

The last day of our 12 day cruise was visiting Venice, the world famous city on the water. After the cruise ship docked, we boarded a water shuttle and headed to the famous St Mark's Square http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piazza_San_Marco.

旅遊的最後一天，世界著名的水都威尼斯，遊輪停靠後，我們登上了小艇，前往著名的聖馬庫斯廣場。

The traffic was hectic, all types and shapes of ships, boats and yes, gondolas, were crisscrossing along the channel. I settled on the upper deck next to the skipper's cabin and I was amazed to see him gracefully navigating the boat using his feet while crouching on the captain's chair, texting on one of his three cellphones, occasionally glanced over a monitor at the side while chatting and trading jokes with the tour guide.

當時在水上交通忙亂，各類大船，小船，漁艇，还有聞名的軽舟，穿梭其間，我當時站在船長艙外面，注意到他優雅地半躺在椅上用腳掌舵，同时用三个其中的一台手机發簡訊，偶爾瞄一下側面的過顯示器，並和女導遊聊天說笑話.

Suddenly, just when the boat was ready to make a left turn toward the marina then I saw a gigantic stature sitting on the channel bank in front of St George Church.

The stature was white, huge and naked, just like ----, wow, was that David? Look at the weight it had gained, must be from eating the foods on the cruise ship.

Well, it turned out that was a 35ft-tall artwork created by Marc Quinn, a British artist, and depicts Alison Lapper, a disabled artist who was born with no arms, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alison_Lapper when she was eight months pregnant.

Obviously, this artwork created stirs and criticism from many: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/10090015/Alison-Lapper-artwork-criticised-at-Venice-Biennale.html

突然，然後我看到岸边聖喬治教堂前一座巨大白色赤裸人像, 哇，是大衛？看來他在游輪吃得太多啦. 肥得不成帥哥型了.

後來發現其實這是表揚一位無手的殘疾藝術家艾莉森的35呎高充氣座像, 顯然，這件藝術品創作引來了許多正負面的批評.

O.K. We were still on the water shuttle boat and continued being entertained by the skipper:

The skipper steered the boat toward the marina by turning left but he might have made the turn too wide so the tip of the bow did not clear the dock piling, OUCH!

此時船向碼頭左轉，但他可能弯過頭, 錯过了碼頭, 啊喲！

Instead of backing up and retry, he simply rammed the boat to the piling, using it as a pivot point, gunned the engine, pushed the boat forward while steering to the right. By doing so the stern was forced to turn left and he was able to free the bow from the piling, move forward and docked the boat successfully. Dents and scratches on the bow? NAWW, there were plenty of them already.

他居然不慌不忙的直接用船頭擠向馬頭柱樁，用它作為一個支點，加足馬力頂，促使船尾向左彎，讓船頭轉直，成功的停靠在碼頭.船頭凹了，也有刮痕，没有问题，己経有太多啦! BRAVO! 精彩

I would love to see him to parallel park a Lamborghini on dry land.

Yup, these are pics what people often see in Venice aren't they beautiful? I mean the tourists are beautiful.
啊，威尼斯景色美嗎？我的意思是說遊客們美嗎？

Can you spot us standing next to Waldo? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where%27s_Wally%3F

The tour guide said that we were lucky because Venice was often flooded. 導遊說，我們是幸運的，因為威尼斯經常像這樣的洪水氾濫。

Gondola 軽舟

When visiting Venice, gondola ride seems to be on top of any tourists' to do list and the images below made us believed that only beautiful people are in Venice.

在威尼斯坐軽舟，似乎是任何遊客的的首選. 下面的圖片是都在我們的腦海中，事实呢？自己去品嘗吧.

To find out who are these celebrities and more, check out http://www.barnorama.com/retro-glamour-celebrities-in-venice/ 這些漂亮的男女是誰呢,請上網：

O Solo Mio 我的太陽

Speaking of gondolas, images of the gondoliers serenade "O Solo Mio" come to people's mind.

According to Wikipedia:"'O sole mio" is a globally known Neapolitan song written in 1898. Its lyrics were written by Giovanni Capurro and the melody was composed by Eduardo di Capua. There are other versions of "’O sole mio" but it is usually sung in the original Neapolitan language. ’O sole mio is the Neapolitan equivalent of standard Italian Il sole mio and translates literally as "my sunshine".

Believe it or not? 信不信,由你了？

But, according to a retired gondolier, Alberto, whom I met at St Mark's Square, that the legend was not quite so romantic. His great grand papa told him that dating back between year 600 to 1000 when the vessel evolved from Maltese, Greek or Turkish for "cup" or "mussel" to the present day as we know now the gondola. During those days, life were extremely tough for the gondoliers and they often brought home next to nothing so after their kids were fed, there were hardly anything left to eat except pizzas with anchovy topping, without the pricy cheese. Out of frustration, the gondoliers belched out:

"O Sorrow Meal".

So the myth stuck. Later it became O Solo Mio, for commercial purpose.

“ 'O SOLE MIO ”是全球知名的那不勒斯浪漫歌曲寫於1898年。直譯為“我的太陽＂
但是，我在聖馬科斯廣場遇見一個退休船夫阿爾貝，他說他的曾祖父告訢他，追溯到西元600年至1000之間時，船夫們生活是非常艱難的，經常回家餵了孩子後，幾乎沒有什麼吃的，所以面對難於入口的剩飯，他們喊出了，＂啊呀，我的悲傷晚餐” 。後來，為了啇業價值，改成了浪漫的，＂啊呀，我的太陽＂.

A gondola ride or street performance by the tourists to entertain the crowd?
遊客乘坐軽舟是自娛，還是娛人？

David sighting 看到大衛啦

The rumor was true, some people reported seeing David came out of retirement and became a gondolier to supplement his retirement income.

謠言是真的，有人看到大衛成為一個船夫，以補充他的退休收入。

Other bits and pieces from our trip:
我們其他旅遊中的點點滴滴

Purto vs Terminal: When we checked out of the hotel in Barcelona downtown and hired a taxi to take us to the cruise terminal. The taxi driver spoke no English nor do we speak Spanish but it seemed he understood where we were going. The taxi traveled though the city streets and onto a freeway then I suddenly saw the freeway entry sign said: Airport. Wow, he was taking us to the airport instead of the port, AHHHHGH!

We managed to make him got off the freeway, parked at a side street nearby and started primitive communications by hand gestures and pointing at the map. Then we realized that when we said cruise terminal, what he heard was the word "terminal" which in Spanish meant airport. A cruise terminal is a port or Purto in Spanish for harbor, cruise terminal in Spanish is terminal de cruceros.

Fortunately, we realized the misunderstanding early without paying too much extra Euro but the lesson was priceless.

在巴塞罹那市中心上了計程車, 由於語言不通，我們要去港口上船，他差一奌把我們送去了機場.

Piracy at high sea: WiFi on the cruise ship for causal users cost 75 cents per minute or $45 per hour. I brought along my iPad and iPhone but I refused to pay the ransom, so for days I became a nonperson who was disconnected from the world unless I could find a MacDonald or Starbucks at ports which might have free WiFi access. However, the last two days of the cruise, I needed to find out if BART would be on strike which might affect my plan to go home so I reluctantly gave in and signed on to the satellite WiFi to get some information. I logged on, downloaded emails, searched the keywords for BART STRIKE. As soon as I glanced through the headlines, I immediately logged out because I learned that BART won't go on strike yet. The user log detailed my usage which showed that I spent 10 minutes, or $7.50 and downloaded a puny 11.6 MB of data, OUCH!

海盜行為：在邮輪上上網是敲竹槓，一分鈡要 0.75 美元或是45 美元一鈡頭，這不是海盗搶劫？

Homeward bound: We flew Air Canada home which made a stopover at Toronto. We were surprised to have to process through US Custom and Immigration during transit. No fellow passengers could answer my questions:

1. Were agents working at the check points citizens of US or Canada?
2. Once cleared the procedure, were we entering into US territory and the remaining flight from Toronto to San Francisco became a domestic flight?
3. When we landed in San Francisco International Airport, we were directed to pick up our luggage at Luggage Claim no. 3, Domestic Flights arrival, which seemed to have answered my last question.

I dared not to question the agents there in Toronto for fear of being suspected as a terrorist with a big mouth.

我們坐加航航班回程在加拿大多倫多轉机。我們很驚訝的在機場居然辦理美國海關和入境手續，我的疑問是：

1。官員们是美國或加拿大公民？ 2。我們是否己经進入美國境內，從多倫多飛往舊金山的航班，成為是美國國內航班？ 3。我們降落時，被指定向3號国内航班台取行李，這似乎已經回答了我的上一個問題。

我不敢問在多倫多的官員，怕被懷疑為大嘴巴的恐佈份子。

Returned home on October 14 and we were glad that BART was not on strike. But, US Government remained shot down, impasse on the Debt Ceiling and Budget were still being played out by the politicians. Then I watched this piece, Washington's open secret: Profitable PACs on CBS 60 Minutes http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50157523n which aired last week.

Aren't we, US Citizens, had enough and should start to do the right thing?

10月14日, 回到家了，很幸運 BART 还没有罷工。但是，美國政府還關門，国債問题没下落，政客們还在玩，雖然後來解决了，但我看到了這一段 CBS 60分鐘的報導：＂華盛頓的公開的秘密＂，非常憤怒.
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50157523n

我們美国公民是否應該開始做正確的事情嗎？

Home sweet home

Wife said:" Take out the garbage"

Leaning tower of Pisa and more

2013-10-15T13:52:00.000-07:00

We have just returned from a European cruise and one of the highlights of the trip was visiting the

Leaning Tower of Pisa

比薩斜塔

我們剛從歐洲郵輪之旅回來，旅途精點之一是參觀了世界有名的比薩斜塔

The mystery of the tower, what causes it to stay leaning for hundreds of years?

You may have seen and read theories why the tower is leaning and I won't bore you with the same hearsay, let me present my findings after visiting many ruins and digging up historical documents in Rome.

I found a document which recorded that in 13th century a fitness craze swept through the town of Pisa and runners were often stretching and warming up their bodies by pressing against the base of the tower thus asserting great pressure to the tower for hundreds of years.

神秘的斜塔，是什麼原因導致它傾斜了幾百年？

13世紀時跑步健身熱潮席捲比薩城，人們經常撐著塔柱做熱身所以對塔身有很大的壓力，過了幾百年就把塔推歪了.

A recent unearthed construction field memo recorded that one important day when concrete columns of the tower were to be erected and the Architect Luigi was on site directing the works by using hand signals.

Just when the concrete was beginning to pour, a gorgeous woman walked by the field which caused stir and roars among the all men construcion crew. Architect Luigi could not contain himself but reacted instinctively, just like an Italian man would naturally do, by whistling and waving his hands to show his admiration for the beauty. The half dazed workers misinterpreted his hand signals and adjusted the final positions of the columns accordingly, which were slightly off the plumb line.

我意外的發現了一頁施工記錄，記載著在那個很重要的日子，建築師路易吉在現場用手信號指揮混凝土灌注豎立塔柱.

當混凝土剛開始灌注的時刻，一個婀娜多姿的美女正巧経過，所有工人都看傻眼了，七魂六魄都去了九霄雲外，同時，就如義大利男人對看到美女的正常反应，路易吉很自然的对該美女揮舞雙手，吹口哨, 現場工人在如醉如癡中曲解了他的手勢，調整了塔柱的最終位置，但不知卻稍微偏離了垂直綫。水泥乾了才發現柱子歪了，路易吉從此成了設計歪塔的千古罪人.

後來，歷史學家確認這位讓路易吉神不守舍的女人原來是現在蘇菲亞羅蘭的曾曾曾祖母。

Later, historians have identified the attractive woman to be the great great great grandmother of Sophia Loren.

Recent discovery of a picture of the architect Luigi which showed that the architect was born with an unique set of eyes. That was the proof that the tower was designed and constructed straight and level, according to the Architect's line of sight. That evidence should clear his bad name for ogling a woman at the construction site and caused the tower to be leaning.

最近新發現了一幅路易吉的畫像，發現他有異於常人的視力，所以從他的長相可以看出當時他的計是正常的所以和他色迷迷地盯著一個女人造成塔傾斜的罪名無関.

So the tower was doomed at very beginning.

Other fun pics about the tower,

危險，下跌遊客。

去呀，現在沒人等上廁所.

不急，我不想溼了腳.

導遊說，我們的身體應在24小時內恢復正常。

我希望如此。

The leaning tower of Pisa may not be the only leanest towers in the world. Other contenders are trying to claim the title, such as:

Two German churches have challenged the tower's status as the world's most lop-sided building: the 15th-century square Leaning Tower of Suurhusen and the 14th century bell tower in the town of Bad Frankenhausen.^[21] Guinness World Records measured the Pisa and Suurhusen towers, finding the former's tilt to be 3.97 degrees.^[22]

In June 2010 Guinness World Records certified the Capital Gate building in Abu Dhabi, UAE as the "World's Furthest Leaning Man-made Tower".^[23] The tower has an 18-degree slope, almost five times more than the Pisa Tower; however the Capital Gate tower has been deliberately engineered to slant. The Leaning Tower of Wanaka in New Zealand, also deliberately built, leans at 53 degrees to the ground.^[24]

比薩斜塔可能是唯一在世界上最歪的塔。其他的競爭者都想把它比下去，如：德國15世紀的廣場斜塔 Tower of Suurhusen，第14世紀的 Bad Frankenhausen。

2010年6月在阿布達比，首都門大廈，金氏世界紀錄認證為“世界上最歪的人造塔斜塔＂.

Hyatt Capital Gate Abu Dhabi

In my opinion, the design could have been inspired by $$$:

在我看來，設計靈感來自於錢堆

OK, enough for crooked facts, let's face the more serious business around us.

說了一堆東倒西歪的趣事，讓老朽談些有関在美国正在發生的民間趣事.

October 16th is Boss's Day, did you remember to buy your wife a gift?

你知道明天10月16日是慶祝老闆曰，男士們, 你還記得替你的妻子們，自家的大老闆，買禮物嗎？

Do you know, in addition to the national holidays, there are less well known days in October being observed/celebrated by some of us, such as:

International Day of Older Persons: 1
Vodka Day: 4 Link
You Matter To Me Day: 7 Link
National Face Your Fears Day: 8 (2nd Tuesday)
National Coming Out Day: 11
World Egg Day (2nd Friday): 11 Link
National Kick Butt Day: 14 Link (Second Monday)
National Grouch Day: 15
Hagfish Day: 16 (3rd Wednesday) Link
Wear Something Gaudy Day: 17
Birth of the Bab: 20
Chucky, The Notorious Killer Doll Day: 25 Link
Cranky Co-workers Day: 27
Create A Great Funeral Day: 30 Link

According to the source of the above list http://www.brownielocks.com/october.htm
I counted that there are 176 special days in October alone. Don't ask me how they would be able to observe and celebrate all the special days in the month of October which has only 31 calendar days.

根據http://www.brownielocks.com/october.htm,我數了數，單單在10月，有176個特殊的日子。但你我都知道，10 月只有 31 天，如何能慶祝所有的特殊日呢？不必太認真啦.

Also, October 1 is the birthday of People's Republic of China and October 10 is the birthday of the Republic of China, aka, Double 10th Day, and of course, the Halloween is on the 31st.

此外， 10月1日是中華人民共和國的生日，10月10日是中華民國國慶，又名雙十節，當然，別忘了萬聖節或鬼日是10月31 日。

However, while the poor worker bees have often been suggested and steered by the greedy card/gift hawkers to "celebrate" the Boss' Day or some would appropriately call it a kiss axx day, how many of us actually know there is an Employee's Day or Employee Appreciation Day on the 1st Friday of March? http://www.recognition.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=495

Now is October, have you ever received a card, gift from the boss or get a day off? Dream on.

然而，可憐的上班族往往被貪婪卡/禮品商人暗示要替老闆慶祝和送禮，俗稱舔屁屁日，但有多少人知道有一個員工日，就是3月的第一個星期五？ http://www.recognition.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=495

現在是10月了，你有沒有從老闆那裏收到一張賀卡，或放一天假？美夢耶.

HMMM, its my humble opinion that the Boss' Day and Halloween should be combined and celebrated together. After all, don't you agree that only the bosses are having fun giving treats or tricks to their employees, anyway their hearts desire?

假如，老闆日和鬼日併一天來慶祝，是誰會被整呢？

Throughout my working life, I have been bossed around and I never liked it. So the only way I could fight back is to try to poke fun on the companies. Some of the bosses did not take it lightly which obviously negatively affected my career advancement but a few of them do understand my wacky sense of humors were, just harmless humors.

Years ago, I worked for United Airlines as a Facility Architect at its corporate office in Chicago and one of my projects were to create a security partition for the safety of the CEO and his senior staffs. I created the following cartoons, Life behind the glass curtain. The cartoons were only shared with many of my close colleagues.

One day a senior security officer of the company visited me and asked me for a better copy of the cartoons because his copy was a copy of many generations of bad copies. I was shocked to learn that my cartoons had been wildly distributed quietly among the employees. He told me that CEO Ferris had a copy and thought these cartoons were funny and often shared with his staff and friends. I asked the officer if the CEO knew who did these cartoons and he says yes. OUCH! but I was not fired over this incident.

Dick Ling’s Wacky World of Cartooning 林哲的漫畫

Sagrada Família, Vience

Sagrada Família 聖家堂

旅遊的最後一天，世界著名的水都威尼斯，郵輪停靠後，我們登上了小艇，前往著名的聖馬庫斯廣場。

Suddenly, just when the boat was ready to make a left turn toward the marina then I saw a gigantic stature sitting on the channel bank in front of St George Church. The stature was white, huge and naked.

Wow, was that David? Look at the weight it gained, must be from the foods on board of the cruise ship.

Well, it turned out it was a 35ft-tall artwork created by Marc Quinn, a British artist, and depicts Alison Lapper,a disabled artist who was born with no arms, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alison_Lapper when she was eight months pregnant.

Obviously, this artwork created stirs and criticism from many: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/10090015/Alison-Lapper-artwork-criticised-at-Venice-Biennale.html

O.K. We were still on the water shuttle boat and continued being entertained by the skipper:

BRAVO! 精彩

I would love to see him to parallel park a Lamborghini on dry land.

Yup, these are pics what people often see in Venice aren't they beautiful? I mean the tourists.

啊，威尼斯景色美嗎？我的意思是說遊客們美嗎？

The tour guide said that we were lucky because Venice was often flooded. 導遊說，我們是幸運的，因為威尼斯經常像這樣的洪水氾濫。

Believe it or not? 信不信,由你了？

Gondola 軽舟

When visiting Venice, gondola ride seems to be on any tourists' to do list. Before we left, the images below were on our minds, beautiful people are in Venice. 在威尼斯坐軽舟，似乎是任何遊客的的首選. 下面的圖片是都在我們的腦海中，事实呢？自己去品嘗吧.

To find out who are these celebrities, check out http://www.barnorama.com/retro-glamour-celebrities-in-venice/ 這些漂亮的男女是誰呢,請上網：

O Solo Mio 我的太陽

Speaking of gondolas, images of the gondoliers serenade O Solo Mio comes to people's mind.

"O Sorrow Meal".

So the tradition stuck but later it became O Solo Mia, for commercial purpose.

O Solo Meal 這是我的午餐。

A gondola ride or street performance by the tourists to entertain the crowd?

遊客乘坐軽舟是自娛，還是娛人？

The rumor was true, some people reported seeing David came out of retirement and became a gondolier to supplement his retirement income.

謠言是真的，有人看到大衛成為一個船夫，以補充他的退休收入。

Other bits and pieces from our trip:

我們其他旅遊中的點點滴滴

海盜行為：在邮輪上上網是敲竹槓，一分鈡要 0.75 美元或是45 美元一鈡頭，這不是海盗搶劫？

Homebound:We took Air Canada flights home which made a stopover at Toronto. We were surprised to have to process through US Custom and Immigration at the airport. No fellow passengers could answer my questions:

1. Were agents working at the check points citizens of US or Canada?

2. Once cleared the procedure, were we entering into US territory and the remaining flight from Toronto to San Francisco became a domestic flight?

3. When we landed, we were directed to pick up our luggage at Luggage Claim no. 3, Domestic Flights, which seemed to have answered my last question.

I dared not to ask the agents there for fear of being suspected as a terrorist with a big mouth.

我們採取了加航航班回程在加拿大多倫多轉机。我們很驚訝的在機場居然辦理美國海關和入境手續，我的疑問是：

Stickers/emojis for Halloween

To my friends

Happy New Year of the Monkey, 恭禧發財, Super Bowl and more.

Monkey (zodiac)

Years and the Five Elements

Chinese Zodiac Monkey

Personality

The myth of the three wise monkeys

3-D printed Turkey

Things you may not know about 'A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving'

Gillian Pensavalle (@GillianWithaG) tells you some fun facts you may not know about Charlie Brown Thanksgiving; Check out this story on USATODAY.com: http://usat.ly/1ji9BQ6

Halloween 2015

The road untraveled, an article by Ada Tseng,

Happy 4th of July, OULUUUU and Meow

Happy Father's Day, American Selfie, Persistence of Time

9 Funny Father’s Day Jokes for Dad

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY, The Woks is 35 years old and more

Kim Jong Un Debuts Sculptured New Haircut And Trimmed Eyebrows

Fresh off the boat, Potstickers, Happy New Year of the Ram 喜羊羊 andHappy Valentine's Day

Fresh Off the Boat Series Premiere Review: Stop Being Uppity and Just Laugh By Tim Surette

Happy Holidays

Happy Thanksgiving, It's time to talk turkey

SCAAARY---------

幾年前所作有關萬聖節的漫畫 Old and vintage Halloween cartoons which I did years ago:

Woman says to the kid:" Cute gorilla costume".

Kid says to his father after Treat or Trick:" Cool human costume, Dad".

United States elections, 2014 November elections

美國大選，2014年中期選舉

27,000 Vote-By-Mail Envelopes Sent To Berkeley Voters Have Wrong Election Date, OUCH!加州柏克萊發送選民郵件信封上的投票日居然錯了，哎喲！

The "lost" trip to Russia and more

Happy Birthday Prince George and secret Royal pictures

Queen is expected to attend Prince George's birthday party

Clarence House distances itself from rumors that George’s grandmother, Carole Middleton, hosted a rival Peter Rabbit-themed party

Happy 4th of July and the day after

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/07/03/fun-facts-for-july-4/

Happy Father's Day, California June Elections and more

護照遭兒塗鴉 中國爸困韓國

A Chinese Ming Vase for a Father's Day gift?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3e0yZCLjwfU

The Father's Day Spending Gap: Why Does Mom Always Win?

This Mother's Day gift idea arrives a little late but I am sure she would love to have one at any day.

This is the real Iron Chef in action.

More fun pics about fathers which were download from the web:

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Suddenly, just when the boat was ready to make a left turn toward the marina then I saw a gigantic stature sitting on the channel bank in front of St George Church.

The stature was white, huge and naked.

護照遭兒塗鴉中國爸困韓國