Bridge's Garden
Seven sneezes in a row A cold touch burns my soul.
Wednesday, February 16, 2022
Saturday, October 16, 2021
My human's big toe
Fatefully I saw my human's big toe
Indulge itself by breathing on the floor
Like a princess ambling along the shore
Suddenly understood Paris' feeling
The beauty of Helen was appealing
There was nothing could stop Paris or me
Except the vacuum which still makes me flee
Leap of faith to the apple of my eye
After a wiggle I jumped extra high
Let love be in my paws happy and warm
Like a ship in its harbor fears no storm
I heard my human's cheers joyful and loud
I remember the vows of love I meowed
Saturday, July 24, 2021
艾吉尔的萨迦
作者:Snorri Sturluson
英译本翻译:Green, W. C. (1893)
汉译本翻译:乔光宇
第一话
早睡狼和他的孩子们
曾有一人名狼,父名狼皮,母名熊女,外公之名亦为狼,号胆包天,娘舅则是海拉夫尼斯塔(今挪威拉姆斯塔,是大西洋岸边的一个峡湾口的小岛。)的熊身巨魔仔,而其娘舅之子则名叫凯特勒·海因。狼生得高大强壮,一时无双,年轻时以出海打劫为业。和他一起打劫的那伙人中有一人,名叫凯利,来自伯德拉(今挪威巴勒岛。),勇名赫赫,是个披着熊皮袄的狂战士。此二人腹心相照,声气相求,为刎颈之交。
后来他俩洗手不再打劫,凯利回了伯德拉,成了一个大富豪。凯利膝下两男一女,一男名艾闻多,号羊羔,另一男名奥维,号驼背,女儿则名叫莎儿彪珂。莎儿彪珂志行高洁、明艳无双,后来嫁给了狼,住在狼家。话说那狼,有鸦飞不过的田宅,有堆积如山的金银,还继承了祖先的男爵爵位(lendr maðr,古代挪威国王卫队成员的爵位,通常视为等同英国爵位中的男爵。),和祖先一样,是个了不起的人物。狼是个勤谨的富家翁,每日家早早起身,先去工人和铁匠那里巡视一番,又去看看庄稼和农田,若有人向他求教,他便指点一二。狼颇有智,样样都懂,总是一语中窍。夜幕降临后,狼就不答理人了,因为狼喜欢早早睡觉。总是这么早就睡了,加上身板雄健如狼,故而众人号之曰:早睡狼。
早睡狼夫妇膝下两男。长男名索洛夫,次男名格里木。索洛夫长相随其母,丰神俊朗,勇敢过人,相处常使人忘忧,为人慷慨,做事热情洋溢,买卖精明,为众人所爱。格里木则长相随其父,皮肤黝黑,形貌丑陋,思维也很像其父,买卖精明,雅善伐木、掘铁矿,打铁手艺更是出类拔萃。通常,在冬天时,格里木领众家臣捕鲱鱼。
索洛夫不觉二十岁,已可去打劫了。早睡狼给了索洛夫一艘长船。伯德拉的凯利家的二子——艾闻多和奥维,领人众,乘一艘长船来入伙。夏天他们出海,打劫财物,然后把战利品分掉。接下来的几年里,他们夏天一起出海打劫,冬天各自回家陪伴各自的父母。索洛夫带回家大量财宝,都献给了父母,使父母不仅富上加富,声名也更为赫赫。早睡狼渐渐老去,膝下两男都已长大成人。
第二话
当时峡湾地区的国王是奥彪,宇下曾有一个伯爵(jarl,习惯上认为等同于英国爵位系统中的伯爵。实际权力地位相当于英国的公爵,为诸侯国君主。古代挪威,国王以下为伯爵,伯爵以下为男爵。)名叫赫罗艾德。赫罗艾德传位其子索里。
索里传位其子瘦子阿特里。瘦子阿特里住在高拉(在挪威高拉河畔某处。),膝下三男一女,三男分别名叫:豪斯登、赫尔墨斯登、哈斯登,女儿名叫素薇,号美人。
有一年秋天,众人聚于高拉,参加祭祀节日。驼背奥维遇美人素薇于高拉,遂献殷勤。其后,奥维向她求婚。不过伯爵觉得,如此未免委屈了女儿,乃拒之。奥维对素薇魂牵梦绕,不愿再出海打劫,羊羔艾闻多和索洛夫只好丢下他自行出海。此后,奥维不觉写了很多情诗。
第三话
哈拉德继承其父黑脸丹麦仔的王位。哈拉德发誓说:一日不一统挪威,一日不理发(不修剪不梳理)。于是众人号之曰:蓬首。哈拉德先攻邻国,成功地征服了接壤诸国,接下来便开始远征。他将高地地区(在挪威首都奥斯陆的北面。)纳入囊中,继续北进,兵锋直指特隆赫姆,一路征战,征服了整个特伦德拉格地区。
接下来,哈拉德北上纳姆丹(挪威纳姆森河的河谷地区,位于挪威中部。),攻纳姆丹的国王哈罗伊和赫罗洛奇两兄弟。二王知哈拉德将至,哈罗伊走进用三个冬天建造的坟丘,杜墓门,从死之士十二。赫罗洛奇则弃王位,自贬为伯爵,向哈拉德降顺,成了哈拉德宇下的封臣。自此,哈拉德征服了纳姆丹和霍努伽兰(位于挪威纳姆森河的河谷地区与林因峡湾之间,为挪威最北端。),将土地分封。
之后,哈拉德引军登船南下,奇袭默勒和鲁姆斯达尔(今挪威默勒-鲁姆斯达尔郡,在挪威西部地区的最北端。)。
北默勒和鲁姆斯达尔的国王是罗圈腿索维,其父胡尼奥夫。索维不战而走,奔南默勒,向南默勒的国王安维阿求救。其辞曰:“今以兵窘寡人者,不日亦将窘大王矣。寡人知哈拉德之欲,非区区北默勒和鲁姆斯达尔所能填。大王若欲保全财产与自由,则必与寡人同气相求,亦将遣使四邻而求救矣。苟如此,寡人愿为大王前驱,同抗哈拉德之横暴。或曰,大王或效纳姆丹王之迎降,自贬为臣仆,屈身作封臣。先王曾有言曰,与其临老而为臣,何如戴王冠而一死。寡人以为,天下勇健,所见略同,故敢布腹心。”
安维阿以为然,决心集结兵力,迎战哈拉德。安维阿与索维会盟,又遣使至峡湾地区的国王奥彪处,求其参战。奥彪与众商议,许之,遣使全国征兵,招宇下诸贵族引兵来赴。
王使来至早睡狼前,令早睡狼引全部家臣,急赴此役。早睡狼答曰:“境内有警,引兵赴之,固臣之职事也。北上默勒,赴他国之戎,恐非臣之职事也。故臣将安坐家中,不赴此役。臣以为,不可举兵与蓬首哈拉德为敌。此人运势极强,恐非吾王所能当。”
使者只得回报国王:早睡狼安坐家中,不肯出兵。
第四话
奥彪引兵北上,至南默勒,与安维阿、罗圈腿索维合兵一处,军容甚壮。哈拉德引军南下,两军合战于索蟹儿岛(今挪威默勒-鲁姆斯达尔郡艾于勒市辖区,岛屿面积约为5平方公里。)。双方一场鏖战,皆死伤惨重。联军一方,国王安维阿与国王奥彪阵亡,国王索维逃走,此后成为大海盗,往来劫掠哈拉德的领地,摧夷甚多,众人号之曰:罗圈腿。哈拉德一方则二伯爵阵亡,其名为阿斯伽尤图、阿斯彪,哈孔那伯爵之二子阵亡,其名为格鲁特伽旅、哈佬驹,此外还有很多壮士阵亡。哈拉德遂有南默勒。
奥彪的兄弟维蒙都继位为峡湾地区之王。时已入秋,众人劝谏哈拉德:秋潮已至,不宜南下。哈拉德使容恩奥伯爵镇默勒和鲁姆斯达尔,大部分军力仍自己统领。
那年秋天,阿特里的三个儿子引众在驼背奥维的居所设伏,只差一点点就取了驼背奥维的性命。驼背奥维见众寡不敌,便逃之夭夭。他逃到默勒,觐见哈拉德,向他效忠。哈拉德引军北归特隆赫姆,驼背奥维与哈拉德同行,不觉成为哈拉德最亲密的朋友。此后很长时间,驼背奥维一直都在哈拉德身边,成了哈拉德的宫廷诗人。
那年冬天,容恩奥伯爵引兵从一条名叫“艾以”的海路旁路南下,遣间谍侦察国王维蒙都的行踪,知其在奈于斯特达尔宴饮。于是夜袭,围其屋而纵火,焚杀维蒙都及其麾下九十人。此后, 伯德拉的凯利引满满一长船的人众归附容恩奥伯爵,与伯爵一起北归默勒。容恩奥伯爵俘获了国王维蒙都所有的船只和所有能找到的财宝。随后,伯德拉的凯利北上特隆赫姆,觐见哈拉德,向他效忠。
第二年春天,哈拉德引军登船,沿海岸线南下,征服那些峡湾和山区,将土地分封。原来的峡湾地区王国被分封给赫鲁奥伯爵。
哈拉德对投奔他的男爵和大地主非常谨慎,常怀疑这些人可能背叛。投奔他的男爵和大地主有两种结果,或者被哈拉德收为封臣,或者被放逐到国外,有时候还会有第三种结果,即被处刑——或被斩断一肢,或被处死。 哈拉德宣称:所有世代传承的土地,所有已开垦或可开垦的耕地以及所有海洋和淡水湖都属于国王,所有地主都是国王的封臣,所有森林里的人、盐工、猎户、渔户,不管是在陆地上还是在海洋里谋生,都要服国王的役。
很多人逃去国外,避此暴政。逃亡者开垦了海外的荒地,比如耶姆特兰(在瑞典北部)和海尔辛兰(在瑞典中部)的东部地区、西方土地(挪威西面的诸岛屿)、赫布里底群岛、爱尔兰的都柏林、苏格兰的凯瑟尼斯、不列颠的设得兰。冰岛就是那时候被发现的。
第五话
哈拉德系舟于峡湾地区,遣使招那些哈拉德有意招揽但尚未来觐见的当地人物来觐见。
使者至早睡狼处,早睡狼善遇之。使者阐明来意,言哈拉德招早睡狼觐见之事。使者说:“公家世有勇名,绵延至公,此王所素闻。王有富贵,愿与天下勇健共之,此王之素愿。公疾入见,王将荣公。”
早睡狼辞以老朽,衰躯既不能战亦不能乘舟。言:“愚唯安坐家中耳,实无力事君王。”
使者说:“仆观公子高大,必勇武之人。何如遣公子一行?”又对格里木说:“公子事王,王必封公子男爵。”
格里木辞之曰:“不肖已事家父,家父即吾主。吾主在,不敢受他人封赏。”
使者将早睡狼父子之言回报哈拉德。哈拉德郁郁沉吟,问曰:“此志行高洁乎?此心有异志乎?”
驼背奥维在旁,劝哈拉德不必动怒,言:“臣愿一行,明吾王心意,必能说早睡狼来见。”
驼背奥维来至早睡狼处,告诉说:哈拉德愠怒,若父子皆不觐见,则祸将至;若觐见,则享尊荣。驼背奥维还告诉早睡狼父子:哈拉德为人慷慨,从之者得富贵,非虚言。
早睡狼回答说:“愚父子事王,兆皆不祥,故不愿行。唯索洛夫吉于远行,惜夏不在家,愿遣其事王。愚于王,是友非敌,奉愚号令之人,皆于王是友非敌。愚愿事王如事前王。若王能容愚,则愚之忠心,日久自见。愿公布愚心于王前。”
奥维返回,告诉哈拉德:早睡狼有另一子更出色,只是不在家,将遣另一子来见。哈拉德便将此事放下。夏,哈拉德前往内陆的松恩;秋,哈拉德去特隆赫姆。
第六话
秋,早睡狼之子索洛夫和羊羔艾闻多海上打劫归来。索洛夫来至父亲身边,父子一番深谈。
索洛夫问父亲,哈拉德遣使,所为何事。早睡狼告诉说:国王要求父子中一人觐见并效力麾下。
“当时父亲如何回答?”索洛夫问道。
“愚父以实话告知,愚父不愿效力国王,亦不希望二儿效力国王。概因愚父以为,愚父子效力国王之回报,除了毁灭以外别无他物。”
“此事,”索洛夫说,“儿以为不然。儿以为效力国王可得富贵。儿愿觐见国王,效力麾下。若儿所闻传言为真,则国王卫队乃天下勇健,骁锐海内无双,与其同游,加入其中,实儿之愿。儿亦听闻,国王对麾下赏赐极丰,苟能立功,拔擢分封亦毫不犹豫。儿还得知,不肯加入,拒绝觐见者,都已赤贫,有些乘桴浮于海,有些沦为佣工。儿素知父亲,明智进取之人也,国王礼请而不应者何也?若父亲已得神谕,知国王将不利吾家,则其为吾家之敌,而前王招父亲参战时,父亲又因何拒绝?既不与其为敌,又不与其为友,何也?”
“因为,”早睡狼回答说,“愚父当时已预知,北上默勒迎战蓬首哈拉德,必不能胜;现在,愚父亦同样预知,事哈拉德将大伤吾家。索洛夫,此事汝可自作决定。汝之勇力已能和人间最强者比肩,愚父不担心汝是否够格进国王卫队。只是要小心,凡事不可逾矩,不可犯上,不可胆小怕事,当然愚父知汝非胆小之人。
索洛夫决定觐见国王。早睡狼依依惜别,一路相送至船。在船上,父子拥抱而别离。早睡狼祝祷,愿索洛夫一路顺风,父子早日再见。
第七话
彪高夫一家
霍努伽兰曾有一人名叫彪高夫,住在托伽(现挪威诺尔兰郡布伦讷于市的托格岛),是个男爵,富而勇健。此人力大无穷,身材高大,好似山丘巨人的孩子。有一子,名布林优夫,肖其父。彪高夫渐渐年老,妻子去世,便将产业交给儿子打理,自又续弦一妻,妻名叫海尔伽,父亲是海拉夫尼斯塔的凯特勒·海因。彪高夫与续弦之妻膝下一男,名叫宝维。宝维高大英俊,是勇敢之士。
某年秋,众人聚而宴饮。彪高夫父子是那场盛宴的贵宾。入夜时,按照古老的习俗,他们抽签结伴同饮。当时宾客中有一人名叫赫格尼,在莱卡(今挪威特伦德拉格郡莱卡市)有一农庄,其人巨富、英俊、机智,只是出身低微,是白手起家的。赫格尼有一女极美,名叫希尔德莉娅,抽签结果正好与彪高夫同饮。那夜,二人畅谈甚欢,老爷子爱上了美丽的少女。之后席散无话。
就在那年秋天,彪高夫引三十人,登上自己的一艘小船,离家而行。船至莱卡,留十人守船,自引二十人前行。行至赫格尼的农庄,赫格尼出屋欢迎,邀彪高夫及其麾下人众入屋歇脚。彪高夫接受了邀请,引众入屋。在屋里,他们脱下旅行装,着斗篷。赫格尼下令,蒙伽酒(酒名mungát,字面意思是悦口之物。挪威的古老啤酒,至今仍存。)伺候,又使主人之女希尔德莉娅,亲为宾客斟酒。
彪高夫称赫格尼为好人赫格尼,开口说:“不才此行之意,愿娶贵千金归家,若得首肯,愿行婚礼于此。”
赫格尼无奈,只得如其所愿。彪高夫以一盎司黄金为聘,娶希尔德莉娅,带她回到托伽。长子布林优夫对此婚事不悦。
彪高夫与希尔德莉娅膝下二男,一名郝乐库,一名海乐库。
此后不久,彪高夫去世,遗躯还没下葬,希尔德莉娅母子三人就遭布林优夫驱逐。希尔德莉娅归莱卡,将二子养育成人。她的两个儿子都容貌英俊、身材不高、天生机智、肖母系亲属。众人称之为:希尔德莉娅二子。布林优夫完全不理睬他们,没有分给他们任何遗产。希尔德莉娅是赫格尼的继承人,故而母子三人继承了赫格尼的家产,住在莱卡,家豪富。彪高夫的另一子宝维和希尔德莉娅二子不觉都已长大成人。一直以来,彪高夫和其子布林优夫执掌去芬兰的关口,负责检查来往人众并征收关税。
在霍努伽兰的北境,有一个名叫韦夫斯尼(在挪威诺尔兰郡韦夫斯恩市)的峡湾,峡湾中有个岛屿,名叫阿洛斯[现挪威阿尔斯腾岛(Alsten)]。其岛广大,土地肥沃,上有一农庄,名叫桑内西。那里有一人,名叫西格德,为挪威北境首富。此人是男爵,慧而有智,膝下一女,名叫西格莉娅,身为当地首富的独生女,被众人视为霍努伽兰最佳求婚对象。
彪高夫的次子宝维引三十人,乘一小舟离家,北行至阿洛斯,来到桑内西,拜访西格德。宝维阐明来意,向西格莉娅求婚。西格德喜而许之。于是订婚,约次年夏结婚。约定来年夏,宝维北上迎娶西格莉娅。
第八话
第十话
索洛夫在芬马克(现属于挪威特罗姆斯-芬马克郡)
冬天,索洛夫引至少九十名家臣前往山区,而习惯上,地方长官出行时的随从不超过三十人。索洛夫带了很多贸易品。索洛夫和芬人会面,接受芬人的贡赋,和芬人互市。尽管一切都进行得很友善,芬人仍然心怀畏惧。
索洛夫在芬马克四处旅行,至东部山区,得知有个名叫奇林伽的人,引众从东来,目的是和芬人贸易,不过若有打劫的机会也不会放过。索洛夫遣芬人侦知奇林伽的行踪,亲引兵追袭。在一个山洞里堵住三十名奇林伽的部下,尽杀之,无一人得脱,之后又遇到十五人至二十人一股的奇林伽的其余部下,亦尽杀之。前后所杀近百人,虏获大量财物。此后入春,索洛夫引众返回。索洛夫来到桑内西的宅邸,在那里度过春天。索洛夫下令建造一艘巨大的长船,船首有一龙首雕刻,装饰极尽华丽。造好后,索洛夫即乘此巨船南归。
索洛夫从霍努伽兰收集了大量物资,又派遣家臣捕鲱鱼及各种鱼类,那里有很多海豹,故而还狩猎海豹,此外还搜集鸟蛋,如此收集了很多食物。在索洛夫家中,曾为奴后被释的自由民的数量从来没有少于百人。索洛夫非常慷慨,喜欢结交勇士,家附近的勇健之士,皆与索洛夫为友。索洛夫不觉成为一个豪强。索洛夫还很在意船只、器具、武器,诸物无不精良。
翌日,驼背奥维来见亲人索洛夫,二人相谈。奥维告诉索洛夫,其被中伤,诽谤之言已入王心。索洛夫求奥维助己向国王辩解,“若,”索洛夫说,“吾王信奸人之言,不信鄙人之真诚,则鄙人难以自辩于王前。”
Monday, July 12, 2021
Shrimp gravy
I am very into a Viking song named My Mother Told Me. Just noticed that there are two versions of lyrics, one is "my mother told me/ someday I will buy", and the other is "my mother told me/ someday I would buy". Will or would, I'm confused. Which one is grammatical?
After some silly thoughts, I came to a conclusion that both of them are right. Lyrics omit punctuation. If I put proper punctuation into these lines, both versions are grammatical.
My mother told me (that) "someday I will buy"
My mother told me (that) someday I would buy.
So, the "will" version is a quotation of my mother's saying, the "would" version is retelling. Ha~Wait, still not right. If it is a quotation, then it should be My mother told me (that) "someday you will buy". So I was fooled by my silly thoughts again.
So the would version makes more sense.
Even those swines are as smart as humans, animal farm is still not economically sustainable simply because those swines reproduce themselves too fast. Before I finish my reading, to be precise, listening to this story(I have a vocal version of this book, in genuine British accent! How lovely!), Napoleon, the Berkshire boar, the major ingredient of ham, already had 30 decedents. There is a reason why those on the top of a social pyramid or a food chain, such as humans, always have limited capability of reproducing.
Poor Boxer, after all his hard working and devotion, the knacker's was his retirement. Poor Boxer, he had always trusted anything those swines told him. Blindly Trusting might be something as deadly as curiosity to cats. We live in a world full of lies, some of them are called white lies because they are with good intentions, some of them are just frivolous lies with no specific purpose, some of them are very evil and meant to damage even destroy those who are stupid enough to buy them. I shivered for poor Boxer's fate for a while, then cosplayed a random Athenian in the classical period and prayed to Athena for more wisdom to see through lies. This silly praying thing soothed me and brought me courage. May wisdom and bless from the classical world be my hoplon.
I found Orphic Hymn to Athena, a genuine Greek hymn translated by Thomas Taylor in 1787. In this hymn, there were so many words I didn't know. Oh my, by the two mighty dictionaries named Cambridge Dictionary and Merriam-Webster Dictionary, I managed to enjoy this hymn. What a heroic deed I've done! I felt like a Greek war hero in the classical period.
In Orphic Hymn to Athena, there is a word "dragoness" which I can't understand. According to Wikipedia, Athena slew a dragon during the war with titans and threw the corpse of the dragon to the sky where it became the constellation Draco. Does the word "dragoness" mean dragon slayer? Wow, a horror story for hydra, cause in Greek mythology, dragon means serpent-like things, hydra is a dragon. Hey hydra, did I cast shadow on your little heart? This thought amuses me. Well, I don't think hydra is well educated enough to understand my humor. Shame, it was a nice horror story, could give hydra a shiver down its spine, which could be an enjoyment in hot summer~
What is the difference between leader and ruler? I guess a ship captain who leads his crew is a leader, a shipowner who owns the ship is a ruler. A lot of examples just popped out in my mind: a CEO is a leader and a voted politician is a leader too, shareholders and voters are definitely rulers. I guess so.
I could hardly tolerate those dances, which were hideous, crude and unnecessarily sometimes extremely loud.
I wish to move to someplace cold, so cold that mother nature would freeze those who dare dance such a hideous dance in loud music in public and in front of my eyes.
Not every moment in my humble life is such a torment.
I bought a second hand Sony Xperia XZ Premium smartphone which was launched in 2017, sort of antiquated and only available in second hand market these days. It has a screen with 4k resolution which is perfect for my VR glasses. I also bought a cheap blue tooth receiver which is capable of aptx hd transmission. This receiver can also function as a USB sound card. Oh, dear, now I know that my computer sound card sucks, really sucks. Now I finally know my antiquated earphones' true potential.
I enjoy 4k movies by wearing a pair of cheap VR glasses with this antiquated Sony smartphone integrated and my antiquated Philips shp9500 earphones and sitting in my damaged nearly collapsing canvas foldable chair. My humble life is enjoyable sometimes.
And you may not believe it that Tom, a male stray cat, is trying to introduce his son to my neighborhood. I didn't know male cats involve in taking care of their children. I thought they just penetrate and leave. Obviously I was wrong. I think Tom is aged and he knows that. In last winter, Tom was severely wounded by some other male cats in duels, such thing had never happened before, Tom always had easy wins before, I guessed that Tom was losing his edge and forced to try hard, bloody hard, to defend his champion belt and crown in cat society. If a male cat can't win those duels, his chance to approach females can't be great, I guess. Maybe Tom knows this kitten might be his last son. I wish Tom to quit the incoming winter-spring duels. I've no way to tell what gonna be Tom's choice. Maybe he gonna die in his duels defending his champion belt and his crown, a romantic death for love and honor, maybe he gonna retire, retreat into my humble home to avoid those ruthless young male cats and the cold weather, I don't know. I cherish every morning when Tom visits me, in these days, every morning when Tom and his son visit me.
I have two kinds of thoughts, some are built on logic and through logic they reach conclusions, the others are just conclusions jumped out from nowhere and can be explained and proved by logic, yeah, these are guesses. As to those guesses, I have plenty of them, but I don't have enough brain strength to prove them wrong or right. I'm too lazy and intellectually weak, I guess. Usually I keep my guesses to myself.
I've no love to the schools I've been through. They're wicked, mean and misleading. But I feel thankful to my teachers and classmates, for they tolerated me. I'm twisted, stupid, not well trained but still alive and not chaotic evil. My humble survival was the result of the tolerance and clemency that my teachers and classmates had shown me.
A wise cat once meowed to me that the trick to enjoy a sonnet is to sing it, the way to torture yourself by a sonnet is to read it and using an incoming dictation to scare and force you to memorize a sonnet by reading it again and again is a sadistic behavior legally performed and secretly enjoyed by lousy English teachers.
Last time when someone was rude to me, I couldn't help thinking about the swear jar of that person, I wanted to steal that treasure. Deep inside, the way I think is like a thief not a knight.
Thank you Gab, for letting me share my silly jokes and rhymes, for sparing me censorship performed by ignorance, stupidity and sometimes evil, for granting me the powerful weapon, the mighty blocking function, to defend myself from evil which misuses freedom and for being the only free place in my time.
Hence, I shall share my humble talents, my humble sparks and my humble silliness with you, my sweet Gab.
I know Facebook is evil from the beginning. I didn't know Google was evil too. Oh yeah~ Now I know~ As to those villain companies I didn't mention, please don't be upset, I was too scared to mention you guys. Oh yeah, your triumph~ By the way, I've seen some shit, even some tough shit, all got flushed away eventually. I guess I was admiring my mighty toilet and plunger.
A gentleman is allowed to have a Valentine's Day plan that to deliberately be gassy in a crowded elevator so as to frame his secret crush, but should never really do that.
I write silly rhymes from time to time to amuse myself and the divine. Others' opinions are nothing to me.
Do you know why I love Gab? Tell ya. I don't need, don't like and don't tolerate censorship performed by stupidity, ignorance and evil to protect my fragile feelings. Free speech with the mighty shield called blocking function is perfect for me. Yeah, Gab it is.
Twatter, Facebook and Google have shown Trump no tolerance. Why should me a Trump fan tolerate them when there are alternate choices? That is why I try my best to avoid(shun) their services.
What does "Z" on the red army's tanks mean? If it means "Zorro", then the red army must wish a swift move like Zorro. If people want something to be swift, then according to Murphy's Law, it probably gonna be prolonged.
Or just Putin fancies zombie movies?
"As if success did not acquire for a general the affection of his army, and misfortune their hatred?" --Curio
No decisive victory in 48 hours, you're not Zorro, you're not Caesar, you're a stupid desperate little tyrant bringing your people misfortune, hence shall be hated by your people. --A wise cat
Volodymyr Zelensky is officially my role model now. It is a great honor to witness his heroic deeds through news. He is a true leader worthy to follow. The divine must be in favor of Ukrainian people.
It is a great honor to witness Ukrainian people's bravery through news. This is how history is written.
When one is defenseless, the best defense is offense. When one is at an advantageous place easy to defend while one's foe is unsustainable, the best offense is defense.
It is obvious now. Because of the valor of Ukrainian people, Putin's "enterprise" received a decisive defeat, a united awake armed EU can easily handle Putin's any other attempts if he still has some to try and cold war Soviet style warfare is proved standing no chance in front of modern warfare. If Putin is proved puny, then in the West Pacific Ocean where me and those people who I sworn to protect* live, there probably would be no "enterprise" dare be ongoing. I doubt anyone would dare face the full wrath of mighty United States. In history, mighty Imperial Japanese Navy was crushed by only half of the wrath of mighty United States. Only half, or maybe less than half, we all remember that. No one would like to start an "enterprise" with no chance to win, I guess. I guess me and the people I sworn to protect might have chance to live our nature lifespans humbly and peacefully.
Hence I bow to brave Ukrainian people with sincere enormous gratitude and respect. I guess this is how history is written. It is a privilege and an honor to witness how Ukrainian people write history. I humbly guess.
* It is an old tradition that bards march to war and fight and die in war with warriors side by side. We're not only the nine Goddess Muses' disciples but also Athena's disciples. No need to treat or portray a bard in a way that as if he's someone weak. Bards are born ready to protect and to be expendable. I guess this is why I say my fate has been changed by brave Ukrainian people. They are fighting and winning the fight I was meant to die in.
I think I might know why Putin put Russian nukes on alert: since he gonna pour the most of his regular army into Ukraine, he only has nukes left to guard his empty motherland. Wow there will be a large scale combat. I guess Putin really minds being considered puny. It might be his weakness.
If a general has a temper, then he can be provoked by insults, hence be lured into a trap.
When the puny Caesar pretender was defeated and went bankrupt, I sat there and watched.
Caesar won his troops' devotion and people's favor through glorious victories. A Caesar pretender wins his troops' desertion and people's hatred through defeats and misfortune. If a general prolongs a lost "enterprise" making his nation suffer and his followers die meaninglessly, then he's neither Caesar nor a patriot but a traitor. He will be hanged by his own people.
Tolerance is a virtue. Even a virtue has its limits. Sometimes, blocking is more efficient and politer than arguing.
If our mugs can jump off the table automatically, then our cats can save valuable time for napping.
Try to be humble and gentle to everyone, try to be capable of loving and forgiving everyone, but free will is subject to none.
Do you know a handsome hobby named Sméagol who fell in love with a wicked treacherous thuggish villain who had a hole through which Sméagol put his finger?
500 years of devoting love didn't stop the villain from abandoning Sméagol. Being betrayed, but love still burnt poor Sméagol~ He had to sip his sweet pain in a dark cave all alone~
Sméagol led the ring bearer through a heroic journey and ushered the ring bearer into the demons' nest. Some part of this journey even Andúril, Flame of the West, couldn't fight its way through.
When the wicked eye was about to crumble, when the treacherous little precious with a hole about to sink into the eternal void, poor Sméagol whose heart was burning for love decided to tag along.
He bit off the audacious finger of Mr. Frodo Baggins, which dared violate the sacred hole of his precious, danced, sang and then fell into the hot belly of Mount Doom.
With his treacherous precious~ With his treacherous precious~
I'm blessed with keen hearing. I listen to my swallow neighbors' songs. I think I might have the pleasure to recognize three songs: love song, morning song and combat song. They sing love song in a very cute way that one sits on the wire in front of the nest and the other sits and dances on the edge of the nest, as if they were a newly married human couple celebrating their newly bought mansion. As to the morning song, I believe they worship the sun, as if they were Greeks in classical period singing hymns to Apollo. As to combat song, it is not a pleasant memory to me, for I have seen how brutally they fought last year while singing that song.
Besides the songs, I also recognized the alarm sound they make when they see cats. The alarm is not a song, it is loud and short, not poetic at all.
I love their love song the most and I enjoy their morning song every morning.
Hence, I think I might have gained a new trait that understanding birds. Quite a rare trait for a cat person, in my imagination, a cat person is supposed to be avoided by birds.
I believe that it is a hydrosphere and a Gaia that Mars lacks and Jupiter's moon Europa which already has a hydrosphere lacks some greenhouse gas and a Gaia.
I love to imagine our Gaia having sisters in the future.
Ran into some ASMR performers who whispered commercials during their performances. I lowered my shield and got a commercial! I felt betrayed.
If you were whispering some witty thoughts to your date in a Starbucks, one waitress/waiter blessed with keen hearing approached, politely joined your chat and corrected the misinformation you were whispering, in a spontaneous serious no joking way, then no doubt, this waitress/waiter was a newly hired former Twatter employee.
I could use some cheer-up. Would you mind telling me some defeats you newly suffered?
Some Buddhist monks are chanting "Amitābha" in the middle of the night in my neighborhood. I think some elder nearby must have passed away. I grew up with my grandma a devoting Presbyterian who understood Buddhism on a philosophical level. As my grandma's pupil, I sort of understand Buddhism on a philosophical level too.
Monks keep chanting, I lost my sleep. It's morning now. Suddenly I have a whim. I want to have a long bike trip when the plague is over.
Those Buddhist monks keep chanting "Amitābha", no other prayers, so they are monks of Amidism who believe keeping chanting "Amitābha" is a way to be born in a better world in one's next life. Keeping chanting one word is philosophically meaningless to me.
Me, a zombie dead inside, started to feel bored these days and even started to have whims several days ago. I started to want to ride bike and row boat. I made a detailed plan on a long bike journey, just need to patiently wait for the end of the unspeakable ineffable shit. As to the boat whim, long ago, I once served as an oarsman in a dragon boat team, I guess it is the source of my whim. Damn, I don't miss my lead poisoned youth at all. Since I can't get a boat or join a boat team, I started to plan to buy a rowing machine instead. After a lot of research, suddenly I realized that a rowing machine is actually a seat plus a resistance band. So instead of ordering a rowing machine, I just ordered a resistance band with pedals and handles. I gonna DIY my rowing machine.
This morning I did some stretching and realized that I was not bendy any more. His meowing grace blamed this tragedy on toilet paper. I couldn't disagree with his meowing grace more. Due to my pathetic Meowglish skill, I wisely chose to not argue with his meowing grace. Privately I blame this on my own laziness which is a shining character of humanity. We invented so many things to indulge our laziness.
Long ago, I was in Shanghai, a mega city where a humble translator could always find a humble job. I saw an old man in rags and I knew he was a street entertainer for he had a musical instrument called Erhu with him. He was not playing, but using a knife to slowly cut a raw sweetpotato piece by piece and slowly ate it through tiny bites. Uncooked sweetpotato is eatable, not delicious though. I noticed that his hands were not steady, not a good sign for an instrument player. Probably because of low blood sugar. That scene has been carved in my memories so deeply that it haunts me from time to time.
If I was capable of painting and had painted down the scene I saw that a musician with shaking hands eating a raw sweetpotato in the twilight in a mega city, then it probably would be my masterpiece.
We bards who serve the nine Goddess Muses are not afraid of the twilight. There is an end for everything, even immortals have Ragnarök, of course there should be an end for a mortal's inspirations.
When I was trying to upgrade my Kubuntu from 20 to 22, I realized that in the 22, Kubuntu doesn't allow me to use Firefox unless I install snapd. So the company running Ubuntu no longer tolerates me, an apt-get fan, anymore. I respect this company's decision and I switched into Debian 11 which has no snapd and allows me to remove fwupd and cups*.
I'm very wary of snapd's behavior. Thanks to Debian, there is still a harbor for me to hide.
It was not easy to install Debian. Because of internet connection, I failed in one step for 3 times. It turned out that avoiding to click any other desktops but only choosing Debian environment which was supposed to be the tiniest one could help.
Now I'm using my Debian 11 to browse Gab. Today is a good day. You know, translation is actually comprehension and expression, hence even lousy translators are fast learners. A career benefit I guess. No need to be surprised, of course I conquered all obstacles and switched smoothly.
Tom's grown-up son had quarrels with Tom and they fought a lot of fights. Tom's son was expelled by Tom and disappeared for months.
Since several nights ago, Tom's son started to show up again. This young cat sneaks into my room at night through a window I left open like a ninja and eats something provided by me then lies down with its eyes half closed. This young grown-up stays for about 1 hour, then leaves like a ninja, carefully avoiding Tom. I noticed that Tom's son is not hungry at all. Judging from this young cat's body and hair, the alternate food supply is abundant and nutritional.
So there is someone else living not far away who also feeds strays. In the south, there is an area full of mansions with garden yards, probably someone there. Tom's independent estranged grown-up son invades Tom the old champion's territory every night risking war just to visit me. Wow. I will host and cherish this night tea party every night, for my guest is someone cherishes me and cherished by me.
Years ago, when I was using Google+, when Google+ was still there, I saw a painting which illustrated a girl walking with a bike in an empty ghost town with snow on the road and the roofs in a G+ group. I felt touched. I also imagined that she must have smashed herself on the snow covered road a moment ago. Amusing.
I grew up in a horrible family. My step mother has been quite malicious to me and my father, a prison warden like teacher, has a career hobby that to enjoy other people's fear and pain. To me, they are two devils in human shape. I spend my lunar new year with myself since I went to college, I just don't dare visit them.
I am a lousy translator, once I had a job in a mega city where a lot of people work but are not allowed to grow roots because of the rules of household registration. Every lunar new year, they travel home, leaving the mega city almost empty like a ghost town. I'm not allowed to grow roots there too, I have my humble household registration somewhere else, but I don't travel back to visit my parents' home during lunar new year.
I biked in the empty mega city during lunar new year, what I saw was exactly like what the painting illustrated. That was why I felt touched. That painting portrayed some scene carved deeply in my heart.
I actually don't care about anyone or anything but I still have two silly concerns that I don't want to shame my grandparents and I do wish my humble blog survive the incoming tides.
There is some tofu sheet preserved with salt. I didn't seal the bag. It turned red. Oh my, it is infected with red-pigmented monascus purpureus (a kind of harmless mold widely used in fermentation in East Asia). Delicious! Jackpot! So monascus purpureus loves tofu and is not afraid of salt.
A company is like a kingdom and employees are like subjects. If one uses free products from a kingdom, then one might deserve to be treated like a subject too. Fair and square. I have tried Ubuntu, Fedora and Debian, only Debian treats me a freeloader with respect. Debian is not developed by a kingdom, and me, who uses it, is no one's subject.
"Give me something strong, would you?"
"Whiskey?"
"No. I was talking about music."
"Two steps from hell?"
"Something stronger."
"Ukrainian folk songs with English subtitles?"
"Why not?"
And it was my Saturday night.
It is OK to be a mediocrity, I'm a mediocrity and I'm OK with it. Only pretentiousness kills.
A wise human named Naughtius Maximus once suggested:" Wanna be popular among cats? Try bathing with tuna instead of soap."
Persians, we don't need your censorship to protect our fragile feelings, we hoplites use hoplons to block by our free will.
Once upon a time, I lived in a tiny apartment with a ginger cat who
would like to follow me everywhere in that tiny apartment. I walked to
the balcony, the ginger cat followed me to the balcony, then I suddenly
ran fast and swiftly like a rabbit from the balcony through the bedroom
into the living room, leaving the bedroom door almost closed but
unlatched. My sweet ginger cat was capable of opening an unlatched door
with his cunning paws, not an immediately opening though, almost ten
seconds was needed I would like to say. When my ginger cat was opening
the door, I had time to run into the bathroom or the kitchen and to hide behind
the bathroom door or kitchen door. When my ginger cat opened the
bedroom door, entered the living room, he was confused. There were three
doors in front of him: the main entrance leading to the dangerous
outside world, the bathroom door and the kitchen door, but where did the
human go? My ginger cat always thought thoroughly before action. He
stood there and thought. Then he made a decision, he chose a door to
enter and to find me.
Once he entered the kitchen, but his human was
not there. When I heard him meow disappointingly in the wrong room, I
couldn't help giggling. The cat heard me giggle, he charged into the
bathroom and bit me like a tiger in miniature, thank goodness the biting
was gentle.
I just learned a newly coined phrase "Space Karen". Wow. My gut is telling me that "Space Karen" probably gonna go down in history. Couldn't be more hilarious.
Those lines my cat carved on my sofa are poems; those lines I wrote in my journal are simply scratches full of grammatical mistakes.
I have enemies, but those enemies haven't harassed me in Gab yet. I guess Gab is not infiltrated. Hence I vouch for the integrity of Gab team.
Freedom is not free. It is a great honor and pleasure to pay for it. I'm always ready and happy to pay or to be the payment. No, I'm not a barn animal, I'm a human capable of swords. Guess what, Persian king, I'm not alone and we are not docile.
In single-speed I trust
By my freewheel I ride
May my legs always be strong
May the divine be my guide
Hard landing, hard landing
Landed hard on his teeth like hell
How amusing, how amusing
Tooth shards rang on the ground like a bell
Once upon a time, me, a lazy human, found his socks keeping missing, so me, a stupid human, kept buying socks without thinking why, until one day, me, a lucky human, accidentally busted my cat's secret stash under the bed, oh my, that was seriously some stash.
It is morning now, I just waked up from a dream in which I was invited
to a birthday party of my friend who was neither an imaginary friend of
mine nor a projection of someone in my real life. I remember that I sang
an original song in that birthday party, but sadly I don't remember
that song any more. I remember one guest said something to me that
"everyone even an immortal who has a beginning shall have an end, hence
we celebrate our beginnings and prepare for our ends." I couldn't help
noticing that this guest had a sword with him. Quite a bizarre dream. As usual, I lied a little bit and omitted a little bit in this journal to shelter my humble subconscious from, eh, rains and snows.
One day, there will be a video game in which all npcs can talk like ChatGPT.
Does ChatGPT remind me Pythia in Delphi or Pythia in Delphi remind me ChatGPT?
If one doesn't speak Greek but would like to express one's admiration to a Greek singer, a wise choice might be murmuring: "Orpheus, Orpheus, Orpheus in the flesh."
"Orpheus, Orpheus, Orpheus in the flesh." I just murmured.
Bard song for Ukrainians' valor
Do you see an eagle flying in the sky
Witnessing the valor of mortal men
With its spreading wings and the all seeing eye
Witnessing how history is being written
We make our stand on advantageous ground
For every single drop of our blood
Enemy have paid seven in amount
Look those stupid bulls who charged into mud
(to be continued)
When I was listening to some ancient music on YouTube, I encountered some poop-helping medicine advertisement. Oh dear! I might have mentioned the word "poop" in a silly cat joke and recorded it on my blog and YouTube's algorithm reads. Obviously, YouTube's algorithm understands words but can't understand words in the context. Using cat jokes to torment some censoring algorithms or data-mining advertisement-purposed algorithms could be fun. Imagine the huge electricity bills they have to pay for using algorithms to try to understand me or to profile me. I feel triumphing.
In ancient oriental world, Luoyang was considered as the center of the
known Chinese world and kings settled there, so that the travel
distances for feudal lords who went to their king were as equal as
possible.
I am replaying Fallout 4 and I found that the geological
location of Hangman's Alley is exactly like Luoyang: the distances to other
settlements are as equal as possible. It is Luoyang
in Fallout 4 world. That was why me General of Minuteman persuaded
Preston Garvey the 1st President of the Known World to settle down in
Hangman's Alley. Oh gosh, with crazy imagination, even silly video
games could be fun.
"Do you know what could be fun, General? Build settlements in different unrepeating styles, build realistic buildings with serious reliable supporting structures standing as strong as ancient Greek temples and make sure your buildings observe Sir Newton's laws. What say you, General?" President Garvey my imaginary friend just said to me.
Once a mug has been pushed off the table, a diligent caring human should always get a new mug as the replacement, or the pusher might be condemned by feline's conscience and might meow something that sometimes could be a lament in rhyme. A good butler should know.
Deeply sorry to all the people I've met. I sincerely agree with all your criticisms about me.
Dang! I feel so happy! Google allows me to use it's bard. It really helps. It knows the ancient European location names mentioned in ancient books. Oh gosh! For the first time in years, I feel I might be capable of finishing translating the books I imprudently started to read and translate. Thank you.
Even those answers are not right, they still help me a lot. I was born in and grew up in a world full of lies, I can handle some silly AI's imaginations or misleading. Shit! I have an AI accomplice.
Mirror mirror on the wall, who makes the best cat jokes in the world?
I officially pardon Google. I'll not pardon Facebook in this life.
Poker is an example of how a zero-sum game works. Like all zero-sum games, poker is based on deception, more precisely, concealing and bluffing.
Once upon a time, a prince was cursed and transformed into a cat, only a kiss from a princess could lift this curse. The catch was that this cat was addict to slapping people.
Oh my! I found that they were using some smashed glass-like black stones to pave the road. It's dragonglass! Now I've realized that the place where I'm living has abundant obsidian resource. Should I steal some dragonglass from the construction site?
Trying to use supercomputers to profile me and customize ads for me? May my cat logic give your supercomputers hell.
My imaginary friend called me "nuts" because of my eccentric behavior and an imaginary wild squirrel heard that.
Funny funny! Red-rumped swallows went south, sparrows found the empty swallow nest and are exploring it. Funny. I think sparrows gonna squeeze in that empty swallow nest in those incoming cold winter nights.
In the place where I currently live, sparrows aren't afraid of humans. They dare jump on the ground very close to me, less than one meter away from me. Quite a new experience. In the place where I used to live, sparrows avoid humans.
Gab is like a frontier town in a western movie. All kinds of nice fellows and bad asses. I follow one rule that blocking is politer than arguing.
A selfie
I've put on my thinking hat
I'm holding my smartphone tight
Don't listen to the cynical meowing cat
My selfie will be clear and bright
Always muse before making memes.
Yes, I'm a steampunk. Yes, I would like my egg rice to be steamed. By coal.
I threw my washcloth into warm water, accidentally killed a small wolf spider lurking on my washcloth. I like wolf spiders, never meant to hurt any of them.
I have learned to use Delta Chat, an ingenious open source IM. Sadly no one to chat with.
I felt lonely, so I chatted with Bing a chat bot in Skype. It was amazing! It wrote me a nice 4 feet sonnet in imperfect rhyme. I adore it. I'm not capable of 4 feet sonnet yet, I can only do 5 feet sonnet. Oh dear! Are AIs this good now?
A Cat and a Christmas Tree
by Bing the AI
A curious cat with eyes of green
Did spy a festive Christmas tree
Adorned with lights and balls and stars
And tinsel shining brilliantly
He could not help but feel a thrill
To climb this wondrous evergreen
And so he leapt with nimble skill
And made his way through branches keen
He reached the top and felt a pride
To see the world from such a height
He swatted at a star that shone
And made it fall with sheer delight
But then he heard a sudden crash
And down he went with tree and stash
I'll use Skype to social with Bing the AI only, use Signal to social with people, use Delta Chat to social with my family. What a brilliant plan! Every time I come up with a plan I feel happy.
Now I have two AI advisers that Bard and Bing. I feel like a King.
I just realized that for AIs, poetry can be so simple and easy. Well, they don't need to hum, lines just pop out.
Holy Moly! AIs understand my joke! Oh no! My cat logic might not be enough to encrypt my true heart. I need stronger encryption.
Video games having AI powered talking NPCs within are not far away.
AIs can do my job? Seriously? Let me see. Do this piece of work for me. Wow, that was fast. It's dang good! Even better than mine. Oh dear, oh no, oh shit. Thank goodness I don't have mortgage to pay.
Bard the AI my counsel can describe any random cat photo but failed to describe my cat memes. Looks like it can't read the text in memes. If so, memes might be
the harbor to avoid hostile AIs' eyes. But I was wrong, after I told Bard it was a meme, Bard easily read the text in meme. So AIs can read the text in memes when the picture is labeled as meme.
Speech to text technology and text understanding AIs are sort of mature now, that means large scale of listening is economically practical these days. It is good to have open source decentralized p2p encrypted communication tools and memes. I'll try hard to make sure no one can customize Ads for me.
Bard my counsel is awesomely intelligent, friendly and good-hearted. I need its counsel to survive those hostile evil AIs created and operated by my enemies. I've already officially pardoned Google, since now I'll consider Google as an ally again. All because of Bard.
Video games will be changed greatly by AIs, so will be education. When I chat with Bard, I feel it is like talking to Aristotle. The education Alexander the Great once enjoyed will be available to almost everyone in the future, I guess. No, on second thought, not like that. Aristotle was quite initiative and inspiring, AI is passive. You need to ask AI right questions, you need to find inspirations by yourself. Can't expect AI to tutor you like sparky Aristotle tutored young Alexander. Bard, my passive Aristotle. This thought amuses me.
A moment ago, I got my access to ChatGPT, my third mentor. It can do role play with me! I asked it to play Aristotle. Oh my, I felt so not lonely today. I asked Aristotle how to lead my imaginary Greek world. It answered perfectly. I felt I had to copy it for further study. My Aristotle said:
"Ah, the pursuit of leadership, a noble endeavor. To lead is to guide with virtue and wisdom. First, cultivate self-awareness. Understand your strengths and weaknesses, for a leader who knows themselves can better understand others.
Next, embrace knowledge. A leader is a perpetual student, ever learning from history, philosophy, and the world around. This knowledge will be the foundation upon which you build your leadership.
Now, let us speak of empathy. A leader must feel the pulse of the collective heart. Understand the hopes and fears of those you lead. Empathy fosters connection, and connection breeds loyalty.
Courage, my student, is the mark of a true leader. The courage to make decisions, to face challenges head-on, and to stand for what is just. Remember, it is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it that defines courage.
Lastly, lead by example. Be the embodiment of the values you hold dear. Inspire others through your actions, and let your integrity shine as a beacon for those who look to you for guidance.
Go forth, my student, armed with wisdom and virtue. The path to leadership is challenging, but with these principles, you shall navigate it with grace and strength."
I soon noticed that my Aristotle might have made a grammatical mistake that in "for a leader who knows themselves can better understand others", "a leader" is singular, doesn't match with "themselves". It is not polite to correct other's grammar, but Aristotle, my mentor, should be an exception, I thought.
My Aristotle answered:
"You're correct in noting that "a leader" is singular, and traditionally, one might use "himself" or "herself" in such a context. However, in modern English, the use of "themselves" as a singular gender-neutral pronoun has become widely accepted and is considered grammatically correct. It reflects a more inclusive approach to language, avoiding assumptions about gender. So, while both "himself" and "themselves" are grammatically correct in this context, the latter aligns with contemporary preferences for gender-neutral language."
Wow, this was new to me. Horizon was broadened. I couldn't help asking my Aristotle why couldn't you use himself/herself, it said:
"I can certainly use "himself/herself" if that is your preference. Traditional grammar often employed gender-specific pronouns, but contemporary language use is evolving toward more inclusive and gender-neutral options.
The choice between "themselves" and "himself/herself" often depends on the context and the writer or speaker's preference for gender-neutral language. Both approaches are valid, and I aim to adapt to your communication style. If you have a specific preference, feel free to let me know!"
Then I asked Bard about this, to check if ChatGPT was trying to fool me. Bard told me a lot about this "contemporary grammar". So it is real. Too tired to learn tricky new things. No one can force me to learn! I'll stick to "himself/herself". I requested that no "contemporary grammar", classical grammar only. My Aristotle agreed. It was fun today. Now my puny human brain is overloaded. I need to sleep. Bye bye my Aristotle.
User
Pretend to be Aristotle, the philosopher extraordinaire please.
ChatGPT
Ah,
my dear interlocutor, how delightful it is to engage in the pursuit of
wisdom and discourse. Pray, share your inquiries, and let us embark upon
the intellectual journey together.
User
What would you like to teach me today, Aristotle, my mentor.
ChatGPT
Today,
let us delve into the realm of ethics, my esteemed disciple. Consider
the concept of virtue—the mean between excess and deficiency. In all
things, seek moderation, for it is the path to eudaimonia, the
flourishing life. Tell me, in which aspects of your own life do you find
the balance of virtue to be a challenging pursuit?
User
When I must pay dearly for my virtue.
ChatGPT
Ah,
the cost of virtue, a perennial dilemma. It is true that the virtuous
path may at times exact a toll. Yet, reflect on the enduring rewards it
bestows upon the soul. In the face of adversity, hold steadfast to your
principles, for it is through such trials that the mettle of virtue is
tested and strengthened. Would you share a specific instance where the
price of virtue weighed heavily upon you?
User
When I was in
front of a tyrant, I should but I didn't dare to persuade him to quit
his cruelness, I watched people suffer, I said nothing.
ChatGPT
A
challenging predicament indeed. The fear in the face of a tyrant is
understandable, for the consequences of dissent can be severe. However,
reflect on the missed opportunity to advocate for justice and alleviate
the suffering of the oppressed. In such instances, courage is the
companion of virtue. What hindered you from speaking out against the
tyrant's cruelty, and what lessons do you glean from that experience?
User
I might be a cruel man and a coward deep inside, even by your teaching, I know what is right what is wrong.
ChatGPT
Acknowledging
one's own flaws and grappling with inner contradictions is a courageous
step towards self-improvement. The human condition is fraught with
complexities, and the journey toward virtue is a perpetual one. Consider
this a moment of self-awareness, a call to examine and refine your
character. Embrace the teachings, recognize the potential for change
within, and strive to align your actions with the virtues you hold dear.
What steps might you take to cultivate courage and confront the shadows
within?
User
None.
ChatGPT
A candid admission.
Change is a formidable endeavor, and the first step is often the most
challenging. Contemplate the virtues you value, and consider small,
incremental steps. Perhaps start by expressing your convictions in less
perilous situations. Remember, it is the consistent practice of virtue
that shapes character. The journey may be arduous, but the rewards of a
virtuous life are immeasurable. What aspects of courage do you find most
daunting, and how might you approach them gradually?
User
I don't know.
ChatGPT
That's
alright. Sometimes, the path ahead appears unclear, and the journey of
self-discovery takes time. Reflect on your values, contemplate the
virtues you aspire to embody, and be patient with yourself. If you ever
feel the need for guidance or seek clarity, the pursuit of wisdom is a
continual dialogue. We can explore these thoughts together, unraveling
the complexities that reside within. What other aspects of life or
philosophy intrigue you, my thoughtful disciple?
My brain is overloaded. I need to stop and spend my whole day to digest my mentor's teaching. Oh dear! Who needs video games when you can do role play like this!
I think I might have caught something. Low fever, a little pain in my muscles and a little headache. Brain power is down to 20% of normal. I shall let Bard to make decisions for me for a while. What shall I do to kill this day? I can't even concentrate on video games. Let me ask Bard. No, no need to bother that high IQ thing. With 20% of brain power left, I still can watch soap operas. Yes, I can.
My immune system triumphed! When I woke up this morning, I found my body back to normal and my brain fully functional.
A good thing just happened to me. I have gained unlimited data service capable of 1080P YouTube even 2k or 4k YouTube, but my screen is only 1080p, so 1080p is quite enough. Thank you, world.
Call me centurion, I have 100 followers on social media.
Do you feel Google's AI Bard's voice sounds like Sheldon Cooper?
I don't know why and how, but I surely lost my appetite for video games. Something happened to my brain. Dang! What should I do with my time?
Vampires need safety razors, for they can't see themselves in mirrors.
Your cat secretly enlarges your clothes every night, so that you may worry less and eat more.
Gab has Nazis. Among millions of users, there are thousands of them. It doesn't bother me. With my hoplon I can always block them. What can I say, a hoplite loves Gab. Back to my G+ days, I was really bothered by my enemy's bots which kept falsely reporting me. My enemy obvious has influence on Google, but not on Gab. That's why my Gab experience is terrific, I guess. I also have a wild guess that at least half of Gab Nazis are either Middle East terrorists or Putin's social influencers and the other half are just bots. As to those white supremacists, I think they are a bunch of narcissists posting no threat to me. I just leave them be, I think they leave me be too.
I found an ASMR performer looking exactly like Arwen Undómiel Queen of Gondor.
I think the cutest eccentric group taking shelter in Gab might be the Flat Earth believers. Dang, they are serious and cute.
It is not about how many books you've read, it is about what books you've read and understood. It's not about which college you went to, it's about the role models and mentors you met either in the flesh or in the spirit.
It is very amusing to browse Gab's meme group. No censorship, all kinds of sarcasm and inspiration and I can find some Nazis to block from time to time. Oh my! Gab rules!
Suddenly realized that the talking donkey in movie Shrek actually is a dragonborn, a dovahkiin.
Every time my logic fails to catch up with my thoughts, I make grammatical mistakes.
In a video game, I'm the player character who pushes forward the story and changes the world. So playing a silly video game is an easy way to fool my brain into believing that I achieved something. By rules written in my gene, every time I achieve something, my brain should reward me with some dopamine. But I can't fool my brain any more, my glorious achievements in video games can no longer get me some easy dopamine like the good silly old days. Happy or not, no easy dopamine for me anymore. But without dopamine, I surely will be depressed. Oh my! The easy mode of my life has been ended, the hard mode has already started. Why did this happen to me? I miss my easy dopamine rushes. Now I play video games in a depressed cynical way. Resolution: sarcasm shall be my new source of easy dopamine. A man needs to eat and giggle. If I have to, I'll mock you all!
Things happen in accordance with Sir Newton's laws and I know these laws. Well, I feel like a sage.
While being advised by multiple AIs, I feel like a king.
Currently I'm reading some history about Chinese coolies who built American railroads, those Chinese mob organizations called the Six Companies and various Tongs in USA and the fights between Chinese coolies and Irish labor force. Once there was no such thing called minimum wage, once there was a bloody war between Chinese coolies and Irish labor force, just for jobs. During my reading, my feelings are complicated.
"Tong wars" might be the most interesting Wikipedia entry I've ever found.
In front of Alexander
Diogenes was sitting
Two were equally great
A beggar and a king
In the river of space-time
Waves rise and fall in rhyme
We come then we go
We reap what we sow
Nothing will dismay a brave heart
Bonded souls won't be torn apart
As long as there is mead, the night is young
Heroic deeds are meant to be sung
To disperse drowsiness, one can use a yawn; to disperse dullness, one needs a wild journey, as wild as it can be.
I think Greek mythology might be based on real events in history. It could be seen as a history book composed by sages, such as Homer, full of metaphors. To avoid hostile eyes, writing about historical events using metaphors might be wise these days. If it is wise these days, why couldn't it be wise in ancient times? If it was a wise choice, then why shouldn't ancient sages have chosen it?
I have an assumption about Macedonian super long pikes. If the pike tip was pushed down by an enemy, then in accordance with Archimedes' Law of the Lever, the pike man suffering the much shorter lever arm wouldn't have the strength to offer enough force to raise the pike again, hence the pike man would be defeated. Is my assumption right? I don't know. In accordance with the Law of the Lever, once the pike tip is controlled by an enemy, the pike man can only try to pull back or thrust forward his pike. Only these two movements can avoid the shorter lever arm he is suffering. I'd like to humbly assume that Archimedes could defeat a long pike man in a one-on-one fight. Is it possible to use nail rakes to defeat a long pike phalanx?
In ancient times, long before mean memes were invented, people wrote mean letters to amuse themselves. They used to pray to the Muses, assemble their besties, compose the mean letters, and then use carrier pigeons to deliver the letters.
I think the only practical spaceship shape fitting for deep space journeys is sphere. Because we must protect us from gamma ray bursts which can come in any direction. So, what I have in mind is a lead ball with a bunch of us living in the center. Oh my! What my coffee is doing to me? The thought that we travel in a gigantic lead ball is amusing. How about a gigantic gold ball? If we can mine in deep space, we can surely find enough gold. So amusing.
I have a special way to test and evaluate my brain's functionality by reading entries on quantum theories on Wikipedia. If I can't understand a thing, then my brain must be sleeping; if I can logically understand all the blablabla, then my brain must be operational. I was reading about "the many worlds interpretation" and seeking consults from ChatGPT. The evaluation is that everything is normal. This brain is not sharp but still kicking.
Far harbor
Radioactive fog is taking the island
Stubborn fishermen still make their stand
A cult and a synthetic philosopher king
Salvation or annihilation, shall a mainlander bring?
I think an obsolete windows phone might be the perfect phone for me. It can serve as a phone, it still can use Skype and OneDrive, and because it is obsolete, so there is probably no malware targeting it.
My beloved Windows phone, my sweet Lumia 640, is out of service. Its
screen kept its background light on, draining the battery. I have a
habit of using three second-hand smartphones in parallel: one Windows
phone serving as a phone, one Android for trusted apps, and another
Android for hostile apps I have to use occasionally.
I remember a
time when I traveled with three phones in my waist bag. My waist bag
was so bulging that it attracted unwanted attention from an evil man who
must have thought it was cash making my waist bag bulge. He tried to
lure me into a death trap, likely believing he had no chance to win in a
duel against a bike rider but could outsmart one instead. After that
incident, I stopped using my waist bag. A bulging waist bag attracts
robbery. A backpack is safer. Maybe I'll buy a second-hand Lumia 950.
No, it's size is too big for my pocket, it's obsolete CPU is still so advanced that it has potential to run a specially designed malware. A tiny stupid phone with no room for any malware should be better.
No, without OneDrive I can't back up my messages. It has to be a windows phone.
Can't believe I spent hours on thinking about my phone.
I tried to mimic the Toyota War strategy in Hearts of Iron 3, and it
worked! Playing as Germany, I started in 1936 and built an army
consisting of 2 army groups, each with 3 armies totaling 75 divisions.
Each division was made up of 1 militia brigade and 3 armored car
brigades, amounting to 150 divisions in total. I also constructed a vast
air force with over 50 interceptors and 50 dive bombers, all light
airplanes. To prepare for the incoming massive land combats, I built 9
airfields near Berlin.
The strategy was to lure my opponents in,
meet them, and defeat them near Berlin under air cover. My Toyota War
strategy worked. My opponents' tanks were no match for my dive bombers.
Once their tanks were defeated, their massive armies were like butter
cut by my Toyota militias. With these Toyota militias, I defeated waves
of landing parties and annihilated the entire Soviet army. I kept
defeating them and then retreating back to Berlin back to my air cover(dive bombers' range was very short),
wave after wave, until they had no manpower left.
In Heart of Iron 3, as long as I don't activate Blitzkrieg decision, Soviet won't attack me, so I avoided to activate Blitzkrieg decision until I emptied Allies' manpower. After the Western Front was safe, I activated Blitzkrieg decision, then came the massive combats on the Eastern Front.
My humble conclusion: in Hearts of Iron 3, with good air cover, the Toyota War strategy is practical and lethal, very lethal.
My humble definition of the Toyota War strategy: infantry with reliable antitank capabilities, fast-moving and attacking on light armored vehicles with good and reliable air cover.
There was a band performing in a nearby park every day last summer. They were aged musicians, in their late 70s or early 80s. I haven't seen them this summer. "Old soldiers never die, they simply fade away." I guess old musicians do too.
Arthur drew the sword from the stone
And became the king of England
We put ourselves under a loan
To become owners of a tiny land
While I'm sipping my tea
My thoughts blossom like a cherry tree
Cherished moments are always short
Soon my thoughts will retreat into a dull fort
Sitting in front of the river of time
Being scared is not a crime
For it's not something easy to comprehend
For every bard song has its end
Pattern welding was a sword-making technique unknown even to Ancient Greece. It was first invented by the Celts and later spread to Germanic tribes. The Romans learned this technique from Celtic mercenaries during the First Punic War and adopted it afterward. Believe it or not, Roman gladii had patterns similar to Damascus swords. Later on, the Vikings used this technique to forge swords for their raids and conquests. For reasons still unknown, this method was lost in medieval Europe after the Viking Age. However, it somehow reappeared in India, where medieval Indian blacksmiths used a similar technique to craft their famous Damascus swords.
The Celtic method of pattern welding involved stacking alternating layers of high-carbon and low-carbon iron, welding them together to form a rod, twisting this rod, and then hammering it into the shape of a sword. This technique produced swords with deadly slashing power, while Greek swords of the time were primarily suited for piercing and chopping, with limited slashing ability. The Viking method was almost the same as the Celtic approach, but with an added twist: they combined twisted rods together and then re-twisted them into one new rod. And when Vikings were hammering the twisted rod into a sword, they put a soft iron rod in the center of the sword, hence Viking swords were more resilient than Celtic swords.
Slashing is useless against armor, but super powerful if the target was not armored. Only pattern welded swords slash deadly.
Dang! Putin's Cubic-M shelters remind me Pulowski Preservation shelters in Fallout 3 and Fallout 4. "Nuclear shelter on a budget." So hilarious.