Grim's Hall

Back in the USA

I did hear a David Allan Coe song in a bar in Taipei, but this still feels more like home. I won’t actually be home until late tomorrow night.

Rest in Peace, Wendell Berry

Wendell Berry passed away yesterday.

Some advice he gave to himself, but which seems to profit others as well:

How to Be a Poet
(To remind myself)

i
Make a place to sit down.
Sit down. Be quiet.
You must depend upon
affection, reading, knowledge,
skill -- more of each
than you have -- inspiration,
work, growing older, patience,
for patience joins time
to eternity. Any readers
who like your poems,
doubt their judgment.

ii
Breathe with unconditional breath
the unconditioned air.
Shun electric wire.
Communicate slowly. Live
a three-dimensioned life;
stay away from screens.
Stay away from anything
that obscures the place it is in.
There are no unsacred places;
there are only sacred places
and desecrated places.

iii
Accept what comes from silence.
Make the best you can of it.
Of the little words that come
out of the silence, like prayers
prayed back to the one who prays,
make a poem that does not disturb
the silence from which it came.

Taipei

Downtown, with Taipei 101 on the skyline

Closer to 101.

An unexpected angel. It’s mostly Buddhist here; I saw many Buddhist monks and a few nuns, but no other signs of Christianity except that in the hotel room there was both a New Testament and a Teachings of the Buddha.

The Formosan Bear is, unofficially, the national animal of Taiwan (of old called Formosa Isle).

Taipei Main Station. I caught the High Speed Railway from here. Recommended.

The Most Important Store. Only very recently is it legal to buy a Harley in Taiwan. Until late, large displacement motorcycles were banned by law.

Kind of a rainy afternoon on the first of September, and my last day in country.

Tetraphobia

A lot of American skyscrapers don’t have a 13th floor, in the sense of a floor with that designation, because the number was thought to be bad luck.

In East Asia, the number omitted is four. The word for four and the word for death are the same syllable with only a slightly different pronunciation.

Fare Thee Well, Dolly

Dolly Parton and Carol Burnett

Dolly Parton giving an impromptu performance in Paídi Ó Sé's Pub

(I've started this video just a bit before she starts singing, skipping over several minutes of people milling about, a t-shirt being given, mic testing and so forth.)

Merle Haggard talks about falling in love with Dolly

Probably my favorite of her songs, recorded with Chet Atkins

What a joy she was.

No Pictures Today

All day exercises from before dawn until well into the dark today. Tomorrow we resume early again, but will end a little earlier. Perhaps I’ll have time for something I can post then.

Our Taiwanese allies are very enthusiastic, disciplined, and intelligent. I won’t say more about it, but you should have a warm place in your heart for Taiwan.

Robots on the March

This one is a waiter who brings your dinner from the kitchen to your table. It is very polite about not bumping into people; they seemed to pay it no mind, trusting its sensors to stop it running into them.

UPDATE: At another restaurant on another night, I saw a robot come out to ‘sing’ Happy Birthday to a patron. This one displayed an appropriate light show on its monitors while doing so.

A Bevy of Dragons

7-Eleven in Taipei

For some reason my 10-year-old niece in Idaho had strong opinions about the superiority of 7-Elevens in Taiwan. I went by one to get pictures for her. I don’t know where this is coming from, but she likes Korean boy bands too. No account for taste.

Yay, fungus ramen.

Seaweed flavored potato chips!

What is a century egg, you ask? You shouldn’t.

Soybean paste noodles with chili sauce and a Snickers bar.

Past the jump, more pictures of shelves of stuff. They also sell hard liquor.

A Gun Thread

Good academic research.

Wheels Down Taipei

I didn’t make it Friday. It was quite a journey.

I did get to spend many, many hours in the San Francisco airport. On the international terminal there is an outdoor terrace with a sculpture garden.

Melting clocks are also common features in prison tattoos, where they also symbolize the distorted nature of time when you are trapped in one place by unhappy circumstances.