Reminiscences

About the author Privacy policies, terms, and conditions Many physicians insist that health supplements are not necessary for good health. "One only needs to follow healthy diet," they like to say. At most, on multivitamin pill a day would suffice.  Yes, a multivitamin pill per day has helped me reduce my sick days and incidences of common cold. Many KOLs on YouTube recommend different health supplements for each part of the body. Their subscribers wonder if they need to purchase an entire health food store. I am here to recommend several lesser-known supplements and food that have proven to be highly beneficial to general health and that are very affordable or at least not outrageously expensive. 1. Healthy hair ~  Fo-ti , or He Shou Wu , is a Chinese herb that is not very well-known in Western societies and has proven to be highly effective for the prevention--and even reversal--of greying hair.  Various brands of it, mostly in pil...

About the author Privacy policies, terms, and conditions   I am not an outstanding presenter. I have always been presentable, but was not excellent in public speaking. Recently, I began to take tremendous pride in my ability to give highly effective presentations on what may be considered difficult--and sometimes controversial--topics to classes of 20-50 people from different countries, especially during the pandemic, when my voice was muffled by the face mask I was wearing. I began teaching in Berlin in late 2021. It was quite a surprise that many in-person classes were not at all cancelled. We had to wear face masks. I was very anxious, in part due to the pandemic. The students, all masked, seemed rather relaxed (well, one can always tell from their gazes and postures).  I had not delivered presentations for a while. The prospect of speaking to a class of 20 people brought back junior high school memories, when my mind went blank on the ...

About the author Privacy policies, terms, and conditions  In case you wonder why I started this blog at a time when YouTube has become so popular: I seldom have patience to sit through most YouTub e  videos . It is often because I do not have time. In addition, except for film or music videos that I truly enjoy, most videos drain my energies because: (1) they are filled with unimportant and non-essential information, such as ads, unfunny jokes, and subscription requests; (2) YouTubers do not deliver their messages in the most effective and pleasant manner. Some stutter a lot. Many speak smoothly but keep repeating the same points. Hence, many videos are full of redundant materials that often bore the hell out of the audience. Others are not only dull: they are downright irritating or even offensive. Admittedly, I also found some accents very unappealing to my ears to the extent that they gave me headaches (this is not racism at all: I cou...

About the author Privacy policies, terms, and conditions In recent years, an increasing number of scholars believe that the embrace of Western civilization reinforces a white supremacist worldview. To the extent that Western classical education has a history that promulgates racism against non-white people and cultures, they argue that classics—a discipline involving the study of Greek and Roman literatures and cultures—needs to be reinvented, decolonized, or worse still, abolished altogether.  In my opinion, this trend must not be taken too far given the abundant values that many classical plays hold to different cultures and nationalities around the world. *** Ancient Greek playwright Sophocles’ play Antigone serves as a great example of how a “white” classical play is still tremendously relevant to contemporary world. Introducing it in a post-imperial/colonial classroom does not at all reinforce white supremacy. Rather, it exposes students ...

  About the author Privacy policies, terms, and conditions You probably have heard of horror stories from both  Airbnb  hosts and guests. I am not here to add a new chapter to the horror collection.  Drawing upon a friend of mine's recent experience with a Airbnb host, I hope to shed light on the proper ways of hosting an accommodation via Airbnb. In the end, I aim to offer a fellow guest's perspective on how to become a moral and professional Airbnb host who respects guests' boundaries and a more decent human being. *** My friend from the U.K. had to stay in Vancouver for three weeks. Although she did not make a last-minute booking in the literal sense, she was two weeks away from her trip and so was left with very few options on Airbnb. When she booked the place that she ended up staying, the host requested that she booked an extra 15 days to "hold" it because she did not want to leave it vacant.  My friend had to comply. ...

About the author Privacy policies, terms, and conditions   Sunken eyelids are believed to be caused primarily by dehydration, fatigue, and aging (i.e. loss of  fat and collagen in the area). People are generally advised to moisturize the eyelid areas and drink more water.  Dermatologists like Dr. Dray, who has achieved celebrity status on YouTube, has a video in which she discusses different eye lotions and treatment techniques . Some dermatologists in the West recommend the injection of fillers, whereas in countries like Korea, dermatologists recommend even more extreme measures: eyelid surgeries (Doesn't this confirm the beauty-obsessed stereotypes of Korean people? A surgeon himself underwent an eyelid surgery to fix his somewhat uneven eyelids, a very mild asymmetry which was not obvious except to himself. You need to beware: cosmetic surgeries, not lest those performed in the eye area, are generally not reversible. For me persona...

About the author Privacy policies, terms, and conditions (I wanted to get this piece published in March but could not find it a home in the radical leftwing media channels catered to the "woke" crowds) Malaysia-born actress Michelle Yeoh became the very first Asian woman to win the Best Actress Award at the Oscars .  Currently, her success is widely celebrated in Asian American communities, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and even China.    Many deemed her win as one of those historical moments when East-Asian actors, or actors of Chinese descent, finally gained the recognition that they rightly deserve in the Hollywood . My first impression of Yeoh was that of a martial artist who performed her own stunts in her early movies such as Royal Warriors (1986) and Wing Chun (1994).   In Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) , which heralded her entry into Hollywood, she fights alongside James Bond. In doing so, she not only defies the stereotypes of Asia...