Reminiscences

About the author Privacy policies, terms, and conditions I have always been a cat lover. I have not centered my blog around cats because I have been the cat mom of very few cats.  I therefore lack the experience and expertise to offer much valuable advice to fellow cat moms out there. I decided to write about a peculiar cat behavior-- "hop-greeting" --which has intrigued many cat owners, but which, as my internet research has indicated, very few extensive posts have discussed. *** I first noticed this cat behavior during my numerous interactions with a male cat called Lester while living in a Cambridge neighborhood in year 2005, well before I had ever owned a cat before.  That happened well before I became Jade's cat mom. Lester was a very friendly cat, which I mistook as a stray in the beginning. Having noticed him a few times near where I lived, I went out to look for him and feed him every day. He ran to me every time he spotted me...

About the author Privacy policies, terms, and conditions "Hate speech" isn't quite the same as "hate." Considering that "hate speech" is often abused by people without any legal knowledge, who tend conflate the term with "hate," the other day I preluded my lecture on hate speech with a short examination of "hate." I discussed a poem by William Blake, titled "The Poison Tree," which I emailed the students before our meeting. When people confront their hate and find outlets, the emotion is relieved. When people buries the hate, it does not disappear: it continues to grow. The person harboring the hate may even enjoy cultivating the feeling. The poison tree serves as a symbol of cultivated hate that would lead to disasters than if the hate had been confronted and relieved/released at an early stage. *** Hate as a human emotion is natural and moral.  To get rid of hate is to deprive humans...

About the author Privacy policies, terms, and conditions I shopped primarily at two places in Zehlendorf, Berlin for my groceries: Edeka and Lieber Asia (Asia Markt). I have always preferred supermarkets to grocery stores. Edeka, at least the bigger outlets, should be known as the former and not the latter. There are at least three Edeka outlets in Zehlendorf, Berlin.  The one I frequented is on Sundgauer Stra ß er , which is a 3-minute walk from where I live. I restock skincare products at the outlet in Clayallee , which has a bigger assortment of both Western and Oriental fresh food, sauces, spices, and even toys and stationery.                                     (taken at the outlet on Sundgauer Str., Zehlndorf)  At Edeka I buy all the high-quality and affordable items that enable me to eat and live very well. Besides fresh meat and vegetables, I ...

About the author Privacy policies, terms, and conditions   People with scoliosis tend to be very conscious of the flaws in their bodies. I am no expert in medicine and cannot advise people with this condition to undergo corrective surgeries. Each patient is different and an invasive surgery is not the best treatment for all. I do believe that if the physician does recommend/encourage it, after reviewing all the relevant facts (including whether the condition is progressive), then the patient should overcome his/her fear and go for it for both health and aesthetic reasons. The surgery would not make the spine perfect. However, it would definitely improve it. In most cases, patients do recover well and the conditions, which typically become mild, tend not to deteriorate much after surgeries.  This post, inspired by fashion journey of a dear one (C, whom I mentioned in my previous posts) provides fashion tips for people whose condition is mil...

About the author Privacy policies, terms, and conditions Some years ago, I noticed a difference in my hair texture depending on where I was living. My hair in its "default" state used to be of fair quality, given that I have very good health.  My hair texture deteriorated when I was residing in London/Cambridge: it almost instantly became coarse and frizzy and, at the same time, a little greasy. While I was vacationing in Helsinki (Finland), it turned soft and babyish even though I forgot to bring shampoo and bought a random brand from the local supermarket, and hardly spent time on my hair after washing it. In cities like Hong Kong and Vancouver, my hair texture did seem to fluctuate a bit, due to reasons that I failed to find out at that time. My condition was at its worst during my stay in Waterloo/Ontario (Canada): it literally turned into one giant, sticky clump.   At one time, I thought my hair turned bad when I was too occupied...

About the author Privacy policies, terms, and conditions Back in 2006/7, lecturers at the Chinese University of Hong Kong were already advised by their superiors not to anger students coming from Mainland China who happened to be ultra-nationalistic (To be very fair, not all of them were/are!) by introducing controversial materials that they deemed offensive and triggering. What happened in 2019 might have come as a shock to many. Yet in hindsight it was not a complete surprise. Since 2020, Hong Kong has dropped to the bottom 10-20 % of the Academic Freedom Index , published by researchers at the  Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg  and the  V-Dem Institute , making it on par with authoritarian countries such as Yemen and Pakistan. *** What was surprising for me was that the catastrophic changes to the former British colony have not deterred Western-born people from flocking to it: indeed, many have gladly settled there...

About the author Privacy policies, terms, and conditions 我鍾情西方文，不過得承認，中文比英文優勝之一，為中文名字大多數由兩個單字組成，再加上姓氏，可以變化多端，父母為孩子改名，可以發揮無限創意。近年香港有報章發現，本地父母卻似乎創意奉欠，因此有些名字經常出現。當然，名字多人用，像變得庸俗，不代表改壞名，相反，很可能因為既悅耳又有意思，才會如此受歡迎。不過要是講求創意，大概不喜歡這個情況出現了。 為了取得好名，有父母翻查古書和、小說，也有人聘請相士。這裡提供的只是建議，啟發你取一個有意思、有品味的名字。如果你是信奉命理，大可在這裡取得啟發和靈感，並取了數個稱心的選擇後，再請教命理師，評價哪個名字才是最好。 (一) 姓氏為自然景象或動物 如果你姓林或江之類，因為是大自然景象，便很容易配合姓氏取一個詩情畫意，或氣勢磅礡的名字，令人印象難忘。香港信報前老闆姓林名「山木」，子女分別名為「在山」和「外山」，字夠清簡，但絕對是意境深遠、厚實的好名。姓江的，取個「雪橋」或「雨橋」，女孩懂事後多數會喜歡。以前認識朋友姓馬，名「東城」，很有氣勢。若擁有這類姓氏，在改名時要多加利用。 (二) 運用姓氏本身意思 大多數姓氏跟自然景象並無關係，但本身都有含意(「劉」﹑「廖」也許是少數除了是姓氏外，縱使不是零意義，也無甚意義的字)。因此大可以承接姓氏本身意思來取個有優雅﹑有意思的美名。 以姓「徐」為例，本身具有「緩慢」的含義。名「而敏」或「亦敏」，便可表達既隱重又敏捷之意，塑造既溫文爾雅且細膩敏感的形象。又如姓「許」，名「諾行」，也是好名，但為有一諾千金，一言既出，駟馬難追的含意。甚至姓「陳」，本身也有「陳述」「陳列」意思，叫「不盡」，陳之不盡，無窮無盡，特別得叫人一聽難忘。 不少人奉信相學命理，在此提醒：信命理和發揮創意兩者並無矛盾，在這裡取得啟發靈感，取數個稱心名字後，仍然可以請教命理師，再選個最好，而不是完全依賴師傅，接受很可能是怪異或無美感的名字，又或者讓陌生人為自己或子女作出如此個人的人生決定。 (三) 表現立體性格優點 很多姓氏除了是姓氏之外，本身無甚意思，如「劉」和「廖」等等，不能善用對上兩則的建議。再且，有些父母也許不喜歡他們認為是「標奇立異」的...