目送歸鴻，手揮五弦

I prepared special DAQ audible alarms for today --

1. when a run crashes without knowing what next run is:
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert DAQ

高陽到底是在有名什麼啊？我快速翻完了「曹雪芹別傳」、「三春爭及初春景」及「大野龍蛇」，連同之前看完的「茂陵春」「秣陵秋」「五陵遊」「延陵劍」，算是把曹雪芹系列看完了，不過整個系列應該他喵的改名叫「繡春系列」，因為主角根本就是繡春嘛！
繡春是誰？她是震二奶奶（曹震之妻，也就是紅樓夢裡的鳳姐）的丫鬟，在本系列中主角威能大開花見花開人見人愛——

Taiwan’s heavy metal star rallies fans to run for parliament on anti-China platform@the Guardian
This news reminded me that I have joined their 7th anniversary concert as a pipa, a Chinese musical instrument, player in the end of 2002.  The music, black metal integrating with Taiwanese folksongs, is really impressive.  I still remember some pieces, based on a famous Taiwanese folklore, and the place we practiced.  Also many thanks to the other teammates from the Chinese music club of National Taiwan University, who helped me catch up during the practices.

At the all-hand meeting of the SLAC Elementary Particle Physics division, JoAnne, the new division head, addressed the questions she received regarding her future leadership.
Q: How could you, a theorist, lead the Elementary Particle Physics division?
A: I'm a phenomenlogist, not a string theorist!

回台灣的時候看了一點「甄嬛傳」電視劇，滿好看的，劇情對白都很不錯，但是有點膩。不過我覺得那是因為我本來就不那麼喜歡宮鬥，非戰之罪。我向來喜歡小說多過電視電影，所以這兩天就上網看了一點原著小說。一看之下我發現了幾個嚴重的問題，大大影響了閱讀樂趣。
第一個問題是文辭太過華麗。小說的文風某種程度上很有紅樓夢的味道，不過紅樓夢是經典中的經典，很多大作家都深受紅樓夢影響，所以文風像紅樓夢並不是問題。事實上甄嬛傳的作者文筆很好，但問題是辭藻的堆砌實在走火入魔了，內容的密度不足以撐起辭藻的密度，用句國文課本裡的話就是「辭溢乎情」。因此讀起來令人不耐煩，一直快轉。曹雪芹、張愛玲、白先勇等作家都有華麗的辭藻和細膩的描寫，但是我很享受他們的文字。樸月的小說「西風獨自涼」也很有紅樓夢的味道，但是沒有甄嬛傳那麼囉唆；又比如「源氏物語」很細膩，某種程度上有點像紅樓夢（不過「源氏物語」成書時間早很多），但是我並不會想快轉（我看的是林文月的譯本）。甄嬛傳的文字讓我覺得很像六朝的駢賦，矯揉造作，流於賣弄，比寶姐姐長篇大論的說教還令人頭痛。
第二個問題我覺得最嚴重，就是視角的問題。第一人稱的歷史小說（或宮鬥文）別開生面，但是實在有太多描寫是從第一人稱所看不到的視角了！這讓我覺得怪怪的，很難看下去。比如說，當甄嬛與沈眉莊聊天時，小說寫「我嫣然一笑」就讓我覺得很囧。一般人平常笑的時候看不到自己的笑容吧！除非是對著鏡子。但甄嬛顯然不是對著鏡子笑的。那怎麼知道自己的笑容「嫣然」？看到這種形容我只覺得你也太自我感覺良好了吧！若用第一人稱，我覺得用「我微微一笑」比較自然。小說中處處充斥着這種視角很怪的例子，讓我覺得甄嬛是不是長了一雙複眼，所以很難入戲。

I attended a lecture "how to find a job in Europe" yesterday.  The speaker is an Italian working in Bern.  He emphazied a lot on showing the respect of the local culture, language, and politics when looking for a job.  However, there are differences between Europe and Italy.
"The British are proud of being British, the French are proud of being French.  The Italian are proud of... their championship of World Cup.  The Italians are more relaxed." 
"You have to know the language.  For example, the French will speak in French after greeting you.  The Italian want to speak English, but they don't know how to speak in English.  So after five minutes, they start to speak in Italian."
"Mobility is considered to be very important.  But in Italy, the only way to get the professorship is to stick to a powerful professor and to get pushed up."

昨天看了李安導演執導的第一部英語片——理性與感性 (Sense and Sensitivity)。有些簡短的感想。
整部片十分流暢，主角 Emma Thompson 表現可圈可點，配角個性鮮明但恰如其分。運鏡我是外行所以不予置評。總體而言是一部令人感到輕鬆愉快的愛情喜劇，雖然片長兩個多小時但不會讓我想看錶。
故事架構很像「傲慢與偏見」。不過不管是原著還是電影，「理性與感性」都比較早出版。這兩個故事我都只看過電影，所以應該說「傲慢與偏見」電影很像「理性與感性」。

Captain Hastings: Is there *anything* in the English cuisine that you like, Poirot?
Hercule Poirot: The English they do not have a cuisine, my friend, they have only the food.
Captain Hastings: Well, that's a bit harsh, ...
Hercule Poirot: Like the meat, overcooked, the vegetables, too soft, the cheese, inedible. And the day the English create their own wines is the day I return home to Belgium.
When Poirot was detained by the Argentina police...
The journalist: Don't worry Monsieur Poirot, I'll call the French embassy.
Hercule Poirot: No, no, no, no! The Belgian embassy!

上上禮拜一（十月二十一日）去看了 Verdi 晚年的代表作 Otello。還聽了表演前的演講。
這齣歌劇的劇本是從莎士比亞的劇本 Othello 改編，敘述摩爾將軍 Otello （歌劇版的主角名）的愛恨情仇。簡言之是一則愛與家暴的故事，因此我對於劇情的感想是：請善用 113 家暴專線，行政院衛生署關心您。（整個畫錯重點）
整個故事的情緒都很強烈——主角 Otello 是摩爾人，其它角色是威尼斯人，大概是拉丁民族的熱情本性使然（按），故事劇情很像花系列。我覺得劇情安排有很多很有意思的地方。Iago 是本劇的大魔王，因為沒有得到 captain 之職，千方百計地搞破壞，想要毀掉上司 Otello。我好奇的是 Iago 的目的究竟是什麼？我能理解他是想毀掉 Otello 的人生，然後呢？坐收漁利嗎？如果讓 Otello 知道自己聽信讒言誤殺深愛自己的妻子 Desdemona，毀滅的效果應該比較大，不過 Iago 應該也不用玩了。還是 Iago 篤定 Otello 發現真相後會馬上自爆，就不會追究自己的陰謀？如果讓 Otello 一直相信自己沒誤會誤殺，Iago 就可以繼續在那個圈子混下去，說不定哪天取而代之。不過這個版本的陰謀帶給 Otello 的衝擊比較小。因此我在想最後一幕 Iago 東窗事發是故意的還是意外。

Our jet energy scale paper draft is now under the style review. Stefan, the style reviewer, told us he would probably not progress much because "tomorrow Higgs will be here (the man not the particle)."
At the jet energy scale meeting today, we had the following conversation.
"Stefan is interacting with Higgs, so the paper will probably be delayed a bit."
"How is the coupling? Yukawa coupling close to 1?"
"The coupling is proportional to the mass....."
"Ah, then it is a strong interaction!"