The Tomb of Cao Cao

對酒當歌，人生幾何？
I lift my drink and sing a song,
for who knows if life is short or long?

譬如朝露，去日苦多。
Man’s life is but the morning dew,
past days many, future ones few.

慨當以慷，憂思難忘。
The melancholy my heart begets,
comes from cares I cannot forget.;

何以解憂？唯有杜康。
What can unravel these woes of mine?
I know but one drink – Du Kang Wine.


According to the Zhengzhou Evening News, a newspaper based in Zhengzhou, capital city of Henan Province: in addition to the artifacts recovered from the site, archeologists also discovered human bones which are believed to belong to three persons. Among them, one is believed to be a male who was in his sixties, which is consistent with the historical chronicle of Cao's death at 66. This assumption is also confirmed by multiple inscriptions found in the grave with Cao's temple name The Invincible King of Wei (魏武王).

Wang Liqun, a historian who attended yesterday's media conference held in Beijing about the excavation, said that he was hopeful that by examining the recovered skull, the scientists would pinpoint the cause of Cao's headache which supposedly propelled him to kill his doctors and eventually led to his own death.

Painting by Li Ying-Lai

Foreboding

Just a feeling. Somehow I expect stormy days ahead rather than smooth sailing. Hopefully, I'm wrong.

Picture from New Mexico, 2006

Plastic Bags are Saving the Environment?

The plastic bag industry, which has been killing marine life with its products for years, is marketing itself as an endangered species in need of environmental protection.

That’s right — the plastic industry’s renamed itself the “Save the Plastic Bag” coalition. And it’s arguing that the California Environmental Quality Act — which requires environmental impact reports for projects and plans that may harm the environment — applies to plastic bag bans! The industry’s saying that cities and counties must be required to conduct time-consuming environmental impact study to see if banning plastic bags could be bad for the environment.

The biggest reason the plastic bag industry is stating that they are helping the environment is that if plastic is banned, everyone will turn to paper bags instead, further harming the environment. Because of course, banning plastic, charging for paper would never force people to change their habits and carry a few bags in their trunk.

Seriously, just go buy some Flip and Tumblebags. Sure, they are nylon instead or organic cotton/bamboo, etc. but they hold 25 pounds each and smash into a ball the size of a small fist. I take a few of these everywhere I go and use them for everything from grocery shopping to carrying my lunch to work. I am in no way hindered by the lack of plastic bags, and don't require paper either. I hate it when big business decides the best way to fix their issue is to sue instead of just accepting that maybe they are the problem instead of the solution.

Best Card Ever

"I just don't find it funny at all. If it had been about a black child or an overweight child the store would have been shut down by now."

If I could get a box of these I might actually be tempted to send Christmas cards to people. These are fantastic. Only way to make it better would be to somehow show that the kid is also a step-child.

Go Gingers!

Readers by Author

Stereotyping People by Their Favorite Author

Some of my favorite authors on the list:

Ayn Rand - Workaholics seeking validation.

Haruki Murakami - People who like good music.

Friedrich Nietzsche - Sommeliers.

Richard Dawkins - People who have their significant other grab them under the table in order to shut them up whenever someone else at a dinner says something absolutely ridiculous and wrong.

How Clean is your Water?

I'm a big advocate of drinking tap water. I bring my own bottles to work filled up, I drink pretty much nothing but plain, boring tap water all day long. And while it is good to know that my city's tap water is in the top 50 cleanest in the country, it still makes me sad it is all the way down at number 50.

Dallas didn't even feature in the top 100, so I suppose moving back to Plano was a good idea. If it weren't such a hike to get to work, moving to Arlington would seem a good plan, considering it has the best water in the country, although after 8 years, I no longer could attest that claim.

Check out your own city at Environmental Working Group's "What's in your water?"

Colors Are Wrong

And according to Starbucks, Wishing make the Holidays.....

..via Exploding Dog

Breakfast of Champions

Oh hells yeah. Oatmeal is awesome.

Alcoholic Monkeys

“Significantly, the percentage of teetotaler monkeys matches the nondrinkers in the human population. In line with human habits, most drink in moderation, 12% are steady drinkers, and 5% drink to the last drop. The similarity between us shows that our liking for alcohol is determined by our genes.”

Plus, drunk monkeys. Really, the video has it all. :)

Meow: The Zombie Kitten Apocalypse

..via Nag on the Lake