Strange Ugly Caterpillar

An usual fleshy-coloured larva: the species eludes me now but hopefully one day I will be able to identity this interesting insect.

Idleness

Bertrand Russell, ‘In Praise of Idleness’ In In Praise of Idleness: and Other Essays (London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd, 1935),  pp. 9-29 (p. 14):

Much that we take for granted about the desirability of work is derived from this system and, being pre-industrial, is not adapted to the modern world. Modern technic has made it possible for leisure, within limits, to be not the prerogative of small privileged classes, but a right evenly distributed throughout the community. The morality of work is the morality of slaves, and the modern world has no need of slavery.

Aster Ageratoides

Aster ageratoides (三脉紫菀).

I took this picture in Shibadong, but this aster is very in the mountains during Autumn, both along the roads and trails and deeper with the forests.

Presbyopia and the Invention of Modern Handwriting

B.L. Ullman, Origin and Development of Humanistic Script (Rome: Edizioni di storia e letteratura, 1960), pp. 14-15:

Why so much attention to the complaints of two aging men of the fourteenth century? Because they explain what happened. It may at first sight seem strange that it was the clear script of the fourteenth-century humanists like Petrarch and Coluccio rather than the crabbed Gothic of France, Germany, and England that was the first to be reformed. It is not always the institution or individual most in need of reforming that actually gets reformed first. At any rate, it would seem that the difficulties of Coluccio in particular had something to do with the reform, as we shall see. Eyeglasses had been invented, it is true, but they were neither widely used nor very satisfactory. So we may say that presbyopia started the reform of handwriting. Thanks to the improvement of eyeglasses in modern times, we determine or need for them and their strength by the ability to read the telephone book. In 1400 it was easier to change handwriting than to change glasses.

Blushing Rosette

Blushing Rosette (Abortiporus biennis, 二年残孔菌).

This colourful fungus was hiding by a small stream on Yuelu Mountain. It has otherwise been a very dry season, and lacking in fungi.

What Ruskin Said

How true it was what Ruskin said, that evil communications corrupt good manners. But did Ruskin say it? On second thoughts she was not sure, but it was just the sort of thing he would have said if he had said it, and in any case it was true.

Elizabeth Arnim, The Enchanted April (London: Penguin Books, 2012; 1922), p. 162.

Chusan Palm

Chusan Palm (Trachycarpus fortunei, 棕榈).

A fan palm that has been cultivated for thousands of years. This one is growing high up on Yuelu Mountain, along with many other trees, some native, others also introduced over the course of human history.

An Egg-Shaped Poem

Pierio Valeriano (1477-1558)

      Danieli Barbaro.P.V. Ouum Dactylicum.
                           θεοκρατικῶς

                                  Sacrā
                                 Barbari
                              Thespiades
                           Cingite frontem
                          Floribus  omnibus
                        OEbaliis,      Paphiis,
                       Laurigerisque  coronis.
                   Nam ferit hic bene Barbyton
                  Suauisonis      modulaminibus:
                Egregius adeò  ,      vt data vobis
               Huic  rear  aurea plectra  sororibus:
                Aoniumve  dedit   puero   melos
                Et citharā bonus addit Apollo,
                  Indole   captus  ,  & ingenio,
                   Hunc hederis igitur sacris
                      Cingite protinus almæ
                           Pierides nouum
                                  Poëtam.

Pierio Valeriano, Hieroglyphica; [opuscula uaria] (Cologne: apud Ioannem Wilhemum Friessem, 1685), p. 123. My translation:

'To Daniel Barbaro, VenetianPatriarch: A Dactylic Egg (In a divine manner)'.

Thespiades, surround the barbarian’s sacred brow with all the flowers of Oebalia, Paphos and laurel-bearing crowns. For he strikes the barbiton well with sweet-sounding melodies. So eloquent, that I think golden picks were given to you by the sister Muses: Or good Apollo imparts Aeonian melodies and a lyre. Captive to genius and wit, surround this new poet, o nourishing Pierdes, with sacred ivy.

Ourapteryx Yerburii

Ourapteryx yerburii (淡黄双斑尾尺蛾).

A medium-sized geometer moth. There were many of them out during our nocturnal searches on Hengshan last October 28th.

Unpunctuality

Leszek Kolakowski, 'In Praise of Unpunctuality' in Is God Happy?: Selected Essays (New York: Basic Books, 2013), pp. 219-223 (p .219):

Unpunctuality is the ingrained habit of regularly failing to fulfil people’s expectations regarding the specific time at which certain of our actions will take place, these expectations being the result of assurances on our part, tacit or explicit, regarding that specific time.

Touch-me-not Balsam

Touch-me-not Balsam (Impatiens noli-tangere, 水金凤).

A flower that can be found throughout the Northern hemisphere, its flowers are very common on Hengshan in late October. The fruit of this balsam explore when ripe, thereby scattering seeds over a distance.

Biography

Biography is the White Man's Graveyard for a working writer. The work expands to fill as much time and energy as one will give it.

Michael Swanwick, Hope-in-the-mist: the Extraordinary Career and Mysterious Life of Hope Mirrlees (Upper Montclair, NJ: Temporary Culture, 2009), p. 52.

Geisha Distinctissima

Geisha distinctissima (碧蛾蜡蝉).

Another nocturnal insect from Hengshan. This one a handsome flatid planthopper, resting on the lichen-covered bark of a tree.

Grammatical Training

Ohne sichere grammatische Schulung und weitausgreifende Lektüre ist nichts zu erreichen . Germanistik , Romanistik , Anglistik entbehren alter Tradition . Sie fallen darum den Moden und Irrungen des « Zeitgeistes » leicht zum Opfer.

Without solid grammatical training and extensive reading, nothing can be achieved. German studies, Romance studies, English studies lack ancient tradition. They therefore easily fall victim to the fashions and aberrations of the ’spirit of the times'.

E.R. Curtius, Europäische Literatur Und Lateinisches Mittelalter (Bern: A. Francke AG, 1948), p. 386. My translation.