Lunar New Year begins on the date (in East Asia) of the second new Moon after the winter solstice, which always takes place in late December. This means that the first day of the Lunar New Year can occur anytime between January 21 and February 20. In 2023, this new Moon occurs in China on Sunday, January 22, marking the… Read More »
“And it arose not because of mystical ‘ghosts from the past’ but as the result of specific actions of people who disliked their existing democracies. They disliked them because they were too weak or too imitative, too indecisive or too individualistic – or because they personally were not advancing fast enough within them.” — Anne Applebaum, Twilight of… Read More »
Plastic street barriers Doubtless, these knockdown stick curb bumpouts set up by the city government in some corner streets in Toronto effectively protect pedestrians. These devices are traffic-calming measures to slow down vehicles making a left or right turn onto a road. These knockdown stick barriers are supposed to protect the city’s pedestrians, but if you look around… Read More »
DECEMBER. It’s a month of significance for a lot of us. It is the time of the year of thoughts of another year past. I don’t know you, but for me, this time around is not like any other December. Could it be that I have ended three-quarters of life and now heading to the final quarter that… Read More »
“And now here is my secret, a very simple secret. It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” – Louise Penny, The Madness of Crowds (2021) “A future that might bring about our end does not negate the majesty of the journey we are still taking.” –… Read More »
You cannot do all the good the earth needs, but the earth needs all the good you can do. – Jana Stanfield To help those in need is one of the most selfless actions we can do, so why don’t we do it more often? I understand that one action of ours may not register to our critical… Read More »
“Every man’s life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another.” Ernest Hemingway Life I sprung up from somewhere in circumstances right or wrong without my consent. I would have liked it but conditions were less than ideal. There were lots of struggles… Read More »
In some nook and cranny of our home, we find those few prized possessions we’ve been keeping through the years. These are the little things we have that we could not quickly get rid of, but at times, they have become our comfort zones. Every time we see and touch these possessions—old books, photos, letters, cards, children’s and… Read More »
PART II Ten thousand years ago, there was no such thing as corn, just a wild grassy plant called Teosinte. Farmers started domesticating it by selecting seeds for planting. Maize, as it was later called, then had an ear ( cob) 2 cm long with eight rows of kernels. From that lowly start, the corn has steadily transformed… Read More »
There it is looking high and mighty, the mountain of hope for the poorest and neglected people of the country. Its beauty lies underneath. The early morning start of garbage trucks dumping the thrashes of the well-off is sweet music and not an irritant for those eking a living for the non-stop pile-ups. It means there is work… Read More »