Donkey Rider


Donkey Rider
Originally uploaded by serapio.

The donkey rider is a frequent element in Song dynasty monumental landscape painting, such as the works of Guo Xi, “Li Cheng, and Fan Kuan. According to Peter Sturman, the professor of my undergrad art history class, the donkey rider is an icon of a failed literati, modeled after Meng Haoran and Du Fu. Li Cheng is believed to have seen himself as the donkey rider. The donkey rider is a talented poet, artist and philosopher who is nevertheless unsuccessful in the civil service examinations or falls out of favor with the imperial court, and takes up a reclusive itinerant life in the countryside.

So that’s the problem

New research suggests there might be a special neural pathway for rewarding recognition and comprehension. Related research, searching for a neural pathway that rewards writing long essays that no one will want to read, has so far found nothing.

For some more cognitive science reading, relevant to the national holiday, check out this discussion of psych research on patriotism, and dope up those mu-opioid receptors.

Blucker by Sweetwater River


Blucker by Sweetwater River
Originally uploaded by serapio.

I have been informed that I should point out to my faithful readers that I have posted pictures of the hike Biker and I took when she visited me.

For further entertainment, provide the syntactic tree for the sentence above. Then insert “on flickr” in the most natural place, and redraw the tree. If you figure that out please explain it to me.

Or perhaps we need a poll. Which would you feel more comfortable saying?
a) I have posted pictures on flickr of the hike we took
b) I have posted on flickr pictures of the hike we took
c) I have posted pictures of the hike we took on flickr

Is this covered in those formal-syntax type classes?

Moseying


Jinhua
Originally uploaded by serapio.

It’s finally happening. Starting in September, I will be teaching English at Zhejiang Normal University in Jinhua. It’s apparently a university of just 20000 students, and the city might have anywhere between 300,000 people and 4 million, depending on who you read. (I think it might be confusion about Jinhua being a city within an administrative division, within a prefecture.) Someone fought somebody else here in the 4th century, and some poet during the Song dynasty claimed it was pretty, but otherwise it seems like a fairly unremarkable place. But I’m hopeful. In this view from Google Earth (you can check it out for yourself), we see Jinhua with mountains in the background, and the measuring tool tells me it’s just 9 miles from the river to the mountain top, with an elevation gain of 3500 feet. I can’t find the university, but it is said to be in “the northern suburbs”, which must put it within just a couple miles of the base of the mountain. The city is also just a couple hours drive from Hangzhou, which was once likely the largest city in the world, and is often described as the most beautiful.