When Mr. Liu Ao (51 to 7 BC) was the King of the Western Han Empire, the ex-prime minister, Marquis of Anchang Zhang Yu (? to 5 BC) was a well-respected and heavy-weight figure in the court. After his retirement, he was even made the emeritus senior minister on the ground that he was the tutor to Mr. Liu when he was a young boy.
A certain Mr. Zhu Yun was not very happy about this, and he wrote to the King and asked for a meeting. In the meeting, in front of the imperial leadership team, Mr. Zhu said:
At the top of the managerial pyramid, the King does not get enough guidance from the current court leadership. And at the bottom of the pyramid, the ordinary people does not benefit from their leadership. They are enjoying the fat emolument associated with their position without having to actually do anything.
尚方和尚方斬馬劍
According to Confucius, one shall not work with these despicable characters in the imperial office, for they are constantly afraid of losing their jobs, and they are willing to do anything in order to protect their positions. May I request your Majesty to bestow me the Sword of of the State. A certain treacherous one must be killed so that others may use him as an example.
如果你或你的公司不還稅， 內陸稅收局 的人就會寄一封公函來罵你並跟你討錢。 在馬來西亞，所有的政府公函，都會印上 Urusan Seri Paduka Baginda 的字樣。「Urusan Seri Paduka Baginda」其實是延續英國人 On His Majesty's Service 的傳統。「 Seri Paduka Baginda 」這三個字的英語是「His Majesty」或「Her Majesty」，而「Urusan」則是「Service」。 現代英國郵遞系統的原型是愛德華四世國王 Edward IV (1461-1483)設計的，他為了加快情報的傳遞速度，在大概每30km就設了一根柱子(post)和一匹新馬。這樣，情報的傳遞便能達到約2 m/s。 J. C. Hemmeon在1912年出版的《The history of the British post office》是這樣寫道的： A somewhat different style of postal service, a precursor of the modern method, was inaugurated by the fourth Edward. During the war with Scotland he found himself in need of a speedier and better system of communication between the seat of war and the seat of government. He accomplished this by placing horses at intervals of twenty miles along the great road between England and Scotland. By so doing his messengers were able to take up fresh horses along the way and his despatches were carried at the rate of a hundred miles a day. 500年前2 m
從吉打 Lembah Bujang 布央谷開車回家，經過怡保的時候剛好是晚餐時間。 在麥當勞用過晚餐後，發現開車的我好像也有點睏了，於是決定在怡保睡一覺。我們把車開到 Bandar Meru Raya ，然後跟 Casuarina 要了一間房間。 隔天早我見小兒子辛円睡到很遲還不願意起床，就拿起手機給他照了一張相。 大太陽曬屁股還不起身嗎？ 原想給照片標上：阿円睡到日上三竿，大太陽曬屁股還不起身。但，住在我頭腦裡面的另外一個人問我： 三竿到底是幾點？ 於是我便上網查了一下該成語的出處：「日上三竿」應該是出自《 南齊書・天文誌上・日光色 》的一段話。《南齊書・天文誌》是南齊政府天文局官員根據每日的觀測日記整理出來的天文異象報告。《日光色》的第三個記錄是這樣寫道的： 永明五年十一月丁亥，日出高三竿， 朱色赤黃，日暈，虹抱珥直背。 這段話有三個部分。第一部分「永明五年十一月丁亥」標的是日期。第二部分「日出高三竿」說的是太陽的高度，也就是當時的時間。第三部分「朱色赤黃，日暈，虹抱珥直背」解釋的當時天文局官員觀察到的天象。 通常我讀文言文的時候都會在頭腦裡面把文字翻譯成英語。因為只有這樣，才能逼我自己將每個字都解讀出來。這段話譯成英語大概是： Sunday. December 7, 487. The shadow cast by the sun is three times the height of the pole. The colour of the sky is between red and yellow. Solar haloes and parhelia are clearly visible. 我們先說日期的那一部分。「永明」指的是南齊的 蕭宣遠 先生。蕭先生是在公元483至493期間做皇帝的。永明五年自然是落在公元487年。後面的「十一月」指的是農曆十一月，而「丁亥」是中國傳統天干地支計日系統的寫法，它是一種 60模 的寫法，例如：甲子 = 1、癸亥 = 60。所以，「丁亥」的值為24。 接著我們用 Reingold與Dershowitz 的方法把農曆日期換算成格列高曆。其結果是：公元487年12月7日（既該年的第341天，\(d = 341\)）。 根據日影我
Water disruption at Pangkalan Lumpur In March 1877, Captain Yap Ah Loy wrote a letter to Captain W. B. Douglas (r. 1875 - 1882, Acting Resident of Selangor) to relay a water-related grievance at Pangkalan Lumpur tin mine. This letter is important because it contains several important data points: The toponyms ‘Kuala Lumpur' and ‘Pangkalan Lumpur' can be seen together in the same document, Captain Yap's usage appears to show that Pangkalan Lumpur was a Pangkalan (فڠکالن) is a derivative of pangkal (terminal point in Malay). One effect of adding the an-suffix to a Malay word m is the production of m -an, which is a noun representing an object/place closely associated with m . ‘Pangkal + an' is normally invoked in land/sea travel to mean disembarkation point , e.g. Pangkalan Batu. Another example is empang + an = empangan (the end result when a river is dammed). Empang (امفڠ barrier/blockade) was borrowed to denote tin mine . T
The official emblem of the state of Malacca shows two light brown mouse deers on each side of the tree of Malacca. This depiction is rather problematic. Because, if the emblem is meant to commemorate the brave Sang Kancil , as encountered by Parameswara in the Sejarah Melayu, then the color of the animal is probably not correct. If you follow the Malay classic carefully, the Sang Kancil mentioned is not light brown but white . The relatively new The logo was unveiled when Malacca was declared Historical City on April 13, 2003 logo of the City Council of Malacca, however, correctly show the two mouse deers in white . On the other hand, the Sang Kancil story purported to explain the founding of Malacca could be a story modified from a folk-tale from Sri Lanka. This fact was first noted by R. O. Winstedt (1922) Two Legends of Malacca, Journal of Straits Branch of Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 85, p. 40. I was in the Za'ba Memorial Library , around
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