Leon Lederman on photon and scientists who write well

I constantly look for scientists who write well and discovered Leon Lederman (the particle physicist) a few years ago. The following paragraph is what he wrote about photon in his “Beyond the God Particle”.  He has a gift of writing science for the general readers.  Photons are massless force-carrying particles (bosons).  Photon can have many faces.  Reading this paragraph will elevate the level of understanding of photons.

So, photons can behave like particles, despite their funny quantum waviness and their  imperative to always travel at the speed of light.  They do have something in common with marbles or billiard balls—each photon carries energy as it moves through the room at the speed of light.  Photons can have a lot of energy, and then we call them “X-rays”; still more energy, and we call them “gamma rays,” as when they are the product of such things as radioactive disintegration or supernova explosions.  Gamma rays readily will go “tick . . . tick . . . tick . . . tick” as they are counted in a Geiger counter.  It’s dangerous for living organisms to be exposed to too many X-rays or gamma rays because they tend to destroy biological tissue, such as DNA.  Bur photons can have less energy, becoming the light we see, and with still less energy, will fade off into the far red scale of visibility, becoming warm, gentle infrared light emanating from a soothing fire in the fireplace on a cold winter night, finally becoming at the lowest energy scales microwaves and radio waves.

My impression is that Dr. Harold Varmus is a Renaissance Man, whose 1989 Nobel Prize was for his discovery of oncogenes.  He went to Amherst College as a pre-med student (his father was a medical doctor), but his interest turned to philosophy and English Literature and entered Harvard post-graduate program studying English Literature. Fate had it that he somehow went back to medicine. 

Dr. Varmus became the director of NIH in 1993 and the director of National Cancer Institute in 2010. His memoir (The Art and Politics of Science) has been on my must-read reading list, but never got a chance.  I wrote a post about him on Jan. 17, 2007.  A book review of his memoir in American Scientist does comment about his writing. 

“One of the striking characteristics of many NIH directors is how well they write (James Wyngaarden, Don Fredrickson and Bernadine Healy come to mind). They also recognize how important it is to address nonscientists—members of Congress and the general public—in language that’s easy to comprehend.”

http://doctorjytsai.blogspot.com/2007/01/boring-scientists.html

It is no coincidence that both Leon Lederman and Harold Varmus are Jewish.

How to say good-bye to a congenial friend in 巨流河

Reading the stories of the scientists over the years, I have noticed most of the successful scientists in the same field seemed to work together one time or another.  I always said the secret of getting a Nobel Prize in science is to work with or under a Nobel laureate.

Less obvious though it may be, this phenomenon was also observed among men or women of letters in the literary world.

In 巨流河 we read a story of Professor Pang-yuan Chi’s (齊邦媛) visiting her college classmate, 魯巧珍, who was then terminally ill.  魯巧珍 recited a poem by Tu-Fu (杜甫).  It was so relevant, poignant and perfect.  I cannot help but think Tu-Fu (杜甫) wrote this poem specifically for this sad occasion. (The following is the excerpt from 洄瀾.)

齊邦媛來到了魯巧珍的病床前，淚不能止。魯巧珍從枕頭底下摸出一張紙，上面寫一個著杜甫的千古名篇 贈衛八處士 隆重朗誦 “人生不相見，動如參與商。共此燈燭光。少壯能幾時，鬢髮各已蒼。訪舊半為鬼，驚呼熱中腸。。。。明日隔山岳，世事兩茫茫。” 這種唐詩迎友，訣別的儀式，亦幻，亦真。

Never had I ever read a scene of saying good-bye to a dying friend so poignant, so penetrating; I cannot recall any such a scene in Shakespeare’s plays that can rival it.

Recall this recitation was from 魯巧珍, not from 齊邦媛; it tells me that the people with whom 齊邦媛 is associated is so congenial to her, in terms of education, cultural and intellectual sophistication.

Our garden refuses to die: Greeting chrysanthemum (菊花) with mixed emotion

It is always with mixed emotion when we see chrysanthemum (菊花) blooming, saying good-bye to all the “summer glories” which will soon “perish with beautiful reluctance”.  These photos were taken two days ago, “our garden refuses to die” as Emily Dickinson said of hers.  Let’s hope it will be a long good-bye.

blooming chrysanthemum

blooming chrysanthemum

Higgs boson—the God particle: An introduction

Peter Higgs

On July 4, 2012 CERN announced the discovery of Higgs Boson, existence of which was predicted by Peter Higgs, Francois Englert and Robert Brout nearly fifty years ago. Higgs presented his finding at Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton in 1964.

Brout didn’t live long enough to share the Nobel glory with Peter Higgs and Francois Englert next year in 2013; he died in 2011; he didn’t even live long enough to know the discovery of the elusive particle that is dubbed as God particle by Leon Lederman, he himself a particle physicist, a Nobel laureate and above all a good writer.

Englert & Brout

It was Leon Lederman (and reading his three books) got me interested in reading (reading and understanding are different things, but one got to have some basic understanding, real or perceived, in order to write) particle physics a few years ago, but that should be a different post.

Why is Higgs boson such a big deal?  

Why is Higgs boson such a big deal?  Without it the whole universe will be non-existent.  To say all particles have a mass is just assumed.  The universe came into being after the Big Bang nearly 14 billion years ago, evidence of which has produced several Nobel Prizes in physics.

The origin of mass of a particle puzzled the best and the brightest of physicists throughout the ages. Higgs boson is one that gives fundamental/elementary particles mass.  Standard Model (the ultimate theories of particle physics, a collective wisdom) postulates that the Higgs field is the source of mass for fundamental particles.  Massive particles feel a sort of drag as they pass through Higgs field.

Why the Higgs boson matters?

Isidor Isaac Rabi was awarded a Nobel Prize in physics (nuclear magnetic resonance) in 1944.  Shortly before his death in 1988 he had MRI (magnetic resonance image). He said, “I saw myself in that machine, I never thought my work would come to this,” nobody saw that coming.  It is hard to predict where the irresistible and inexorable progress of science will lead us.

Rabi returned to the U.S. in 1929 when Columbia University offered him a lectureship, a job recommended by Werner Heinsburg, who was then on his lecture tour there.  Leon Lederman (the one got me interested in reading particle physics) had high praise on Rabi in his Nobel Lecture, stating without Rabi he couldn’t have done what he did at Columbia University.

When Michael Faraday was working on electricity; he discovered the laws of electromagnetic induction.  Gladstone (then Chancellor of the Exchequer, the future Prime Minister, a great Lincoln admirer, whose first order of business when he retired from politics was to see Lincoln’s birthplace in Kentucky) asked him, “But after all, what use is it?” Faraday’s response was, “Why, Sir, there is every probability that you will soon be able to tax it.” A great man with a great vision; he saw things beyond the ordinary mortals did.

The examples abound; let’s stop here for the interest of the length of this post.

Even if the particle physics in general or Higgs boson in particular won’t lead to any practical fruition in our life time. Let’s make it “science for science’s sake”, as opposing to Oscar Wilde’s “art for art’s sake” aesthetics.

If I still cannot convince you of the importance of Higgs boson, I hope Carl Sagan could when he said, “everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, live out their lives on the blue pale spot we know as Earth—and none of it would have ever existed without the Higgs boson.”

Why the Higgs boson matters to physicists?

Physicists always tried to unify all the four forces (more later) that govern the Standard Model of particle physics (more later).  Steven Weinberg and others worked on reconciling the electromagnetic and nuclear weak forces into a unified theory in 1960s.

We know the mass-less photon is the one carrying the electromagnetic force, so they have to come up with a comparable particle to carry the nuclear weak force, and they are W and Z bosons.  But these physicists “hit a snag”, as W and Z bosons have masses, which is incomparable to the photons that have no mass.  This is against the basic rule/law of not being “symmetric”, thus not a unified theory.

The Higgs bosons come to the rescue.  When the Higgs field interacts with W and Z bosons, the Higgs field breaks the symmetry that would have kept W and Z bosons massless.  In other words, W and Z bosons would have been massless had it not been exposed to Higgs field, so the fact of W and Z bosons being massless was masked by Higgs field/Higgs boson.

Without the mass, electrons wouldn’t “hook up” with the nuclei to form the atom, the building block of life, of everything the All Mighty created, although I think, it took more than seven days.  “That would mean no valence bonding, so much of chemistry, essentially all, would vanish.  Therefore no solid structure, no template for life.” (by a physicist at Fermi National Accelerator Lab).

And again it is the Higgs bosons that given electron mass.

Approach the elementary particles in a systemic and coherent way

There are many ways to look at the subatomic particles.  One way is through the property of “strongly interacting”—strongly interacting with strong nuclear force.

God created only four forces that we came to know: (1) gravity, (2) electromagnetism, (3) strong nuclear force (the force of interest to this post), (4) weak nuclear force, which is responsible for radioactive decay.

All the elementary particles can be classified into three groups:

(1)   Non-strongly interacting particles

(2)   Strongly interacting particles

(3)   Bosons or strictly force-carrying particles

Leptons: non-strongly interacting particles

These particles do not interact with the strong nuclear force, thus not confined inside the nucleus.  There are lighter-in-mass, comparing to proton and neutron, which are “strongly interacting particles”; they are dubbed with the “light ones”; thus lepton in Greek.

There are three kinds of charged leptons (electron, muon, tau) and three kinds of neutral leptons (electron neutrino, muon neutrino, tau neutrino).

Quarks: strongly interacting particles

The Higgs boson was discovered in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN.  Hadron is a composite, not elementary, particle, such as proton and neutron.  The constituents of hadron are quarks.

Gluon (a force-carrying boson) holds quarks together inside the hadron.

Bosons: force-carrying particles

Bosons have no mass; they create electromagnetic and gravitational field.  Examples are photon (particle of light), gluon (holds the quarks together inside hydron), graviton (particle of gravitation, a hypothetic one), W boson and Z boson that carry the weak nuclear force.

All bosons are force-carrying particles, except Higgs boson, which should be placed here.  As I mention above, Higgs boson is the one that gives fermions (include leptons and quarks) mass.  But, who gives the Higgs boson mass? That is a good question, which also means there is no good answer.  Not yet.

Another approach to classify elementary particles

Another way to classify elemental particles is to separate them into matter and force. Matter has mass occupies space whereas the force-carrying particle has no mass and occupies no space.

Fermions: the subatomic particles that have mass

The subatomic particles that have mass are called fermions (after my Italian American hero, Enrico Fermi), which include quarks (strongly interacting with strong nuclear force) that are constituents of hadrons and leptons (not interacting with strong nuclear force) which include charged leptons (electron, muon and tau) and neutral leptons (electron neutrino, muon neutrino, and tau neutrino).

Bosons: the force-carrying particles that have no mass

(see above)

Quarks are constituents of hadrons, the likes of proton and neutron

Murray Gell-Mann

There are so many hadrons (strongly interacting particles) that led the particle physicists to think they couldn’t be elemental/fundamental particles.  Murray Gell-Mann first proposed quark model in 1964 that subsequently proved quarks are indeed constituents of hadrons.  George Zweig independently came to the same conclusion, but calls it [quark] “aces”. Zweig somehow didn’t share the Nobel glory with Gell-Mann in 1969.

Murray Gell-Mann’s 1969 Nobel Lecture is somehow not available in the nobel.com site, but one can listen to an interview that took place in 2001, in which he did say the “quark” came from James Joyce’s “Finnegan’s Wake”, the book I checked out twice and couldn’t finish the first chapter; I will not pick it up again.

Let this post serve as an introduction of particle physics in general and Higgs boson (the God particle, if you will) in particular.

Poetic justice (詩的真理) in 巨流河 and by Winston Churchill

I was at loss to understand what 齊邦媛 meant when she wrote “詩的真理” in 巨流河; she made an effort trying to explain what she meant in 洄瀾 and also mentioned it is “poetic justice”, a phrase that caught my attention a while ago; I even wrote two posts about it.

Poetic justice is a literary device, I think, more in fiction than in poem, in which ultimately good character/virtue is rewarded and bad guy/vice punished, as is often seen in many good novels that this happens by an ironic twist of fate, often related to the character’s own action.

What Churchill wrote about the bombing of German cities is an excellent example of “poetic justice”.

“Churchill on the bombing of German cities: poetic justice”

http://doctorjytsai.blogspot.com/2015/02/churchill-on-bombing-of-german-cities.html

Churchill also used “poetic justice” in describing an event of German bombing in Stalingrad on 8/23/1942; during which a German pilot was hit and parachuted into a blaze that was caused by his bombing.

“One German pilot, after his aircraft was hit, . . managed to bale out, but when the parachute opened, he drifted straight down into a blaze.  Those citizens of Stalingrad who saw his end were so shocked by the onslaught that even the satisfaction of poetic justice was beyond them.”

During an interview by an Mainland China newspaper:  She was asked she used “詩的真理"（the poetic justice) 寫他們，下筆時如此悲傷，卻也如此愉悅。詩的真理，這應該怎麼理解？”

齊邦媛 responded,

“詩的真理，我倒是做了一點研究。亞里斯多德說，一個人的倒楣，不幸，通常只能令人感覺到難過，可是你不會引起大的憐憫和恐懼。因為大的憐憫和恐懼, 後面還要有更深刻的意義才行。比如莎士比亞戲劇裡面的哈姆雷特，奧賽羅，只是一個可怕的死亡，可是它成這樣的結局是有原因的，是一步一步走來的，這些走來的路都是合理的，都是必然的。有性格的，命運的，家庭的，不能違背的規律，好像命運一樣。所以就像你讀詩一樣，在詩的最後，你知道它還是有一個意見，可是那個意見是有很多醖釀的因素。它必然的結局就是我們所說的終極真理，這個真理也可稱為詩的真理。我無法用簡單的敍述説明我那個複雜的時代，所以我一定盼望有詩的真理.”

But, this is still not exactly how I understand “poetic justice”. My guess is that the people in her book lived their lives in time of turmoil, like a leaf in the turbulent current of a mighty river, inexorable and irresistible; she was hoping that they will eventually be rewarded or punished at the end of the day according to what they did, thus poetic justice (詩的真理).

芍藥花 in “巨流河”: The exuberant, beautiful and sad peony

We do have to read books about a good book; it enhances our understanding of the original book.  Without knowing what is “芍藥花”, it touched me less when I read “那瓣瓣晶瑩的芍藥花卻永遠是我故鄉之花” in “巨流河” by 齊邦媛.

In “洄瀾” I was surprised to learn that 芍藥花” is peony, the noble, tender and exuberant flower that has graced my blog many times.  This also proves the point I was never tired of preaching: One can only love that which one understands.  Once I know what is “芍藥花”, I was blown away by what 齊邦媛 wrote about it.

“巨流河” is basically her memoir that was written with a literary flavor.  I was sold completely after reading it as she was well versed in western (English/American) literature.  I also picked up some Chinese literature of which I have missed so many and so much.

In an article in “洄瀾” by 張德明 who mentioned a book (poems by Percy Shelley) given to him by 齊邦媛, in which she wrote an inscription, “with fond memories of the peony flowers that came with my book.”  The book was apparently permeated by peony perfume.

The following is a poem by 劉禹錫 (Liu Yuxi, Tang Dynasty 772-842). 

賞牡丹 (Peony Admiration)

庭前芍藥妖無格﹐池上芙蕖淨少情。

唯有牡丹真國色﹐花開時節動京城。

庭院中的芍藥花雖豔麗，但格調不高，池面上的荷花雖明淨，但缺少熱情. 

只有牡丹花才是真正的國色（最美的花)，當它開花的時候,盛況轟動了整個京城！

Peony inside our garden

In an article (晚開的芍藥花) in “洄瀾” by 鐘麗慧, who quoted a story of how 芍藥花 always gave 齊邦媛 a beautiful and sad memory, it is the same token that we (at least I) always enjoy the beautiful and sad music”.  張德明 wrote “芍藥花有一個頗為悲傷的別名：將離”.  It is time to stop, lest I would cry.

“在我母親哀切幽咽的哭聲中, 我就去摘一大把花帶回家，祖母説是芍藥花. 我長大後每次見到芍藥花，總似聽到母親那哀傷壓抑的哭聲。它大片的，有些透明，看似脆弱的花瓣，有一種高貴的嬌美，與旁邊的各種野花都不一樣；它在我日後一生中，代表人生許多蔓延的，永不凋謝的，美與悲傷的意象。歌聲中的故鄉 鐡石芍藥的故鄉 許多年來，我到處留意芍藥花，卻很少看到。那瓣瓣晶瑩的芍藥花卻永遠是我故鄉之花.”

Peony in our front yard

What is beauty?

Looking at the photos below, one may say the celosia is beautiful.  But for a gardener, I may see things in different perspective. Looking at the 綠油油的 arugula and 大陸妹, I say they are healthy and pretty.  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder after all.

Francis Bacon said, “The best part of beauty is that which no picture can express.”  Beauty is in the thing that which we see, perceive and feel.

Thanks to Dr. Liang’s seedlings, we get to enjoy the beauty of arugula and 大陸妹 and also indulge the best salad on the dinner table.

A designed garden: Diversity and variety is the key

Walking into the garden, one will be greeted by a sea of flowers, but mostly celosia.  Colorful though it may be, this is not what I envisioned or designed at the beginning of the season.  Almost all the celosias are “volunteers” coming back on their own.  They gradually took over, dominating whatever I planted nearby, the likes of petunia, salvia, or even marigold, most of which have since faded away.  One may imitate nature, but cannot compete or beat nature.

Like many things in life, diversity and variety of a garden is key to success, enhancing the overall survival or avoiding the total failure.  Variety also adds to beauty.  America’s strength lies in her diverse populations.  I wrote a very short letter-to-the-editor, extolling the virtue of diversity two years ago.

http://doctorjytsai.blogspot.com/2014/05/my-letter-to-editor-diversity-is-key-to.html

Come to think about it, variety is also key to good English writing, or Chinese writing or any language for that matter.  It is difficult to illustrate or expound my point without giving the actual examples; that is not the scope of this writing.

I am showing several photos of celosia, variety of colors makes it all the more captivating and appealing, or more photogenic if you will.

Petunia of 2015

Cutting ceremony: Cutting luffa is like cutting ribbon

Katy discovered another two luffas today (it was actually one as she saw one of them a few days ago; it was just a “little one” then); harvesting luffa is for sure not a daily occurrence but a rare event nowadays.  I may go too far to have the pomp and circumstance, nevertheless, it calls for a celebration, sort of 剪彩 (cutting the ribbon).

We’ve been disappointed that  絲瓜不爭氣 (luffa has not performed well) so far, it is still enough for us two to indulge (夠我們兩個人吃).  But, one doesn’t cultivate thirty some luffa plants to satisfy only two of us.  We’ll not call it a success unless we can generously share with our good friends, especially the  “E來E去” group, and first and foremost the one who “immortalizes” our luffas by writing beautiful poems, which elevate our luffa, rendering them more refined and cultivated.

Good titles of the good books: 巨流河 and 洄瀾

It is very kind of Mei-Yu and Cheng to introduce and lend me the book of  “巨流河” by 齊邦媛, and the book of “洄瀾”, edited by 齊邦媛. “巨流河” is a very good title for her memoir reflecting the eventful and at times turbulent time, in which she lived her life.  “洄瀾” is the critique, comments, interviews and letters to the author in response to “巨流河”; the name of  洄瀾, goes along with 巨流河 well and  has an artistic flourish.

Many famous western novels or movies tend to use the names of a person or a location as the title of the novels/movies; this was almost unheard in Chinese literature.

The movie of Rebecca is 蝴蝶夢.  Casablanca is 北非䜓影, which, I think, is not appropriate, which doesn’t truly reflect what the movie is.

There are numerous examples such as Lolita, Shane, Ben-Hur, Jane Eyre, John Christopher, Ulysses, Anna Karenina, Emma, Moby-Dick, Patton, and Doctor Zhivago.

Many places are used as the title, even the imaginative, such as Middlemarch.  We see Winesburg, Ohio, Nashville, and The Philadelphia Story.

Reading Churchill, learning good English

The Royal Navy has immediately attacked the U-boats, and is hunting them night and day—I will not say without mercy, because God forbids we shall never part company with that, but at any rate with zeal and not together without relish.

Churchill wrote about the success of hunting German U-boats at the outbreak of WWII in 1939.  It is hard to explain, but this is a very good writing.  A decent and civilized man shouldn’t say killing people, even enemy, without mercy.  But, he still cannot help to say “not together without relish [great enjoyment]”.

We have our mistakes, our weakness and failings, but in the fight this island race has made, had it not been the toughest of the tough; if the spirit of freedom which burns in the British breasts had not been a pure, dazzling, inextinguishable flame, we might not yet have been near the end of this war.

Churchill made a speech at Bristol University on April 21, 1945 toward the end of WWII; Hitler would commit suicide nine days later.

-         “had it not been the toughest of the tough”, which is the same as “if it had not been the toughest of the tough”, it is better to omit the “if”, especially the next sentence also begins with an “if”.

If necessary, we shall continue the war alone, and we are not afraid of that. . . But I trust you realize, Mr. President, that the voice and force of the United State may count for nothing if they are withheld too long . . . . Within three weeks the long-famed French Army was to collapse in rout and ruin, and our only British Army to be hurled into the sea with all its equipment lost.  Within six weeks we were to find ourselves alone, almost disarmed with triumphant Germany and Italy at our throats, with the whole of Europe open to . . .

The above is seen in Churchill’s letter to FDR on May 15, 1940, more than one year and seven months before the Pearl Harbor attack.  Of the nine hundred and fifty letters/messages that Churchill sent FDR during WWII, many urged FDR to take action and join the fight.

-         “rout and ruin” is just one example of the numerous alliteration phrases that, along with rhetorical flourishes, characterized Churchill’s writings.  One of these days I will write a post about Churchill’s uses of alliteration.

-         I once had a two-sentence letter-to-the-editor; I sent it simply because of the alliteration that I came up with (rapturous and riotous roar).

http://doctorjytsai.blogspot.com/2011/05/my-two-sentence-letter-to-editor-at.html

Reading history, learning good English: pregnant and transcendent

I do not read the history of all US Presidents or all England Kings, but many interest me, Henry II was one of them.

My reading of the history of England usually begins in William the Conqueror, nearly 1,000 years ago.  Henry I was the son of William the Conqueror and the grandfather of Henry II.  That should give you some idea of who Henry II was and when he reigned.  Several things about Henry II intrigued me.

T.S. Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral is the only verse play/verse drama that I read or may be the only one that was present in English literature.  This is the story of Henry II and Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170.

I always want  to write the interesting stories of several famous Archbishops of Canterbury over the ages, but never got time to do it.

On a light moment during WWII Churchill promised Roosevelt to recommend him for the position of Archbishop of Canterbury if FDR should lost the Presidential election (for the 4^th term).  I forgot what U.S. position FDR offered Churchill if he were to meet the same fate; the Chairman of the Federal Reserve? Nevertheless, it was a very important position that was appointed, not elected.

Before “William the Conqueror” (the Norman) invaded England Isle, he was Duke of Normandy (now part of France); he was just a duke to the French King Louis VII.  The modern English people are blending Anglo-Saxon with Norman.  Normans were French, even though they are not strictly the French race.

In A History of English Speaking People, Churchill wrote, 

“The accession of Henry II began one of the most pregnant and decisive reigns in English history. . . Few mortals have led so full a life as Henry II or have drunk so deeply of the cups of triumph and sorrow.  In later life he fell out with Eleanor [his wife].  When she was over fifty and he but forty-two he is said to have fallen in love with “Fair Rosamond”, a damosel [a young woman] of high degree and transcendent beauty, and generations have enjoyed the romantic tragedy of Queen Eleanor, . . . . offering her hapless [unfortunate] supplanter [one to replace] the hard choice between the dagger and the poisoned cup. Tiresome investigators have undermined this excellent tale, but it certainly should find its place in any history worthy of the name.”

Queen Eleanor was the consort queen for French King Louis VII from whom she divorced and then married Henry II, (eleven years of her junior) King of England, the rival of Louis VII.  She offered the hard choice between the dagger and the poisoned cup to the mistress of her husband, Henry II.

-          Pregnant here means “meaningful and weighty”

-          I like the word of transcendent and even wrote a post of it last year.  It is difficult to comprehend and to use the word of “transcendent”; I don’t know its equivalent in Chinese.

-          ‘transcendent’ means “exceeding usual limits or being above material existence”; it also means “heavenly or otherworldly”.  When uses ‘transcendent’ to describe beauty, it is a beauty unseen in this world,  美若天仙, so to speak.

http://doctorjytsai.blogspot.com/2015/03/transcendent-joy-for-amanda-knox.html

 The following is what Churchill wrote about Hitler's Mein Kampf.

All was there--the programme of German resurrection, the technique of party propaganda; the plan for combating Marxism; the concept of a National-Socialist State; the rightful position of Germany at the summit of the world.  Here was the new Koran of faith and war: turgid, verbose, shapeless, but pregnant with its message.

-          Pregnant here means “filled or fraught; replete”, such as <This was, from the Party’s point of view, both deplorable in itself and pregnant with danger for the future.>

The well-hidden luffa fruit: 只在此樹中, 葉深不知處

Can you see the luffa fruit?

With our encouragement, several luffa plants climbed over the peach tree, and that made the luffa fruit even easier to hide.  I did search and inspect the trees before my brother and sister-in-law left, but came up empty handed.  Yesterday Katy discovered this luffa fruit only after pulling away the leaves of the peach tree and luffa plant.  只在此樹中, 葉深不知處.

Taking a closer look, we notice the stem of this luffa fruit is very long or as long as that of a male flower.  This may be the reason why it survived its infancy by exposing to the sunlight, thanks to its long stem.

We have designated this well-hidden luffa to Jean and Charles, lest Charles’ “mid-summer dream” would become 白日夢.

Since it was picked yesterday, this luffa will not be “fresh from the garden” when they come, but 聊勝於無.

每屆仲夏日，正是瓜熟時，

遙念賓州友，能享絲瓜無？    聊勝於無!

菜園在不遠遊 , 菜園在不看球

It was a disappointment as far as the luffa harvest is concerned.  My brother and sister arrived on August 12 and flew back to Boston where their daughter lives on August 16.  We could only come up with five luffas (one barely made it in term of the maturity), which were certainly not enough for our niece and two daughters in Boston.

Worse yet is almost nothing is coming up except a few; we lost the confidence about their chance of growing up.

We analyze the possible reason for the scarcity of luffa fruits and came to the conclusion that we failed to remove the leaves (疏葉) to let the sun light reach the female flowers buried under the leaves.  Without the light the female flowers wither, sort of like dying during the infancy, never got the chance to grow and bloom and got pollinated.  結果母花都被埋在好幾層的葉子下面沒有陽光不見天日而枯萎死了. 

The stems of the male flowers are very tall; they pierce through layers of leaves, soaking up all the sun light.  This is also why all we see (from upstairs) are male flowers.  It is not that we don’t have female flowers; we just don’t see them.

female flower dies in infancy

Francis Bacon said, “God’s first creature, which was light,” of course, this is another way of saying “Let there be light, and there was light.”  Without light, without life.

A week before my brother came, Katy went to Washington (PA) to cover the PONY League baseball for four days in a row (The team from Taiwan was the champion again); I went three days.  We also went to Washington, D.C. this past weekend.  The garden was long neglected.  We’re in the process of making amend (現在正搶救中), hopefully it will not be too late.

Then again we gardeners believe in tomorrow; they will always be tomorrow.

the healthy female flower