惡貫滿盈 (È guàn mǎn yíng) (1) lit. strung through and filled with evil (idiom); filled with extreme evil (2) replete with vice (3) guilty of monstrous crimes (4) sins strung fully [on a string] This idiom comes from “Shang Shu – Taishi” (尚書 – 泰誓, or the Book of Documents – Great Speech / Declarations):…
007. The Anjana’s Pincushion
007. The Anjana’s Pincushion (El Alfiletero De La Anjana) In Cantabria there are witches called anjanas, who have great powers and reward the good and punish the bad. And there is also a kind of witches who only think of doing harm to the people, and [these] are called ojáncanos, because they only have a…
SUP – 2022/07/30 – Windsurfer Beach to Tiburon, Marin County CA
For this day, after eating my, what else, steel-cut oats together with two bananas for breakfast, I started out a bit after 8am and headed for Redmillard Park near San Quentin State Prison and the Larkspur Ferry Terminal. It was street parking for this paddle, on Sir Francis Drake Blvd just east of the park….
Dōng Shī xiào pín (東施效顰 – 东施效颦)
東施效顰 (Dōng Shī xiào pín) – lit. Dong Shi imitates Xi Shi‘s frown It is said that there was a girl named Xi Shi from the State of Yue in the Spring and Autumn Period. She was very beautiful, with each and every move of hers capable of bringing men to their knees. [However,] She…
006. The Girl With Three Husbands
006. The Girl With Three Husbands (La Niña De Los Tres Maridos) A father had a very beautiful, but stubborn and determined, daughter. This did not [at all] seem bad to him, but one day three young men showed up, with all being very handsome, and the three of them asked for the hand of…
SUP – 2022/07/23 – Sausalito and Richardson Bay, Sausalito CA
I woke up way early for this paddle, at around 4:30am. There were two reasons for my early start: one, I misplaced my two battens somewhere (inserts for my RED paddle board which “supposedly” make it stiffer by some 40%), and they could be left at Bayfront Park in Mill Valley where I paddled last…
Dé guò qiě guò (得過且過 – 得过且过)
得過且過 (Dé guò qiě guò) (1) satisfied just to get through (idiom); to muddle through(2) without high ambitions, but getting by There was (is?) a bird on Mount Wutai called Hanhao (寒號, lit. Crying In The Cold), which was born with fleshy wings but could not fly. Whenever summers came, the Hanhao bird would be…
005. The Repentant Thieves
005. The Repentant Thieves (Los Ladrones Arrepentidos) A hermit lived in solitude in a hermitage hidden away in the mountain and fed himself with what he could find in the fields; when he did not forage for food, he devoted himself to praying, which took up the majority of his time. He lived in this…
SUP – 2022/07/16 – Bayfront Park and Bothin Marsh, Mill Valley CA
The website for SF Bay Area Water Trails has this to say about this location, situated next to a skating park in Mill Valley: This launch is not usable at most low tides! Paddlers must be aware of tides during launching and when they plan to land to ensure not to get stuck in the…
Dāng wù zhī jí (當務之急 – 当务之急)
當務之急 (Dāng wù zhī jí) (1) a top priority job (2) matter of vital importance [Note to Nguyen and general readers: check 7A.46 on page 136/185 of translation from https://www.ronliskey.com/docs/mengzi.pdf] Story: Once, a student of Mengzi asked what he should know and do first, given the many things he had to know and work on…