British pragmatism Updated +Created
The British are very pragmatic. This has good and bad effects.
For example, a good effect is that many things work pretty well, such as the government. This also helped industry develop.
A bad effect is that they sometimes settle on local minima forever. Examples:
  • as of 2020, they are still using imperial units in everyday life, rather than International System of Units, which was setup by the French, who are much more idealistic, and can therefore can break from such insanity more often.
  • the persistence of the insane system of colleges of the University of Oxford
  • the incredibly late date of the decimal day in 1971, and that was partly due to the advent of the computer. That one was too much, even for the Brits, or maybe it helped that the greedy financiers were involved
  • the British train system as of the 2010's, which is completely not unified, each part operated by a different company with different standards. Private and public unification efforts are ongoing, Trainline being one of the best/only private buy from any line unification approaches.
  • Church of England priests can marry, which reduces the proportion of pedophiles. Also women were accepted starting in the 1970's in certain dioceses (non uniform rules as usual, typical of English pragmatism), including for bishop
If it ain't totally broken, just let it continue forever! See also: Section "History of the University of Oxford".
U.S. state Updated +Created
Scholar-official Updated +Created
The "Chinese scholar" is one of the traditional male ideals of Chinese culture.
Particular attributes the ideal Chinese scholar would have include:
It is in a sense sad (or awesome) that the computer has essentially replaced, or one may argue, enhanced beyong recognition, all of the traditional four arts, to the point that Ciro can't touch anything that is not a computer. Sometimes the old arts live on particularly closely though, e.g. in computer music, computer graphics and computer Go.
Chinese scholar house Updated +Created
Video 1.
Confucian Scholar's House by Asian Art Museum (2009)
Source. The only video on YouTube showing the house of a scholar!? It is alas about Korean scholars, but the concept is basically the same.
Guzheng Updated +Created
Pineapple jelly with cream Updated +Created
December 2023: www.tudogostoso.com.br/receita/81176-gelatina-de-abacaxi-com-creme-de-leite.html Terribly explained recipe! Used 5 spoons of sugar rather than 10, and a 300ml cup of double cream. Turned out OK, except that the cream condensed all on top, and assumed the same coarse texture as when you do a fatty beef and let it cool, so not so nice,
Maybe this would be more successful: receitas.globo.com/tipos-de-prato/doces-e-sobremesas/gelatina-de-abacaxi-4e64345bddf17214b4003e71.ghtml They also use condensed milk, and beat the cream with the jelly, so it might mix better? It didn't really.
June 2024: Now going for:
  • 4 cups of water
  • 1 spoon of sugar
  • just drop 150 ml double cream on top after jelly and mix with spoon since anything else was pointless to get mixture
For some reason it became too liquid this time, the jelly didn't work very well. Not sure why. The pineapple was a bit large.
San Francisco Updated +Created
Journey to the West Updated +Created
This is just the most charming of the Four Great Classic Novels.
The definitive television series adaptation is obviously Journey to the West. It just manages to capture all the charms of Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie.
108 Stars of Destiny women Updated +Created
As mentioned at hero108.fandom.com/wiki/The_108_Heroes there are only 3 women amongst the 108:
  • 59 Hu Sanniang
  • 101 Gu Dasao
  • 103 Sun Erniang. She's the human flesh mantou lady!
Dialog between Fisherman and Woodcutter Updated +Created
Lit: fish timber question answer.
The dialog is also known as allegory for an incredibly deep philosophical discussion between an idealized wise woodcutter and a fisherman, e.g. mentioned at: www2.kenyon.edu/Depts/Religion/Fac/Adler/Writings/Fisherman%20and%20Woodcutter.pdf
This song is just too slow for Ciro Santilli to make much out of it.
Figure 1.
Dialog between Fisherman and Woodcutter Chinese traditional painting by Xie Shichen
.
Video 2.
Dialog between Fisherman and Woodcutter performed by Wu Jinglüe
. Source. Accompagnied by di flute to reinforce the idea of two voices. This one has TODO year.
Sun Wukong Updated +Created
Only after Ciro became an adult did he finally understand that Sun Wukong was the basis for Dragon Ball as mentioned at: Figure "19th century illustration of the Journey to the West protagonist Sun Wukong". And that Sun Wukong was a million times more famous overall. Mind blown.
His given name "Wukong" literally means "the one who mastered the void" (Wu = Comprehend, Kong = void), so clearly a Dharma name. Edit: it is actually given in the novel, he was born without name. They seem to be Taoist however.
The family name sun1 孙 is the same character as "grandson", but most educated Chinese people seem to be able to recognize it as a reference to "monkey" from some archaic context not anymore in current usage.
Figure 1.
19th century illustration of Sun Wukong
. Source. TODO check that it is actually 19th century. Because en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Xiyou2.PNG for Zhu Bajie, obviously from the same print, says it is 15th centure.
Figure 2.
20 Sun Wukong depiction in Peking opera
. Source.
108 Stars of Destiny Updated +Created
The concept is a strong part of Water Margin.
The very first chapter opens with Grand Commander Hou disrespecting spirits by opening up a sealed tomb and unintentionally releasing 108 demons who presumably reincarnate as humans, a backstory to the events that follow years later.
This is well shown in the Japanese The Water Margin, but is skipped in the Chinese The Water Margin unfortunately.
The concept is also central to the Suikoden video game.
Actually, now that Ciro Santilli thinks about it, these were already likely meant as a "collectible" element by the author of the original book, as is strongly suggested by all the little illustrations of each character present on the Wikipedia page. Just like e.g. Catholic saints. It's Pokemon, but 2000 years earlier.
Ciro would notably feel many years later, that as he met random people online who were interested in improving eduction, or was otherwise networking to reach his goals, as if he were actually building up his 108 stars of destiny.
A central part, and perhaps the most interesting part of the novel, is how each character has been motivated by injustice to join the rebellion. This reminds Ciro of Final Fantasy VI
Unmigrated sections of the old version of Ciro Santilli's website Updated +Created
It is interesting to see how your own ideas shift with time, and Ciro Santilli doesn't think the following are very important anymore, so he was lazy to migrate them.
When he did the original website Ciro was in a "I must show off my skills to get a job mindset", but then after he landed a few jobs he moved to a "CV websites are useless, just do amazing projects and showcase them on your website to help them succeed" mindset.
British humour Updated +Created
Comedian Updated +Created
Comedy music Updated +Created
Comedy show Updated +Created
List of comics Updated +Created

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