Wisdom I Pondered This Week
- “Reality will pay you back in equal proportion to your delusion.” — Will Smith
- “The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it.” — Terry Pratchett, Diggers
- “Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark in the hopeless swamps of the not-quite, the not-yet, and the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish in lonely frustration for the life you deserved and have never been able to reach. The world you desire can be won. It exists. It is real. It is possible. It’s yours.” — Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged
- “Without new experiences, something inside of us sleeps. The sleeper must awaken.” — Frank Herbert
- “The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world.” — Herman Hesse
Things I Learned This Week
- The Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ，南北韓非軍事區)
is a 4-kilometer-wide, 250-kilometer-long buffer zone created in 1953 under the Korean Armistice Agreement to separate North Korea and South Korea after the Korean War. Despite being called “demilitarized,” it remains one of the most heavily fortified borders in the world, with soldiers, fences, and watchtowers on both sides. The Military Demarcation Line (MDL，軍事分界線) runs through its center, marking the official boundary, while the Joint Security Area (JSA，板門店共同警備區) at Panmunjom (板門店) serves as a rare site for diplomatic talks between the two Koreas. Paradoxically, limited human access has turned the DMZ into an accidental nature reserve, home to endangered species such as the red-crowned crane (丹頂鶴) and Amur leopard (遠東豹). - 承歡膝下：形容子女能陪伴父母、孝順父母。例句：他在外地工作多年，如今終於能回家承歡膝下，了卻多年心願。
- 孑（ㄐ一ㄝˊ）然一身：指身無牽掛、獨自一人的自由自在；或形容孤苦無依的孤單。例句：他一生未婚，晚年孑然一身，只與書為伴。
- 心曠神怡：形容心境開闊、精神愉快、神清氣爽的狀態。
- 生章魚（산낙지 / sannakji） 與 生牛肉（육회 / Yukhoe）
同為韓國極具代表性的生食料理。生章魚常見於釜山、仁川、首爾等沿海城市的市場。這道料理以現殺小章魚切段後立即上桌，觸手仍在蠕動，通常搭配芝麻油、鹽與芝麻享用，有時也會和辣醬（고추장）一起吃。食用時需特別注意，因吸盤仍具吸力，若咀嚼不充分可能造成窒息風險。因其「會動的章魚」外觀，成為外國遊客眼中的冒險美食。相較之下，生牛肉則屬於傳統高級韓食，以新鮮牛肉細切後拌入芝麻油、蒜末、醬油、糖、梨絲與蛋黃調味，常見於節慶宴席與正式場合，象徵待客誠意與講究風味。前者代表地方性與大眾化的海鮮文化，後者體現韓式飲食的精緻與傳統精神。