Our Europe Tour in Pictures(4)- The Louvre, Paris

Madonna and child with the infant St John by Raphael (1488-1576), painted in 1507.


Woman with the pearl, painted in 1868, with the same pose as Mona Lisa.

The portrait of Infanta Margarita byDiegi Velasquez(1599-1660)

Self Portrait with a Ricinus Flower, by Albrecht Durer(1471-1528).

Portrait of Eransmus of Roterdam, by Hans Holbein the Younger(1497-1543)

Henriette of France as Flora.

Grande Odalisque

Diana resting after her bath, by Francois Boucher(1703-1770)

Liberty leading the people, by Eugene Delacroix(1798-1863). This was painted
to celebrate the day of July 28, 1830.(French revolution)

Status of Venus

Goddess of Victory

Hiew

Our Europe Tour in Pictures(3)- Paris

Paris, here I come.
I visited Paris twice, the previous time was in 1991 if my memory still serves me. I like Paris. Of the cities I visited in Europe, I like Paris best. The architectures, the parks and greens, the Seine River, the Louvre....

Tour Saint Jacques, a Gothic architecture, was erected between 1508 and 1522. Pascal has carried out many scientific experiments here.

The Panorama facing southeast from the Eiffel Tower with the Military School at the back.

The Palais Bourbon, the seat of the National Assembly.

The Church of Saint Eustache.


Place De La Bastille.
The July Column was built between 1831 and 1840 to commemorate the Parisians killed in the days of July 1830. The Bastille was demolished in July 1878. The Opera Bastille characterized by its curved glass facade, houses the main auditorium with rotating stage. This opera was erected on the site of the Bastille.

The Arch of Triumph is a landmark in Paris. Being not a French, I attach no importance to it. To me, it is a huge arch on a roundabout with 12 approaches.

Our Europe Tour in Pictures(2)

After posting the few photos we took in Roma, I managed to upload just over 100 photos out of the 600 over photos we took in the 2 week tour to Picasa2. These photos can be viewed from the following link: http://picasaweb.google.com/tchiew2/Europe2008. Alternatively, they can also be viewed as slide show on my blog slideshow if you don't mind missing the captions.

There are places or spots or views of spots that we have not taken photos of for some reasons or other that are of interest to us or perhaps to you, I would like to show them to you here.



Simply because of its size, we could only manage to take photos of segments of the St Peter's Square. Here are two aerial views that will give you an idea of how big and breath taking it is. It is an ellipse whose greater diameter is 240 meters.

The temple of Saturn was one of the oldest temples in Roma erected in 497 BC but was completely rebuilt in 42 BC by the aedile L. Munazius Plancus.



We have no chance to go inside the Colosseum. But the thought of kings and so called noble and rich men watching their slaves fight each other to death like animals as a form of entertainment/game sends cold shudders through my spine. This happened 2000 over years ago. How much has humanity progressed since then? How much of that cruel mentality is still with us or people among us? I am pretty sure we have not yet completely transcended that mentality. It still exists in us in more subtle forms-we still have this master-servants mentality. Haven't you noticed that some of us wanted to treat our civil servants as maids? Haven't you noticed that some of our civil servants are assuming the masters' role in dealing with the public? Haven't you noticed that some house wives do not treat their maids as their equal fellow human beings? Let the Colosseum remind us of our animal constituent that we need to watch out for.



Piazza San Marco or St Mark's Square, Venice, was originally laid out in the 9 century AD. Framing the Square are unrivaled architectures such as Basilica of San Marco, the Palace of the Doges(Duke) and the Loggetta.

Head of Michelangelo's David.


In Firenze, there are many museums with collections of the world's finest arts. In sculpture, no one who does not know of Michelangelo and his work David. Have a look for yourself and make your own judgment. In painting, Alessandro Allori's Venus and Cupid is no less famous and fascinating. Arts make Firenze (Florence) a city I think I must visit while in Italy.

The dikes, the canals, the windmills and the tulips are the reasons for visiting Holland. We missed the Tulips in our visit. What a pity. Not our fault. We booked the first of May tour, but ended up joining the 29th of May tour because there were not enough participants earlier on. By June, the tulips were nearly all over. To make up, I uploaded this photo to show you how huge and beautiful the tulip farms in Holland are.

Hiew

遗爱人间

玉波叔2008年4月4日在吉隆坡去世的噩耗，于当天下午由他的谊女苏珊娜（黄玉霞）传来。听到长辈的噩耗，心里自然泛起特定情绪；但却没有惊奇。到底玉波叔已是九十二岁的老人了，而且好几年前中风后，行动不很方便，身体已大不如前，近几年来，更是时好时坏，不很稳定，大家心里都有数。

玉波叔设有刘玉波基金，数年来大力资助教育慈善事业。老人的逝世，自是社会的损失。4月14日 在斗湖出殡，执拂人众，自是预料中事。忝为刘玉波基金信托人，我自然也到斗湖去出席出殡仪式，永远告别玉波叔。

出殡当晚玉波叔的侄儿拿督斯里刘楚群代表家人宣布捐出马币一千一百万元给各教育宗教与慈善团体。玉波叔可以说是富甲一方，腰缠万贯，身后捐助教育慈善机构，是平常事。但一捐就一千一百万，在马来西亚，就是大手笔了。我相信这是一项刷新纪录，一项不易打破的纪录。

这笔善款，于2008年5月20日在斗湖刘玉波基金大厅由基金的信托人移交给105个受益机构。当天出席接收捐款的机构代表计99个。其中保佛中学获一百五十万元，斗湖公民学校一百二十万元，亚庇崇正中学五十万元，吉隆坡的马来西亚抗癌研究学会三十万元，斗湖新华学校二十万元，亚庇德教会二十万元，亚庇潮州公会五万元。虽然总数很大，但申请者众，无法分发每个申请者心目中的数目，则是预料中事，但移交的个别款项，都不少于一万元。

5月20日出席善款移交仪式的信托人共有四位，由他们移交99份善款与出席的受益团体代表们。

陶正记

Our Europe tour in pictures (1)-Roma

The tour took place from 29th May to 11th June 2008. We traversed Italy, Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Germany, Holland, Belgium, France and England, in that order. Took many photos, but no guarantee we remember what they are.

And that applied to the very first photo I took, in Roma.

Monument to Victor Emmanuel ll. Started in 1885 and completed in 1911, to celebrate the splendor of the nation after the Unification of Italy.

The Basilica of San Pietro, St Peter's Cathedral, in Vatican. The biggest cathedral in the world.

Two St Peter's statues guarding the cathedral named in his honor.

The famous Michelangelo sculpture in St Peter's cathedral. 圣母和耶稣的雕像。

St Peter's Square. 梵蒂冈的圣彼德广场

The Arch of Constantine, next to the Colosseum.

The remain of the doubled wall Colosseum. 竞技场

The remain of the inner wall of the 2000 year old Colosseum. 2000历史的竞技场





If you are a regular movie watcher, you should be familiar with this site in Roma- the Trevi Fountain. When you visit this place, I bet your tour guide will warn you to be careful of pick pockets. If you love ice-cream, don't forget to spend $3 Euro to enjoy a cup of it.

The Barcaccia Fountain, near the Spanish Square, within walking distance from the Trevi Fountain. There is a street nearby along which shops selling branded goods are frequented by celebrities, particularly film stars.

Lipid Hypothesis

The Lipid Hypothesis, manifested as "Eat a low-fat, low-cholesterol diet", has been the mantra for healthful eating for decades We are dutifully avoiding dietary fat and cholesterol which we believe are responsible for chronic disease, such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes etc. This hypothesis has been revered like a dogma for more than 30 years and your cardiologist will be repeating it to you whenever your cholesterol level rises or whenever you seek advice on dietary matter.

In the 1960s, fats and oils supplied Americans with about 45 percent of their calories; about 13 percent of the Americans were obese and less than 1 percent had type 2 diabetes, a serious weight-related condition. Today, Americans take in less fat, getting about 33 percent of calories from fats and oils; yet 34 percent of them are obese and 8 percent have diabetes, most with type 2 diabetes

No wonder many scientists are retreating from this tenet of lipid hypothesis quietly.

A group of scientists at the Harvard School of Public Health, led by Dr. Frank Hu, has in late 2000, published a review on “Types of Dietary Fat and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease: A Critical Review”. The scientists, one by one, have removed practically all the supports of the hypothesis that dietary fat and cholesterol cause heart disease and obesity. The authors said, in the review, that “it is now increasingly recognized that the low-fat campaign has been based on little scientific evidence and may have caused unintended health consequence”.

The Review noted only two studies have ever found “a significant positive association between saturated fat intake and risk of CHD(coronary heart disease)” and “a weak and nonsignificant positive association between dietary cholesterol and CHD” and “there is little direct evidence linking high egg consumption and increased risk of CHD”. The Review also found that “long-term clinical trials have not provided convincing evidence that reducing dietary fat can lead to substantial weight loss. On the contrary, there is some evidence that a diet containing a high amount of refined carbohydrates may increase hunger and promote overeating, which can lead to weight gain and obesity”.

Rather than simply dietary fat, the Review found that trans fat is the major culprit. “A higher intake of trans fat can contribute to increased risk of CHD through multiple mechanisms. First, trans fatty acids raise LDL cholesterol levels and lower HDL cholesterol relative to cis unsaturated fatty acids. As such, the increase in the ratio of total to HDL cholesterol for trans fat is approximately double that for saturated fat. Second, trans fat increases lipoprotein (a) levels, which are positively associated with risk of CHD. Third, trans fat raises plasma triglyceride levels, and increased triglycerides are independently associated with increased risk of CHD . Fourth, trans fatty acids can adversely affect essential fatty acid metabolism and prostaglandin balance by inhibiting the enzyme delta-6-desaturase and, as a result, may promote thrombogenesis. Finally, recent data have suggested that high intake of trans fat may promote insulin resistance in humans”.

In conclusion, what really matters is the type of fat in the diet, not the total amount of fat. Trans and saturated fats increase the risk for certain diseases. Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats,do just the opposite. They are good for the heart and most other parts of the body. And as far as dietary cholesterol is concerned, for most people, the mix of fats in the diet influences cholesterol in the bloodstream far more than dietary cholesterol.

Laymen are always at the mercy of the experts. But we all are laymen, though some of us are experts in certain fields, but never in all fields. Laymen (that means all of us) just have to hear from the experts with a critical mind and take the risk for listening or otherwise to the experts. Some experts are telling us now what the authorities have been advising us are wrong, what many experts are advising us are wrong: dietary fat and dietary cholesterol are not the culprits, trans fat and may be saturated fat are the culprits for CHD, over-eating refined carbohydrates is the culprit for obesity and type 2 diabetes.

Who do you want to listen to?

Compiled by Hiew may 2008

人造牛油:马加灵是 “千面女郎”

已不能肯定第一次吃牛油面包是什么时候了;记得念初中三年级时,我们几位同学受邀到一位邱姓同学家作客,吃了面包涂果酱等,大家吃得很开心.我记得当时的感受是:我第一次吃到这么好吃的东西.果酱之外,还有没有牛油,咖耶(Kaya)?我就记不清楚了.如果有,那就是我第一次食用牛油了.1966到1969年在澳洲念大学,就常常吃牛油面包,吃得多就腻了.那时超级市场里好像还没有马加灵(Margarine)出售,至少我不记得那时用过马加灵.

Margarine的名字,来自Margaric Acid; 这名字源于Margaron,是希腊文珍珠的意思,因为Margaric Acid的本来颜色呈珍珠色.早在十九世纪初,科学家已在动物脂肪中发现了Margaric Acid.到了十九世纪中叶,法王拿破仑三世,悬赏征求制作廉价的牛油代替品,供军队与平民之用.马加灵于是诞生.以后约一百年内,马加灵一直处在廉价的牛油代替品的地位,在许多国家里,受到种种的法律上的限制. 到了1970年代,马加灵才开始扬眉吐气.

到了1950年代,在医学上出现了 “脂质假说”(Lipid hypothesis), 给马加灵商人提供了大好机会.这假说指食物用油含胆固醇(cholesterol)和脂肪 ( fats),会导致心血管病,而天然牛油含有大量的胆固醇和饱和脂肪(saturated fats).马加灵是人造食物,成分可以轻易修改.把 “坏”成分去掉,把 “好”成分加入.制造商就把胆固醇与饱和脂肪(saturated fats) 拿走,使用多元不饱和脂肪(polyunsaturated fats),马加灵就可以优势新姿态和牛油竞争了. 然后又加入维他命,竞争力就更强了.每次发现马加灵缺乏什么,就把什么加上去,方便得很.

马加灵的原料是植物油,含有saturated fats 和 polyunsaturated fats. 含polyunsaturated fats越多,形态越软,越呈液态.为了保持多量polyunsaturated fats 和固体形态,科学家发明了氢化法( hydrogenation),把马加灵固化硬化.加了牛油的颜色与经过氢化了的马加灵,看起来用起来就更像牛油了,更可以以假乱真了.于是马加灵以胜利者的姿态走进厨房,大有取代牛油的姿势.可是,经过了一段岁月后,科学家发现,氢化过程却制造了反式脂肪酸（trans fats）,而trans fats对心脏比被取代的动物脂肪 更坏，使低密度胆固醇成分提高，高密度胆固醇成分降低.怎办呢? 还不简单? 采用别的方法把它固化不就行了吗? 于是,马加灵,又像千面女郎,改头换脸,继续向前.现在流行什么? Omega 3? Omega 6? 好，马上加上去，灵活得很。 马加灵的高招,就是它可以随时改变,甚至是一百八十度的转变,也轻而易举.马加灵万岁!

我曾经弃牛油而用马加灵.这不是单受广告影响;我很抗拒广告,但有时失败,因为广告设计者拥有高深的心理学知识,且善于应用,叫人跌落陷阱而不自知.我是受当代营养学家的影响,我比较爱听专家的话.但我也还知道,专家也是人,人人都会错.人类今天的知识还有限,人类时时都在摸着石头过河.历代营养专家的得失，可以给我们借镜。

十九世纪初叶,英国医生兼化学家朴劳(Dr. William Prout)发现人的食物中有三大成分:蛋白质,脂肪和碳水化合物. 德国有机化学之父赖弼(Justus von Liebig),就是那位发现土壤中的主要养分是N,P,K的先驱,在这三大成分上加上几样矿物质,便宣布动物营养的秘密已解开了. 赖弼制造了第一份婴儿食品 ,俨然现代营养学之父.当时的人依据他的指导饮食的不计其数. 可是,问题很快就出现: 海员依照他的配方饮食却生病了,这是不是表示还有些必需的营养没包括在里面呢?到了1912年,波兰人方克(Casimir Funk)发现了维他命,证明了这一点;维他命也曾显赫一时.接下来的蛋白质与碳水化合物孰重之争,polyunsaturated 和saturated fats 的多余之战,trans fats 的乌龙, 现在的omega3 和omega 6 到底是两者共存的比例问题,还是前者的绝对数量问题,专家还没有定案.

最大的未知数是:还有什么必需营养是专家不知道的? 人造食物很方便,缺什么,加什么.问题出在:专家还不全知缺什么.除了欠缺问题,还有个多余或过量问题,专家也还在摸索,或有待去摸索.是不是还有个营养存在比例的问题 ？科学家到现在也不知道。马加灵要取代牛油，还有待于这些问题的解决。

天然食物呢? 如果我们相信进化论,我们大概可以相信传统的天然食物中,含有我们所需的营养,即使我们不知它们是什么,即使专家不知它们是什么.马加灵与牛油,我现在是少吃且宁捨马加灵而取牛油.

天然食物的成分我们改不了,只能全收,而且无单可照.人造食物可以任商家修改,方便得很. 可以说,人造食物很有智能.但这智能,却无法超越人类的智能. 马加灵,可以说是人造食物的模特儿,是个可爱的千面女郎,但她变来变去,都出不了如来佛的五指山:人类的智能.

2008年5月 陶正辑