Round and Square: Lunar World Preview 2018 03-22

From Round to Square (and back)

For The Emperor's Teacher, scroll down (↓) to "Topics." It's the management book that will rock the world (and break the vase, as you will see). Click or paste the following link for a recent profile of the project: http://magazine.beloit.edu/?story_id=240813&issue_id=240610

A new post appears every day at 12:05* (CDT). There's more, though. Take a look at the right-hand side of the page for over four years of material (2,000 posts and growing) from Seinfeld and country music to every single day of the Chinese lunar calendar...translated. Look here ↓ and explore a little. It will take you all the way down the page...from round to square (and back again).
*Occasionally I will leave a long post up for thirty-six hours, and post a shorter entry at noon the next day.

Thursday, March 22, 2018

Lunar World Preview 2018 03-22

As the Lunar World Turns

Thursday, March 22, 2018

[a] Checkin' Out the Day RF

Thursday's Lunar Calendar

Today's day-column is soooo wonderful, that I can't hold back. This post will be succinct and exciting because Thursday is a wonderful, double red-ink "personality" day in Lunar World.

[b] Dipper RF

Today's "constellation personality" is boffo-good "Southern Ladle" or "Dipper" (斗). We're talking Big Dipper positive here, people. The jianchu "personality" is "Open" (開) which is one of the big positives on the jianchu cycle. Good stuff, all around.

The calendar shows a big, four-wide day-column today (sort of like a dangerous backstretch run at Talladega). That means there are four things to avoid and sixteen things that are "appropriate" to do today. You should avoid lawsuits (詞訟), entering water (進水), and "new boats" (新船). It is a good day for studying (入學), meeting friends (會友), repairing and constructing (修造), physician treatments (醫病), and livestock payments (納畜)—time to pay up the rest of those goats you owe from your wedding before you get into trouble with your in-laws).

[c] Hooked RF

Thursday's Lunar Calendar

On top of it all, the baleful asterisms (the bottom of section six), includes one I truly enjoy. I call it "Narrative Hook" (勾陳). Think like a novelist. What is going to "hook" your reader? Well, this is a baleful asterism, so it's probably a Stephen King-style narrative hook (maybe with a big, scary, dog (or a high school prom).

And, finally, how about the big, bold characters for the biggest baleful asterism of all? I translate it as "Earth Duffel (地囊), but regular readers of Rounds and Square know that I like to think of it as "Dirt Bag."

Don't be a dirt bag. Avoid going into water in your new boat (and lawsuits), and hit the books before repairing the house and paying off your livestock obligations.