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Thanks Mr. Toastmaster, fellow toastmasters, and honored guests. Today, I’m going to tell you a story. As I tell you the story, think about it. Why I tell you the story.

Richard and Mary are neighbors. Every morning, a newspaper boy delivers newspapers to Mary’s house. Every morning, Mary has to read newspapers. Mary is DYING to read newspapers. She cannot skip reading newspapers.

One day, Mary went out to pick up the newspaper. But the newspaper was not on the ground, the lovely blue bag was NOT on the ground!!! Where is it? Where is it? Mary looked around… huh…. Richard… Richard was sitting on a couch in his yard reading a newspaper. It was exactly the same newspaper Mary was subscribed to. But he NEVER sits on that couch, and he NEVER reads newspapers…. Mary was furious. It must be Richard who took my newspaper. He is a thief!!!! But will Mary go to Richard and ask for the newspaper. No, Richard must deny it. He must say it’s all the newspaper boy’s fault.

But will Mary just stop here. NO. Richard needed to pay the price for being a thief. Because Mary was a real good web designer. She immediately went back to her house, spent 10 bucks to register a domain called www.newspaperthief.com. Spent 10 minutes to set up a website. It has Richard’s name, home address, weight, height…. all kinds of information about him. and he is a NEWSPAPER THIEF!!!! Mary wants everyone in the world to know, Richard is a thief.

But did Richard know that his name was on the internet? Did Richard know he’s a newspaperthief? No, he didn’t do a thing. He just sat in the coach reading newspapers.

Richard’s other neighbor, Scott, was in bad shape, he desperately needed to sell his house. He was a motivated seller. Fortunately, he found a buyer, Alice. They were already in contract stage. Alice had checked the house, it was good. Now just waiting for Alice to sign the contract. On that day, Alice decided to do a check on the neighbors, so she typed in the address on google. Because Mary just put up the website out there, it was one the the top few items returned by google. Alice looked at the address, it was the exactly next door. She clicked the website, and found everything about Richard. And he was a newspaper THIEF! OMG, Alice was going to have a thief neighbor! No way, Alice immediately tore down the contract, and cancelled the purchase. So what happened? Alice lost a great deal, Scott was even more desperate to sell his house, Richard lost a nice neighbor. And he didn’t even know ANY of those!

In the afternoon, Mary went out to the front yard again, and this time she noticed something, She saw a tip of a blue bag in the garden. oops, that’s a newspaper. Richard was not a thief. Mary was wrong. But Mary thought, I just spent 10 bucks on the website, let’s just put it up for a while. It doesn’t hurt… So the website still lives on.

After a couple of days, Richard was doing a multi-million dollar business deal with his first time partner, Bob. Because a lot of money was involved, Bob decided to do a background check. So he put Richard’s name in google. What did he get? It’s newspaperthief.com. Bob was stunned. He never expected Richard to be a thief. But Bob will never do a deal with anyone without integrity. Bob backed out from the deal, and Richard lost millions.

All those things happened behind the scene. Did Richard know any of these? No, he didn’t know. he didn’t do anything. He just sat in his coach reading newspapers.

Do you get anything from this story? Do you get why I tell you this story? Think about it. There are always different kinds people spreading different kinds of information in the internet. You can’t believe them all. Use your due diligence. Remember, whatever you are looking for, you will find it. It is very true both on internet, and in the real world.

Time: 06’07”

Disclaimer: This speech is solely for the fun of toast master international speech. The stories may not be historically accurate, nor is impartial. Please listen with discretion.

Thanks Mr. Toast Master…

Fellow Toast Masters, and honored guests. Today, I want to talk about Princeton University in the independence war.

When we talk about a war, what do we talk about? We talk about the start of the war, the turning point of the war, and the success of the war. And I tell you, Princeton University played a significant role in all three historical events.

The war formally started after the declaration of independence was signed, which was 1776.  A total of 56 people signed the declaration, and three of them were the alumni of the College of New Jersey, which only later changed its name to Princeton University. But a fourth person also signed the declaration. He was even more famous at that time, and among the Princetonians today. He is, John Witherspoon, sixth president of the College of New Jersey. He is the only clergyman, and college president that signed the declaration, not Harvard, not Yale, but Princeton.

After the war broke out, general George Washington really had a hard time. The continental army was defeated repeatedly. General Washington was in great need of a victory to boost the morale of the troops; to show his leadership; to prove that the independence was the right way to go. So the time came to the Christmas eve of the year 1776. In that evening, when it was supposedly a time for family reunification and peace, general Washington crossed the Delaware river, and attacked British troops the day after Christmas. We call it, the battle of Trenton, which was only 13 miles south of Princeton. On January 3rd, 1777, Washington’s army marched to a place only 3 miles south of Princeton, a place we now call it, the battlefield. As you can see from the name, it is where the battle of Princeton took place.

When we talk about the battle of Princeton, we have to talk about the story of the three canon balls. During the battle, Nassau hall, which was the only building for the College of New Jersey at that time, was exchanged hands three times by the British troops and the continental army. At one time when the British troop was in position of the Nassau hall, the continental army had to fire three rounds towards their own building. They fired three canon balls. The first canon ball, obviously, missed its target. The second canon ball.. hit the south wing of the building and bounced back, left a permanent scar on the wall, which can still be seen today… What’s interesting is the third canon ball. It went through a window of the prayer hall, which is now called the faculty room, and decapitated a portrait of King George II, the king of Britain at that time. The canon ball, however, left the frame and other parts of the portrait intact, only the King’s head was gone. The British troops must have thought it as an omen, since they promptly withdrew from the building shortly after the attack. And the continental army re-occupied their own building.

It was at Princeton and Trenton that Washington made his first major victory. After that, the British crown lost most of the cities of New Jersey; and the continental army recruits tens of thousands of new solders. It changed the course of the independence war. So… battle of Princeton was the turning point of the war.

After the battle, the continental army achieved more and more victories, fewer and fewer defeats… and the time soon became 1783. In that year, the Continental Congress met at Princeton’s Nassau hall from July to October. This, made Princeton the capital of the United States for four… whole… months… It was during that time at Princeton, the Continental Congress learned of the signing of the treaty of Paris, which basically ended the war. And welcomed the first foreign minister from Netherlands. It was during that time, general George Washington attended the commencement of the College of New Jersey, donated 50 guineas as a testimony of his respect to the College, and had a portrait taken in front of the Nassau hall. If you know about general Washington, you should know that he did not want to have portraits taken. It is said that in his lifetime, only three portraits were taken, and one of them was at Princeton. The portrait depicted his definite success at Princeton that changed history. After the painting was finished a year later, it was framed using the same frame for the portrait of King George II. Today, you can still see this portrait in the faculty room of the Nassau hall. To show the Princetonians all-encompassing culture, on one side of the window hangs the portrait of general Washington, on the other side is a portrait of King George II. When you go to Princeton, don’t forget to see those portraits.

Princeton University is the only university that played such an important role in the independence war. It participated the start of the war; it was the turning point of the war; and it signaled the success of the war. Without Princeton, we may still be ruled under the British Queen today. In every year’s July 4th, the independence day, we should not only think about the founding fathers: Washington, Jefferson; we should think about, Princeton.

Mr. Toast Master

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Time: 6 minutes 45 seconds
Date: 08/29/2007

Disclaimer: This speech is solely for the fun of toast master international speech. The stories may not be historically accurate, nor is impartial. Please listen with discretion.

Thanks Mr. Toast Master. Fellow Toast Masters, and honored guests. Do you know if you have a bank of America card, you could go to any museum for free last May? Heh? Sorry, it’s too late now… I, actually took advantage of that and went to San Francisco MOMA and de Young…Want to know how I felt? Disappointment. Don’t make me wrong. It has nothing to do with the museums. Those museums are fine museums. They have fairly good art works. The problem is, of course, always me. I visited museums in the wrong order. You know I came from greater New York City area and they have the finest museums in the world: Metropolitan, natural history, NY MOMA. Basically I need to reverse the sequence of museums to visit. I should visit San Francisco museums first, and NY museums later.
But today I’m not going to talk about NY museums. I want to talk about Princeton art museum. It is a nice little museum, even in the middle of all NY museums. Of course its collections cannot be compared with Metropolitan, but to me, they are at least at the same level as de Young. Princeton art museum resides in the middle of Princeton campus. It has no admission fee, very important. The museum is free to the students, to the faculty, and to the public… it is much better than the small museum in Cambridge, where you have to pay like five dollars to get in… and I don’t even know what’s inside…

Because I’m Chinese, I’m especially interested in Chinese collections. Today, I want to describe to you my favourite collection. It is the calligraphy from Wang Xizhi. Wang lived in Dong Jin dynasty, which is about 300 AD, 1700 years ago. Wang is considered the greatest calligrapher of all times in China. He transformed writing from merely a means of recording words to a piece of art. From the way he wrote the characters, you can feel his emotions, feel his personality. The specific collection, as you can see at your hand, is the first half of a personal letter, only fifteen characters. It is called “Ritual to Pray for Good Harvest”. What do you feel from the characters? exciting? happy? sorrow? or bitter? well, if you are like me, an ordinary person… you don’t really know… I don’t know a thing about calligraphy… I don’t even know whether it’s good or not… hmm… that’s not exactly true, I can tell if it’s really really bad… but I cannot tell better from good… However, if everyone else says it’s good, it’s got to be good. That is actually how Wang Xizhi became the greatest calligrapher.

Ritual to Pray for Good Harvest

I… have to confess, I actually just lied to you. Have you noticed that? The Princeton collection is not a real letter by Wang Xizhi. It’s a fake one, but it’s a very early fake one. It was faked in the 7th century, only three hundred years after Wang’s era. The way they fake it, is to put a piece of paper on the supposedly authentic Wang’s letter, and trace the exact way Wang wrote the characters. We call it, a tracing copy. I assure you, even though it is fake, it is very precious. That is only because no authentic Wang’s calligraphy exists in the world today. And there’s a story behind it. Remember I told you that Wang is the greatest calligrapher because everyone else says so? right? From 4th century to 7th century, lots of people did see Wang’s authentic calligraphy, and they highly value that. They would spend a lot of money just to get a real piece of Wang’s handwriting. At the end of 7th century, the emperor of China became so interested in Wang’s calligraphy, that he ordered everyone in the country to hand in Wang’s work, otherwise he would be beheaded. So, he became the only person that had the entire collection. When he died, he did one step further. He put every single piece in his tomb, so he could enjoy it in the underworld. After that… nobody … has ever seen a real piece of Wang’s calligraphy. But everybody heard from their predecessors that Wang was the greatest calligrapher, so he is… As a side effect, the fake ones became precious.

So, you see.. when you see a museum collection, if you don’t know the history, don’t know the stories behind it.. it is just an ordinary collection. You will get a lot more, if you spend a little bit of time, do some research. And your museum visiting experience will be much more exciting.

My first Princeton art museum visit was in an activity hosted by the art museum. Its central theme was this letter by Wang Xizhi. A guide described all the background information about this letter, pretty much like what I just told you. After that, we had a reception INSIDE the museum. A small Chinese musical group played some ancient Chinese instruments inside the main room. Think about it, you can listen to the beautiful music, enjoy the wonderful collections around you, and taste the high quality finger food. And remember, everything… is… absolutely… FREE…. Can you find any other museum in the world do the same thing?

Trust me, Princeton art museum is very unique. If you go to Princeton, don’t forget to go to the art museum. And don’t forget to see this calligraphy: “Ritual to Pray for Good Harvest”.

Mr. Toast Master…

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Time: 6 minutes 27 seconds
Date: 07/25/2007

Thanks Mr. Toast Master. Hello everyone. Today my speech’s topic is "What do you need to know to know me?" So, what should I tell you so that you can know more of me? My past experience? Can my past experience tell you what I’m going to do in the future? No, right? I’ve been to elementary school, high school, collage, but I’m not going there again. However, I do agree that deep under the surface, there are some connections between the things I did in the past and the things I might do in the future. As far as I can tell, it is called, personality. There is a Chinese saying that it’s easier to conquer a land than changing a person. That’s literal translation. It means it’s very very hard to change a person’s personality. So, if you want to know me, you’d better know my personality.

And actually, it is very easy to know my personality. You only need to know one thing from me. What is it? That is the date I was born. Don’t you know that a person’s personality is determined on the date he’s born? Okay, now I tell you my birthday and you should know all about me. I was born in the middle of May. So, now… if you haven’t skipped your elementary school… you should know exactly what to do… You only need to, go back home, open an astrology book, and turn to page… what sign is it if I’m born in the middle of May? Yes, it’s Taurus. And read from the first line. It’s not extremely accurate, but it’s a pretty good approximation.

The first thing for a Taurus is… it thinks really slow, really really slow… that’s is actually why I can’t think of anything in table topics… Let me show you how slow my thinking is… one, plus one, is…. is two… are you all Tauruses? you think slower than I do… (see, you all know the answer, this is my usual thinking speed)…

The second thing for a Taurus is… it is very stubborn, very inflexible. Once I make up my mind, nothing can change me, and I don’t consider any other options. Because I’m stubborn, and I always do things super slow.. I usually refuse to accept new things. I always prefer things as it is… And I always do things half a step slower than others. I’d like to go extremes, from one extreme, to the other.

I remember, when I was in elementary school, an animated TV series was very popular, and I bet you are very familiar it.It’s going to be shown in movie on July 4th. It’s called, the transformers. At that time, every kid in the school talked about it, was excited about it… except me. I did not watch a single episode for at least an entire year. Some little shops outside the school sell some little cards about transformers. On one side of the card is a picture of a transformer, on the other side is some description of that transformer… Everyone liked it, bought the cards, played games with the cards… except me… I did not show any interest in it for a long long time.. Then suddenly.. I changed… That is still a mystery to me. I still don’t know how and why I changed, but I just changed. I suddenly showed extreme enthusiasm for transformer cards. I bought all the cards I could find in the shops. I remembered the pictures and I read the descriptions… Soon I became a transformer expert. I knew all the stories about transformers, solely from the cards… because at that time, it was no longer shown in TV. I talked to my friends about the stories, and they really admired my knowledge… but they didn’t really care either. Since it was not shown in TV, they were chasing something else… So, I was always, always half a step slower. Actually the same thing happened again in my junior high… it was a Japanese animated TV series called "Saint Seiya".

I don’t like my personality. I don’t want to be stubborn, I don’t want to be slow… I want to be flexible, I want to be super duper fast… I always want to change it… My first try was when I was at age 10, when I first knew from astrology that it was born in my blood… and now ten twenty years later, I’ve already lost count how many times I tried it… it’s just like people want to quit smoking… and obviously, as you can see, I was not quite successful…

btw, do you know stubborn has a synonym. it is called loyal.. did I just tell you that I wanted to be less loyal?

Mr. Toast Master…

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Time: 5 minutes 37 seconds
Date: 06/06/2007