Apr 23, 1516
The German Beer Purity Law (Reinheitsgebot) was enacted.
The law allowed only three ingredients to be used to brew beer:
• barley 大麦
• hops 啤酒花（蛇麻）
• water 水
Later added yeasts （酵母）
The law aimed at preventing crops used to make bread from being squandered in bear making.
The law is still effective today.
Today is
Shakespeare Day
There are many myths about Shakespeare. Neither his birthday nor deathday is free from doubts and debates.
Some say he was born on Apr 26, 1564, and died on Apr 23, 1616.
But many people around the world celebrated Apr 23 as his birthday, hence Shakespeare Day.
Again, I believe no one's birthday is worth celebrating. Deathday, yes.
I'd rather take today as Shakespeare's death day.
How to celebrate today?
Let's listen to a famous poem, shall we?
Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date;
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;
Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
(www.poetryfoundation.org)
Apr 23, 1850
William Wordsworth, English Romantic poet, died at age 80.
What's the matter with April?
A curse for poets or fatal for Williams?
Poems cannot be read; they must be heard.
Enjoy this April morning.