Message: 2012 Roundup -- Top 44 Posts Of 2012

This is how I learn
Image from directory.ac

Every websites and news programs like to do roundups, and they are very popular among viewers, so I will do just that.

This year I have written 156 posts, 13 less than last year and 7 less than the year before, a pity because I have been too overloaded with tasks. I hope I can make up to it this year with better and more detailed researches and sharing.

Here's my Locky's English Playground Top 10 Posts Of 2012!

Spirals of Sunflower has the best arrangement for solar energy absorption
Image from Wikipedia

In January, I read an article on solar plant and discovered the secret of the sunflower pattern in assisting solar energy capturing. Then Bobsled Winter Olympics Champion Steven Holcomb followed my blog's Twitter which allowed me to write a post introducing his game.

Welding Glass Photography. Do you remember?
Image from Electric Arc

I began writing for the Student Page of The Standard in February and the first one was about Valentine's Day as I talked about the slang and the sweet words, offered challenging tasks and discussion questions for the secondary school students of Hong Kong. Then the next Student Page article talked about the words which have to do with "sugar and sweets". Then I learnt about the benefits of an ND filter in photography but challenged the pricey technology with a HK$4 welding glass with surprising results! Lastly, I shared my own story of learning before I bid The Standard goodbye for my short-lived column.

Image from Google Books

March came and in the first article I agreed that Android will easily beat iOS in terms of market share and popularity and so the inevitable loss of Whatsapp's market share, which we now know this is all true as Apple's share dropped 30% from the highest while Samsung's continuously heads for new height, and Whatsapp rumoured to be selling the company to Facebook. Students always ask which phrasal verbs to learn and I emphasized the importance of Corpus Linguistics in English learning in answering similar questions.

Dr. House has the best quotes of life in English
Image from FOX

In April, I offered answers to a number of mysteries including whether hasmas is really from snow leopard geckos, how cultural differences affect the definition of gestures such as the OK, Hang Ten and the Loser signs as well as the names of several other Hong Kong wet market fish. Then I spared no time and effect in compiling one of the best House M.D. quotes collection on the internet, gaining a hit-rate of 3384 views for this particular article.

The Most Popular Smartphone Ever!
Image from Reuters

May was the month that Samsung become the new Apple by releasing the super duper awesome Galaxy SIII, which we now know has outsold all smartphones ever existed including the iPhone 4, 4S and 5 to date.  Apple, then, disgustingly responded by breaking away from Steve Jobs' personal hatred towards larger smartphones and upping their iPhone's size while claiming that Jobs had the idea in it before he left for heaven. Jobs' legacy? Not! Money makes the mare go. The Bee Gees took the scene as I discovered that their disco song Stayin' Alive actually saves lives! Then Robin Gibbs soon after left our world leaving behind his voice in his greatest songs. This year has been a huge improvement on the level of details in researches, thanks to all my homework from my Master's degree course, and there was my corpus-based analysis of a Whatsapp Group Chat, interesting findings unveiled the common mistakes made by a group of English learners who use Whatsapp to communicate.

The Beginning of My Tutorial Writing Journey
Image from Locky's English Playground

In June, I become a senior member of the XDA-developers forum and released the one and only [TUTORIAL][S3 Imitation] Turning your GS2 to GS2.5 (Updated on 27th August 2012), marking the highest hit rate at 32,924 on the XDA-developers forum to date!!! (Not even including the 977 views of that page on Locky's English Playground) The month ended with another bang when the topic on cuts of pork, beef and lamb got meaty, earning a 5th place in the all-time highest views of 5467 in the English Playground and the highest-viewing Locky's English Playground article of this year.

Family Tree
Image from Wikipedia

When July came, I got to learnt the relations between members of a family tree better, later I shared the techniques of cooking real good-looking scrambled eggs and discussed which oil is better for this dish, and finally, I shared my views on how Galaxyography has helped me become a better photographer as a whole.

Wanna cook really nice steak with a sticky wok?
Image from Locky's English Playground

August was a highly productive month, and mostly focused on topics around medicine and the environment. Personally, I think that learning to use an EpiPen is crucial to saving someone's life, while knowing more about ticks and lyme disease let us maintain good health. The Olympic Games brought back the memory of Nadia Comăneci and her perfect 10.0 videos. Student's request got me to search for easier ways to pronounce wine names in their native languages. Cooking continued and this time on cooking steaks without having a hard time washing up, really cool physics involved in this and so was the post on Fujiwhara Effect VS Li's Force Field. Whale hunts got bloody and I reckon it is my job to speak for the whales. I want to know the names of the giant trees along the streets of Hong Kong so I went searching for them.

Ice Cap Shrinking Horribly Quick
Image from BBC

September continued the science fair and I asked why the sky is blue to discover what Tyndall & Rayleigh Effects are. News on extra-small Arctic ice went viral on the internet and I discovered the shocking truth. Students' questions triggered my intention to write a Q & A post answering their questions on English learning.

Image from JAWS

October was once again science month and in Technology & Opinions: My Views on Android VS iOS, I learnt the difference between various smartphone display technology. Grammar regained my focus when another student asked me about In / At / Of / On / For / From ... Which. Shark Week from Discovery Channel brought me back my best memories of the movie JAWS and I shared how I fell in love with sharks.

Image from The Pepper Seed

Then Mythbusters and Man v. Food programs aroused my interests on finding the types of chili peppers and the best cure in November. In terms of learning new words, there is a post on words which describe body shape, idioms are also abundant in the Mythbusters show and portmanteau is also one of the must-learn items.

Image from Locky's English Playground

December arrived as I answered more questions about the Galaxy Note II in the English Playground as well as on XDA-developers forum. A good friend's visit to Hong Kong allowed me to think through the types of signature local food available in Hong Kong, and begin my journey to search for the best Hong Kong-style French Toast in the city.


I think either the 32,924 or the 5467 views record is really hard to break in 2013, but I hope the quality of the future posts can improve further such that the viewers can learn more knowledge and better English at the same time.



Vocabulary:
legacy -- (n)[C] money or property that you receive from someone after they die
Money makes the mare go -- (proverb) if you are prepared to pay enough, most people will be willing to do something that at first they said they wouldn't or couldn't do


Resources:
1. Technology: New Solar Tech 2011-12 @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/01/technology-new-solar-tech-2011-12.html

2. Sport & People: Bobsleigh & Steven Holcomb @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/01/sport-people-bobsleigh-steven-holcomb.html

3. Slang & Speaking: Speaking Valentine's @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/02/slang-speaking-speaking-valentines.html

4. Learning Method & Vocabulary: Post-Valentine's Sugar & Sweet @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/02/learning-method-vocabulary-post.html

5. Photography: ND Filters & Photography @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/02/photography-nd-filters-photography.html

6. Speaking: A Story Of My Learning @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/02/speaking-story-of-my-learning.html

7. Technology & Economics: Nothing Is Too Big To Fail  @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/03/technology-economics-nothing-is-too-big.html

8. Academic Research: What are the top phrasal verbs to learn? @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/03/academic-research-what-are-top-phrasal.html

9. Food & Animal: Hasma & Common House Gecko @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/04/food-animal-hasma-common-house-gecko.html

10. Culture: Gestures -- The OK, Hang Ten & Loser Signs @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/04/culture-gestures-ok-hang-ten-loser.html

11. Food: More x2 Fish@Hong Kong Wet Market  @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/04/food-more-x2-fishhong-kong-wet-market.html

12. TV & Quotes: House M.D. Season 8 Finale & The End (With Cool Quotes)  @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/04/tv-quotes-house-md-season-8-finale-end.html

13. Technology & News: Samsung Galaxy S3 Has Finally Arrived!!!! @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/05/technology-news-samsung-galaxy-s3-has.html

14. News & Opinions: Bothering Steve Jobs Again, Knocking At Heaven's Door! @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/05/news-opinions-bothering-steve-jobs.html

15. Song & Medical: Stayin' Alive -- Bee Gees & CPR @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/05/song-medical-stayin-alive-bee-gees-cpr.html

16. People: Thank You, Robin Gibb!!! R.I.P. @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/05/people-thank-you-robin-gibb-rip.html

17. Academic Research: Corpus-based Analysis of Whatsapp Group Chat @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/05/academic-research-corpus-based-analysis.html

18. Message: Becoming Senior Members of XDA-developers!!!@ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/06/message-becoming-senior-members-of-xda.html

19. Technology: Turning your Galaxy S2 to Galaxy S2.5!!! @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/06/technology-turning-your-galaxy-s2-to.html

20. Food: Cuts of Pork, Beef & Lamb@ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/06/food-cuts-of-pork-beef-lamb.html

21. Vocabulary: Grandma's Sister? -- The Family Tree
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/07/vocabulary-grandmas-sister-family-tree.html

22. Cooking & Health: How To Cook Perfect Scrambled Eggs with Healthy Oil and Good Wok
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/07/cooking-health-how-to-cook-perfect.html

23. Photography: Galaxyography VS iPhoneography
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/07/photography-galaxyography-vs.html

24. Medical: How To Use an EpiPen
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/08/medical-how-to-use-epipen.html

25. Sport & People: The 1st Perfect TEN -- Nadia Comăneci
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/08/sport-people-1st-perfect-ten-nadia.html

26. Drinks: How To Pronounce Wine Names?
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/08/drinks-how-to-pronounce-wine-names.html

27. Cooking: How To Cook Steaks with Sticky Wok and Clean Easily
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/08/cooking-how-to-cook-steaks-with-stick.html

28. Animals & TV: Saving the Cetaceans & Whale Wars -- Animal Planets
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/08/animals-tv-saving-cetaceans-whale-wars.html

29. Environment: What Giant Trees Are These?
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/08/environment-what-giant-trees-are-these.html

30. Science & Environment: The Fujiwhara Effect VS Li's Force Field
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/08/science-environment-fujiwhara-effect-vs.html

31. Medical & News: Tick & Lyme Disease
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/08/medical-news-tick-lyme-disease.html

32. Science: Why Is The Sky Blue? Tyndall & Rayleigh Effect
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/09/science-why-is-sky-blue-tyndall.html

33. Science & Environment: How Bad Is The Melting?
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/09/science-environment-how-bad-is-melting.html

34. Learning Psychology & Methods: Learning Q & A
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/10/learning-psychology-methods-learning-q-a.html

35. Technology & Opinions: My Views on Android VS iOS
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/10/technology-opinions-my-views-on-android.html

36. Grammar: In / At / Of / On / For / From ... Which (Active Voice)
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/10/grammar-in-at-of-on-for-from-which.html

37. Movie & TV: JAWS and I
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/10/movie-tv-jaws-and-i.html

38. TV & Food: Spicy Hot Chili @ Man V. Food
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/11/tv-food-spicy-hot-chili-man-vs-food.html

39. Vocabulary: Words That Describe Body Shapes
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/11/vocabulary-words-that-describe-body.html

40. TV & Vocabulary: Mythbusters & English Idioms
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/11/tv-vocabulary-mythbusters-english-idioms.html

41. Vocabulary: Do You Wordplay? -- Portmanteau
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/12/vocabulary-do-you-wordplay-portmanteau.html

42. Technology: Galaxy Note II Q & A -- Part 2
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/12/technology-galaxy-note-ii-q-part-2.html

[FAQ] Galaxy Note II GT-N7105 FAQ Compilation (7th Dec 2012) @ XDA-developers
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1999656

43. Food: Festive (or Anytime) Local Food In Hong Kong
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/12/food-festive-or-anytime-local-food-in.html

44. Food: The Search For Great Hong Kong-style French Toast -- Part 1
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/12/food-search-for-great-french-toast-part.html

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/legacy?q=legacy
http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/58/messages/1197.html

Message: Happy 2013 To You All!!!

Image from NationNews

Dear friends and viewers,

I hereby wish you all the very best of health and wishes this year and many more years to come! May you and I together with Locky's English Playground grow high and wide in knowledge and wisdom!

Cheers,
Locky