Hey guys!
While you are reading my entries and watching videos which are linked from this blog, if you happen to find any dead links, please let me know, so that I can update them and keep the entries meaningful no matter when you read it.
You can let me know by sending me email or leaving comments.
Thanks a million!
(Thank Timothy for letting me know about the song links I put up. They are fixed now.)
Cheers!
Locky
Languages are tunnels that lead to the worlds of infinite knowledge (so have fun with the English language!) -- Locky
Wednesday, 24 February 2010
Monday, 22 February 2010
Environment: Earth Hour 2010
Hey guys, it is another big day in man's history for you and me to contribute to this amazing planet. The Earth Hour 2010 will be held at 8:30pm on the 27th March 2010. I joined it last year and supported the event by going out for dinner instead of staying at home, thus blacking out my home entirely for more than an hour.
Did I cheat? Well, not really, because I really didn't switch on the lights. Is it difficult to participate? Not at all! Just leave home with lights out and go out for a walk or do some shopping and you will be supporting the event! You don't always need to be at home, right?
But I have an even better idea!
You could go to the harbour sides and witness this tremendously wonderful event! Imagine you and your love ones arriving at Tsim Sha Tsui 5 minutes before the start and then watching the lights go out when the time strikes 8:30pm!!! Take a look at how clear the stars will be and then think about how much energy we can save in just that hour !!!
It will be truly peaceful, educational and meaningful to be a part of this!!! So please don't forget this day!!!
Do it for the world, do it for you!
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2009/04/science-earth-hour.html
Friday, 19 February 2010
Medical: Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease
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| Image from itechtalk |
Recently, I think I have done some very bad things to my own body: I eat at irregular time, I combine two meals into one, I eat a lot at one time just so that I don't have to eat twice, I eat quickly and I eat late at night, sometimes before I sleep late at night.
Now, why am I doing that? Guess I am too busy, or maybe all those listed above have become my bad bad habits. You see, I do enjoy eating slow meals at a nice restaurant, but it always turns out that I am grasping for breath when I finish my bite, which means, I didn't even know I was eating too fast!
As a result, what do I get? I get something call acid reflux, or the proper name, Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD). Basically, it is when the food and juice in the stomach rush back to the oesophagus, and thus the gastric acid "burns" the walls of the oesophaghus and causing inflammation.
My symptoms include heartburn, trouble swallowing (dysphagia) and pain with swallowing (odynophagia).
There could be other symptoms for other people, so you may want to read up on more articles for further details.
There were a few days when I had to take strong medicine to relieve the pain, but eventually, it was the change back to regular lifestyle that helped me recover.
It is so good to be able to eat ~! Have a healthy life!
PS: By the way, I have to watch the amount of coffee I am drinking now. And when I drink, I have to make sure that I eat before I drink, because coffee increases the risk of acid reflux [1].
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastroesophageal_reflux_disease
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heartburn
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysphagia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odynophagia
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2010/01/health-and-fitness-healthy-coffee.html
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee#Health_and_pharmacology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heartburn
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysphagia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odynophagia
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2010/01/health-and-fitness-healthy-coffee.html
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee#Health_and_pharmacology
Wednesday, 17 February 2010
Food: More Fish@Hong Kong Wet Market
I hope the entry Fish: Groupers@Hong Kong Wet Market helped those of you who are interested in learning grouper names.
I find it funny that my students are interested in knowing fish names all of a sudden, and I found it even funnier because their interest originates from a TV commercial of EPS with Jan Lamb and his look-alike who came from a band called "Rubberband".
Now what is there to do with fish names? If you know this musician, you will know his name in Cantonese.
The fish concerned is a very common fish in Hong Kong waters, found anywhere near pier and rocks and it feeds on meat and algae, and its name -- White-spotted Spinefoot.
Being top on my dad's favourite fish list, this fish belongs to the category of rabbitfish or spinefoot. The fish can grow as big as 40cm and has a rabbit-like mouth, large dark eyes and a shy temperament. They have poisonous spines to defend themselves against threat. Though the poison is not life-threatening to human, it can cause severe pain.[1] (I have suffered from this in the past) The texture of the meat of this fish is smooth yet firm, and in my dad's and my opinions, it tastes better than many other expensive fish when steamed. In Hong Kong, they can be both farm fish or wild catch.[2]
Second on my dad's favourite fish list is ...
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Image from guim.co.u
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They are highly prized as food fish and they field 4 fillets with the meatier topside portions.[3]
Third on my dad's favourite fish list is ...
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| Image from blogspot |
There are many types of soles and I don't really know which one does my dad like to eat, but he definitely has a taste for flatfishes.
Well, if we don't want to talk about costly fishes here, how about some middle-priced ones?
A fish very popular in Thai cuisine, the Barramundi has white, flaky flesh which is particularly smooth when steamed. There are both freshwater and saltwater ones.[4] In Hong Kong, they are often found as farm fish.
Russell's Snapper / 火點
My dad is a real fish lover and he must eat fish every meal. When my dad is home for dinner, he would always ask for this fish. He said it is affordable and the quality is not bad. Well, I don't find many differences between this fish and the Barramundi, except that this one tastes more like freshwater fish.
Mangrove Red Snapper / 紅鮪
If my dad doesn't get the Russell's Snapper, he will settle for the Mangrove Red Snapper. Is there any diff?
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| Image from wwfsassi.co.za |
So much about my dad's choices, I am a natural soup lover! I love all kinds of soup, but if I can choose, fish soup always comes first. Topping my list of favourite fish for soup is the ...
It has two short spikes on either side of the head that contain venom (poison) which is not fatal but can cause pain and infection. Terribly sweet and milky soup! Wide catch.
Second goes to...
Rockfish / 石狗公
Wild catch for sure, lots of bones, tiny and dangerous. One disadvantage, need a lot of them to make a pot of soup. Be careful of the bones when you drink.
In the third place, I have the ...
Small Snakehead / San Pan / 生斑 / (Channa asiatica)
Snakehead / Snake Head Fish / 生魚 / (Channa maculata)
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| Image from siamfishing |
Enjoy the fish!
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Vocabulary:
look-alike -- someone or something that is similar in appearance to someone or something else
flaky -- coming off easily in small, flat, thin pieces
Fishzilla -- from the word "Godzilla", a Japanese fictional giant monster. Hereby metaphorically, a monster fish.
fatal -- causes death
invasive -- moving into all areas of something and difficult to stop
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Resources:
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2009/08/food-groupershong-kong-wet-market.html
http://www1.parknshop.com/WebShop/FishList.do?service=direct&service=1&service=fishListEnu.$DirectLink$4&sp=l12381&sp=SIce-bed+Fish
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flathead_(fish)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PF2vOp9_hbc
Friday, 12 February 2010
Economics: Anatomy of a Euromess
Hi there! I just read an extremely simple yet informative article on the trouble in Europe right now, and I just can't wait to share with all of you!
For those of you who are interested in economics, let's welcome Dr. Paul Krugman! (Please do search "Krugman" in the Sand Play Area for more entries about him)
(As usual, I hope Dr. Krugman won't mind my quoting of his entire blog entry. Permission not gained for quoting.)
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February 9, 2010, 11:52 AM
Anatomy of a Euromess
Most press coverage of the eurozone troubles has focused on Greece, which is understandable: Greece is up against the wall to a greater extent than anyone else. But the Greek economy is also very small; in economic terms the heart of the crisis is in Spain, which is much bigger. And as I’ve tried to point out in a number of posts, Spain’s troubles are not, despite what you may have read, the result of fiscal irresponsibility. Instead, they reflect “asymmetric shocks” within the eurozone, which were always known to be a problem, but have turned out to be an even worse problem than the euroskeptics feared.
So I thought it might be useful to lay out, in a handful of pictures, how Spain got into its current state. (All of the data come from the IMF World Economic Outlook Database). There’s a kind of classic simplicity about the story — it’s almost like a textbook example. Unfortunately, millions of people are suffering the consequences.
The story begins with the Spanish real estate bubble. In Spain, as in many countries including our own, real estate prices soared after 2000. This brought massive inflows of capital; within Europe, Germany moved into huge current account surplus while Spain and other peripheral countries moved into huge deficit:
These big capital inflows produced a classic transfer problem: they raised demand for Spanish goods and services, leading to substantially higher inflation in Spain than in Germany and other surplus countries. Here’s a comparison of GDP deflators (remember, both countries are on the euro, so the divergence reflects a rise in Spain’s relative prices):
But then the bubble burst, leaving Spain with much reduced domestic demand — and highly uncompetitive within the euro area thanks to the rise in its prices and labor costs. If Spain had had its own currency, that currency might have appreciated during the real estate boom, then depreciated when the boom was over. Since it didn’t and doesn’t, however, Spain now seems doomed to suffer years of grinding deflation and high unemployment.
Where are budget deficits in all this? Spain’s budget situation looked very good during the boom years. It is running huge deficits now, but that’s a consequence, not a cause, of the crisis: revenue has plunged, and the government has spent some money trying to alleviate unemployment. Here’s the picture:
So, whose fault is all this? Nobody’s, in one sense. In another sense, Europe’s policy elite bears the responsibility: it pushed hard for the single currency, brushing off warnings that exactly this sort of thing might happen (although, as I said, even euroskeptics never imagined it would be this bad).
Am I calling, then, for breakup of the euro. No: the costs of undoing the thing would be immense and hugely disruptive. I think Europe is now stuck with this creation, and needs to move as quickly as possible toward the kind of fiscal and labor market integration that would make it more workable.
But oh, what a mess.
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Vocabulary:
peripheral -- happening at the edge of something; neighbouring; namely other members of PIIGS -- Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Greece
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Resources:
Wednesday, 10 February 2010
Food: Festive Puddings
Now, Chinese New Year is just around the corner, and so you should know the names of the festive puddings in English. Some of you have already learnt them from me in the lessons. It is the others turn now.
The Cantonese style is made from glutinous rice (remember my Thai Mango article?) and brown sugar while the Shanghai style is made from white sugar.
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| Image from wikimedia |
Remember this, the orange colour root is called carrot, the white one is called turnip. Turnip cake is made from plain rice flour and sun-dried shimps. Nowadays, some companies even added conpoy or dried scallops.
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| Conpoy Image from flickr |
My favourite!!! Made from the corm of water chestnut plant. These days, the new versions also come with a very sweet smelly flower called Osmanthus. The type used in tea and puddings is called Osmanthus fragrans or Sweet Osmanthus.
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| Image from flickr |
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| Osmanthus Image from blogspot |
Don't eat too much guys!!!! It is really easy to get bad stomach these days!!
Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_cake
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