Food & Animal: Hasma & Common House Gecko

Dim Sum Order Sheet
Image from Locky's English Playground

Like I have always told my students, there are always something to learn, as long as you pay special attention to the surrounding.

Actually, before I went to see the Geminoid F, I went to yum cha in the morning. While waiting for the tea to arrive, I read the dim sum order sheet like all other dim sum enthusiasts. But unlike other enthusiasts, I only read the English. By doing that, I found something intriguing. That is what you see from the photo -- Hasma.

Hasma in Chinese Sweet Soup
Image from A Food Wonderland

Many people thought that hasam is the semen of snow leopard geckos.

Snow leopard gecko
Image from vmsherp

In fact, it is not that disgusting.

According to Wikipedia, hasma is "made from the dried fatty tissue found near the fallopian tubes of true frogs, typically the Asiatic Grass Frog (Rana chensinensis)"

And what are fallopian tubes?

Female Reproduction System of Human
Image from Wikipedia

So you can see, hasma is some kind of fat that is near to the part the frogs produce eggs, which is why they are also packed with hormones and ingesting too much will lead to early puberty in children as the Hong Kong Department of Health has announced in 2007^[1].

What kind of hormones? Not sure, but for sure it will drive up the sex hormone level in human.

By the way, those geckos that live in our home are called common house geckos. They are nice creatures, try not to hurt them when you see one. They will leave after they have helped you eat the spiders and ants in your home.

Common House Gecko
Image from Pbase

Vocabulary:
enthusiast -- (n) [C] a person who is very interested in and involved with a particular subject or activity
intriguing -- (adj) very interesting because of being unusual or mysterious
hasma -- (n)[U] a Chinese and widely Central Asian dessert ingredient made from the dried fatty tissue found near the fallopian tubes of true frogs, typically the Asiatic Grass Frog (Rana chensinensis)
semen -- (n) [U] a thick whitish liquid containing sperm which is produced by the sex organs of men and some male animals
snow leopard gecko -- (n)[C] 
fallopian tube -- (n)[C] also known as oviducts, uterine tubes, and salpinges (singular salpinx) are two very fine tubes lined with ciliated epithelia, leading from the ovaries of female mammals into the uterus, via the utero-tubal junction. In non-mammalian vertebrates, the equivalent structures are the oviducts.
puberty -- (n)[U] the stage in a person's life when they develop from a child into an adult because of changes in their body that make them able to have children
common house gecko -- (n)[C] scientific name Hemidactylus frenatus, is a native of southeastern Asia. It is also known as the Pacific house gecko, the Asian house gecko, or simply, the house lizard. They can be seen climbing walls of houses and other buildings in search of insects attracted to porch lights, hence their name.




Resources:

Hasma @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasma

Leopard Gecko @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopard_gecko

Fallopian tubes @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallopian_tubes

Common House Gecko @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_House_Gecko

[1] http://hk.next.nextmedia.com/template/next/art_main.php?iss_id=881&sec_id=1000853&art_id=6746807

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/enthusiast?q=enthusiast+
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/intriguing?q=intriguing+

Living: Close Encounter With Geminoid F 2012

Image from Locky's English Playground

Geminoid F, the name of the lady in the photos. If you still haven't heard of this name, then you must go to Cityplaza to take a look.

Image from Locky's English Playground

Who is she? She's a robot, a humanoid!

Honestly speaking, I don't quite think she lip-synched her song very well, her lips doesn't have enough movements, her hair is too wavy making her too mature with her Botoxed face.

I like her straight hair better when she was in Japan.

But she is THE MOST incredible robot on this planet EVER!!! So, you shouldn't miss this chance to see her now that she will be in Hong Kong until the 15th April! The most amazing part? You can almost touch her at close distance! Pay attention to her hands, they looks really real!

Image from Locky's English Playground

Catch her if you can!


Vocabulary:
humanoid -- (n) is something that has an appearance resembling a human being.
lip-sync -- (vb) a technical term for matching lip movements with sung or spoken vocals.
wavy -- (adj) having a series of curves
Botox -- (vb) (n) [U] trademark a substance which is injected (= put in through a needle) into the skin of the face in order to make the skin look smooth and young


Resource:
Female Android Geminoid F @ YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9q4qwLknKag

Humanoid @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanoid

Lip-sync @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lip_sync

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/wavy?q=wavy
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/botox?q=botox

Event: April Fool's Day +

Did you guys have fun reading Event: Hppay Aripl Floo's Day Wtih Knledowge!? Here's more pranks but not from me, from Google.

Would you like to learn Morse Code?

Resources:

Event: Hppay Aripl Floo's Day Wtih Knledowge! @ Locky's English Playground

http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2012/04/event-hppay-aripl-floos-day-wtih.html

Morse Code @ Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morse_code

Event: Hppay Aripl Floo's Day Wtih Knledowge!

Iamge form Anoridd Paly

Aoccdrnig to mnay wbesiets, lkie douglastwitchell.com, who siad,

"Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe."

But it taht rlleay ture?

Aothner wbeiste Science Avenger disgreae and cmae up wtih smoe explames,

"Bblaaesl pryleas pnmrrioefg sllaimy aeoulltsby dvrseee clbrpmaaoe tteenmrat."

Now, why is taht it is raelly hrad to raed thsee explames?

Beaucse tehy are trluy scamrlebd, unklie waht I am diong in tihs etnry so far, giinvg you tpis and hnits on the way by mkinag tihs not so scamrlebd.

Aslo, terhe is no scuh stduy by the Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it is a bogus stduy, oerthwsie, no one wlil fnid Draw Something hrad to paly.

Hpoeflluy, tihs gvies you all a good lsseon!

Hppay Aripl Floos Day Wtih Knledowge form Lcoky's Egnislh Palygounrd!!!

Wnat to raed mroe? Raed tihs!!

See my lotiocan?

View Larger Map

Vocabulary:
scramble -- (vb) [T] to mix eggs with a little milk and mix again as they are being fried
bogus -- (adj) false, not real or not legal

Resources:
Douglas Twitchell
http://www.douglastwitchell.com/scrambled_words.asp

Cambridge Word Scramble Study: It's Fake Already! @ Science Avenger
http://scienceavenger.blogspot.com/2007/12/cambridge-word-scramble-study-its-fake.html

Draw Something @ Android Play
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.omgpop.dstfree

Draw Something @ App Store
http://itunes.apple.com/hk/app/draw-something-free/id488628250?mt=8

Google's April Fools joke: Nintendo-style 8-bit Google Map @ GMA News
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/253469/scitech/technology/google-s-april-fools-joke-nintendo-style-8-bit-google-map

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/scramble_4
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/bogus?q=bogus+

Listening, News & Animals: Bart the Gray Whale

Bart the Grey Whale, entangled by fishing net
Image from globalanimal.org

Those who kill whales of the sea will not understand or ever experience the incredible feeling of rescuing these amazing mammals.

Here's the video and the transcript I have manually typed for your listening practice.

The best anyone could tell, the young gray whale was making its first migratory trip north from <Baha?> to Alaska when it got entangled up in a huge gill net. A big curtain floated on top of the water, weighed down at least 20-feet below the water. It was spotted Friday night then tagged with a buoy. "Let it go!" Sailor Peter <last name> agreed to babysit the 30-foot long whale overnight which is why it became known as Bart. Rescue crew suspect the grey had been dragging for a week, it was filled with dozen of dead animals. "We had a sealion, we had several sharks. I mean, it was ...it was the the whole ecosystem, you know, was in that netting." They also had a challenge, to cut through the nylon netting without hurting the big mammal. "I got it, it's on." The cutting went on for seven tiring hours, as the rescue crew followed the whale mile after mile out to sea. "It was getting very frightening towards the end of the day because ah.. we are running out of time." Then perhaps sensing it was time, the whale took off. "Those buoys just went under the water all of a sudden, and when it went under the water, I mean it was like that .. a scene from JAWS, you know, I mean it's like, don don don don *music of movie JAWS*, you know, we need a bigger boat." Moments later, Bart serviced. "We get over to the hm.. to the .. to the... to the buoys, we pick them up, and there is all that net, all that net, strung back, and we hear our other boat was over there, and they were screaming, "He's free! He's free!" David Anderson said about thousands of dolphins died in fishing nets every year around the world, he felt grateful to have saved one. Actually came right up to us and almost mouthed "Thank you". It was pretty awesome, it was pretty awesome.

View Larger Map

Well, the end of the story might be a tragic one, as a young grey whale was later found dead off Long Beach, its tail was found to have been injuried by netting.

Gray whale found dead off Long Beach with injuries to tail
Image from LA Times

It is still unsure whether the dead whale is the same one, but humans are the killers.

If we didn't eat so much fish, these animals won't be hurt by the fishing nets and this baby dolphin wouldn't need to learn swimming from a human.

May these animals enjoy a good life.


Vocabulary:
migratory -- (adj) [I] When an animal migrates, it travels to a different place, usually when the season changes
entangle -- (vb) to cause something to become caught in something such as a net or ropes
drag -- (vb) [T] to move something by pulling it along a surface, usually the ground
strung -- past tense of string -- (vb) to put strings on a musical instrument

Resources:
Whale Rescued In Southern California, Now Dead? (VIDEO) @ Global Animal
http://www.globalanimal.org/2012/03/30/whale-rescued-in-southern-california-now-dead-video/70958/

Gray whale found dead off Long Beach with injuries to tail @ LA Times
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/03/dead-whale-long-beach.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+lanowblog+%28L.A.+Now%29

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/migrate_1?q=migratory
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/entangle?q=entangle
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/drag_1?q=drag+
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/string_7

Technology & News: Mobile, Teens & Our Money

Two pieces of important news about mobile phones I would like to share with you today.

The first one comes from the findings of the Pew Internet & American Life Project by the Pew Research Center. It discovers that,

1. American teens have increased their text messages from 50 a day in 2009 to 60 texts for the median teen text user. 
2. "Smartphones are gaining teenage users. Some 23% of all those ages 12-17 say they have a smartphone and ownership is highest among older teens: 31% of those ages 14-17 have a smartphone, compared with just 8% of youth ages 12-13."

What does this mean? It means that the older they get, the higher chance they will get a smartphone, and the number of texts will continue to increase as the smartphones get increasingly popular.

So?

A few things might happen,

Will this happen?
Image from International Business Times

1. The number of car accidents might increase because teens will no longer be looking at the road when crossing.
2. Chiropractors will be celebrating as more and more teens will suffer from neck pain and neck bones dislocations. 
3. More teens might go into depression if their smartphones are lost.
4. Distance between the teens and the parents will either decrease because they share common interest, OR drastically increases because their parents don't use smartphones.
5. The teens will "chat" with their fingers and not with their mouth.
6. Queuing up for yum cha will get easier, just ask the teens to do it and surely they can find entertainments on their phones, BUT
7. The waiting time for a table at a Chinese restaurant for yum cha will be even longer as the customers will cling onto their table playing phone games and texting instead of eating and drinking tea.
8. Your internet bill will take up the largest sum in your monthly household expenditure.

Brits spend nearly an hour using smartphones during nights out
Image from Telegraph

Yeah, I might be a little over-dramatic. Smartphones are not all that evil, such as the benefits I have mentioned before in my article, Academic Research (Literature Review): Smartphones for Teaching and Learning, Angels or Demons? But will any of these happen in the near future? Maybe it is already happening now. If you don't believe me, read the following article as well, Brits spend nearly an hour using smartphones during nights out. I don't know what you think, but I really can't stand sitting with a friend on the same table and they just look at the phone and not at me in the entire dinner.

Like many games, Angry Birds has a free version supported by targeted advertising
Image from BBC

The second news from the BBC is short but very much worth reading, titled Free mobile apps 'drain battery faster', talks about why the phone batteries in my phone and yours get drained out so quickly and so easily, and the article pointed directly to the free apps which downloads advertisements to your phone while you are using the free apps.

I've tested it out, and it is all true!!

If you don't believe me, try to play Angry Birds as usual, during the game, an ad will pop up, like the image below,

Ads appear on the top right corner
Image from Android Related 

This is why your data plan keeps hitting the roof! Try it on some other free apps and you will be surprised how often these ads are downloaded onto your phone. If you don't want that, just cut off the 3G before playing or using these free apps. The app will still work fine, and you won't feel frustrated when you can't shoot that red bird to where you intend to.

See? Reading more does help you save money! Especially when you read the English Playground.

"Like" this entry, "Like" the English Playground, "Like" the Facebook page, and "Like" the updates on the Facebook page.



Vocabulary:
chiropractor -- (n) [C] a person whose job is to treat diseases by pressing a person's joints (=places where two bones are connected), especially those in the back
yum cha -- (n)[U] also known as Ban ming , is a Chinese style morning or afternoon tea, which involves drinking Chinese tea and eating dim sum dishes.
expenditure -- (n) [C or U] the total amount of money that a government or person spends
dramatic -- (adj) very sudden or noticeable, or full of action and excitement
drain -- (vb) [I or T] to reduce or cause something to reduce



Resources:

SMH: Older teens now send around 100 texts each day @ VB
http://venturebeat.com/2012/03/19/teens-send-a-ton-of-texts/

Teens, Smartphones & Texting @ Pew Research Center
http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Teens-and-smartphones.aspx

Academic Research (Literature Review): Smartphones for Teaching and Learning, Angels or Demons? @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2012/02/academic-research-literature-review.html

Brits spend nearly an hour using smartphones during nights out @ The Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/mobile-phones/8806277/Brits-spend-nearly-an-hour-using-smartphones-during-nights-out.html

Free mobile apps 'drain battery faster'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17431109

How to remove ads on Angry Birds? @ Android Related
http://www.androidrelated.info/2011/03/how-to-remove-ads-on-angry-birds.html

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/chiropractor?q=chiropractors+#chiropractor__3
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yum_cha
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/expenditure?q=expenditure
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/dramatic_1?q=dramatic
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/drain_3