Locky's English Playground

Wednesday, 10 August 2011

Song: Passing Afternoon -- Iron & Wine

After re-re-re-watching House M.D. season 4 finale Wilson's Heart tonight, feeling rather sentimental.

The original story told Wilson's girlfriend Amber was involved in a bus crash together with House and had her kidneys damaged.And because she took an excessive amount of Amantadine for her flu right before the crash, the Amantadine was not filtered out by the kidneys and bound with the protein, dialysis could not clear the drug from her system, and so she could only wait for death to arrive.

Image from media.tumblr.com

And the following video is the last few moments of Amber: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=go3xkWPKtC0

In this video, I hear a beautiful song that I want to study deeper, Passing Afternoon by Iron &amp; Wine.

The slow-tempo song is quite difficult to understand, even for me, and I guess you will have to find out what you want the meaning to be by yourself, everyone should have a different interpretation.

What I can predict from the use of words, "passing", "a yard to burn", "drift away", "fallen leaves", "pass all our bodies", "them them go", "she's lost her wedding ring", "my hands remember hers", "she's sit and think of me", "Her baby sleeps in all our bones, so scared to be alone", this is a song which matches the video, it is a song of parting or death. Another interpretation is that this is in fact a song of seasons, based on the use of seasons such as "Summer", "Autumn", "Springtime", 'Winter", "mother", "children" and "baby", with Summer being the mother of Autumn, Autumn being the mother of Winter, Winter being the mother of Spring, and Spring being the mother of Summer.

Lyrics:

There are times that walk from you like some passing afternoon
Summer warmed the open window of her honeymoon
And she chose a yard to burn but the ground remembers her
Wooden spoons, her children stir her Bougainvillea blooms

There are things that drift away like our endless, numbered days
Autumn blew the quilt right off the perfect bed she made
And she's chosen to believe in the hymns her mother sings
Sunday pulls its children from their piles of fallen leaves

There are sailing ships that pass all our bodies in the grass
Springtime calls her children 'till she let's them go at last
And she's chosen where to be, though she's lost her wedding ring
Somewhere near her misplaced jar of Bougainvillea seeds

There are things we can't recall, blind as night that finds us all
Winter tucks her children in, her fragile china dolls
But my hands remember hers, rolling 'round the shaded ferns
Naked arms, her secrets still like songs I'd never learned

There are names across the sea, only now I do believe
Sometimes, with the windows closed, she'll sit and think of me
But she'll mend his tattered clothes and they'll kiss as if they know
Her baby sleeps in all our bones, so scared to be alone

Vocabulary:
sentimental -- (adj) disapproving too strongly influenced by emotional feelings
dialysis -- (n) [U] specialized a process of separating substances from liquid by putting them through a thin piece of skin-like material, especially to make pure the blood of people whose kidneys are not working correctly
Bougainvillea -- (n) [C or U] a climbing plant, common in hot countries, that has red and purple flowers

Bougainvillea
Image from blogspot

bloom (vb) [I] When a flower blooms, it opens or is open, and when a plant or tree blooms it produces flowers
drift (away) -- (vb) [I usually + adverb or preposition]to move slowly, especially as a result of outside forces, with no control over direction
quilt -- (n) [C] a decorative cover for a bed
hymn -- (n) [C] a song of praise that Christians sing to God
misplaced -- (adj) directed towards someone or something wrongly or in a way that does not show good judgment
tuck sb in -- phrasal verb [M] (UK also tuck sb up) to make someone comfortable in their bed, especially a child, by arranging the covers round them
fragile -- (adj) easily damaged, broken or harmed
shaded -- (adj) --from shade -- (vb) [T] to prevent direct light from shining on something
fern -- (n) [C] a green plant with long stems, leaves like feathers and no flowers

Ferns
Image from gregglover

Monday, 8 August 2011

Food and Restaurant: Mutekiya (無敵家)

Mutekiya -- House of Yakitori

"Yaki", a Japanese word meaning grilled or toasted, is a core speciality of the Japanese cuisine. Among different kinds of yakis, Yakitori is one of the most famous. Originally referred to only grilled fowl, or skewered chicken, is now accepted as all kinds of grilled food including meat and vegetables.

Let's first learn some Japanese words from Wikipedia, and then look at the photos I took at a visit to Mutekiya 無敵家 (DO NOT mix with the 麺創房無敵家 @ Ikebukuro 池袋).

hatsu (ハツ) or kokoro (こころ), chicken heart
rebā (レバー), liver
sunagimo (砂肝), or zuri (ずり) chicken gizzard
tsukune (つくね), chicken meatballs
(tori)kawa ((とり)かわ) chicken skin, grilled until crispy
tebasaki (手羽先), chicken wing
bonjiri (ぼんじり), chicken tail
shiro (シロ),　chicken small intestines
nankotsu (なんこつ), chicken cartilage
toriniku, all white meat on skewer
ikada (筏) (lit. raft), Japanese scallion, with two skewers to prevent rotation
gyūtan (牛タン), beef tongue, sliced thinly
atsuage tōfu (厚揚げとうふ), deep-fried tofu
enoki maki (エノキ巻き), enoki mushrooms wrapped in slices of pork
pīman (ピーマン), green pepper
asuparabēkon (アスパラベーコン), asparagus wrapped in bacon
butabara (豚ばら), pork belly
ninniku (にんにく）garlic

Now, see if you can match some of the food in the list with the photos below.

*********************************************************

It was 16th July, 2011. Pre-opening dinner with a group of 10 people. Had so much great food and fun! Totally remarkable experience!

Frankly speaking, I wasn't expecting the food to be really special, because it's just "Yaki", every restaurant can serve "Yaki", so far all the others have been disappointing, how good can this restaurant be?

Then of course, I was proven wrong. The food was simply gorgeous!

The Yakis, were brilliantly prepared! Spare no effort!!! Photos speak louder than words.

Clockwise from Top left : Ginkgo yaki, Chicken-skin Prawns, Chicken kidneys, Ox tongues, Chicken Liver

Clockwise from Top left : Japanese rice cake, Japanese rice pudding, Summer Squash with cheese, Japanese dumplings (imported)

Clockwise from Top left : Chicken Wings split, Japanese sweet potatoes, tomato-avocado salad with unique dressing, bacon with tomatoes

Clockwise from Top left : Minced chicken tendon & pork yaki with raw eggs and shoyu, clear soup tomato ramen with char siu onsen egg, baby whitebait yaki, unique wheat ramen with char siu served separately with rich soup base.

正

Four seasons Sake with lovely bottles

Sake chiller

Lantern-style lamp

Cute bottles which contains something

I must say, this is the best Yaki restaurant I have ever visited, remind me of Tokyo!!! Although the Mutekiya in Ikebukuro is actually a tremendously good ramen shop, the same name in Hong Kong has definitely taken up a special place in my mind!

Once again, proves that when you go to any restaurant, you have got to try what they are best at! For this case, if you come to this restaurant without trying their Yaki, you are SO SO WRONG!!!!!

(Drank quite a bit of sake, so drunk, so much fun!)

Vocabulary:
yaki - (n)[C]
yakitori -- (n) [U] see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakitori
fowl -- (n) [C] a bird of a type that is used to produce meat or eggs

•

old use any bird

skewered -- (vb)[T] to put pieces of food, especially meat, on a skewer

Resources:
Yaki @ Wikipedia
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E7%84%BC%E3%81%8D

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

Mutekiya 無敵家 @ Openrice
http://www.openrice.com/english/restaurant/sr2.htm?shopid=54236

麺創房無敵家
http://www.mutekiya.com/

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/fowl?q=fowl
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/skewer_2?q=skewered+#skewer_2__3

Friday, 5 August 2011

Medical & News: What Causes Cancer? -- Part 2

A joke or the reality? A poster created by an anti-nuclear website

Okay, so our story continues.

Last entry, I left you with a few questions,

Can you prolonged radiation exposure causes cell mutation causes cancer?
Are the construction materials always safe?
Are the construction materials never radioactive enough to harm us?

To answer these questions, first we have to learn something about radioactivity of construction materials.

©Shutterstock, 2010

Radon is released naturally and is not a type of radioactivity
that is released by power plants or industry.

Haquin (?) explains in his article Natural Radioactivity and Radon in Building Materials,

"Most building materials of natural origin contain small amounts of Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORM), mainly radionuclides from the 226Ra and 232Th decay chains and 40K. Building materials of natural origin reflect the geology of their site of origin. The average 226Ra, 232Th and 40K activity concentration in the Earth's crust is 35, 30 and 400 Bq/kg...

Bricks made from coal ashes

...Recycled industrial by-products containing Technologically Enhanced Natural Occurring Radioactive Materials (TENORM) are extensively used in the construction industry. Coal ash, produced as waste in the combustion of coal, is used as an additive to cement, in concrete and in some countries bricks are made from fly ash. Coal slag is used in floor structures as insulating filling material. Phosphogypsum, a by-product in the production of phosphorous fertilizers is used as building material, and red mud, a waste from primary aluminum production, is used in bricks, ceramics and tiles [3, 4]." (p.1)

A certificate in Chinese stating that their ceramics
is within the accepted radioactivity level

Surprised at how commonly we are exposed to possible high dose of radiation? This does not surprise me at all because I knew this long ago, but definitely surprises some of you. Even in Japan, a country of citizens so detailed, have been using sewage slag as construction material (see Highly Radioactive (170,000 Bq/Kg) Sewage Slag Found In TOKYO, Has Already Been Sold As Construction Material!!!)(13th May, 2011).

Radioactive Slag. Russia.
Photo by Blacksmith Institute.

In addition to these construction materials, there are also others... for example, natural stones.

Laboratory of environmental radioactivity of Russia published on its website,

"Natural stone (or based on it) so called prestige decoration materials usage shows fast and constant increase. The materials mentioned can have a significant radiation background and can cause negative consequences for men's health with long-duration internal irradiation"

Nathaniel Brooks for The New York Times

DETECTION Using devices like the Geiger counter and the radiation detection instrument Stanley Liebert measures the radiation and radon emanating from granite like that in Lynn Sugarman’s kitchen counters.

Pay special attention to the last sentence, and you'll know, it is possible that one will be exposed to high radiation which will damage a person's health in the long run. Such concern has also been voiced by Dr. Ed Zimney, MD (2008) in his article Granite and radiation: Are you at risk? and reported by Murphy (2008) on The New York Times article What's Lurking in Your Countertop?

Another source of possible radioactive construction materials is the leaks from nuclear plants.

Smoke volume emits from the Huizhou Refinery operated by the China National Offshore Oil Corp inHuizhou, Guangdong provinceon July 11, 2011. [Photo/CFP]

Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority of Finland -- Säteilyturvakeskus (STUK) published Guide ST 12.2 on the 17th December 2010 named The Radioactivity of Building Materials and Ash states that,

"some industrial by-products also contain radionuclides, caesium (137Cs) in particular, which are spread into the environment due to fallout from nuclear weapons tests and industrial nuclear accidents. If such a by-product is incorporated into building material, the final product will also contain these artificial radionuclides..."(p.3)

Well, you might be thinking, we don't have any nuclear weapons tests or industrial nuclear accidents near Hong Kong, what's there to worry about???? Idiot Locky!!!

Well, you haven't been keeping track with the news: Refinery blaze 'never threatened nuke plant' -- China Daily (11th Jul, 2011)

This happened just outside Dayawan Nuclear Power Station.

Firefighters battle a blaze at the Huizhou Refinery operated by the China National Offshore Oil Corp
in Huizhou, Guangdong province, on Monday. Chen Yubin / for China Daily

These things might just be happening more often than you think.

Also, think about it, where are most cement used in Hong Kong made? In Hong Kong? In Guangdong? What about the steel bars? Which part of China? I hope you have some answers in your mind.

In terms of radioactive construction materials, what did our government say?

On 5th December 2001, a question by Hon Ho Chung-tai was asked and then the Secretary for Planning and Lands, Mr John C Tsang, replied in the Legislative Council on the same day,

LCQ5: Construction materials with radioactive substances

Following is a question by the Hon Ho Chung-tai and a reply by the Secretary for Planning and Lands, Mr John C Tsang, in the Legislative Council today (December 5):

Question:

Will the Government inform this Council whether:

(a) the authorities have carried out inspections on buildings completed in the past three years to check if materials with radioactive substances have been used in constructing the buildings; if so, of the results of such inspections;

(b) it has examined the short-term and long-term effects on health of people living or working in the buildings constructed with materials with radioactive substances; and

(c) legislation is in place to regulate the permitted radiation levels of construction materials; if not, whether it will consider introducing legislative control?

Reply:

Madam President,

(a) We have not found the need to carry out specific inspections on buildings completed in the past three years in Hong Kong to check if radioactive substances have been used in building construction. We have been conducting instead periodic surveys on the concentration of radon which, if allowed to accumulate, may pose health risks. Our findings indicate that radon levels found in our buildings are substantially below the level recommended by the World Health Organization for remedial action to be taken.

(b) We have not conducted specific researches on the health effects of people living or working in buildings constructed with materials containing radioactive substances. As I have indicated in Part (a), our survey findings indicate that radon levels found in buildings in Hong Kong are substantially below the level recommended by the World Health Organization for remedial action to be taken.

(c) There is at present no legislation to regulate radiation levels of construction materials. We have no intention of introducing legislative control at this time because we consider that the health risks arising from radioactive substances in construction materials commonly used in Hong Kong are negligible.

End/Wednesday, December 5, 2001

NNNN

Cement and cement brick. What are they actually made from?
Are they radioactive?

From the above, it is interesting to see that instead of doing real inspections, they did surveys!!!! Surveyed what? The cement answered them? The metals answered them? Or the producers told them?

There is no law to regulate the radiation levels of construction materials and there is no need for one because the radioactivity of such materials are negligible!!! And they know the radioactivity is negligible because they did surverys!!!

What a joke!

What did STUK say about Finland?

"The professional producer of such materials, their refiner and their user are all obligated to inform the next user in the chain of the radioactivity contained by the material...

...the activity concentrations of all stone aggregates used in building element production shall be measured everywhere in Finland."(p.5)

You see the difference between the two governments?

Let's not forget, radioactive substances do not only appear in nuclear plants. They are also used in industries such as industrial radiography (inspecting metal parts and welds defects), irradiators (sterilizing food, milk containers and hospital supplies), well-logging (finding wells), gauging devices (measuring the thickness of metal, textiles, paper, plastic) and many many more. For more information, see NRC: Industrial Uses of Nuclear Materials.

House discovers the source of highly radioactive substance which is killing his patient

So now, am I an idiot? Knowledge is power!

Trust your doctor friend? Or trust yourself and the Geiger Counter? You choose.

Mary DiBiase Blaich for The New York Times

Geiger counters, which detect radiation, come in a wide variety of shapes and prices.

Vocabulary:

negligible -- (adj) too slight or small in amount to be of importance

oblige (to) -- (vb) [T + object + to infinitive] (mainly US or formal obligate) to force someone to do something, or to make it necessary for someone to do something

weld -- (n) a joint made by welding -- weld (vb) [T] to join two pieces of metal together permanently by melting the parts that touch

defect -- (n) [C] a fault, problem or lack (= something that is missing) in something or someone that spoils them or causes them not to work correctly

sterilize

(UK usually sterilise)

(vb)

[T]

to perform a medical operation on someone in order to make them unable to have children

gauge -- (vb)[T] to calculate an amount, especially by using a measuring device

Resources:

Medical & News: What Causes Cancer? -- Part 1 @ Locky's English Playground

http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2011/08/medical-news-what-causes-cancer.html

Natural Radioactivity and Radon in Building Materials -- Gustavo Haquin

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:3HnUs_NqcTUJ:www.irpa12.org.ar/KL/III.4.4/Haquin_fp.pdf+Natural+Radioactivity+and+Radon+in+Building+Materials+--+Gustavo+Haquin&hl=en&gl=hk&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESj5pXD38fJRBY8v4cO14YqfxVlute0Xjy-5NCKLrcdTXjJAjEh8hynMy0jyTzSB_d0MuQxHdV2Ye7sePVhEM2jBDaYNkBRDk0p9jCXkA9tG8sZ0_R63Ur3sU1aB7t_TGNZdK0g7&sig=AHIEtbQuecNfvyN1GgAyd7nWUhVqmkdsSQ&pli=1

Highly Radioactive (170,000 Bq/Kg) Sewage Slag Found In TOKYO, Has Already Been Sold As Construction Material!!! @ Infinite Unknown