Academic Research: Critique : Pre-imperial Chinese : Its hurdles towards becoming a world language, Dan Lu (2008)

Image from Locky's English Playground

My apology to Dan Lu, this is nothing personal, it's just an assignment.

Title: Author: Descriptors:  Publication Date:  Pages:  Last Updated:

Critique : Pre-imperial Chinese : Its hurdles towards becoming a world language, Dan Lu (2008) Law, Locky English, Chinese, Lingua Franca, Global language, world language, international language, Culture, Economics, Power 2012-06-12 13 2012-07-10

Introduction:

Lu (2008) claims that the Chinese language (that is, Mandarin Chinese or Putonghua) faces four main obstacles in becoming a worthy competitor of the English language as a global language, including the difficulty of acquiring and using Chinese, the narrow acceptance of Chinese culture, the lack of Chinese publications globally and the hugeness of the English-learning Chinese population, all based on the assumption that China’s growth will have an negligible effect on her premises.

Opinions:
For those of you who would like to read academic papers written by me. Hope this will be useful for those of you researching in related areas as well.


Resources:
Critique : Pre-imperial Chinese : Its hurdles towards becoming a world language, Dan Lu (2008)
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B9emHQBd5COmVWZDamRGME9teVE

Pre-imperial Chinese : Its hurdles towards becoming a world language, Dan Lu (2008)
http://benjamins.com/series/japc/18-2/art/13lu.pdf

Technology & News: Free Apps To Recommend Part 4

Image from Google Play

Some people will say they like the iPhones because iOS is easy to use and Android is difficult. Well, actually no. On average, you need to press more buttons on the iOS than on Android to perform the same task, like switching on Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth, and the worst, your 3G Data. However, if you insist that the iPhones are better in terms of interface, there is still no reason for you not to use Android, because on Android, you can customise your screen to look exactly like the iPhone. Using iPhone 4S Screen app, you can switch the Android default screen to iOS screen.

Image from Google Play

You might be thinking, why would anyone do such a thing? If they are iPhone die-hard fans/friends, they wouldn't even try Android. True, but this is a good way to show your friends that Android can do whatever iPhone can do by offering much simpler and more! And you can use this to trick your friend by purposely flashing this iOS screen on your Android devices. Sweet!

Image from Google Play

If you are playing with Google Latitude, which is the best location sharing app ever, but you are slightly worried about the increase in the use of data or battery because of the constant update, you can try this app called Backitude. With this app, you can add tens of settings to customize your Google Latitude updates according to your needs.

One of the best features is that your location can be updated without using extra data by stealing location information from other apps that you are using, thus saving on the battery needed to connect and retrieve your location again.

Very smart indeed!

Image from Google Play

If you want something just as smart, you have the Smart Screen Off Lite. Basically what it does is, if you don't want to press the lock/unlock button again and again but you want to screen to switch itself off automatically to save battery, this app will cleverly handle all that for you. Take a look at the video below.

There is a sister app called Smart Screen On as well, if you want to give it go too, but I think the Smart Screen Off app is more useful.

Image from Google Play

Last but not least, most Android phones already come with a Blacklist function, but if your blacklist isn't working too well or you want a bit more functions added, you can try gX Blacklist. 

That's all for my recommendation today! See you tomorrow!

Resources:
iPhone 4S Screen @ Google Play
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Hace.Iphone4SScreen&feature=search_result


[APP][2.2+] Backitude for Google Latitude - General info and discussion @ XDA-developers
http://www.xda-developers.com/android/backitude-for-google-latitude-released/
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1599791


Smart Screen Off–Automatically Disable Display via Proximity Sensor  @ XDA-developers
http://www.xda-developers.com/android/smart-screen-off-automatically-disable-display-via-proximity-sensor/

Smart Screen Off for Android @ YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6t1Vouumek

Smart Screen On Gives Screen Control via Proximity Sensor @ XDA-developers
http://www.xda-developers.com/android/smart-screen-on-gives-screen-control-via-proximity-sensor/

gX Blacklist @ AppBrain
http://www.appbrain.com/app/gx-blacklist/com.gxapplications.android.gxsuite.blacklist

Vocabulary: Grandma's Sister? -- The Family Tree

The Simpsons
Image from Google Blogger

Last week my student Carol asked me how to call her grandma's sister, I was immediately speechless and could only reply, "I don't know". Well, the fact is that, I think my grandmas do not have sisters, or maybe they have, but I never know they have. At that moment, the Simpsons' family tree crossed my mind,

Featured on:The Simpsons Uncensored Family Album
Image from Simpsons Wiki

 Then of course, it doesn't really help, and so, the best way to find out, is no other than Wikipedia. And here's what I've found.

CousinTree kinship
Image from Wikipedia

And so, it is officially called great-uncle or great-aunt to answer Carol's question, but there is more to that, looking at the green boxes and you will find some funny terms like "once removed" and "twice removed", and what are they?

Reading further and quoting from Cousin in Wikipedia,

"When the cousins are not the same generation, they are described as "removed". In this case, the smaller number of generations to the common ancestor is used to determine the degree, and the difference in generations determines the number of times removed. "

In your opinion, does that make things easier? I think not.

A Little Fact

Quoting from Wikipedia, 

Confucius
Image from Xinhuanet

"The longest family tree in the world today is that of the Chinese philosopher and educator Confucius (551–479 BC), and he is the descendant of King Tang (1675–1646 BC). The tree spans more than 80 generations, and includes more than 2 million members. An international effort involving more than 450 branches around the world was started in 1998 to retrace and revise this family tree. A new edition of the Confucius genealogy was printed in September 2009 by the Confucius Genealogy Compilation Committee, to coincide with the 2560th anniversary of the birth of the Chinese thinker. This latest edition is expected to include some 1.3 million living members who are scattered around the world today."

Vocabulary:

great-uncle/aunt

once /twice removed

Resources:

Simpsons Wiki

http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/File:The_Simpsons-Burns-Krupp-Gobel-Bazaar-Powell-Berneten_family_tree.png

Family Tree @ Wikipedia

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

Cousin @ Wikipedia

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

Confucius @ Wikipedia

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

News: Amazing Stuff From Last Week -- Part 2

Gingerbread, Ice Cream Sandwich, Jelly Bean and Honeycomb
Image from Slashgear

Here comes part 2 of the news,

Google is always about fun, including naming their Android versions, and at the biggest Google developers' event of the year -- the Google I/O 2012, they put up the new Android stuffed with jelly beans in their Googleplex, and so yes, they named their Android 4.1 as Jelly Bean.

(front to back) Jelly Bean, Éclair, (left to right) Cupcake, Froyo, Gingerbread
Image from Slashgear

Developers are all excited about this update, and so are the mobile manufacturers as we will be seeing newer and better Android phones pretty soon!

Image from CNet

Zynga should be a name quite familiar to the Hong Kong gamers, what might be less familar is the virtual sex, yes, virtual sex, that is allowed in their new game The Ville! Mummies and daddies won't be too happy with this, but that is much safer than actual sex, if you think of it this way, there are viruses, but just computer ones.

Image from BBC News

The last of the kind, Lonesome George the giant Galapagos tortoise, died on the 24th June 2012, and that of course, means another great specie has extinct. Scientists says this specie can live up to 200 years, and Lonesome George is only half of that age. Who said loneliness cannot kill? But why has it become the last of his kind? Humans.

So long, farewell to Charles Darwin's inspiration of his theories on evolution.

Image from The Raw Story

Noam Chomsky is a name everyone must know and should know in the English language studies and the linguistics department. What some might not know about him, is that he is also aware of how to play Lemmings, a 1991 video game.

Image from Wikipedia

In The Julian Assange Show, He said that "even a seemingly less complex issue like climate change makes him believe that humanity is, increasingly, “like lemmings going over the cliff.”" In the game, if you don't take care of the lemmings, they will mindlessly fall off the cliff one after another until they all die out.

Here's a real videos of real lemmings jumping off the cliff, blindly getting killed.

Is humanity really going this way? You may want to read more from The Raw Story.

Image from Getty Images

Lastly, David Beckham was disappointed for not being selected in the Olympic soccer team despite having done so much for the country. He was heartbroken as he publicly told the media, and so were his fans. Olympic team manager Stuart Pearce simply claimed that his decision on not selecting Beckham was because he's a football man, and he picks solely on football ability. That means, Beckham is no longer having the football ability needed to compete in the game. 


How will the Beckham fans + sponsors think? 


Knowing that he made a huge huge HUGE mistake, Pearce made some sort of save-his-own-ass act by announcing that Beckham may be offered a place on the "standby-list". What that means is if and only if, Giggs, Bellamy or Richards is injured, then Beckham will be able to join the 18-man squad. Thank you so much!


I think Pearce should learn something from this whole incidence, and that is, even if you have picked your best, your team is most likely not going to win the champion anyway, so after Beckham has done so much promotion for his country, he damn right deserves a place in the main squad! Not on the standby-list! The Olympic games is not about winning, it is about passion for the sports and sportsmanship! David Beckham deserves this more than anyone else on the list!





Vocabulary:
Éclair -- (n)(French) an oblong pastry made with choux dough filled with a cream and topped with icing.
virtual sex -- (n)[U] a sexual act where two or more people gather together via some form of communications equipment to arouse each other by transmitting sexually explicit messages.
lemmings -- (n) are small rodents, usually found in or near the Arctic
humanity -- (n) [U] people in general



Resources:
News: Amazing Stuff From Last Week -- Part 1 @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/07/news-amazing-stuff-from-last-week-part-1.html

Android Jelly Bean statue appears at Googleplex [UPDATE] @ SlashGear
http://www.slashgear.com/android-jelly-bean-statue-appears-at-googleplex-26235738/

New Zynga game The Ville allows virtual sex @ CNet
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57460546-93/new-zynga-game-the-ville-allows-virtual-sex/

Giant tortoise Lonesome George to be embalmed @ BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-18604682

Noam Chomsky tells Julian Assange: Humanity ‘like lemmings going over the cliff’ @ The Raw Story
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/06/26/noam-chomsky-tells-julian-assange-humanity-like-lemmings-going-over-the-cliff/

Noam Chomsky @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noam_Chomsky

The Julian Assange Show: Noam Chomsky & Tariq Ali (E10) @ YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iJjtEMamjc

The Disturbing Truth About Lemmings @ Zactopia
http://zactopia.wordpress.com/2010/01/21/the-disturbing-truth-about-lemmings/

David Beckham may be offered place on standby list after Stuart Pearce snubs him for Olympics @ The Independent
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/david-beckham-may-be-offered-place-on-standby-list-after-stuart-pearce-snubs-him-for-olympics-7904422.html

Éclair @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89clair_(pastry)

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/humanity_2

News: Amazing Stuff From Last Week -- Part 1

Sorry once again for missing out last Friday's entry, that was due to the final final quiz I have for my Master's degree, now I'm finally done with it, so I can be back more regularly, or ever so often. In this entry, I have something really really amazing to show you!

In my last entry, Technology: Turning your Galaxy S2 to Galaxy S2.5!!!,  I have recommended Flipboard, and Flipboard is such an amazing app that it redefines all that two-finger pinching gesture we all use to magnify the content on our smartphones. The pinching gesture are incredible, but too much can be a pain, and Flipboard allows us to read many webpages in an ebook "standard layout", saving us much of the troubles.

And because reading through Flipboard is so interesting, it allows readers to read more (skipping those you don't like and focusing on those you do like)!

This is one truly revolutionary piece of news by TechCrunch for computer hardware lovers -- Fanless Heatsink!!!

I assemble my own PC and therefore, maintain it by myself. Every time I remove the computer case I will have a hell of a time removing the fan and the heat sink to then vacuum the parts. With this fanless and dustless heatsink, I will be free from all that labour work! I wonder when I will be able to get my hands on it!

The next one is some sort of amazing words from an amazing person! GeekWire interviewed Gates to talk about the use of tablets (of course, mainly referring to the iPads) in the classroom, and Gates had no reservation saying that tablets in the classroom won’t work without keyboard! That was like an "Oops, Steve, sorry, your fantasy doesn't work in the classroom!"

The last one is just as amazing, but in an artistic way! Japanese artist Nagai Hideyuki shows us his touch of genius!

It is not something we can practise our English with, but how can our English Playground misses it? Here's more!

Image from Colossal

Image from Colossal

Image from Colossal

Image from Colossal

Image from Colossal

Image from Colossal

Image from Colossal

Actually, this is nothing really new, it is a kind of art known as Optical Illusion Art, but we will never get enough of it, right? So here's more!

Image from Sevenstring

Image from fugly

Image from Cool Fun Pics

Image from CrystalXP

More to come in the entry tomorrow!!


Vocabulary:
assemble -- (vb) [T] to make something by joining separate parts
Optical Illusion Art -- (n) please read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_illusion

Resources:
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

Sandia Cooler @ YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWQZNXEKkaU&feature=youtube_gdata_player

This Fanless Heatsink Is The Next Generation In CPU Cooling @ TechCrunch
http://techcrunch.com/2012/06/26/this-fanless-heatsink-is-the-next-generation-in-cpu-cooling/

Gates: Tablets in the classroom won’t work without keyboard @ GeekWire
http://www.geekwire.com/2012/gates-tablets-classroom-work-keyboard/

3D Illusion Sketchbook Drawings by Nagai Hideyuki @ Colossal
http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2012/06/3d-illusion-sketchbook-drawings-by-nagai-hideyuki/

見ると触ってみたくなる立体的トリックアート @ YouTube
http://youtu.be/CsB6mzZLNUU

Optical Illusion @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_illusion

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/assemble_2

Technology: Turning your Galaxy S2 to Galaxy S2.5!!!

Image from Samsung
Modified by Locky's English Playground

I want a Galaxy S3, but my finance doesn't agree (since I'm planning to use the money to buy a camera flash), so I want to at least have some functions of the Galaxy S3. I started sourcing for apps and tutorials, and yes I found them, but they are distributed everywhere on XDA-developers forums, so I decide to compile them and write a tutorial of my own. You can find my article on the XDA-developers forum by pressing this link, but I would recommend you read this one, because this one looks prettier.


This is a quick tutorial to help S2 users (or other Android phone owners) to achieve a level of functionality close to that of S3, including Touchwiz, Flipboard, Smart Stay, Popup Play, Best Photo, Smart Alert, Direct Call and hopefully more to update in the future. Credits go to all the developers mentioned.




Ripple Live Wallpaper

Image from Samsung

Still waiting for the S3 lockscreen to be ported onto S2, but we can still get a little fun out of the live wallpaper. There are so many versions out there, but I am so far most impressed with this Galaxy S3 Water Dandelion LWP.

APK is one provided by XDA member pratikverma28 and it comes with editable waves.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1750988

I don't like the quality of the stock wallpaper, so I advise you use your own ones.

By far the best setting I have is as follow:

Quality: High
Refraction quality: Middle
Cycles: 3
Wave weight: 400
Spreading speed: Medium
Fade range: 100
Refractive: 20
Random creation: None


TouchWizUX

Image from Locky's English Playground

Image from Locky's English Playground

Thanks to XDA Senior Member Smando who keeps working on better versions. The latest beta version provide landscape view. However, you need your phone to be rooted in order to install this launcher.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1666384

Flipboard

Image from Google Play

Image from Google Play

Want to turn any web pages, Facebook and Twitter into a magazine? Then you must download Flipboard!!
Simply download it from Google Play!
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=flipboard.app

Smart Stay

Image from Samsung

XDA Senior member elnoxvie Beta Smart Stay App has made Smart stay possible! Simply download the file and install it to your phone! 
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1708012
(Interestingly, I just realised that the phone on the right is not S3!!!)


Popup Play

Image from Samsung

Actually, this is way better than the Samsung one! You should watch the video on Google Play. Simply download Super Video, Floating & Popup from Google Play
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...net.PopupVideo

Best Photo

Image from Samsung

Well, not exactly Best Photo, but at least, we can achieve fast burst shots of up to 50 photos per second on my Galaxy S2!!!! (Mind you, the resolution is not exactly very high, but good enough to capture fast moving people!)


XDA Senior member androidindian's production Fast Burst Camera
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1709506

__________________________________________

The following requires rooted phones to proceed.


S Voice

Image from Samsung

Thanks to XDA-developers junior member Xavaris' information, you can now download the CWM Flashable for Galaxy S2 zip here:
http://wanamlite.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=28

__________________________________________

The following functions require Tasker to imitate.


You can download the beta version of Tasker here:
http://tasker.dinglisch.net/beta.html

Smart Alert

Image from Samsung

Choose the type of alert profiles that fits your needs from the link below:
http://tasker.wikidot.com/misnotrem

Direct Call

Image from Samsung

If you want to implement Direct Call on SMS, Naver LINE andWhatsapp, you'll need Tasker.




For my Tasker Profiles, please download from below:

Image from LINE

Call-LINE (Shake Phone Left-Right Gesture)

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/48481471/Tas...l-LINE.prf.xml

Image from Whatsapp

Call-Whatsapp (Pick Up Phone Gesture)
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/48481471/Tas...tsapp1.prf.xml


For the tutorial to set up Direct Call with Whatsapp, please see Chef_Tony's:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1715549


For people who would like to try setting everything by themselves:


Task Edit for Whatsapp, use this,

For Task Edit for Naver LINE, use this I have created, 

(Points to note is that your gesture has to be performed slowly during actual use, and the speed of automation is really slow. If you are tired of the slow reaction and the retrying, I highly recommend you not set the Sensor as Gesture, choose Shake instead.)




More updates on this thread if the development continues.


And I can really officially call myself a developer now after developing those Tasker profiles, although they are actually very simple.

Want More???

Resources:
Photography & Science: Flash and Which Flash? @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/06/photography-science-flash-and-which.html

[TUTORIAL][S3 Imitation] Turning your GS2 to GS2.5 @ XDA-developers
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=27828899#post27828899

S3 Dandelion LWP with Settings @ XDA-developers
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1750988

TouchWizUX @ XDA-developers
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1666384

Flipboard @ Google Play!
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=flipboard.app

Smart Stay Imitation / Beta Smart Stay App
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1708012

Popup Play Imitation /  Super Video, Floating & Popup @ Google Play
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...net.PopupVideo


Burst Shots Imitation / Fast Burst Camera
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1709506

S Voice:
http://wanamlite.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=28

Tasker Beta
http://tasker.dinglisch.net/beta.html

Smart Alert Imitation
http://tasker.wikidot.com/misnotrem


Tasker
http://tasker.dinglisch.net/beta.html


My Tasker Profiles:
Call-LINE (Shake Phone Left-Right Gesture)
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/48481471/Tas...l-LINE.prf.xml

Call-Whatsapp (Pick Up Phone Gesture)
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/48481471/Tas...tsapp1.prf.xml


Tutorial to set up Direct Call with Whatsapp @ XDA-developers
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1715549

How to use Tasker on Android @ YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBeEEuT-Lrw

Super Video, Floating! 超級影音, 漂浮! @ YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cenFDf72aI