Technology: Best of CES 2013

 Watched a few amazing videos on technology last week on CES 2013, especially the following one,

I am definitely shocked by, not the iPhone, but the tissue. Awesome tissue! Where can I get one?

Just kidding, but this is crazy technology! Whichever mobile company that gets to work with Liquipel, can tell the world that their next phone is water-resistant, if not water-proof. Immediately I'm thinking, can I get my Canon 7D and lens for a Liquipel bath too?

The next one shows the toughness of the much improved version Gorilla Glass 3,

With that on your phone, you are very unlikely to get a crack. Awesome stuff compared to the not-so-hot Gorillas Glass 2 which didn't receive very good comments.

Coming in 3rd is the world's first full-frame sensor digital compact camera, the SONY RX1! Now I am not at all a SONY fanboy, but with a full-frame compact camera, I can get great quality pictures at much less weight that a pro-cam. This has got to be a brilliant travelling camera!

EXTRA:

I was searching for information about NFC on my Samsung Galaxy Note 2 as I want to understand the technology better, and I found this! Check it out!

I love amazing tech!

Resource:

CES 2013: How Liquipel Will Make Your Phone Waterproof @ YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiSTxKkqHTY

Gorilla Glass 3 Test - CES 2013 @ YouTube
http://youtu.be/7M1FSbGo9fU

NFC Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Near Field Communication demonstration @ YouTube

http://youtu.be/elJp2aKUemM

EXCLUSIVE! Sony's New Compact Digital Full Frame Camera the RX1! @ YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PahYRjX7kLA

Best of Innovations @ 2014 International CES
http://www.cesweb.org/Awards/CES-Innovations-Awards/2013.aspx

Food: The Search For Great Hong Kong-style French Toast -- Part 3

How many English words are there on this menu?
Image from Locky's English Playground

In between Food: The Search For Great Hong Kong-style French Toast -- Part 1 and Part 2, I have visited Man Wah Restaurant a couple more times. I just couldn't resist the thick yet soft texture. Lan Fong Yuen couldn't beat Man Wah, but that doesn't mean other smaller restaurants cannot. I happened to find myself in North Point one day and immediately I used the Openrice app and located the best of French Toast of North Point -- a pretty old-style Hong Kong Cha Chaan Teng named Lok Tak Restaurant.

I thought, why not give old-school cafe a chance?

In I went to the shabby-looking cafe and there were just about as many customers in it as the number of English words on the menu. I almost wanted to leave. Then my stomach rumbled to remind me I did need some battery and so I went by the most basic way or ordering food -- point my finger at the photos!! The moment I pointed at the French toast photo I almost immediately felt regret rushing up my digestive tract. That photo was yellow, damped, greasy and worst of all, the toast in that photo looked as though it was my first ever French toast making failure!

Image from Locky's English Playground

Before long the milk tea came. From my previous experience I learnt that if I am going to have Hong Kong-style French toast I should not add any more sugar in the tea, otherwise it might be "Hello diabetes!"

I would say there was nothing special about the tea, though it was kind of my cup for its generous milk content. 

Image from Locky's English Playground

Then the toast arrived, looking pretty good, but as I put my fork and knife into it, the bread sank quick, and in a very short time, it turned into a pancake.

Flat as a pancake
Image from Locky's English Playground

Don't get me wrong! It did taste better than McDonald's pancakes. It has the right amount of peanut butter in it and the colour was tempting too, but I just think the use of traditional bread loaf slices just cannot provide that bounce I was hoping for.

At $21 for a set with French toast and milk tea, the price is at the lower end. It has got that golden syrup that I wanted, it has a nice and adequate layer of peanut butter in between, most traditional Hong Kong by far, but that thickness was no match with Man Wah's version.

I think, it might be time for a visit to Kam Wah Cafe in Mongkok.

Scores:

Look:            ★★★☆☆ 3/5

Taste:            ★★★☆☆ 3/5

Smell:            ★★★☆☆ 3/5

Textures:       ★★☆☆☆ 2/5

Temperature: ★★★★★ 5/5

Overall:         ★★★☆☆ 16/25

Vocabulary:
Cha Chaan Teng 
old-school -- (adj) old-fashioned
shabby -- (adj) looking old and in bad condition because of being used for a long time or not being cared for
rumble -- (vb) [I] to make a continuous low sound 
digestive tract -- (n) the stomach and intestine, sometimes including all the structures from the mouth to the anus.(The "digestive system" is a broader term that includes other structures, including the accessory organs of digestion).
as though -- as if 
before (very/too) long  -- (also before much longer) soon
diabetes -- (n)[U] a disease in which the body cannot control the level of sugar in the blood

Resources:
Food: The Search For Great Hong Kong-style French Toast -- Part 1 @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/12/food-search-for-great-french-toast-part.html

Food: The Search For Great Hong Kong-style French Toast -- Part 2 @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2013/01/food-search-for-great-hong-kong-style.html

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/old-school?q=old-school
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/shabby_1?q=shabby+
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/rumble_1?q=rumble+
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_gastrointestinal_tract
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/though_1?q=as+though#though_1__3
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/before-very-too-long?q=before+long#before-very-too-long__1
http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/before+long
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/diabetes?q=diabetes+

Food: The Search For Great Hong Kong-style French Toast -- Part 2

Lan Fong Yuen @ Tsim Sha Tsui
Image from Locky's English Playground

My quest in search for great Hong Kong-style French toasts continues as I found myself, my then-fiancee and 2 other students in one of the most renowned local cafeterias in Hong Kong, the Lan Fong Yuen's Tsim Sha Tsui underground branch.

Lan Fong Yuen made its name in the Central branch, offering a variety of Hong Kong-style food ranges from   milk tea, instant noodles and of course, the Hong Kong-style French toast. The branch in Central receives the most praises, but others seem up-to-par looking at the ratio of smileys and cries.

Image from Openrice

Now, I do really like the milk tea, smooth for sure, with an eventual rough texture in the mouth as the tea moved down the throat. I'm not too sure, maybe this is what people called 'layers", my students who suggested this place loves it. I personally prefer some consistency in the texture. But I must say my taste butts had targetted the toast long before the milk tea arrived, so I might be more / less fair to the milk tea.

Hong Kong-style French Toast with kaya @ Lan Fong Yuen
Image from Locky's English Playground

My first impression of the French toast was, Kaya? Isn't that a South-East Asian thing? Since when has this become a Hong Kong-style ingredient? Then when I looked at the rest of the menu and saw Macau's pork chop buns, I reckon sticking to the Hong Kong tradition isn't the motto of this cafe, so I shouldn't be asking too much.

What I like about the toast is that I finally get to have some golden syrup on it. It's something I consider a must-have in order to make it look attractive. I also like that there was no Kaya in it because I don't really like Kaya.

Kaya Ham on toast
Image from asiaathome

What I didn't like was that the Kaya was not apparent to my eyes on the dish but only on the bill. They should really just offer a cheaper non-Kaya version for me to order. The toast was made from two very thin slides of bread without the crust. The moment it gets cool, the toast started sinking in the middle and become one piece of flattened ... thing. As the thing started soaking up the buttery syrup, it gets soggy. Tastewise, okay, lookwise, nah!!!!

Compared to the Man Wah Restaurant's French toast, Lan Fong Yuen's French toast won by the use of golden syrup, lost by the overall appearance and texture. You can't even see those photos after being cut up because I didn't even bother to do so. That's how good it was.

Then again, you can say, French toast isn't the signature dish at Lan Fong Yuen. For that, my reply is... "oh well...."

Scores:

Look:            ★★★☆☆ 3/5

Taste:            ★★★☆☆ 3/5

Smell:            ★★★★☆ 4/5

Textures:       ★★☆☆☆ 2/5

Temperature: ★★★★★ 5/5

Overall:         ★★★☆☆ 17/25

Vocabulary:
quest -- (n)[C] literary a long search for something that is difficult to find, or an attempt to achieve something difficult
be up-to-par -- to be of the usual or expected standard
Kaya -- is a food spread, a fruit curd in the general sense, consumed mainly in Southeast Asia and made from a base of coconut and sugar.
tastewise -- (adv) in terms of the taste
lookwise -- (adv) in terms of the look


Resources:
Food: The Search For Great Hong Kong-style French Toast -- Part 1 @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2012/12/food-search-for-great-french-toast-part.html


Lan Fong Yuen @ Openrice
http://www.openrice.com/english/restaurant/sr2.htm?shopid=36670&tc=bc

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/quest?q=quest
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/be-up-to-par?q=up+to+par#be-up-to-par__1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaya_(jam)#Malaysia_and_Singapore

Animals: Doing My Part For The Sharks

A Great White, listed Vulnerable (IUCN 3.1)[, being Finned
Image from National Geographic

Is face that important for the Chinese? Not for me.

I will never want to win some face killing the fish I love.

The shark fins at market in Hong Kong
Image from New York Times

If you love an animal, like dogs, you don't eat dogs and you won't let your invited guests eat dogs in front of you at your wedding banquet. So, I never let that happen at my wedding banquet. I had to undergo a fierce fight with my own mum to get this done, and yes, the road to my shark-fin free wedding was much tougher than I expected.

Chinese NBA Basketball player Yau Ming says no to shark fin soup
Image from WildAid

My mum's point was, no other than, not wanting to lose face in front of the guests, thus not wanting to hear her guests moaning about paying hundreds of dollar of gift money and not getting quality food in return. My point is, she could choose to earn face in front of her guests, while I remembered that night as my most regrettable wedding banquet. I actually had backup plans -- I could either give a "why this is my most regrettable wedding banquet" speech, or give a lecture on "why you and I are all killers tonight" while flashing bloody photos and videos on the screen.

What's more, I have already included a few posters in my childhood video promoting no to shark fins, including the one below.

A poster of Yau Ming for WildAid
Image from WildAid

I was "willing to go thermonuclear war" with my mum! Why not?

"It's my party and I cry if I want to! ...You would cry too if it's happened to you" -- Lesley Gore

One of my uncles tried to spend a night over Whatsapp in persuading me to accept a shark-fin menu, quoting God and the Bible at some point. I don't believe in God, I'm a free-thinker, but I believe that his God is kind, loving and self-sacrificed himself for some unworthy human beings who eventually killed him, so I used his God as an example to say I am willing to sacrifice my so-called face from the guests and peace with my mum for a 100 sharks which would probably bite me if I swam cageless in the open waters. He told me that filial piety is top on the list of Chinese moral values, I answered that not going against one's conscience is a kind of filial piety too. He asked me to do it for the future of my relationship with my parents, I told him I am doing this for the future of his children.

There is NEVER any compromise with issues like this one!!

I am an educator, I teach my students to love the oceans and the marine life. If I can't even have control on the food menu my own wedding day, how am I going to face my students? What's the use for me to promote shark conservation if I myself participate in their killing? If I gave the guests so-called face to kill 100 sharks on my wedding banquet, who is to give ME any face?

Why is it that even her own child knows what's right yet she doesn't? Even my little brother knew the importance of shark protection when he was alive!

It is time that children should educate their parents for a change. And for the future of our children, I should do even more.

The starting point is this: if you want them to learn and remember something, you need something cute.

Heidi Schwoerer's Sharkie
Image from 2 Cute Ink

Inspired by Heidi Schwoerer, I decided to create a cute cartoon shark character of my own. Her original cartoon shark has that cuteness, but I needed a cartoon shark which actually looks like a shark whether than a killer whale, so I needed to add more details while maintaining that cuteness and plush; I wanted it to mean greatly to me and to all kids, as the Great White Shark has always been portrayed as the fiercest and the most mindless of all sharks, so it would be a good chance to turn this mindset around; lastly, in order to represent the source of my determination to protect sharks, I added my little brother Karon's cartoon face into it.

And this is the end product -- meet bb Sharky!!

bb Sharky
Image from Locky's English Playground

I thought bb Sharky fit perfectly into this card which is designed by Fuse Creative Singapore;

Image from WWF Singapore

Image from WWF

however, the information isn't updated and the wordings isn't strong enough. Also, since my target audience are the guests from mainland, English wouldn't do any good, so I gave it a huge revamp. With the help of my wife, we made a Chinese version. Both bb Sharky and the Chinese menu-mark are available for downloading in the Banquet Corner provided below.

Another Locky's English Playground production
Image from Celia Wan

The wedding banquet was a success, and thanks to my aunt Josephine's idea of using fish maw as replacement of shark fins, not only 100 sharks were saved, but there were only millions of praises and not a single complaint about the lack of shark fin soup.

Don't people know that sharks are beautiful creatures with high intelligence level and each possesses different personalities?

Why can't human and sharks live peacefully together?

Money -- stinking money.

Disgusted: Conservationist Sharon Kwok, director of NGO's Aquameridian & Mission Blue, stands on a roof covered in fins holding a photo of a mutilated shark 

Photo by Alex Hofford, Caption from Dailymail

Just as my friends, families and I were enjoying my success in organising a great wedding, I came across a news that erupted while I was busying with my wedding preparation.

Delicacy: The fins are made into an expensive broth, which is served by wealthy households at dinner parties across Asia 

Photo by Alex Hofford, Caption from Dailymail

A Dailymail report posted a series of horrific photos of around 18,000 shark fins being sun-dried on a rooftop of an industrial building. According to the report, each fin can fetch up to £380 (US$600) a pound, with a single bowl of the prized soup fetching up to £108. It is a bad Chinese tradition that leads to massacre of species.

Photo by Alex Hofford

The photographer of these photos, Alex Hofford, also wrote on the Asia City Hong Kong website his recount of the day he took these images, talking about how useless and loose the law for shark protection is in Hong Kong, if the law is even existed.

What surprised me is how slow the city's Pro-China government is in duplicating what the mainland Chinese government is already doing -- prohibiting official banquets from serving shark fin soup. Even till now, even the Environmental Protection Department, has declined to say 'No' to shark fin soup in government banquets. 

If this isn't due to a strong force from the shark fin industry, I don't know what can have more power than the Beijing government.

For now, what we can do is to keep educating our friends, families and our future generations about shark conservation. If we want to survive, we must vastly improve the current oceanic conditions. Do download bb Sharky and let him swim in through the internet to bring the message of shark conservation to the whole world!

Banquet Corner:
If you want to use this Chinese version in the banquet, please feel free to download the followings:

bb Sharky

Right click on the image and select "Save as..."

"Thank You For Taking Shark Fin Off The Menu" Menu-mark (English / Chinese)

English version
Image from Locky's English Playground

Chinese version
Image from Locky's English Playground

Vocabulary:
willing to go thermonuclear war -- from Steve Jobs' biography, describing his determination to fight against Android
filial piety -- (n) [U] is considered among the greatest of virtues and must be shown towards both the living and the dead (including even remote ancestors). The term "filial" (meaning "of a child") characterizes the respect that a child, originally a son, should show to his parents.
conscience -- (n)[C or U] the part of you that judges how moral your own actions are and makes you feel guilty about bad things that you have done or things you feel responsible for
plush -- (adj) informal luxurious; expensive, comfortable and of high quality
revamp -- (n)[C usually singular]  change or arrange something again, in order to improve it
horrific -- (adj) very bad and shocking
fetch -- (vb) [T] to go to another place to get something or someone and bring them back
massacre -- (n) [C] an act of killing a lot of people or an animal


Resources:
Lesley Gore - It's My Party (1965) @ YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsYJyVEUaC4

Steve Jobs Was Ready For “Thermonuclear War” With Google @ Gizmodo
http://gizmodo.com/5851937/steve-jobs-was-ready-for-thermonuclear-war-with-google

Filial piety @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucianism#Filial_piety

Say No to Shark Fin @ WWF Singapore
http://www.wwf.sg/take_action/say_our_sharks/

Thank You For Taking Shark Fins Off The Menu Card
http://awsassets.panda.org/downloads/no_shark_fin_card.pdf

http://leosigh.com/yao-ming-asks-chinese-to-stop-eating-shark-fin-soup-video/

WildAid PSA - Yao Ming: Shark Fin Soup @ YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=mJG7RaLX-DM

China Says No More Shark Fin Soup at State Banquets @ NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/04/world/asia/china-says-no-more-shark-fin-soup-at-state-banquets.html?_r=0

We Love Sharks - Holly Beck Dives with a Whale Shark and Great White Sharks @ YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I49gqZn95wM

Protecting the fragile manta rays of the Maldives @ BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/fast_track/9700541.stm

Can there be shark protection alongside shark tourism? @ BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/fast_track/8552260.stm

Say No to Shark Fin @ WWF Singapore
http://www.wwf.sg/take_action/say_our_sharks/

Shouldn't those fins be attached to a shark? Horrific images show more than TEN THOUSAND fins being dried for food in Hong Kong @ DailyMail
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2256086/Shouldnt-fins-attached-shark-Horrific-images-TEN-THOUSAND-fins-dried-food-Hong-Kong.html#ixzz2GwlCZSRo

http://news.ifeng.com/mainland/special/2012lianghui/detail_2012_03/03/12936443_0.shtml

http://gy.big5.enorth.com.cn/system/2012/12/10/010379853.shtml

Shark Fin Soup – How it impacts your health and the health of the environment @ SharkStewards
http://sharkstewards.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Oceans-SharksChineseFactsheet-072910.pdf

A Message About the Rooftop Shark Fin Scandal @ HK-Asia City
http://hk.asia-city.com/city-living/news/shark-fin-letter

http://www.epochtimes.com/b5/1/1/13/n33814.htm

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/conscience?q=conscience+
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/plush_1?q=plush
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/revamp?q=revamping#revamp__3
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/horrific?q=horrific+
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/fetch_1?q=fetch+
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/massacre_1?q=massacre+

attività turistiche in zone turistiche

Message: Merging 2 PCs Into 1 and Glass Recycling (Pre-2013 Task)

The good PC (left), the bad PC (centre) and the being merged (right)
Image from Locky's English Playground

One of the many many tasks I had to accomplish before 2013 was to merge two PCs into one. I had to do that because the cheap RAM I bought from Taobao was later found not so compatible with my PC and it freezes often so often that I couldn't bear with it any more. It happens that another high performance well-functioning but inexpandable mini-case PC was available, so the best solution is, get a bigger case and combine the two PCs together.

Inside the good PC, P5QL SE
Image from Locky's English Playground

I know my bad PC super well as I have upgraded and fixed it tens of times, but the good PC one was new to me. One thing that I realised was that my own PC's motherboard was using a 8.9 inch X 9.6 inch XFX's nForce 630i GeForce 7100 micro ATX motherboard whereas the good PC was the Standard ATX motherboard (ASUS P5QL SE) with a dimension of 12 inch X 7.6 inch, and because I have decided to keep the good PC's motherboard and discard the bad PC's one, the new case that I had to buy must fit the Standard ATX Form Factor (which shouldn't be too difficult) and take future upgrades into the account.

After getting the case, stripping down the motherboards was the main deal.

Can you see the word "Chassis"?
Image from Locky's English Playground

I was careful enough to have taken a few photos of the internal wirings before removing them. There I learnt a word, CHASSIS, which actually means the computer case (as seen in the photo above) and it supplies the power to the computer case. Directly above the word chassis is actually the speaker's power, then  Besides that is the F_PANEL, the front panel, which supplies power to parts such as the LEDs and lights of the case.

The motherboard layout
Image from ASUS

It does come with very small pins and I had to be very careful when inserting them into the slot. A wrong pin in the wrong slot might end up breaking the fragile parts.

USB connection to the motherboard, 9 pins but the connector looks as if there are 10.
Image from Locky's English Playground

The 9-pin USB connectors are supposed to be easy provided you have a good eye.

Inside the new case
(Clockwise)  2 DVD drives (1 o'clock position), card reader (3 o'clock position), 3 hard disks(5 o'clock position),
power supply unit (7 o'clock position), display card (9 o'clock position), CPU fan (10 o'clock position)
Image from Locky's English Playground

After removing all the parts, the next challenge was to assemble the parts from 2 PCs back into one in a new case. This part of the operation was pretty smooth and straight forward and it was all so fun to do.

Image from Locky's English Playground

And this is how the end product looks like. 

Brand New Computer (left), bad PC (centre), good PC (right)
Image from Locky's English Playground

And what is left behind un-added is an old display card and a not-so-good GTR PSU. The PSU is kept for future testing, but the display card, together with extra mouse and wires, are NOT going to the bin to pollute the environment.

Forsa and GTR
Image from Locky's English Playground

Some of you might have noticed that there are several ways to recycle your computer parts and other stuff in Hong Kong.

The easiest way is go to Mobile WEEE  to check out which collection centre is nearest to you, then you just have to bring along all the recyclable goods such as used computers, electrical appliances, fluorescent lamps and rechargeable batteries to the collection centre.

Upcoming schedules
Image from wastereduction.gov.hk

Because I have missed the chance on that date, so my next choice is to find the non-mobile collection points, and this is the one I found in Wan Chai.

One of the 4 computer products collection point in Wan Chai
Image from wastereduction.gov.hk

Of course, the extra computer parts are taken to the collection point for recycling, which will either be reassembled with other donated parts into good PCs and given freely to the children in need, or properly dealt with in order not to prevent dangerous metals such as mercury from polluting the environment.

Image from wastereduction.gov.hk

From the same website, I also found the collection point for glass bottles. I have always wanted to recycle glass bottles but in the past, I could only painfully see them end up in the trash can, this time, it is different.

Hong Kong is well-known at the international level for its lack of effort in glass recycling. You see recycling bins everywhere for paper, metal and plastic, but not for glass and milk carton. People in Hong Kong who want to recycle glass, must at least do some homework and Google their answers.

Glass Collection Point in hotels
Image from EPD

There are a number of collection points in hotels, but whether they accept foreign donation of glass bottles, I am not sure.

Image from EPD

Luckily, I did manage to find one collection point in Wan Chai, right at the Refuse Collection Point at Southern Playground in Wan Chai, and so I took all the glass bottles there for recycling.

Glass bottles after parties
Image from Locky's English Playground

It was a little heavy, but knowing that I am doing the world a lot of good, my heart felt warm and I will continue with the glass recycling.

A basket and a stand indicating the spot of the collection point
Image from Locky's English Playground

What surprised me was how the collection "spot" literally is a spot. Readers of this post, I hope you can share this page to all your friends so that they can support this glass recycling program, otherwise, the government wouldn't care much about this topic, and we won't know where to recycle our glass waste.

Let's protect our environment starting from 2013!!!

If you wan to find out more about glass recycling, do read Hong Kong's Glass Recycling System.

Vocabulary:
chassis -- (n) computer case

Resources:
Technology: How To Speed Up Your PC @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/10/technology-how-to-speed-up-your-pc.html

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

ASUS P5QL SE @ ASUS
http://www.asus.com.au/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_775/P5QL_SE/#download

XFX nForce 630i / GeForce 7100 @ CNET
http://reviews.cnet.com/motherboards/xfx-nforce-630i-geforce/4505-3049_7-32810416.html

Mobile WEEE Collection Centre
https://www.wastereduction.gov.hk/en/workplace/mwcc_detail.htm

EPD Waste Reduction Collection Points
https://www.wastereduction.gov.hk/apps/vicinity_result.jsp?collection_type=outlet&material_type=col_computers&district_id=2&view=Go&textonly=0

In Hong Kong, a Wasted Chance to Recycle Glass @ The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/30/business/global/in-hong-kong-a-wasted-chance-to-recycle-glass.html

Environment: Tetra Pak Carton Recycling @  Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2010/11/environment-tetra-pak-carton-recycling.html

Glass Container Recycling Programme @ EPD
http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/environmentinhk/waste/eco_responsibility/n_gcrp.html

Glass Collection Spots @ EPD
https://www.wastereduction.gov.hk/apps/vicinity_result.jsp?collection_type=collector&material_type=glass&district_id=0&view=Go&textonly=0

Hong Kong's Glass Recycling System @ Hk-Asia City
http://hk.asia-city.com/city-living/article/hong-kongs-glass-recycling-system

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

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