This post is synonymously titled with "The Mathematical Brain" by Brian Butterworth. I first read that book when I was a trainee teacher in 2001 and since then, my view of mathematics learning has changed radically.
Now I see there is actually a place for mathematics haters. They really have a place - far far away from me.
I'm not against people struggling with mathematics but I wonder why people wouldn't try. I know interest counts for a lot and I concede that point about interest. But then, if one weren't interested, explain why one would come for Mathematical Olympiad training sessions?
Question for the day:
Which of the following products is bigger?
20092010 * 2011 or 20112010 * 2009
Friday, March 26, 2010
Gaps
There had been occasions when I told myself to blog but when I finally reach home, I am only energized for bed.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Answering a Stern Question
The laptop came back with a new LCD screen, a new keyboard and an updated BIOS. However, the most irritating problem of the flying cursor was not solved.
Eventually, the critical data were saved out and then the entire hard disk was wiped clean and reformatted.
No cloths were dirtied in the process.
I'm still regaining my balance on the new laptop and this post is done at work.
Class begins in 35 minutes and I'm not so much looking forward to it. Yet it has to be done.
Eventually, the critical data were saved out and then the entire hard disk was wiped clean and reformatted.
No cloths were dirtied in the process.
I'm still regaining my balance on the new laptop and this post is done at work.
Class begins in 35 minutes and I'm not so much looking forward to it. Yet it has to be done.
Monday, March 08, 2010
No fool like the old fool
There’s no fool like an old fool and this, I do know
It’s really quite disgusting and horribly saddening
To be brought down so low.
There’s no fool like a blind fool whose who pokes himself
In the very eye,
Blindness is a mental condition; it clouds the clearest of vision
And its realization, oh my.
A blind fool and an old fool are a sad fool, yes, indeed
One finds it through ones’ own struggling
While others laughingly pay heed.
Tis a sad business and this business I wish it were not so
Our Dreams suddenly shatter and we find ourselves in the weather
And in mirrors our reality doth show.
And on with the show…..
It’s really quite disgusting and horribly saddening
To be brought down so low.
There’s no fool like a blind fool whose who pokes himself
In the very eye,
Blindness is a mental condition; it clouds the clearest of vision
And its realization, oh my.
A blind fool and an old fool are a sad fool, yes, indeed
One finds it through ones’ own struggling
While others laughingly pay heed.
Tis a sad business and this business I wish it were not so
Our Dreams suddenly shatter and we find ourselves in the weather
And in mirrors our reality doth show.
And on with the show…..
Saturday, March 06, 2010
Laptop on Leave
My laptop is finally taking a break at the HP service centre.
Among other things, it has a broken key "4". There was no way to reattach it. It has a mouse pad that is so hypersensitive that wind from the fan can move the cursor around! It has a fan that is not working. The lap top gets so hot that it shuts down by itself for self preservation. It has a intermittently not working USB port. You can lose connection to whatever you attach there as you wish. There is a screen that flickers when you work the lap top hard.
The laptop has worked really hard and it is now being restored. Thank god for the extended warranty. Let's hope they do the necessary "organ" transplants.
Among other things, it has a broken key "4". There was no way to reattach it. It has a mouse pad that is so hypersensitive that wind from the fan can move the cursor around! It has a fan that is not working. The lap top gets so hot that it shuts down by itself for self preservation. It has a intermittently not working USB port. You can lose connection to whatever you attach there as you wish. There is a screen that flickers when you work the lap top hard.
The laptop has worked really hard and it is now being restored. Thank god for the extended warranty. Let's hope they do the necessary "organ" transplants.
Thursday, March 04, 2010
Teaching Conflict Management
The bitch fight arose when I was teaching my oral communication class conflict management. The students in the class are preparatory year students hoping to be admitted to the university after the necessary tests and interviews. All of them are foreigners. So, this is how the story went:
Two girls - a Burmese and an Indonesian - were supposed to do role play. Miss Myanmar was supposed to be an insistent comment giver, regardless of the receiver's interest in hearing them. She criticised the Miss Indonesia's slides and asked her to put in a blue background for the slides to make them look more professional.
The Indonesian retorted saying that the slides "are meant for university. Why choose blue? Do you think this is the beach?"
Of course, slang and accent were in play here and Miss Myanmar looked at Miss Indonesia in disbelief and asked, "What did you call me?" She then turned to the class and asked, "What did she call me? Bitch?"
By then, there was a huge commotion in class and the kids made things worse by replying, "She (Miss Indon) said 'beach'" to Miss Myanmar. Things became worse when the next lines that came out was, "Beach, you know, beach?" A lot of laughter was going on at that moment and Miss Indonesia added "fuel" by telling Miss Myanmar, "I said beach. The beach..." Miss Myanmar was really perturbed until someone finally said, "Beach, you know. B-E-A-C-H."
There was so much laughter in the class. I guess the students and I never had such fun since the class began. To be honest, I was almost rolling on the floor with laughter.
Miss Myanmar finally figured out her faux pas and the play acting continued to the end. I think many other people will be talking about this singular episode. How appropriate that conflict management found its most natural teaching point. And how truly important, teaching table talk!
Two girls - a Burmese and an Indonesian - were supposed to do role play. Miss Myanmar was supposed to be an insistent comment giver, regardless of the receiver's interest in hearing them. She criticised the Miss Indonesia's slides and asked her to put in a blue background for the slides to make them look more professional.
The Indonesian retorted saying that the slides "are meant for university. Why choose blue? Do you think this is the beach?"
Of course, slang and accent were in play here and Miss Myanmar looked at Miss Indonesia in disbelief and asked, "What did you call me?" She then turned to the class and asked, "What did she call me? Bitch?"
By then, there was a huge commotion in class and the kids made things worse by replying, "She (Miss Indon) said 'beach'" to Miss Myanmar. Things became worse when the next lines that came out was, "Beach, you know, beach?" A lot of laughter was going on at that moment and Miss Indonesia added "fuel" by telling Miss Myanmar, "I said beach. The beach..." Miss Myanmar was really perturbed until someone finally said, "Beach, you know. B-E-A-C-H."
There was so much laughter in the class. I guess the students and I never had such fun since the class began. To be honest, I was almost rolling on the floor with laughter.
Miss Myanmar finally figured out her faux pas and the play acting continued to the end. I think many other people will be talking about this singular episode. How appropriate that conflict management found its most natural teaching point. And how truly important, teaching table talk!
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
What you don't know...
... I taught 7 hours and was in a meeting for an hour over a 9 hour stretch during my lunar birthday. That absolutely sucked the life out of me.
... Did three writing lectures last week. The students had to submit a 5 page paper three weeks later but most have not even read the assignment question, which apparently had been distributed to the class some 5 weeks ago. I spoke to the wall and I spoke Greek.
... Chinese New Year was very boring. I haven't eaten anything more than 3 pineapple tarts as of today and I don't intend to eat very many more. I wish I were less tired but I think I caught one of those symptomless flus. I'm just awfully tired.
... I had a spate of reasonable luck playing mahjong this year. I didn't play with real money but I don't really care. I just needed something to kill the time.
... I ordered a 3 kg "huat kuey" for Chinese New Year for collection on Friday. It was supposed to be placed on my dining table for the CNY period - huay kuey symbolises prosperity and we typically let it turn mouldy before discarding it - but on Saturday, the even of CNY, when I unwrapped the packaging of the huat kuey, it has already turned mouldy. Well, I'll just have an uber prosperous new year.
... Did three writing lectures last week. The students had to submit a 5 page paper three weeks later but most have not even read the assignment question, which apparently had been distributed to the class some 5 weeks ago. I spoke to the wall and I spoke Greek.
... Chinese New Year was very boring. I haven't eaten anything more than 3 pineapple tarts as of today and I don't intend to eat very many more. I wish I were less tired but I think I caught one of those symptomless flus. I'm just awfully tired.
... I had a spate of reasonable luck playing mahjong this year. I didn't play with real money but I don't really care. I just needed something to kill the time.
... I ordered a 3 kg "huat kuey" for Chinese New Year for collection on Friday. It was supposed to be placed on my dining table for the CNY period - huay kuey symbolises prosperity and we typically let it turn mouldy before discarding it - but on Saturday, the even of CNY, when I unwrapped the packaging of the huat kuey, it has already turned mouldy. Well, I'll just have an uber prosperous new year.
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
Let it snow snow snow...
My friends staying in the US "snopocalypse" belt are going to face yet another snow/sleet storm in a few hours. There may be a couple or more feet of cold white stuff descending on them.
Many of them have found ways of getting around this. However, from the outside looking it, they seem to be facing a weather problem caused by a broken Christmas Carol record playing "Let it snow."
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow snow snow snow...
Cheer up, guys! Spring is coming!
Many of them have found ways of getting around this. However, from the outside looking it, they seem to be facing a weather problem caused by a broken Christmas Carol record playing "Let it snow."
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow snow snow snow...
Cheer up, guys! Spring is coming!
Saturday, February 06, 2010
No more talk of darkness
Forget these wide eyed fears
I'm here, no one can harm you...
Just a particularly difficult period to adjust to due to the number of suddenly occurring events that require my immediate attention.
I try my best to tell myself that it will blow over, it will be peaceful and smooth sailing but my powers of persuasion - at least for the self - is not effective this time.
There are changes that are supposed to but not bringing about changes. It's a mild frustration.
There are changes that are supposed to have taken place but have not taken place. It's a matter of time and space and work is winning.
There are changes that are not supposed to even happen but they are taking place. It's a strain on my precious little time, time which could otherwise be used for getting work done.
And then there are changes.
I know I will come out on top of this pile feeling stronger and better but it just feels weird to be running constantly into brick walls.
I guess it is in the stars.
Just had a online tarot reading. It is almost entirely countrapunctal to what I am feeling now. Even the "gods" are more upbeat than I am. Perhaps I should do what I was told - stop going after perfection.
It's a fault. I know. But failed perfection is still an attempt that will deliver stellar results.
I should take it easy. I've done my preparations and I'll just let things go. It's not like I've never done it before.
I'm here, no one can harm you...
Just a particularly difficult period to adjust to due to the number of suddenly occurring events that require my immediate attention.
I try my best to tell myself that it will blow over, it will be peaceful and smooth sailing but my powers of persuasion - at least for the self - is not effective this time.
There are changes that are supposed to but not bringing about changes. It's a mild frustration.
There are changes that are supposed to have taken place but have not taken place. It's a matter of time and space and work is winning.
There are changes that are not supposed to even happen but they are taking place. It's a strain on my precious little time, time which could otherwise be used for getting work done.
And then there are changes.
I know I will come out on top of this pile feeling stronger and better but it just feels weird to be running constantly into brick walls.
I guess it is in the stars.
Just had a online tarot reading. It is almost entirely countrapunctal to what I am feeling now. Even the "gods" are more upbeat than I am. Perhaps I should do what I was told - stop going after perfection.
It's a fault. I know. But failed perfection is still an attempt that will deliver stellar results.
I should take it easy. I've done my preparations and I'll just let things go. It's not like I've never done it before.
Friday, February 05, 2010
The Linear Human Mind
It can't turn-around
It never amazes me that students cannot appreciate when you write something like
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9
= 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5
+ 9 + 8 + 7 + 6
= (1 + 9) + (2 + 8) + (3 + 7) + (4 + 6) + 5
= 4 * 10 + 5
= 45
The second step of the turn-around almost always eludes them.
Actually, another way of going about to do the same thing is:
S = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9
If we invert the sum, we get
S = 9 + 8 + 7 + 6 + 5 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 1.
Adding both sides, we get
2S = (1 + 9) + (2 + 8) + (3 + 7) + (4 + 6) + (5 + 5) + (6 + 4) + (7 + 3) + (2 + 8) + (9 + 1)
2S = 2(1 + 9) + 2(2 + 8) + 2(3 + 7) + 2(4 + 6) + 2(5)
Therefore, dividing both sides by 2, we get
S = (1 + 9) + (2 + 8) + (3 + 7) + (4 + 6) + 5
= 4 * 10 + 5
= 45.
I have no idea why it took our kids such a long time to figure out that both ways are the same.
Our learners expect a lot of crutches and hand holding. They want to be told how to think. They don't want to think. And that is worrying me.
Many conundrums in life require time and, if not mere elbow grease, mental grease. Our brains are there to work things out. We need to spend time to work things out.
It can't pick up new tricks
The human mind is also so trained to finding the final solution that it often forgets that the final solution is not exactly the solution we are looking for.
For instance, what is the value of the second last digit of the sum
66669 + 6669 + 669 + 69 + 9?
Many students are very content to solve the entire sum proclaim that the answer is 74 082.
They plain forgot that the answer is looking out for the second last digit.
Teach the child to use a butcher's knife and s/he'll use it even to kill a little chick.
After you teach them some technique to solve questions that involve larger numbers, they immediately resort to the technique without asking themselves if it was necessary.
For instance, how does one solve
8 + 18 + 28 + 38 + 48 + 58 + 68 + 78 + 88 - 9 * 8?
It is amazing that few realise that the answer is as simple as:
8 + 18 + 28 + 38 + 48 + 58 + 68 + 78 + 88 - 9 * 8
= 10 + 20 + 30 + 40 + 50 + 60 + 70 + 80
= 360.
I guess all I can say is creativity and innovation requires a keen eye for detail and an open mind to consider all possibilities.
We may have become too reliant on fixed gauges of success that we have forgotten the true measure of a person is on his/her extended ability to apply what s/he has learnt in school for life and not merely to solve test-style problems.
It never amazes me that students cannot appreciate when you write something like
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9
= 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5
+ 9 + 8 + 7 + 6
= (1 + 9) + (2 + 8) + (3 + 7) + (4 + 6) + 5
= 4 * 10 + 5
= 45
The second step of the turn-around almost always eludes them.
Actually, another way of going about to do the same thing is:
S = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9
If we invert the sum, we get
S = 9 + 8 + 7 + 6 + 5 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 1.
Adding both sides, we get
2S = (1 + 9) + (2 + 8) + (3 + 7) + (4 + 6) + (5 + 5) + (6 + 4) + (7 + 3) + (2 + 8) + (9 + 1)
2S = 2(1 + 9) + 2(2 + 8) + 2(3 + 7) + 2(4 + 6) + 2(5)
Therefore, dividing both sides by 2, we get
S = (1 + 9) + (2 + 8) + (3 + 7) + (4 + 6) + 5
= 4 * 10 + 5
= 45.
I have no idea why it took our kids such a long time to figure out that both ways are the same.
Our learners expect a lot of crutches and hand holding. They want to be told how to think. They don't want to think. And that is worrying me.
Many conundrums in life require time and, if not mere elbow grease, mental grease. Our brains are there to work things out. We need to spend time to work things out.
It can't pick up new tricks
The human mind is also so trained to finding the final solution that it often forgets that the final solution is not exactly the solution we are looking for.
For instance, what is the value of the second last digit of the sum
66669 + 6669 + 669 + 69 + 9?
Many students are very content to solve the entire sum proclaim that the answer is 74 082.
They plain forgot that the answer is looking out for the second last digit.
Teach the child to use a butcher's knife and s/he'll use it even to kill a little chick.
After you teach them some technique to solve questions that involve larger numbers, they immediately resort to the technique without asking themselves if it was necessary.
For instance, how does one solve
8 + 18 + 28 + 38 + 48 + 58 + 68 + 78 + 88 - 9 * 8?
It is amazing that few realise that the answer is as simple as:
8 + 18 + 28 + 38 + 48 + 58 + 68 + 78 + 88 - 9 * 8
= 10 + 20 + 30 + 40 + 50 + 60 + 70 + 80
= 360.
I guess all I can say is creativity and innovation requires a keen eye for detail and an open mind to consider all possibilities.
We may have become too reliant on fixed gauges of success that we have forgotten the true measure of a person is on his/her extended ability to apply what s/he has learnt in school for life and not merely to solve test-style problems.
Thursday, February 04, 2010
Tired
Things have been moving at a breakneck speed.
Tomorrow, I begin something new... and honestly, I'm very tired.
Exhausted.
But happy.
Tomorrow, I begin something new... and honestly, I'm very tired.
Exhausted.
But happy.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Subconscious connections
Overhead in the news a few days ago that a Haitian man was pulled out of a rubble alive after being buried inside there for 11 days.
Actually, long before the news came out, I was already thinking about cockroaches, which are known for their ability to stay alive for weeks despite being decapitated.
Incredible resilience!
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Overhead on my morning walk/jog as I overtook two Indian ladies who occupied the entire five-foot path as they were walking abreast (and not in an Indian file).
"You know, I checked his compo and I asked if he knows how to write."
"..."
"They are all small words. What does he expect to get with all small words?"
I recalled then I read somewhere that Indian men have, within Asia, among the largest reproductive organs.
I wonder if the matchmakers would go, "It is all so small. What does he expect to get...?"
Size queens?
_____________________________________________________________________________________
A student who was stricken with chicken pox came to school despite getting a 7-day medical leave from the doctor.
She was probably concerned about her status as a guest student at the school, or she might have been shut out of the flat that she shared with two other schoolmates.
The school did not wish to have anything to do with the student as she was a guest and she wasn't putting up at the school hostel.
Her teachers were only too eager to get her to go home.
As I sat listening to this, images of ebola and leprosy came to my mind.
It's only chicken pox, a childhood disease. It is pitiful enough that a student far away from home is stricken with it.
Is chicken pox the new ebola?
And then I said, "She should be sent to the Communicable Disease Centre, since that's our default quarantine centre."
Are we basically good or basically bad?
Actually, long before the news came out, I was already thinking about cockroaches, which are known for their ability to stay alive for weeks despite being decapitated.
Incredible resilience!
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Overhead on my morning walk/jog as I overtook two Indian ladies who occupied the entire five-foot path as they were walking abreast (and not in an Indian file).
"You know, I checked his compo and I asked if he knows how to write."
"..."
"They are all small words. What does he expect to get with all small words?"
I recalled then I read somewhere that Indian men have, within Asia, among the largest reproductive organs.
I wonder if the matchmakers would go, "It is all so small. What does he expect to get...?"
Size queens?
_____________________________________________________________________________________
A student who was stricken with chicken pox came to school despite getting a 7-day medical leave from the doctor.
She was probably concerned about her status as a guest student at the school, or she might have been shut out of the flat that she shared with two other schoolmates.
The school did not wish to have anything to do with the student as she was a guest and she wasn't putting up at the school hostel.
Her teachers were only too eager to get her to go home.
As I sat listening to this, images of ebola and leprosy came to my mind.
It's only chicken pox, a childhood disease. It is pitiful enough that a student far away from home is stricken with it.
Is chicken pox the new ebola?
And then I said, "She should be sent to the Communicable Disease Centre, since that's our default quarantine centre."
Are we basically good or basically bad?
Get well note to TSBHD
I read with horror that BHD slipped and fell and, in the process, fractured his ankle. (Let me check if it is the right or left ankle, though I'd think left as this man claims he has 40 left feet.)
Oh mi gawd! He broke his 41st leg, the right one! Poor guy. He was actually helping to steady a senior when he lost balance himself and went down.
I feel very sorry for him but I'm really glad he was wearing a pair of boots when he fell. I'd guess that the support from the boot allowed the break to be "clean" rather than comminuted (aka many fractured bone fragments, which is common in ankle fractures given the multiple bones that make up the ankle), though "severe," as his doctor has claimed.
True, ankle fractures are usually very severe and I hope BHD will take good care of himself and let the injury heal at its own time. No amount of rushing the recovery will do any good. The human ankles support so much weight that an improperly healed break could give future problems ranging from arthritis to muscluar and joint weaknesses to further - and more serious - fractures! I hope the caregivers have their tranquilizer guns to keep our "Energizer Bunny running on AC on the sly" in bed and at rest. That's the only way he can recover.
Well, being over 9000 miles away from him, the only thing I can do is to write to him and cheer him up a little. It seems to me that the seniors he looked after are also helping out by taking care of the sen(i)or-in-training too. Makes me feel better this way.
So, I need to unpack (sorry, BHD, on alluding to the packages again but I really did think of TSBHD before I read your blogposts!) what I meant by the initials TSBHD.
See, BHD takes pride to be in boots as far as he can help it. So, I've written to him last night to imagine that the cast he is wearing is also a boot, albeit a very hard one (which he, unfortunately, will never be able to break in). That's the idea! While we wear boots to protect our feet, the sturdier the boot, the more protection and support we get. BHD just got the sturdiest boot.
So, if he were to put on one left boot and wear the cast on the right foot, he is now Temporarily Semi-Booted Harley Dude. There you go.
Don't nitpick on terminology on why it is not THBHD - the half-booted... Half is simply not correct. He can have a knee high Wesco boot on his left leg and a knee high Hosco (Hospital Company) boot on his right foot - semi, it is.
BHD, get well soon!
Oh mi gawd! He broke his 41st leg, the right one! Poor guy. He was actually helping to steady a senior when he lost balance himself and went down.
I feel very sorry for him but I'm really glad he was wearing a pair of boots when he fell. I'd guess that the support from the boot allowed the break to be "clean" rather than comminuted (aka many fractured bone fragments, which is common in ankle fractures given the multiple bones that make up the ankle), though "severe," as his doctor has claimed.
True, ankle fractures are usually very severe and I hope BHD will take good care of himself and let the injury heal at its own time. No amount of rushing the recovery will do any good. The human ankles support so much weight that an improperly healed break could give future problems ranging from arthritis to muscluar and joint weaknesses to further - and more serious - fractures! I hope the caregivers have their tranquilizer guns to keep our "Energizer Bunny running on AC on the sly" in bed and at rest. That's the only way he can recover.
Well, being over 9000 miles away from him, the only thing I can do is to write to him and cheer him up a little. It seems to me that the seniors he looked after are also helping out by taking care of the sen(i)or-in-training too. Makes me feel better this way.
So, I need to unpack (sorry, BHD, on alluding to the packages again but I really did think of TSBHD before I read your blogposts!) what I meant by the initials TSBHD.
See, BHD takes pride to be in boots as far as he can help it. So, I've written to him last night to imagine that the cast he is wearing is also a boot, albeit a very hard one (which he, unfortunately, will never be able to break in). That's the idea! While we wear boots to protect our feet, the sturdier the boot, the more protection and support we get. BHD just got the sturdiest boot.
So, if he were to put on one left boot and wear the cast on the right foot, he is now Temporarily Semi-Booted Harley Dude. There you go.
Don't nitpick on terminology on why it is not THBHD - the half-booted... Half is simply not correct. He can have a knee high Wesco boot on his left leg and a knee high Hosco (Hospital Company) boot on his right foot - semi, it is.
BHD, get well soon!
Sunday, January 17, 2010
There are those who don't get it
How do you explain the outcome when one person out of three that you meet at the same time for a writing conference fails to write anything logical at the end of the hour when the other two got their act together after 30 minutes?
How do you explain this one person when 17 others before the person all managed to get their act together in the time alloted to them?
How do you think one can make knowledge by writing some things and erasing what was written in endless cycles?
How do you expect to write something so mangled I cannot commit to memory and yet expect me to accept it as a thesis statement?
How do you expect...
How do you explain this one person when 17 others before the person all managed to get their act together in the time alloted to them?
How do you think one can make knowledge by writing some things and erasing what was written in endless cycles?
How do you expect to write something so mangled I cannot commit to memory and yet expect me to accept it as a thesis statement?
How do you expect...
Saturday, January 09, 2010
I think he'll have you beheaded
Ate at Emperor Q (Q for Qianlong) at the revamped West Coast Plaza (formerly Ginza Plaza) at West Coast Road.
I didn't think Q would have eaten Peranakan achar (pickled fruits and vegetables) and icing sugar frosted peanuts. Neither do I think the imperial kitchen would have the balls to serve Hui Guo Rou (or Twice Cooked Pork), presumably a peasant dish. I didn't even think Q would eat pot stickers wrapped in skins the texture of semi-dehydrated chewed gum!
While Q is known for his magnanimity, I'm pretty certain that he'll have the chefs and wait staff of the Emperor Q restaurant decapitated without batting an eyelid.
What a flagrant abuse of Q's good name and a terrible transgression of culinary faith!
Details
There were 38 dishes on the buffet menu but 1 was not available. As we don't eat beef, there wasn't much left to choose.
Appetisers - Boiled pork hock with ginger sauce (C), pickled jellyfish (D), drunken chicken (D),
Dim sum - pot stickers (F), siew mai aka meat dumplings (D), prawns wrapped in beancurd skin (D - more skin than prawns), ngoh hiang aka prawn and meat rolls (F)
Soup - Steam minced pork soup in bamboo cup (B)
Mains - Double cooked pork (D), deep fried prawn balls with crispy sauce (B), fried prawn paste chicken (B - waited half an hour for 2 pieces), fried fish in ginger and spring onions (B)
Carbo - Szechuan minced pork noodles (C)
Dessert - Soft serve ice cream with mango sauce topping (C), black sesame paste with glutinous rice dumplings (F - considering EQ is a sister restaurant of MOF!), barley with beancurd sheets and gingko nuts (F), honey dew sago (F)
Service - F (You are nobody nobody... NOBODY NOBODY! No one came even once to check if I needed a top up for my water.)
It's time: Someone can deliver the imperial edict to have the entire staff CHOPPED.
I didn't think Q would have eaten Peranakan achar (pickled fruits and vegetables) and icing sugar frosted peanuts. Neither do I think the imperial kitchen would have the balls to serve Hui Guo Rou (or Twice Cooked Pork), presumably a peasant dish. I didn't even think Q would eat pot stickers wrapped in skins the texture of semi-dehydrated chewed gum!
While Q is known for his magnanimity, I'm pretty certain that he'll have the chefs and wait staff of the Emperor Q restaurant decapitated without batting an eyelid.
What a flagrant abuse of Q's good name and a terrible transgression of culinary faith!
Details
There were 38 dishes on the buffet menu but 1 was not available. As we don't eat beef, there wasn't much left to choose.
Appetisers - Boiled pork hock with ginger sauce (C), pickled jellyfish (D), drunken chicken (D),
Dim sum - pot stickers (F), siew mai aka meat dumplings (D), prawns wrapped in beancurd skin (D - more skin than prawns), ngoh hiang aka prawn and meat rolls (F)
Soup - Steam minced pork soup in bamboo cup (B)
Mains - Double cooked pork (D), deep fried prawn balls with crispy sauce (B), fried prawn paste chicken (B - waited half an hour for 2 pieces), fried fish in ginger and spring onions (B)
Carbo - Szechuan minced pork noodles (C)
Dessert - Soft serve ice cream with mango sauce topping (C), black sesame paste with glutinous rice dumplings (F - considering EQ is a sister restaurant of MOF!), barley with beancurd sheets and gingko nuts (F), honey dew sago (F)
Service - F (You are nobody nobody... NOBODY NOBODY! No one came even once to check if I needed a top up for my water.)
It's time: Someone can deliver the imperial edict to have the entire staff CHOPPED.
Friday, January 08, 2010
When you are at it long enough...
I have a phantom student taking the course I'm teaching for the third time. Apparently, he no-showed all the way during the first two times he was assigned the course. So far, he no showed both lessons. Looks like I'm going to have to give an F grade this time.
Shit happens.
Shit happens.
Monday, January 04, 2010
Celebrating the Noughties: A decade of collective stupidity
1. 2000 - the new millennium.
For Pete's (or insert name of your favourite Mathematician) sake, can you count?
I still have not figured out how we could begin the third millennium in the year 2000. Ok, this is involved mathematics and for those who are mathematically challenged, go to point 2. For those who have some basic inkling of basic mathematics, this should not be difficult.
Anno Domini begins in year 1. 1000 years in a millennium, so end of the first millennium is year AD 1000 and the beginning of the second millennium is AD 1001.
Go figure.
2. 2001 - Sept 11.
How is it that before and after 9-11, we are still none the wiser how we can combat the terrorist scourge? Will doing nothing be the same as doing everything?
3. 2002 - Share markets enter "Dot Com-a"
If the dot com bubble didn't burst totally a few years back, those glycerin-held up bubbles bust in 2002, sending sharemarkets round the world into a wild tail spin.
How could people invest blindly?
4. 2003 - SARS hit the world.
Oh why, oh why didn't SARS wipe out enough people to make the world a better place. With a mortality rate of less than 1 percent and with less than 10 000 people infected worldwide, this was the single big bang non-event. SARS eventually went out of fashion in 2006.
Until today, people are still screening for this and that because they are afraid of some pandemic. Lookie here. Pandemics are good because they are nature's way of regulating the population.
5. 2004 - High heels for high life?
Donations for tsunami victims included high heel shoes. The ignominy of that still rankles me.
6. 2005 - Hurricane Katrina
Too big, too clumsy, too little, too late.
7. 2006 - Birds hit by flu
The H5N1 avian flu becomes endemic in birds. The world worries about inter-species transmission. In reality, other than STDs and AIDS spreading via a certain male species of an edible poultry, nothing terribly exciting happened. Still, governments spent a lot of money culling birds to stem the spread of the disease.
8. 2007 - Boom times!
Human greed priced people out of the property market, led them to over invest in the investment instruments market, and allowed some to live overly opulent lives. Some will live to pay for it in time to come.
9. 2008 - Nature makes a second try at population control
The world was introduced to the AH1N1 flu strain. This strain is to become pandemic proportions in 2009. Unfortunately, the world also got saved by the AH1N1 vaccine.
I hate to say this but I'm not sure I want to be there when Mother Nature unleashes her full fury on humankind.
10. 2009 - Greed is good.
In 2009, we reward recklessness, greed and avarice. Governments bailed out banks and stood guarantor for investments products gone bad. Governments stepped in to keep institutions that are "too big to fail" going. In short, we lined the pockets of the wealthy with the blood, sweat and tears of the poor who can hardly afford cotton lint.
What events made your list?
For Pete's (or insert name of your favourite Mathematician) sake, can you count?
I still have not figured out how we could begin the third millennium in the year 2000. Ok, this is involved mathematics and for those who are mathematically challenged, go to point 2. For those who have some basic inkling of basic mathematics, this should not be difficult.
Anno Domini begins in year 1. 1000 years in a millennium, so end of the first millennium is year AD 1000 and the beginning of the second millennium is AD 1001.
Go figure.
2. 2001 - Sept 11.
How is it that before and after 9-11, we are still none the wiser how we can combat the terrorist scourge? Will doing nothing be the same as doing everything?
3. 2002 - Share markets enter "Dot Com-a"
If the dot com bubble didn't burst totally a few years back, those glycerin-held up bubbles bust in 2002, sending sharemarkets round the world into a wild tail spin.
How could people invest blindly?
4. 2003 - SARS hit the world.
Oh why, oh why didn't SARS wipe out enough people to make the world a better place. With a mortality rate of less than 1 percent and with less than 10 000 people infected worldwide, this was the single big bang non-event. SARS eventually went out of fashion in 2006.
Until today, people are still screening for this and that because they are afraid of some pandemic. Lookie here. Pandemics are good because they are nature's way of regulating the population.
5. 2004 - High heels for high life?
Donations for tsunami victims included high heel shoes. The ignominy of that still rankles me.
6. 2005 - Hurricane Katrina
Too big, too clumsy, too little, too late.
7. 2006 - Birds hit by flu
The H5N1 avian flu becomes endemic in birds. The world worries about inter-species transmission. In reality, other than STDs and AIDS spreading via a certain male species of an edible poultry, nothing terribly exciting happened. Still, governments spent a lot of money culling birds to stem the spread of the disease.
8. 2007 - Boom times!
Human greed priced people out of the property market, led them to over invest in the investment instruments market, and allowed some to live overly opulent lives. Some will live to pay for it in time to come.
9. 2008 - Nature makes a second try at population control
The world was introduced to the AH1N1 flu strain. This strain is to become pandemic proportions in 2009. Unfortunately, the world also got saved by the AH1N1 vaccine.
I hate to say this but I'm not sure I want to be there when Mother Nature unleashes her full fury on humankind.
10. 2009 - Greed is good.
In 2009, we reward recklessness, greed and avarice. Governments bailed out banks and stood guarantor for investments products gone bad. Governments stepped in to keep institutions that are "too big to fail" going. In short, we lined the pockets of the wealthy with the blood, sweat and tears of the poor who can hardly afford cotton lint.
What events made your list?
Of Virtues and Vices
Patience 1
One of my readers, M. G. wrote that "Patience is only a virtue when it leads to a desired goal."
I think he was referring to stalkers. :)
Patience 2
Patience is the lead up to being patients.
Trying teaching arithmetic or literacy.
Patience 3
Patience is treating a day like an hour.
Either you are god or you are wasting your life away.
Patience 4
Patience is trying to avoid facing the truth.
There is no truer patience than denial.
Patience 5
Patience is waiting after the event to tell someone s/he's wrong.
There is no better test of patience than watching the doomed event blow up so you can earn the right to say, "I told you so."
Patience 6
Patience is counting till ten before you blow up.
The trick is to choose the correct units for counting to ten: seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, fortnights... You get the drift.
Patience 7
Patience is reading this entry in its entirety.
Thank you very much.
One of my readers, M. G. wrote that "Patience is only a virtue when it leads to a desired goal."
I think he was referring to stalkers. :)
Patience 2
Patience is the lead up to being patients.
Trying teaching arithmetic or literacy.
Patience 3
Patience is treating a day like an hour.
Either you are god or you are wasting your life away.
Patience 4
Patience is trying to avoid facing the truth.
There is no truer patience than denial.
Patience 5
Patience is waiting after the event to tell someone s/he's wrong.
There is no better test of patience than watching the doomed event blow up so you can earn the right to say, "I told you so."
Patience 6
Patience is counting till ten before you blow up.
The trick is to choose the correct units for counting to ten: seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, fortnights... You get the drift.
Patience 7
Patience is reading this entry in its entirety.
Thank you very much.
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