tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-44766545847742104052024-03-14T05:43:59.892+11:00Intersecting TangentsMany conversations and overheard comments create tangents, which are often incredibly inaccurate. I hit this all the time as much of the english I use is Malaysian/Chinese English, western suburbs Melbourne english or upper murray english. Randomly spread of course. But I live in Sydney.yewenyihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10053973864711137550noreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4476654584774210405.post-29204311010875235842009-07-05T08:09:00.001+10:002009-07-05T08:09:46.121+10:00Well, I have not removed these posts, but my <a href="http://yewenyi.net/wpblog/">blog site</a> is now on a <a href="http://www.qiq.com.au/referrer.php">friends server</a>.yewenyihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10053973864711137550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4476654584774210405.post-858161100848664892009-03-14T04:37:00.003+11:002009-03-14T04:43:42.422+11:00modern world<div style="text-align: justify;">There has been a lot of talk about this recently.<br /><br />Typically Australians talk about traditional and modern in the terms of moral values. Modern is seen as being more liberal, traditional more conservative. I think that all of these are an abuse of the term. There have been times and civilisations where being say, sexually promiscuous would be the norm, long before the Victorian era of foolish moral values. And I think that people who look back at those times as being something wonderful are some of the ones you should accuse of seeing the world through rose coloured glasses.<br /><br />When I talk of a place being modern, being an engineer, I mean that it is technologically and socially developed compared to earlier eras and times. A modern world is one where scientific rather than mystical endeavours are at the fore and technology well developed. I agree that this is quite a moving target. I also have quite a lot to say about mysticism as practised by all religions but I will talk more on that later.<br /></div>yewenyihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10053973864711137550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4476654584774210405.post-71593937540651673632008-12-30T00:18:00.000+11:002008-12-30T00:21:01.676+11:00Listen to what is going on in the background conversations...<br /><br /><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" width="437" height="392" id="viddler"><param name="movie" value="http://www.viddler.com/player/44515c0e/289.119/" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent"/><embed src="http://www.viddler.com/player/44515c0e/289.119/" width="437" height="392" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowScriptAccess="always" allowFullScreen="true" wmode="transparent" name="viddler" ></embed></object>yewenyihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10053973864711137550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4476654584774210405.post-279209405896015012008-10-26T00:23:00.003+11:002008-10-26T00:52:20.457+11:00Masters and Slaves<div style="text-align: justify;">In Electrical and Electronic engineering the term master and slave is often used in conjunction with circuit design. It is a favourite design pattern, a master, say a computer, controls a bunch of slaves, say a bunch of monitoring devices. The master might poll each device in turn and the slaves would respond with whatever data they are collecting.<br /><br />In a technology I work in, <a href="http://www.ipmplsforum.org/tech/fr_ia.shtml">Frame Relay</a>, the calling end of the telecommunication data circuit is called the master and the called end the slave, using this same thought process. In a similar vane, for backup purposes you can have two slaves, a slave with backup and a backup slave. In fact, you can have a whole series of backup slaves. This is used say when you have one remote terminal trying to connect to two redundant data centres. You would connect to one, and if that one was down, then you would connect to the other.<br /><br />So it has nothing to do with whips and chains if you hear me talking of masters and slaves. Though I would be amused if you did think of whips and chains.<br /></div>yewenyihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10053973864711137550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4476654584774210405.post-54986630771491142402008-09-24T03:20:00.001+10:002008-09-24T03:22:25.290+10:00LOS = Loss of SignalIn the industry I work in LOS means loss of signal, though strangely Wikipedia does not understand this.<br /><p><b>Los</b> may refer to:</p> <ul><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerzy_%C5%81o%C5%9B" title="Jerzy Łoś">Jerzy Łoś</a> (1920 - 1998), a Polish mathematician and logician</li><li>Fictional characters: <ul><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_%28Blake%29" title="Los (Blake)">Los (Blake)</a>, in William Blake's poetry</li><li>Los, a.k.a. the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimson_King" title="Crimson King">Crimson King</a>, in Stephen King novels</li></ul> </li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los,_Sweden" title="Los, Sweden">Los, Sweden</a>, a village</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PZL.37_%C5%81o%C5%9B" title="PZL.37 Łoś">PZL.37 Łoś</a>, Polish bomber aircraft<br /></li></ul> <p> <b>LOS</b> may stand for:</p> <ul><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_the_Sea" title="Law of the Sea" class="mw-redirect">Law of the Sea</a></li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Length_of_stay" title="Length of stay">Length of stay</a>, hospital-management parameter</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Level_of_service" title="Level of service">Level of service</a>, quality of transportation</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line-of-sight_propagation" title="Line-of-sight propagation">Line-of-sight propagation</a> of electro-magnetic radiation</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucas_Oil_Stadium" title="Lucas Oil Stadium">Lucas Oil Stadium</a>, Indianapolis, Indiana</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murtala_Muhammed_International_Airport" title="Murtala Muhammed International Airport">Murtala Muhammed International Airport</a>, Lagos, Nigeria</li></ul>yewenyihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10053973864711137550noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4476654584774210405.post-36028564875038799502008-08-16T20:29:00.008+10:002008-08-16T20:44:58.179+10:00Smelly<div style="text-align: justify;">Quite some time ago, I decided to try out a housing agency. (Melbourne in the late 1980s.) I had no experience of one. So I paid my $50 and filled in the various forms. They suggested a house in Collingwood. The men, I am guessing were gay, though I do not think that this was an issue at the time. I decided I did not like the house itself for a few reasons, it was very cold, as old terraces sometimes are, but mostly because it smelled of mildew. I think it had a major rising damp problem. When the woman asked why I did not like the house, I said that it was because it was smelly. I am guessing that this is the source of this strange story.<br /><br />After that there were stories that I did not like gay people. Which at first I just ignored as it was plainly wrong. But they persisted for quite some time.<br /><br />When I came back to Melbourne in 1992, a man in a pub on Exhibition Street and a Telstra employee, made a big deal once of smelling the seat of a woman who had just left.<br /><br />Fast forward. When I arrived in Sydney in 1997, people made all sorts of comments about not liking smelly people. At first I just thought that this was some bizarre way the people in Sydney think. There are plenty of others, but then I have never really fitted into Australia. Though that is another story. People would say thinks like, we disliked so and so because he was smelly. Even my sister joined in on the act. She thinks that people in the CES who were queuing were a problem because they were smelly. Even last week, someone said, I (that is the person speaking) am ok, I am not smelly.<br /><br />So, what these people (that is people who are not me) think by smelly and what I think by smelly are not the same think and I am very dismayed at the mountain that people have made out of a mole hill. But I have to say that it is typical of this line of thought and this is not the only thing that falls into this category.<br /><br />As I said some years back, take what they say and know it is wrong. Take the opposite of what they say and know that it is also wrong. I do not like or dislike people because they are smelly, though I would object if someone had not been having a shower. The smelliest people I ever met were some hitch hikers on the south island of NZ. They had been hiking for a week and I gave them a lift back to a near by town. They had not had a shower in a week. They reeked. But it was not offensive, just a bit overpowering.<br /></div>yewenyihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10053973864711137550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4476654584774210405.post-52156452901147539122008-08-09T00:53:00.003+10:002008-08-09T00:56:30.899+10:00HSSI<div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HSSI">HSSI</a> is pronounced hissy, this is a type of interface used in data communications. It stands for High Speed Serial Interface. It was never common, and is becoming less so. We used to have some in our network and you would hear me on the mobile phone talking about HSSI connections. Of course it is hard sometimes not to make a linkage with a hissy fit.<br /></div>yewenyihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10053973864711137550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4476654584774210405.post-43186984239509543762008-07-16T04:56:00.002+10:002008-07-16T05:03:53.759+10:00wierdness about middle names<div style="text-align: justify;">I come from a Chinese Malaysian background and spent my early life in the newly separated Singapore. For chinese people middle names are a vital part of our name and are freely told to everyone. In fact when we are more formal, we use our middle names. My name is Yap Voon Yee, or yewenyi in Mandarin. Yap Voon Yee is in Hokkien.<br /><br />So I was very surprised to find, when I came to Australia as a 5 year old, that Australians are afraid to tell you their middle name. They are embarrassed or even hostile if you ask. They give all sorts of excuses from not wanting to sound like a snob to bank security. It is totally weird.<br /><br />For the best part of a decade, I looked on in stupefied confusion at this at this weird behaviour. Then one day, I discovered why Australians hate their middle names. I was watching a school friend and her young child. I have seen this behaviour several times since with other people. When the child was naughty, she scolded him by calling out his name in full. So the real reason is: Australians do not like their middle name because they associate it with being a bad person. If they tell you their middle name, they give you power to scold them. Of course, this is an unpalatable thing to do.<br /></div>yewenyihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10053973864711137550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4476654584774210405.post-35050984805982795592008-07-05T06:39:00.003+10:002008-07-05T06:41:29.243+10:00uncles and aunties<div style="text-align: justify;">In the culture where I come from, Uncle and Aunty are often used as an honorific. If you have adults who are close friends of the family, they are honoured by calling them uncle and aunty. So it was a bit of a shock when I discovered that people here in Sydney think that calling people uncle or aunty is a term of derision. It seems that they think that people who do this are gangsters.<br /></div>yewenyihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10053973864711137550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4476654584774210405.post-66229712856079082452008-06-09T07:03:00.003+10:002008-06-09T07:13:07.742+10:00the opposite of smart<div style="text-align: justify;">It seems that they have only just worked this out. Certainly lots of people are talking about it.<br /></div><blockquote></blockquote><blockquote>In my mind, the opposite of smart is stupid.</blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;">Now, I know that most of these people don't think this. But they must be bit slow to think that I think of it in the same way as they do. Here is a definition from <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Wikitionary</span>. <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Strangely</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">their</span> version of smart does not seem to form part of the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">English</span> language.<br /><h1 class="firstHeading">smart</h1> <h3 id="siteSub">Definitions from <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Wiktionary</span>, a free dictionary</h3><h2><span class="editsection"></span><span class="mw-headline">English</span></h2> <p><a name="Etymology" id="Etymology"></a></p> <h3><span class="editsection"></span><span class="mw-headline">Etymology</span></h3> <p>From <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_English_language" class="extiw" title="w:Old_English_language">Old English</a> <b><a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/smeortan" title="smeortan"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">smeortan</span></a></b>, from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Germanic_languages" class="extiw" title="w:West_Germanic_languages">West Germanic</a> <b><a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=%2Asmertan&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="*smertan (not yet written)">*<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">smertan</span></a></b>, whence also <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_High_German" class="extiw" title="w:Old_High_German">Old High German</a> <i><a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=smerzan&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="smerzan (not yet written)"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">smerzan</span></a></i>.</p> <p><a name="Pronunciation" id="Pronunciation"></a></p> <h3><span class="editsection"></span><span class="mw-headline">Pronunciation</span></h3> <ul><li><a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:English_Phonemic_Representation" title="Wiktionary:English Phonemic Representation"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">enPR</span></a>: <span class="AHD enPR"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">smärt</span></span></li><li><span class="unicode audiolink"> <a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/En-us-smart.ogg" class="internal" title="en-us-smart.ogg">Audio (US)</a></span><sup><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Media_help_%28Ogg%29" class="extiw" title="wikipedia:Wikipedia:Media_help_(Ogg)">help</a>, <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Image:en-us-smart.ogg" title="Image:en-us-smart.ogg">file</a></sup></li><li>Rhymes: <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Rhymes:English:-%C9%91%CB%90%28r%29t" title="Rhymes:English:-ɑː(r)t">-ɑː(r)t</a></li></ul> <p><a name="Adjective" id="Adjective"></a></p> <h3><span class="editsection"></span><span class="mw-headline">Adjective</span></h3> <p><span class="infl-inline"><b>smart</b> (<i><a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Glossary#comparable" title="Appendix:Glossary">comparative</a></i> <b><a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/smarter" title="smarter">smarter</a></b>, <i><a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Glossary#comparable" title="Appendix:Glossary">superlative</a></i> <b><a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/smartest" title="smartest">smartest</a></b>)</span></p> <div class="infl-table"> <table border="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td bgcolor="#f8f8ff" valign="top" width="33%"> <p>Positive<br /><b>smart</b></p> </td> <td width="1%"><br /></td> <td bgcolor="#f8f8ff" valign="top" width="33%"> <p><a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Glossary#comparable" title="Appendix:Glossary">Comparative</a><br /><b><a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/smarter" title="smarter">smarter</a></b></p> </td> <td width="1%"><br /></td> <td bgcolor="#f8f8ff" valign="top" width="33%"> <p><a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Glossary#comparable" title="Appendix:Glossary">Superlative</a><br /><b><a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/smartest" title="smartest">smartest</a></b></p> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> </div> <ol><li>exhibiting <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/social" title="social">social</a> ability or <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cleverness" title="cleverness">cleverness</a></li><li>exhibiting <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/intellectual" title="intellectual">intellectual</a> knowledge, such as that found in books</li><li><a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/good-looking" title="good-looking">good-looking</a>, as <i>a <b>smart</b> outfit</i></li><li>cleverly <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/humorous" title="humorous">humorous</a>, in a way that is <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rude" title="rude">rude</a> and disrespectful however; <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wise_guy" title="wise guy">wise guy</a>. <dl><dd><i>He became tired of his daughter's sarcasm and <b>smart</b> remarks</i>.</dd></dl> </li></ol> <p><a name="Antonyms" id="Antonyms"></a></p> <h4><span class="editsection"></span><span class="mw-headline">Antonyms</span></h4> <ul><li><span class="ib-brac"><span class="qualifier-brac">(</span></span><span class="ib-content"><span class="qualifier-content">exhibiting social ability</span></span><span class="ib-brac"><span class="qualifier-brac">)</span></span><span class="ib-colon"><span class="sense-qualifier-colon">:</span></span> <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/backward" title="backward">backward</a>, <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/boorish" title="boorish">boorish</a>, <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dull" title="dull">dull</a>, <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/inept" title="inept">inept</a></li><li><span class="ib-brac"><span class="qualifier-brac">(</span></span><span class="ib-content"><span class="qualifier-content">exhibiting intellectual knowledge</span></span><span class="ib-brac"><span class="qualifier-brac">)</span></span><span class="ib-colon"><span class="sense-qualifier-colon">:</span></span> <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ignorant" title="ignorant">ignorant</a>, <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/uncultivated" title="uncultivated">uncultivated</a>, <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/simple" title="simple">simple</a></li><li><span class="ib-brac"><span class="qualifier-brac">(</span></span><span class="ib-content"><span class="qualifier-content">good-looking</span></span><span class="ib-brac"><span class="qualifier-brac">)</span></span><span class="ib-colon"><span class="sense-qualifier-colon">:</span></span> <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/garish" title="garish">garish</a>, <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/outr%C3%A9" title="outré"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">outré</span></a>, <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tacky" title="tacky">tacky</a></li></ul> <p><a name="Synonyms" id="Synonyms"></a></p> <h4><span class="editsection"></span><span class="mw-headline">Synonyms</span></h4> <ul><li><span class="ib-brac"><span class="qualifier-brac">(</span></span><span class="ib-content"><span class="qualifier-content">exhibiting social ability</span></span><span class="ib-brac"><span class="qualifier-brac">)</span></span><span class="ib-colon"><span class="sense-qualifier-colon">:</span></span> <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bright" title="bright">bright</a>, <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/capable" title="capable">capable</a>, <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sophisticated" title="sophisticated">sophisticated</a>, <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/witty" title="witty">witty</a></li><li><span class="ib-brac"><span class="qualifier-brac">(</span></span><span class="ib-content"><span class="qualifier-content">exhibiting intellectual knowledge</span></span><span class="ib-brac"><span class="qualifier-brac">)</span></span><span class="ib-colon"><span class="sense-qualifier-colon">:</span></span> <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cultivated" title="cultivated">cultivated</a>, <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/educated" title="educated">educated</a>, <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/learned" title="learned">learned</a></li><li><span class="ib-brac"><span class="qualifier-brac">(</span></span><span class="ib-content"><span class="qualifier-content">good-looking</span></span><span class="ib-brac"><span class="qualifier-brac">)</span></span><span class="ib-colon"><span class="sense-qualifier-colon">:</span></span> <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/attractive" title="attractive">attractive</a>, <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/chic" title="chic">chic</a>, <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/stylish" title="stylish">stylish</a>, <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/handsome" title="handsome">handsome</a></li></ul><br /></div>yewenyihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10053973864711137550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4476654584774210405.post-78865312769706558762008-03-09T22:57:00.002+11:002008-03-09T22:58:12.705+11:00let the good times roll!Obviously the opposite of a good time is a terrible or bad time. Anyone who does not like good times is weird and strange.yewenyihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10053973864711137550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4476654584774210405.post-52661754082038574372008-02-16T07:37:00.002+11:002008-02-16T07:43:53.067+11:00U.S. officials say broken satellite will be shot downQuoting <a href="http://www.news.com/U.S.-officials-say-broken-satellite-will-be-shot-down/2100-11397_3-6230668.html">NEWS.COM</a>: They are shooting it down because:<br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><blockquote>President Bush ordered the action to prevent any possible contamination from that hazardous rocket fuel on board, and <span style="font-weight: bold;">not out of any concern that parts of the spacecraft might survive and its secrets be revealed, officials said.</span><br /><br />The fuel tank is believed sturdy enough to survive re-entry, based on studies of the fuel tank that fell to earth after the shuttle <a href="http://www.news.com/NASA-site-collects-Columbia-pictures/2100-1001_3-983152.html?tag=st.nl" title="NASA site collects Columbia pictures -- Monday, Feb 3, 2003">Columbia disaster in 2003</a>. Officials said that the slushy frozen fuel would have then been released wherever it came down.<br /><br /> "This is all about trying to reduce the danger to human beings," said James Jeffrey, the deputy national security adviser.<br /></blockquote></div>Of course, we believe every word of it!yewenyihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10053973864711137550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4476654584774210405.post-13798274943044917212007-12-26T20:43:00.000+11:002007-12-26T20:47:59.275+11:00friends<div style="text-align: justify;">I have always considered the opposite of friend to be enemy. But in Sydney they think that it is acquaintance.<br /><br />Here are some extracts from my dictionary:<br /><br />friend<br />noun<br />1 a close friend companion, soul mate, intimate, confidante, confidant, familiar, alter ego, second self, playmate, playfellow, classmate, schoolmate, workmate; ally, associate; sister, brother; best friend, kindred spirit, bosom buddy, bosom friend; informal pal, chum, sidekick, crony, main man, mate, buddy, bud, amigo, compadre, homeboy, homegirl, homie; archaic compeer. <span style="font-weight: bold;">antonym enemy.<br /><br /></span>ORIGIN Old English frēond, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vriend and German Freund, from an Indo-European root meaning ‘to love,’ shared by free<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span>• a person who is not an enemy or who is on the same side : she was unsure whether he was friend or foe.<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div>yewenyihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10053973864711137550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4476654584774210405.post-30653271800058666232007-12-18T23:39:00.000+11:002007-12-18T23:44:18.286+11:00working from homeBeing in the telecommunications business, I have always thought that we should encourage people to telecommunicate as it would be good for business. So I was somewhat surprise to find people at work being against working from home. I think that we should encourage all forms of telecommunication as it would get people used to it and then drive up business. <div><br /></div><div>A few weeks back I discovered that people in Sydney have some bizarre misuse of this term which probably explains their unexpected dislike for working from home. The people from work say things like "It'll never happen". The people I spoke to said that working from home was infact just another way of saying - we stayed out all night, probably met someone we liked and stayed at their place. One would guess that this was probably after a night of sex. </div>yewenyihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10053973864711137550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4476654584774210405.post-11568204334662951062007-12-03T05:30:00.000+11:002007-12-03T05:31:57.631+11:00up a tree<div style="text-align: justify;">I think that people who take the simple term "up a tree" and think "up a skirt" are full of shit. Again wrong for two reasons.<br /></div>"Looking up at the Eucalypt" by <b>yewenyi</b> <a href="http://6v8.gamboni.org/Flickr-Easy-Photo-Post.html">[?]</a><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/yewenyi/132284992/" title="Go to the photo page"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/48/132284992_61466e1f63.jpg" alt="Looking up at the Eucalypt" /></a>yewenyihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10053973864711137550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4476654584774210405.post-70735937896038787262007-11-22T05:02:00.000+11:002007-11-22T05:05:17.790+11:00the french<div align="justify">I have walways thought of the french as being people from france, or those from other places, who have french ancestry. I still think this. But unfortunatey there seems to be many racist people here who think that being french is a synonym for cheating on your partner. Now this is wrong in at least two ways and I refuse to think like this.</div>yewenyihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10053973864711137550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4476654584774210405.post-30101157101543024212007-10-28T20:11:00.000+11:002007-10-28T21:09:43.557+11:00Karaoke<div style="text-align: justify;">Well I have my first real Karaoke experience with me singing songs. I was quite please with my singing, it is as good as it has been since my voice broke and I sang in the Coretto at school in most of the major protestant churches in Melbourne. One thing I thought was very unexpected and actually quite cool and I guess not surprising was that there were some songs with totally unexpected words. We had a version of Killing Me Softly that had lines like take you clothes off (if I have the right song). Very amusing. Clearly there are the "other" Karaoke songs. ;-)<br /></div>yewenyihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10053973864711137550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4476654584774210405.post-1155174630902105412007-10-12T23:41:00.000+10:002007-10-12T23:47:29.474+10:00like...<div style="text-align: justify;">Another simple error of assumed grammar. People, including myself say I like this. But, I always assume the do like construct where as people here assume the I am like construct. Endless confusion. Just because I like things does not mean that I am like them. Nor do I expect others to need to be like this. So saying that I like piercings, does not mean that I want a piercing, or that I think you should get one. This is just the same as saying that I like a football team means that I was to be a football player or that I think you should be a football player.<br /></div><ul><li>I (am) like</li><li>I (do) like<br /></li></ul>yewenyihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10053973864711137550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4476654584774210405.post-73666518258885754102007-08-26T16:14:00.000+10:002007-08-26T16:18:26.828+10:00Chinese and Chinese<div style="text-align: justify;">When people in Sydney talk of liking the Chinese, they mean the government of China. When I speak of liking the chinese, I mean the people of Chinese ancestry, such as myself. Anyone who knows anything about Chinese culture would understand the importance of ancestry. But apparently not Australians and Americans. I would have something to say about Jews and Israelites as an analogy, but I will not for now. But I say this, I insist on being on my own side and that means I will be honorable to my ancestry.<br /></div>yewenyihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10053973864711137550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4476654584774210405.post-87233490510635466902007-08-17T20:15:00.000+10:002007-08-17T20:19:38.827+10:00T3<div style="text-align: justify;">In the industry I work in we use <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-carrier">T3</a> links. These are the American equivalent of links like <a href="http://intersectingtangents.blogspot.com/2007/01/e1.html">E1</a> links I discussed previously. They are defined by the ITU-T which is a branch of the UN. They are nothing to do with the third tranche of sale of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telstra">Telstra</a> shares (also known as T3). Even though I used to (and to some extent still do) work for Telstra.<br /></div>yewenyihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10053973864711137550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4476654584774210405.post-62923070067988438162007-07-28T01:10:00.000+10:002007-07-28T01:17:44.671+10:00Don't care<div style="text-align: justify;">In boolean algebra, people often wrongly think that there are only two logic states: true and false, or 1 and 0 in the world of digital logic. However in boolean algebra there are two super states. Care and don't care. That is in Care, the 1 and 0 are important. In don't care, their value is irrelevant to the outcome. Sometimes I talk abort the don't care state. That is something that is irrelevant to the end result. You can probably see how easily this is misinterpreted. But some people, from no Anglophile-societies work it out very quickly.<br /></div>yewenyihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10053973864711137550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4476654584774210405.post-82946168505102940382007-07-20T20:55:00.001+10:002007-07-20T20:56:19.535+10:00Out!<div style="text-align: justify;">When I say I am going out, I mean like as in outside or out for dinner. But people here think something else. But I cannot infer what it might be. Just know that it is different.<br /></div>yewenyihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10053973864711137550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4476654584774210405.post-40875540572748919932007-06-12T19:35:00.000+10:002007-06-12T19:51:39.628+10:00對不對的對See, nothing to do with John Howard, the Liberals or National Party at all!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">In English - Right ≈ Correct is most often what I mean by right.<br /><br />BTW - this Chinese construct is my favorite. Must be something from when I was kid. There are bits of Chinese grammar in my head. When I strike them, I just feel happy.<br /></div>yewenyihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10053973864711137550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4476654584774210405.post-50993757230964573142007-05-16T02:27:00.000+10:002007-05-16T02:38:57.512+10:00Mongolian barbecue<div style="text-align: justify;">For ages now, most probably since I went to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongolia">Mongolia</a>, I have been thinking that about the last thing a Mongolian BBQ is is Mongolian. No such food exists in that country. My mother said that it is like that because the used to cook their food on their shields. It seems that the latter is indeed true, but that this is not the origin of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbecue">BBQ</a>. In Mongolia, they mostly eat bread and yogurt (as a more traditional food). They do not eat anything they files, swims or burrows. They do not kill animals as this would be against their religion, but they still eat meat. I never saw a BBQ.<br /><br />People say that as I enjoyed Mongolia, that I should want to eat this Mongolian food, and I would, if it were indeed Mongolian, but it is not. I developed this theory that a Mongolian BBQ is indeed Chinese food, and that they wrongfully attribute it to Mongolians. Well, it seems that this was a close approximation. According to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongolian_barbecue">Wikipedia</a>, it is the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiwan">Taiwanese</a> who came up with this cuisine. So it is Taiwanese food! (And also, it is not a BBQ.)<br /><br />Anyway, eating food to indicate that you like a place or a people is bizarre. I'd much rather eat food because it is good.<br /></div>yewenyihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10053973864711137550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4476654584774210405.post-53855800236051537232007-04-09T06:49:00.000+10:002007-04-09T06:55:58.680+10:00ode to Lancelot du Lac<div style="text-align: justify;">There are (strange) people here in this city who seem to think that to be a good person you must admire and aspire to being a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paladin">paladin</a>. I of course think of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancelot">Sir Lancelot</a>. I suspect that they do not. The other group of Paladins that then come to my mind at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teutonic_Knights">Teutonic knights</a>. A somewhat unsavory mob. Having done this, they then offer illegally obtained goods. Very strange.<br /><br />Anyway, a quick read of wikipedia provides the following wonderful quote: <span style="font-style: italic;">The Paladines of the Imperial Guard were named after its neighboring Scholae Palatinae. The Scholae Palatinae, itself named after its location on Palatine Hill, the mythical founding place of Rome, was the older of two schools of the ancient Salii brotherhood of God of War Mars, which lent some of their symbols to the emperial, later the papal palace.<br /></span><br />So the paladins are protectors of the Mars, the war god. I am impressed.<span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></div>yewenyihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10053973864711137550noreply@blogger.com0