Don't care

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.

Out!

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.

對不對的對

See, nothing to do with John Howard, the Liberals or National Party at all!

In English - Right ≈ Correct is most often what I mean by right.

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.

Mongolian barbecue

For ages now, most probably since I went to Mongolia, 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 BBQ. 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.

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 Wikipedia, it is the Taiwanese who came up with this cuisine. So it is Taiwanese food! (And also, it is not a BBQ.)

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.

ode to Lancelot du Lac

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 paladin. I of course think of Sir Lancelot. I suspect that they do not. The other group of Paladins that then come to my mind at the Teutonic knights. A somewhat unsavory mob. Having done this, they then offer illegally obtained goods. Very strange.

Anyway, a quick read of wikipedia provides the following wonderful quote: 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.

So the paladins are protectors of the Mars, the war god. I am impressed.

Young Russians in Sydenham (1)

Young Russians in Sydenham (1)
Originally uploaded by Kent Johnson.

When I speak of Russians, this is typically what I am thinking of. Not this or this. (and thanks to Kent, please click on the image and see some of his other excellent images and the excellent story.)

Am I single

I do not believe how much confusion one statement can create. A long time ago, I put a statement on my ICQ account that I am single. Quite innocent. But it seems that people think the I am a single when I make this statement. Now, I have nothing against the singles of the world. In fact i am impressed. But I did mean that I do not have a girl friend. In the end I have deliberately not changed the statement. But I have not made it anywhere else. Out of curiosity I just had a look for my ICQ account and find that it seems to have expired.

So two statements, very different meanings:

1. I am single.
2. I am a single.