À la recherche du temps perdu

New Orleans.

More fractals

Photo credits: Simon Tatham

The fascinating results you get when you graphically map how the Newton method finds an approximation to multiple roots, and homes in on them.

From the »very simple and readable NYT column on mathematics by Steven Strogatz.  During the languid days of being a data-entry clerk in between high school and university, I devoured a couple of pop math books from the library.  The interest has remained since.

Tragedy of the commons

If the shared printer runs out of paper, is it the responsibility of the last person who caused it to run out to refill it, or is it that of the unlucky person who next tries to print?

Today I refilled it and also taped up the annoying cover which keeps falling off. Then someone returned my favorite sock which I had left behind in the dryer.

It's nice when people take the trouble.

(But humans tend to try to get away with doing as little as possible. We're all a bit shitty that way.)

Of course there will be great presidents again

via »New York Times

And so in the end, after scoring clients and conquering the world, this is what we become.

Here is another »endearing letter.  I wish I could see it in its original handwriting and stationery.

The stegosaurus veg

Ok, that's just the »romanesco sitting on my takeout box.

But if I were teaching my kid about dinosaurs, I would serve this fascinating creature on his dinner plate. (It's quite tasty actually.) And while we are at it, we might as well learn about »fractals and »logarithmic spirals too.

Perrier-Jouët at Harvey Nichols

[Embedded slideshow. Click on original post to view it.]

Get there before 5 pm if you want a seat.

The cult following at Monmouth Coffee

Rhubarb, 82p per 100g

Make bread while the sun shines

Octopus

Feijoa fruit at Borough Market

A complex guava with hints of soursop and other delicious tones which I can't put my finger on. Pity it's £1 each (they're only the size of an egg), if not I'd have bought more. 

Royal Photographic Society port talk

Andrew Ritchie, director of »my residence college, looks on as Rosemary Wilman, the President of »RPS, gives a port talk. I decided to keep him underexposed as I quite liked the light.

The quick brown fox

Was not jumping over the lazy dog. It was scurrying along my pavement at night in such a sad state, with a big patch of missing fur on its side.

Heartbreaking.

Helmet heartthrob

While the other gals were ogling over Chanel bags (one or two which are no doubt quite worthy of ogling), I was eyeing this at Selfridges.

But actually, my dream helmets are these ones from »Les Atelier Ruby.

And oh yes, having access to a bike would be nice.

And then my heart with pleasure fills, and dances with the daffodils

Scented daffodils on a bluesy day.

I just found out that daffodils is simply the common name for narcissus.

A Single Man

Rushed past the poster at the tube last night. Walked backwards to look at it.



And ooo, just take a look at »this delicious scene.

Little basil is home

It was a bit homesick despite the best efforts of Ms F, but it's now happy it's home.

What a strange and yet attractive notion to have something so entirely dependent on you.  I think I'm finally starting to understand the allure of the damsel in distress.

Lion dance

Seeing one always makes me beam. I love their flirty ears and eyes.

Ms L was telling me yesterday that the ones in London's Chinatown had problems coordinating their legs. I told her that I once saw a lion dance where they just spit out the oranges wholesale like cannonballs.

P.S. You can't see it in the video, but one of the cymbals guys is an Indian. That's Singapore for you.

A beautiful night at the opera

That's how Mr D describes his daughters.

Dressed up fruits

Movie star

At Soho Square in the beautiful sun.  The downside of fixing a 50mm on a non-full-frame is obvious here: you really need to step back. But for the price, no complaints.

We also bumped into two photographers who asked us to be their portrait subjects. One was the flash man, holding a stand-alone flash which was fired via radio frequency (i.e. no cords required). Very interesting, I hadn't seen these gadgets before.

f2.0

Testing my new 50mm f1.8 II on not very healthy leaves at Changi Airport.  I wanted the cheapest possible lens for days I don't feel geeky enough to lug a big bag.  What a world of difference from the 17-55! (130g vs 645g)

Sinewy fist on clutch

Which saw me through school and drove me everywhere for the past 30 years.

Ten red lights and one green light

Finally :)

Hats

Love hats. For the possibility of walking among falling snowflakes.

(Heads turning a bonus.)

追风

我特别迷恋某些感觉。

»骑单车的感觉、被舞伴转得眼花花的感觉、裙子飘飘然的感觉、»"let's just go"的感觉。

原来他们的共同点就是那阵风。

Sweep me off my feet.

Contributions to the world

#1: Making my 70-year-old aunt cry with laughter
(I share this honour with my dad.)

#2: Helping people in libraries, shops and homes reach for the high shelves
(Happened even in Germany; I was quite flattered.)

#3: Making complex subjects accessible to laymen
(E.g. healthcare, economics. Seems like more needs to be done - one of my young students wanted to deny miners voting rights for central bankers because he thinks central bank policies are too difficult for the former to comprehend.)

Eight German Diptychs

[Embedded slideshow - click »here if you don't see anything.]

举头望明月

Duchamp's lego giraffe

From Mr Heising

You can meet him »here.

Modern-day Sisyphus

Doing penance in front of the Reichstag.

Mr Beer Belly, Mrs Boobs and friends

Near Alexander Platz in Berlin. I think the festival was a statement about global warming.  (Presumably because it is a leap of faith during a Berlin winter, to believe that global warming is actually happening .)

»Click for bigger version.

Baby bike, Hannover

Mum and kid went into the »Landesmuseum after parking the bike.

In Berlin we like to drive our convertibles in -10ºC

P.S. to car aficionados: What make and model is this?

The poverty of morality

I came across this when proofreading Ms F's personal statement the other day. She worried about the poverty of morality in our age, about our children who would grow up to be gifted scientists, brilliant bankers and powerful businessmen without a moral compass.

It is an issue I had I alluded to »previously and which occupies my mind every so often. In the notebook that I carry around, I had the following scribbled:

"These days, it has become fashionable to be blasé. To reduce everything to: 'Oh, it's all relative.' It is the one evergreen balm for our conscience if it is ever pricked by something we do. It has  become politically incorrect, even bigoted to suggest that someone is wrong.  For how can anyone be wrong?"

I was recently propositioned to write essays for an essay mill (i.e. to do someone's homework) for £100 per essay. I was tempted, but eventually I said no.

Perhaps this is why I will remain poor. Or in fact, maybe I am not poor enough, because as someone remarked earlier this afternoon, "We are all prostitutes. It is all a matter of price."

*    *    *

I now return to my half-watched Episode One of the Harvard Justice series: http://www.justiceharvard.org/. Do yourself a favour and watch it too (at least the trailer bit on the homepage). Michael Sandel is very provocative and it's interesting to hear how the students' comments on the moral dilemma.

Ms F: One small step that Harvard is taking to assuage your worry.

Snow prints

Instructions on how to comb the hair

So. The man will comb his hair without a mirror, working his open hand through it. The woman will make her reflection into a tower or treetop, whatever peak, where the lines of storm and the blue mark of the broody kingsfisher can be found. She'll know how to stem sweetly that flow from tenuous high tides, how to light the fires of remembrance without smoke. To comb the hair will be to take auguries for the rising day, give shape to the lover's secret thought, instruct from the blood the son not yet born.

When it comes to children, let the air comb them.

- Julio Cortázar, 'Historias de Cronopios y de Famas'

The parents of this boy are the lovely folks who invited me to share their New Year's Eve.  He has exactly the same tousled hair as his father, it's amusing to watch.

Brilliantly translated names

I first noticed it last May in a Hong Kong newspaper article on their top judges. Reading the (Chinese) text gave me the impression that all of the judges were local, so I was surprised to see non-Chinese faces in the photos on the facing page. Delving into the captions, I realized that it was because the foreign judges have all been given very authentic Chinese names. Superb translators they have in Hong Kong, I thought to myself.

Today. I was poring over a judgment of Lord Hoffmann when I clicked on »a wiki link of him and chanced upon his wonderfully translated Chinese name: 贺辅明. (Lord Hoffmann is one of the non-permanent judges in the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal.) It prompted me to look up the Chinese names of the other non-Chinese judges in Hong Kong.

These are some of my other favourites (I'll let the Lords appear first out of deference):

• Sir Anthony MASON - 梅师贤爵士
• Lord MILLETT - 苗礼治勋爵
• Lord SCOTT - 施广智勋爵
• Justice MACKINTOSH - 麦健涛法官  (Very nice, especially in Cantonese.)
• Justice ROGERS - 罗杰志法官
• Justice STONE - 石仲廉法官   
• Justice STOCK - 司徒敬法官 (Probably my top pick.  Absolutely brilliant incorporation of a double-word surname.  The Cantonese also sounds exactly like 'Stock'.)
• Mr Justice BOKHARY - 包致金法官 (This is not particularly eye-catching, but wait.)
• Mrs Justice BOKHARY - 包钟倩薇法官 (They incorporated her husband's Chinese surname in front of her maiden name - the way we do!)
• Mr CASEWELL - 祁士伟先生 
• Mr DUFTON David John - 杜大卫先生  (Note to self: Make use of both the first and the last names.)

I have often been asked to translate names of my non-Chinese friends on the spot and I have always been reluctant to do it for good reasons.  This reinforces my belief: a Chinese name should sound Chinese and have a proper meaning.

A shrimp paste and salted vegetable life

To describe a hard life, you liken it in my country to the lowest of everyday food, i.e. belachan (Malay for shrimp paste) and 咸菜 (Chinese for salted vegetables).

Hence, nasib belachan and 咸菜命 (typically pronounced as 'giam chai mya' in the Hokkien dialect as salted vegetables is common to Hokkien dishes.)

Both are delicious by the way. Ooo, I am just six weeks away from them!

Credit to the very funny Ms A for sharing her phrase.

British daffodils

It's a priceless feeling to wake up to blooming daffodils on a wintry 1st Jan.

Welcome 2010

"Fir ald lang syn, ma jo,
fir ald lang syn,
wil tak a cup o kyndnes yet,
fir ald lang syn..."


»Click for a very melodious Scottish version of Auld Lang Syne which has been playing on the radio here. 

Take Harry and Sally to Sunday tea

This wonderful ad appeared in the tube stations about two weeks ago. I've just made contact with them to see how I can help with neither a car nor an apartment here.

Next time when I am old, I hope someone takes me out for tea in a bike or a sidecar! :)

If you are interested, this is »a video of what goes on in these tea parties.

Roasted winter vegetables

My contribution to Christmas lunch. 3 kg (probably more) of potatoes, parsnips, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, peppers and onions sound like a lot, but once roasted, they shrink and are very dense. That pan there is only 9 inches wide and 2 inches deep.

Rosemary and sage add such wonderful dimensions to roasted vegetables. I think I want to attack a swede (the plant, not the nationality) next time.

Harmonica boy at Christmas lunch

Uncle's blossoms

Last year at this time, we had to make some hard decisions. Sometimes I wonder if the sedation is more for the living than for the dying.

»NYT: Hard Choice for a Comfortable Death: Sedation

Chinotto

Speaking of orange fizzy drinks, I just recalled that Mr A introduced me to chinotto when we went to »Princi, an upscale, day/night Italian bakery here. This is the same bittersweet orange that is used in campari (alcoholic) and is marketed by San Pellegrino as Chinò (non-alcoholic). Give it a try but by all measures, campari and Chinò are acquired tastes due to their bitterness. I quite like campari when in the right mood, but only if it is ice-cold, diluted and fizzy. Venice (cf its love of »spritz) and »my Campari Project are the best places to be in the right mood.

»Wikipedia claims that the Italians think the fruit came from China, hence its name. I have never heard of bitter oranges in the context of China; I think we happily gave Marco Polo all of the trees when he came by a few hundred years ago.

Orangina

My Orangina craving began exactly a month ago from today, when I visited Paris for a weekend. To my horror, I didn't find the classic glass bottle during my entire stay. I eventually succumbed to a tin can *cringe* on the Eurostar back.

Back in London, it seems that only the Apostrophe sandwich shops (and Paul bakeries too it seems - thanks Ms M) stock the glass bottle ones, at £1.50 a pop.

So, I have just placed an order for 2 cases from a wholesaler. Eagerly awaiting their arrival.

P.S. The illustrator of these posters is the rather famous Bernard Villemot. Orangina has a »lovely shrine of its iconic posters and TV ads through the decades.

Happy Christmas Day!

Shoreditch baigel shop

Yes, the famous 24-7 one in Brick Lane that apparently only changed hands three times since the French revolution.  The salted beef baigel TRULY lived up to its name; the cheesecake less so.

And no, the blur is not some new iPhone effect.  It's the condensation on the lens (a la those on Mr A's glasses) when we went indoors.*

Kudos to old neighbour Mr A for letting me drag him all over town in search of Jarmusch's espressos, Brick Lane baigels and wrongly timed punk gig!



*I know, it's bad for the camera's insides.  I really must remember to put him in a ziplock bag when we go out in this weather.

Two espressos in two separate cups

We just had to order them, after seeing »Limits of Control the night before ;)

Dispoetry

Anticipation is such a wonderful thing... but its bedfellow can often be disappointment.

Cutting observation by Mr B.

"Let's just go"

The bank account, the aging parents, the jadedness, the divergence of paths, the broken leg, even the visa status... So many things can get into the way.

Whether hearing or saying it, whether literally or metaphorically, I just came to comprehend how precious and under-appreciated a sentence it is.

Fancy lemons

Good to know I'm not drinking wax.

I have eight of them. Get lost, sore throat.

Responsible egg-eating

I didn't know about these codes until Mr C pointed them out. (They are EU-wide, it seems.)  Now I feel better about stealing from the chickens.

NIMBY #2: Serangoon Gardens dormitory

Goh Bock Seng, a resident, said: "Singaporeans are used to living in a community. If the workers are educated and they know (how) to behave themselves, I think it's fine. We've finally accepted the fact, but we just want to say that we should have been consulted first."

Another resident, Fang Shihan, said: "For me, personally, I would like to get to know them better since we're going to be living in close proximity. Maybe we could have tours inside to see how they live, what they do, instead of having this little alien town that we don't understand."

»ChannelNewsAsia

Have tours inside?  Do you think they are zoo exhibits?  Would you like to offer your house for everyone else to tour?

Naked crisps

I'm starting to get into this British habit of eating crisps (elsewhere: "chips") at lunch with sandwiches.

Winter blooms

Looks unreal, doesn't it?  (Both the flash effect and the fact that this is December)

There is a whole tree blooming like this in the courtyard.

Lion at Sotheby's

via »the Londonist

Checked out Sotheby's with Mr R a couple of nights ago as we were in the area.  And there it was, the petite, 3,200-year-old Madame Sekhmet above us, fully exposed to the elements.  I have to agree with Mr R that "it is a little underwhelming".

Maybe I should check her out again in daylight.

Back to some normacy - started cooking again

»Nikujaga at midnight is the preferred poison.

Galfriends rock!

Ladurée in London doesn't.  CHEWY, eww.  I'll never eat macarons here again.  Stick only to the »Ladurée in Paris, and definitely try »Pierre Hermé there as well.

Feel like snapping

Need some air.

My police horses are back

Haven't heard them trotting by in the past couple of days. Good to know they still make their rounds in winter.

Did you know that they wear ankle guards on their forelegs?

Feisty Ravel

[Embedded video of Ravel's Tzigane - click on original post to view]

Heard this live last night during the Winter Concert of my Goodenough College. It is so fantastic, live. (It is equally fantastic to live among musicians too.) The French violinist was feisty, had wild blond hair and appropriately broke from the norm of concert black »to don a yellow gypsyish dress.

Non-live, this version by Vengerov is the best in my opinion. It gives me a neck-ache to watch his contorted posture, but I like his interpretation and especially relish the accompaniment of the harp and orchestra.