Carter’s name in Chinese is the same as Bruce Lee’s - Xiao Long or Little Dragon. We have exclusive footage showing the young protege training in the Bruce Lee way of Jeet Kun Do (The Way of The Fist).
Enter the Dragon
Return of the Dragon
Let’s see that again
Canucks even the series at 1 win apiece and fanning the flames of playoff fever here in Dalian, China.
Well dear old Mr. Chow over at The Long Road has taken great delight in slamming our dear beloved Canucks and this post is for him. Mr. C. perhaps you should examine the title of your blog and realize that you are truly a Canucks fan - The Long Road refers to the Canucks trip to the Stanley Cup. With the lockout year taken into account the Canucks make a trip every 12 years to the Stanley Cup Finals (in 82 they lost 4 straight, in 94 they lost in the 7th game .. love that progression!). You have very little time to convert before we start burning your effigy.
Just a quick shot of Nathan and his new favourite activity … making a mess and loving it.
*Special thanks to Hubert Wong for taking photos of the event .. action pics are added below*
Well .. Kermit was right .. so far “It’s not easy beating green!” We opened the exhibition play today with a 10-1 victory over team Turquoise … the Big Turks. They are a big team and didn’t give any room out there but we managed to find a way to penetrate the offensive zone. The score was tied 1-1 at the half and then the floodgates opened. I managed to nab one goal and took two fairly hard checks which caught me off balance and resulted in a couple of nasty scrapes to the arm …
and the leg
but that is the way we play it in Dong Bei and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
The goal sequence
Some battles along the boards
Congrats to my fellow teammates it was a blast!
The annual Dong Bei Cup starts up again this week with a pair of exhibition games. For those not in the know the Dong Bei Cup is a 4 team ball hockey tournament for the teachers at our school. The tournament is the brainchild of none other than Commissioner E. over at the Engleson Files and it has grown from humble beginnings to a fantastic month long extravangza. The spirit level of the kids who attend (we get 300+ crowds) is amazing and truly has to be seen to be felt. I have been to the finals twice (2004 - team white and 2005 - team black) and the energy you get from having the students come out cannot be described in words.
The team to watch out for this year is Team Green. As Kermit says “It’s not easy beating Green!”.
Due to the colour of our shirts we have adopted a M*A*S*H* theme (Mobile Attacking Street Hockey)
Our lineup consists of
Craig Engleson - goalie (Lr. Colonel Henry Blake)
Euan Frew - mid/forward (Major Hotlips Houlihan)
Adrian Conraid - forward (Cpl Klinger)
Simon Ng - defense (Radar O’Reilly)
Cameron Secret - forward (BJ Hunnicutt)
Rony Amin - everywhere (Capt. “Spearchucker” Jones)
Me - Darren Brown - mid/defense (Hawkeye)
Today’s matchup - Team Green vs. Team Turquoise (Tortoise)
Go Green!
While I was gone this weekend to Nanjing for a hockey tournament (look for a future posting) Alice had the weekend with the boys. She had the nanny stay with her for extra help - something you can only afford in China. When I came back I saw a few photos that she had taken of the boys and I must say they are very good shots so once again .. da boys!
As promised we have a new photo of Carter’s class and this one was taken by Alice.
If you think that Carter (middle row 2nd from left) doesn’t look his best that is because when his mom showed up to take the picture he assumed she was coming to take him home (2 hours earlier than normal) and when she didn’t take him he was not a happy camper .. ergo the next photo
But he really does enjoy school … she managed to capture at least one smile
He eventually got his way and Mama had to take him home at 9:30 am rather than his usual 11:30 AM pickup time.
In the video below check out Carter’s Michael Jackson moves - a spin move early on and then a moonwalk near the end of the video. Look for cameo’s by Magnus, Hailey and Maya.
The other day I was in charge of picking up Carter from his preschool - a task I hadn’t done up until that point. I have to say it was pretty cool and it made me realize that I am in fact a father. I had assumed that by the time I would be a father that I would possess many of the qualities and traits my father had. When I was young I assumed that fathers were bald, always had change in their pocket to buy goodies with and could fix anything. Hey .. 2 out of 3 ain’t bad. I hope for Carter and Nathan’s sake that mechanical ability only skips a generation.
When I arrived to get Carter he was initially saddened that mama hadn’t come to get him but that quickly gave way to unbridled exuberance. The video below should tell the tale.
If you have 23 people in your class there is a slightly greater than 50% chance that 2 will share the same birthday. If there are 30 people then there is a 71% chance 2 will share the same birthday and if you have 60 people there is a 99.4% chance - an almost certainty.
Below is a graph that shows the probability plotted against the number of people in the group
I have 3 math classes of 22, 20 and 23 students (started with 27,27,27 so I must not be that popular). I tried this with them and in 2 of 3 classes two people matched birthdays.
Well .. this one was a bit more challenging to solve than the previous problems so if you are interested then take a look at the solution. It is a bit difficult but you might learn something if you are interested.
In probability when we cannot solve something directly we can look at the complementary event which is essentially the opposite event. The probability of an event and the probablity of its complement add up to be 1.
Example - Event: It is raining Complement: It is not raining
The probability that it is raining or not raining is 1 since it must be doing one or the other.
P(raining) + P(not raining) = 1 OR P(raining) = 1 - P(not raining)
This is how we solve the birthday problem.
P(a match among N people) = 1 - P(no match among N people)
To calculate the complement probability imagine there are 3 people in the class. The first person can have any birthday. The second person’s birthday has to be different. There are 364 different days to choose from, so the chance that two people have different birthdays is 364/365. That leaves 363 birthdays out of 365 open for the third person.
To find the probability that both the second person and the third person will have different birthdays, we have to multiply:
(365/365) * (364/365) * (363/365)
A formula for the probability that n people have different birthdays (no matches) is
((365-1)/365) * ((365-2)/365) * ((365-3)/365) * . . . * ((365-n+1)/365).
Or the probability that out of N people 2 will have the same birthday is
1 - ((365-1)/365) * ((365-2)/365) * ((365-3)/365) * . . . * ((365-n+1)/365)
Throw in n = 23 and it is just bigger than 50%
With one comment on the Monty Hall Problem I can see that my efforts to stimulate the viewers with some good ol’ mathematical problems have fallen short of expectations. Nevertheless I will continue to press on in my efforts to train your brain.
So here is the solution which most people find surprising.
It is better to switch than to remain with your original door. The common thinking (and I this is what I thought as well) is that since there are two doors we don’t know and one of them contains the car then there is 1/2 chance that the car is behind one of the doors. Sounds nice but unfortunately it doesn’t work quite that way.
When you chose the door initially there was only a 1/3 chance you chose the car and a 2/3 chance that it was one of the other doors. When the host opens a door (not containing the car) he has changed nothing because he knows which door has the car and he purposefully shows you a goat. There is still only a 1/3 chance you chose the car and a 2/3 chance you did not. It is more likely the car was behind a door you did not choose to begin with - remember the cars and goats do not move.
If this doesn’t sit right imagine there are 100 doors and you choose one at random. The host then shows you 98 goats and leaves you 2 doors to choose from - yours and another. You only had a 1/100 chance to pick the door correctly at the start and since the car doesn’t move then you still only have a 1/100 chance of winning so you should definitely switch.
Click here for a website to play the game. Check you results after playing many trials. Was it better to stick or switch?
There is still a few more days to tackle that Birthday Problem
No .. this isn’t a problem about what to get a child for a birthday or what cake to order or anything like that. Here we have yet another problem designed to stimulate the brain. If you haven’t already tried the Monty Hall Problem then click the link and give that one a try. The solution is coming out tomorrow.
This problem is related to the Monty Hall Problem in that it is a study of probability. The question is this
“If you are in a math class (the horror!) how many people would need to be in a class for there to be a 50% or greater chance that two people share the same birthday ?” You need only match the day not necessarily the year (ie/May 18th for example - chosen because it is the date of my birthday). You can then add to the problem by trying to determine how many people it would take before there was a 95% chance that two of the people have the same birthday. The answers may surprise you.
Cheers
It’s been a month or so that Carter has been attending school and so far the reports are that he is doing well and has adjusted well to his new situation. This week he learned not to cry when mama takes him to school which Alice assures me is a big improvement. He would immediately stop when she left but it kinda became routine to shed a few tears prior to that. He tells me that he plays cars everyday and has met some new pengyou’s (pronounced pung yo and means friend). Of course Magnus still is his number one pengyou. Next Tuesday he starts Art class in the afternoon. Looking forward to a couple of original Carter Brown prints in the future
Aren’t I a big boy now?
A photo of a photo of his class … hoping to get an original tomorrow. In China they prefer to overexpose the photo so that people’s faces appear white.
Staying within the lines will be developed in next week’s Art class
Just a quick note to say that ColoradoDaze (Bill and Susan’s blog) is now fully functional in China but not because LiveJournal has been “unfirewalled”. Instead Susan C. has come over to the dark side so to speak by finally joining the greatest blog site anywhere - Blogsome! Welcome to the group .. no we are NOT a community or whatever touchy-feely phrase those other “spaces” use. Just plain pure and simple here at blogsome.
In an effort to enlighten your mathematical knowledge the following video clearly demonstrates why 25% share divided among 5 people is obviously 14% a piece. Wrong you say? Watch and LEARN!
The video and picture below tells the tale … another milestone in the life of “Bulldog” Nathan Brown. The unassisted stand.
A subject that we never grow tired of talking about is our boys. It’s funny how I find that I am their biggest fan and their biggest critic all at the same time. I have no idea how the Neidermayer parents could possibly have felt when Rob and Scott faced each other in the Stanley Cup Finals. Here is to hoping that I have the dilemma someday. Enough rambling .. here are some shots of Da Boys taken a few days ago
This problem is in reference to the game show “Let’s Make a Deal!” hosted by Monty Hall. The problem outlined here is not exactly what happened on the show but it is a great question in probability nonetheless.
“Behind three closed doors are 2 goats and one car. A contestant picks a door at random. The host (Monty Hall) opens one of the other 2 doors to reveal a goat (note: Monty knows where the car is and intentionally opens a door with a goat). The contestant is then offered the choice to stick with their original door or switch to the other unopened door. The question posed to you is this: Is it better to stick, to switch or does it matter?”
Have fun!
Beautiful sunny skies greeted the Kai Fa Qu children as they set about on their task of collecting chocolate eggs and other goodies around the Song Hai Li apartment complex.
Sarah and Adrian once again selflessly volunteered their time to create a great event for the kids. Carter was fully into the hunt and took home a great stash o’ candies.
Nathan was out of this year’s event for the most part as it cut into his morning naptime and not being able to walk is really a hindrance to hunting for eggs.
The pinata looked great when it arrived but with a dozen kids and a hockey stick that poor bunny didn’t stand a chance.
With candies spread all around some unexpected “guests” showed up and tried to clean up. This unknown 10 year old boy was no match for the hordes of the foreigner children.
And finally .. the video
A follow up to last week’s post “A Juicy Math Problem”. The answer is that there is as much apple juice in the grape juice bottle as there is grape juice in the apple juice bottle.
With the first “transport” of juice there is only grape juice on the tablespoon. On the second “transport” of juice, there is as much apple juice on the spoon as there is grape juice in the “apple juice bottle.” The key is to remember that you are transporting the same volume each time and so whatever amount of apple juice you have on the spoon that means you left that same volume of grape juice in the apple juice bottle.
Look for another nifty problem later this week.
One of my favourite bands since a young adolescent and hearing them on cassette in my brother’s Fargo van (Best of ZZTop) in ‘78 or ‘80 or so is ZZTop. I love the blues and these guys just seemed damn cool the first time I heard them. I must confess that since Eliminator I haven’t really liked much of their albums and I think the years 1970 to 1983 were really their peak but they are still going strong in 2007.
A buddy Billy C. is a real devotee of the slide guitar and for me that is the best a guitar can sound. Obviously Ry Cooder is one of the best around but here is Billy Gibbons showing his chops on the slide guitar in a concert from 2003
