On Governments and Apologies

Every now and then a Government will come out and apologise for significant historic events, not least of which was Rudd's apology to the stolen generations right after his election in 2007. That event, in particular, was of national significance and was an emotional event for all Australians.

This week another such apology by another Government, albeit on a far lesser scale than the aforementioned, caught my eye.

Being a mathematician I am familiar with the name Alan Turing. His work in cryptanalysis was crucial to Allied efforts in breaking the German Enigma codes, and he also worked with some of the earliest computer, with concepts named after him such as the Turing test and Turing machines.

What I was unaware of was that he was also gay, and a few years after the War was one of many homosexual men who were treated abominably by the British. In this day and age it is inconceivable that a Western country could be publicly permitted to commit such atrocities.

And thus Gordon Brown apologised on behalf of his country's government for the treatment of this wartime hero. A small gesture, a token gesture, but nonetheless one that I can appreciate.

Cooking Diary: More Chinese food

I went shopping today for more new ingredients to try out - and found a "shrimp paste". Time to experiment!

I added it to a dish with silken tofu, dried mushrooms, dried tofu, ginger, spring onions, and.... oyster sauce. Sounds like a recipe for disaster? Well it turned out quite tasty but I'm not sure that I'd use the same combination again.

In the meantime, here's a better pic of my version of Sichuan chicken. I know, it's not the traditional way of cooking it, but it sure is tasty (even I ate a lot of it!)

Food for thought: Must we be paid to work?

A friend of mine made an interesting comment today:

"Ideally everyone would work to their capacity, and everyone would get appropriate/fair remuneration, but there’s really no point in championing one without the other."

This rather innocent statement hit me as an indication of how strongly capitalism has been drilled into our minds.

I'd like to ask: Is it truly necessary to be paid in order to do work? Is it not sufficient to work for the good of society?

I wonder if we had grown up in a different time, a different place, perhaps society would provide for everyone, and that in turn, everyone would work to provide the labour in order for society to function.

Cooking Diary: Sichuan Chicken and Lemon Fish

The food was surprisingly good, :D
but these photos are out of focus :(

Journey Through Faith: Religious and Social Beings

I came across an interesting article tonight:

Humans are hardwired to believe in God.

The point about religion as a social construct has been prevalent amongst my thoughts recently. I mean, organised religion is still so strong even in this age of scientific progress, which would suggest that there is more to it than simply believing that some mysterious being created the world in six days. It would make sense that there is some point in religion other than to hope for a better afterlife.

My opinion - and it is just opinion - is that religion provides a moral fabric which a group of people can use to build a society upon. It doesn't have to be logically sound, nor does it even have to be a positive set of rules; it just has to be present such that people can act in the same way. Perhaps it really is an evolutionary feature, whereby acting in groups simply provides a better survival strategy than flying solo.

Whilst I am an atheist, I remain superstitious in many ways, usually as a means to explain the inexplicable. It's strangely comforting and empowering, the positive side to belief and faith. Perhaps this is evolutionary bias towards religious participation coming into play. I don't know, but it's something I intend to think about.

I'll return to this topic at some point.

Cooking Diary: Sweet Potato Dessert Soup

I decided to try something weird and wonderful today, a dessert soup with a sweet potato base. "Dessert soup" in Chinese uses the words "sugar" and "water", and that is precisely what I used - sweet potato, ginger, sugar (brown and sliced, Chinese-style), and water. Easy!

It's quite filling though, I would share it around if possible.

Cooking Diary: Steamed Prawns, Fried Eggs with Chilli

Had a couple of mates over for dinner last night. I made three dishes, the first is a chilled tofu with a Chinese-style vinaigrette, the second is fried eggs with oyster sauce and chilli, and finally we have steamed prawns with ginger and spring onions.