Cathie’s blog…

Or “Congratulations and be prosperous” as Chinese New Year is almost upon us.  However it is also the day not to be buying new shoes as this is considered bad luck amongst some Chinese. The word “shoes” is a homophone for the word “rough” in Cantonese, or “evil” in Mandarin.   So I will resist the urge to buy shoes on the 7th February!

Still, at least there is one good thing - it is bad luck to sweep the floor, so the housework will have to have been done by then (fortunately for me, my cleaner works on Wednesdays so my house will be sorted for Chinese New Year).

This will be the Year of the Rat who are leaders, pioneers and conquerors.  They are charming, passionate, charismatic, practical and hardworking.

However, if like me, you were born under the Ox , then you are blessed with the sign of prosperity through fortitude and hard work.  Apparently, this sign is a born leader, quite dependable and possesses an innate ability to achieve great things.  As one might guess, such people are dependable, calm, and modest.  Like their animal namesake, the Ox is unswervingly patient, tireless in their work, and capable of enduring any amount of hardship without complaint [Wikipedia].

Er - on second thoughts, maybe I was born in a different year…

I found out something really cool today.  Okay, most of the webworld found out about it last year, but so what?

Basically, there is technology available that makes black and white squares.  Woohoo I hear you say.

Well, the really cool thing is, that if you have some software on your mobile phone, you can point your camera at it and it will translate into a url that could provide info.  How cool is that?

Surely, someone somewhere will have picked up on this and created a t-shirt where you can put your own url on it with your contact details, in black and white squares, so that another techno-like-minded geek can take a picture and get your number.  The future of internet dating???!

The possibilities are endless.

Find out more at Semacode.