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Year of the Monkey Badge: Zao Jun

spannerspencer

Year of the MonkeyCelebrate Chinese New Year with element14!

 

Day Six: Zao Jun

 

Nimen hao! We're now sprinting toward the Year of the Monkey, and it's time to start preparing for all the visitors and feasting! And who better to help out than Zao Jun, the Kitchen God?

 

But first, it's the Year of the Monkey, so in order to win our time-limited badge, all you need to do is stop by to read and comment on each of our New Year blogs. The badge will only be available to earn until February 23, after which you'll have to wait 12 years before it comes up again (given the cycle of the Chinese zodiac).

 

What's Cooking in Your Kitchen?

Zao Jun is an interesting chap. He's the God of the Kitchen, which sounds quite passive in most respects. But he actually has something of a sinister, authoritarian remit.image

 

During the Chinese New Year celebrations, people burn paper effigies of Zao Jun, but not to punish him. It whisks him away to the nether realm so he can report on you and your family to the Jade Emperor (who runs heaven) about all your good deeds and transgressions. A kind of naughty and nice list, if you like.

 

One method of encouraging Zao Jun to give a more favourable report is by offering up sweet foods, like candy and confectionery. But maybe there are other options, like coming up with some awesomely clever electronics project for the kitchen. What can you think of that'd help out with those culinary tasks, or revolutionise your kitchen experience? Tell us, and therefore Zao Jun, all about it!

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  • Before going back and getting my degree, I spent 9 years in the food service industry. Everything from flipping eggs at 5:00am to four star presentation work. These days, food for me is just something to keep me going.

     

    Just wondering... Has anyone gotten into "programming mode" when you start work on a particularly intense section of code then when you look up at the clock, you notice eight or nine hours have elapsed, and you haven't gotten up from your desk?  Side effects of this behavior are also debugging while no code is in front of you, or waking up at 3:00am with the solution to a bug that has been lurking in the background.

     

    Just wondering,

    Jack

  • in reply to jack.chaney56

    Yes, and not just for programming.

     

    I wrote most of my book "I Killed Schrodinger's Cat!" while trying to sleep.

    I would get a neat idea, jump out of bed and write it down in my notebook.

     

    My wife would just ask, "What did you think of this time?"

     

    In my programming days I used to write 100 line updates, type it in and have it work first time.

    I accomplished this feat by writing the code in my head and running it through my mind to debug the code.

    Writing it into the computer was just a simple exercise.

     

    Did impress the boss though.

     

    DAB

Comment
  • in reply to jack.chaney56

    Yes, and not just for programming.

     

    I wrote most of my book "I Killed Schrodinger's Cat!" while trying to sleep.

    I would get a neat idea, jump out of bed and write it down in my notebook.

     

    My wife would just ask, "What did you think of this time?"

     

    In my programming days I used to write 100 line updates, type it in and have it work first time.

    I accomplished this feat by writing the code in my head and running it through my mind to debug the code.

    Writing it into the computer was just a simple exercise.

     

    Did impress the boss though.

     

    DAB

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