My Maxim

 Once a day

But

Everyday

Ah, a fine maxim that I hope to apply to more of the activities that I tend to neglect. In my Mathematics post today I averred to subject the number associated with my diurnal age to the rules of Conway's Game of Life, once a day but everyday. I might usefully apply this maxim to the my dart throwing. I've already set up an Airtable database to keep track of my "efficiency" as I call it and which I explained in a blog post titled Measuring Dartsmanship. I should also apply it my chess puzzle solving that I wrote about in a blog titled Chess Puzzle in October of 2023. A puzzle solved each day is a sure way to improve my chess abilities or at least arrest their decline.

The maxim can also be applied to physical activities around the house. There are plenty of chores that need doing and it might be helpful to create a list of them so they could be attended to on a more regular basis. As it is, I tend to have bursts of sometimes intense activity followed by long periods of indolence. Getting back to intellectual matters, my failure to master the Indonesian language could be attributed in part to my failure to embrace this maxim. Again, I have bursts of activity followed by inactivity. I was thinking that watching at least one YouTube video each day about the language might be helpful.

Variations on a theme

The activity doesn't have to be the same each day. For example, if I didn't want to solve some chess puzzles then I could play a game of chess instead or study an opening. Similarly with the Indonesian language, there are many activities that could be tried other than watching videos. For instance, Desy was searching for the English word "fold" to describe the activity of folding clothes. I told her the correct word and didn't want to admit that I didn't know the equivalent Indonesian word. The word happens to be "lipat".

"tikar" means "mat"

For example, "Desy folded the clothes" would translate as "Desy melibat bajunya" and "followed clothes" would translate as "pakaian terlibat". There's a similar word "libat" that means "to wrap" and is used figuratively to mean to be involved with or wrapped up in something. For example, "She was involved with a married man "Dia terlibat dengan pria yang sudah menikah". There's even "lihat" that means "to see".

Words for Vegetables in Indonesian

In today's KATLA I was alerted to the fact that kubis is the Indonesian word for "cabbage". See Figure 1.

Figure 1

As can be seen in Figure 1, I started with catur (chess) but with limited success. I knew that there was a "U" in one of four possible positions. My next attempt, bumbu (flavour), fixed the position of the "U" and informed me that there was a "B" in one of the  three possible positions. My third attempt, kubik (cubic), was spectacularly successful and located four letters in their correct positions.

Here is an example of the use of the word kubik:

Persamaan kubik selalu memberikan tiga solusi, meskipun tidak harus berbeda.

A cubic equation always gives three solutions, although they need not be distinct.

However, it's the Indonesian words for vegetables that I want to concentrate on in this post. See Figure 2 shows a list of English-Indonesian words that will serve as our starting point.

Figure 2: source

I've added this chart to my Pinterest board titled Indonesian Vocabulary. 

As today has turned into tomorrow, I'll include my latest KATLA in Figure 3.

Figure 3

I'd not heard of makar before and had to guess it. Google Translate renders its meaning as "treason" but my Indonesian dictionary returns:

Word: makar 

Short Definition: trick, tactics 

English Definition: 

1. trick, tactics 

2. attack, assault 

3. attack against the government  

Examples: 

Para mahasiswa mengadakan gerakan MAKAR terhadap bekas

Presiden Suharto = Students had organized a movement to ATTACK the

former Presiden Suharto

There is a kata benda or noun, namely makaran, that is translated by Google as "plot".