Comments on Comments

Peter Tong

About my paper on the Appollonious circle and the nine Point circle, the two subjects are totally unrelated in any geometry text. They are discussed my article together only because they both came up during a chance meeting I had with some classmates when the conversation turned to geometry we studied in Pui Ching. I apologize for the confusing text on the web because the loss of formatting in translating subscripts and math symbols to html text. html may be good for web commerce but totally inadequate for mathematical expression.

As to James Koo's proof, I have no problem with that. As I said in the article, if we adopt analytical technique and write an equation for the loci, we immediately see that the solution is a circle. The trick is to prove it without resorting to equations. I'll get to that in some future time after I have time to read the proof in the text cited in my article. 

At this moment, I want to discuss James Koo's Reunion article, which came out at the same time as "Circles and Triangles" and gave the events, which he described in glowering terms, a different interpretation. Less rosy and more alarming. As we all are well aware of James' positive attitude towards life. He sees just about every thing through rose color glasses. His reunion article is no exception. That can be a real virtue in life. However, in this case, I like to point out some of the fallacies of his reasoning even as he tried valiantly to assure us the all is well with the upcoming class reunion. Indeed, according to him, better than well.

As you remember he said in his article that for different reasons three of the members on the Planning Committee arrived late, and very late to the meeting. James insisted that meant the members were working extra hard on the reunion. He then pointed out that the member were so serious about the meeting that they did not invite any of the wives. Indeed, from the photo, I saw no female members at all. We all remember how James heaped praises on the beauty of our female classmates. How does James feel about their brain and ability?

Here is my own interpretation of the first of the two facts. Unlike what James had suggested, the tardiness suggested to me that our reunion committee was not able set up a meeting for only five or six people where everyone could get to the meeting on time. I cannot help but worry what the reunion banquet would be like if half of the people were late for one hour or more? In the Toronto reunion, most of us stayed in the hotel where the banquet was held. As a result, every one was on time but even then, we did not have enough time for the entire program planned. Isn't it obvious to the Committee that with a couple hundred of people, just to say hello to each friend will take hours? Perhaps, the Planning Committee is expecting a small get-together of no more than thirty to forty people. 

As to the second fact, James will attest to the importance of our better half. Right, James? Or are you just all talk? Without their active support, a valuable resource of manpower would turn into a drain. Is the Reunion Committee aware that much of the work in the Toronto reunion was performed by our female classmates and spouses of classmates? My own experience was no exception. In putting together the reunion book, I could not have done it without the support of my wife, Connie, Josh Hung's wife, Verona and Park Chan's wife, Magaret. Of course, our Gina is a wonder woman but could any one suggest that we ignore the contribution of Gina husband, Steve? How could we forget the assistance of Shirley Lam? Not only do they played important roles in the reunion, they led the organization effort.

My dear classmates, it is not my intent to be critical of James or the Planning Committee. As Murphy's Law says, 'Mother Nature is a bitch. What can go wrong will go wrong.' Or something to that effect. As a start, may I suggest that every member of the Planning Committee and James show up on time at the next planning meeting and do invite the active participation of your spouse and our female classmates.