Winterlude

As I'll be off in Canada for the next 3 weeks, there will be no updates for that time. Afterwards, I'll publish my adventures. See you in mid-July.

Freedom! Horrible, Horrible Freedom!

It's finally happened. The semester is over. All exams written and handed in. You hope you've done well and hope you've done you're best. I'd like to think I've done both. My exams were not exactly easy, but none were ridiculously difficult. In a few weeks I'll find out if I have to sit in any supplementaries. Hopefully not. To write another exam or, heaven forbid, redo a course, sort of feels like paying twice for the same real estate. I think I've done alright. the end of this semester also signifies the end of half of my degree. It won't be long now.

I had my end of year performance review at ACTTAB and things went very well. It turns out people are quite happy with my performance and are generally pleased to work with me. It entitled me to a little raise, or as they say here, a rise. I'm now making just under $26/hr which is fantastic considering the amount of work I actually do. And in this economic crisis, I'm glad for the money. Next semester my schedule will be a little more conducive to ACTTAB so I'm looking forward to raking it in hand over fist.

Tomorrow I'm off to Queanbeyan to officiate a footy match and then go to something called the "Day of Heroes". It's some sort of Ukrainian event commemorating someone or other. I've never heard of it so I guess I'll find out then.

Speaking of Ukrainians, Viktor Yushchenko, the President of Ukraine, was supposed to visit Australia last week, but his trip was cancelled. Apparently the political situation in Ukraine is such that he needs to be personally there. Oh well. I'm sure there will be another occasion for him to come Down Under. We Ukrainians in Canberra were kind of hoping for something big but I guess we'll have to wait.

With the semester truly over, I'll be off to Canada for the next 3 weeks, returning just before the start of the 2nd semester. It'll be nice to bask in Ottawa's 30C weather while Canberra freezes and celebrate Canada Day in Ottawa. I leave Tuesday but I'm staying in Sydney overnight at a friend's. My brother will meet me at the departure gate and together we'll cross the Pacific. He'll spend most of the Canadian summer at Camp Borden (or as I call it, Camp Boredom), teaching young cadets how to play musical instruments. I keep telling him that he should join the army since he enjoys it so much. Anyway, I look forward to seeing some familiar faces though I've been in Australia for so long, Canada may seem foreign.

One last quip. What was the name of Scotland's Jewish national poet? Rabbi Burns! I think it's funny even if you don't.

No Good Deed Unpunished

I've had my first exams of the season, neither of which I looked forward to. The first was a take-home International Law of Human Rights (ILHR) exam and the other was a sat Administrative Law exam. Although I don't think I did particularly stellar in either, I do think I did alright. I comfort myself by saying that one day this will all be 10 years ago. I did have a little boost just before my administrative law exam and that was that I received 2 marks from ILHR, a High Distinction for class participation and a Distinction for a class presentation. I really needed the boost. I later found out that I sat my administrative law exam on the coldest day in Canberra for 43 years! The day was quite miserable as a fog didn't burn away like it was supposed to and trapped colder air beneath it. The daytime high was 4C, which for me isn't that cold, but for Canberra it's freezing. And another interesting thing happened with administrative law. My professor contacted me and said that he had somehow neglected to record my mark for a particular assignment and asked if I could send him the mark by e-mail. I told him the truth, a Credit and offered to bring it in as proof. He replied that it wouldn't be necessary. I later asked him if I had said I'd received a Distinction or High Distinction would he have checked, and he said no, at least not for a Distinction. I think I deserve honesty bonus points.

The cold weather I just spoke of also brought snow to the hills, though none has actually fallen in Canberra. I want to see snow! Snow can actually be classified as a mineral, in much the same way as ice. Ice is a naturally occurring, inorganic, crystalline compound which is the definition of a mineral; snow is exactly the same. I'm not kidding, geologists do classify ice this way. Snow, then, is the sedimentary version and ice is the metamorphic version --- created by heat and/or pressure.

Last Monday was the Queen's Birthday public holiday, one of only 2 days of the year, the other being Australia Day, that Canberrans are allowed to set off fireworks. There were fireworks everywhere. I went to the roof of Fenner Hall and looked out over the city and you could see fireworks from every point. It was actually quite amazing.

I had another great round of picks at the AFL, getting another 8 of 8. This means that my tally is now 70% correctness. If only I'd been putting money on this, I'd be making it hand over fist.

I read on the internet that the trial of Larry O'Brien has adjourned while the judge considers whether or not to grant a directed verdict. Reviewing the evidence, I think there is reasonable doubt but I'm not so sure I'd be ready to grant a directed verdict quite yet. I think judges when considering such matter as an assumption take the Crown's case at its highest, that is to say they consider, for the sake of argument, that the Crown's evidence is true. The judge would then see if even at this high standard, could a jury reasonably find a person guilty. Luckily, I'll be in Ottawa when the directed verdict is scheduled to be handed down. Maybe I can get a front row seat.

I've been reading, as I'm sure you have too, about the Air France flight that disappeared and the statement about contradictory speeds from the instruments made me think of another disaster. About 10 years ago an AeroPeru flight crashed at night into the sea. Shortly after takeoff, the instruments began relaying conflicting information, for example stall warnings, overspeed warnings (too fast) and different altitudes. It is actually impossible to be going too fast and be stalling. The crew decided to turn around but because it was night, there was no horizon or any landmarks. They eventually just sort of landed in the ocean as they lost altitude. It turned out that the pitot tubes had been blocked by tape when cleaning the tape hadn't been removed again. The pitot tubes use the external air pressure to gauge altitude and airspeed and then relay this information back to the instrumentation. If this is blocked, it can wreak havoc and create contradictory information. From what I've read about the Air France flight, this is very similar. There has even been talk about the pitot tubes being iced over although the manufacturer has questioned this conclusion. Hopefully, we'll find out what happened.

Finally, I'll leave you with this slightly less than politically correct event that happened last week. Sreeja, a young woman from India on my floor, was having trouble with her computer so she called one of Fenner Hall's IT support people. I think she got through to Ian. I then pointed out that in an ironic twist, and Indian was calling a Caucasian for tech support. I think it's funny even if you don't.

Reminding

Lectures have ended and now comes the true test of one's mettle --- exam season. The exams have set upon me as a flock of ravenous vultures. All lecturing has ceased, all assignments are in and all bets are off. The best anyone can do in this situation is their best and hope for the best. Luckily, 2 of my 4 exams are take-home which doesn't make them any easier necessarily, but it does give more time for reflection. Almost as luckily, exams at law school are open-book unless otherwise specified but none of mine are, so that takes away from the stress as well, but only slightly. I guess all I can do is study like mad and hope that I come up with the right answers, although in law there are no such things.

Speaking of exams, I had another dream involving administrative law. This one dealt with a fictitious administrative law exam that was being administered orally; I only wish. Taken with my previous dream a few weeks ago, I think I've got admin on the mind. It's actually quite sad that I dream of these things, although I did have another dream where I was piloting a plane that had been lost on radar but still had radio communications. We ended up landing on Cranbourne Avenue is Sydney, which doesn't exist as far as I know. All I can say is bizarre.

With the onset of winter, the weather has taken a decidedly gray countenance. It's been fairly chilly for the last few days and there's even been some rain. This is good news for the reservoirs but it doesn't help the mood, especially when you're cooped up studying. It'll remain like this for a few days and then it's supposed to clear up but without an increase in temperatures. As I'll be in Canada for a good part of July, hopefully, I'll miss the coldest time of the year, but I doubt I'm that lucky.

And finally a question of semantics. Can some place remind you of somewhere you've never been? I've had a few occasions to travel by bus to Tuggeranong, a division in the south of Canberra. The hills make me think of Switzerland and I've found myself telling people that it "reminds" me of Switzerland. I have never been to Switzerland. That being the case, can the view remind me of some place I've never actually seen for myself? Oh, the questions I think up when I've got too much time on my hands.

I've decided to post some pictures of night fog in Canberra. Fog seems to be a regular occurrence this time of year.