Although I've had this week "off", there's no shortage of news from Australia. Maybe it's because I'm not in class so I pay more attention. The news this week ranges from the serious to the downright bizarre and I shall endeavour to convey it as best I can.
Firstly, some news leftover from previous weeks. While in Newcastle I watched the AFL Grand Final where a new product was launched. Kraft, which produces vegemite, had come up with a new product which was a mix of cream cheese and vegemite and had asked for submissions from the public as to this product's new name. During the Grand Final they announced it --- iSnack 2.0. The reaction from the public was near-universal and guttural revulsion and ridicule. The first thing I thought when I saw the name was "That's just stupid." It seems virtually all of Australia agreed. The name was suggested by a 27-year old web developer from Western Australia who I can only assume wishes to remain anonymous to prevent attempts on his life. A committee from Kraft then decided on the name which they said reflected modern life but boy did the ponce this one up! The favoured name from people I talked to was Cheesymite. Recently, the embattled Kraft Company announced that the product's new new name will be Cheesybite, which isn't too bad.
While I was in Melbourne I saw a piece on the morning news about guinea pig or gerbil (I can't remember which exactly) racing in Grenfell, NSW. It's exactly what it sounds like. The poor rodents are placed in a small straight track and then released to race. Australia is the Earth's premier racing country and the horse Spring Racing Carnival has just begun. It seems Australians will race anything. I'm not sure what exactly is more astonishing, that rodents are raced, that it's been going on in Grenfell for 30 years (that's years) or that I'd never heard of this before.
The day arrived back in Canberra from Melbourne was the National Rugby League (NRL) Grand Final between the Parramatta Eels and the Melbourne Storm. The Storm were a strong team appearing in their 4th consecutive Grand Final and the Eels were the underdogs but were dark horses as they had won 10 of their previous 11 games in order to get to the final. In the unending rivalry between Melbourne and Sydney, it was up to Parramatta to carry the flag for Sydney. I only managed to catch the last few minutes and although the Eels put up a stout fight, they lost to the Storm by 8 points, but it was pretty close for a while. I was hoping the Eels would win, but like the Saints in the AFL, they just couldn't get a break when they needed one.
Monday last was Labour Day, a public holiday. Not much to say about that since I was already on break. Although around this day it was announced that Australia had just received its 22 millionth person, possibly a birth or an immigrant. This is an increase of about 4 million people in the last 10 years, which is pretty substantial. It is caused by a high birth rate, low death rate and high immigration. The population is supposed to double to 44 million by 2050. I think that would deprive Australia of some of its mystique. Australia will no longer be a far-flung, sparsely populated country with a vast Outback. Although the Outback will still exist, I have no doubt, something about Australia having so many people makes me sad.
In an odd twist, it turns out Kevin Rudd, the Prime Minister, has been declared a Ukrainian. On a BBC quiz show contestants were shown G-20 leaders and were told to guess which country they represented. When Kevin Rudd came up the contestant guessed Ukraine. This is a little odd since Ukraine isn't even a member of the G-20, Australia is a favourite destination of the Brits, Australia sees Britain as the "mother country" in some ways and Australia is the most important economic power in the south Pacific. Anyway, as a Ukrainian, I think Ukrainians should embrace Kevin Rudd as a fellow countryman. We can use all the help we can get.
I was also very excited to read about the launch of Google Street View in Canada. The first thing I did was look at my house in Ottawa. I was very impressed because, somehow, Google managed to find a sunny day in Ottawa during spring! Some people are concerned about privacy and so faces are blurred of people on the street and the same for car licence plates. I really don't see how this could possibly be an invasions of privacy. You're already in a public place where hundreds of people can see what you're doing. By definition what you do in public cannot possibly be private; we already have laws that regulate what you can and cannot do in a public space. I hope someone can explain this to me; privacy is about what happens behind closed doors not open windows.
Also, over the last week I went in for an ultrasound, not because I though I was pregnant, but because a while ago I had noticed a lump on my leg. On the ultrasound the lump looked like a big black blob. It appears to be a "bubble" of fluid between the muscle and skin. It may be related to something called a Baker's cyst, a collection of fluid behind the knee, that I may have received as a result of some sort of injury during soccer or something. It's not bothering me nor is it in any way dangerous. In order to remove it, I just have to get the fluid removed by syringe, but I can ignore it for now. I'm now anxiously waiting the inevitable phone call/e-mail, probably from my mother, wanting to know all about this. I wonder if by writing this, I've made it evitable? The only tedious thing was filling out an online insurance claim. I once heard that the first life insurance policy was taken out in the 1860s by a man named Gibbons for the sum of about £360 for 1 year; I don't know that was the premium or the sum to be paid upon death. Anyway, Gibbons died 4 weeks short of the 1 year mark but the underwriters got together and in order to avoid paying out they said that according to their reckoning a year was 12 x 4 weeks, so Gibbons had outlived his policy. All I can say, is thank God the insurance companies have changed since then and now they can't wait to give you your money and to hell with the small print. I think Chris Rock put it best. Insurance should be called "In Case [Something] Happens" and if [something] doesn't happen you should get your money back.
On our floor, the fridge I was using had an unusual smell for some days. By "the fridge I use" I mean the fridge that I share with half the floor. After putting up with it I decided to find out what was the cause. I got our floor SR, James, to help me out as I felt I needed his permission in order to throw anything out. In the bottom drawer we found some 3-week old chicken fillets and some spinach that had also gone off. James made the mistake of taking a deep breath of the chicken which made him gag and almost made his eyes water. He described the smell as "from the bowels of Satan". As an aside, "pumpernickel" means to "give Satan gas", the "nick" being the same name as "Old Nick" a nickname of Satan. In any event, as any chemist will tell you, anyone who breathes in directly is absolutely barking; you should wave your hand over the substance and waft the smell over. Moreover, humans are especially attuned to rotting meat for evolutionary reasons. Humans can detect the hydrogen sulfides in rotting meat because it was a way for us to prevent getting sick; if you smelled the meat and it was bad, you knew not to eat it. Also, I think, it helped us with predators in that if you saw a predator lying in the grass but it didn't smell, it might not be dead. By the way, skunks also produce hydrogen sulfides in their stink. Anyway, James cleaned out both fridges and everything's just rosy now.
As of right now, I'm writing this absurdly long application for an otherwise interesting opportunity at Finance Canada. In addition to the standard CV and references, the application asks you to explain your ranking of your preferred policy branches, an essay on policy issues and, a question I absolutely loathe, how teamwork helped you in the past. I hate questions like that, along with those like "What is your worst fault?" and "Can you give an example of how you resolved a conflict with a co-worker?" I haven't had really any conflicts with co-workers and what do they care what my faults are? I really think it should be confined to questions relating more specifically to the job, although I'm willing to grant a little leeway on the co-worker conflict thing. Anyway, I have to get back to this dreaded application. I think I'm in with a shot, though, if I get this right with my mom's help.
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