I suppose I should start by apologizing for not updating last week. I returned from Perth and intended to update this week but I just couldn't find the time or the energy. What I'll do now is update the last 2 weeks, minus my trip to Perth, and then post updates on my trip in the coming days.
The Winter Olympics have certainly heated up and Canada is performing especially well, far better than I, or probably anyone else expected. It all started with Alex Bilodeau winning his gold medal in the men's moguls. It was the first time a Canadian had won gold on Canadian soil. From there, the bevy of gold medals has continued unabated and at last count, Canada actually leads the gold medal count with 10. The United States leads the total medal count with 34 but Canada's 21 puts it in 3rd behind Germany with 27. However, we'll have to see how the men's hockey goes. Even though our women's hockey team has already won gold, for some reason it's the men's hockey that draws the most attention. I think that even if Canada won every gold at the Olympics save for men's hockey, Canadians won't be happy. Anyway, I wish them success.
Getting back to Bilodeau, it has been the topic of some discussion that the Australian who finished 2nd, Dale Begg-Smith, was actually born in Canada and moved to Australia due to a falling out with the Canadian skiing authority. Begg-Smith is a very successful and wealthy entrepreneur, something to do with computers, and it was the tug between work and sport that brought him into conflict with his Canadian coaches.
Although Begg-Smith was interviewed on Australian WIN TV, to Australia's great credit, they interviewed Bilodeau as well. I think it says something about the Australian way of thinking when they'll interview the winners from other countries. To be fair, Bilodeau does have a connection with Australia --- he trains sometimes at Jindabyne in the Australian Alps. Nevertheless it does great credit to Australia to be interested in athletes from around the world.
Most of my time in the last week has been taken up with the first week of university. Classes have begun and life has returned to the campus. Going into my final year, I'm pretty nervous as I do have some difficult classes ahead, like Property and next semester, Equity and Trusts. Already I have to think of assignments and how to plan them and I can only hope that my best will be enough.
In more bizarre news, a Ukrainian tourist was recently rescued from the cliffs of Sydney's Manly Beach. After a night of revelry, he climbed down the escarpment that abuts the ocean and became unable to climb back up. He was rescued by the local service but now faces a hefty bill for his rescue because he was the instrument of his own predicament. I wonder what'll happen?
Finally, I wanted to leave you with a thought I've been having, and that is on accents and dialects. Interestingly, linguists do not know how or why differences in language develop. If we learn to speak from our parents, primarily, then that should be a recipe for constancy not differentiation. For example, within 100 years, Australia had a distinct English accent. This may sound like a long time, but it's only 3 or 4 generations. One possibility is that accents of one language originally started as accents of the dominant language by speakers of another language. To take England as an example, the northern dialect reflects, roughly, the borders of the area once known as Danelaw, a region once under the command of Danish settlers/conquerors. Nevertheless, one would think that over time as people intermarried and communicated that accents would eventually disappear. However, that doesn't explain why Australia, Canada and to a lesser extent the United States are so linguistically homogeneous. The obvious retort is that the more time elapses, the more accents can develop but this seems a little counter intuitive, and if you think about it, can you even really talk of accents and dialects on a large scale? Each person's physiology and life experiences mean that they speak differently, both audibly and by using words they have picked up in their travels. In a fundamental way there are as many accents and dialects of a language as there are speakers of it. The next time someone asks what accent you have, you can reply your own and not be speaking with a forked tongue.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Olympic Feats
There's actually quite a lot to get through this week. As student life returns to Fenner Hall, I have been fairly busy. There has been a multitude of things to do and see in the past week. Along those lines, there's a poster all over the ANU which features two friends of mine, Jason and Alice. Funnily enough, it's for international orientation even though Alice is from Canberra and Jason is from Tasmania (which is almost another country). It's a candid photo taken of them working on a park table but if you know who they are, it's quite ironic.
Canberra's multicultural festival ended last Sunday. I went down to Garema Place to see what was on, and it's mostly a food festival. There were hundreds of people in Garema Place lining up at various tents to sample the cuisine of the world. There were also performances by cultural groups from around the world, and the buskers making a small living off their talents. Busking, a tradition as old as entertainment and street corners.
Later that day I biked down to EPIC to watch the running of the Canberra Cup for harness racing. Luckily there was no admission and I walked around talking to people I knew. This year it was nowhere near as hot as last year, thankfully, so many more people showed up. Although I didn't get a chance to work, I enjoyed watching the races; the direct descendant of chariot racing.
On Monday, although I had a training session, I managed to catch most of the Superbowl and I was ecstatic that the New Orleans Saints finally won one. It was a pretty close affair until that last interception. Although the Colts weren't entirely out by that time, it was clear that unless they pulled something very good off, they were defeated. I don't know why exactly I cheer for the New Orleans Saints. I've never been to New Orleans nor do I know anyone who lives there. I guess it's just one of those things. Because I was working I didn't have the chance to make myself some popcorn, chicken wings and nachos, but I'll try next year.
The weekend saw the beginning of the first class of the new semester, that being a postgrad course on freedom of information and privacy. It's not easy getting up at 09:00 and going until 17:00 on Friday and Saturday, but it's what you have to do. Most postgrad courses are run this way to accommodate working people who do this as part of their training; virtually everyone in this course is a public servant. The content is interesting but you have to sort of force yourself to enjoy it. I get to do it all again in a few weeks time. I hope to do really well.
The 2010 Winter Olympics have started in Vancouver and I wish everyone success. Actually, if I wasn't in Australia, I'd be with my family in Blaine, WA just across the border. I'd stay with them and drive up to the venues. I'm kind of sad that's not going to happen but I hope that they are having fun, at least. I've also heard that due to the warm weather, it has been necessary to truck snow to some of the venues. I'd never thought I'd hear of the day that there was a lack of snow in Canada but that's what you get for holding the games in western BC.
In other festivities it's Chinese New Year, starting the Year of the Tiger and St. Valentine's Day, the holiday brought to you by the greeting card companies. Even if you realize what it is, woe betide you if you have a significant other and not get them something.
Today and yesterday saw large rainfalls in the area with flood warnings in effect and even Sydney had roofs collapse due to too much water. I maintain that the drought is slowly breaking and the next decade will see wetter conditions around Australia. I think Australians can start preparing for an end to their long suffering as Australia is moving from a drought-dominated to a rain-dominated period.
I'll also just mention that I'm off to Perth Tuesday and I'll be back on Saturday. I'll see when I can update my blog after that.
Canberra's multicultural festival ended last Sunday. I went down to Garema Place to see what was on, and it's mostly a food festival. There were hundreds of people in Garema Place lining up at various tents to sample the cuisine of the world. There were also performances by cultural groups from around the world, and the buskers making a small living off their talents. Busking, a tradition as old as entertainment and street corners.
Later that day I biked down to EPIC to watch the running of the Canberra Cup for harness racing. Luckily there was no admission and I walked around talking to people I knew. This year it was nowhere near as hot as last year, thankfully, so many more people showed up. Although I didn't get a chance to work, I enjoyed watching the races; the direct descendant of chariot racing.
On Monday, although I had a training session, I managed to catch most of the Superbowl and I was ecstatic that the New Orleans Saints finally won one. It was a pretty close affair until that last interception. Although the Colts weren't entirely out by that time, it was clear that unless they pulled something very good off, they were defeated. I don't know why exactly I cheer for the New Orleans Saints. I've never been to New Orleans nor do I know anyone who lives there. I guess it's just one of those things. Because I was working I didn't have the chance to make myself some popcorn, chicken wings and nachos, but I'll try next year.
The weekend saw the beginning of the first class of the new semester, that being a postgrad course on freedom of information and privacy. It's not easy getting up at 09:00 and going until 17:00 on Friday and Saturday, but it's what you have to do. Most postgrad courses are run this way to accommodate working people who do this as part of their training; virtually everyone in this course is a public servant. The content is interesting but you have to sort of force yourself to enjoy it. I get to do it all again in a few weeks time. I hope to do really well.
The 2010 Winter Olympics have started in Vancouver and I wish everyone success. Actually, if I wasn't in Australia, I'd be with my family in Blaine, WA just across the border. I'd stay with them and drive up to the venues. I'm kind of sad that's not going to happen but I hope that they are having fun, at least. I've also heard that due to the warm weather, it has been necessary to truck snow to some of the venues. I'd never thought I'd hear of the day that there was a lack of snow in Canada but that's what you get for holding the games in western BC.
In other festivities it's Chinese New Year, starting the Year of the Tiger and St. Valentine's Day, the holiday brought to you by the greeting card companies. Even if you realize what it is, woe betide you if you have a significant other and not get them something.
Today and yesterday saw large rainfalls in the area with flood warnings in effect and even Sydney had roofs collapse due to too much water. I maintain that the drought is slowly breaking and the next decade will see wetter conditions around Australia. I think Australians can start preparing for an end to their long suffering as Australia is moving from a drought-dominated to a rain-dominated period.
I'll also just mention that I'm off to Perth Tuesday and I'll be back on Saturday. I'll see when I can update my blog after that.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
I'm a Noun and an Adjective
There really hasn't been that much to report this week. There's a multicultural festival on that so far I haven't been able to visit, one of my classes begins in a week and I'm about to begin supervisor training at ACTTAB, but really, that's it. I guess I'll just fill this post with uninteresting filler. I also wish the New Orleans Saints luck in the coming Superbowl.
I've been getting ready for my trip to Perth by buying maps of the city; one is a complete street directory while the other is a small one I can take with me. I'm getting excited to see the city. I hope Perth will be interesting and it'll be a good reward for a summer well-spent.
I've seen in the news that the Australian Olympic team is under pressure for the International Olympic Committee to take down the boxing kangaroo banner they have hanging off their balcony because it's a registered trademark. This might give me something for intellectual property this semester. So far the Australians have resisted and judging by the posts on cbc.ca, most people support them. Speaking of intellectual property, an interesting case was decided in the Federal Court the other day. It turns out that Men at Work's famous song Land Down Under has a flute riff that sounds too much like Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree, which turns out to be a copyright violation. Personally, I would have thrown the suit out because the copyright owners took too long to file it. The current owners bought the rights to the song around 2000 and only brought suit 2 years ago. I think equity should have mandated a dismissal. Copyright, along with privacy, seems to be one of those areas of the law that have been taken too far and people treat as sacred. I really don't understand it.
In good news, Australia's been getting a lot of rain, especially in the interior where it needs it. In Canberra, it looks like we'll be getting a week of rainy weather, though not continuous. Still, it's good for the ground and the reservoirs. I maintain my belief that the drought is slowly breaking.
I also went on to urbandictionary.com and found the following definition. It's a little contradictory but I hope it's true. Roman, also roman: noun or adjective, "a really hot guy who isn't ugly but isn't all that physically attractive, yet he has something that attracts girls." Maybe it hasn't been such a boring week after all.
I've been getting ready for my trip to Perth by buying maps of the city; one is a complete street directory while the other is a small one I can take with me. I'm getting excited to see the city. I hope Perth will be interesting and it'll be a good reward for a summer well-spent.
I've seen in the news that the Australian Olympic team is under pressure for the International Olympic Committee to take down the boxing kangaroo banner they have hanging off their balcony because it's a registered trademark. This might give me something for intellectual property this semester. So far the Australians have resisted and judging by the posts on cbc.ca, most people support them. Speaking of intellectual property, an interesting case was decided in the Federal Court the other day. It turns out that Men at Work's famous song Land Down Under has a flute riff that sounds too much like Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree, which turns out to be a copyright violation. Personally, I would have thrown the suit out because the copyright owners took too long to file it. The current owners bought the rights to the song around 2000 and only brought suit 2 years ago. I think equity should have mandated a dismissal. Copyright, along with privacy, seems to be one of those areas of the law that have been taken too far and people treat as sacred. I really don't understand it.
In good news, Australia's been getting a lot of rain, especially in the interior where it needs it. In Canberra, it looks like we'll be getting a week of rainy weather, though not continuous. Still, it's good for the ground and the reservoirs. I maintain my belief that the drought is slowly breaking.
I also went on to urbandictionary.com and found the following definition. It's a little contradictory but I hope it's true. Roman, also roman: noun or adjective, "a really hot guy who isn't ugly but isn't all that physically attractive, yet he has something that attracts girls." Maybe it hasn't been such a boring week after all.
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