Funny college football play!

Man, I haven't visited this blog in a long long time. Good thing my bro updates it pretty regularly!

Here's a pretty funny football play from the Florida vs FSU game this year...

Celebrities in Tana

So in August, I was in Madagascar - it was a great trip! It's a beautiful country with very nice people.
Another nice surprise is that the food was excellent there! Great authentic French cuisine that costs 5-10 times less what one would have to pay in France.

Because I was attending a conference, I stayed 8 nights at the Hotel Sakamanga in Antananarivo. The restaurant at this hotel was quite good - in fact here's a picture of myself with others dining at this restaurant.



Even Dustin Hoffman enjoyed Madagascar!

Juno Beach

Here are some photos of Juno Beach. This is where Canadian soldiers stormed in on June 6, 1944 (D-Day) to regain a foothold on France and liberate it from occupying Nazi forces. Many sacrificed their lives as they came under enemy fire from well fortified German positions. But Canadian bravery and determination allowed them to overcome.

We owe our Canadians soldiers a huge debt for their sacrifice and suffering as they fought for freedom and liberty. A salute to Canadian heroes and their defence of freedom - may we never forget their sacrifice.

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)

Get rid of the penny

There are some advocates for the $5 coin in Canada. They say that coins are much more durable and cheaper in the long run than bills, which deteriorate quickly, and are counterfeited often.

I think such advocates have a point. However, a $5 coin will really make Canadian pockets heavy - 1 cent, 5 cent, 10 cent, 25 cent, loonie, toonie, and $5 coin pieces.....it's just too many coins!

So I think that this $5 is not a bad idea, but before it comes into being we need to abolish the penny!

What a useless coin it is, this penny of ours! Just get rid of it!
If we could live with the penny as the lowest denomination 40 years ago, surely we can live with the nickel as the lowest denomination now, since a nickel now is worth less than a penny was 40 years ago!

Banks would still be required to calculate interest to the penny, and a penny that is produced by the Royal Canadian Mint costs much more than 1 cent!

So I haven't yet heard a good argument for keeping the penny...

The Republic of Canada

In this nice opinion article by the Globe and Mail's Jeffrey Simpson, he argues that when Queen Elizabeth departs -long may she reign! - that we should look into making Canada a republic.

I fully agree. Especially I don't want to see Prince Charles ugly face on Canadian currency!

Costume Ideas

I'm not a Hallowe'en fan at all...now that I'm in Europe, I don't have to put up with that sort of nonsense.

For those that are into it, and are looking for costume ideas, this is a good one:

Spiffy hockey jerseys

Have you ever seen hockey jerseys like this?



Apparently they were worn by the Kingston Frontenacs for Don Cherry Military Night, with the jerseys being auctionned off for Soldier On - an organization that helps injured Canadian soldiers.

Academic Principles

I think everyone who has a PhD, is doing a PhD, or has attempted to get a PhD knows about the truth of this academic principle:

C.T. and S.T. - more German silliness

In Germany, sometimes the time that an event starts is given with a C.T. or S.T. postfix after the time. This especially occurs often at universities and academic institutions.

What they mean can be found on this link.

Basically 14:00 st means 14:00 while 14:00 ct means 14:15 where ct means "cum tempore" and st means "sine tempore".

I have no idea why Germans insist on this, especially since the terms are Latin, not German. Wouldn't it just be easier for everyone to write 14:00 for 14:00, and 14:15 for 14:15? Or does that make too much sense?

Finally a Taiwanese dictionary

Taiwanese is a great language - unfortunately, it was oppressed by the KMT dictatorship, and is only in the last 10-20 years being respected again. The problem is that the Taiwanese themselves don't treasure their own culture, and less and less Taiwanese can speak the language.

In fact, a Canadian-born person like me (2nd generation Taiwanese) can speak better Taiwanese than the majority of people my age who live in Taiwan.....that's really sad.

Finally the government of Taiwan has come up with an official Taiwanese to Chinese dictionary. About time - this should have been done 10 years ago!

Hopefully this tool can make written Taiwanese more frequent, and more accessible!
But the Taiwanese themselves need to show more willpower to learn and use Taiwanese!

Link to Dictionary webpage

Hopefully there will also be an English-Taiwanese dictionary available soon!

NCAA Stupidity with Excessive Celebration Penalties

An otherwise good game last Saturday between No. 4 LSU and No. 18 Georgia was totally spoiled by the NCAA's stupid obsessiveness with excessive celebration.

Georgia took the lead on A.J. Green's catch with only 1:09 remaining, and the officials called an excessive celebration penalty on Green during perfectly sane celebrations with his teammates on a great TD catch in the dying minutes of the game. As a consequence, the Bulldogs had to kickoff from their 15 yardline, instead of the 30 yardline - giving LSU much more of a chance to comeback.

Sure enough, Charles Scott's run with 46 seconds left put LSU up for good. But of course, NCAA officials had to ruin another great play with another excessive celebration penalty.

There's not taunting from these college kids, just celebrating some great plays - let the players be players, and don't affect the destiny of the game with these pointless penalty calls!

Midautumn Festival

Last Saturday, it was the Midautumn Festival in Taiwan.

To celebrate, here is a new poem, written by a 21st century poet named 阿挺

八月十五食月餅
恁來切阮來請
食到逐家腹肚疼
佇便所聽落屎聲

Harper with a little help from his friends

Who knew? Apparently Stevie Harper can play the piano and sing! And not bad for an amateur player! Here he is with Yo Yo Ma and Herringbone (a three-man band) performing "With a Little Help From My Friends".

I think the audience was really surprised!

French is not useless after all....

Well, I guess my French knowledge is not useless after all....

Is it because I am Canadian, and with French, I can communicate better with my fellow countrymen in Quebec? No - French Canadians can speak English, and you can survive with English quite well in Quebec.

Is it because I live 30 km from France, and I can communicate better with the French? No - French people can speak English, no matter how hard they try to pretend that they don't.

Rather, my French knowledge is going to come in handy in Madagascar - where the local people there hardly speak any English - rather they speak Malagasy and French. (I guess French colonialism, though regrettable, does make this country much more accessible to people like me)

I used to think that French was really uncool - but I guess it does have its uses!

German City Designs

Ok, so I've been picking a bit on Germany, but they have some pretty nice ideas, (if they decide to avoid complicating them too much).

There's a district of Freiburg called Vauban - that's pretty much car-free. Its sort of a "green-experiment" where many homes are powered by solar energy, cars are only allowed through the main thoroughfare, and parking must be at the outskirts of Vauban.

This new way of life, has even been noticed by the NY Times!
Read the article!

It just goes to show that things like US urban sprawl is avoidable, and an environmentally, and lifestyle favourable alternative is possible!

French words polluting the German language

I really am annoyed with the amounts of French words that occupy everyday German vocabulary. I'm not really sure why Germans tolerate them, since they have their own words for them, but for some reason, want to use French words in their speaking.

I think it spoils the beauty and unity of the German language - but what can you do?

Here a list that I came up with (I think most Germans are oblivious to their usage of French):

Restaurant (just say Gaststätte)
Saison (just say Jahreszeit)
Serviette (just say Handtuch)
Vision (just say Traumbild)
Niveau (just say Stufe)
Étage (just say Stock)
Cousin (just say Vetter)
Recherche (just say Forschung)
Chance (just say Gelegenheit)
Revanche (just say Rache)
Version (just say Ausgabe)
Detail (just say Einzelheit)
Orange (just say Apfelsine)
Balance (just say Gleichgewicht)
Portemonnaie (just say Geldbeutel)

Omas Küche

Sometime in January, we went to a nice restaurant in Freiburg called "Omas Küche", which means "Granny's Kitchen". In Taiwanese, that's: 阿媽的灶腳.

It's a pretty casual place with a relatively young crowd (most customers are 25-45 or so), and pretty reasonable prices. I definitely recommend it!

Here's a picture of: Onkel Alfreds Lieblings Buletten (Uncle Alf's favourite meatballs)

Really tasty meatballs with mustard, glazed carrottes and fried potatoes...mmmm, good!

Here's a nice picture of another dish: pork chops with special sauce.....


Good stuff!

Switzerland and the European Union

Switzerland is blessed with some beautiful scenery - great mountain scenery in the Alps, some beautiful lakes, and quaint little towns. It really is a country that is situated smack dab in the middle of Europe.

But something about its people - what's their problem?
What gives them such aversion to the European Union?

Sure, Switzerland has this tradition of "independence" and "non-alignment". But come on! It needs to face reality! Surrounded by EU countries everywhere....Germany to the north, France to the west, Italy to the south, and Austria to the east.....

How much trade does Switzerland do with the EU? How often must its citizens change currency every time they go outside Switzerland (which is not very big). Because the Swiss are outside the EU, but still want to partake in the benefits - so they have so many diplomats in Brussels trying to ink agreeements that aren't EU agreements (as Switzerland is not in the EU), but have basically the same effect.

Well - just join the bloody EU! And adopt the Euro for heavens' sake! Do you think its pleasurable to have to change currency constantly? Losing 2%-5% of every transaction to the greedy banks?

STOOOOPID!!!!

Movies in Germany

Something I don't understand about Germans....why do they insist on dubbing every single movie over in German? It's really a shame - one cannot hear the original soundtrack.

And anyway, the average English level ability in Germany is quite good (although not as good as Scandinavia), and so they should be able to handle it if the original language is in English (and put subtitles for those who cannot understand).

But no, this is Germany, and if they dubbed it before, then they will ALWAYS dub it....

Rather unfortunate....