Baby elephant on show for the first time
today
posted 10th Feb,
2010
My thoughts for this week are about speech and the
English language. I has the misfortune to listen to a bright young pair
on the radio this morning; my husband chose a station at random last
night and set our new alarm clock for 8 this morning, and I awoke to the
sounds of mindless banter between two very young presenters, on some
unknown breakfast show, trying very hard to sound intelligent; but
it was their language that set my teeth on edge - not foul language,
just the fact that they couldn't speak a language. After
prattling about politics in a juvenile way, she then mentioned some 'unrelevant' information she'd share with him later. Now I've heard of
unprofitable, unsolicited, untimely, untruth, unworthy and even unperson,
amongst others, but never 'unrelevant'. I found the use of this
word unsavoury, unprecedented, unprofessional, unskilled and it should
be unutterable.
I think the word she was trying to say was 'irrelevant',
which was exactly what she had become to me; she was also irredeemable
and irrecoverable as a presenter, I on the other hand, am
irrepressible when it comes to the irreverent use of our language.
I'm also unremitting when it comes to picking on
people for phonetic spelling, such as dayz, luv, color, but
it really sets my teeth on edge when people make up words. Youtube uses
the word 'favourited' as in "Ursula favourited a video clip"
Anyone know of any other
stupid made up words??
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posted 07.01.09
Christmas at My Place
Yes I am GUILTY, I haven't been blogging since November, 2009, but
Christmas baking and preparations took over my life, and I had a great
Christmas, how about you? Lots of family, food, friends and fun. The
weather is all over the place, very reminiscent of my youth...hot one
day, cool the next, so typical of Melbourne. We cooked the Turkey in the
Webber and it was delightful, we also had rolled loin of pork stuffed
with apricot and macadamias, and I baked the ham with a blood orange and
mustard glaze, it was the best I've ever cooked. In deference to our hot
weather I made an Italian Christmas 3 layer ice cream cake and it was yummy,
with one layer filled with lovely glace fruits, one almond/vanilla bean
and one rich chocolate. I
also made a berry trifle for my younger son, he loves trifle. I had to make 2
batches of Nigella's rocky road, it is beautiful and I recommend you try
it, it is the best you'll ever taste, and of course my little christmas
biscuits. We went to
Portsea for a few
days with my best friend, it was beautiful weather, and we re charged
our batteries, ready for 2010, here are some photos. Now I need to lose those few
extra kgs I added to my waist over the season, and stick to my
resolutions....I will keep up with my blog...I will keep up with my blog...I
will keep up with my blog...Happy
New Year all, cheers Ursula.
 
 
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Just when the rest of the world seems to be going into deep
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it here? I've travelled the world at least 3 times in my
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News items in Australia, and an Aussie view on them
From flood to fire, NSW has already had it's fair share of inclement
weather this summer. Australia is heading for another season of
severe fire danger, as we continue in one of our cyclic droughts.
Dorothea Mackellar's poem was published in 1908 and is still so
relevant here today!
Giant Chinese pandas Wang Wang and Funi
have touched down at Adelaide Airport (28/11/09) and are clearing
customs ahead of a waiting police escort to deliver them safely to their
new home.
The pandas are being unloaded from their crates for processing by
quarantine and customs officials. They will then be transported in a
climate-controlled semi-trailer to a new $8 million enclosure.
Travelling with them are Chinese keepers and vets as well as Adelaide
Zoo keepers who have been getting to know the bears over the past few
weeks.
Adelaide Zoo spokeswoman Emily Rice said the pandas were expected to
arrive around lunchtime.
"It depends on how quickly they are processed," she told AAP.
"They should be here in the next hour or two."
Wang Wang and Funi will spend the next month in quarantine, ensconced
inside the enclosure which includes some innovative features including
refrigerated rocks to ensure they can handle the Australian summer heat.
We're pretty notorious for our for our sharks here - particularly
the Great White fish variety,
how's this for a
day at the beach? (from Yahoo - 1/11/2009)
Rhys Gadsden was out for a
morning paddle off Portland on Friday when he says a great
white shark appeared from the deep and wrapped its jaws
around his sea kayak, leaving giant puncture marks.e marks.
The 27-year-old was flipped
off the kayak and spent a terrifying 15 minutes in the water
by his kayak desperately hoping he would not be eaten alive.
"I grabbed my oars, hit it
in the head probably five to six times and it released it,"
the Portland man told the Nine Network.
"It was freaky being in the
water, yeah, I didn't know where it went, I didn't know if
it was going to come back.me back.
"I didn't know what to do
really, I didn't want to splash around and make it come
back."
Finally a nearby boat came
to his rescue.
Humpty Dumpty
from ABC
October, 23rd 2009
A
children's literature expert says changes made to the
nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty are part of a worrying trend in
society. In the United Kingdom, the BBC is under fire for
rewriting Humpty Dumpty to give it a happy ending on the
CBeebies children's program Something Special. Instead of
the last line saying "couldn't put Humpty together again",
the new version claimed all the King's horses and all the
King's men "made Humpty happy again".
June Factor, who has spent nearly
four decades researching and writing children's books, says
such moves to "sanitise" story-telling is very concerning.
"It's a sad sort of ignorance involved. It's completely
unnecessary, it's a misjudgement and it's foolishness," she
told ABC News Online. "I am concerned about this
misunderstanding and misreading of human development, and in
many ways there are quite serious restrictions being placed
on children. "It's a worrying trend because there is, in
countries like England and Australia, a strange panic about
children. "The idea is that children should be protected
against all risk and in this case they are seeing a
psychological risk. On the contrary, it's a psychological
strengthening you gain from this material." Dr Factor, an
honorary senior research fellow at the Australian Centre at
the University of Melbourne, says unnecessary changes have
been made to children's tales for generations. And she says
those who "bowdlerise" children's literature do have good
intentions, but they are missing the cultural and historical
point of nursery rhymes and fairytales.
"Their intentions are always
admirable - the path to hell is paved with good intentions.
They are hoping to make sure children aren't frightened but
of course they are omitting the purpose," she said.he said.
"[Nursery rhymes] are not there as a
cotton ball to protect children from the world. They are a
way of exposing children to the world from the safety of
someone's lap." Dr Factor says scary tales are meant to
teach children about dangers in the world. "Fairytales are
full of very grim life experiences - dead parents, being
left in the woods, there's tricksters and dangers - and what
they do for children is a whole number of things," she said.
"It's a way of approaching the world for children in
symbolic ways so they do gain some understanding of the
world but they don't actually have to go out and experience
the big bad wolf or whatever.
"They are about courage,
resilience, quick-wittedness, patience and they are all
about hope."
I can only agree with all these comments. Stop re
writing history, and leave books alone. 
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