A Kominar Chronicle

I present to you “Grammar: THE GAME”.  This is quite possibly the most difficult grammar game ever created.  Ever.  Although it never made it to a full 1.0 release, I posted 0.9 on August 31, 2003.  Harry Belafonte’s Zombie Jamboree is the backbone of this educational karaoke/grammar lesson in one.  At one time I started to think about creating more levels for the game.  Day Trip to Bangor by Fiddler’s Dram was a natural choice, don’t ask me why because I really wouldn’t have an answer.

Playing Instructions: In order to press on the part of speech icons you have to used the numberpad as if they were in the same 0-9 layout.  Not sure why I never fixed that one.

Please enjoy the game in its rawest form, bugs, poor font sizes, extreme difficulty, and all.

• Play “Grammar: THE GAME” (Flash Required)

• Listen to “Zombie Jamboree” as performed by Rockapella (Ed: This video was NOT my inspiration) (Youtube.com)
• Listen to “Day Trip to Bangor” as performed by Fiddler’s Dram (YouTube.com)

Tags: Programming

“Australia is the largest island and the smallest continent in the world.

- australia.edu

Sound familiar? You may have heard it in geography class growing up.  But what does it really mean to be the largest island?

What is an Island?

• any piece of land that is surrounded by water in two dimensions, above high tide, and isolated from other significant landmasses - wikipedia.org

Continent or Island?

As devil’s advocate I could argue that North & South America combined or Europe,Africa & Asia would be the largest significant landmass because they meet the criteria above. But let’s indulge a little common sense and only consider things our gut tells us are islands,  Greenland, Antarctica? and … Australia??

PubQuizHelp.com helps us out with a list of the top 20 largest islands of the world.

Australia and Antarctica both have a claim to be in this island list however, for geological, political and cultural reasons they are described as continental land masses and so are not included in the list.

Why distinguish between an island an a continental land mass?  Is a continent just an island all grown up?  Joshua Calder offers the following in a continent vs. island discussion.

• Australia is separated from all other continents by young oceanic crust. Greenland is geologically part of North America.
• Australia is considerably larger than Greenland. If separation is key, then Antarctica should also be considered an island (making Australia second largest).
• Everyone agrees that everything smaller than Australia is an island. Australians themselves are divided, and often claim that Australia is both the world’s largest island and the world’s smallest continent.

So, there are good reasons to assert that Australia is a continent and not an island.

I consider this enough of a challenge to Australia’s claim that it is the world’s smallest island that it should be taught as theory and not fact.  The Australian people deserve to know the truth!

The plot thickens when Calder then challenges Australia’s other claim to fame that it is the smallest continent.

However, it has to be conceded that there can be no definitive answer. The questions only grow more complex when you look at the details:  By scientific criteria, Madagascar and several other islands are continents.

I look forward to the day when geographers of the world can unite and solve this once and for all.  Until then, there is the comments thread…  Let’s hear what you think.

Tags: Australia

Jere and Emily flew into Brissy International on Monday morning and were quickly whisked off to the Gold Coast. (Note: Jere’s Nerdy Hat reads ‘Kitchener/Waterloo Software Quality Association’)

Tired, weary and jet-lagged, they were good-natured about seeing local highlights. We went grocery shopping at Robina Town Centre and toured around Bond. Dinner was a special treat as we dined on Kangaroo and Crocodile cooked up for us by a true Aussie, Nadine! It was particularly delicious and a great way to start any Australian adventure.

The next day we scouted out the coast itself and got to some of the beaches. We started at the northern end of the Gold Coast and slowly worked out way south. Lunch in Southport with Nadine, and idle wandering down civilian pavilions. by the courthouse in Southport for a delicious lunch at Mason’s.

I decided that we should head over to Q1 to get a birds-eye view of the land (Left). Q1’s claim to fame is that it is the world’s tallest all residential tower. It is apparently the 20th tallest building in the world, and the fact is well advertised at the base of the tower. Suspiciously absent in any comparison is mention of Canada’s own CN Tower. Amongst the 30 some odd technological tower-marvels, the CN doesn’t deserve to be listed!? More to follow, informal investigation to follow.

We went down the coastline and hit North Burleigh Lookout at sunset (Right). After getting lost in Miami on the way back home we indulged with some Tuk Tuk Thai Takeaway.

The next morning, I cooked up a continental brekky for the travellers and we ventured off to Brissy for our last day together. I learned something that day, Brisbane is a terrible city to drive in if you haven’t driven there before. We enjoyed the adventure because it was a good way to see the city, but stopping right turns for three streets in a row simply can’t be good for traffic. Anyhow, we made it to the airport with plenty of time and I saw them off to Cairns. They’ve got a great tripped planned, owed mostly to Emily from what I hear!

It was quite a treat to see Canadian family and friends down in Australia, and a nice way to celebrate finishing my degree! Thanks to my family who sent me down graduation cards, very appreciated and safely received.

Wishing Jere and Em all the best on the rest of their journey!

Bon Voyage!

Tags: Bond, Canada

Welcome Back!

After a month long hiatus I am pleased to announce that my vacation was relaxing and domestic.

I’ve been largely absent lately taking a breather from school and my computer. However, with last semester a relative success I have the joys of a new semester to look forward to. This is semester boasts the largest student body as many American study abroad students come to escape the oncoming winter.

This semester I’ll be privy to the following topics of Law:

Corporations Law
Legal Issues in E-Commerce (elective)
Personal Property Transactions
Land Law

I hope to provide some insight into one or two of the more interesting aspects of these classes throughout the semester for your edification. So prepare yourself to learn the ways of the law in the coming semester.

MovieWorld and SeaWorld

Nadine bought me a 3-park superpass for my birthday last year and we’re just now getting around to using it. So far we’ve hit up MovieWorld and SeaWorld as you may have guessed. Wet n’ Wild is the only park remaining of the 3, we may be privy to a ‘dive-in’ movie later in the week if timing works out, otherwise a return trip to MovieWorld may be in order.

I would highly recommend the Superman RollerCoaster at Movieworld. Despite being required to pay $1 to rent a locker to leave any loose belongings it is a fantastic ride. Other highlights include the Police Academy Stunt Show, Official Matrix Exhibit, and Shrek 4d.

I managed to take a handful of photos of the two parks but the majority of my day was focussed on enjoy the parks! Want to see SeaWorld Photos or MovieWorld Photos?

Tags: Bond

Today, in the back yard Nadine eyed a Blue Tongue Skink! They’re a common garden creature but are rarely seen. It seemed as if it had just eaten something too. Perhaps a mouse? It was about a foot and quarter and relatively plump.

I caught a video of it scampering around and flicking its tongue.We stood around looking at it for a while until it ran into a neighbouring yard.

Click to Watch the video I took of the Blue Tongue Skink

Interest in learning more? (BlueTongueSkinks.net)

Tags: Australia, Nature