Tallinn on my Mind

And, once again, I've got Tallinn on my mind.

Sunshine State

It is a perfectly glorious, sunny, pre-summer day in North Queensland today.

The sun is shining, but the clouds in the sky are softening it a bit. The poinciana trees are flowering, along with those trees with the yellow flowers - the ones planted on every second street in the "middle aged" suburbs, but for which I never did find out what the name is...

They are, of course, introduced species, but they've always been the heralds of summer and, with it, Christmas.

Welcome to the Southern Hemisphere, where "it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" when the trees burst into a glorious array of colour.

Oh, and it's not just the trees, per se. We're edging close to the time of year when the lorikeets come to town to feast on the flowers, and everything sort of explodes with life. Screeching, squawking, getting-drunk-on-nectar-and-slamming into your windows life. The galahs are already back, and the cockatoos forgot to leave during winter, so we'll all be having a Psittaciformes-y old time before you know it.

It's hot, now, but not yet really-really-really hot. That usually kicks in the week before Christmas and gets worse throughout January.

Oh, but the fruit is starting to shift, and nectarines are turning up in the shops. Very soon we'll be seeing peaches, apricots and cherries at affordable prices. Of course, the true joy of a tropical summer comes from feasting on a handful of lychees on the back stairs or trying to eat a mango without wearing the juice.

It's a brilliant thing, a tropical summer. We're all sick of it by February, but in these early stages it's a source of strange magic.

Yessirree. It's a beautiful, warm, sunny Sunday, with lots of sunshine dappling through the trees. The trees I can see from the window. The window I can half see from where I'm sitting. At work.

There are some days when working on a Sunday sucks more than usual.

Change My Mind

Helen asked me to write a song.

Sadly, I couldn't think of a new one, but an old one decided it was time to flutter into my head, so I pinned that one down instead.

Some months ago a country-bluesy kind of tune crept into my brain. It seemed familiar, but I couldn't think of any lyrics that belong with it, so I was happy to just hum along until I remembered where it belonged.

Unfortunately, my brain has a tendency to play with patterns, so before I could remember what the real lyrics were I started to fill up the tune with words that "flowed".

Then one thing lead to another and "Change My Mind" was the result.

The sad thing is, I'm still pretty sure that tune belongs to another song, so I don't think I can use it - but now I really can't remember what that other song is, because I keep thinking of these lyrics instead.

Whatever.

What I learnt today: Puggles

I love it when new words are incredibly fabulous:

"Puggle"

It's what you call a baby echidna. According to the Macquarie English Dictionary, the name actually came from a line of toys. People thought the little naked echidna babies looked like the toys, so they started calling them puggles, and the name just stuck. The dictionary implied this is a word applied to all monotreme pouchlings, so I guess a baby platypus is also a puggle.

They didn't include a date chart, so I have no idea when this all happened, but I think it's kind of cool that the "real world" is starting to be named after toys.

Plus, the word "puggle" is just brilliant. Plus, echidna puggles look fabulously funky:



You can kind of tell they aren't really meant to be out of the pouch, yet. I tell you what: zoo personnel have the best jobs. Well, next to being a librarian, that is.

I want to find a picture of a platypus puggle, now. Well, actually I just want to find an excuse to use the words "platypus puggles" in a sentence. I think I've managed that for today.

Technology changes so fast...

The use of master tapes to operate computer databases was common practice in the middle of the 20th Century. However, by the end of the century magnetic tape had fallen out of favour with many database designers. Most began using the plant-based technology, chlorofilm, believing it was technologically superior. Indeed, chlorofilm could store larger amounts of information than magnetic tape, and the need for channels and playback speeds was eliminated, making the technology easier to use. It was also resistant to magnetic fields, meaning the information could not be damaged by proximity to speakers and telephones. Unfortunately, the chlorofilm based technology was highly biodegradable, and much of the information stored in that manner was lost within five years.

After losing several years worth of data as a result of chlorofilm based technology, companies like Microsoft and Neowolf turned to minerals to develop a more reliable method of storing information. Silicone was briefly considered, but rejected in favour of the more conductive copper. Ultrarefined Copper (URC) is currently the basis of all data storage in computers and servers in America, England, Australia and the Pacific nations. Much of Europe and Africa, however, has followed Germany’s lead with using aluminium based technology.

Pedants' Corner - homonyms

And today, in Pedants' Corner, we're going to look at a handful of nyms and a phone.

Homonyms are words with the same spelling, but different meanings. Thus "pot" (as in, "I will cook this in a pot") is a homonym for "pot" (as in, "I don't think you should smoke pot").

Synonyms are words with different spelling, but the same meaning. Thus "set" (as in "I will set this on the table") is a synonym for "put" (as in, "I will put this on the table")

Homophones are words that have the same pronunciation, but have different spellings and meanings. Thus "buy" (as in, "I think this is a good buy") is a homophone for "bye" (as in, "I think this is goodbye").

Pseudonyms are fake names used by people who don't want to use their real name. Thus "Currer Bell" (as in, "Jane Eyre, by Currer Bell") is a pseudonym for "Charlotte Brontë" (as in, "Shirley, by Charlotte Brontë").

The important message to take away from this is that homonyms look alike, but do not necessarily sound alike, while homophones sound alike but do not necessarily look alike.

It's easy enough to remember once you notice that "homophone" has the phoneme "phone" in it. "Homo" means "same", "phone" means "sound".

I mention this because I came across a website that specialises in helping people work out easily confused words... and they had accidentally used "homonym" instead of "homophone" on their own front page...

Cheeseday

By the way, after consultation with various interested parties, the official cheese week looks like this:

Colby = the first day of the working week
Feta = the second day
Edam = the third day
Jarlesburg = the fourth day
Halloumi = the fifth day
Camembert = the first day of the weekend/the Sabbath
Brie = the "Lord's Cheese"...

Now, the next challenge is to rename all of the months after root vegetables. I'm voting for "Beetroot" for the first month on the calendar...