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The Write Way 5 August 2005 Kiwi Capers Greetings, You must think that I do little else apart from watch telly and listen to the radio because every week I seem to preface my remarks with, "I was watching a show on telly ..." or "I was listening to the radio when ..." but I come across such gob-smacking things that I just have to share them! Such as the segment on one of those ubiquitous holiday shows a couple of weeks back about the new "sport" of dam dropping. Now the very name is enough to put a normal, sane, feet-on-the-ground sort of person (such as I am) immediately on the alert. The procedure is described as a "form of river surfing, more commonly know as river sledging" and it involves going "over an 8 metre drop down the dam retaining wall, descending powerful rapids and surfing the standing waves" ... on a plastic or foam sledge. Yep ... You hurl yourself off the spill wall of a dam on a bit of plastic. Bet you a million quid you can't guess what nation thought up this little treat. Oh ... Yes, you're right ... the Kiwis. The same folks who introduced the world to the delights of tying a rubber band around their ankles and throwing themselves from suspension bridges have come up with yet another way to keep the medical profession gainfully employed. They just love their extreme sports!
Not content with convincing crazy tourists to pay good money for the privilege of being turned into a dangly toy on a string or trusting their lives to a piece of foam, the Kiwis have also dreamed up a couple of other doozies. One I saw involved strapping the unfortunate victim ... er ... tourist into a harness inside a huge plastic ball. Once its inmate was tightly confined, the ball was rolled to the edge of a hill where it was given a bit of a shove so it hurtled to the bottom, bouncing off the sides all the way down. For extra fun, you can choose to have a bucket of water added to the mix and get a nice tumble rinse on the way. I can see you don't believe me ... OK, ye of little faith, click here to see a zorb! Fun? That's nothing ... What about strapping yourself and two mates into a cocoon while a crane hoists you 40 metres above Mother Earth, then pulling the ripcord to send you and the aforementioned mates plunging landwards at speeds of up to 130km/hr? And then swinging back the other way and then the first way and then the ... Well, you know enough about elementary physics and kinetic energy to get the picture, and let me tell you it's not a pretty sight. (This little pastime goes by the innocuous name of 'swooping.') What amuses me about these operators is the way they tout the magnificent views you get from the platforms ... Who's going to give a damn about the rolling hills, snow-clad mountains and sweeping vistas when they're fighting to keep their breakfast where it belongs and not adorning the spectators ogling from below? Who wants to be next? Not this little black duck, that's for sure. In fact, the less firma the land the more terra I feel. While on the subject of terra firma ... here are some commonly used Latin terms. You didn't know you were speaking Latin so often, did you? addendum - a thing to be added artium baccalaureus - Bachelor of Arts (BA) bona fide - acting in good faith carpe diem - sieze the day ex officio - by right of office habeas corpus - you are to produce the body ib. (ibidem) - in the same place non sequitur - it does not follow per se - by itself quo vadis - where are you going to? status quo - the current state of being vice versa - in reverse order This week's quiz: Many of these words are derived from Latin. Choose the phrase that is closest in meaning to the words given: 1. Hagiology - the study of: the lives and legends of saints the origins of fossils literature relating to witches 2. Ursine - compares human beings to: rare forms of plant life the crow the bear nymph-like creatures of the forest 3. Usury - the practice of: supporting any extremist movement lodging complaints without provocation destroying church property lending money at exorbitant interest rates 4. Urbanity - the quality of being: honest refined diffident morose 5. Epitome: a change in tone a condensed account the place on the opposite side of the earth a guiding principle 6. Abstemious: actuated by fear prone to avoid difficulties weak or shy moderate in demands for food and drink 7. Perfidious: able to control one's moods faithless difficult to control gives full support to 8. Sententious: over-confident circumspect aphoristic sensuous 9. Phlegmatic: strong-willed slow to act dogmatic modest and refined 10.Derogatory: tries t discredit others like a canine excessively abusive anxious to improve This next story was sent to me by a dear friend ... born and bred in the Land of the Long White Cloud, so if she thought it was funny, we can laugh, too! 50,000
Kiwis meet in Eden Park for a "Kiwis Are Not Silly" Convention. Chuckle
... Well, my Kiwi mate and I thought it was a giggle ... Last week's quiz: allotrope, atom, cathode, aqueous, cation, isotope, hygroscopic, anion, manometer, humectant 1. a pressure gauge for comparing pressures of a gas - MANOMETER 2. a positively charged ion - CATION 3. structurally distinct form of an element - ALLOTROPE 4. substance dissolved in water - AQUEOUS 5. substance dissolved in water - HUMECTANT 6. one of two or more atoms with the same atomic number but with different numbers of neutrons - ISOTOPE 7. smallest particle of an element that retains the chemical properties of the element - ATOM 8. a negatively charged ion - ANION 9. a negatively charged electrode that is the source of electrons in an electrical device - CATHODE 10.absorbing moisture (as from the air) - HYGROSCOPIC Click here to add your tuppence worth to the Never-Ending Story: http://write101.blogspot.com Just click on the Never-Ending Story and use the Comments button at the end of the entry to add your contribution. If you have friends who fancy themselves as writers, invite them to contribute (just forward this newsletter in its entirety to them). Have you made your Mark on the World yet? No? Then stop by our Map of the World and read the messages. (Just click List) and add your mark: http://pub37.bravenet.com/guestmap/view.php?usernum=3170114826 A Little Something Extra This site gives you an outline so you can write your own adventure story: http://www.writingfix.com/leftbrain/Build_an_adventure.htm This is a longer article by novelist, David Poyer on how to write an adventure novel: http://www.esva.net/~davidpoyer/aan1.htm And find lots of books to guide you with your writing here: http://www.write101.com/goodbooks.htm Word of the week: Thalweg (n) line defining the lowest points along the length of a river bed or valley This is where you could well find yourself after a close encounter with a zorb! It comes from the German tal (valley) and weg (way). Oxymoron of the week: Given the nature of our topic this week, I thought an oxymoron was more appropriate! How about Fun bungee-jumping? High dive? Safe swooping? And here's a Latin phrase you can use just before you jump or hurl yourself from a very high place: Magister Mundi sum! (I am the Master of the Universe!) [mah-GEE-ster MOON-dee SOOM] Kind regards, Jennifer P.S. Want to donate to the upkeep of this newsletter? Here's how: 1. Pay by PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/affil/pal=jennifer@write101.com OR 2. Click here to subscribe for a full year OR 3. Use your credit card on my secure order form: http://www.write101.com/fund.htm (You can also access the PayPal subscription link from this page if the link above didn't work for you. With PayPal, you can use your credit card, PayPal account or pay online using your own cheque account.) OR 4. Send a cheque (made payable to Jennifer Stewart): http://www.write101.com/fund.htm To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: mailto:WritingTips-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com or go to the web site, at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WritingTips This menu will also let you change your subscription between digest and normal mode. Copyright 2005 Jennifer Stewart Individual articles copyrighted by their authors.
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