The Write Way

22 September 2006

"There Be Some Sports Are Painful ..."

Greetings,

It's been one of those weeks out here where we've all spent a lot of time indulging in a serious bout of collective navel-gazing. I think it's had something to do with the death and memorial services for two blokes who've become Aussie icons.

And just by-the-by, do you remember the days when an icon was, "a conventional religious painting in oil on a small wooden panel; venerated in the Eastern Church," or "a visual representation (of an object or scene or person or abstraction) produced on a surface?"

Hmmm ... me, too.

But now, people are icons, food products are icons (I'm thinking here of our very own Vegemite), places are icons ... 

There you go, just something to ponder over brekky this weekend. No, no. Thank me later. 

I started telling you about two of our Aussie icons. You already know I was upset about our local boy, Steve Irwin, and the freakish way he was killed. 

And if you were one of the more than 300 million people around the world who watched the service, I'm sure you'd have been impressed with little Bindi Irwin when she read her speech about her dad. Some little kids just have confidence in spades, don't they?

You may also have noticed that everyone in the audience knew the words of the two songs John Williamson sang. These have become modern classics, so I thought you might like the words so you can be an honorary Aussie (that's not like an 'ornery' Aussie!)  

The second death was that of racing car driver, Peter Brock, whose car slammed into a tree during a rally in Western Australia  And while it was hardly an unexpected way to go for someone who spent his life hurtling around roads and race tracks at insane speeds, it still had an impact on those of us who'd watched his career from go to sudden whoa.

Both men were killed doing what they did best and what they loved doing, but coming so close together, they've given us all pause for thought, and I know I've certainly spent considerable time over the past couple of weeks pondering Life, the Universe and Everything.

I've been wondering why people do dangerous things ... and then why people do stupid things, and why some do dangerous and stupid things, and that of course got me thinking about some of the odder things we do out here in the name of "sport" and fun ... such as those people who jump out of perfectly good aeroplanes at 14,000 feet (4.3 km). Then those others who think the King of the Mountain foot race that starts in Cambewarra (a town just outside Nowra on the NSW south coast) and traverses 46K of gravel road and fire trail up and over the mountain to Kangaroo Valley is preferable to a day spent reading a good book on the beach. 

Or those who think the Pomona King of the Mountain race that sends entrants clambering up the 440-metre-high Mount Cooroora on the Sunshine Coast hinterland and then back down again is their idea of a fun way to spend a Sunday. Hardly a challenge, you say? Then take a gander at the terrain! 

If you lie awake at nights, wondering why anyone would push a wheelbarrow 120 km through Western Australia, or just what inspires (if that's the right word) people to pick up a knitting pattern that begins, First, catch your sheep, or why anyone would admit to being a participant in the Great Dunny Derby at Winton, then you'll thank me after you've read this!  

Mind you, we don't go in for quite such extreme sports as our Kiwi cousins. 

I guess whether or not you enjoy these activities depends very much on your prospective ... Ummm ... or do I mean your perspective?

Of course, I do. No flies on you!

You can have a prospective son-in-law or a prospective boss or even prospective earnings because this word is an adjective that means, 'of or in the future; potential, likely, or expected; likely to become or be.' 

It comes from the Latin prospectare meaning 'to look forward to; to look out.'

However, if you're after a noun to explain your mental view or prospect, then you want perspective. This word means 'a way of regarding situations or topics; the appearance of things relative to one another as determined by their distance from the viewer,' and it comes from the Latin perspicere meaning 'to look at closely.'

This week's Little Something Extra has everything you were too terrified or bemused to ask about BASE-jumping ... such as "Why?"

This week's quiz:

Let's see how in tune you are with your adventurous side ... 

base-jumping, inrun, corking, piste, burble, frap, AAD, boogie, schuss, flare

1. to ski straight downhill as fast as possible 

2. the act of suddenly slowing down by presenting a large horizontal surface area to the relative wind 

3. groomed ski course or groomed trail 

4. jumping from fixed objects 

5. the part of a ski jump on which the skier is traveling down the ramp, building up speed for the take-off 

6. getting killed in a skydiving accident 

7. a device that senses rate of descent and altitude and which will attempts to mechanically activate the reserve parachute if the skydiver passes below a set altitude at a high rate of descent 

8. rough air or vacuum just above a body in freefall 

9. the act of pulling down the brakes of the canopy in order to slow it down, resulting in an increased angle of attack and reduced descent rate 

10. gathering of skydivers, usually focused on fun rather than competition 

And here are some other terms you may encounter on the ski fields:

Alp: One of a number of ski mountains in Europe. Also a shouted request for assistance made by a European skier on a mountain. An appropriate reply: "What Zermatter?"

Inertia: Tendency of a skier's body to resist changes in direction or speed due to the action of Newton's First Law of Motion. Goes along with these other physical laws: 

* Two objects of greatly different mass falling side by side will have the same rate of descent, but the lighter one will have larger hospital bills. 

* Matter can neither be created nor destroyed, but if it drops out of a parka pocket, don't expect to encounter it again in our universe. 

* When an irresistible force meets an immovable object, an unethical lawyer will immediately appear.

Shin: The bruised area on the front of the leg that runs from the point where the ache from the wrenched knee ends to where the soreness from the strained ankle begins.

Skier: One who pays an arm and a leg for the opportunity to break them.

Stance: Your knees should be flexed, but shaking slightly; your arms straight and covered with a good layer of goose flesh; your hands forward, palms clammy, knuckles white and fingers icy, your eyes a little crossed and darting in all directions. Your lips should be quivering, and you should be mumbling, "Why?"

Traverse: To ski across a slope at an angle; one of two quick and simple methods of reducing speed.

Tree: The other method.

Last week's quiz:

Match up these architectural words with their meanings:

antebellum, cupola, balustrade, clerestory, embrasure, corbel, googie, merlon, pilaster, cob 

1. portion of an interior rising above adjacent rooftops and having windows admitting daylight to the interior CLERESTORY

2. mixture of clay and straw, used as a building material - COB

3.  elegant plantation homes built in the American South in the 30 years or so preceding the Civil War ( ANTEBELLUM (means "before war" in Latin. Antebellum homes are in the Greek Revival, Classical Revival, or Federal style: grand, symmetrical, and boxy, with center entrances in the front and rear, balconies, and columns or pillars.)

4. the solid part between two crenels in a battlement - MERLON

5. row of repeating small posts which support the upper rail of a railing - BALUSTRADE (This comes from the French balustre ... See? We're still pinching words for fancy things from them!)

6. a shallow rectangular feature projecting from a wall, having a capital and base and usually imitating the form of a column - PILASTER

7. short horizontal timber supporting a girder - CORBEL (This interesting word comes from the Latin corvus a crow.)

8. a light structure on a dome or roof; any of various domelike structures - CUPOLA

9. a splayed enlargement of a door or window toward the inner face of a wall; an opening, as a loophole or crenel, through which missiles may be discharged - EMBRASURE

10. a futuristic, often outrageous, building style that evolved in the United States during the 1950s; designed to attract customers - GOOGIE (The name "Googie" comes from a famous coffee shop in Los Angeles. Like the shop, Googie buildings often have flashing lights, sharp angles, boomerang and flying saucer shapes, and lots of glass and steel. On the east coast, googie ideas were expressed in the zig zag rooflines of coffee shops.)

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A Little Something Extra

See lunatics ... er ... thrill-seekers leap from tall buildings, cliffs or anything that should make the legs of sane people turn to jelly: http://www.basejumping.co.uk/ 

And here's who to blame: http://www.basicresearch.com/base_history.htm 

Word of the week: Cataplexy (n) a morbid condition caused by an overwhelming shock or extreme fear and marked by rigidity of the muscles; a condition characterised by sudden, brief attacks of muscle weakness sometimes causing the body to fall helplessly that is usually triggered by strong emotion

This comes from the Greek kataplessein, 'to astound, terrify' and would admirably describe my condition if confronted with the prospect of hurling myself from the open door of a plane.

Oxymoron of the week: extreme stamp-collecting

And this week's Latin phrase could be the precursor to a nice attack of cataplexy ...

Quid est illud in aqua?

[KWEED EST EE-lood IN AH=kwah?

What's that in the water?