Bizarre and unexplainable things often happen in Mexico. The latest in a long lie of peculiar goings on that have happened down the centuries, is a hen that lays green eggs. It was important enough for Associated Press to pick up on, so it’s important enough for my blog!
My iPod is on the way, but my thirst for gadgetry hasn’t been quenched just yet! I had also been looking at getting a new camera, the Panasonic TZ3, but didn’t quite have enough dinero. Just as well as they’ve announced the replacement ready for a mid April launch. So a little bit of saving and hopefully I’ll have enough money come summer for the brand new TZ5.
I like Panasonic as a company - I’ve had quite a few of their products over the years from TV’s to walkmans and they’ve always been excellent. A real pleasure to own. Unlike Phillips products - yes, I am still waiting for it to be repaired, several months after it went into the shop. But anyway, Panasonic are new entrants to the digital camera market, so you might not have heard much about them. Be rest assured, they generally only do quality, and they have Leica lenses which are excellent.
The specs? We’re talking 9 megapixels with a whopping 10x optical zoom lens with vibration reduction. It’s also a 28mm wideangle lens so you get much more in your shot. It’s also packing their new Venus IV processing engine. And all this fits in a pocket. Hopefully the US$349 launch price will sink under the $300 mark by the time I’m ready to buy. This isn’t an advert by the way, just genuine enthusiasm over my next toy!
What’s a gerund you might ask? It’s a word ending in -ing. Swimming, running, smoking…etc! What’s difficult about it? Well of course it seems obvious when to use a gerund when you are a native english speaker. More complicated it is when you don’t! It isn’t always called a gerund for starters. There are three common uses of the gerund.
That last one is tricky. When you have two verbs together, the first verb is conjugated into the correct tense. The second verb will either take the base form (be), the infinitive form (to be) or the gerund (being). How do you work out which one? The base form is easy - that follows a modal verb (can, could, would, must, shall etc.) Some verbs must be followed by the infinitive (you can’t say “I want working at Wal*Mart”) whilst some must be followed by a gerund. Some verbs can take either form with no change of meaning (commonly, emotion verbs - “I love to watch TV in the evening” and “I love wathing TV in the evening” are both fine) whilst a few verbs can take both forms after them, but with a change of meaning. “I stopped to smoke” means something very different to “I stopped smoking”
Have I got any sympathy out of you yet for the poor English students of the world??
What’s a gerund you might ask? It’s a word ending in -ing. Swimming, running, smoking…etc! What’s difficult about it? Well of course it seems obvious when to use a gerund when you are a native english speaker. More complicated it is when you don’t! It isn’t always called a gerund for starters. There are three common uses of the gerund.
That last one is tricky. When you have two verbs together, the first verb is conjugated into the correct tense. The second verb will either take the base form (be), the infinitive form (to be) or the gerund (being). How do you work out which one? The base form is easy - that follows a modal verb (can, could, would, must, shall etc.) Some verbs must be followed by the infinitive (you can’t say “I want working at Wal*Mart”) whilst some must be followed by a gerund. Some verbs can take either form with no change of meaning (commonly, emotion verbs - “I love to watch TV in the evening” and “I love wathing TV in the evening” are both fine) whilst a few verbs can take both forms after them, but with a change of meaning. “I stopped to smoke” means something very different to “I stopped smoking”
Have I got any sympathy out of you yet for the poor English students of the world??
My iPod is on the way, but my thirst for gadgetry hasn’t been quenched just yet! I had also been looking at getting a new camera, the Panasonic TZ3, but didn’t quite have enough dinero. Just as well as they’ve announced the replacement ready for a mid April launch. So a little bit of saving and hopefully I’ll have enough money come summer for the brand new TZ5.
I like Panasonic as a company - I’ve had quite a few of their products over the years from TV’s to walkmans and they’ve always been excellent. A real pleasure to own. Unlike Phillips products - yes, I am still waiting for it to be repaired, several months after it went into the shop. But anyway, Panasonic are new entrants to the digital camera market, so you might not have heard much about them. Be rest assured, they generally only do quality, and they have Leica lenses which are excellent.
The specs? We’re talking 9 megapixels with a whopping 10x optical zoom lens with vibration reduction. It’s also a 28mm wideangle lens so you get much more in your shot. It’s also packing their new Venus IV processing engine. And all this fits in a pocket. Hopefully the US$349 launch price will sink under the $300 mark by the time I’m ready to buy. This isn’t an advert by the way, just genuine enthusiasm over my next toy!
Quick for a turtle. Slow for a human. Although, I personally wouldn’t much fancy your chances of a solo swim across the Pacific Ocean from Indonesia to Oregon, US. A Leatherback turtle, the world’s largest and one of the most endangered, was tracked via satellite as it made it’s epic journey. A Forrest Gump of the ocean, so he is! He set off four and a half years ago in the Summer of 2003, and kept on going. He (or she!) swam a total of 12,774 miles and sometimes went on dives 1 kilometre deep, until reaching a feast of jellyfish in the north western Pacific. Turtles don’t drink beer, but this one deserves a can of golden nectar.
Quick for a turtle. Slow for a human. Although, I personally wouldn’t much fancy your chances of a solo swim across the Pacific Ocean from Indonesia to Oregon, US. A Leatherback turtle, the world’s largest and one of the most endangered, was tracked via satellite as it made it’s epic journey. A Forrest Gump of the ocean, so he is! He set off four and a half years ago in the Summer of 2003, and kept on going. He (or she!) swam a total of 12,774 miles and sometimes went on dives 1 kilometre deep, until reaching a feast of jellyfish in the north western Pacific. Turtles don’t drink beer, but this one deserves a can of golden nectar.
I don’t want to dwell on the issue of crime, after my recent post about Augustin the hairdresser, but I came across this article today and it was interesting reading. As far as crime goes here - well it does happen. A fair percentage of my students have been robbed at some stage in their life. But it isn’t so bad that you should let it put you off coming here. Follow a few simple rules - don’t wander the streets at night obviously drunk, becareful regards taxis in tourist zones, and don’t wander into the seedy parts of the city. I’m pretty sure most tourists who ever get into trouble have broken at least one of those rules.
MEXICO CITY, Jan 29 (IPS) - "Keep your heads down, close your eyes and put your hands on your knees, bitches," said the man who climbed into the old taxi, holding up the couple inside at gunpoint. Seconds later another man joined him, wielding a butcher’s knife. Another armed robbery in the Mexican capital was under way. The victims had taken the taxi in the historic centre of Mexico City, disregarding the standard warning: "never stop a taxi in the street, especially at night." The old-model Volkswagen sedan drove for about 15 minutes with the passengers on board before stopping at a traffic light to let the assailants in. María and Fabián had never been the victims of an armed robbery. But their experience that December night has made them part of the statistics of the capital, where three out of 10 people say they have been victims of a crime, although only one person out of 10 reports it, according to surveys. They did not report the incident either, because they thought it would be futile to do so.
I don’t want to dwell on the issue of crime, after my recent post about Augustin the hairdresser, but I came across this article today and it was interesting reading. As far as crime goes here - well it does happen. A fair percentage of my students have been robbed at some stage in their life. But it isn’t so bad that you should let it put you off coming here. Follow a few simple rules - don’t wander the streets at night obviously drunk, becareful regards taxis in tourist zones, and don’t wander into the seedy parts of the city. I’m pretty sure most tourists who ever get into trouble have broken at least one of those rules.
MEXICO CITY, Jan 29 (IPS) - "Keep your heads down, close your eyes and put your hands on your knees, bitches," said the man who climbed into the old taxi, holding up the couple inside at gunpoint. Seconds later another man joined him, wielding a butcher’s knife. Another armed robbery in the Mexican capital was under way. The victims had taken the taxi in the historic centre of Mexico City, disregarding the standard warning: "never stop a taxi in the street, especially at night." The old-model Volkswagen sedan drove for about 15 minutes with the passengers on board before stopping at a traffic light to let the assailants in. María and Fabián had never been the victims of an armed robbery. But their experience that December night has made them part of the statistics of the capital, where three out of 10 people say they have been victims of a crime, although only one person out of 10 reports it, according to surveys. They did not report the incident either, because they thought it would be futile to do so.
Just one week to go before my shiny new iPod Touch 16gb player is delivered. I can’t lie - I’m excited! It’s been months since the battery on my Archos died. Months without being able to watch my favourite TV shows on the metro or buses. Months without listening to my Podcast subscriptions. And needless to say, I have been preparing for the arrival of my iPod. I’ve downloaded iTunes, the software I need to run my iPod, and I have to say it’s an impressive bit of kit. The coverflow feature is very cool. You just scroll through album artwork to choose your music. The podcast section is superb too. I’ve also worked out that I can access the US iTunes store from Mexico with the helping hand of a nifty bit of software.
I’ve also been sorting my music collection out. I’ve transferred it all from my Archos, got the album artwork off of Amazon, deleted a few crap albums and added a few new ones. Whilst looking for some new (or old albums I should say, but one I don’t have!) I found a Best of Adam and the Ants compilation. Jeez, what happened to them? They were my favourite band when I was a kid. I would have been 8 or 9 I guess. They were part of the New Wave along with bands such as The Cure, A Flock of Seagulls, Depeche Mode, Eurythmics, Human League, Naked Eyes and Culture Club. They were big! If only briefly. And is there a better example of the exhibitionism, colour, wild hair-dos, tarty costumes and sheer glamour of the 80’s?! Did you miss them? Enjoy Prince Charming (or not!) which also featured the late Diana Dors…
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