Gheorghe Curelet-Balan Blog

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Life goes on.

On a cheer note, have some fun with Dupree and/or visit his space.

Willie remembered.

Sad news... the Wiarton's great prognosticator is dead. After a good track record of weather predictions, Willie decided to rest. Now, we have to wait a while before we can say again Long Live Willie.

Monday, July 17, 2006

It was written on the wall.

Jazz is part of Waterloo's fiber and each year this exuberance culminates with Uptown Waterloo Jazz Festival. This year though Jazz was written on the wall. Pictures to come.

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Canada Day.

Hey, Canada Day passed and I didn't tell you how I celebrated it. Well... it was so full with events that I hardly have time to catch up describing them. Stay tuned.

Words matter.

My last post could give the wrong impression that I'm supporting conflict resolution through violence. Some could even speculate that I don't appreciate Italy's win. Hey, how can I not appreciate the performance of Romanians' Latin cousins? I think though that no team showed real soccer class (no offence intended to anybody). I really like soccer since besides physical endurance, intelligent tactics and strategies, soccer is an art where as any team sport, individual dribbling and the anticipation of team players and competitors moves, gives its beauty. That is why I think that humans will win the soccer game over robots.

Everybody is appalled by Zidane's action (some are joking about it) but few care on what caused it. I agree that staying cool is a strength but I'm wondering if the rules of the game should not be changed. How about using the technology to record and make public what it is said in the field and issuing eventually "trash cards". If we want to punish the non-endurance to trash words why not punish also the player's lack of strength of not trashing?

As I said before, words matter in the natural world. This is also true at a lower level of the physical world as it was proven in one of PI's public lectures. It looks like talking about the physical reality, changes it. So, I'm wondering why words should not matter in the sports world?

Monday, July 10, 2006

Just wondering...

Yesterday's world cup Zidane incident made me wondering what rules regarding trash talk will be applied during the foreseen soccer game between robots and the world cup champions.

Notes on the National Aboriginal Day.

Since the show organized by the local aboriginal community on June 21st started at 4pm I was able to catch only its second part. Unfortunately the aboriginal chicken dance performed by White Pine dance troupe ended already. I was able though to catch a glimpse of the dance during the lessons given to the public.

After a short break (that allowed me to take some shots of the surroundings) the Ojibway storyteller, Aaron Bell, shared with the audience some thoughts of aboriginal wit. As the epics of other cultures the aboriginal oral stories carry with them precious life lessons. Some of these stories are inspired from the animal world to convey their wit. For example, if you want to learn a lesson in humbleness you should listen to the How Bear Lost His Tail story. The Aaron Bell's animated performance made this story even more appealing.

After another break with drums (when I've explored the Victoria Park with my camera from the island) it was the women's turn to teach their dance. At the end of the show the drums started again. On my way out of the Victoria Park's island I took some photos of it from the bridge over the lake.

Click here to see my visual experience on that day.