d = v*t + (1/2) a*t^2 in high
school. Now
this book says s = v*t + (1/2) a*t^2. It's so confusing." In my
real-life anecdote, two thirds of my class reached for their
calculators when I asked for the answer to "13/10." The other third
were simply not paying attention. Somewhat to my surprise,
economically poor as the people are, these students all equip
themselves with electronic calculators. Good ones and expensive ones.
In contrast, only about half of the class I taught in Montreal had
calculators of their own. In this electronic age, they are more than
willing to trade their own human brains for "electronic brains." I
believe it would be a better idea to call the latter "silicon brains,"
or "siliconified brains," or in our lazy Chinese tongues, "silly
brains."
Image:Snow is abundant in Newfoundland (average 442 cm/year in Corner Brook) and deposits early, when grass is all green and trees all red.
Enough
student bashing, or I'll be caught being politically incorrect,
and this can be disastrous. Siliconified or not, Newfoundlanders are
extremely proud of themselves. Not necessarily because of the beauty
of the land, but mostly for their history and British heritage, even
though most of their ancestors were lower class Scottish and Irish
fishermen. After being soaked in the separatist, oops, sovereignist
mood of the Quebecois (the Canadian "Tibetans") for years, I was still
amazed to see British flags everywhere, even in front of the
university and the newspaper office. So I was not surprised when one
man in the tourism industry described Newfoundlanders as "the proudest
people in Canada." I can observe this with little difficulty.
Image:Head office of The Western Star, the only local daily in the west island. High up on the poles, beside the Canadian maple leaf is the British cross. Does it voice for Newfoundlanders? You wonder.
Respectful
of this feeling, to the question "What do you think of it
here?" I had always answered, "It's a beautiful place." Thank God it
is! One day another professor in my school asked the same question.
He smiled at my reply. "I know what you mean," he remarked, "I came
here several years ago. Even though my wife always complains, when
people ask us what we think, we always reply, 'I do enjoy skiing,' and
so on. But you know ..."
Image:Blue Pond, site of a beautiful provincial park. Like in Jiuzhaigou, Sichuan, China, the color in the pond comes because of its lime base.
You know, most of the academic faculty of the school came from outside, and keep making fun of the "Xinjiang" accent. Not the Chinese Xinjiang's "Wurrrrrooooomuch" type, but things like "Newfound-land," with the primary stress at the end. And I often run "evening sessions" in school, even though my latest session ends by 5:30 PM, and I always have supper at "night." All are official, as defined in the dictionary: the Dictionary of Newfoundland Accent. This may be a clue as to why the "Xinjiang" capital's main daily is named "The Evening Telegramme."
Even the "Xinjiang" clocks are heavily accented. Newfoundland has the rare few time zones in the world that keep a half-hour difference from any standard time, called the Newfoundland time zone. Therefore the standard-English CBC radio broadcaster announces: "Here is the signal of the National Standard Centre from Ottawa. The following long dash after the silence indicates 2:30 --- 2 o'clock in Labrador."
Now it's 2:30 in the island of Newfoundland at night, the real night.
Image:Early snow on
neighbour's house hasn't melted out. Most people took this as
night. If it be, a deep, serene night.
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