Click the photo to see it on its original page at full size.
It’s supposed to be the longest place name in the world — Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu . It’s in New Zealand, called “Taumata” for short, and the long name means “The summit where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, the climber of mountains, the land-swallower who travelled about, played his flute to his loved one.”
(“Played his flute to his loved one.” Heh heh heh.)
Cracked.com’s article, The 6 Most Terrifying Foods in the World, lists the Filipino dish balut (pronounced “bah-LUHT”) in the number one spot. They even came up with an ad to promote it:
Truth be told, while the concept is off-putting to a lot of people, I can speak from experience that it doesn’t taste too bad. If it did, there wouldn’t be so many street vendors in the Philippines calling out “baluuuuuut!” in a manner similar to “craaaaaawfish!” at the beginning of the Elvis film King Creole. I’ll admit that I eat it only in the Philippines, usually as a dare by an American or Australian tourist or expat, when money and/or beer is riding on it.
For more about balut, see this article: Balut. Egg of Darkness., from the blog Deep End Dining.
Was it really necessary to explain the implications in the sign shown below?
Found via Reddit.
(Anyone heard the similar rule about girlfriends? “Smart. Sexy. Sane. Pick two.”)
Yesterday, FacebookCamp Toronto 2, the second gathering of Toronto developers interested in developing applications for the Facebook platform, took place.
Where the last FacebookCamp focused on the details of programming to the Facebook API, this one was about promoting and making money from your applications. Once again, Facebook flew a representative to Toronto for the event — this time, it was Ami Vora, Facebook’s lead of Platform Product Marketing, who gave a presentation on best practices for application developers. Also presenting:
I took notes and posted them to Global Nerdy, my tech blog as well as the Tucows Developer Blog.
…remember what the “First Past the Post” system delivered twice:
Keep Saturday, November 3rd open!
I cast my ballots in the Ontario Provincial Election and Referendum before going to work today. It’s easy for me — the polling station in my neighbourhood just happens to be in the lobby of my building.
If you’re eligible, go vote! Section 132 of the Canada Elections Act entitles you to three consecutive hours in order to vote, and if your hours don’t permit for that when the polling stations are open, your employer is required to give you those three hours off (and s/he cannot make any deductions from your pay for the time off, either).
The act of casting a vote in Canada is dirt simple. The ballots are the same format, no matter where you are: a paper ballot with a list of candidates in large print with the candidate’s surname in ALL CAPS, with a circle beside each name.
Here’s a sample federal election ballot:
Here’s an approximation of what the provincial election ballot looks like:
These ballots have a number of advantages:
In spite of how simple it is, the system can still fail, and today I saw such a failure.
As I was handing in my registration card, a woman in her 80s — presumably she lived in my building — was puzzling over the referendum ballot. In the referendum, we’re being asked if the provincial election system should remain as the current “first-past-the-post” style, or if we should adopt a mixed-member proportional system, often abbreviated as “MMP”. (If you need an explanation, see here, here and here.)
Here’s what happened:
Old woman: What’s this extra thing?
Election official 1: It’s a referendum ballot.
Old woman: There’s a referendum?
Election official 1: Yes, ma’am. It’s all explained on the poster on this wall. You should take a…
Old woman (looking more closely at the referendum ballot, moving her lips while reading): Couldn’t they put the question in a single breath?
For reference, here’s what it says on the ballot:
Which electoral system should Ontario use to elect members to the provincial legislature? / Quel système électoral l’Ontario devrait-il utiliser pour élire les députés provinciaux à l’Assemblée législative?
- The existing electoral system (First-Past-the-Post) / L’actuel système électoral (système de la majorité relative)
- The alternative electoral system proposed by the Citizens’ Assembly (Mixed Member Proportional) / L’autre système électoral proposé par l’Assemblée des citoyens (système de représentation proportionnelle mixte)
Me: Ma’am, it’s a question about whether or not the system should be changed.
Guy behind me: The current system is…
Old woman: Did they have to put it in so many damned words?
Me (to the guy behind me): Can we just tell her to check the second option?
Guy behind me: Heh heh heh. Good on ya.
Old woman (to election official 2): Could you give me any advice on which to choose?
Guy behind me: If you give us a minute, ma’am, we can explain…
Election official 2: We’re election officials. We’re not allowed to influence your decision.
Old woman (tossing unfilled referendum ballot on table): Ehhhhh. Too much work. Never mind.
(She gets on the elevator and the door closes.)
Election official 1 (to Election officlal 2): Mark that as a refused ballot. First one of the day.
Guy behind me: Ah, democracy.
Me (to the guy behind me): “Greatest Generation” my ass.