Showing posts with label New Zealand. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Zealand. Show all posts

Monday, 13 September 2010

The World's Got Talent

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In 2007 the TV reality show Britain's Got Talent, created by Simon Cowell, was aired for the first time. Anyone across Britain had a chance to audition their talent, whatever it may be, to the three judges Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan. At any time during the audition, the judges may show disapproval to the act by pressing a buzzer which lights a large red X on the stage. If all the judges press their buzzers, the act must end immediately. To advance to the second round, auditionees must get at least two yes votes or they would be sent home. After the audition process, out of 200 successful acts, the judges had to choose 40 to go to the live semi-finals. Eventually the competition is whittled down to one winner and the prize was a chance to perform their talent at the Royal Variety performance that year.

There are now versions of the show all around the world so below are videos from as many of the different ones that we could find!

Britain's Got Talent



America's Got Talent



Australia's Got Talent



India's Got Talent



Indonesia's Got Talent



South Africa'a Got Talent



Lietuvos Talentai (Lithuania)



Supertalent (Croatia)



Ukraine's Got Talent



Ja imam talenat! (Serbia)



Bulgaria's Got Talent



Holland's Got Talent (The Netherlands)



Qual é o Seu Talento? (Brazil)



New Zealand's Got Talent



China's Got Talent



Norske Talenter (Norway)



Wednesday, 8 September 2010

The Longest Place Names In The World!

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Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyllllantysiliogogogoch - North Wales

This town has become famous because of its long name. It has the longest train station name in the UK. The name translates as "St Mary's Church in the hollow of the white hazel near a rapid whirlpool and the Church of St Tysilio of the red cave". To have a go at trying to say the name, click here!


Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu - New Zealand

Taumata whakatangihanga koauau o tamatea turi pukakapiki maunga horo nuku pokai whenua kitanatahu is the Māori name for a hill, 305 metres (1,001 ft) high in New Zealand.It has gained a measure of fame as it is the longest place-name found in any English-speaking country.

The name on the sign that marks the hill is "Taumata whakatangihanga koauau o tamatea turi pukakapiki maunga horo nuku pokai whenua kitanatahu", which translates roughly as The summit where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, the climber of mountains, the land-swallower who travelled about, played his nose flute to his loved one. At 85 letters, it has been listed in the Guinness World Records as one of the longest place names in the world.

Other forms of the name are longer still: "Taumata whakatangihanga koauau o tamatea ure haea turi pukaka piki maunga horo nuku pokai whenua ki tana tahu" has 92 letters. An even longer version, Taumata-whakatangihanga-koauau-o-Tamatea-haumai-tawhiti-ure-haea-turi-pukaka-piki-maunga-horo-nuku-pokai-whenua-ki-tana-tahu, has 105 letters and means The hill of the flute playing by Tamatea — who was blown hither from afar, had a slit penis, grazed his knees climbing mountains, fell on the earth, and encircled the land — to his beloved.

To have a try at saying this name, click here!

Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Yuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit - Thailand

This is the ceremonial name of Bangkok, Thailand, in Thai; it has the Guinness World record for longest place name in the world. The translation is:
krungthep mahanakhon
The land of angels, the great city of
amorn rattanakosin
immortality, various of devine gems,
mahintara yudthaya mahadilok pohp
the great angelic land unconquerable,
noparat rajathanee bureerom
land of nine noble gems, the royal city, the pleasant capital,
udomrajniwes mahasatarn
place of the grand royal palace,
amorn pimarn avaltarnsatit
forever land of angels and reincarnated spirits,
sakatattiya visanukram prasit
predestined and created by the highest devas

Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg - USA

This is the longest place name in the United States at 45 letters and is a lake in Webster, Massachusetts. It means "Fishing Place at the Boundaries — Neutral Meeting Grounds" and is sometimes facetiously translated as "you fish your side of the water, I fish my side of the water, nobody fishes the middle". The lake is also known as Lake Webster.




Mamungkukumpurangkuntjunya Hill - Australia

The longest official geographical name in Australia is Mamungkukumpurangkuntjunya Hill. It has 26 letters and is a Pitjantjatjara word meaning "where the Devil urinates".

Muckanaghederdauhaulia - Ireland

In Ireland, the longest English placename at 22 letters is Muckanaghederdauhaulia (from the Irish language, Muiceanach Idir Dhá Sháile, meaning "pig-marsh between two saltwater inlets") in County Galway.

Tweebuffelsmeteenskootmorsdoodgeskietfontein - South Africa

Tweebuffelsmeteenskootmorsdoodgeskietfontein is the name of a farm in South Africa and is Afrikaans for "The spring (lit. Fountain) where two buffaloes were cleanly killed with a single shot", which follows a common format for place names in South Africa. It is uncertain as to whether Tweebuffelsmeteenskootmorsdoodgeskietfontein is the name of a farm, or a small town in South Africa, as various sources state either of these two as being correct.

Äteritsiputeritsipuolilautatsijänkä - Finland

Äteritsiputeritsipuolilautatsijänkä is a bog region in Savukoski, Lapland in Finland. The name is 35 letters long and is the longest place name in Finland.

Pekwachnamaykoskwaskwaypinwanik - Canada

This is a lake in Manitoba and Nunavut, in the Inuktitut language and at 31 letters is the longest official one-word placename in Canada.

Venkatanarasimharajuvaripeta - India

Venkatanarasimharajuvaripeta is a village in Andhra Pradesh, India. It is in the Telugu language and is the longest place name in India. It is also a railway station in Andhra Pradesh on the border with Tamil Nadu, India with the distinction of having the longest name among all stations on the Indian Railway system.

Gasselterboerveenschemond - Netherlands

Gasselterboerveenschemond is a hamlet in the Dutch province of Drenthe.It is the largest town name of The Netherlands that is written as one word. With 25 characters it is just one character larger than Gasselternijveenschemond, which lies a few kilometres from Gasselterboerveenschemond. To try to say the name, click here!





Parangaricutirimicuaro - Mexico

Nuevo San Juan Parangaricutiro, in the Mexican state of Michoacán, is a small village near the Parícutin volcano. The city is called "Nuevo" (Spanish for "New") because the original San Juan Parangaricutiro was destroyed during the formation of the Parícutin volcano in 1943.San Juan Parangaricutiro is also famously known as Parangaricutirimícuaro, the longest place name word in Mexico. Some believe that “Parangaricutirimícuaro” is an urban legend and does not exist. It is the object of the folklore of many fictitious fables. The word itself is a tongue-twister and it is also used in longer tongue-twisters that include nonsense words similar to Parangaricutirimícuaro.To try to say the name click here!

Information from:

Monday, 15 February 2010

Today's Celebrations February 15!

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Today is...
National Day in Serbia
National Flag of Canada Day in Canada
Rose Monday (Tarija) in Bolivia
National Lamb Day in New Zealand

Wednesday, 10 February 2010

Political Ideologies: Liberalism - Why do liberals support the principle of limited government and how do they propose it be achieved?

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Here is an essay I wrote while studying liberalism in 2009

Robyn, UK

Why do liberals support the principle of limited government and how do they propose that it be achieved? 45

Liberals don’t believe that a balanced and tolerant society will develop naturally out of the free actions of individuals. Liberals fear that free individuals may want to exploit others if it is in their interest to do so. Therefore our liberty requires that they are restrained from encroaching on our freedom and vice versa. Such protection can only be provided by a sovereign state capable of restraining all individuals and groups within society. While liberals are convinced of the need for government they are also aware of the dangers.

All governments are potential tyrannies against the individual as government exercises sovereign power and so poses a constant threat to individual liberty. This reflects a liberal fear of power as humans are self-seeking creatures so they naturally use power for their own benefit and at the expense of others. Liberals believe egoism plus power equals corruption and follow the quote by Lord Acton that ‘power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely’. Liberals therefore fear arbitrary government and uphold the principle of limited government. Liberals believe government can be limited through the establishment of constitutional constraints and by democracy.

A constitution is a set of rules that govern the government itself and defines the extent of government power and limits its exercise. The power of government bodies and politicians can be limited by external and legal constraints. A codified constitution codifies the major powers and responsibilities of government institutions within a single authorative document. A codified constitution codifies higher law. The first codified constitution was the US constitution but now all liberal democracies have one except for the UK, Israel and New Zealand.

A bill of rights entrenches individual rights by providing a legal definition of the relationship between the individual and the state. This limits government power by limiting their control over the actions of the individual and protects individual liberty.

Where there is no codified constitution or bill of rights liberals stress the importance of statute law in checking government power through the principle of the rule of law. This can be established by the introduction of a number of internal constraints which disperse political power among a number of institutions and creates a network of checks and balances. All liberal political systems exhibit some kind of internal fragmentation. An example is the doctrine of the separation of powers which keeps the judiciary, the executive and parliament as three separate branches that cannot overlap. The principle of judicial independence is respected in all liberal democracies because the judiciary interprets the meaning of law and therefore reviews the powers of government itself. It must have formal independence and political neutrality to protect the individual from the state. Governments can also be fragmented by cabinet government, parliamentary government, bicameralism and territorial divisions such as feudalism, devolution and local government.

Liberal democracy is the most common liberal political system and the political force in the developed world. It balances the principle of limited government against the idea of popular consent. Liberals are concerned that democracy can become the enemy of individual liberty as the people are not a single authority but a collection of individuals possessing different opinions and opposing interests. The democratic solution to conflict is the application of the majority rule which liberals describe as tyranny of the majority. Majoritarianism would have a great effect on elections and referendums as governments could be elected that are in fact unwanted by many individuals and decisions in referendums could go against what many individuals want, thereby permitting government to do things that individuals do not want. Individual liberty and majority rights can be crushed in the name of the people. The best defence against majoritarianism is a network of checks and balances that would make government responsive to competing minorities.

Democracy limits government through consent and the idea that citizens must have a means of protecting themselves from the encroachment of government. Utilitarian theorists developed the notion of democracy as a form of protection for the individual into a case for universal suffrage. Utilitarianism implies that individuals will vote so as to defend their interests as they define them. Therefore the government elected is most likely the one wanted by individuals, ensuring that they are still in control.

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