I am one of the last people on earth who would talk about FIFA on my blog, but I am! And I am NOT going to criticise it, or say its overrated. I am gonna say what I feel about it, and don't worry FIFA fans: it's basically positive.
Everybody at school harped on and on about FIFA and partly to sound funny, and partly because I was irritated by all the hype about it, whenever I was asked the team I was supporting, I would respond with an "Antarctica". Then I saw glimpses of match between England and Germany, which is what got me interested. But today's match...
After hearing comments like "No chance Brazil's gonna lose. Clear way for Brazil to the semi-finals", I actually decided to watch the match: my first international football match. And there is one word I will say : AMAZING! I wanted the Dutch to win because nobody would have expected it. Twists and turns are interesting. But by the end of the match, I could feel real tension. What if Brazil scored a goal? Anyhow, I was told that in football anything can happen. So the underdogs won, I rang up my friend (who had made the no-chance-Brazil's-gonna-lose statement) and greeted him with a 'HA!'. No offence Bhavik.
Tomorrow, I'm watching Germany vs. Argentina (I am with Germany) and Paraguay vs. Spain ( Spain, here).
J'aime FIFA. Doesn't mean I am gonna begin playing football.
Friday 2 July, 2010
Thursday 1 July, 2010
Tuesday 8 June, 2010
Tuesday 1 June, 2010
Singapore and Bali
I forgot to tell you'll, I'd gone to Singapore and Bali, Indonesia. They were pretty good. The Merlion (which basically is mer + lion, which is sea + lion, since mer is sea in many Italic/Romantic languages; that's how you get the word mermaid)was beautiful, so was the Singapore flyer. Bali was absolutely lovely.
A very nice holiday, I would say.
A very nice holiday, I would say.
Proto Indo-European
So I haven't been blogging for ages. But really, these 'ages' weren't so much of a waste. I found out about a very interesting thing called Proto-Indo-European. Now, Wikipedia might be better at this job, but I am more brief.
So long long ago, like 6000 years ago i.e. 4000 B.C., there was these people called Indo-European people. These people most probably (and I believe so) lived in the area around the Caspian Sea in the souther part of Russia. Balgangadhar Tilak, after examining the Zend Avesta and Rig Veda suggested that these people moved south from the Arctic region during the Ice Age, as the books indicate. So these people spoke a language, or rather a dialect continuum- a group of closely related dialects, not much unlike all the dialects spoken in the North India, out of which Hindi or Khari Boli emerged as the most dominant in that region. Note that there are absolutely no records of Indo-European. It is constructed by noticing the similarities between Indo-European languages.
As people migrated, they came under the influence of many people and the languages changed a bit. Languages borrowed from languages of other non-Indo-European origin and languages changed a bit. Many other things happened, and languages changed a bit until they looked completely different. However, they still bear those similarities quite evident for us to see.
So some of the daughter branches of Proto-Indo-European(or PIE)
Germanic (with its branches, West, North, and East Germanic) which include few of the most spoken languages: English, German, Dutch. Ancestors to all Germanic languages is lost like PIE and therefore is named Proto-Germanic. Another daughter language family is Romantic languages (which is actually a sub-branch of Italic language- a branch of IE) , which, I believe contains the most lovely languages of the world including French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese e.t.c. Proto-Romantic, though dead is recorded and it is more commonly known as Latin. Greek family has lesser languages. It includes all the varieties of Greek, Ancient Greek being mother of all of them.
Another branch is the Indo-Iranian, which split up into Iranian, which includes languages of Iran like Persian, Avestan (the language in which the Avesta is written); and Indo-Aryan, which consists of all the languages of North India. South Indian languages are from a different family called Dravidian languages. Both these language families have been in contact for about 3000 years and have heavily influenced each other. Vedic Sanskrit may be rightly called Proto-Indo-Aryan, though only early Aryan texts like Rig Veda record it. Vedic Sanskrit preserves many archaic features of Proto-Indo-European, which were lost in Classical Sanskrit, which were further lost in Middle-Indo-Aryan ( which includes Prakrit and Pali). I believe, modern Indo-Aryan languages don't preserve half the beauty of these ancient languages.
So I will end here, even though I wish to write more because I can't wait to pour out all I have learnt. I will conclude by saying that isn't it ironic that English, Persian separated from our (Indian) languages, only to mingle again and perhaps they themselves will produce something altogether new.
Next post on some changes undergone by Germanic languages, the Satem and Centum language, Decem and Taihun languages and other different changes.
On a different note, I have been in class 9 for a month (2, if you count summer vacations) and its taking a little time for me to adjust.
Thank You!
Merci!
Dhanyavad!
So long long ago, like 6000 years ago i.e. 4000 B.C., there was these people called Indo-European people. These people most probably (and I believe so) lived in the area around the Caspian Sea in the souther part of Russia. Balgangadhar Tilak, after examining the Zend Avesta and Rig Veda suggested that these people moved south from the Arctic region during the Ice Age, as the books indicate. So these people spoke a language, or rather a dialect continuum- a group of closely related dialects, not much unlike all the dialects spoken in the North India, out of which Hindi or Khari Boli emerged as the most dominant in that region. Note that there are absolutely no records of Indo-European. It is constructed by noticing the similarities between Indo-European languages.
As people migrated, they came under the influence of many people and the languages changed a bit. Languages borrowed from languages of other non-Indo-European origin and languages changed a bit. Many other things happened, and languages changed a bit until they looked completely different. However, they still bear those similarities quite evident for us to see.
So some of the daughter branches of Proto-Indo-European(or PIE)
Germanic (with its branches, West, North, and East Germanic) which include few of the most spoken languages: English, German, Dutch. Ancestors to all Germanic languages is lost like PIE and therefore is named Proto-Germanic. Another daughter language family is Romantic languages (which is actually a sub-branch of Italic language- a branch of IE) , which, I believe contains the most lovely languages of the world including French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese e.t.c. Proto-Romantic, though dead is recorded and it is more commonly known as Latin. Greek family has lesser languages. It includes all the varieties of Greek, Ancient Greek being mother of all of them.
Another branch is the Indo-Iranian, which split up into Iranian, which includes languages of Iran like Persian, Avestan (the language in which the Avesta is written); and Indo-Aryan, which consists of all the languages of North India. South Indian languages are from a different family called Dravidian languages. Both these language families have been in contact for about 3000 years and have heavily influenced each other. Vedic Sanskrit may be rightly called Proto-Indo-Aryan, though only early Aryan texts like Rig Veda record it. Vedic Sanskrit preserves many archaic features of Proto-Indo-European, which were lost in Classical Sanskrit, which were further lost in Middle-Indo-Aryan ( which includes Prakrit and Pali). I believe, modern Indo-Aryan languages don't preserve half the beauty of these ancient languages.
So I will end here, even though I wish to write more because I can't wait to pour out all I have learnt. I will conclude by saying that isn't it ironic that English, Persian separated from our (Indian) languages, only to mingle again and perhaps they themselves will produce something altogether new.
Next post on some changes undergone by Germanic languages, the Satem and Centum language, Decem and Taihun languages and other different changes.
On a different note, I have been in class 9 for a month (2, if you count summer vacations) and its taking a little time for me to adjust.
Thank You!
Merci!
Dhanyavad!
Sunday 14 March, 2010
Happy Birthday Albert Einstein.
Today is Einstein's birthday, so lets sing for him:
Happy Birthday to You
Happy Birthday to You
Happy Birthday Dear Einstein
Happy Birthday to You.
Incidentally, today is also Pi day. I am not sure if it is because:
1 It is Einstein's birthday
or
2 If you write today's date in the month-date format it reads as -
03-14, and 3.14 is what is the approximate value of Pi.
So Happy Pi Day to all the geeks in the world.
Happy Birthday to You
Happy Birthday to You
Happy Birthday Dear Einstein
Happy Birthday to You.
Incidentally, today is also Pi day. I am not sure if it is because:
1 It is Einstein's birthday
or
2 If you write today's date in the month-date format it reads as -
03-14, and 3.14 is what is the approximate value of Pi.
So Happy Pi Day to all the geeks in the world.
Tuesday 9 March, 2010
Thursday 21 January, 2010
Too hard to be omnipotent?
God knows exactly what will happen in future ( since he is all-knowing). So actually everything is decided. For example if God knows I will be a non-believer, then no matter what you or anyone does to make me a believer, I simply can't believe in God because that is what God knows my future is, and since God doesn't make mistakes, I am bound not to convert. So it will just look like I have free will, but actually it is what God know will happen, and God can't be wrong.
Check this out as well:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omnipotence_paradox
What do you have to say about this?
Check this out as well:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omnipotence_paradox
What do you have to say about this?
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