Items to Make You Queen of the Watercooler Next Week

Tags

brain, dinosaurs, education, evolution, GOP, humans, life, meaning, philosophers, physics, quantum mechanics, teabaggers, War, what you should read, words

See that’s me. I mean, imagine a woman instead of a man, and that’s me. I’m spend hours reading just so that you don’t have to. I mean you can if you want to of course. God forbid that fine education goes to waste, but I have burned up the Intertubes in an effort to find all the news that you missed.

And I read it all. And some of it was crap upon further inspection, and so I ditched it. And the rest, well you gotta know this stuff. Especially if you want all your friends and aunt Tilde to think you are just a real smart ass. (meant in the kindest way of course)

So, let’s get to it, in no particular order.

Paul Krugman has a fine op-ed in the NYTimes detailing the crazy party, AKA, the GOP. What he says is very true. The GOP argument for deliberately toying with the very health of our economy goes something like this: I have put a gun to your head and demanded your money or your life. If you refuse to give me your money, it’s your fault that you’re dead. I gave you the option to live after all!

On the other hand, this may all go to prove that one can actually get admitted to Harvard and get through it with flying colors and still be utterly and profoundly stupid. Ted Cruz may be set to be one of the most spectacular blazing super nova that sputtered out in record time in the history of horses asses, err, super novae.

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If it is true that humans have an individualized predisposition to violence, is it equally true that humans in community have a predisposition to violence in the form of war? It seems many assume this to be true. But evolutionary biologist, David P. Barash argues that this may in fact not be true. The latter may be only a capacity rather than an adaptation. Want to learn more? If you don’t think it matters, think again. We base our defense systems on assumptions of what other groups are likely to do. If we assume all people are driven to war to achieve ends, we build a different defense system than if we do not. And we’ve sure got the tax bills to reflect that.

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I know that most of you are just thrilled every time you get a chance to read about quantum mechanics, I mean what self-respecting grease monkey or grocery check out lady  isn’t obsessed with the working of the universe at the extra-tiny scale? Ever heard of an aplituhedron? I bet not. It all means that all the complicated mathematical twists and turns are eliminated as well as the super computer to do the computations. Now little Bobby can explain the most complicated sub-particle interaction with nothing more than a pencil and paper again!

If you are going, uhh, okay so what? Well, you all know that physicists have been since the beginning of time, trying to join the big universe with the small universe (macro and micro forces?) and it has just never fit well, and well, the don’t call it the elegant universe for nothing. Everybody who knows this stuff figured the answer would eventually be simple. This might be it. I’m not a physicist as you might have guessed by now.

I mean this is simply delicious early fall reading. Get to it.  🙂

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Now I know you will love this one. There is a new book out there that you probably will want to get. I can imagine about half a dozen of you will be on Amazon in moments. It’s called Holy Shit: A Brief History of Swearing, by Melissa Mohr. Colin Burrows review of the book is worth the reading. Now read it your grouthead gnat snapper!

Steven Pinker from Harvard has written a book that details how we are becoming less violent as societies over time. He also argues that the world would be better led by science than by the humanities. Some beg to differ. A great essay from The Berlin Review of Books, and Gloria Origgi, A Reply to Steven Picker’s Scientific Manifesto.

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Love words? Lots of words? Okay.

The American Scholar has a fun essay called Is There a Word for That? Words are being made up all the time, but you knew that. Want to know who created some words we now take for granted? Who is responsible for katydid? Or neologize ? Or Anglophobia? Blurb? Gerrymander? Bromide? Oh I bet I got your attention now.

Similarly, if you have ever remembered the quote but not the quoter, and the more you looked the harder it got? Who Really Sad That? You would be surprised at how often we get the attribution wrong. Amaze your friends by correcting their quotes!

“Whoever is not a socialist when he is 20 has no heart; whoever is not a conservative when he is 30 has no brain.” Usually attributed to Churchill. Actually? Nobody knows.

Enter the fine world of WAS–Wrongly Attributed Statements.

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I betcha thought that the human mind created the gear, that round thingie that has “teeth” and meshes with other objects similarly constructed? That together makes things turn and other things go up and down and maybe side to side? You would be wrong. Scientists have found a gear in nature for the very first time. And YOU are some of the first non-specialists to know that, so don’t you feel so very proud?

A cute little guy called a planthopper (he has a very important scientific name you need not memorize) has a couple of gears in his back legs that mesh together and then when he calls on them to, spin backward sending him off on a leap across the earth that looks pretty fun. I’m sure it made sense to him too in terms of escaping predators or getting up as high as he wanted to feed. It’s called evolution folks. There is a little embedded video so you can watch him go!

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Must a life be meaningful in order to be happy? Do we prefer meaningfulness over happiness if we can’t have both? They are not the same by the way. Happiness in part is getting what you want or need in life. Meaningfulness can have zero to do with this. Similarly happy people report that health is essential, yet health has nothing to do with meaningful lives. Happiness is apparent in the now, while meaningfulness tends to be a future assessment. This is a long article but one that raises lots of questions to think about. Well worth your time.

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Nautilus brings us the ever-beloved essay on dinosaurs. The discovery and explanation of our bird predecessors have had a varied history as scientists working from small numbers of bones, continually revised their thinking of these creatures over time. As is usual, it is the unsung tiny dinosaurs that have done the most to correct our understanding over time of what these cuties looked like and how they lived. For the kid in all of us, this article will satisfy. I still wish there had been Brontosaurus, they were so neat!

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With the advent of all the cute devices we have now from phones to tablets to readers to computers, all with calendars and reminders of one sort or another, there is less and less reason to have to memorize things. Nobody has to write down a phone number or address. The call is registered, switch it to contacts and it’s saved forever. Enter an address in your Google maps app, and you don’t need to record that address again. And maybe, just maybe that’s a good thing. Memorization may be a much over-rated thing. Curious? Read on.

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How many late night gab fests have lingered long into the night over the ever-present question– Why was Spinoza excommunicated anyway? I mean this guy was ostracized with a big O, like in members of the congregation being order to be no closer that four cubits to the man. That’s some serious excommunication! Worse, payment of a fine served to dissolve most bans. Spinoza’s was life long. Spinoza himself never spoke of the harem, most of his works and fame came long after it. What is as interesting as why is by whom: Jews who had escaped forced Catholicism in Spain and Portugal and once free in Amsterdam, practiced a form of Judaism that was anything but normative. All in all, quite fascinating.

Happy reading everyone, and to all a good day!

Logic Comes in Fits and Starts

Tags

Humor, I'm sane but you may be not, words

What we have here is a failure to communicate.

Now I bet you thought, “wow, she’s gettin’ senile. She just said that a couple of days ago.”

But I’m not, even though I did.

This is but an example of looping Time Warping. It is how the old Star Trek crew got to go back and save the universe way before it knew it needed any saving.

And we have had another example of this phenomenon recently if you are reading the comments faithfully like I am very sure you are.

Now, just tell me how I can tell you now what I learned NEXT WEEK when it is still only THIS WEEK. Aw, gees, shit&biscuits…. I mean… if I learned ANTYTING this week is that I really don’t know what I’m gonna learn next week cause last week I had no idea what I was gonna learn this week, see, and if you had only asked a civil and intelligent question, say, like, “Hey, Jimm…. what did you learn LAST MONTH” , why gosh, then I could have given you a really really rational response,,, say, maybe, like…”Not much”.

Now this is Time Warping. Our little Jimmy has gone and misplaced his noggin’ and we are gonna have to rush through the Warping Elemental SugarShack and retrieve it, replant it, rewire it, and turn it on, afore he wakes up and discovers his brainless  predicament.

Which is all not to be confused in any way, shape or form (we are addicted to threes, you ever wonder about that, since we only have two sexes and all), with  the Time Warp dance, which we all remember so fondly, and watch cultishly every year, in the same way that we yearly have to find a copy of Alice’s Restaurant to listen to from front to back, which is not a triple thing, but a duo, which brings me back to DOE, a deer. (How’d ya like my Faulkneresque stream?)

Which brings to mind another question, now that I’ve got the right wingers all in a tither with a cutsie pic of some really adorable cross-dressing dudes.

The question. Oh yes. The question.

Now that I have divulged (don’t you think that’s a slightly vulgar word?) my own personal quirks of Alice’s Restaurant and Rocky Horror Picture Show, care to share?

I mean what yearly return to wonderland things do you go do, see, listen to as a tribute to the fact that they remind you of bygone eras and lives lived last?

And don’t bore me with Aunt Lucille’s bread dressing at Thanksgiving either.

All this has led me to, and it was meant to lead you to, the fact that 4 out of 10 freakin’ stupidos in the US of AMerryCa believed that the AHCA was already declared unconstitutional before the oral arguments had even happened. But then you knew that was where this was all leading. Talk about your time warp.

By the way, are other languages full of stupid words that sound alike but are spelled differently? Deer and dear being fine examples. And whether the answer is yes or know no (another one), how stupid was THAT? I mean isn’t it hard enough to master the language without putting up stupid roadblocks like that in the way? Can we get a committee on that? Let’s fix up English, shall we.

Which brings to mind why the English (as in ENGLAND) have dumb words like gaol which is (I know this will shock your shorts off) jail. We spelt it right, as you can see. But a Boot is not a trunk, because a trunk is a trunk, and a boot is what you wear on your footsie.  And while they are at it, stop mispronouncing things. It’s LAB RA TORY, not LA BOOR A TORY. Is that so hard to get?

Snooty English. Not as snooty as the French, with all their french words. I bet they didn’t invent the fry. I bet they didn’t. And don’t get me started on the Germans. That language is more akin to spittin’ nails out. Ach-tOO! –to you too.

I don’t give a creepin’ ivy which of the final four wins the basketball tournament. I had six teams I would be happy to call mine. Not a one of them made it. I’m 0 for 6. I’m 0 for 7 if you figure in the likely mess the AHCA is in. That’s not very good for a week.

 You want stupid? I’ll give you stupid.

You recognize this monstrosity? It’s an Ark. It’s part of a theme park in Kentucky run by some Christianist outfit that for a pretty hefty chunk of change (ticket) will show you how all of science is crap and the Bible properly explains the beginnings of earth.

This crock of crap is being subsidized by the taxpayers of KY, so far in $40M in tax rebates, a 75% reduction in property taxes for 30 years, and now $11M more in road improvements around the eye sore.

Where are the teapeople®? Why are not they decrying this usurping of their freedoms and the spending of their tax money on grifter scams?

Yes, I can understand.  With a median IQ of 78 and a median education level of 5th grade, I suppose they haven’t figured out yet that they are being RAPED, financially speaking. Tens of thousands of kids in Kentucky have teeth rotting out of their mouths from lack of dental care, and these jackasses are spending money to perpetrate fairy tails tales. (‘nother one!)

I have come to the end of the page, so ta ta.

Stuck on Words

Tags

dictionary, English, language, words

 

 

 

 

I ran across an article in the NYTimes today, that caught my eye.  (Isn’t that an odd remark though? I don’t want anything really to catch my eye. It sounds like it would hurt!) I digress again.

The Times  has an embedded gizmo that when you hover over a word, it hyperlinks it to the dictionary and you can see what it means. Some higher-ups in the organization figured it might be interested to know what words people were looking up.

This makes sense to me, since who wants to use words that your readers don’t know? I assume people can give up and go elsewhere, particularly when there are so  many elsewheres to go to on the Internet.

I looked at the list of words, which can be found here, and well, I have to say, I didn’t actually know the meaning of a good many of them. I have seen most of them in print before, but if asked, I couldn’t give a very good definition.

That raises two big issues for me. Why do I apparently read so many words, not really knowing what they mean without bothering to look them up? That is a deep failing on my part, to be sure. I can of course come up with plenty of excuses. One doesn’t always have a dictionary at hand, I’m too busy sometimes, I have a good idea from the context? (usually wrong I find), and well, got an hour? I can come up with more.

For instance as to context. I have seen the word laconic hundreds of times. I actually thought it meant lazy, drowsy, uninterested, something like that.It certainly soundslike a word that would be lazy doesn’t it. It kinda falls off the lips in a languid late summery kind of way. It actually means “concise.” Who would have thought. Like law, things are not always, or even usually what they sound like, look like, or logically should be.

The second thing I realized is that, although I read more than say the average person, (I figure I do at least), and I write a good three thousand words a day between posting, commenting and so on, I have a rather abysmal command over all of the language. I mean, I seriously didn’t do well at defining most of these words.

A few weeks ago, the Contrarian and I watched the finals of the kids spelling bee. We had never watched before, and it was amusing and rather amazing to watch these kids spell truly awful words, almost all of which I had never heard. I learned that they learn not only thousands of these obscure words but they also are experts at language, original languages, word structure, and all that goes into building words. The area is called I believe, linguistics, LIN GUIS TICS.

I had actually learned a bit of that in thinking at one time I might like to be a medical transcriber. You learn root words and then it’s often pretty easy to figure out what a word means.  You just break it into its constituent parts.

Still, it didn’t occur to me frankly that I was so word stupid. Now if someone like me, who writes reasonably coherently, with something a bit beyond the “Dick meets Jane” vocabulary, is really fairly wordless, then what does this say about the state of English in America at large?

Especially so, when we face the onslaught of “twittering” and “texting?” This says nothing at all of those old standbys “black English” and probably other ethnic “sub languages” that are prevalent in our larger cities. Are we facing the demise of English as we know it?

I don’t know, and I further don’t know if it really matters or not. If we can communicate in the manner necessary to get our point across, then perhaps it doesn’t. I would argue that the plethora of words at our disposal is intended, at least in part, to make available to us a precision in statement. No doubt in diplomatic circles, business, medicine and physics, to name a few, such precision is essential. It might literally mean the difference between life and death. As to whether I need it to chat with a friend over coffee, not so much.

I guess what is troubling is how this wordiness is acquired. It doesn’t seem to come with the “territory” of writing. I can testify that it doesn’t come with “reading the dictionary” either. The Contrarian professes that he did just that as a young man, and well, he can’t spell at all, and doesn’t seem to use especially confounding terms either.

So, are all you users of “big words” people, who wear out dictionaries surreptitiously looking up words, doing it to astound and piss off the rest of us? Again, I have no clue. Sorry, I not being at all laconic here am I? (*smirk*)

So if you have a clue how I got so dull in the word world, please give it to me. I would dearly love to know. Perhaps I’m just sui generis, who knows. Or perhaps I’m more of a abstruse individual. In any case, I’m——

Breathe that Fresh Air!

Tags

astronomy, Crafts, death penalty, Democrats, economy, Election 2008, Flowers, Gardening, Iowa, Iraq, Italian, liberation theology, McCain, Media, Middle East, popular culture, rightwing, Rumsfeld, Salads, SCOTUS, Veterans, voting, words

Well it is a Salvador Dali so this title seems appropriate: “A Chemist lifting with extreme precaution the cuticle of a grand piano.” Okayyyyy. 1936. Oil on Canvas, located at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Well, one more day and the living room will be done. The Contrarian moved the wood cart to his office and tomorrow I’ll do the other set of cabinets and counter. That will leave only the wood stove and hearth to clean, and as I said, that has to wait until we are done burning. A couple of weeks from now, hopefully. Then on to the kitchen which I am NOT looking forward to. Digging everything from cabinets and pulling out the fridge sounds decidedly unfun. But I am looking at the downside now, and I’m thrilled with the results. I know it’s boring to you guys, but mentioning it every day has keep me focused, and the guilt of not finishing is enough to keep me going.

I also want to thank everyone for your comments. I of course read them all, and try to remark on each one. If you are like me, you don’t have time to come back and see if I replied. I do, and just wanted you to know. We all live for comments!

On to the news of the day:

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Jeffrey Feldman, author of a new book entitled “Outright Barbarous: How the VIolent Language of the Right Poisons American Democracy” explains in a long exerpt, how right wing pundits, both on the radio and TV are helping to make political discourse in America more difficult. He traces how this came out and where it is leading. A fine and worthwhile post, well worth your time.

Moqtadar Sadr, leader of a considerable Shiite force in Iraq, is considered a “bad guy” in the States. Roundly derided as “mookie” by right wingers, he remains a considerable power. His appeal is broad, he is not a military person and he has faced down Saddam long before we got there. He is a nationalist, and American leaders on the right seem unable to either grasp that concept or understand what it means. That to some extent is why they are unable to do anything about him. Read more at Blue Girl, Red State.

If language is your forte, and you just love words, then you might want to take a look at this site. Merriam-Webster has what it calls an “open dictionary”for additions that can’t be found in standard dictionaries but are finding their way into American speech. I’m wondering if they have wingnut, which I find everywhere these days to describe anyone who’s philosophy of anything you consider outside the bounds of rational thought. (my definition). The link will take you to Britannica blog which will then link you there.

Another mouth-watering recipe from Epicurioustoday. This one is of the Mediterranean persuasion. It’s a homemade flat bread filled with cheese. A bit on the time consuming side, since it requires a yeast bread, but heck, you can substitute with pitas quite easily. In fact you can substitute just about all the ingredients. TryTorta al Testo and see what you can come up with.

Free Sample Direct is a new site I found through Free Sample Forager. Mostly you will see the same offers, you may like one format better than another. Give it a look see.

Ever tried growing fuchsia? I have and watched them die every time. They always look so nice at the garden center, so I fall victim again and again. Well Gardening Tips ‘n Ideas has some tips for you to follow and you may, and I may, just succeed for a change. The key is water, not fertilizer.

The Iowa Independent reports that our own Senator Tom Harkin is supporting a bill that would allow same day registration for voters in America.The entire Iowa delegation is in agreement but for the usual holdout Republican, Rep. Steve King who raises the usual fear cry of “voter fraud” which is just a mask for the real reason–Republicans like very low election turn out cause that is the only way they win. King voiced a nonsensicalal argument: this bill somehow (he doesn’t explain) “erodes the integrity of the people who are legitimate voters.” Plenty of states of course have been using this method for years with no problems and no complaints.

Sr. Joan Chittister has a provoking essay on her take of the “mess” she claims the Democratic Party has fostered in its candidate selection procedures. To  be sure, we are all tired. I’m not really convinced it’s been that divisive, and to be sure, I don’t think McCain has benefited much if any from it. He is almost completely out of the news these days, and when he is, he’s playing to very small crowds and looking rather pathetic in his attempts to garner attention. Nevertheless, Sr. Joan has a point. If we Democrats are the party of the people, what is all this discrepancy going on? Primaries versus caucuses, winner take all, versus proportionalism, raw votes versus super delegates, and even the committed delegates aren’t so committed after all. Read it and decide what you think.

It’s always something as Rozanne Rozanna Dana used to say. Now we have screaming stars. Yep, one got too close to a black hole recently and gave forth an agonizing scream that was picked up by astronomers on dear old Earth. Read more at Live Science and plug your ears!

This is really the second article from National Review, the magazine of the really out there folks. I didn’t bite the first time, but these wingnuts really really do believe this. We aren’t in a recession at all, and if we were, it’s over. Um. do they eat? drive? own a house? Apparently they do not. One report does not change the world. The evidence is in my fridge and in my gas tank. In their obsession to not lose this election, they have become down right schizo!

It has been the rallying cry of Republicans for a good long while. Democrats don’t care about the troops. Well, guess what? It’s a lie. Senator Jim Webb has sponsored a bill to expand educational benefits to veterans. He has bipartisan support from Hegal and Warner. He is backed by Obama and Clinton. Who is against it? Bush and his snuggle buddy McCain. McCain says he just following the Pentagon, but has now introduced his own bill, with a lot fewer co-sponsors and substantially smaller benefits. I mean are Republicans wanting to set a record for losing worse than any Republican in history or what?

Is it any surprise that the longer the primary season, and then election goes on, the less trust Americans have in the candidates on the issue of honesty and trust? Sure isn’t to me. As Clinton and Obama struggle to find meaningful “differences” to argue about, truth starts to slide to the side. As for the Republicans, it seems to me they redefine truth in their own bizarre way and make it a  requirement to join the party. On Faith has this as its topic this week. The usual commentators weigh in and there are plenty of comments. Enjoy!

Kevin Drum has a deliciously fun and silly take on all the talk about McCain taking on some juvenile in Louisiana as his running mate. The dude is like 36 years old and has almost no experience. Yeah, good idea. This one is pushed by that ever idiotic, ever wingnut neo-con Bill Kristol. Read all the other fun pairings and read the voluminous comments that everyone has come up with. Thanks to Political Animal for the giggle. Actually the comments are hilarious!

Don’t know if you heard this, but I just did. It’s chilling to be sure. Turns out that within three weeks of 9/11, Mr. Rumsfeld, Rummy to those of us who abhor him, was making out his Christmas list of which countries he intended to take down in the Middle East. He had at least 6 countries he planned on invading or regime changing. I kid you not friends. We are well rid of the nut. We are now just learning how very dangerous the gang of Bush really is/was. Thanks to Politics  Plus!

Religion in American History has an excellent post on liberation theology. (I’ve been engaged in the usual fruitless debate about it on Catholic Answers for a few days–upshot–if the Church doesn’t like it, its bad) This is an absolutely excellent beginner read taken from the NYTimes. Rev. J. Wright is a black liberation theologian by claim, which is how this all came about I’m sure. Cone, mentioned in the article is perhaps the leading theologian on the topic these days. A very nice list of sources if you wish to learn more. I read a huge amount on Latin American Liberation theology when I was in grad school, but all liberation theologies be they Latin, Black, feminist or womanist are basically the same.

Anyone catch Harry Reid on John Stewart’s “The Daily Show” last night? I was bleary-eyed and half asleep but I did hear this insane remark that Lieberman is on our side on everything but Iraq! Oh no he’s not. He’s supporting McCain for one thing. And Glenn Greenwald says on a whole lot more. Joe is not a Democratic friend, period.

Jicama! I love the stuff. Have you tried it? It’s kinda like kohlrabi, fairly nondescript, crunchy, good in salads. Simply Recipes has a wonderful salad featuring it. Jicama Salad is something different, and easy to find in your major grocers.

Paul Waldman has a great article at American Prospect on the issue of patriotism. It seems the Republican War machine is gearing up its swift boat tactics.Some have thought that McCain would stay “above” that sort of thing, given what Dubya and his gang did to him in North Carolina in 2000. Not so. Mac has no problem claiming his opponents are simply not good Americans. Witness his claim that “we all know who Hamas wants to win the election.” 

I don’t know if any of you caught 60 Minutes last Sunday. One segment featured the story of a Dallas Prosecutor who ruled the roost for 30 or more years and has lately been found out to have suppressed a ton of exculpatory evidence. So far like 15 men have been released, some having served nearly 20 years for crimes they did not commit. Perhaps we can assume that most of the country is not quite as crazy as Texas or as execution happy, but still, it begs the question why killing states are so hellbent to return to killing now that they have been given the green light again by SCOTUS. Read an excellent report in The Nation about the death penalty.

Craft Tutorials has some ideas for gifts for mother’s day. There is a good long list, so you should be able to find something. There is some nice variety, and of course, they can be used as other gifts as well, or, God forbid, yourself!

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“Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain.” Friedrich von Schiller

“The capacity of human beings to bore one another seems to be vastly greater than that of any other animal.”  H.L. Mencken

“When you go into court you are putting your fate into the hands of twelve people who weren’t smart enough to get out of jury duty.” Norm Crosby

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More Bumper Stickers!

100,000 Sperm And You Were The Fastest?

A day without sunshine is like, night.

Age is a high price to pay for maturity

ANGER IS MERELY DEPRESSION WITHOUT ENTHUSIASM

As Long As There Are Tests, There Will Be Prayer In Public Schools.

Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

Be Nice To Your Kids; They’ll Pick Out Your Nursing Home

BEER, Helping people have sex since 1865.

Boycott shampoo, demand real poo instead.

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This past weekend, they celebrated the Worldwide Marijuana March on Saturday. The march went almost 200 yards before everybody sat down, smoked a joint, and fell asleep in the street. Jay Leno

I guess it’s neck and neck with Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, who have a big primary tomorrow. And they’re everywhere right now. Yesterday’s “‘Meet the Press’ was devoted to Obama while the “‘This Week with George Stephanopoulos’ was devoted to Clinton. Meanwhile, John McCain spent the day watching a “Golden Girls” marathon.  Conan O’Brien

Can’t wait to get my tax rebate. Still haven’t decided if I’m going to blow it on a tank of gas or a bag of rice. Will probably flip a coin. If I can borrow one. – Will Durst