Sunday  31 Oct 2010           comment?

Saturday  30 Oct 2010           1 comment

The second in a kind of series (where this was the first)

photo by tkil, used by permission

Thursday  28 Oct 2010           2 comments

Non-Sign II, a metal sculpture at the Canada-USA border crossing between Surrey, BC and Blaine, WA:
I'm reminded of a time in high school math class when some students resisted the idea that 0! = 1. The teacher said, "How many permutations are there of zero objects? One." gesturing with his hands to empty space: "There it is."

sculpture by Lead Pencil Studio
photo by Jen Graves

Thursday  21 Oct 2010           comment?

Three months ago, I wrote

After almost four months here, I still feel like I only kind of live in Colorado. I don't know whether I'll be here for another month or another few years (depends on whether financing materializes for the project I'm working on). But before too long, there will be resolution. I'll know whether my work here has a future, I'll know where I'm living, and I'll know whether my state fossil is a stegosaurus or a saber-toothed cat.

It's gonna be the stegosaurus. That is, I have ongoing work in Colorado.

I still don't feel rooted here. I'll be getting less-temporary-feeling housing soon, which may change my view somewhat. But I miss the California desert.

Friday  15 Oct 2010           1 comment

From a DoD web page:

Department Abides by 'Don’t Ask, Don't Tell' Injunction

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Oct. 14, 2010 -- Pending an appeal, the military services have halted discharges under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law, DOD officials said today.

Judge Virginia Phillips of the U.S. Central District of California ordered the halt to discharges and investigations. Phillips found the Don't Ask, Don't Tell statute unconstitutional in a Sept. 9 ruling. On Oct. 12, she issued an injunction ordering the Defense Department worldwide to halt discharges and investigations.

"Earlier today, the staff judge advocate generals from the military services, in consultation with the Office of the Secretary of Defense Office of General Counsel, sent to their service staff judge advocate counterparts in the field an e-mail informing them of the ruling by Judge Virginia Phillips of the Central District of California, issuing an injunction barring the enforcement or application of 10 United States Code 654, commonly known as the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' statute," Pentagon spokesman Marine Col. Dave Lapan said in a written statement.

"The e-mail noted that the U.S. government is contemplating whether to appeal and to seek a stay of the injunction," Lapan said.

"The Department of Defense will of course obey the law, and the e-mail noted that, in the meantime, the department will abide by the terms in the court's ruling, effective as of the time and date of the ruling,” he said.

Some people are still in the dare-not-speak-its-name mode. Neither gay nor homosexual appears in the article.

Yes, pretty much everyone reading it already knows what DADT is about. But still.

Sunday  ten-ten-ten           comment?

Dean and doyen/doyenne come from the Latin decanus, meaning a chief of ten.

Tithe comes from an Old English word for tenth.

Decimate refers to an ancient Roman punishment of killing one tenth of the men in a group, chosen by lot.

Other (not etymology-related) ten stuff here.

Thursday  07 Oct 2010           4 comments

I'm back in the desert for a week.

An announcement on the first leg of today's flight said (roughly), "I have gate numbers for those of you making connecting flights. I don't know how to pronounce this first one, Inyokern. Gate 71B. Four of you are going there and maybe on your way out, one of you can tell me where it is and how it's pronounced."

Wednesday  06 Oct 2010           comment?

from a graphic by David McCandless; reproduced by permission

Tuesday  05 Oct 2010           1 comment

First things first: The Social Network is very entertaining. It is also thought-provoking. And for as much as it's been criticized for being anti-geek, it is often a geek's delight. I mean, just to mention a detail that has nothing to do with computers but which thrills those of us who have Language Log in our blogrolls: I'm guessing it's the first major movie where the term glottal stop appears in the dialogue. So far, so good.

It is dramatized (imagine that). It's hard to know where and how much, and for a movie about an important subject (close to 10% of the world's people have Facebook pages), I think that matters.

The movie trades on its being based on a true story. The raw material is compelling. After seeing it, I spent an hour or so reading articles on the web about the history of Facebook and about the film. But lots of people will just see the film--and its version of the history will become widely known, for better or worse.

In discussing the tension between entertainment value and presenting the true story, the film's screenwriter Aaron Sorkin said

... what is the big deal about accuracy purely for accuracy's sake, and can we not have the true be the enemy of the good?
...
I don't want my fidelity to be to the truth; I want it to be to storytelling.

My response: all I am saying is, give truth a chance. I think the story could have been every bit as captivating while being more true-to-life.

The same article quotes Sorkin, in discussing how 1 in 4 Americans think Barack Obama was born outside the USA:

There's just too much bad information getting out there, and I have to believe that's mostly the fault of the Internet, which isn't held to any standards of accuracy.

But if it's just a film, hey!-- no problem.

If you're rolling your eyes at this point, if you think I'm being too persnickety, note that I started off by saying the film is entertaining. As one pointedly critical review said, "You're going to see The Social Network. You should. It's well-crafted."

And that made me reflect on just how important entertainment is to us, myself included. To keep the masses content, the formula remains: bread and circuses. The USA may be stumbling a bit on the bread part, but we sure can make circuses.