Jun 23 2009
Sorry that I did not post last night. I have been tending to more important family things. I promise that I will post the next installment this coming Sunday. I am getting a very intrusive signal from PC Tools Antivirus. It will not let me go. I suggest that you not go to that site.
Warmest regards,
Doc
Jun 21 2009
It’s Father’s Day, a day which tends to distress me greatly.
father
O.E. fæder, from P.Gmc. *fader (cf. O.N. faðir, Ger. vater), from PIE *p@ter (cf. Sanskit pitar−, Gk. pater, L. pater, O.Pers. pita, O.Ir. athir “father”), presumably from baby-speak sound like pa. The classic example of Grimm’s Law, where PIE “p−” becomes Gmc. “f−.” Spelling with −th− (16c.) reflects widespread phonetic shift in M.E. that turned −der to −ther in many words; spelling caught up to pronunciation in 1500s (cf. burden, murder). Fatherland (1623) is a loan-translation of Ger. Vaterland, itself a loan-translation of L. patria (terra), lit. “father’s land.” Father’s Day dates back to 1910 in Spokane, Wash., but was not widespread until 1943, in imitation of Mother’s Day.
I mostly want to go hide somewhere, so I’ll probably try to get lost in something. Maybe create some graphics. Or watch some food shows on the telly.
Jun 17 2009
Dr. Whitehead, Dean of the English Department in the Colleges of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas swung a pretty big stick in his heyday there. He was able to get important persons of letters to come and give free (well, at least to the public) readings of their material. Notable amongst them were Ken Kesey and Allen Ginsberg. Mrs. Translator and I went to both of those.
The fliers had been distributed around town for a week or two. They were pretty much generic, essentially saying “Famous poet to give reading at the U of A on such and such date at 8:00 PM”. Well, Mrs. Translator and I decided to go, as we try to be cultured individuals and I was very familiar with Allen from reading.
Jun 15 2009
The psychedelic amphetamines (and I include mescaline here, although it is a methyl group away from being a true amphetamine) are many and widely encountered in what are almost always now illicit settings. They (except for mescaline) are synthetic drugs, not found in nature.
These drugs are “true” psychedelics as opposed to the oddballs described here last week. Many of the oddballs are dissociatives, and the true psychedelics work by a completely different mechanism.
Jun 14 2009
I believe that the so-called ‘writing block’ is a product of some kind of disproportion between your standards and your performance … one should lower his standards until there is no felt threshold to go over in writing. It’s easy to write. You just shouldn’t have standards that inhibit you from writing … I can imagine a person beginning to feel he’s not able to write up to that standard he imagines the world has set for him. But to me that’s surrealistic. The only standard I can rationally have is the standard I’m meeting right now … You should be more willing to forgive yourself. It doesn’t make any difference if you are good or bad today. The assessment of the product is something that happens after you’ve done it.
–William Stafford
(Warning: Graphics inside)
Jun 09 2009
I thank the members here for asking me to post my science essays here as a primary site. I hope to make many new friends here. The next one has to do with acetaminophen, a very dangerous drug. If I am not welcome to post it here as my new primary site, please let me know. Warmest regards, Doc
May 19 2009
A week or so ago, as noted in this story and a few diaries, Frank Luntz, the other side’s wannabe equivalent to George Lakoff (apologies in advance to George, who is sincere in his efforts to make us effective speakers, unlike Dr. Luntz, who is a whore), published a talking points manifesto. It is intended for those who – lacking any actual plan or constructive suggestion regarding healthcare – ceaselessly bloviate on the topic nonetheless, and to suggest how they might successfully torpedo any honest efforts at fixing our healthcare mess. It is essentially a talking points manual for the talking heads of the Party of No on how to kill healthcare reform.
I would love to be searingly derisive of this effort, but there is much that can be learned from it which, no doubt contrary to Dr. Luntz’s intentions, can be used to sabotage the saboteurs. Let me clarify that my healthcare reform may not be your’s. I am a universal single-payer advocate. But it is likely that our mutual truths are informed by this examination and commentary.
Let the fun begin!
(cross posted on the DailyKos)
May 17 2009
I was a sophomore at Lake Oswego High School for the first half of 1964 and a junior at at the end of it.
Like 1963, the music ranged from the Beatles at the beginning of the year…to the Beatles at the end of the year. The meaningful music, as far as I was concerned, was in between.
I pulled the news from 1964 out of wiki, every fifth story or so. I’ve added some content and some memories and followed a few threads forward.
I found it an interesting study. I hope you do, too.
Apr 05 2009
I took some time today to assemble the smaller pieces of a larger thought. “Putting it all in one place” is something I have sometimes had trouble achieving. With it all together, I may find it needs a tweak hear and there.
In order to not use as much html as would otherwise be required, the graphics are sized to the poem they go with. Clicking on any of them will open a larger version in a new tab.
Mar 22 2009
I have not many of my own words today.
Perhaps I am tired. Perhaps I am simply lazy.
Perhaps it is simply that it is Spring.
So I have few words of my own. But I do have a few graphics. Clicking them will open larger versions.
I added just enough words, from Etymology Online and Wikipedia, to allow arrangement of the graphics…and perhaps allow a little bit of learning.
Mar 15 2009
I just finished answering someone on YouTube (in a private exchange, not a comment section free-for-all) who seems to think that any use of copyrighted material in a political commentary or other context is de facto a violation of YouTube’s ToS. That may or may not be true, and I’m sure as a private entity there would be dozens of reasons YouTube’s management could give to take down or mute videos, or suspend an account on the basis that the video maker had used copyrighted material without express permission and licensing fees. That’s really not central to my interest in these musings, though perhaps it should be.
What is central is the net impact of something like the DMCA, and the muting of dissent that can spin off of its exercise, which more or less compels a site like YouTube to take down a video if an allegation of infringement is made by a copyright holder contending (possibly just by pattern matching software rather than any use of human judgement) that a particular piece of video is infringing.
I well understand at least the broad dimensions of the conflict of laws issues that are implicit here. Though not being an IP lawyer, my interpretations may be sketchy. But I’m really more interested in how this may be a contributing factor to the increasing irrelevancy of and difficulty in calling to task, those media conglomerates who may have played a huge role in the levels of distraction that led to the present shambles we seem (at least most Americans) to be awakening to in recent months. Yes, I could have made a video that spelled out in detail my response to Cramer’s statements and obfuscations in my own voice-over narration, and perhaps have presented Cramer and Stewart’s words as on screen quotes. But by my estimate, it would probably have been 60 minutes long or longer, had I chosen that course, at least to “say” what I think I’ve said by juxtaposing audio-only excerpts against images meant to elicit a critical response. That part may be a failure in editing or in concept… I don’t really know how anyone else will interpret my juxtaposings (if that is even a word) — in fact I’m kind of curious just how many disparate interpretations might come of it, if it’s even mildly of interest to any viewer. Please forgive my pretensions… put it down to my seeing too many Kenneth Anger and Luis Buñuel films in my misspent youth.
If you find the time, please tell me in your comments if you think the following video is or is not an example of “fair use” in a political commentary. I’ll grant you in advance that it may be overly subtle and the irony may fly over some heads and strike others as trite or annoying. But try to push away your personal views on this for long enough to tell me, is it or is it not a form of political speech? Also feel free to dismantle the “fair use” rationale offered below the fold, and if this is political speech, suggest anyone who might want to take the case, should Viacom issue a DMCA takedown demand based on the edited audio excerpts.
No need to have scruples about YouTube, the vimeo version is below.
The Game (Commentary) from B Unis on Vimeo.
Mar 08 2009
I had…or am having (it’s hard to tell sometimes)…a disagreement with someone which turned out to center mostly on our disagreement about the meanings of the words “selfish” and “egocentric.”
I believe that words come with denotations and connotations and that if our sets of either of these differ, we will have different interpretations of the words. Because of this, all human communication is, in part, a negotiation.
The person with whom I was (or am) conversing believed that the dictionary rules. I’ve never cared for that view because I don’t believe the language is dead, that words change meaning over time and even the best dictionaries are therefore mostly out of date.
Besides, I’m a mathematician at heart. When we define words, they mean what we say they mean, no more and no less. Of course, Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll) was a mathematician:
‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone,’ it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.’
‘The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’
‘The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master – that’s all.’