Et in Arcadia, Aggro

Tea Party v Anonymous; Troll v Troll

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 07:23:31 -1000

kung fu grippe: Some Long-Overdue Correctioning

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 13:12:00 -1000

kung fu grippe: Some Long-Overdue Correctioning:

Not Verbs
…
Neat idea. It’s about time computer professionals demand people stop constantly (mis)using words like, “lockdown” and “pickup” as verbs.

Me? My pet peeve is, “pedantic.” I hate when people use that wrong.

As in, “Please permit me a few moments to pedantic your harmlessly…

Or, to put it another way…

Actually this is an interesting problem. The basic suggestion is that a preposition cannot incorporate into a verb phrase, and the site shows good enough evidence that these are not incorporated verb phrases. Interestingly, though, incorporation of prepositions onto verbs does occur in English, as in look + over = overlook. So perhaps the solution, if you are going to attempt to use log + off as a singular phrase, is to offlog.

Of course, really these people are just arguing about orthography, not usage. Use the space or don’t, it doesn’t matter.

Earth - The Bees Made Honey in the Lions Skull

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 11:57:34 -1000

Earth - The Bees Made Honey in the Lions Skull:

Whenever I need to get some work done, I put on this album and I’m halfway there.

Also this.

Sat, 17 Jul 2010 22:35:30 -1000

Also this.

Ablaze My Sorrow - If Emotions Still Burn This song is kind of...

Sat, 17 Jul 2010 22:28:10 -1000

Ablaze My Sorrow - If Emotions Still Burn

This song is kind of an interesting mix of things. Lots of ideas suggestive of later melodic death (this was recorded in 1995 I believe) and of mid-90s black metal, and played sort of like it was a punk song. Oh also there’s the terrible title, lyrics, and band name.

Anyway this song is pretty rad.

Don’t argue with an ibex. I refuse to believe that this...

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 22:59:39 -1000

Don’t argue with an ibex.

I refuse to believe that this is an actual Earth animal. I maintain it is some kind of Star Wars cantina creature.

-@Malki

The Basics is a set of 20 short comics by Brian Smith. It is of...

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 15:02:26 -1000

The Basics is a set of 20 short comics by Brian Smith. It is of course a very short read but it’s a lot of fun, and I’ve gone through it a good few times since a couple years ago when I became aware of it. I love its simple, elegant design and its variation between silly sight gags and absurd non-jokes.

Taiwan seeks to save indigenous languages

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 17:10:35 -1000

Taiwan seeks to save indigenous languages:

Now hang on here.

But of the world’s estimated 300 million Austronesians - including New Zealand’s Maoris and Hawaii’s Polynesians - few can speak their language, and many languages now face extinction.

Kind of a confusing statement. First let’s deal with the fact that Maoris and Hawaiians are both Polynesians (suggested rephrases: “including the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand and Hawaii” or “including New Zealand’s Maori [not Maoris] and the indigenous people of Hawaii”.

Second of all, while it is true that there are many Austronesian groups whose heritage languages are endangered, it is probably worth noting that in places like the Philipines and Indonesia, they are dominated by other Austronesian languages.

Just saying it feels like an underspecified statement is all.

I cannot pretend to have foreseen this end but good on you,...

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 17:41:13 -1000

I cannot pretend to have foreseen this end but good on you, España

AMERICAAAAA Patriotism and nationalism are not the same thing. ...

Sun, 04 Jul 2010 10:06:25 -1000

AMERICAAAAA

Patriotism and nationalism are not the same thing. Patriotism is, roughly, a sense of what your country is about and a love of it. Nationalism is a strong and exclusionary sense of who does, and, more importantly, doesn’t belong there.

This raises the question, though, is it still nationalism if the answers are, respectively, “everybody” and “nobody”?

Anyway, Happy America.

Seemed appropriate today.

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 13:15:10 -1000

Seemed appropriate today.

I had originally been calling Mexico and Italy for the finals. Obviously that’s not going to...

Sat, 26 Jun 2010 05:12:00 -1000

I had originally been calling Mexico and Italy for the finals. Obviously that’s not going to happen. For one thing Mexico is in a really tight situation, likely facing Germany even if they beat Argentina. Oh yeah, also there’s that thing about the Italians.

Anyway, the games as I see them from here:

Uruguay beats South Korea; Ghana beats USA; Netherlands beat Slovakia; Brazil beats Chile

Mexico beats Argentina; Germany beats England; Paraguay beats Japan; Portugal beats Spain

Uruguay beats Ghana; Netherlands beat Brazil; Germany beats Mexico; Portugal beats Paraguay

Netherlands beat Uruguay; Germany beats Portugal

And then a very Northern European finals with the Netherlands as the victors. Of course any match could change all of this hugely, but I figure the real x-factors are Brazil-Netherlands (which isn’t definite but seems very likely) and Spain-Portugal. But really Netherlands have just been playing like no one else. Japan’s really surprising quality could be a factor in things too but if they get themselves into a match with Portugal (or Spain for that matter) things aren’t that likely to go too well for them.

Anyway it’ll all be great from here on.

How Does the Vuvuzela Work?

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 07:20:34 -1000

fakescience:

We deserved that one. Slovenia, you were lucky today.

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 07:13:27 -1000

We deserved that one. Slovenia, you were lucky today.

Guys it’s okay to call football soccer. We’re not the only country that doesn’t...

Fri, 11 Jun 2010 06:06:42 -1000

Guys it’s okay to call football soccer. We’re not the only country that doesn’t call it football. Just call it what you call it and don’t make that big a deal about it.

I like Mexico and RSA so much I want them both to get three points but a draw is fine.

Evocative Guitar Sounds - Late Hair Clean EMGs really...

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 12:15:10 -1000

Evocative Guitar Sounds - Late Hair Clean

EMGs really aren’t made to be played clean, but bands like Ugly Kid Joe, Skid Row, and Crucial Taunt knew it was a necessity sometimes.

Incidentally, Ugly Kid Joe’s singer was a pretty great low-rent Sebastian Bach.

Evocative Guitar Sounds - 90s Alternative Fuzz/Twang Plug your...

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 12:02:00 -1000

Evocative Guitar Sounds - 90s Alternative Fuzz/Twang

Plug your Tele into a Twin Reverb, turn up the gain and the treble, and start playing minor arpeggios. You have just become Toad the Wet Sprocket, or maybe Soul Asylum, or Sponge perhaps. Anyway you just wrote yourself a ticket onto a film soundtrack fifteen years ago.

Pippa Passes

Mon, 31 May 2010 16:58:21 -1000

Pippa Passes:

“Twat” both then and now is vulgar slang for a woman’s external genitals.^[1] It has become a relatively mild epithet in parts of the UK, but vulgar elsewhere. When the editors of the Oxford English Dictionary inquired decades later where Browning had picked up the word, he directed them to a rhyme from 1660 that went thus: “They talk’t of his having a Cardinall’s Hat/They’d send him as soon an Old Nun’s Twat.” Browning apparently missed the vulgar joke and took “twat” to mean part of a nun’s habit, pairing it in his poem with a priest’s cowl.^[2]^[3]

Words are fun.

Legal Decision About Signatures in Different Scripts in India

Sun, 23 May 2010 09:40:56 -1000

Legal Decision About Signatures in Different Scripts in India:

See, and you thought multilingualism was complicated where you live!

(via @Langology)

The Etiquette of Workplace Multilingualism

Sun, 23 May 2010 09:36:00 -1000

The Etiquette of Workplace Multilingualism:

This is an interesting topic, but man what non-advice. I mean, I understand the basic point that everyone should be polite and yes, it’s rude to gossip about people using a second language. But ultimately, isn’t the notion that someone is talking about you until proven otherwise ridiculously self-centered?

And hey, English monoglots, if you get listen to Spanish all day then maybe you’ll LEARN a little!

(via @langology)