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2004-09-24 15:04
�1. From the hilarious (if you are, as I am, I) section on Nation och Spr�k
I Grekland f�rsokte man �terskapa ett "rent" spr�k, som skulle
�terknyta till den klassiska grekiskam och befrias fr�n turkisk
p�verkan. Men detta spr�kformen katharevousa k�ndes fr�mmande
och alltf�r litter�r f�r de flesta, och de h�ll fast vid sin
traditionella grekiska (dimotiki).
In Greece an attempt was made to reshape a "pure" language, which
would be recoupled with classical Greek and and freed from Turkish
influence. But the resulting language (katharevousa) felt
foreign and rather literary to most people, and they stuck with their
traditional Greek (dimotiki).
(op. so very cit.)
("I dunno, Dimitrios, I can't make head or tail of these new-fangled
ancient traditions. What's wrong with good old-fashioned degenerate
modern rubbish, I should like to know?")
�2. Lizard brains!
Appliquer les neurosciences au marketing? Dans leur livre �Selling to
the old brain�, deux chercheurs fran�ais expliquent comment la
connaissance du fonctionnement du cerveau permet d'accro�tre
l'efficacit� de la communication commerciale.
Apply neuroscience to marketing? In their book Selling to the old
brain, two Frenchy-French researcheurs explain how the
understanding of the functioning of the brain can improve the
effectiveness of advertising.
We want lizard brains! We want lizard brains! Brainsssssss!
Lizzzzard brainsss! Can we have some lizzzarrd brainssss,
Patrick Renvois�, pleeeezzzz? They're so spicy!
�Le cerveau reptilien est tellement primitif qu'il ne r�agit qu'� six
stimuli, d�taille-t-il; ce sont eux qui permettent de maximaliser la
probabilit� de vente d'un produit.�
"The lizard brain is so primitive that it reacts to only six (6)
stimuli", he explains, "it is they which permit to maximalise the
probability of selling a product."
(Le psycho pour le marketing makes the lizard brain look like
Proust, of course. "Depuis longtemps j'ai mang� des cerveaux
reptiliens, yum yum, a bonne heure. Ils sont tellement �pic�s!")
[via]
�3. Online dating pitfalls
Oh
dear:
C________, 35: Jag t�nder inte p� n�gon som skriver fel
C________, 35: Bad writing is a real turn-off
Sigh. I just wish Aftonbladet's premium online personals whatsit had
some way of filtering out wimmins who are in the habit of playing
golffoopball, which are distress common. And I have about as much use
for a "glad och positiv tjej" (the most common kind, by a country
mile) as she would surely have for me.
�4. I like autumn
But come next week we will be afflicted with a new batch of childrens,
all of which will feel it their moral duty to stand, in groups,
blocking corridors I want to walk down, oblivious of the nuisance they
are causing. At least I'm in something of a cul de sac, now, so there
shouldn't be so many droning on about their social lives for the
twenty minutes it takes for them to twig that their tutor (unlike me)
won't notice they're there unless they knock on the door.
[Permalink]
2004-09-24 12:17
It is in fact Auguste Comte's system of positivisme:
I Comtes system bildar matematiken grunden, d�refter f�lja i stiganda
skala mekanik, astronomi, fysik, kemi, biologi. Varje vetenskap
bygger p� denna som st�r l�gre ner p� skalan. Slutpunkten, den
vetenskap som i sig skall innefatta all de andra vetenskapa, kaller
han sociologi, l�ran om samh�llet. Med "social fakta" som bas
kan man skapa en vetenskap om och f�r samh�llet
Comte's system sees mathematics as the foundation, after which
mechanics, astronomy, physics, chemistry and biology follow in a
rising scale. Each science builds on those lower in the scale. The
end point, the science that includes within it all other sciences, he
called sociology, the study of society. With "social facts" as
a base one can develop a science of, and for, society.
Id�ernas historier, Sten H�gn�s
It's not the bit about sociology that bothers me, it's the ideological
conception of science as a Grand Epistemological Tower. I hate that,
and I hate that it still permeates much of the pro-science propaganda
one sees around. (It is far from uncommon to see persons explicitly
bigging up a notionally Popperian view of science, but implicitly
deeply in thrall to Comte's Tower.)
Note, incidentally, that this kind of utvecklingsl�ra dominated
the second half of the 18--s and had counterparts in
misconceptions of evolution (the "ladder" view that Steven J Gould
spent so much time railing against) and philology.
Also, prinsess Alexandra wearing,
as is her custom, a hat at the folkthing ("It's a folk thing!
(TM)")
[Permalink]
2004-09-24 10:14
I'm sometimes asked which I like best
Of Oxbridge East and Oxbridge West;
In fact I don't care in the least
For Oxbridge West or Oxbridge East.
Blind Spacefish Slim, MA (Erewhon)
Today is Id�ernas historier day at the 'bladet, and we shall be
quoting mostly from Sten H�gn�s's book of that title. Firstly, on the
Birmingham Lunar Society, which did a great deal to foment the
industrial revolution. (It met on full moons so that persons could
see to get home afterwards, hence the name.) There were one or two
atheistes among them, but:
De flesta var dock s� kallade dissenters eller
non-conformists, allts� frikyrkliga - flera bland dem kv�kare.
Frikyrkliga persona var uteslutna fr�n de engelska universiteten. Men
f�r den som hade naturvetenskapligen intressen var de egentligen inte
n�gon st�rre f�rlust. Oxford och Cambridge hade p� 1700-talet inte
mycket att erbjuda inom vetenskaperna.
Most were however so-called "dissenters" or "non-conformists", i.e.,
free church members - several of them were Quakers. Free church
members were excluded from English universities. But for those
interested in science this wasn't a great loss. Oxford and Cambridge
didn't have much to offer in the way of science in the 17--s.
And don't get me started on the priority dispute between Newton and
Leibniz that turned Engleesh mathematics into a sterile backwater
disconnected from developments on the Continent; a situation which
persisted for a couple of centuries.
(Anglophone "philosophy" in the 19--s as the Farce Remix,
anyone?)
[Permalink]
2004-09-23 14:52
Prinsess Alexandra, that is, of
Denmark:
Kanske var hon f�r smart, vacker och glamor�s f�r prins Joachim,
skriver Point du Vue i sin Danmarksspecial.
Maybe she was just too duktig, beautiful and glamor�s for prins
Joachim, writes Point de Vue in its Denmarkspecial.
Sigh; I can't get Point de Vue anymore even if I want to, which
I admit I sometimes do.
Still, I wish it to be publically known that I do not wilt in the
face of levels duktighet, beauty and glamor�sity that would
crush - crush! - many a mere prins.
[Permalink]
2004-09-23 samwidge (utc+1)
Those perfidious
Danishes are flooding the Norwegish markets with inferior cheap
and fatty sossidge products!
Fet dansk salamip�lse truer norske arbeidsplasser, mener
Kj�ttbransjens Landsforbund.
P� kort tid har det danske p�legget spist seg kraftig inn p� det
norske salamimarkedet.
Fat Danish salami sossidges threaten Norwegish workplaces, claims the
Meatindustry's Nationalassociation.
In a short time has the Danish on-top-of-bread-puttable-stuff eaten
vigorously into the Norwegish salamimarket.
The Meatindustry Nationalassociation is firmly of the opinion that It
Didn't Ought To Be Allowed, you will be astonished to hear.
[Permalink]
2004-09-23 09:55
I have a dream, a fantasy
To help me through reality
And my destination makes it worth the while
Pushing through the darkness still another mile
I believe in angels
Something good in everything I see
I believe in angels
When I know the time is right for me
I'll cross the stream - I have a dream
I'll cross the stream - I have a dream
"I have a dream", ABBA
Jeremy "Riffmeister" Rifkin, air guistariste extraodinaire and
intellektyool about town, do you have a dream, too?
Le r�ve europ�en est fond� sur l'inclusion, la diversit� culturelle,
la qualit� de la vie, le d�veloppement durable, les droits sociaux,
les droits de l'homme universels. Le r�ve am�ricain est d'avantage
bas� sur l'individualisme et l'accumulation de la richesse.
The Yoorpean dream is founded on inclusion, cultural diversity,
quality of life, sustainable development, social rights, universal
human rights. The American dream is based more on individualisme and
the accumulation of wealth.
France, as Mr G. de Gaule once pointed out, has 246 distinct kinds of
cheese. Am I the only one to think Mr Rifkind's dream suggests that
he tried all of them before bed one night?
[Permalink]
2004-09-22 hometime (utc+1)
Hoorah!
Plutselig er den tom, den krystallklare halvliteren med Urquell-�l
som sto foran oss.
Kanskje ikke s� rart, det var her, i Plzen, vest i Tsjekkia, at den
moderne pilsnerens vugge sto for godt over 150 �r siden.
Suddenly it is empty, the krystall klear half litre of Urquell-�l in
front of us.
Maybe not so unusual, it was here, in Plz in Czechia, that the modern
pilsner somethinged over 150 years ago.
Is that all? Anyway, it's �l, and you can drink it there, since that
is after all where it tends to be, and Norwegish authorities are very
careful not to let free-loading Foreign �l in to sponge on their
benefit system, which is why all their �l is rubbish.
[Permalink
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2004-09-22 13:36
�1. Serving suggestion, slightly resistable
All right then, what is the point of the Oktoberfest?
Just nu firas v�rldens st�rsta �lkalas, Oktoberfest, i M�nchen.
F�rst om tolv dagar �r festen �ver - s� �n �r det inte f�r sent att
g�ra de sex miljoner bes�karna s�llskap.
Just nu the world's biggest �l fest, the Oktoberfest, is being fested
in Munich. The party isn't over for twelve (12) days - so it isn't
too late to keep the six million (6,000,000) guests company.
I like �l, for sure, but my experience of Germany suggested that
it was not in especially short supply at any time of year, so wherefore
these crazy seasonal bingenings?
�2. Serving suggestion, very resistable indeed
Is there a garment both less flattering and less attractive in its own
right than lederhosen? But hope is at
hand:
Unfortunately for fans of the snazzy leather duds, the Bavarian Livery
Association is threatening to boycott this year's Oktoberfest to
protest the state government's decision to end subsidies for the
wearers of lederhosen and other traditional clothing such as dirndl
dresses.
(Deutsche Welle Welle Welle Uh has a whole Oktoberfestspeziale
which we are now shamelessly plundering.)
�3. Silly sausages!
The EU, in its boundless munificence, provides no fewer than three (3)
distinct forms of protected designation:
A PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) covers the term used to
describe foodstuffs which are produced, processed and prepared in a
given geographical area using recognised know-how.
In the case of the PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) the
geographical link must occur in at least one of the stages of
production, processing or preparation. Furthermore, the product can
benefit from a good reputation.
A TSG (Traditional Speciality Guaranteed) does not refer to the origin
but highlights traditional character, either in the composition or
means of production.
But none of these, apparently, are good enough for the Munich
White Sausage, that mighty Munichean Sausage of Whiteness:
[The Association for the Protection of the Munich White Sausage] has
filed a copyright application with the patent office, saying that
calling sausages produced beyond Munich county borders amounted to
defrauding consumers.
I hope something got lost in the translation there, because if you
attempted to file a copyright application with the patent office, they
are surely going to file it in the Round File of Doom. (I am not an
intellectual property lawyer, for sure, but you don't need one to know
that copyrights and patents are quite different things.)
Patent Office officials will likely take several months to decide on
the issue, according to a spokesperson. They can rely on a survey
commissioned by the Bavarian ministry of agriculture, in which 48
percent of Germans believed Munich white sausage came from the city
and its surrounding areas. Should the patent office decide in favor of
one of the applications, the German ministry of justice and the
European Commission still have to sign off on them.
Similar protection of local delicacies has already been approved in
the past: Nuremberg's Bratwurst has to come from the city. Dresdner
Stollen, a popular Christmas bread, must be made in that eastern
German city.
OK, a clue at last. N�rnberger Bratw�rste/ N�rnberger
Rostbratw�rste is indeed
a PGI. (Say hello to the Spreew�lder
Gurken while you're
there.) But there's no sign there of the Dresdner Stollen under
Bread, pastry, cakes, confectionery, biscuits and other baker's
wares.
You crazy Germans, you are me also crazy driving!
[Permalink]
2004-09-22 10:40
Courrier International, as any schoolchild kno, is a digest of news
stories from non-French meeja that have been all Frenched up so as to
provide a picture or snapshot of our increasingly global world, hoorah!
The nice thing about Courrier International online, is that it links
its sources, so that we have the usual
story about the Vatican's Latinistes' witless attempt to pretend
their flabby and verbose circumlocutions make Latin a language in
which one could speak about contemporary life, if only anyone spoke
it at all:
En latin du XXIe si�cle, blue-jeans se dit bracae linteae
caeruleae, un terroriste est un tromocrates et une
minijupe [miniskirt] se nomme joliment tunicula
minima. Les latinistes du Vatican ont �galement jet� un coup
d'oeil sous cette derni�re, et ils y ont d�couvert un parvum
subligaculum (une petite culotte [probably "hot pants", unless
"knickers" really is a new concept to Vatican Latinistes.]). Mais tout
cela n'est rien � c�t� de la traduction latine qu'ils ont trouv�e pour
la pizza : si cette succulente invention de la cuisine italienne avait
exist� du temps de l'empereur Auguste, ce dernier aurait-il raffol� de
la placenta compressa ?
Still, tradition demands we ask, no entry for "morning after pill",
Vatican Latinistes?
We also have the German, replete with whenceicity.
[Permalink]
2004-09-21 16:55
The main university computer room has melted. There will be further implications, it is safe to say, but in the meantime, I have no email. In a parallel development, my exciting new parallel (parallel!) code has taken its first hesitant steps, and will shortly be ready to run on the Big Computer in the main university computer room, which has melted. They couldn't run a $*�@$ing bath*, our central IT persons, with one rather overworked exception. * Nor can I - I've moved flat, back to the 2nd Edition of my old flat, and it doesn't have a bath anymore. I can make clean in showers, for sure, but now I have to learn to shave standing up, before this stubble gets squatters' rights. [Permalink]
2004-09-21 16:55
The main university computer room has melted. There will be further
implications, it is safe to say, but in the meantime, I have no email.
In a parallel development, my exciting new parallel (parallel!) code
has taken its first hesitant steps, and will shortly be ready to run
on the Big Computer in the main university computer room, which has
melted.
They couldn't run a $*�@$ing bath*, our central IT persons, with one
rather overworked exception.
* Nor can I - I've moved flat, back to the 2nd Edition of my old flat,
and it doesn't have a bath anymore. I can make clean in showers, for
sure, but now I have to learn to shave standing up, before this
stubble gets squatters' rights.
[Permalink]
2004-09-21 13:44
�1. Downtime
The local swerver was scheduled to be down, which is more than I can
say for email.
�2. Vaughny!
The cricket's
on, and even if it's just some one-day malarkey, it's still
England (not "Eng-ger-lund" in cricket, thanks) vs. the Invincible
Upsidedownians of Straya. And Vaughn's bolwed, as he too seldom does,
himself, to good effect. (10-0-42-2 against Straya!)
�3. Mette-Marit arranges a diversion
No bad prinsess news in Norway,
for sure:
Kronprinsesse Mette-Marit la tirsdag formiddag ned grunnsteinen til
det nye Radiumhospitalet og var til stede under feiringen av
Radiumhospitalets Institutt for kreftforskning sitt 50-�rs
jubileum.
On Tuesday morning Kronprinsess Mette-Marit laid the foundation stone
for a new Radiumhospital, and was stede for the celebration of
the Radiumhospitalets Institutt for Crab Research's 50th jubilee.
(In Germany there were adverts all over festooned with solemn-looking
celebrities saying as how anyone could get crabs, but the crab
research institute was doing its level best. I eventually figured out
they meant cancer, but I didn't quite get around to not sniggering in
the limited time at my disposal.)
[Permalink]
2004-09-21 morning (utc+1)
I read a better version of this
story in Courrier International, but the Guardian is linkabler.
The EU is struggling to fill the many new translation and interpreting
posts that expansion has created:
Patrick Twidle, responsible for recruiting interpreters at the
parliament, said that despite a massive recruitment campaign and
monthly salaries starting at �2,500 he had failed to fill 400 new
positions.
That's non-trivial gravy, for sure.
Worst off are civil servants and politicians from the Czech Republic,
Lithuania and Slovenia. Jaromir Kohlicek, a Czech Euro MP, is unable
to address the parliamentary commission on transport and tourism, of
which he is a member: 'The documents we receive ahead of meetings
generally contain only one page in Czech - the agenda. Everything else
takes place in English or German.'
The documents aren't translated into Czech, "therefore" he can't
address the commission in Czech? This sequence lacks sequitation, for
sure. But I'm just sulking because I don't know enough Czech,
Lithuania or Slovenian to get at the gravy. (I have instructional
materials for all of the above, of course.)
[Permalink]
2004-09-20 15:46
It is salutary to remember that the majority of English mother tongue
applicants for translation posts in the European Commission fail
because of the poor quality of their English.
Thinking Translation, Hervey and Higgins.
I'm at a loss to know what evening class to take instead of Swedish
(which isn't running) this year, or rather next term, since Mr Open
and Mr University are likely to eat all my spare time after that, but
I'm not at all keen to do a English writing course, however remedial.
(Many of the University's more tempting courses are scheduled for
1130 to 1300 or some such nonsense. Sigh.)
[Permalink]
2004-09-20 13:19
Pascal Riche, one of Lib�'s persons in the FDRUSA,
encounters a Boston taxi driver with a Polish accent and opinions somewhat outside the
usual spectrum even for taxi drivers, who proverbially fail to lack
opinions:
"Ah, Lib�ration! C'est plut�t � gauche, non?" Oui,
enfin, un peu moins qu'avant quand m�me. "Sartre l'a fond�, non? Le
probl�me de Sartre, c'est qu'il a mal lu Heidegger."
Ah, Lib�ration! It's rather left wing, isn't it?" Yes, but
not as much as it used to be. "Sartre founded it, no? The problem
with Sartre is that he read Heidegger badly."
[Permalink]
2004-09-20 oh (utc+1)
Kronprinsessmary of Denmark has
a nice time:
She told The Age she was "having a lovely trip" and was in fine health
and spirits.
She is also, apparently, dressed in a curtain, so we reserve judgement
on her judgement. Meanwhile, a
trick question:
Prinsesse M�rtha Louise og Ari Behn venter barn. Hva
tror du det blir?
Prinsess M�rtha Louise is expecting a bebis. What do you think it
will be?
In fact, it will not be a prins and nor will it be a prinsess, since the
prinsess M-L resigned from Royal Highnessness a while back, to
concentrate on her flourishing career as a doer of whatever it is she
does.
[Interior design assistance from Anna Louise, Upsidedownian Extraordinaire]
[Permalink]
2004-09-20 09:59
Golffoopball is played with a small ball, kicked with a variey of
articial feets, and teeny-weeny goals. The ball is only ever kicked
from a static position, and no defenders are allowed; the scoring
system is based on the number of kicks required to score a goal.
It is the most boring dialect of foopball ever perpetrated, and the
margin by which it is so is far from small. (It's been all over Radio
Foopball, h�las, but it seems to have stopped now, hoorah!)
[Permalink]
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