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2004-02-27 not weekend (utc)
I dunno, you wait four years and then two come along almost at once,
isn't it?
F�rr fick inte kvinnor fria n�r de ville. Undantaget var vart
fj�rde �r - p� skottdagen. D� kunde de ta chansen och fria till sina
dr�mmars m�n.
Och om mannen sa nej var han enligt traditionen tvungen att ge
kvinnan en fin present som tr�st.
In ye olden tymes wimmins couldn't just propose when they wanted.
The exception was every fourth year - on the leap day. Then they
could take the chance and propose to their dream man.
And if the man said no, tradition held that he was obliged to give the
woman a fine present as compensation.
And this is from the one and only Aftonblad, the paper of record round
these parts, so Sunday it is. They even have handy tipsar on how to pop the question, and even the question to pop:
S�g: Jag �lskar dig, vill du gifta dig med mig?
Say: I love you, will you marry me?
What would we do without Aftonbladet?
("I'm very fond of you, Inger, would you like a cup of tea? No, that's not it. Hold on...
"Have you put the cat out? Nope. Um...
"��... Jag kommer inte ih�g det, har du sett idags Aftonblad?")
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2004-02-27 postsamwidgeing (utc)
I don't want a shrubb'ry but I sure could use a hedge[1]
Yeah I don't need a shrubb'ry but I sure could use a hedge
I'm a gambling man, gotta get myself an edge.
"Shrubbery Blues", Blind Spacefish Slim
This international lottery thingy is some
complicated
stuff:
NOTE: The prize values will vary each week, depending on how many
tickets are sold, how many people match the same numbers and the
European exchange rates.
There's some fiddly stuff in the small print - we in the UK stake 1
EUR, same as the Frenchy-French, and there are some minor adjustments
made in smaller prizes but not the jackpots. Sadly, all the UK
surplus cash goes into a UK-only slush fund. I wanted to fund
Franco-Spanish avant-garde performance artistes that the Daily Mail
could get properly outraged about, but probably somebody already
thought of that.
[1]:
hedge (n.)
3 b A means of protection or defense, especially against financial loss: a
hedge against inflation.
Or against currency fluctuations, as here.
[Permalink]
2004-02-27 samwidge (utc)
John Quiggin quotes
himself on the Timber:
The supposed role of the secret police, to keep secrets from opposing
governments, was, as we have seen, futile. Secret police, and the
associated panoply of security laws, Official Secrets Acts and so
forth, were much more successful in protecting their governments'
secrets from potentially embarrassing public scrutiny in their own
countries.
The terroristes, being very wicked, are opposed to persons having
liberties of which they disapprove, which is pretty much all of them.
Our benevolent guardians have invented a way of combatting such
outrages that is indistinguishable, at least to the naked eye, from
broad agreement on the general principles.
Except they are bound to use their powers only for good. Honest!
[Permalink]
2004-02-27 09:53
�1. My sn�kaos hell!
I walked to Swedish class, overtaking large quantities of stationary
traffic on the way, but when I got there the college was closed on
account of the sn�. Le sigh.
�2. Scientific, slightly un
Natalya Demkina, the Russian kid with the X-ray eyes, has been on UKish daytime TV
where she announced the resident medic
"gall
stones, kidney stones, and enlarged liver and an enlarger (sic)
pancreas". An orthodox medical scan ruled out all of these, but "did show a
potential tumour in his intestines".
So, an experiment on a sample of one, with arbitrary levels of
generosity in interpreting the results. It's good to know that the
public understanding of science remains impervious to the many
educational efforts devoted to improving it. Even Siberian Light, the
bloggeur whence this report comes (via PF) has taken to exhibiting
opinions on the matter. I am going to be dogmatically old-fashioned
about this: the point of science is that given a testable
hypothesis (which the claims about Natalya's vision are) the
appropriate thing to do is to test it (which has not been
done here); exhibiting opinions is for politics.
�3. Agent W.
If it is true that words have meanings, why don't we throw away words
and keep just the meanings?
Wittgenstein, quoted
by PF
The irony is that this is precisely the situation the
language-modelling software agents mentioned
yesterday find themselves in: they communicate by producing a
string of symbols (the utterance) and a fully-specified
formal semantic meaning, both of which are available to their
listeners.
The catch is that they are only able to say a meaning if they can
construct an utterance which means it in their grammar, and given that
their grammars start out empty, that can involve a great deal of
quiet. (There are means for innovation, otherwise it would stay like
that forever, of course.) Once an agent has acquired enough grammar to
say a something with a meaning then it certainly will, and its
auditors have a very strong incentive (besides having no choice) to
consider carefully the nature of the utterance as well as its
meaning, because this is the raw material out of which their own
grammars are fashioned, and analysing it is the only means they have
of gaining a wider range of expressible meanings.
Exactly how far this should be treated as a parable I leave to my
Varied Reader, but I don't personally think it's no far.
[Permalink]
2004-02-26 light sn� (utc)
It's still sn�ing hard. This never happens in Bristol, and there's
sure to be top-quality kaos reports coming through soon. Meanwhile,
though,
there's breaking news of a locomotive of meaty sauce:
A shortage of Arabic speakers has seen earnings for the best
translators and interpreters reach �100,000 a year. Demand, driven by
the War on Terror, is set to continue - but what lies in store for
those offering their services?
Hilariously, the clearance procedures for "intelligence" service
translators are often so rigourous (I remember reading this of the
FBI. Somewhere) that anyone who's lived abroad in a dodgy regime, or
acquired a detailed knowledge of an foreign culture is automatically
considered suspect and rejected.
So where does this leave linguists whose skills lie elsewhere? It all
depends on what language they speak, but generally speaking the
outlook is considerably less bright. Someone fluent in a European
language like French or Spanish would earn �25,000 to �30,000 if they
landed a staff job, but they would be lucky to do so well as a
freelance. "People in the EU can come over here and many are fluent
in English," says Mr Pavlovich [the director of the Institute of
Linguists].
Have you read much of the Engleesh perpetrated by "fluent"
Forreners? And the Frenchy-French and the Spanish must surely be the
languages of the bargain basement - I discard them.
[Permalink]
2004-02-26 Sn�! (utc)
Sn�!
Sn�! From nowhere there's suddenly a skyful of big fluffy flakes of sn�!
2004-02-26 samwidge (utc)
Persons, such as this
one, appear to be starting to do work on modelling language
acquistion that gets at least some of things I think are important
right (for the values of "right" that I endorse).
For example, Language
evolution without natural selection: From vocabulary to syntax in a
population of learners, with not a neural network in sight,
hoorah! (There are "agents", but they are a much less bad thing.)
This is a timely if not entirely welcome reminder that I need to be
getting on with such things if I am not to be preempted. Luckily my
out-of-hours computational linguistics skunkworks project is actually
getting somewhere at last, and my code fu seems to be in decent
shape.
I can't wait till it's time to start actually burrowing down into
sound waves - I have an embryonic proto-theory of dialectical
unfolding in phonology that I am anxious to try to substantiate.
[Permalink]
2004-02-26 not scab (utc)
We found out from Transblawg
a while back, but the BBC has now found
out too:
The German government has produced a new guide book aiming to make the
country more comprehensible to immigrants. [...]
So what is typically German? According to the government, it is the
doner kebab - this country's most popular fast food.
There is, although the BBC neglect to link it, an online version, so
we can see for ourselves:
Fast Food
"Bratwurst" (fried sausage) with French fries, ketchup and mayonnaise
were Germany's number one fast food dish for decades. This has now
been replaced by the "D�ner Kebab" from Turkey. There is almost no
town in Germany that doesn't have the kebab meat that rotates on a
spit, is sliced and served in Turkish bread. Immigrants from Turkey
made the rise of the "D�ner" possible. Apart from the "D�ner" and the
"Bratwurst" sausage and French fries, the Italian pizza has also
become a national dish in Germany. With just a telephone call pizza
delivery services deliver pizzas and other dishes straight to the home
or office. Most larger cities also have fast food delivery services
that offer various international dishes (Asian, south and north
American, etc).
Sadly, the online order form for the dead-tree version assumes a German
address, which I do not have. Especially sad since it even teaches
important phrases like "Go we today evening a beer to drink?"
Appointments
"Gehen wir heute Abend ein Bier trinken?" (Shall we go for a beer
tonight?) or "Gehen wir einen Kaffee trinken?" (Shall we go and have a
coffee?): Appointments are often made in this form. It is polite to be
punctual for private appointments.
There is definitely a hint of menace in that last sentence, is it not?
I think in ze Engleesh you would have to say "It is generally
considered polite to be punctual for private appointments" to
neutralise it.
[Permalink]
2004-02-26 morning (utc)
(Recycling a comment again, since I have no shame.)
Suppose I define "floomy" to be an adjective meaning "such as cannot
possibly exist". Can anything ever be said to be floomy? If so, is it
a floomy thing? And if not, is floominess floomy?
As a phenomenologist, I don't generally attempt to subordinate
ontology to logic, and I certainly don't mistake natural language for
a formal logical system, but I'm still a sucker for a pretty paradox.
[Permalink]
2004-02-25 post-samwidge (utc)
I was feeling a bit Shroved yesterday, as well one might, so I thought
that just for once I would abide with
tradition:
Pancake Day or Shrove Tuesday is the traditional feast day before the
start of Lent on Ash Wednesday. Lent - the 40 days before Easter - was
traditionally a time of fasting and on Shrove Tuesday Christians went
to confession and were 'shriven' (absolved from their sins). It was
also the last opportunity to use up eggs and fats before embarking on
the Lenten fast and pancakes are the perfect way of using up these
prohibited ingredients.
The boutique urban Sainsbury's supermarket I frequent was full of
baffled shoppers wondering what kind of flour they needed (I needed
the cheapest kind of self-raising) and entirely bereft of eggs, which
luckily I already had.
The first time I was served genuine Merkin breakfast pancakes by a
genuine Merkin, I was
surprised to learn that their pancakes are not as
other
pancakes; UKish pancakes are essentially cr�pes:
Today, pancakes are usually eaten for breakfast or brunch, but can be
eaten at any time of day. These round cakes vary in thickness from the
wafer-thin French Cr�pe to the much thicker American breakfast pancake
(also called hotcake, griddlecake and flapjack). Many countries have
specialty pancakes such as Hungarian Palacsinta and Russian Blini.
American pancakes begin as a batter that is poured into rounds, either
on a griddle or in a skillet, and cooked over high heat.
My own pancakes were filled with spicy beef stirfry, yum yum, but they
were not works otherwise of particular culinary distinction. I wish
I'd known that "Old English batter was mixed with ale" [BBC link]),
though.
[Permalink]
2004-02-25 still scab! (utc)
My grandma and your grandma
Sitting by the fire
My grandma says to your grandma
"I'm gonna set your flag on fire"
Talkin' 'bout
Hey now
Hey now
Iko iko an nay
Jockomo feena ah na nay
Jockomo feena nay
My trade
war and your trade war
The European Commission has ordered a one-month ban on live poultry
and egg imports from the United States, after a bird flu outbreak in
Texas.
Sitting by
the fire
The US has suspended imports of French meat products on safety
grounds. [...]
Tuesday's move came hours after the European Union introduced a
Europe-wide total ban on US poultry and egg imports after a bird flu
outbreak in Texas.
My trade war says to your trade war
The move came on the same day that the World Trade Organisation gave
the EU the go-ahead to introduce trade sanctions against America,
because of the US's failure to repeal an historic anti-dumping law.
Gonna set your flag on fire
Talkin' 'bout
Hey now
Hey now
Iko iko an nay
Jockomo feena ah na nay
Jockomo feena nay
["Iko Iko", trad.]
[Permalink]
2004-02-25 mornin' (utc)
(In fact I have accepted, as is my custom, all proposals of marriage
received from Danish wimmins yesterday, but this has, as it turns out,
left unaltered my unbetrothality.)
The news that Mr Gibson's new movie is being promoted with comment
spam prompted
me to consider the role of evangalisation in the genealogy of
unsolicited marketing material:
11 For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to
the end ye may be established;
12 That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith
both of you and me.
13 Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to
come unto you, (but was let hitherto,) that I might have some fruit among you
also, even as among other Gentiles.
14 I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise,
and to the unwise.
15 So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are
at Rome also.
[Romans 1:11]
The style is eerily familiar, you will surely agree:
ATTN: MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL PROPOSAL
I am MR PAUL OF TARSUS the associate of DR JESUS OF NAZARETH who was
murdered few months ago in Jerusalem as a result of religious dispute.
Before the death of my teacher, he had taken me to THE DESERT to
deposit teachings of GREAT SPIRITUAL VALUE, as he foresaw the looming
danger in Israel.
Let us, then, who hate and detest this spam in its foul unrighteousness
also shun and turn away from these Jesusistes who brought, and continue
to bring, such uncleanness among us.
[Permalink]
2004-02-24 forkyld igen (utc)
But it is also otherwise a day of much notability:
Kvinder: Det er i dag, I skal fri - I f�r enten en mand efter eget
valg eller 12 par dyre silkehandsker.
Wimmins: Today you can propose - you get either a man of your choice or
12 pairs of expensive silk gloves.
This is because (allegedly) the 24th of February is the official Leap
Day of this official leap year, and it is therefore a day sanctioned
for the use of wimmins to invite men to become their husbands, or
else. Except that in fact it no longer is:
February 24 is the 55th day of the year in the Gregorian
Calendar. There are 310 days remaining, 311 in leap years. By Roman
custom February 24 is the day added to a leap year, and the occurrence
of February 29 is merely a consequence of this.
[But in the list of notable Feb 24's below this we find:]
1996 - The last occurrence of February 24 as a leap day in the
European Union and for the Roman Catholic Church.
The day of leaping, boing boing, is now the 29th:
This historical nicety is, however, in the process of being discarded:
The European Union declared that, starting in 2000, 29 February rather
than 24 February would be leap day, and the Roman Catholic Church also
now uses 29 February as leap day. The only tangible difference is felt
in countries which celebrate 'name days'.
What this development implies for the proposed proactivity of Danish
wimmins' espousalment I have not the slightest idea.
[linkage via Birgitte again, tak]
[Permalink]
2004-02-24 scab! (utc)
�1.
It isn't
easy being a prinsess.
In Japan, at least.
Crown Prince Naruhito of Japan has said his wife, Princess Masako, is
exhausted from the pressures of royal life. [....]
The rigid etiquette surrounding the Imperial Household makes it almost
impossible for the family to go outside the palace except on formal
occasions. [...]
The Crown Prince said she was also feeling the pressure to produce a
male heir. Under Japanese custom only men can ascend the throne.
It is as well, perhaps, that we do not tell foreign countries how to
run their monarchies, otherwise we would certainly have some things to
say about this.
�2. Well done, Kronprinsfred!
Formanden for Gr�nlands Landsting, tidligere landsstyreformand
Jonathan Motzfeldt (Siumut), overrakte mandag hjemmestyrets h�jeste
h�dersbevisning, fortjenstmedaljen Nersornaat i guld, til kronprins
Frederik.
On Monday the president of Greenlands parliament, former
countrygovernmentpresident Jonathan Motzfeldt (Siumut), handed over
the domestic parliament's highest honour, the gold Nersornaat medal for
merit to Kronprinsfred.
Presumably in honour of his excellent choice of parents.
�3. Knudella's achievements in ascending order of merit
Mary Donaldson skal ikke bare giftes med den danske kronprins. Hun f�r
ogs� rettet �jenbryn af den kvinde, som retter Kylie Minogue's.
Knudella ("Mary") Donaldsen ("Donaldson") isn't just going to marry
the Kronprinsfred. She also has her eyebrows done by the woman what
does [perky pint-sized pop prinsess] Kylie Minogue's.
Good grief.
[Danish linkages via the Birgitte, tak!]
[Permalink]
2004-02-24 morning (utc)
The Association of University Teachers is on strike
today, but I am not a member, so I am not.
Probably I should join, but they are clearly indulging in Canutiste
denial of the obvious in this particular case. As Merkin universities
have lead the way in demonstrating, University jobs are like showbiz
and gangstering jobs in that people will put up with a great deal for
a shot at the big time, so it's totally a buyer's market.
[Permalink]
2004-02-23 slump (utc)
In the sun-baked Tuscan hillsides of north Derbyshire, where I was at
the weekend, there was actual sn�. But only the merest sprinkling,
and there was no sign of kaos.
Meanwhile, in recently sn�-hit Istanbul French
street is a street of Frenchness and quite right too.
[French street link via PF, hoorah!]
[Permalink]
2004-02-23 samwidge (utc)
Oh yes:
The presiding judge in the war crimes trial of former Yugoslav
President Slobodan Milosevic is to quit the case because of health
problems.
UK judge Richard May will step down in three months, just as Mr
Milosevic is scheduled to begin presenting his defence at the court in
The Hague. [...]
But the president of the International Criminal Tribunal for the
former Yugoslavia, Judge Theodor Meron, insists the trial remains in
"safe hands". [...]
A witness once described Judge May as being "made of reinforced
platinum," said Judge Meron.
Vivid! And even if I don't have the slighest idea what
it's supposed to mean a judge who can attract such casually Ballardian
tributes is clearly a judge to be reckoned with.
[Permalink]
2004-02-23 nearly samwidge (utc)
DSK has a blogue! That's
Dominique Strauss-Kan, celebrated French leftiste for those who ignore
the politique Frenchy-French.
The many of you who will surely be frequenting his comments facilities
and are seeking guidance in matters of la netiquette could do worse
than ponder Tatie France's
advice pertaining, it is true, to the Usenet, but surely more
widely applicable. As for the idea that the informal "tu" form of
"you" is de rigeur in such fora, she is having none of it (she
to it, that is, stands in a position of none-having):
Par une aberration incompr�hensible, nombre d'internautes pensent
qu'il est impoli de vouvoyer ses interlocuteurs. Tatie Francette ne
peut s'emp�cher de penser qu'il n'y a aucune particularit� dans les
�changes �lectroniques qui doive changer les habitudes de
tutoiement/vouvoiement.
[...]
Si on vous dit qu'il est de r�gle de tutoyer : c'est faux. Si on vous
dit que c'est m�prisant de vouvoyer : c'est faux.
Pourquoi le serait-ce ? Chacun attache � tout cela la signification
qui lui semble ad�quate selon le contexte.
Although in my experience most people do in fact tutoie (="use
the informal form") on the French Usenet, which I continue to find
disconcerting.
[via yami]
[Permalink]
2004-02-23 morning (utc)
All Swedish scientechnologique universitetetetetetetistes have
lucrative
sidelines in consultancy, reports Lib�bladet,
Sans doute n'est-ce pas tellement �tonnant dans ce pays dont la part
du PIB consacr�e � la recherche et au d�veloppement est la plus
importante au monde avec 4,2 % (1) en 2001 (contre 2,2 % en France)
mais o� les entreprises d�boursent elles-m�mes 78 % du total pour un
montant de 8,25 milliards d'euros [...].
Which is not so surprising in this country where the proportion of GNP
dedicated to R&D is the highest in the world with 4.2% in 2001
(against 2.2% in France) but where businesses themselves provide 78%
of the total amount of 8.25 billion euros [...].
Some in Sweden are concerned that fundamental research is suffering as
a result; only I, however, seem to consider it a grave injustice that
all this money is going to persons other than me...
[Permalink]
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