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2004-12-17 17:14
As you doubtless well know, the world is a very wicked place, and
their need to give an account of it means that newspapers are litanies
of woe.
One quite effective coping strategy, I am certainly in a position to
remark, is to view this such news through the haze of partial
comprehension that arises from reading a language one barely grasps.
Of course, for this strategy to be effective you have to be willing to
replace a language as you start to become competent in it,
and we have recently therefore adopted, as is known, the Dutchy-Double
Dutch for this purpose, and the NRC Handelsblad is our new news source
of choice. (Blad is Dutchy-Double-Dutch for 'bladet, so we felt
at home at once.) From which we
learn of a recent development vis-�-vis Turkey and the EU:
Erkenning Cyprus als splijtzwam
It is so very much a splijtzwam, though, isn't it?
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2004-12-17 15:59
Selon Robin
Cook, a political has-been:
Former foreign secretary Robin Cook has struck a blow
for those who prefer their home comforts to a tropical beach or
ski-slope, claiming Christmas is the best time of the year to be in
Britain.
Writing in a diary column in the London Evening Standard, Mr Cook
said: "I have always regarded it as unpatriotic to go abroad for
Christmas."
We prefer to call it "cosmopolitan" round these parts, of course. But
apparently record numbers are doing it this year:
Last year, 1.8m UK citizens left the UK during the festive period -
and the figure is expected to be even higher this year.
(Readers of a delicate disposition might wish to avoid the
rancid forthspewings of the lumpencommentariat at the bottom.)
[Permalink]
2004-12-17 1103286904
Interweb, Interweb help us to guess
Which of them's smarter, the king or prinsess?
Daniel Nyl�n - for it is he! - was recently voted Sweden's most
powerful journaliste, and not by an Interweb survey, either. He is
certainly using his power wisely, if you ask us:
Kronprinsessan Victoria �r smartast i kungafamiljen - �tminstone
enligt en unders�kning p� internet.
Kronprinsess Vickan is the smartest in the royal family - at least
according to an survey on the Internet.
Also, an outbreak of
upsidedownianism
is forecast among the 'Wegian prinsesses:
AUSTRALIA is expecting a double dose of Scandinavian royalty in March
with Sweden announcing a visit by the heir to the Swedish throne, to
coincide with that of Princess Mary and Crown Prince Frederik of
Denmark.
Her Royal Highness, Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden will visit in
March for Swedish Style in Australia, a month-long celebration to
highlight Sweden's excellence in design, fashion, music, travel,
environmental sustainability and food.
Is that wise, Kronprinsess?
[Tack to Anna Louise for the second of these]
[Permalink]
2004-12-17 omehead (utc)
It'll julfrukost ya
There is a glorious Danish history and cultual at Twinkletree called the julfrukost in which they have their breakfast, which is generally had at lunchtime anyway, and replace ("supplement") it with beverages of an alcoholic nature.
This is of course not Danmark, and although we have a similar custom, we do not especially call it that.
2004-12-16 13:24
Real programmers put the finishing touch to their figures by editing
the Postscript files in a text editor.
(The alternative is Matlab; 'nuff said.)
[Permalink]
2004-12-16 10:15
In frosty Danmark, where our scene is laid
The winter's grip is set to tighten yet
At court, despite the light of Twinkletree
And presents heaped about its base and feasts
Of samwidge-cakes and fish and yummy whale:
A prinsess and a prins turned back to frog;
A couple once, 'tis true, and deep in love
Have gone their sep'rate ways these last three months
But at this festive time the queen requests
A show, if only show, of union
Before their children and before their folk:
The ice inside is such as fire can't melt:
Drottningen tvingar prins Joachim och Alexandra att fira jul tillsammans.
Nu vill hon f� andra skilsm�ssofamiljer att f�lja de kungligas
exempel.
The queen is forcing prins J. and prinsess Alexandra to celebrate
Christmas together. Now she wants other separated families to follow
the royal example.
[Permalink]
2004-12-15 16:43
The von Bladet method!
- Fat and weak, for my purposes, is if I can't do a doorframe
pull-up
- To avoid it, be sure to do some doorframe pullups occasionally
- If you can't, eat less
This is a cure for RSI in the fine tradition of "Stop it or I'll give
you something to whine about!" therapy; I am still finding out if it
actually works. But when I went climbing more my wrists hurt less,
for sure.
[Permalink]
2004-12-15 12:52
Yummy but endangered; it's a
whale's life:
Der var v�gehval og andet l�kkert gr�nlandsk hvalk�d p� menuen, da
kokkeforeningen Nordisk K�kken afholdt Nordisk K�kken Symposium
18.-19. november.
En af g�sterne var f�devareminister Hans Christian Schmidt (V), en
anden den norske mad- og landbrugsminister Lars Sponheim.
Men nu viser det sig, at k�det efter alt at d�mme var ulovligt
importeret i strid med b�de EU-regler og CITES-konventionens regler om
handel med truede dyr.
It was something (pilot?) whale and other yummy Greenland whale meat
on the menu when the chef's association Nordisk K�kken held their
Symposium on the 18-19th November.
One of the guests was foodstuffs minister Hans Christian Schmidt
and another the Norwegian food- og farming minister Lars Sponheim.
But now it turns out that to all appearances the meat was illegally
imported in contravention of both EU rules and the CITES conventions
on trade in endangered animals.
You can hardly expect the ministers of food of two kingdoms practicing
whale hunting to know the ins and outs of that sort of stuff though,
isn't it? Pass the gravy, there's a chap...
[Permalink]
2004-12-15 10:32
IT IS an ancient Mariner,
And he stoppeth one of three.
'By thy long grey beard and glittering eye,
Now wherefore stopp'st thou me?'
It isn't an ancient Mariner, sillyhead, it's Michael Fortescue of the
Institute for Nordic Studies and Linguistiques at Shoppingharbour
("Copenhagen") University, and he wants to take the opportunity raised
by the lexical (non-)problems faced by the Inuit as new fauna and
meteorological phenomena encroach into their domain to have a quick
word about the number of Inuit words for albatross sn�:
Det forklarer professor Michael Fortescue, Institut for Nordiske
Studier og Sprogvidenskab p� K�benhavns Universitet, der i flere �r
har arbejdet med sprog i bl.a. Vestgr�nland.
If�lge professoren bruger gr�nl�nderne til dels danske l�neord til at
beskrive nye ting. Men til at beskrive gammelkendte f�nomer af stor
betydning for hverdagen, f.eks. sne, holder de fast i det gr�nlandske
sprog.
So [we omit what] explains Professor Michael Fortescue of the
Institute for Nordic Studies and Linguistics at Copenhagen University,
who has worked on languages from West Greenland, amongst others, for
several years.
Acording to the professor, Greenlanders usually use Danish loanwords
to describe new things. But to describe well-known phenomena of great
importance in everyday life, e.g., snow, they stick with the
Greenlandic language.
Fair enough, prof; much obliged! See ya!
He holds him with his skinny hand,
'There was a ship,' quoth he.
'Hold off! unhand me, grey-beard loon!'
Eftsoons his hand dropt he.
He holds him with his glittering eye--
The Wedding-Guest stood still,
And listens like a three years' child:
The Mariner hath his will.
He's no grey-beard loon, he's a nice professor! Although I'll grant
you the glittering eye.
�P� basis af fire basale ord for sne og is kan man lave hundredvis af
ordafledninger, hvis man vil. Nogle af dem vil sj�ldent blive brugt,
men de kan tilf�je ekstra nuancer,� siger han.
"On the basis of four basic words for snow and ice one can make
hundreds of derivative words, if desired. Some of them will rarely be
used, but one can add additional nuances", he says.
Sheila Watt-Cloutier - for it is she! - break the spell and rescue us,
if you can, by a judiciously-timed inanity!
�Vi kan ikke engang bekrive, hvad vi ser,� lyder det fra formanden for
den s�kaldte Inuit Circumpolar Conference, Sheila Watt-Cloutier, der
taler p� vegne af over 150.000 mennesker i Gr�nland, Canada, Alaska og
Rusland.
"We can't even describe what we see", sounds it from the spokesperson
of the so-called Inuit Circumpolar Conference, Sheila Watt-Cloutier, who
speaks for over 150.000 persons in Greenland, Canada, Alaska and
Russia.
You can just imagine poor young Quotherqon-Qomaaq, can't you? "Hello
sn�, hello yummy sealcubs, hello ... um... thingummijig."
It'd put anyone off their skipping, for sure. (Inuit has over a dozen
words for thingummijig, of course, but even so.)
("Geuicy" Geoff Pullum, who has an albatross in his bonnet about this
such stuff, has opened
a richly-somethinged tin of whoop-bum on a silly Engleesh version of
this story too also, as well.)
[Permalink]
2004-12-14 16:58
It is a ginormous
iceberg and it means the fluffy li'l penguinchicks harm!
Tens of thousands of Antarctic penguin chicks could
starve because an iceberg is blocking their parents' access to coastal
feeding grounds, officials say.
Adelie penguins on Cape Royds face a 180-km (112-mile) round trip in
the coming weeks to bring food to chicks, New Zealand government
scientists say.
It is so very sad! I know one naughty iceberg that won't be getting
any biscuits under the Twinkletree!
[Permalink]
2004-12-14 12:22
�1. Why my cheese is so stinquant
La moutarde, le Roquefort, les �chalotes et le foie gras fran�ais,
d�j� lourdement handicap�s sur le march� am�ricain, o� ils subissent
des droits de douanes prohibitifs, ont subi mardi une nouvelle d�faite
devant la tribunal de premi�re instance de l'UE.
Mustard, Roquefort, �chalotes and French foie gras,
already heavily handicapped on the Americain market, where they are
subject to prohibitive import duties, suffered a new defeat in the
tribunal of the first instance of the EU on Tuesday.
It is a long and tangled tale, for sure, all having started when the
WTO green-lighted punitive American countermeasures when we very sensibly
refused to touch their hormone-injected cows with a bargepole.
But why not think of the poor Frenchy-French peasant farmers this Twinkletree
and help them out by treating yourself to some nice Roquefort? This
such consumeur activisme is a kind at which I think I could be good.
�2. It isn't easy being a Twinkletree!
Expressen has lauched a competition to
find Sweden's ugliest Twinkletree.
Since we, for one, firmly believe that all Twinkletrees are sacred, we
are currently investigated whether we can complain that this is
inciting religious hatred.
�3. Battle of the 'Bladets!
My Courrier
International subscription is up for renewal.
I've also had offers from Le Monde hebdo, which makes me wish I
operated a household that could sustain readership of two (2)
Frenchy-French hebdos, but is hardly a replacement (especially since
I've never actually seen one), and Politiken hebdo from Danmark, which
confines itself to domestique news for homesick ex-pats, and is just
slightly too stiflingly parochial for anyone else.
So, is there any other hebdo worth considering or should I (which is
the default) stick with CI? (Anyone suggesting
Paris Match will be soundly chastised, for sure.)
(I'm still not on speaking terms with The Economiste, of
course.)
[Permalink]
2004-12-14 stuff! (utc)
I have much stuff!
But at a recommended daily average of 16 hours a week, with a nominal
use-by date of early April (i.e., 10 weeks away), that's 160 hours
worth of doing, or four (4) full-time weeks' worth.
There is emphatically not that much stuff. But even so, I'm
going to see if I can crank out the (off-peak) hours until it's all
gone.
Stuff, though! It's very exciting!
[Permalink]
2004-12-13 16:23
The dastardly capitalistes are creating an increasingly global world
for themselves; it is time for the glorious
proletariat to have a go too.
Ett exempel �r fackens arbete f�r att inte General Motors ska kunna
spela ut olika orter mot varandra. Den europeiska Metallfederationen
har spelat en viktig roll.
En annan sp�nnande trend �r att nationella fackf�rbund samarbetar
direkt med varandra.
Tyska Verdi och brittiska Unison enades i h�stas om att st�lla
gemensamma krav p� arbetsgivare och regeringar. Det finns en liknande
utveckling i kemiindustrin.
An example is the unions' work to prevent General Motors from playing
off locations against each other. The European Metalfederation has
played an important role.
Another exciting trend is that national union associations are
collaborating directly with one another.
German Verdi and British [white collar union] Unison united in the
autumn to put a common set of demands to employers and governments.
A similar development is taking place in the chemical industry.
Most of that leader article in the solidly leftiste Aftonbladet is put
together from quotes from Professor
Jeremy Waddington of Manchester University, which is in Manchester. Small world, innit?
[Permalink]
2004-12-13 12:44
The French school headscarf ban had to be smuggled in under a ban on
religious
symbols, of course, which had the side effect of catching
previously inoffensive yarmulkas and turbans in the crossfire.
Now it's the turn of yummy
chocklits:
Children in north-east France will be deprived of a traditional
chocolate treat this winter, under the country's ban on religious
symbols in schools.
The chocolate figures, depicting St Nicholas, were recalled from the
area's schools after a teacher noticed large crosses on them, banned
under the law.
The big question now, of course, is whether Twinkletrees count as
religious symbols, if you take the precaution of having no angels on
them.
"The teachers didn't have to touch anything," [the town's mayor] said, quoted by AFP
news agency. "St Nicholas was a bishop, he is always portrayed with
his cross and missal."
"Clouseau, you blundering nincompoop, brown and religious is normally
bad, yes, but these are not in fact Muslim chocklits!", isn't it?
[Permalink]
2004-12-13 morning (utc)
First, let's go to the hoppning!
Ah, let's go to the hop
Let's go to the hop, (oh baby)
Let's go to the hop, (oh baby)
Let's go to the hop
Come on, let's go to the hop
AT THE HOP, Danny & The Juniors
And we seem to 've missed the episode where Adam Malysz (pr. "Mowish",
to rhyme with "cowish") of Polandland took top spot, but Janne "The
Manne" Ahonen is
back on song:
Janne Ahonen bara l�nade segerpallen till Adam Malysz, visade det
sig. I g�r tog han sin femte v�rldscupseger p� sex t�vlingar, en
makal�s inledning p� backs�songen.
Janne Ahonen only loaned the victorypodium to Adam Malysz, it
turned out. Yesterday he scored his fifth worldcupvictory in six
outings, a peerless opening to the hoppning season.
There's still time for the Norwegish team to regroup for the all-important Four Hills, for sure, but we've always had a soft spot for Janne "The Manne" Ahonen of Finland, too.
And now we turn to the only sport more fantastic than hoppning: the
cricket! We boycotted, as the England team would have done if they
could, the wretched malarkeys in Zimbabwestan, but now Our Boys are
out in Seth Efrica, and they
are doing what England cricket teams do best:
England finished the second day against South Africa A a perilous 98
runs ahead at 154-7, after more batting frailties.
It's only a warm-up, but they were 3-3 at the beginning of the second
innings. At least Vaughn's in some kind of form again, though.
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