http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104183551&ps=bb4
So apparently being short means that you live closer to the present, based on the lesser time it takes for a person to get feedback from nerves and synchronize them all.
I don't view it as a disadvantage for tall people. Rather, I am time-travelling, and I'll feel you a tenth of a second in the future.
Today, Latin retaught me the predicate nominative. In Latin, the nouns conjugate - the proper term is declension, but the idea is similar. Depending on whether the noun is being used as a nominative, generative (possessive), dative (indirect object), accusative (direct object), ablative (various things like location and instrumentality), or vocative, it has slightly different endings. I'd assumed that the nominative would always be the subject, or subject-like. I was running into sentences where two words, one before and one after the verb, would both appear to be the nominative. "Regina est femina." The queen is a woman? Or the woman is a queen? Or both? Then I looked in the book where it explained that the nominative can be a predicate. In the case the verb, rather than describing an action on a direct object, describes the subject. Oy, I'd forgotten more than I thought about these grammar things.
Of course, except for the order of the words (which can only be trusted to a certain degree), I don't yet know whether the predicate nominative is just the one with less emphasis, or what. I'll ask tomorrow.
May 20, 2009
May 19, 2009
A Little Latin and a Little Cooking
Sounds like I'm becoming my sister. We'll wait for me to run a half-marathon.
I had my first day of Latin today. It will be amusing. The first chapter uses the method of throwing every verb tense at you, and then stepping back and breaking it down. It's sort of like putting a kid in a snowstorm, and then handing them, one by one, all the tools they need to build an igloo and a fire. I'm okay with that.
Fun fact I did not realize consciously before: nauta (M) means sailor. So astronauts are star sailors. Does that make the nautilus a sort of nonhuman sailor of its own?
And for dinner the past couple of times I have been trying something which suits me rather well, because it's simple and, to me, tasty. What I've been doing is just putting sliced mushrooms in a single layer in a shallow baking pan. I buy them presliced, because they're the same price as the whole ones. I then sprinkle whatever herbs and spices I want on them. In my case, I've been using some garlic and herb chicken seasoning that turned out to be not so good on chicken. Here, it really works. I stick it in the oven at 325 for however long... say, about ten minutes, let cool for a minute, serve, and enjoy! The mushrooms end up slightly juicy, like they've been sauteed. I could probably refine it, pretoss the mushrooms with the herbs, and have less herb-bits left over on the pan. But other than that...
I had my first day of Latin today. It will be amusing. The first chapter uses the method of throwing every verb tense at you, and then stepping back and breaking it down. It's sort of like putting a kid in a snowstorm, and then handing them, one by one, all the tools they need to build an igloo and a fire. I'm okay with that.
Fun fact I did not realize consciously before: nauta (M) means sailor. So astronauts are star sailors. Does that make the nautilus a sort of nonhuman sailor of its own?
And for dinner the past couple of times I have been trying something which suits me rather well, because it's simple and, to me, tasty. What I've been doing is just putting sliced mushrooms in a single layer in a shallow baking pan. I buy them presliced, because they're the same price as the whole ones. I then sprinkle whatever herbs and spices I want on them. In my case, I've been using some garlic and herb chicken seasoning that turned out to be not so good on chicken. Here, it really works. I stick it in the oven at 325 for however long... say, about ten minutes, let cool for a minute, serve, and enjoy! The mushrooms end up slightly juicy, like they've been sauteed. I could probably refine it, pretoss the mushrooms with the herbs, and have less herb-bits left over on the pan. But other than that...
May 14, 2009
Mischief
I have adapted a passage from a book, changing key nouns and adjectives, and changed it into a different genre. Try to identify the original passage and the book from which I have taken it. It will be at the start of a book, the first paragraph.
"The family of Dirkhelm had been long settled in Normandy. Their castle was large, and their battlements were atop Norland Hill, in the centre of the hill, where for many generations they had lived in so grand a manner as to engage the awe and respect of their surrounding lords. The late owner of this castle was a sturdy man, who lived to a very advanced age, and who for many years of his life had a constant companion and advisor in his sister. But her death, which happened ten years before his own, produced a great alteration in his fortress; for to supply her loss, he invited and received into his walls the family of his nephew, Henry Dirkhelm, the legal inheritor of the Norland battlements, and the person to whom he intended to leave the rule. In the society of his nephew and niece, and their children, the old lord's days were comfortably spent. His gift-due to them all increased. The constant advisement of both Dirkwoods according to his wishes, which proceeded not merely from duty, but to ingrained affiliance, gave him every degree of solid comfort which his age could receive; and the uprightness of the children added relish to his existence."
"The family of Dirkhelm had been long settled in Normandy. Their castle was large, and their battlements were atop Norland Hill, in the centre of the hill, where for many generations they had lived in so grand a manner as to engage the awe and respect of their surrounding lords. The late owner of this castle was a sturdy man, who lived to a very advanced age, and who for many years of his life had a constant companion and advisor in his sister. But her death, which happened ten years before his own, produced a great alteration in his fortress; for to supply her loss, he invited and received into his walls the family of his nephew, Henry Dirkhelm, the legal inheritor of the Norland battlements, and the person to whom he intended to leave the rule. In the society of his nephew and niece, and their children, the old lord's days were comfortably spent. His gift-due to them all increased. The constant advisement of both Dirkwoods according to his wishes, which proceeded not merely from duty, but to ingrained affiliance, gave him every degree of solid comfort which his age could receive; and the uprightness of the children added relish to his existence."
May 12, 2009
A few thoughts
1. So a Christian school does not want their students to dance. One of the students dances at a public school prom. He gets suspended from the school.
a. The ostensible purpose of the policy is to prevent lustful influences. Rather than training the students to deal with lust in an appropriate manner, they put gendered contact under the same category as rebellion (rock music). As with many restrictions, the underlying goal is control, inside and outside the school.
b. The stricter rule does not the better person make, necessarily. Some people cleave unto rules as a pinprick of sense in a balloon of a world, internalizing them. Some people cleave to the group, but disregard the rules, finding ways to get their rock music, handholding, and "worse." Then some people exist in some intermediary state, confused by the rules but not knowing how to resist them simply because they don't know anything else except through a TV. There is naivete, and there is social impairment.
c. And of course part of me scoffs at the pretension of such rules. There were some hardline Church members in the medieval period that might've rather people didn't dance or marry or have sex ever. But they were smarter, because they realized that people do things beyond their control, and the choice is not between preventing and allowing, but between excluding and
accepting. The people would find a way to do what they want anyhow. So they incorporate some of the pagan holidays, help administer wedding vows, develop songs, allow a Virgin Mary cult for those who incline toward a goddess, and hold festivals wherein some people dance. The greater power does not waste time preventing in vain, but accepts enough that they can afford to exclude stickier practices like actually worshipping other gods.
2. Two people get married. The state figures out that one of the people, professing to be female, was born male. Their marriage is declared void.
a. If someone really feels like being a male or a female, why should I bother convincing him/her otherwise? Yes, they might have one X and one Y chromosome, or two X chromosomes, or even two X and one Y or any other fun combinations. These chromosomes do not always correspond to the parts people have, as an XY embryo which does not generate or recognize its own testosterone will develop into a female, for example. Finally, with modern medical technology, we have the ability to change those parts and supplement the change with hormonal infusions. Whether we may like it or not, the man who thinks he is a woman can get all the equipment to make herself so.
b. We're very ill-equipped to handle transsexual issues. In the newspaper article describing the officers determining the person's sex, they have male officers pat down where they suspect a penis, and female officers pat down the breasts. The disparity does not seem geared to the comfort of the person being patted down (why would the switch matter) so much as the people doing the patting, who wouldn't want to feel a contradiction. (There's a good article on the subject about a gender-switcher from the seventeenth century. I can't find it now though.)
c. We want to be able to know that a person is this or that, one or the other. Thus anything that contradicts easy identification is bewildering, like Pat from SNL. We fix the easiest practical way of telling someone's sex. Clothes normally suffice even today, supplemented by ideas about a person's body (are there breasts? hips? facial hair?). If such markers can change, then one cannot tell with certainty. Why do we have to know, and why is the risk of getting it wrong so horrible?
d. One reason why they do need to know is because there is a little amendment which was added a couple of years back about homosexual marriage in Tennessee. In order to judge same-sex marriage, there must be a standard concerning sex. If that standard is dismantled, then the law is weakened.
e. It also stands as a challenge to gender. If women do one thing and men do another contrary to one another, then if anyone is able to change their behavior, what does that mean for the old absolutes? I don't think gender is a bad thing except when people use it to make incorrect and offensive conclusions. Most people act mostly like some form of their apparent genders, myself included. But it shouldn't be some great excluder, whether in household chores or hobbies. My acting differently should not make another suspicious that I'm gender-confused, and such gender-confusion should not convince them that I might be homosexual.
3. I like cookies.
a. The ostensible purpose of the policy is to prevent lustful influences. Rather than training the students to deal with lust in an appropriate manner, they put gendered contact under the same category as rebellion (rock music). As with many restrictions, the underlying goal is control, inside and outside the school.
b. The stricter rule does not the better person make, necessarily. Some people cleave unto rules as a pinprick of sense in a balloon of a world, internalizing them. Some people cleave to the group, but disregard the rules, finding ways to get their rock music, handholding, and "worse." Then some people exist in some intermediary state, confused by the rules but not knowing how to resist them simply because they don't know anything else except through a TV. There is naivete, and there is social impairment.
c. And of course part of me scoffs at the pretension of such rules. There were some hardline Church members in the medieval period that might've rather people didn't dance or marry or have sex ever. But they were smarter, because they realized that people do things beyond their control, and the choice is not between preventing and allowing, but between excluding and
accepting. The people would find a way to do what they want anyhow. So they incorporate some of the pagan holidays, help administer wedding vows, develop songs, allow a Virgin Mary cult for those who incline toward a goddess, and hold festivals wherein some people dance. The greater power does not waste time preventing in vain, but accepts enough that they can afford to exclude stickier practices like actually worshipping other gods.
2. Two people get married. The state figures out that one of the people, professing to be female, was born male. Their marriage is declared void.
a. If someone really feels like being a male or a female, why should I bother convincing him/her otherwise? Yes, they might have one X and one Y chromosome, or two X chromosomes, or even two X and one Y or any other fun combinations. These chromosomes do not always correspond to the parts people have, as an XY embryo which does not generate or recognize its own testosterone will develop into a female, for example. Finally, with modern medical technology, we have the ability to change those parts and supplement the change with hormonal infusions. Whether we may like it or not, the man who thinks he is a woman can get all the equipment to make herself so.
b. We're very ill-equipped to handle transsexual issues. In the newspaper article describing the officers determining the person's sex, they have male officers pat down where they suspect a penis, and female officers pat down the breasts. The disparity does not seem geared to the comfort of the person being patted down (why would the switch matter) so much as the people doing the patting, who wouldn't want to feel a contradiction. (There's a good article on the subject about a gender-switcher from the seventeenth century. I can't find it now though.)
c. We want to be able to know that a person is this or that, one or the other. Thus anything that contradicts easy identification is bewildering, like Pat from SNL. We fix the easiest practical way of telling someone's sex. Clothes normally suffice even today, supplemented by ideas about a person's body (are there breasts? hips? facial hair?). If such markers can change, then one cannot tell with certainty. Why do we have to know, and why is the risk of getting it wrong so horrible?
d. One reason why they do need to know is because there is a little amendment which was added a couple of years back about homosexual marriage in Tennessee. In order to judge same-sex marriage, there must be a standard concerning sex. If that standard is dismantled, then the law is weakened.
e. It also stands as a challenge to gender. If women do one thing and men do another contrary to one another, then if anyone is able to change their behavior, what does that mean for the old absolutes? I don't think gender is a bad thing except when people use it to make incorrect and offensive conclusions. Most people act mostly like some form of their apparent genders, myself included. But it shouldn't be some great excluder, whether in household chores or hobbies. My acting differently should not make another suspicious that I'm gender-confused, and such gender-confusion should not convince them that I might be homosexual.
3. I like cookies.
May 5, 2009
Poet, wizard, or Jedi?
To continue the trend of editorial snippets in authors' works, I ran across a fantastic introduction today as I was wandering through the library. I was looking for an edition of Swinburne's poetry to get a little taste of. Needless to say, I was drawn in by the equally potent prose of the introduction. Drawn into fits of laughter.
From Introduction, Selections from the Poetical Works of A.C. Swinburne from the Latest English Edition of His Works. Ed. R.H. Stoddard. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co, 1884.
“The great gift of poetry – the greatest which Heaven has conferred upon mankind and the one which, if well balanced and wisely exercised, confers the greatest pleasure on mankind – is a dangerous gift to its possessor. It separates him from his fellows, whose pursuits are of material and not spiritual things; and it creates for him a life in which they have no share. A law unto itself, it is lawlessness to them.”
“The consciousness of great powers is a misfortune to all but the greatest minds, for these alone distinguish between their use and abuse.”
“Power for power’s sake is not poetry. Byron never learned the truth; but the young Keats – the manikin whom he wished somebody would flay alive – knew it instinctively. Hear him: - (cites some poetry).”
(Now I really want to cite someone in a paper by going, “Hear him: - .”
“As we define poetry, which is not to be defined, so we divide the poets into schools, which, strictly speaking, are not schools.”
“But the fervor, the force, the elemental energy of the old masters is not theirs. They are fettered by poetic traditions.”
“If he believes in the old order of things, it is a destructive force, and he condemns it: if he believes in a new order of things, it is a reconstructive force, and he applauds it. But whatever he believes, he recognizes the force. “
“The glory of Scott was the last red tints of a setting sun, and the glory of Wordsworth the first mild radiance of a rising moon, when Byron came like a comet and paled their ineffectual fires. It was neither moonrise nor sunset when Swinburne came, but the full splendor of noontide, - the noontide of which the genius of Tennyson was the golden light, and the genius of Browning the concourse of circumambient clouds. Between the fleeting shadow of these clouds and the girdling spaces of sunshine he stepped forth, - a slight figure in the garments of the Greek priesthood, - youthful but for the grave, far-off look in his eyes, and passionate but for the cold severity of his mien. Young priest of an old religion, he rekindled the fire upon its antique altar, and restored the worship of its imperious gods.”
“[Blank verse] is an instrument upon which he was the first to play, and whose volume of sound no hand save his could evoke and control. One needs to be a poet in order to comprehend the difficulties it overcomes, and the triumphs it achieves, - the art, in short, of which it is so magnificent an example. But one need not be a poet in order to feel its solemnity, its grandeur, its greatness, and the weight of the stern, dark thought with which it is charged.”
“The combinations of sound which run so strangely through Swinburne’s poetry, and which cannot but end, one would thing, in the harshest discords, become, in his hands, rivers of sonorous music, which rush and roar along their several ways until they reach the sea, and are swallowed up in its long, tumultuous, endless harmony.”
“One of his defects, perhaps his prime defect, is the brilliancy and force of his vocabulary. No poet ever excelled him in the profusion with which he throws off rich and picturesque and spirited words: he is a perfect master of epithets. His pages are luminous mists of language, the exact meaning of which, and their bearing upon the matter in hand, it is generally difficult to discover, they are so bravely put forth, and with such sonorous pomps of sound.”
(Sorry, Swinburne, you’re just too brilliant.)
From Introduction, Selections from the Poetical Works of A.C. Swinburne from the Latest English Edition of His Works. Ed. R.H. Stoddard. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co, 1884.
“The great gift of poetry – the greatest which Heaven has conferred upon mankind and the one which, if well balanced and wisely exercised, confers the greatest pleasure on mankind – is a dangerous gift to its possessor. It separates him from his fellows, whose pursuits are of material and not spiritual things; and it creates for him a life in which they have no share. A law unto itself, it is lawlessness to them.”
“The consciousness of great powers is a misfortune to all but the greatest minds, for these alone distinguish between their use and abuse.”
“Power for power’s sake is not poetry. Byron never learned the truth; but the young Keats – the manikin whom he wished somebody would flay alive – knew it instinctively. Hear him: - (cites some poetry).”
(Now I really want to cite someone in a paper by going, “Hear him: - .”
“As we define poetry, which is not to be defined, so we divide the poets into schools, which, strictly speaking, are not schools.”
“But the fervor, the force, the elemental energy of the old masters is not theirs. They are fettered by poetic traditions.”
“If he believes in the old order of things, it is a destructive force, and he condemns it: if he believes in a new order of things, it is a reconstructive force, and he applauds it. But whatever he believes, he recognizes the force. “
“The glory of Scott was the last red tints of a setting sun, and the glory of Wordsworth the first mild radiance of a rising moon, when Byron came like a comet and paled their ineffectual fires. It was neither moonrise nor sunset when Swinburne came, but the full splendor of noontide, - the noontide of which the genius of Tennyson was the golden light, and the genius of Browning the concourse of circumambient clouds. Between the fleeting shadow of these clouds and the girdling spaces of sunshine he stepped forth, - a slight figure in the garments of the Greek priesthood, - youthful but for the grave, far-off look in his eyes, and passionate but for the cold severity of his mien. Young priest of an old religion, he rekindled the fire upon its antique altar, and restored the worship of its imperious gods.”
“[Blank verse] is an instrument upon which he was the first to play, and whose volume of sound no hand save his could evoke and control. One needs to be a poet in order to comprehend the difficulties it overcomes, and the triumphs it achieves, - the art, in short, of which it is so magnificent an example. But one need not be a poet in order to feel its solemnity, its grandeur, its greatness, and the weight of the stern, dark thought with which it is charged.”
“The combinations of sound which run so strangely through Swinburne’s poetry, and which cannot but end, one would thing, in the harshest discords, become, in his hands, rivers of sonorous music, which rush and roar along their several ways until they reach the sea, and are swallowed up in its long, tumultuous, endless harmony.”
“One of his defects, perhaps his prime defect, is the brilliancy and force of his vocabulary. No poet ever excelled him in the profusion with which he throws off rich and picturesque and spirited words: he is a perfect master of epithets. His pages are luminous mists of language, the exact meaning of which, and their bearing upon the matter in hand, it is generally difficult to discover, they are so bravely put forth, and with such sonorous pomps of sound.”
(Sorry, Swinburne, you’re just too brilliant.)
May 1, 2009
Author Inserts
So, according to certain schools of literary theory, you're supposed to either ignore the author completely, or stand at a remove from them. High fives, if they're really great authors, are generally the limit of appreciation one would express for the author. Otherwise, it's all about the work and (recently) its cultural significance.
However, I love author inserts, and I wish more books had them. It's how I fall in love with the author. It's a platonic love, one that's like, "I wish I could meet you. You're fantastic. I enjoyed your book, and even though some crabby people write books, I think the reason why this one is good is your awesomeness."
In books, these come in two forms. First, on the dust jacket will be a brief biographical blurb which was probably written by an editor. "Jesus R. Winchesterson enjoys long walks on the beach, pickles, and duck feathers. He wrote Moulin Rouge: The Space Opera and Reversing Entropy Through Spandex. Jesus lives in Muster, Nebraska with his dog Wuster Jackson and 3.5 potted plants." Then there's a more personal acknowledgements page in the front, where they thank everyone, like the graduate student that gave them that one idea, the coffee shop they always wrote in, their editor, the brats-that-wouldn't-shut-up-but-I-love-them-anyway, and the spouse who magically makes it all possible. I don't need any more than that. It's enough.
But they don't do the whole thing with older authors. Partly it is because they never really wrote a formal acknowledgements page, it being an invention of modern publishing. They just said in the work, "Virgil, Ovid, Omer, Boece, and Stace / Were really great writers who inspired me / It's the truth and I'll write more now kthxbai" (somewhere in Troilus and Criseyde, paraphrased). Then there are little things like sometimes not knowing the full biography, or not knowing how sure they can be about the biography. But those are little things. Certainly in many cases one can put something on the back sleeve of a dust jacket, or the back page of a book.
"Chaucer was born in the early 1340s. After a stint as a household servant in a duchess's household, including wartime service, he served as the king's servant. On ambassadorial duties, he has been to Italy, France, Spain, and the Low Country. He has also served in the port of London. Currently he is serving as Clerk to the King's Estate, and receives a jug of wine a day from the king for miscellaneous services rendered. During this career, he has found time to write translations, dream visions, and most recently the romance Troilus and Criseyde. He lives in an apartment in London with his wife Philippa and two children."
However, I love author inserts, and I wish more books had them. It's how I fall in love with the author. It's a platonic love, one that's like, "I wish I could meet you. You're fantastic. I enjoyed your book, and even though some crabby people write books, I think the reason why this one is good is your awesomeness."
In books, these come in two forms. First, on the dust jacket will be a brief biographical blurb which was probably written by an editor. "Jesus R. Winchesterson enjoys long walks on the beach, pickles, and duck feathers. He wrote Moulin Rouge: The Space Opera and Reversing Entropy Through Spandex. Jesus lives in Muster, Nebraska with his dog Wuster Jackson and 3.5 potted plants." Then there's a more personal acknowledgements page in the front, where they thank everyone, like the graduate student that gave them that one idea, the coffee shop they always wrote in, their editor, the brats-that-wouldn't-shut-up-but-I-love-them-anyway, and the spouse who magically makes it all possible. I don't need any more than that. It's enough.
But they don't do the whole thing with older authors. Partly it is because they never really wrote a formal acknowledgements page, it being an invention of modern publishing. They just said in the work, "Virgil, Ovid, Omer, Boece, and Stace / Were really great writers who inspired me / It's the truth and I'll write more now kthxbai" (somewhere in Troilus and Criseyde, paraphrased). Then there are little things like sometimes not knowing the full biography, or not knowing how sure they can be about the biography. But those are little things. Certainly in many cases one can put something on the back sleeve of a dust jacket, or the back page of a book.
"Chaucer was born in the early 1340s. After a stint as a household servant in a duchess's household, including wartime service, he served as the king's servant. On ambassadorial duties, he has been to Italy, France, Spain, and the Low Country. He has also served in the port of London. Currently he is serving as Clerk to the King's Estate, and receives a jug of wine a day from the king for miscellaneous services rendered. During this career, he has found time to write translations, dream visions, and most recently the romance Troilus and Criseyde. He lives in an apartment in London with his wife Philippa and two children."
A few random thoughts while working on a paper
1. The medieval writers really knew how to ask how to get out of jail. Typically, after writing a few hundred or thousand lines, or even a whole book like Sir Thomas Malory did, they will say, "Oh, and pray for me who's in jail." Sometimes the entire story is about being in jail, as with Boethius's Consolatio Philosophiae. And sometimes the story incorporates some fugitive tinge, as the hunter who kills the deer hunkers down and hopes the king's men don't find him poaching. I don't know what to make of it.
2. Writing about video games is not nearly as fun as playing them. It's not bad, mind you... and I have lots of things to say, but it's like speaking something I love in a different language, there's something incongruous to it. This is one reason why I'm a medievalist, because I find I can talk about old poems without getting bogged down in sentences like, "Thus, a complex mathematical system simulates a dynamic environment through these functional systems."
3. The irony about complaing about a forgetful professor in a student evaluation is that the odds are s/he will forget the student evalutation forms.
4. I'd better stop procrastinating and get back to work.
2. Writing about video games is not nearly as fun as playing them. It's not bad, mind you... and I have lots of things to say, but it's like speaking something I love in a different language, there's something incongruous to it. This is one reason why I'm a medievalist, because I find I can talk about old poems without getting bogged down in sentences like, "Thus, a complex mathematical system simulates a dynamic environment through these functional systems."
3. The irony about complaing about a forgetful professor in a student evaluation is that the odds are s/he will forget the student evalutation forms.
4. I'd better stop procrastinating and get back to work.
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