I just found out how committed to the environment I am. Its around 10 feet.
I got out of my car, and I had two styrofoam coffee cups, one was from the day before and it had today's sitting inside of it. It slid off and hit the ground. Today is pretty windy. It sat there for a second as I was thinking, 'crap, this is going to be a hassle'. It starts bouncing away, I chase after it a bit and then just let it go after about ten feet.
So that's how 'committed' to the environment I am. Actually, I suppose if I really cared, I wouldn't be using a styrofoam cup in the first place.
In fact, if I consider this a little more, it wasn't that 10 feet was too far. If the thing had been blown further and just sat there, I like to at least think I'd've gotten it. But it was in part that I don't think I was going to catch the thing, and also because I looked pretty ridiculous, hunched over trying to grab it, trying to step on it, just waiting to slip on the ice. So I guess I will 'help' the environment a little bit, as long as its not pointless and I don't look stupid.
Guess that mean's I won't get a SmartCar anytime soon too.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
To Shit or Defecate?
http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/l.html
and
Very much reminds me of shakespeare using simple couplets when he was trying to appeal to a general audience, and then a fancier rhyme scheme when not.
Also somewhat related is this issue of "U and non-U English"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_and_non-U_English
Looking at the word lists, it almost looks to me like the non-Upper class words are attempting to seem fancy.
"Words of Germanic origin tend to be shorter, more direct, more blunt, while Latinate words tend to be polysyllabic, and are often associated with higher and scientific diction. If you want a memorable example, compare the connotations of shit (from the Germanic scitan) with those of defecate (from the Latin defaecare)."
and
"you'll sound more blunt, more straightforward, even more forthright, if you draw your words from Germanic roots. An extensively Latinate vocabulary, on the contrary, suggests a more elevated level of diction. Choose your words carefully, then, with constant attention to your audience and the effects you want to have on"
Very much reminds me of shakespeare using simple couplets when he was trying to appeal to a general audience, and then a fancier rhyme scheme when not.
Also somewhat related is this issue of "U and non-U English"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_and_non-U_English
Looking at the word lists, it almost looks to me like the non-Upper class words are attempting to seem fancy.
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Bombay attacks fallout
Fallout may end up being a poor choice of words here. Nevertheless, I found some interesting bits in this article:
Bombay attack Dossier
The response from the Pakistani Information Minister really just says it all;
"it is our fond resolve to insure that non-state actors to do not use Pakistan's soil to launch terrorist attack any where in the world"
This is the sort of statement that really reminds us that the position of information minister in most countries used to be the Ministry of Propaganda.
Another curious, though sensible side note is that the information when presented to diplomats was accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation. If nothing else that is something I should include in future discussion with students about the wide range of places that MS PP can be used in.
Apparently the attackers were being directed as the operation proceeded, even by simple means of phone calls to the hotels being attacked. And the fact that a handler told the people holding the jews hostage to 'conclude' the operation, which resulted in the jews being executed, strongly says to me anyway that that aspect was part of the original plan, and not a target of opportunity. I don't know how much debate there is over that point anyway, especially when a handler seemed to hope that the execution of the hostages would "spoil" relations between India and Israel. Why they think Israel will be angry with India over this, who knows.
Something that is often brought up with regards to these attacks is that, its the plan of the attackers to provoke a strong response, and that be counter-attacking you are 'playing into their hands' or giving them what they want. But if they actually thought that the attack would sour relations between india and isreal, when its plainly obvious to the rest of the non-insane world that pakistan has a hand in this, then maybe that whole line of thought is just bogus anyway. I suspect that these guys don't think 'our deaths will lead to an unpopular counter-attack, and through that we will get global sympathy and win'. Rather, they probably think 'this attack will show those bastards'. Its bad to underestimate an enemy, but perhaps that line of thinking is a case of over-estimation gone awry. The article ends with the ominous note that there were actually 13 people selected as attackers, this 13 met up with another 3, and then 6 went into Kashmir. Are we supposed to believe that those 6 have done nothing, are doing nothing, and will do nothing? Everyone was shocked over the Bombay attacks, even though Bombay was bombed recently also, and even though there is constant fighting in Kashmir. I guess that the Kashmir fighting is an 'acceptable' level of international terrorism. My father-in-law also noted that in Kerala a muslim terror camp had been uncovered, and, perhaps not surprisingly, the terrorists were NOT native to Kerala. Looks like the world has found kasmiri-based terrorism fine and dandy, and so now terror groups are simply expanding well into India. AND this is at a time when Hindu chauvanism is rampant and Bangladeshi terror groups are on the move.
Bombay attack Dossier
The response from the Pakistani Information Minister really just says it all;
"it is our fond resolve to insure that non-state actors to do not use Pakistan's soil to launch terrorist attack any where in the world"
This is the sort of statement that really reminds us that the position of information minister in most countries used to be the Ministry of Propaganda.
Another curious, though sensible side note is that the information when presented to diplomats was accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation. If nothing else that is something I should include in future discussion with students about the wide range of places that MS PP can be used in.
Apparently the attackers were being directed as the operation proceeded, even by simple means of phone calls to the hotels being attacked. And the fact that a handler told the people holding the jews hostage to 'conclude' the operation, which resulted in the jews being executed, strongly says to me anyway that that aspect was part of the original plan, and not a target of opportunity. I don't know how much debate there is over that point anyway, especially when a handler seemed to hope that the execution of the hostages would "spoil" relations between India and Israel. Why they think Israel will be angry with India over this, who knows.
Something that is often brought up with regards to these attacks is that, its the plan of the attackers to provoke a strong response, and that be counter-attacking you are 'playing into their hands' or giving them what they want. But if they actually thought that the attack would sour relations between india and isreal, when its plainly obvious to the rest of the non-insane world that pakistan has a hand in this, then maybe that whole line of thought is just bogus anyway. I suspect that these guys don't think 'our deaths will lead to an unpopular counter-attack, and through that we will get global sympathy and win'. Rather, they probably think 'this attack will show those bastards'. Its bad to underestimate an enemy, but perhaps that line of thinking is a case of over-estimation gone awry. The article ends with the ominous note that there were actually 13 people selected as attackers, this 13 met up with another 3, and then 6 went into Kashmir. Are we supposed to believe that those 6 have done nothing, are doing nothing, and will do nothing? Everyone was shocked over the Bombay attacks, even though Bombay was bombed recently also, and even though there is constant fighting in Kashmir. I guess that the Kashmir fighting is an 'acceptable' level of international terrorism. My father-in-law also noted that in Kerala a muslim terror camp had been uncovered, and, perhaps not surprisingly, the terrorists were NOT native to Kerala. Looks like the world has found kasmiri-based terrorism fine and dandy, and so now terror groups are simply expanding well into India. AND this is at a time when Hindu chauvanism is rampant and Bangladeshi terror groups are on the move.
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
More news Bits
Hitchen's Article on the Timing of the Gazan War
Bad Timing
Another interesting article from Mr. Hitchens. This one considers the need of Kadima to be hawkish in order to defeat Likud and Nettanyahu in upcomming elections. Hitchen's also considers palestinian elections, and that Hamas needed to do something to prevent any weakening of their own position to Fatah. Hitchen's also laments the fact that this may all have also been timed with the US elections, with Israel recognizing that now is the best time to do anything, when there is a lame duck president. Many people had speculated that Israel would do 'something' in this time, though I'd've thought that if anything it'd be a strike on Iran.
That blog posting pointed me over to this NYT op-ed piece:
Why Israel Feels Threatened
I think that the most interesting thing from this article is the idea that Israel in the past was successful, it could defeat arab armies that were trying to invade it. And for all the fighting, it did seem to result in treaties with Egypt and Jordan. But today, it hasn't find a way to successfully deal with guerilla and irregular groups like Hamas and Hezbollah. I do also notice that the author states that the war started with Hamas 'ending' the ceasefire, and then Israel attacking. This leaves out the fact that Hamas ended the ceasefire by attacking Israel with rockets and killing schoolchildren. I don't know if it was an omission with a good purpose, but I doubt it was 'sloppy reporting' like on the news, where the talking heads are just reading a prompter anyway.
Another interesting article, from Abu Aardvark
Alhurra
The thing that caught my interest about this article, besides being written by the well informed and intelligent Abu Aardvark, is that its about Alhurra, which, after its inception, I really hadn't heard much about at all. Apparently the station has become expensive and irrelevant.
Bad Timing
Another interesting article from Mr. Hitchens. This one considers the need of Kadima to be hawkish in order to defeat Likud and Nettanyahu in upcomming elections. Hitchen's also considers palestinian elections, and that Hamas needed to do something to prevent any weakening of their own position to Fatah. Hitchen's also laments the fact that this may all have also been timed with the US elections, with Israel recognizing that now is the best time to do anything, when there is a lame duck president. Many people had speculated that Israel would do 'something' in this time, though I'd've thought that if anything it'd be a strike on Iran.
That blog posting pointed me over to this NYT op-ed piece:
Why Israel Feels Threatened
I think that the most interesting thing from this article is the idea that Israel in the past was successful, it could defeat arab armies that were trying to invade it. And for all the fighting, it did seem to result in treaties with Egypt and Jordan. But today, it hasn't find a way to successfully deal with guerilla and irregular groups like Hamas and Hezbollah. I do also notice that the author states that the war started with Hamas 'ending' the ceasefire, and then Israel attacking. This leaves out the fact that Hamas ended the ceasefire by attacking Israel with rockets and killing schoolchildren. I don't know if it was an omission with a good purpose, but I doubt it was 'sloppy reporting' like on the news, where the talking heads are just reading a prompter anyway.
Another interesting article, from Abu Aardvark
Alhurra
The thing that caught my interest about this article, besides being written by the well informed and intelligent Abu Aardvark, is that its about Alhurra, which, after its inception, I really hadn't heard much about at all. Apparently the station has become expensive and irrelevant.
Monday, January 05, 2009
News Bits
Intersting article I found through Abu Muqawama (and then through a blogger that posted it there)Fisk's Article
This presents a more interesting report on the Gazan War than other news stories, thats for certain. A particular stand-out is that 80% of the families in Gaza are refugees from the creation of Israel, though I have no idea what data substantiates that. I somehow suspect that neither Hamas nor the old PLO kept good records of movements. Heck, neither org ever bothered to build bomb shelters in Gaza apparently either. The tone of the article is partisan, but sometimes that it what makes for the best reporting, rather than trying to cover it up one way or the other. The bit about how the media tells the story of two grandparents killed in the bombing, but failing to mention that they had been refugees from the very land that now killed them, is interesting.
Though I have to say that a more telling aspect of that story is that IF those grandparents had just stayed in their homes when Israel was created, then no only would they be alive today, but they'd've lived a far better and freer life. Unless of course they died in a Hamas attack.
Looks like the Sri Lankan army has captured Killinochchi over the weekend. I missed that with this Gazan War going on:
Rebel Capital Captured
Fascinating article. Looks like they've split the rebels in two, with some retreating to the northern most parts of the island, and others cut off to the south east. Apparently they emptied Killinochchi of its residents. Seems to be some dispute as to whether they were taken by the rebels or sided with the rebels. It seems just as likely that people fled the town during the bombing and assault, irrespective of who's side they were on. BBC also reports there that one 14 year old girl was forced into fighting by the Tigers too. May be more when if this is all mopped up. Apparently the rebels are holding out around a large lagoon in the north and one city along the eastern coast.
Also another article on the situation in Gaza:
Gazan War
Reports continue to state that around 500 palestinians have been killed, with around a quarter of that being civilians. The death toll from this war rose very rapidly during the aerial bombardment phase, and seems to have dropped off just as dramatically once the ground invasion went into operation, which I suppose is what should be expected. This seems to mean that around 125 civilians have been killed. Which is surprisingly lower than the ~172 civilians killed in the Bombay attack, (which did not inspire a series of worldwide street protests and which followed another attack on Bombday in 2006 that resulted in ~184 deaths).
Clearly, it would be best if no civilians died during this Gazan War, but just as clearly, thats not possible. Its strange too because the newscasters often focus on the numbers of dead, as if the numbers really mean anything. Whats also rather frustrating is that the newscasters on CNN and the like set up the timeline for this event as starting with the Isreali air bombardments. While its perhaps not surprising that Hamas would be firing rockets at Israel and we can maybe take that for granted, surely its noteworthy that this all started right after a ceasefire reached its expiration date and then Hamas started firing rockets again. I'm not sayings bias, just sloppy. Levinson, the author of the above article, I should say, doesn't seem to be biased or sloppy. Levison also notes that after the bombardment, Hamas was ready to negotiate unconditionally with Fatah. One has to wonder if the Yehudis had considered that as part of this also.
Another story of interest from Asia.
Indian Nun Rape
I recall hearing about this event while the anti-christian riots were going on. Maybe there is a translation issue, but the article's opening sentences seem rather biased, at least in saying that she is 'finally' identifying her rapists. Seems like the bigger story is that she was able to identify them out of a suspect 'parade' of 90 people. Those riots were a real shame on India, you'd think that the report would be a little more demure. I get the impression from it that a lot of people don't think or don't care if she was raped.
And meanwhile, this is also being reported.
Two arrested for possession of beef
This just highlights the paradox, a country where a nun is raped and churches openly attacked is also so high minded and specific that cow meat is illegal? Not to say that the US is perfect.
This presents a more interesting report on the Gazan War than other news stories, thats for certain. A particular stand-out is that 80% of the families in Gaza are refugees from the creation of Israel, though I have no idea what data substantiates that. I somehow suspect that neither Hamas nor the old PLO kept good records of movements. Heck, neither org ever bothered to build bomb shelters in Gaza apparently either. The tone of the article is partisan, but sometimes that it what makes for the best reporting, rather than trying to cover it up one way or the other. The bit about how the media tells the story of two grandparents killed in the bombing, but failing to mention that they had been refugees from the very land that now killed them, is interesting.
Though I have to say that a more telling aspect of that story is that IF those grandparents had just stayed in their homes when Israel was created, then no only would they be alive today, but they'd've lived a far better and freer life. Unless of course they died in a Hamas attack.
Looks like the Sri Lankan army has captured Killinochchi over the weekend. I missed that with this Gazan War going on:
Rebel Capital Captured
Fascinating article. Looks like they've split the rebels in two, with some retreating to the northern most parts of the island, and others cut off to the south east. Apparently they emptied Killinochchi of its residents. Seems to be some dispute as to whether they were taken by the rebels or sided with the rebels. It seems just as likely that people fled the town during the bombing and assault, irrespective of who's side they were on. BBC also reports there that one 14 year old girl was forced into fighting by the Tigers too. May be more when if this is all mopped up. Apparently the rebels are holding out around a large lagoon in the north and one city along the eastern coast.
Also another article on the situation in Gaza:
Gazan War
Reports continue to state that around 500 palestinians have been killed, with around a quarter of that being civilians. The death toll from this war rose very rapidly during the aerial bombardment phase, and seems to have dropped off just as dramatically once the ground invasion went into operation, which I suppose is what should be expected. This seems to mean that around 125 civilians have been killed. Which is surprisingly lower than the ~172 civilians killed in the Bombay attack, (which did not inspire a series of worldwide street protests and which followed another attack on Bombday in 2006 that resulted in ~184 deaths).
Clearly, it would be best if no civilians died during this Gazan War, but just as clearly, thats not possible. Its strange too because the newscasters often focus on the numbers of dead, as if the numbers really mean anything. Whats also rather frustrating is that the newscasters on CNN and the like set up the timeline for this event as starting with the Isreali air bombardments. While its perhaps not surprising that Hamas would be firing rockets at Israel and we can maybe take that for granted, surely its noteworthy that this all started right after a ceasefire reached its expiration date and then Hamas started firing rockets again. I'm not sayings bias, just sloppy. Levinson, the author of the above article, I should say, doesn't seem to be biased or sloppy. Levison also notes that after the bombardment, Hamas was ready to negotiate unconditionally with Fatah. One has to wonder if the Yehudis had considered that as part of this also.
Another story of interest from Asia.
Indian Nun Rape
I recall hearing about this event while the anti-christian riots were going on. Maybe there is a translation issue, but the article's opening sentences seem rather biased, at least in saying that she is 'finally' identifying her rapists. Seems like the bigger story is that she was able to identify them out of a suspect 'parade' of 90 people. Those riots were a real shame on India, you'd think that the report would be a little more demure. I get the impression from it that a lot of people don't think or don't care if she was raped.
And meanwhile, this is also being reported.
Two arrested for possession of beef
This just highlights the paradox, a country where a nun is raped and churches openly attacked is also so high minded and specific that cow meat is illegal? Not to say that the US is perfect.