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Interesting, goofy. I would have thought it referred to the food.

I have met some delectable women in the past - and I have never wanted to eat them (in a cannibalistic sense) Wink


Richard English
 
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Just to show that even those supposedly knowledgable can become confused by English, Steve Schmidt, who ran John McCain's campaign, said during an interview that Sarah Palin, upon being offered the VP slot, was "calm and nonplussed." He meant that she was not at all excited by the offer but accepted it as "part of God's plan."

However, "nonplussed" doesn't mean that. It means confused, among other things. So the two terms are contradictory.
 
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Thanks, Goofy. I'll just keep setting them up for you.
 
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Regarding the saw-mill story, I found this part hilarious: "Here is a picture of a nice fluffy rabbit to take your mind off this story." I think we should do that in many U.S. newspaper articles.
 
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The funny part for me in the metal pipe extraction was "the penis was bruised and swollen, but otherwise unharmed." Sounds like my wedding night.

Strictly speaking, though, if you get your penis caught in a pipe, is that really an "accident"?
 
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Mind you, I can think of worse ways of going...


Richard English
 
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This teacher sounds cool.
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That's why seven of Kahn's former students (along with two current ones) gathered recently in one of the high school's auditoriums for his second annual Motivational Mentorship panel. The graduates came from around the area and the country to spend the day performing spoken word poetry and trying to inspire audiences of freshmen and sophomores whose first semester grades were lackluster.
 
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There are two interesting stories involving the definition of "possession" in the news.

The most recent is this one. A seventh grader was accused of drug possession merely because another student handed her a pill, which she immediately returned without using it.

The second is a slightly older story about a man who found a shotgun and turned it over to police but was accused of "possession", which carried a lengthy required prison sentence, for which {b]there was no defense[/b](according to the prosecution and the judge. [URL=http://www.thisissurreytoday.c...-detail/article.html](link)[/URL]

It is incredible to me that anyone of intelligence could possibly interpret that word in such a draconian way. As the mother of the youngster said, Children are taught to say no to drugs but thanks to this interpretation they may as well take the drugs since they'll be punished whatever they do.
 
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If you click on the link at the top of the article entitled "GUN FIND SOLDIER WALKS FREE FROM COURT" you will see that the judge had a lot more common sense than some and, although unlawful possession of a firearm in England does carry a mandatory prison sentence, the offender did not go to prison. He was given a one-year suspended sentence, which means that, providing he stays out of trouble until the end of the suspension period, he need serve no prison term.

Of course, he will have a criminal record - but if you look further into the matter you will see that his past is not without blemish in any case.

This case, along with many other "zero-tolerance" cases, are discussed in detail in Randy Cassingham's "This is True" feature - http://www.thisistrue.com/

So far as the other story is concerned, words almost fail me - as they do when trying to read some of the reply postings Wink


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The second of those stories has been dissected at length by Jack of Kent.

Here, here and here.

It's an excellent blog for people interested in British legal proceedings.


"No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money." Samuel Johnson.
 
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Stomach’s Sweet Tooth
Turns out taste is not just for the tongue
By Rachel Ehrenberg
March 27th, 2010; Vol.177 #7 (p. 22)

Odds are, it's wrong
Science fails to face the shortcomings of statistics
By Tom Siegfried
March 27th, 2010; Vol.177 #7 (p. 26)
 
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Thanks, Tinman. The first one disabused me of the long-standing belief that incretins were my inner idiots.


It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. -J. Krishnamurti
 
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Tinman, thanks so much for that article on statistical significances. I have copied it and am sending it to our researchers in my organization.

The article is very true, and it is one of the reasons we've begun to go toward evidence-based practice, focusing on more meta-analyses (though the article pointed out those problems), replication of studies, systematic and integrative reviews. I have seen situations, for example, when researchers have used the Student's t statistic for a number of variables, finding (and reporting) multiple significances...when that particular statistic can't be used across multiple variables like that. The peer reviewers of those reports should catch that, but if they don't, many readers often don't have the scientific background to be able understand the misuse of the statistic. They then read the results as significant and write about that. Soon it is a "scientific fact" shown by those erroneous results.
 
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And, I have an article I though you linguaphiles would enjoy, particularly those of you who know a little about French. It's about the fact that American foods just don't translate in France. I found this comment particularly funny.
quote:
I headed quickly back toward the line, with my friends trotting cheerfully behind. On the way, I reconsidered buying a bag of favorite crackers I had taken from a shelf. Why? they asked. "I don't need the calories or the preservatives," I said.

My astonished neighbors asked: "Americans sell crackers with preservatives?"

"Preservatives are probably included in every box here," I said. "The crackers, the cookies — " I hesitated. I didn't want to explain Jell-O. Or dried onion soup in cream that has been soured. Or, for that matter, "dip."

"You have the same thing!" I protested. "Rows of supermarket cookies and cereals with preservatives!"

The older woman replied loftily: "I assure you no French woman ever awakened, said ‘Bonjour,' and reached for a cereal box with preservatives!"

Instantly I realized my mistake. The French word for additives is conservateurs. "Preservatifs" refers to, well, synthetic items that men use for contraception and protection.
 
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Have you seen this articleabout how the Irish saved books?

Happy St. Patrick's Day!


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"Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.
~Dalai Lama
 
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Oh, thank you, CW. That was great. I particularly liked this:
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One scribe, tortured by the difficult Greek he was copying, wrote: “There’s an end to that — and seven curses with it!” Another complained of a previous scribe’s sloppiness: “It is easy to spot Gabrial’s work here.” A third, at the bottom of a tear-stained page, tells us how upset he was by the death of Hector on the Plain of Troy. In these comments, sharp and sweet by turns, we come in contact with the sources of Irish literary humor and hear uncanny echoes of Swift, Wilde, Shaw, Joyce, Beckett.
 
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I was feeling very "meh" about St. Patrick's Day until I read that. Thanks!

Wordmatic
 
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Amazon.com has 279 customer reviews of How the Irish Saved Civilization. Some readers thought it was a great book. Others thought it was tripe.

One review says, "This isn't history, it's PROPAGANDA."
Another begins "To all who have read this malarkey, and for those who intend to, I have a suggestion. First, read all the articles by Tim Callahan of Skeptic magazine."

I looked up Tim Callahan since the second critic recommended him. Here is part of what Callahan has to say. Unfortunately, you have to pay to read the rest, something I'm not willing to do.
 
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A Plant That Thrives When Used as a Toilet June 15, 2009
quote:
“Form follows function,” Dr. Moran said. N. lowii’s bowls “even look like toilets,” he added, “though we were too polite to say that in the paper.”


Giant meat-eating plants prefer to eat tree shrew poo 10 March 2010
quote:
The largest meat-eating plant in the world is designed not to eat small animals, but small animal poo.

Botanists have discovered that the giant montane pitcher plant of Borneo has a pitcher the exact same size as a tree shrew's body.

But it is not this big to swallow up mammals such as tree shrews or rats.

Instead, the pitcher uses tasty nectar to attract tree shrews, then ensures its pitcher is big enough to collect the feeding mammal's droppings.


The shrew loo: The rare jungle plant that recycles droppings 27th February 2010


Pitcher plants In Pictures 11 August 2009
 
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Only in Chicago!
 
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Deleted due to bad link
 
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Well, let's assume she'll lose. As my husband says, anyone can sue, but it takes a good case to win. I'm thinking this one will be tossed out.
 
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Don't toss the case, toss the idiot.


It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. -J. Krishnamurti
 
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Water, water everywhere
Sid Perkins uncovers the amazing amount of “hidden water” in many consumer products
By Sid Perkins
Web edition : Wednesday, April 7th, 2010

He talks about “virtual water,” the water that's needed to produce a product. For example, it takes more than 88 gallons of water to produce a 5-lb. bag of sugar, and 1,400 gallons to produce $1 worth of grain.
 
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Languages use different parts of brain
Different areas are active depending on grammar
By Lisa Grossman
Web edition : Monday, April 5th, 2010
 
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Apparently there is a way to inprove creativity, according to this article.
 
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Muzzled! I particularly liked the Chicago award.
 
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What would we do without email? It seems some companies are banning emails: Link
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Mr. Dalgaard objects to email partly because people use it to avoid talking with others, or to hide negative or critical messages or information from coworkers, sometimes by hitting the “bcc” button. His goal in setting the ban is to get employees “authentically addressing issues amongst each other,” he told employees. “Confront issues head-on, don’t hide behind emails.” So far, the edict is working; people are grabbing their phones or walking to each other’s desks to talk, Mr. Dalgaard says. Employees can still contact each other online through in-house social networks, where groups post short messages that can immediately be seen by everyone.
 
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http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/0...ght-unilinguaphobia/


It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. -J. Krishnamurti
 
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Fascinating article Geoff. I hadn't realised that Canada was quite that restrictive about its bilingualism. Of course it's a blog entry and the writer seems to have an axe to grind but it was fascinating nonetheless.

Do we have any Canadian members at the moment who could read it and comment?


"No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money." Samuel Johnson.
 
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unilinguaphobia

Shouldn't that be monoglossophobia?

(BTW, goofy is Canadian.]


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
 
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Language Log has posted about the new bilingualism requirement for justices of the Supreme Court of Canada.


Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
 
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Originally posted by arnie:
Language Log has posted about the new bilingualism requirement for justices of the Supreme Court of Canada.


Poser makes some good points, but some good counterpoints are made in the comments, and in this letter.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: goofy,
 
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Very interesting discussion. I have read all the links and haven't made up my mind how I feel about it. I can see both sides of the argument. In medicine I know that a superficial knowledge of a patient's language can be very, very dangerous, and that's why interpreters are required by law. It is heard, I think, to measure "fluency."

It almost seems to me that they should have 2 separate courts so that the most talented in each language could be chosen. I would be afraid that the mediocre legal brains, who happen to be bilingual, would be only choices.
 
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I couldn't decide at first, but now I feel on balance that I'm in favour of bilingual judges, although I think that the requirement that they should be equally highly competent in English and French is a little unrealistic. I was swayed by Neal Goldfarb's comment that the case of the $2 million comma where a decision based on the placement of a comma in the English version of an agreement was reversed on consideration of the French version, where it was unambiguous.


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So Canadians can be legally screwed in two languages simultaneously.
 
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I couldn't decide at first, but now I feel on balance that I'm in favour of bilingual judges, although I think that the requirement that they should be equally highly competent in English and French is a little unrealistic.
And, arnie, I am taking the other side. This is what swayed me (assuming it's true):
quote:
As the Ottawa Citizen’s Dan Gardner recently pointed out (full disclosure: he thinks I’m an alarmist buffoon, so he’s obviously a reliable source), a rip-roaring total of 9.4 per cent of Canadian anglophones are bilingual.
That statistic significantly lowers the chances of appointing the best legal brains.
 
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But the bilingual anglophones (9.4%? Wow. Higher than I thought) are obviously the top decile in intelligence.
 
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Yeah...that and a dollar fifty will get you on the CTA. (It's an inside joke.)
 
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CTA = Calgary Transit Authority? Wink


Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
 
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Close...but no cigar. Wink

This article about translated prescriptions being wrong 50% of the time is on topic. It is hard, even for those who consider themselves fluent in another language, to translate really technical writing. I imagine it's the same in law.
 
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This is a wonderful article about the Chicago Tribune's role in nominating Abraham Lincoln for president. You will also begin to see how Illinois became a bit politically shady. Wink
 
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Out, damned clot!

Tiny blood vessels expel clots by force
Mouse study uncovers new way capillaries keep flow going
By Laura Sanders
Web edition: Wednesday, May 26th, 2010
 
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Recycle those butts!

Chinese would turn cigarette butts into steel's guardian
Aqueous extract makes a nifty corrosion inhibitor
By Janet Raloff
Web edition: Wednesday, May 12th, 2010
 
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We hope our British friends aren't mad at us about the whole BP fiasco. I found this editorial in the Tribune interesting.
quote:
A member of the House of Lords denounced this "crude, bigoted, xenophobic display of partisan, political presidential petulance." The mayor of London objected to the "anti-British rhetoric." Prime Minister David Cameron has come under attack for not hitting back at the president.

Oh, please. Obama words weren't genteel, but they also weren't anti-British. It's not as if he vilified Tony Hayward as "a tea-swilling, monarch-worshipping soccer hooligan spawned by a defunct empire whose highest contribution to cuisine is something called "toad in the hole."
They were referring to Obama's remark: "so I know whose ass to kick." There actually was a voice of the people on the Tribune that said he should have used the word "derriere." Wink

It's interesting, but that English accent (that we usually love here in the U.S.) seems to be irritating people when they interview BP about the oil spill.
 
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