Two articles: one good, one not so good.

Owner of used bookstore leaves $700,000 to UW Libraries

Hospitals X-Ray Patient Credit Scores

Nice, Tinman, and you're right; one is very humanitarian, and the other stinks. I believe the IRS should look into some of these hospitals who claim to be "not-for-profit." Perhaps they should begin to pay their fair share (property taxes and the like) if they are going to be so business savvy.

Language Driven By Culture, Not Biology, Study Shows.

Interesting, Bob. Doesn't this go against Chomsky's theories?

quote:

Originally posted by Kalleh:
Interesting, Bob. Doesn't this go against Chomsky's theories?

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The authors conclude that it is unlikely that humans possess a genetic ‘language module’ which has evolved by natural selection. The genetic basis of human language appears to primarily predate the emergence of language.

Altho the theory of Universal Grammar talks about a "Language Acquisition Device" that humans are innately endowed with, it has nothing to say about how this evolved or whether there are "language genes" (AFAIK). So I don't think this paper is a problem for UG (altho a real generative linguist might disagree).

I just read this post on Mr. Verb about this article. Good points are made, including

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It would be an unimaginable state of hubris to even suggest that we know even the beginnings of how genes map to higher level behaviors such as specific languages. This is where the Royal Linguistic Society in London may have had it right in banning discussion about the origins of language. This is where the main flaw in the argument outlined by the SD article arrises. In order for the argument to go through, specific languages must be directly coded in the genes. In other words as Old English gradually changed into Modern English there must have been a similar and correlated change in the genetic make-up of speakers of Old English to Modern English. At this point in time, all sane people should rejoice that this hypothesis has been excluded by this line of research. Hooray.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: goofy, January 22, 2009 14:37

Here's an interesting New York Times story about place names in the UK.

I've already posted about Wankers Corners, Oregon, but here's one I hadn't mentioned: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whorehouse_Meadow

And here's one for Kalleh.

Electronic Records: A Way to Stretch Nurses

Thanks, Tinman. Very interesting indeed. President Bush, in 2004 , actually called for all medical records going electronic by 2014. It's a daunting job, considering some of the small, remote health care agencies, and particularly the mom and pop nursing homes.

Here's an intereting comic in Language Log. Scroll down to "Fair and Balanced."

Oh, good grief, Proofreader, can't you tell an evil giant hiding in a windmill when you see one?

Those evil giant fancy dress parties are always such a bore. Everybody always goes as a windmill.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: BobHale, February 21, 2009 16:09

Here's a poorly written headline that tells you more about policework than is necessary.

We've talked about plagiarism before. The following article may be of some interest.
Study finds plenty of apparent plagiarism

I received my copy of ScienceNews this week and one of the articles was titled "Genome duplications may separate humans from other great apes." They've changed the title in the online version: Duplication in genomes may separate humans from apes

And there's good news about a soap opera: Radio relief for Rwandans’ social conflicts

As you may know, Chicago is in the running for the 2016 Olympics. They are visiting Chicago today, so we have been all spiffed up and ready to go. Here is the editorial in today's Tribune about why Chicago should be chosen. I loved it because it really showed the essence of Chicago. It wasn't sugary sweet because Chicago isn't sugary sweet. They mentioned the good, but also the bad. I think you will get a real flavor of Chicago if you read it.

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Let's put the accent on communication

One of the basics of presentation skills training is to be able to speak in such a way that your audience can understand you. Clearly it is impossible for any one speaker to speak every one of the world's languages and, even if he or she were able to speak the languages of all the members of the audience, it is impossible to present in more than two or three languages, since the time available will just not permit it. Some addresses, such as the Pope's Easter address, are traditionally presented in several langauges, but this must be the exception to the norm.

If a presentation needs to be made a multi-national audience, it is the responsibility of the organisers to ensure that there are adequate simultaneous translation facilities - for any written visuals (which should be very few) as well as the speakers' words. When I gave a speech a year or two back in Jordan, most of the audience were Arabs; I speak no Arabic but simultaneous translation ensured that I was able to understand the presentations from Arab speakers and they were able to understand me.

To fail to make such arrangements is a sure-fire recipe for an event's failure.

I had not heard of poet Staceyann Chin before, but I'd like to look at some of her work. She was highlighted in today's Chicago Tribune in an interview. I found the following to be an interesting distinction between prose and poetry:

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Q. How would you say the prose-writing process differed from crafting stanzas?

A. Poetry is a craft that allows you to hide behind things. I found that there is a way that I could be honest and still hide behind the metaphors and the verse and the performance, and the prose gave you no such room.

Here's a funny cartoon with connection to recent posts. Click here.

I love it!

There must be some more. Made redundant?

Two Google articles:

One about the Google goats. Not a bad idea! In Door County, Wisconsin, goats live on the roof of Al Johnson's Swedish Restaurant & Butik and nibble all summer.

Another about libraries seeking oversight of Google books. They are worried about readership privacy, as well as Google setting such a high fee that libraries won't be able to buy Google Books.

quote:

"The Settlement has the potential to provide unprecedented access to a digital library containing millions of books," the library groups said in a letter to the court. "But in the absence of competition for the services enabled by the Settlement, this impact may not be entirely positive. The Settlement could compromise fundamental library values such as equity of access to information, patron privacy, and intellectual freedom."

Further message to arnie!

For example I can't see anything on the first page of this thread but I can on all subsequent pages.
Weird, huh?

Bob, perhaps you're going crazy?

wibble <inserts pencils in nostrils>

That might have worked in the Boer War, Bob, but they'd caught on to that by the First World War.

And get those underpants off your head, as well.

I found this article about medical students thanking their cadavers heartwarming. It even had a new word for me: "materiel."

That Blackadder episode was just on in the States.

It's funny to see Hugh Laurie in the role of the gung-ho gentleman soldier, when I'm so used to seeing him as the curmudgeonly House.

WM

He does a very good American accent, so I understand. Can you tell he's English (in House)?

He does a very good American accent, so I understand.

His American accent is one of the best I've heard from a British actor.

Can you tell he's English (in House)?

Nope.

Absolutely not!

How can you not like Garrison Keillor? This is a lighthearted article particularly for our Brits. I am wondering about the 2,200 pounds for cleaning the moat.

Hey. A thread I cxan see properly and reply to!

The moat is only one of a vast number of these things. It seems that most, if not all, MPs have had their snouts in the trough to some degree or another, claiming, among other things, moat cleaning, garden maintenance on properties that don't have gardens, trouser presses, £1600 for a duck house on his garden pond, mortgage payments for mortgages that don't exist, pornographic movie channels, nearly £9000 for a television, household renovations for a house not lived in, underground heating for a lawn, claims for flood damage that should have gone to an insurance company, fines issued by courts for non-payment of council tax, fully equipping a flat before selling it and pocketing the profit (then buying another and doing it again.)

Note all of the above are allegations made by a newspaper against various MPS.

There is also the practice of "flipping" which means designating one property as your "second home", claiming up to the maximum possible on this ludicrous gravy train expense system, then designating a different property and claiming it all again.

There is also the case of a married couple of MPS who, it is claimed, each designated their primary/secondary homes the opposite way round enabling them to claim double the allowances.

It just goes on and on. The mood of the electorate is, to put it mildly, rather a angry and the problem seems to affect all the parties equally.

Yes, this furore is adding greatly to our enjoyment of the news in the morning lately. Over the last three weeks we've been fed wonderful titbits of scandal about those who are supposed to be running the country. It should be emphasisd, as Bob has mentioned already, that although the article mentions The Telegraph's campaign to bring down Gordon Brown's government, the guilty MPs are from all the parties.

The Telegraph devoted a week to drip-feeding us with details of Labour MPs' tricks, then a week to the Conservatives, then a week to the other parties; admirably even-handed, I'd say, given their Tory bias. I assume there's a newspaper industry award for "scoop of the year" or similar; The Telegraph should win it comfortably this time.

It is amazing what politicians think they can get away with, isn't it? Just imagine that our ex-governor wanted money in exchange for Barack Obama's senate seat! We Illinoisians may have you beat!

It is amazing what politicians think they can get away with, isn't it?

Pardon my cynicism, but I think it goes deeper: I am not amazed at what humans can do to one another or think they can get away with.

I am green with envy that your fourth estate actually does something for the price of a paper. Had ours been awake to any but the antics of celebrities for the last couple of decades, we all might be sitting a bit prettier today (re: 401k's, jobs etc)

But then I guess nobody wanted to "hear" it....

For sme reaon, newspapers haven't paid much attention to the CPSIA law which aims at reducing lead in manufactured products. Sources on the internet show the law is wreaking havoc in all sorts of ways but this article shows the effect it has on teachers.[

Arnie is right to say that this expenses scandal is hitting all the main parties. It's the whole stinking mob! I predict it will spread to include non-elected politicians such as the quangocrats (am not sure if this word is used in the US - it means people who run quasi non governmental organisations), the judges, the state broadcasters, the local politicians, the peers/senators, and more. It is all rather satisfying, really.
But scoop of the year for the Telegraph? That depends on whether or not you think scoops should be the fruit of chequebook journalism. The computer disc containing these expenses claims was bought from a faintly dodgy third party.

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It is all rather satisfying, really.

Certainly. However, whatever will a Parliamentary Sketch writer find to top this pile of ordure? Especially since Mr Speaker Martin got his comeuppance ...

The Guild of Parliamentary Sketchwriters (headquarters: Metaphor Hall, Vituperation Street, London, E1) is wearing black crepe at the departure of Speaker Martin. Bladders on sticks have been muffled. The step of our daily march to the word mine is conducted to the funeral march and our women wear veils (great improvement in most cases).
You are right, guvnor. He was a gift, that man, but like most gifts he eventually broke and we now seek a replacement. We hope it will be one who wears black tights and a full-bottomed wig.

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I am green with envy that your fourth estate actually does something for the price of a paper. Had ours been awake to any but the antics of celebrities for the last couple of decades, we all might be sitting a bit prettier today (re: 401k's, jobs etc)

This does seem to be the cynical thread, doesn't it? I don't know that I'd agree bethree. Many newspapers had been lamenting about the mortgage and bank fiascoes, though you are correct that we just didn't listen.

While surely not all newspapers are quality by any means, they very often expose fraud, and the like, with their investigative reporting. In my field, for example, there is a California reporter who is driving us all crazy with his reporting. Yet, he is finding flaws that need to be corrected. Yes, he is irritating. However, he has already been the cause of more staff being added so that malpractice can be more quickly dealt with. I was at a meeting, and someone said he was happy that the newspapers were folding because their board wouldn't have to worry about reports to the public. Then he got serious and acknowledged what good work the papers do in being able to right wrongs.

I suppose I sound like a Pollyanna in this thread. However, in the U.S. the whole movement toward patient safety really started because of media reports (investigative reporting) of errors. The newspapers will have to figure out how to manage with the Internet, but I think they are very necessary.

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quangocrats (am not sure if this word is used in the US

I've not heard it before. Thanks for introducing me to it!

For linguaphiles, this is hilarious !

I would be most freaked out if my cat started talking to me, because I am pretty sure he is saying snide things to me on a daily basis, if only I could read his little, tiny feline mind!

Wordmatic

quote:

if only I could read his little, tiny feline mind!

Talking chimp gives his first press conference

Very nice, neveu.

Were our dog to talk, she'd be guilt ridden. But our cat? He'd think he ruled the world. They are diametrically opposed!

An interesting article from the Guardian about exclamation marks!!!!!

It seems that they are acceptable almost anywhere! And in almost any number!!!!

The internet (!) is apparently to blame.

Personally I've always been a bit of a punctuation minimalist and rarely use exclamation marks.

So, what do you all think ?

Not trying to step on Bob's question but I just found this article. It seems to fit in with the "silly signs" thread but I wanted to point out one word in the story that is used in a way that is not common usage here.

The woman interviewed complained that residents were only trying to make their porches "homely", in the sense of attractive or pleasantly livable. Here it means "ugly." I assume this is another instance of UK/US divergence.