Archive for April, 2004
Humiliating
Article 3, Section 1(c) of the Geneva Convention states that prisoners of war shall not, “at any time and in any place whatsoever” be subject to “outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment.” [CAUTION: Images in the previous link are most certainly objectionable to (almost) everyone.]
The Guardian reports that it wasn’t […]
Romijn-Stamos
Last October, Jim, of Uncle Jazzbeau’s Gallimaufrey, had a post about linguists in movies which sparked a lively discussion. This doesn’t quite count, but the actress Rebecca Romijn-Stamos has been making the rounds on the talk-show circuit, promoting her new movie, Godsend. As usual, actresses are expected to have some funny story to share about […]
Refund
If you filed electronically, you probably already got your refund check, or you will soon. The more money you made last year the more likely you are to have gotten a fairly substantial break from Bush’s tax cuts. I know your first thought upon receiving that check is to pay off outstanding bills, credit card […]
Ice Age
When I read this back in February, my first thought was “Oh s–t! We are all going to die.” My second thought was, “That would make a great movie!”
In quick summary, if enough cold, fresh water coming from the melting polar ice caps and the melting glaciers of Greenland flows into the northern Atlantic, it […]
Mandamus
(man-dame-us) n. Latin for “we order,” a writ (more modernly called a “writ of mandate”) which orders a public agency or governmental body to perform an act required by law when it has neglected or refused to do so. Examples: After petitions were filed with sufficient valid signatures to qualify a proposition for the ballot, […]
Language Reform
Konrad Lawson, whom I’ve long known only as the person behind the Macintosh software company Fool’s Workshop, has an excellent blog, Muninn, which I will soon be adding to my blogroll. LanguageHat brought my attention to two posts in particular: One on the creation of the Qiang ethnic minority, and another on attempts at […]
AFAIK
Back in March a professor complained that he couldn’t understand student exams which were hastily written in text messaging language:
Perhaps I am one of the last remaining anachronisms who is at all troubled by the likes of: “In L8 17thC bills of xchange were issd by govt on a regulr basis as overcs trade […]
Elected Dictatorship
A 3-page memo was leaked which reveals aspects of the links between Cheney and Enron.
The three-page document contains eight points spelling out Enron’s case for why federal authorities should refrain from imposing price caps or other measures sought by California officials to stabilize runaway electricity prices.
A number of the positions in the memo subsequently made […]
Taxonomy
For much of history, the science of biology was the science of classification. As can be seen by the text accompanying this image (from a web page on “New Zealand polychaetes“):
Schmarda was the first significant investigator of New Zealand polychaetes, visiting the Auckland area in 1854, later describing 21 new species. Here is a composite […]
IMAP
What is IMAP? It is simply a way of accessing your e-mail. Right now, if you use Entourage, Outlook Express, Eudora, Apple Mail, or some other desktop client to read your e-mail you can use IMAP. However, unless you have a .Mac or Hotmail account, you probably use POP instead. But IMAP is better. Why? […]
An anthropologist and documentary filmmaker, 
