"So far" being the operative phrase

The Washington Post has a headline today reading "Region feeling little pain so far from sequester's bite".

Yeah... well, considering the the Department of Defense doesn't start taking 20% out of its people's paychecks until June, that's probably true. But it's early days yet to be feeling happy about this thing. A lot of people are going to be in some real pain by September.

Do I? I don't either

This doesn't work:

Baldo asks if he smells food; Gracie says "No." Baldo cannot then say "I don't either." Either? Either than who? Himself! No! That's not how "either" works.

That last speech balloon should be pointing at Gracie, like the top one is, or it should have different words in it. In fact, it doesn't need to be there, since the next panel has the joke (such as it is): Gracie eating cereal and saying "This happened yesterday, too."

Colaridge?

Okay, first: how can identifying the state Paducah is in be a $2000 question?

And second: I found a bunch of websites with recordings of people saying his name, Brits and Americans, and not a single one said Samuel Taylor Coleridge's surname with three syllables, so Alex? What?

Two worlds, Memorial Day issue

Once again, a look at two worlds...

Washington Times:

• Foreign Policy: In secret Syria trip, McCain hears rebels' plea for help
• Federal Government: In time of sequesters, Uncle Sam is trying to hire 27,000 | 200 openings at bowling alleys
• Economy: Timing on taxes helps halve deficit | CBO forecast shows improved 5-year trend
• War on Terrorism: U.S. laws keep locks on Guantanamo detainees | Obama not authorized to repatriate citizens to nations that sponsor terror
• IRS:Two senators want tax cheats off federal payroll | Proposed bill would fire deadbeats
• Media: Andy Parks show moving to Salem's WRC 1260 AM
• Big Photo: Remembering the Fallen (woman and daughter in Chattanooga)

(yeah, that Media one is really local - as in local to the Washington Times, where Parks worked until recently)

Washington Post

• Grappling to control prisons in Md.| In one case, a guard was rehired despite alleged role in assault
• Key U.S. weapons designs hacked | Officials point finger at China: | Experts: Breaches could provide a military edge
• Budget cuts clip fighter squadron's wings | Air Force's Rocketeers battle frustration as sequestration ground their planes
• E.U. drops arms ban for Syrian opposition | McCain makes surprise visit to country, meets with rebels
• How new is too new to Old Dominion? | In race, Cuccinelli tries to paint McAuliffe as Virginia outsider
• Sweatshirts vs. sweatshops: The power of a college logo
• Big Photo: A day of remembrance (woman at a service in Jacksonville)

(Maybe the Rocketeers should go work in those bowling alleys. Though they're Army bowling alleys...)

This isn't Veterans Day

All the images and memes everywhere over the weekend about thanking a veteran were, of course, good in themselves. And this sounds churlish, but ...

But this isn't Veterans Day. It's Memorial Day. Veterans who are alive (like me) aren't the point of this holiday.

Memorial Day (observed)

A Dirge for Two Veterans
by Walt Whitman

THE last sunbeam
Lightly falls from the finish'd Sabbath,
On the pavement here, and there beyond it is looking,
Down a new-made double grave.

Lo, the moon ascending,
Up from the east the silvery round moon,
Beautiful over the house-tops, ghastly, phantom moon,
Immense and silent moon.

I see a sad procession,
And I hear the sound of coming full-key'd bugles,
All the channels of the city streets they're flooding,
As with voices and with tears.

I hear the great drums pounding,
And the small drums steady whirring,
And every blow of the great convulsive drums,
Strikes me through and through.

For the son is brought with the father,
(In the foremost ranks of the fierce assault they fell,
Two veterans son and father dropt together,
And the double grave awaits them.)

Now nearer blow the bugles,
And the drums strike more convulsive,
And the daylight o'er the pavement quite has faded,
And the strong dead-march enwraps me.

In the eastern sky up-buoying,
The sorrowful vast phantom moves illumin'd,
('Tis some mother's large transparent face,
In heaven brighter growing.)

O strong dead-march you please me!
O moon immense with your silvery face you soothe me!
O my soldiers twain! O my veterans passing to burial!
What I have I also give you.

The moon gives you light,
And the bugles and the drums give you music,
And my heart, O my soldiers, my veterans,
My heart gives you love.

Analogy - but false?

Soooooo, we're supposed to believe the reverend knows the Bible is no more real than HP or Star Wars? I mean, sure, it's possible; you read about preachers and priests who are actually atheists but afraid to admit it. But I've never thought Croom was anything but genuine. I'll be looking at him differently in future... it seems he's just a fanboy of a fictional character...

Are you satisfied? Yes or Yes

I take the Washington Times print edition, and today got an email asking me to take a short survey (they're contemplating charging for digital content).

The first question is hysterically funny.



I can't be dissatisfied with the news & commentary, eh?

Truthfully, I'm not sure if "dissatisfied" is the right word, since I take it to keep up with that bunch of folks and how they think. "Disturbed" is more accurate...

Rex just might be right, here

Oh, man.

Not only is mister Milton-I'm-too-busy-to-have-a-heart-attack actually reworking his satellite plans on his own, which will mean the engineers have to work overtime to set things right - he's making the thing heavier. It's supposed to be light. Hence, carbon fiber - the preferred material for space. Plus, what difference does it make how many kilos the camera weighs? Rest mass is meaningless! It'll be in space, Milton. Weightless! If the bearings survives the launch, they'll hold the camera up just fine.

And what's with the gratuitous digs at the French (who, by the way, you hired)? The French have been putting satellites into space for almost 50 years (since 1965) and have a fine track record, with over 50% of the market for civilian launches plus holding the record for heaviest commercial payload.

Milton, my boy, you really ought to check into that hospital Rex is recommending for you. Before you ruin this multi-billion-dollar deal with your midnight doodling.

Subjunctive pair

I ran across this today in a 1931 novel, The Penguin Pool Murders:

Miss Withers realized that she was getting to be an insider, for she could recognize a plain-clothes man a block away. Whenever one sees a man who looks as if he had a trade, but weren't working at it, and a man who hangs about as if he had a place to go ifhe only wanted to, that man is a detective, she told herself.

Granted, Miss Withers is the kind of person who corrects "That charge is not as serious as the one we want him for" to "the one for which we want him," but that "weren't working at it" sounds flat-out weird to me.

He looks as if he had a job and were on his way to it isn't as weird, for some reason, but honestly, all that distance between the if he and were makes the verb sound very bad - and the n't makes it worse to the ear.

Who was WHO?

20th Century People
Clue: In a PS to an April 12, 1945 letter, he wrote, "This was dictated before the world fell in on me... What a blow it was. But -- I must meet it"

All three of them said ....... Who was Hitler?

(Truman, I won't say 'of course', though I did know it instantly)

Do they? I doubt it

The clue was a Jewish leader named Mosheh ben Maimon, better known as this.

They all stood there silently, and Alex said, "You know him better as Maimonides."

Now, I could be wrong, but I don't think they know him at all. "Jewish" and "Maimon" gave me "Maimonides" though to my knowledge I'd never heard his birth name. And none of them looked like the name was at all familiar to them... 

(and while I'm here: Alex, Bavaria doesn't have the same As as Canada. Not in German, which presumably was your motive for saying the name in that tone, with that rolled R...)

Her Home State, Too

So, I guess Kids Today™ don't have to Bound things. Or do history, much, for that matter. The Georgia native picked Georgia as the last Confederate state to secede, which also bordered six others. Georgia only borders five - five total. And it went out in the first group of seven, an original Confederate state.

The answer is Tennessee (last out, first back in), which borders eight states total, though two weren't Confederate. (And yes, I can still Bound Tennessee - thanks, Mrs Neff!)

Obama vs Nixon

My faithful reader Kathie will like this: Tom Tomorrow also said:

Bottom line for me: Obama has trampled on civil liberties and is conducting low-level secret wars of his own, and deserves condemnation for this -- but lacks the sheer evil genius and mendacity to be considered anywhere near in Nixon's league. I mean, seriously -- the IRS sent his political adversaries annoying questionnaires, and then approved their tax exempt status. Nixon would be rolling in his grave with laughter.

Hahaha wait, no

... it's not funny.

Tom Tomorrow notes (to his mailing list):

If this story doesn't blow over entirely, I'm sure we'll all spend a lot of time debating the specifics of who said what.   Right now, the most important specific fact that I can see is that the AP story DID NOT MENTION the fact that there was a double agent inside al Qaeda -- that nugget of information, which is apparently the very harmful leak which led to this latest instance of government overreach, was revealed on a conference call after the AP story ran -- by John Brennan, who is now Director of CIA.

Yeah. The main thing about the AP records grab is that it's part of a massive, chilling crackdown by this administration on whistleblowers - though Senator and then-candidate Obama praised them, now-president Obama doesn't want anything to impede his secrecy. And he'll apparently stop at very little to keep it.

Check out this Salon article by Kevin Gozstola, asking "Who is Jay Carney kidding?" Highlight:

The Obama administration has not maintained any kind of a reasonable balance. The framing by the administration, where it is suggested that freedom must be balanced against national security interests, is not only a false choice but also a tension sustained to give the administration cover as it expands and claims new powers.

Carney and the White House might be trying to kid us, but the thin is - it's no joke.

Martian Connection

"Curiosity's landing site on Mars named for this author who died in 2012"

Carl Sagan died in 1996. Arthur Clarke died in 2007.

Plus, Mars? Pretty much had to be Ray Bradbury.

(Wow. Google Image search "the martian chronicles book cover" and check out the sheer number and variety!)

The Week in Entertainment

Live: American Idiot. It was a lively, energetic show, but for too much of it it was way overamped - they had eight up front, all cranked up to eleven. No matter how they miked the singers, they weren't going to get over that. And it's a shame - perhaps if I (like the guy beside me) had been familiar with Green Day, I'd have known all the words, but I'd only heard one song they sung (and that was the post-curtain-call number), so, not so much. It was a shame because I think Green Day's lyrics probably repay attention - and they were moving the story, which was therefore painted in broad strokes, not nuanced ones, at least for me.

DVD: Vivah ( विवाह, Marriage) with Shahid Kapoor, Amrita Rao, Sameer Soni (much more sympathetic character than he played in Baghban!) and the wonderful Anupam Kher as the bride's father. This movie doesn't have huge dance numbers, though it does have songs, lovely ones, and it's a real tear-jerker, in a good way. Excellent film, though the story (of an arranged marriage) could be called old-fashioned, and nothing in it will surprise you. And then another Shahid Kapoor film, with Vidya Balan, set in Toronto and called Kismat Konnection. Kapoor is a unlucky architect who finds his good-luck charm in Priya, who's engaged to another man. Cute, but nothing special.

TV: Psych - hilarious. All the flailing around the crime scene, and Woody's "I cannot be trusted!" The Mentalist - okay, about as much Red John as I can take, a good season ender (though I  hope they aren't leading up to telling us RJ really does have supernatural powers. This isn't Grimm; it's not the right genre). But for crying out loud. They didn't search that woman for poison? How many times does an RJ minion have to kill themself before they take precautions? Speaking of Grimm, a really nice episode. Good character stuff. I really like Renard, and I loved the way they all kept calling around about Nick. Also enjoyed The Middle and Modern Family. "I trust the Doctor." - "You think he knows what he's doing?" - "I'm not sure I'd go that far." She's still an engima, but they give her good lines.

Read: The Wrong Goodbye, another in the Collector series - no sophomore jinx here! Just started Out of the Black Land, a novel set in Ancient Egypt (just before and during the reign of Ankhenaten.

Chaste or Pure, what's the difference?

Yesterday I watched Vivah ( विवाह, Marriage). The groom (Shahid Kapoor) is a rich boy from Delhi, whose family is from Uttar Pradesh. The bride (Amrita Rao) is a simple girl from a small village. The groom's brother and sister-in-law (Sameer Soni and Lata Sabarhwal) tease him by telling him she won't understand his slangy Hindi mixed with UP dialect and English: he'll have to speak pure Hindi. It's a little running gag that he can't finish a sentence, while they both can - and do, including finishing his. (Fortunately for him, she's not nearly that sheltered.)

What was neat was that the subtitles told us when any of them was speaking "in pure Hindi" - as well as using somewhat more elevated English (including 'thy') when they were doing it.

What was funny was that the subtitles actually said "speaking in chaste Hindi".

Still not the passive

Over at Slacktivist, Fred says, in the latest of his "Left Behind" posts:

Jenkins muffles the message a bit here with an evasive passive voice — “he became a marked man,” “he would suffer for it,” “he had so far eluded mortal harm.” He’s careful to avoid mentioning any explicit subject or actor. They are intent on killing Ben-Judah because he has become a Christian. But who are they?

Fred's on the money about LaHaye and Jenkins muffling their antisemitism. But he's wrong about their using "an evasive passive voice". Wrong, wrong, and wrong - all three times.

He became a marked man does have a passive participle lurking in it - "marked". But "become" can't be used passively; it's not a transitive verb. It doesn't take a direct object that could be turned into the subject of a recast sentence; it takes a predicative nominative.

He would suffer for it doesn't even have a passive participle. "Suffer" here is simply intransitive. "Would" is a modal auxiliary, the form of "will" used to talk about the future in the past - sequencing of tenses, where event X is in the past from the speaker's point of view, but in the future of the time being described, for example in a narrative structure. Here, Ben-Judah's suffering is in the future of Cameron's visit to Israel, but in the past of the person telling the story. "Would suffer", then, is just a tense of "suffer". It could be used passively, if they provided the object - "he would suffer agonies for it" could be, awkwardly, turned into "agonies would be suffered by him for it". But here it's nice and active.

He had so far eluded mortal harm does have a transitive verb. But the passive version of this sentence would be "mortal harm had so far been eluded by him". And as for "no explicit subject"? He, dammit. He is the explicit subject in every one of these sentences.

Now, as I said, Fred's dead right when he says Jenkins "avoids mentioning any explicit ... actor" in the sense that we don't know who's marked him, who's going to make him suffer, or who's threatening him with mortal harm. (Spoiler: it's the Jews!!). But this just goes to show that you can indeed be vague about agency, and can avoid naming someone, using the active voice.

This - this - is the "sin". It's not using the passive voice; it's refusing to lay the responsibility where it belongs.

Explosions!

So, somebody - maybe in the Post - was complaining about how Iron Man 3 was full of bombs and explosions and so soon after Boston it should have actually addressed terrorism instead of just blowing things up.

A couple of things - that's how the media always reacts to these things - after Newtown and 9/11, just to mention two. Nothing ever changes.

Also, it's a bit rough to ask a movie that had been in post-production for months to address something that hadn't even happened when it was conceived.

And finally, what made me post this: I just saw an ad for Burn Notice's 100th episode. It was thirty seconds of explosions, 15 of them, interspersed with cheerful laughter and quips. That's the kind of entertainment we as a nation seem to like.

Allie is back!

Allie is back! She's posted (at Hyberbole and a Half - which I kept in my feed for all these months hoping, hoping madly, that she would feel like posting again because, despite her struggles with depression, she's one of the funniest bloggers I read. ("All The Things!" - that's hers. So's the stupid dog.) Anyway, this post exemplifies that: it's about depression, and it's an aching depiction of living with no emotions, just emptiness, and yet I laughed. Several times.

Go on over. You won't regret it.

Oh not that again

I know this will come as a surprise, but I do have some peeves. And this is one of them.

"I gave up Facebook for Lent... It was tough not seeing people's pictures, but it was nice to connect with real people."

Unless your Facebook friends are robots or fictional characters, they're as real as you.

Look, you don't want to do Facebook, email, Twitter, whatever? Fine. But don't say it's because the people who use them aren't "real people".

How many years ago?

Newton was born in 1648. Sir Thomas More was born in 1478. And Oscar Wilde? Practically a modern man, at 1854-1900. None of the qualify for having a 200th anniversary in 2009.

On the eve of his 200th birthday in 2009 the Church of England offered him "an apology for misunderstanding you."

More and Newton way predate the C of E - I'm startled any of them thought More was only 200 years ago, in fact. And I rather doubt the church is going to apologize to Wilde - unlike the Episcopal Church of the USA, they're still pretty anti gay (just last month they ruled out even blessing same-sex marriage even as the UK moves toward marriage equality). So even though he was closest time-wise, he's probably the worst choice.

I'm kind of surprised these college students didn't remember - though it was four years ago now, and they'd have all still been in high school.

It was Darwin, of course.

Fifth in five

The last clue on Jeopardy! was a $2000 one in J5 - five-letter words beginning with J. The answer was junta - the contestant called it "joonta", and Alex accepted it. So I thought I'd look it up and see whether that was the preferred pronunciation. It's not - but good grief. There are seven possible pronunciations!

\ˈhu̇ntə, ˈjən-, ˈhən-, ˈhün-, ˈju̇n- also ˈjün- or ˈzhən- or ˈu̇n-\

Saul Bass

Really - no kidding - check out the Google Doodle today. It's beyond cool.

Would Mary have won?

Mark Sanford's victory says 2 things. First, the South Carolinians want a Republican in Congress more than anything else. Second, that their state party is fairly bankrupt - because surely they could have found one they wouldn't have to hold their noses when they voted for him. But there are a couple of other things to wonder about.

Like, what if he'd been running against a Blue Dog Democrat? How badly did they want that (R)? Or  maybe if his opponent had been a man - say, Edward Busch?

And, for that matter, would Mary Sanford, otherwise identical to Mark, have won - after cheating on her husband multiple times, particularly with an Argentine stud-muffin, the Appalachian trail, the restraining order, the 37 ethics violations? Even if she were as right-wing as say Palin or Bachman?

Happy Birthday, Michael

Still the only Palin I want to hear about, he was born today in 1943, in Sheffield, Yorkshire (I've been there! well, through there). Of course his Python work is great, but so's his other stuff - films like A Fish Called Wanda and Fierce Creatures; his fiction (Ripping Yarns) and his witty autobiographies/diaries and personal, idiosyncratic travel books; and those wonderful travel documentaries.

A most happy birthday, and many, many happy returns of the day!

Happy Birthday, sisters!

Happy Birthday to my twin sisters!

Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Week in Entertainment

Live: Dialogues des Carmelites at the Met. I didn't know this opera. but it's quite beautiful, with a stunning "Stabat Mater" at the end.

DVD: Salaam Namaste (सलाम नमस्ते), with Saif Ali Khan and Preity Zinaida as couple of marriage-phobic Indians living in Melbourne and falling in and out and back in love.

TV: Psych - I adored the commercial Gus made to torpedo Shawn's campaign ("you're going to have to make me unappealing." "I've got that covered.") The Middle - coincidentally there was an article in the paper this week about parents overdosing on their kids' on-line stuff, though not, of course, about parents pretending to be their kids' friends to make them feel more popular. Loved the Bond film they were shooting with the kittens and bunnies, too. Modern Family, Phil-vs-Gil, always funny. Grimm, an odd episode but interesting character development. Love Monroe and Rosalie together. The Mentalist - wow; Pruitt Taylor Vince made LaRoche creepy and sympathetic at the same time.

Read: Watching the Dark was satisfying - good characters, good story. A Stranger in Olondria - an excellent fantasy novel exploring the meaning of reading and what happens when a literate society encounters an oral-tradition one.

Ack! Ack Ack ACK NOOOOOO!

In his review of What Maisie Knew (which I was already disinclined to see since they're setting it today), A. O. Scott says:

And yet what we see, just over her head, might best be described as a sex farce. After the split with Susanna [the mother], Beale [the father] takes up with Margo, who had been Maisie’s live-in nanny and who remains the only trustworthy adult in her life. Susanna, more out of calculation than affection, takes up with Lincoln, a studly young fellow without much ambition. These stepparents in effect share custody of the girl, and they begin to look like an impromptu, unofficial family. James’s book ends on a sly, perfect note of ambiguity: “She still had room for wonder at what Maisie knew.” (“She” is Mrs. Wix, a character who has been folded into Margo in the film).

What the hell? You cannot "fold" Mrs Wix and Miss Overmore into the same character. They're not only very different people, they fill very different roles in the story. It's pretty obvious they'll have to end the movie differently from the book.

I dunno; it might make a decent story. But it won't be What Maisie Knew, at least not as James wrote it.

Happy May Day!

Whatever it means to you, Happy May Day!

Show Shown

The Clue Crew person (I forget which one) posed in front of Shoshone Falls, asking us to guess the state they're in (it's in?), which is Idaho. But she pronounced it Show-Shown Falls (/ʃoʊˈʃoʊn/). I believe that may well be the first time I've ever heard it said that way.

I wondered if it was an acceptable variation, so I looked it up. Hah! It's not. The two listed are Shuh-Shownee and Show-Shownee - \shəˈshōnē, shōˈ-, -ni\ in Merriam Webster's pronunciation spelling, or /ʃəˈʃoʊniː/, /ʃoʊˈʃoʊniː/) in IPA. Myself, I've always said the first, but I've heard it both ways.

Just not the Jeopardy! way.

Two Worlds Post-Boston

So, this seems a good day for comparing the nation's capital's two papers - it's a pretty stark comparison. The single shared story, Syria, has markedly different emphasis - is he "back[ing] off" or "edg[ing] closer"? The Times has Obama backing off, failing, and empty-handed, though they concede he's "still relevant"... (I also like "insists on waiting for international agreement" - the fiend! )

Times

• With rise of drones, neutralizers come into fashion: Hoodies help hide from spies in sky
• Obama backs off Syria 'red line': Insists on waiting for international agreement about chemical arms
• Republicans cite attacks in Benghazi, Boston as Obama security failures
• Obama empty-handed for gun talks in Mexico: Anti-trafficking measures are stalled
• Colorado campus looks for more conservatives: Regents want intellectual diversity
• Teaser: Despite setbacks, Obama still relevant: Asked if he has 'juice' to accomplish agenda, president places blame for shortcomings on Congress
• Teaser: Final arbiter on immigration reform: Business' embrace of E-Verify may speed bill
• Big Photo: More Bloodshed (explosion site in Damascus)

Post

• U.S. edges closer to arming rebels: Decision on Syria likely within weeks: Obama seeks to assert more forceful role in crisis
• Boston suspect's ties overseas scrutinized: Obama defends agencies' actions before attack as FBI widens inquiry
• FDA move on Plan B falls short of court order: Obama administration allows over-the-counter sales for age 15 and up
• China struggles to unlock its huge shale gas potential
• Gun-control forces see 'tipping point': In H.H., Se. Ayotte feels heat over vote against expanded background checks
• Cuccinelli's test: Can he soften image?
• Teaser: Running against history: A Novice contender in Pakistan's May 11 election hopes frustration with entrenched parties helps his chances
• Teaser: Toxic traces: Lab tests found ricin on a dust mask discarded by the man suspected of mailing poisoned letters, an affidavit said
• Big Photo: A passing of the scepter in the Netherlands (King Willem-Alexander and his mother on the balcony)

(I gotta ask: what's with "business' embrace"?)