Sarah Silverman does it again

Warning: Explicit words, but good video, and pretty darn educational. There is also a 'clean version' if you can't handle the 'f'-word.



Be sure to check out the LetMyPeopleVote webpage.

I live in a state that requires an ID, but it doesn't have to be a photo ID, so a Social Security card or credit card works, according to the requirements as outlined by the Council of State Legislatures' web page and then there's this from our Secretary of State's office:

All voters must produce identification or be known by a precinct officer prior to voting. KRS117.227 and 31 KAR 4:010 provide the types of ID that can be used by the voter such as: Personal acquaintance of precinct officer, Driver’s license, Social Security card, credit card, or another form of ID containing both picture and signature.

Fortunately, I have a driver's licence. But I know of one person who would have to use the credit card option to vote. Not everyone has a valid state ID or driver's licence, and the hoops to get even the ID can be daunting if you don't have some form of proof of identification in hand already, even if you're a native-born American. So while requiring photo identification seems quite reasonable on the surface, the use of it to disenfranchise certain groups who tend to vote one way by politicians in the other party is, well, wrong.

Tonight I need to:

1. Do laundry.
2. Work on a book review or two.
3. Get my library books that are due together.
4. Take out the trash.
5. Take out the recyclables.
6. Straighten up a bit.

I'd like to:

1. Take a short nap.
2. Catch up on 'Doctor Who'.
3. Maybe watch something else fun.
4. Do some reading.

What do you think the chances are of all of that happening? :) We'll see....

How do kids get a great vocabulary? By adults using words around them

(and reading, of course).

How ‘Shrek’ Persuaded Me to Let the Words Fly

“Shrek” inspired me to let the words fly around my children. Nope, I’m not talking about the movie “Shrek”, but about William Steig’s wonderful picture book “Shrek.” And I’m not talking about using curse words around my children, but about using a more sophisticated vocabulary in ordinary conversation.

The vocabulary in “Shrek” is extravagant. It’s so baroque that I did some research to find out why Steig had included phrases like “shady copse,” “churlish knave,” “rosy wens,” and “fusty fens.” Had he picked words at random from a dictionary and challenged himself to work them into his story? Did he have pet underused words that he was determined to bring back into favor? (I myself have waged a losing campaign to popularize “chirk.”)

I love words, especially those which have unfortunately fallen out of favour these days. And I have never understood why we talk down to children who are capable of handling words that have more than five letters or two syllables.

I learned a lot of my vocabulary through reading, as opposed to hearing folks talk. I didn't always get the exact meaning, and a few things I terribly mispronounced the first time I used them. I used to read dictionaries for fun, too. YKWIA insists that I have an idiosyncratic use of words at times despite that. That may be. But the best way for kids to learn is to hear the words used (correctly). And in an era of mangling language online (I read instances of 'my advise' rather than 'my advice' yesterday in comments on a news story, for example, and I'm beginning to wonder if anyone can use 'loose' or 'lose' correctly these days, their misuse is so ubiquitous), it is terribly important to reiterate the importance of words.

'You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means'

Inconceivable! A Tribute of an Unusual Size to ‘The Princess Bride’

A six-fingered man. Prince Humperdinck. Cliffs of Insanity. Mawage. Miracle Max.

On Sept. 25, 1987, Rob Reiner invited film goers to the fictional land of Florin for a romantic adventure filled with sword fights, outlaws and undying — or mostly undying — true love.

In the 25 years since its big screen debut, The Princess Bride has developed a following with a dedication to the film that rivals Westley’s devotion to Buttercup. Honoring the movie with anything less than a André the Giant-size tribute would be inconceivable.

For an even more authentic trip down memory lane, ask a grandfatherly figure to read the content out this tribute out loud to you while curled up in bed surrounded by Chicago sports paraphernalia. Or maybe just go for a scroll down the page.

I do love that movie. :)

Quality over quantity, I say

Rethinking Sleep

A little bit of iPhone fun

Thanks to David Reid for sharing:



Oh, and just in case you didn't get the Samsung Galaxy S III ad before the video, it's actually quite entertaining in and of itself:



What can I say, I don't have a Samsung GS III, but I am an Android kind of girl when it comes to operating system.

Okay, I'm home from the game, had a good time, and I've had the weekly debriefing with the game master. It's time to go to bed. Good night.

In the last couple of days, I've read two selections

from the same book. I must say, I think it would be good to read it, not just you or I, but the people who make policy, run hospitals, and generally have a business with health care.

The book is by Dr Marty Makary, is called Unaccountable: What Hospitals Won't Tell You and How Transparency Can Revolutionize Health Care, and it was published this month.

Here is one excerpt:

How to Stop Hospitals From Killing Us: Medical errors kill enough people to fill four jumbo jets a week. A surgeon with five simple ways to make health care safer.

and here's the other:

Are Hospitals Less Safe Than We Think?

Not surprising, but sad

Smoking Gun on Sexism?

But a new study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences offers evidence of bias among scientists -- male and female scientists alike -- against female students. The study was based on evaluations by scientists of hypothetical student applications for a lab manager position, with the application materials identical in every way, except that half of the pool received applications with a male name and the other half received applications with a female name. The faculty members surveyed -- 127 professors in biology, chemistry or physics -- were told that their analyses of the applications would be used to help the students. And they were asked to evaluate the students' competence and "hireability" and to consider how large a salary they would recommend and how much mentoring they would offer the student if hired.

The scientists evaluating these applications (which were identical in every way except the gender of the "submitter") rated the male student more competent, more likely to be hired, deserving of a better salary, and worth spending more time mentoring. The gaps were significant.

Female scientists were as likely as male scientists to evaluate the students this way. For instance, the scientists were asked to rate the students' competence on a 5-point scale. Male faculty rated the male student 4.01 and the female student 3.33. Female scientists rated the male student 4.10 and the female student 3.32. On salary, the gaps were also notable. The average salary suggested by male scientists for the male student was $30,520; for the female student, it was $27,111. Female scientists recommended, on average, a salary of $29,333 for the male student and $25,000 for the female student.

Click on the link above ('a new study') to read the paper itself.

How bizarre

Art School Tells Students to Buy Pictureless $180 Art History Book

What is this, October!? According to a blog post published by a disgruntled parent of a student, the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD) is forcing students to buy an art history book for $180 — which wouldn’t be unheard of, but the catch is that the publishers of this book didn’t get any of the image rights for the artwork it includes. To reiterate, that’s an art history survey without any pictures. WTF?

Instead of having pictures of artwork, the book, Global Visual and Material Culture: Prehistory to 1800 (so named for the course it goes with), instead just has placeholders with instructions to see a digital version for the actual image. It’s like a website with only broken image links.

I had a bit of an aquarium emergency this morning

but still got to work on time. I had not put water in it and it had gotten low enough that the pump was trying to get the water up but couldn't. I have one of those filters that has an intake valve, and the water goes through the filter and then falls back into the aquarium. So I filled up the tank, treating the water with both the anti-chlorine/chloramine stuff and with good nitrate-eating bacteria, and the fish are much happier. Their space just increased to double what it was. I am such a bad fish mom sometimes. I cleaned the algae off the glass as well, and now the water is happily tinkling down and the fish are swimming all about, and it's very relaxing to watch.

I started reviewing my Greek today (and I'm going to do some Latin before the night is over). I had five semesters of Latin (I have a Classical Civilisation degree, and one semester was Mediaeval Latin in the history graduate programme), but I dropped Greek in the first semester, about the time we got to the aorist. So I'm going to try to follow the adventures of Dikaiopolis and his family. I have both of the Athenaze books by Maurice Balme. They're standard at many universities and there are a lot of websites with exercises and supplemental material.

For Latin, I have a series of five small books called Ecce Romani! which follows the story of the Cornellii family, especially their children. I also have Wheelock's Latin Grammar (two different editions, the most recent I have being the 6th, on my Kindle. There is now a 7th out.)

I also just went through and downloaded several free Kindle books from Amazon. I'm getting back with my Kindle. For awhile there the tablet took precedence, as it was smaller (I have a Kindle 2, which is a behemoth compared to the newer ones, but by God it reads to me, and not all the new ones do), could be more easily packed, and I could read Kindle books on the tablet (but I don't really like to, I prefer eInk), so I've started taking it with me in my backpack.

Okay, I've paid some bills and gotten some things done on the computer. I think I'm going to go do a little studying and then maybe listen to some music. Bye for now.