if you think explaining unitard would be difficulthttps://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/italy-curvy-mermaid-monopoli-puglia-b2329385.html
there is voluptuous then there is absurd
that was my favorite blog, quite a number of the participants, have either passed on, or just left of their own accord,
This is the first I’ve stumbled across this information but, apparently, the new U.S. Space Force has its own set of distinctive uniforms—these uniforms have elements of some of the uniforms I’ve seen before/elsewhere, but I can’t quite place them. *
Apparently Space Force personnel are not to be called airmen, or Marines, or something similar, they are to be called “Guardians”–as if that isn’t creepy, and out of some SF story about a future authoritarian state or religious dictatorship.
To top things off, this month the Air Force has released “The Guardian Spirit Handbook.”**
Sigh. I’ve seen that toxoplasmosis reference many times around the Web. Humans are actually more likely to pick up Toxoplasma gondii by eating raw or undercooked meat, drinking raw milk, or having infected mousies running around the house than from having a pet cat or two. If you’re hinting that I’m crazy, blame grad school for cooking my cerebral synapses rather than my two Feline Americans– who are at least smart enough not to ask the vet whether they might be transgender.
In any case, I’m less concerned about cat-borne parasites than about the human parasites known as progressive politicians.
Snow on Pine– I’m waiting for the Cleveland MLB team formerly known as the Indians to go after the Space Force for name infringement or something. See https://www.mlb.com/guardians. If you look at the team’s logo, it sports a solid red “G” that has sprouted wings, which to me looks kinda spacey. The best part is that the Guardians’ home ballpark is called Progressive Field.
You describe the proposed name for Space Force personnel as “creepy, and out of some SF story about a future authoritarian state or religious dictatorship”– it actually has some very old roots in Plato’s Republic, in which Plato proposes an ideal society that would be run by a class of guardians that he calls
philosopher-kings (a group that would include women, be it noted). The Republic was written some time around 375 BC, so the notion of an elite ruling class called “guardians” has haunted political theory for a couple millennia.
That’s a miss on interpretation of The Republic PA+Cat, although it does comport with Popper. Better, I think, to take up Allan Bloom’s translation. There’s much more there.
Grad school will do that to a person, PA Cat. 🙂 And the article did say that women are less likely to be affected.
I had cats most of my life, until about age 50, when I accidentally discovered that I’m moderately allergic to them. Our last kitty sleeps in the garden, not replaced, and I don’t get bronchitis any more. Sigh.
My favorite math course in college was probably Non Euclidean Geometries, and those that we most studied were hyperbolic and parabolic geometries. It was great fun. Class time was spent playing Let’s Pretend. If you want to see a non Euclidian Geometry, just look at the problem of drawing straight lines on the Earth. Note that the state lines for my native CO don’t make an exact rectangle – the top and bottom are slightly curved down, and the sides slightly slant in as you go North. And, the corners aren’t exactly 90°. That’s spherical geometry. Hyperbolic and Parabolic geometries are more interesting, because the surface you are projecting onto is more interesting.
If I had known where it was going, I might have gone on in Physics.
The sorta-French movie for this Saturday night is “Paris When It Sizzles” (1964) with Audrey Hepburn and William Holden. It’s not really French beyond using Paris as a backdrop.
French-dubbed audio is available, not bad actually, but I prefer to hear the real voices of Holden and Hepburn. (Though if French subtitles were available, I would listen to the dubbed version for practice. Somehow it’s difficult to find French audio with French subtitles.)
The film’s premise is that the a screenwriter (Holden) is stumped to write a script and has frittered away all his time, yet has to deliver a finished product in two days. So he hires a secretary (Hepburn) to type his dictation and bluffs his way through it with her help.
Hepburn is at her wide-eyed, waif-like best. Holden is a rugged American male, modern and smart.
The film is based on an earlier French film, “La fête à Henriette,” so Hollywood can’t entirely be blamed for the silly plot. It becomes a movie about making movies, rather like “Singin’ in the Rain,” with lots of in-jokes and cameos. (Tony Curtis appears as an idiotic Brando method actor — though not everything is it as it seems.)
It was panned when it came out, but has survived as a “guilty pleasure.” Which is where I land on this pleasant sixties confection.
You didn’t really want to get back to reading “War and Peace,” did you?
Well, I’ve been at the French for four months now, two to five hours a day.
I’m following the “Comprehensible Input” method, which emphasizes immersion reading and listening to the target language. Not studying grammar or vocabulary flashcards. Not striving to speak from day one.
According to the method, when one acquires a large enough vocabulary and feels somewhat comfortable with the language, the desire to speak will arise naturally.
I’m ready. I’ve made a Skype appointment next week to converse with a nice Parisian lady who teaches French. It’s scary but I think it will work.
The country is in the VERY BEST of hands…
‘ At the Revere Hotel in Boston, FBI agents and Army Special Ops units were about to conduct a “training exercise”.
‘ In the “exercise”, they would go into a room and interrogate a “role player”.
‘ Instead, they went to the wrong room…‘ https://instapundit.com/581827/
Special Ops units, eh? Make that Special Oops….
(Fortunately, the airline pilot they totally surprised, handcuffed and interrogated in the bathroom for 45 minutes was not seriously hurt, physically at least.
Should still sue the pants off those idjits….)
Open Thread Sunday, but not Russo-Ukraine war:
Hypersonic Weapons: Overhyped or Superweapons? – threats, challenges & has the USA fallen behind? – Perun
Timestamps:
00:00:00 — Hypersonic Weapons
00:01:24 — What Am I Talking About?
00:02:33 — What Are They?
00:11:44 — Advantages & Defensive Challenges
00:19:26 — The Problems & Costs (Technical)
00:28:08 — The Problems & Costs (Mission)
00:38:01 — Defensive Options
00:45:15 — National Programs: Russia
00:55:06 — National Programs: PRC
00:58:43 — National Programs: USA
01:06:07 — The State of Competition
01:10:45 — Conclusions
01:11:51 — Channel Update
And prayers for neo as she works through sorting out and wrapping up after Gerard’s untimely passing.
huxley, you should click onto some of Justin Trudeau’s speeches. I watched one today. He gives a few paragraphs in English and then repeats them in French. Annoying to me but might be useful to you.
Watching Trudeau’s speech reminded me of how annoying flying on a Canadian airline is. Every announcement has to be given in English and French. How long before we have an official dual language of English and Spanish? If the Democrats have their way, probably not that far off.
JJ:
A further distinction made by the “Comprehensible Input” school is that for best results the input should be “compelling” as well.
Trudeau’s speeches, or pretty much any political speeches, would not be compelling to me in the least.
With the internet, Google Translate, LingQ (my favorite language app) there is no lack of content and tools which bridge English and French.
I mostly read/listen to fiction, poetry and song lyrics by writers I like and really want to experience in French. There is so much French I want to read and hear.
Left to my own devices, i.e. not in school, this is how I learn. I become passionate about a subject, then press into it wherever it looks most interesting. This really speeds up learning and makes it enjoyable.
My career as a professional programmer was based on teaching myself in this manner.
So I’m passionate about learning and learning how to learn. A fun part of this French project is that I’m testing the “Comprehensible Input” method for myself.
There are a fair number of polyglots who testify to its effectiveness. It makes intuitive sense to me, but I want to experience it firsthand.
“Comprehensible Input” runs counter to conventional teaching techniques. I’m not learning French. I’m exposing myself to French and letting my brain figure it out below my conscious awareness.
Which sounds woo-woo. But it seems to be working. The effect is like a fog slowly lifting. Day to day, I don’t notice progress beyond occasional hints, but a couple weeks pass and it’s obvious.
I do consult dictionaries and grammar books, but they aren’t the main course.
All I can say is that if this stuff works for you, you can write THE BIBLE (or at least a respectable compendium—testament?) on second-language acquisition (not that there’s a shortage of such books or techniques, exactly)…but writing from personal, first-hand experience might make it unusual. Special….
That is, if you ever feel like it, of course.
(OTOH, you could just collate your blog posts—Huxley’s Little Red-White-Blue Book? Wave it around. You might create a true movement…of radical language learners…)
Which might prompt one to question:
Why do the Democrats and their hewers of wood and drawers of water in the media insist that screwing up America and its people and its youth is such a fine and wonderful—and VIRTUOUS—thing??
Warning: Sit down before reading.
they are like evil wilford brimley, aren’t they,
miss grossberg seems to be one of the stalkeri like miss hutchinson last year,
they pitched him, they own him, his warranty has expired,
Barry Meislin:
Thanks for your kind thoughts on my pursuit of La Française! I might write my account someday.
There is an intriguing guy who calls his YouTube channel “Matt vs Japan.” As a teenager he fell in love with Japanese and All Things Japanese and, in the carefully considered and balanced manner of teenagers everywhere, decided to devote his life to Japanese.
Well, it wasn’t all that simple There were a few bumps and switchbacks on that trail, but he emerged a remarkable young man with a mission in life for language learning and education of others.
He used an immersion input style of language acquisition.
Thanks!
(That gaijin guy sounds fascinating. I tried to sorta learn Japanese once upon a time. Not seriously, though. One might call it, extreme dabbling. When I found out that the language had seven levels of formality, I thought it prudent to cut bait…. Fascinating, nonetheless.)
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Just for commenter “PA Cat.”
https://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2012/02/cat-blogging-in-a-harsh-new-light.html
Now imagine a globular cow.
if you think explaining unitard would be difficulthttps://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/italy-curvy-mermaid-monopoli-puglia-b2329385.html
there is voluptuous then there is absurd
that was my favorite blog, quite a number of the participants, have either passed on, or just left of their own accord,
This is the first I’ve stumbled across this information but, apparently, the new U.S. Space Force has its own set of distinctive uniforms—these uniforms have elements of some of the uniforms I’ve seen before/elsewhere, but I can’t quite place them. *
Apparently Space Force personnel are not to be called airmen, or Marines, or something similar, they are to be called “Guardians”–as if that isn’t creepy, and out of some SF story about a future authoritarian state or religious dictatorship.
To top things off, this month the Air Force has released “The Guardian Spirit Handbook.”**
* See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniforms_of_the_United_States_Space_Force#/media/File:U.S._Space_Force_provides_support_during_Operation_Allies_Refuge.jpg
** See https://www.militaryspot.com/news/space-force-unveils-guardian-spirit-handbook
Kate–
Sigh. I’ve seen that toxoplasmosis reference many times around the Web. Humans are actually more likely to pick up Toxoplasma gondii by eating raw or undercooked meat, drinking raw milk, or having infected mousies running around the house than from having a pet cat or two. If you’re hinting that I’m crazy, blame grad school for cooking my cerebral synapses rather than my two Feline Americans– who are at least smart enough not to ask the vet whether they might be transgender.
In any case, I’m less concerned about cat-borne parasites than about the human parasites known as progressive politicians.
Snow on Pine– I’m waiting for the Cleveland MLB team formerly known as the Indians to go after the Space Force for name infringement or something. See https://www.mlb.com/guardians. If you look at the team’s logo, it sports a solid red “G” that has sprouted wings, which to me looks kinda spacey. The best part is that the Guardians’ home ballpark is called Progressive Field.
You describe the proposed name for Space Force personnel as “creepy, and out of some SF story about a future authoritarian state or religious dictatorship”– it actually has some very old roots in Plato’s Republic, in which Plato proposes an ideal society that would be run by a class of guardians that he calls
philosopher-kings (a group that would include women, be it noted). The Republic was written some time around 375 BC, so the notion of an elite ruling class called “guardians” has haunted political theory for a couple millennia.
That’s a miss on interpretation of The Republic PA+Cat, although it does comport with Popper. Better, I think, to take up Allan Bloom’s translation. There’s much more there.
Grad school will do that to a person, PA Cat. 🙂 And the article did say that women are less likely to be affected.
I had cats most of my life, until about age 50, when I accidentally discovered that I’m moderately allergic to them. Our last kitty sleeps in the garden, not replaced, and I don’t get bronchitis any more. Sigh.
My favorite math course in college was probably Non Euclidean Geometries, and those that we most studied were hyperbolic and parabolic geometries. It was great fun. Class time was spent playing Let’s Pretend. If you want to see a non Euclidian Geometry, just look at the problem of drawing straight lines on the Earth. Note that the state lines for my native CO don’t make an exact rectangle – the top and bottom are slightly curved down, and the sides slightly slant in as you go North. And, the corners aren’t exactly 90°. That’s spherical geometry. Hyperbolic and Parabolic geometries are more interesting, because the surface you are projecting onto is more interesting.
If I had known where it was going, I might have gone on in Physics.
The sorta-French movie for this Saturday night is “Paris When It Sizzles” (1964) with Audrey Hepburn and William Holden. It’s not really French beyond using Paris as a backdrop.
French-dubbed audio is available, not bad actually, but I prefer to hear the real voices of Holden and Hepburn. (Though if French subtitles were available, I would listen to the dubbed version for practice. Somehow it’s difficult to find French audio with French subtitles.)
The film’s premise is that the a screenwriter (Holden) is stumped to write a script and has frittered away all his time, yet has to deliver a finished product in two days. So he hires a secretary (Hepburn) to type his dictation and bluffs his way through it with her help.
Hepburn is at her wide-eyed, waif-like best. Holden is a rugged American male, modern and smart.
The film is based on an earlier French film, “La fête à Henriette,” so Hollywood can’t entirely be blamed for the silly plot. It becomes a movie about making movies, rather like “Singin’ in the Rain,” with lots of in-jokes and cameos. (Tony Curtis appears as an idiotic Brando method actor — though not everything is it as it seems.)
It was panned when it came out, but has survived as a “guilty pleasure.” Which is where I land on this pleasant sixties confection.
You didn’t really want to get back to reading “War and Peace,” did you?
Well, I’ve been at the French for four months now, two to five hours a day.
I’m following the “Comprehensible Input” method, which emphasizes immersion reading and listening to the target language. Not studying grammar or vocabulary flashcards. Not striving to speak from day one.
According to the method, when one acquires a large enough vocabulary and feels somewhat comfortable with the language, the desire to speak will arise naturally.
I’m ready. I’ve made a Skype appointment next week to converse with a nice Parisian lady who teaches French. It’s scary but I think it will work.
The country is in the VERY BEST of hands…
‘ At the Revere Hotel in Boston, FBI agents and Army Special Ops units were about to conduct a “training exercise”.
‘ In the “exercise”, they would go into a room and interrogate a “role player”.
‘ Instead, they went to the wrong room…‘
https://instapundit.com/581827/
Special Ops units, eh? Make that Special Oops….
(Fortunately, the airline pilot they totally surprised, handcuffed and interrogated in the bathroom for 45 minutes was not seriously hurt, physically at least.
Should still sue the pants off those idjits….)
Open Thread Sunday, but not Russo-Ukraine war:
Hypersonic Weapons: Overhyped or Superweapons? – threats, challenges & has the USA fallen behind? – Perun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0n3fjoacL20
Timestamps:
00:00:00 — Hypersonic Weapons
00:01:24 — What Am I Talking About?
00:02:33 — What Are They?
00:11:44 — Advantages & Defensive Challenges
00:19:26 — The Problems & Costs (Technical)
00:28:08 — The Problems & Costs (Mission)
00:38:01 — Defensive Options
00:45:15 — National Programs: Russia
00:55:06 — National Programs: PRC
00:58:43 — National Programs: USA
01:06:07 — The State of Competition
01:10:45 — Conclusions
01:11:51 — Channel Update
And prayers for neo as she works through sorting out and wrapping up after Gerard’s untimely passing.
huxley, you should click onto some of Justin Trudeau’s speeches. I watched one today. He gives a few paragraphs in English and then repeats them in French. Annoying to me but might be useful to you.
Watching Trudeau’s speech reminded me of how annoying flying on a Canadian airline is. Every announcement has to be given in English and French. How long before we have an official dual language of English and Spanish? If the Democrats have their way, probably not that far off.
JJ:
A further distinction made by the “Comprehensible Input” school is that for best results the input should be “compelling” as well.
Trudeau’s speeches, or pretty much any political speeches, would not be compelling to me in the least.
With the internet, Google Translate, LingQ (my favorite language app) there is no lack of content and tools which bridge English and French.
I mostly read/listen to fiction, poetry and song lyrics by writers I like and really want to experience in French. There is so much French I want to read and hear.
Left to my own devices, i.e. not in school, this is how I learn. I become passionate about a subject, then press into it wherever it looks most interesting. This really speeds up learning and makes it enjoyable.
My career as a professional programmer was based on teaching myself in this manner.
So I’m passionate about learning and learning how to learn. A fun part of this French project is that I’m testing the “Comprehensible Input” method for myself.
There are a fair number of polyglots who testify to its effectiveness. It makes intuitive sense to me, but I want to experience it firsthand.
“Comprehensible Input” runs counter to conventional teaching techniques. I’m not learning French. I’m exposing myself to French and letting my brain figure it out below my conscious awareness.
Which sounds woo-woo. But it seems to be working. The effect is like a fog slowly lifting. Day to day, I don’t notice progress beyond occasional hints, but a couple weeks pass and it’s obvious.
I do consult dictionaries and grammar books, but they aren’t the main course.
All I can say is that if this stuff works for you, you can write THE BIBLE (or at least a respectable compendium—testament?) on second-language acquisition (not that there’s a shortage of such books or techniques, exactly)…but writing from personal, first-hand experience might make it unusual. Special….
That is, if you ever feel like it, of course.
(OTOH, you could just collate your blog posts—Huxley’s Little Red-White-Blue Book? Wave it around. You might create a true movement…of radical language learners…)
And time for Collusion Corner:
(AKA “Your Tax Dollars At Work”, Part ~)
Compare ‘n contrast!
“Biden ‘Quietly’ Trying to Bail Out Moderna”—
https://blogs.mercola.com/sites/vitalvotes/archive/2023/03/22/biden-_1820_quietly_1920_-trying-to-bail-out-moderna.aspx
“Moderna under fire as CEO earned nearly $400 million in stock options, got 50% raise last year”—
https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/coronavirus/moderna-under-fire-ceo-earned-nearly-400-million-stock-options-got-50
Not too bad a gig…if you can get it!
And another round (drinks for all!):
How much will the taxpayer be on the hook for this one?
“FDIC races to find buyer for collapsing First Republic Bank: report”—
https://nypost.com/2023/04/29/fdic-races-to-find-buyer-for-collapsing-first-republic-bank/
+ Bonus:
A nifty little article on the attractions of the censorship game (which seems to be a very difficult habit for our magic mushroom media to kick)…
“ABC News cuts RFK Jr’s COVID-19 vaccine remarks from interview”—
https://justthenews.com/accountability/media/abc-news-cuts-rfk-jrs-covid-19-vaccine-remarks-interview
Speaking of language, has “kavanaugh” become a verb yet?
(If not, it really ought to be…as the Left seems to badly want/aspire—NEED—to “kavanaugh” Tucker Carlson….)
“Source: Abby Grossberg Told Me She ‘Loved’ Working For Tucker Carlson”—
https://blazingcatfur.ca/2023/04/30/source-abby-grossberg-told-me-she-loved-working-for-tucker-carlson/
(For her part, maybe Abby Grossberg—with her oh-so-apropos moniker—will just go and get tuckered….)
Something else to ponder…
Compare and contrast:
“De-transitioner reacts to Biden DOJ suing Tennessee over sex changes for minors”—
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/de-transitioner-reacts-biden-doj-suing-tennessee-sex-changes-minors
“Reporters cheer after President Biden notes he’s running for re-election at White House Correspondents’ Dinner”—
https://www.foxnews.com/media/reporters-cheer-after-president-biden-notes-hes-running-for-re-election-at-white-house-correspondents-dinner
Which might prompt one to question:
Why do the Democrats and their hewers of wood and drawers of water in the media insist that screwing up America and its people and its youth is such a fine and wonderful—and VIRTUOUS—thing??
Warning: Sit down before reading.
they are like evil wilford brimley, aren’t they,
miss grossberg seems to be one of the stalkeri like miss hutchinson last year,
they pitched him, they own him, his warranty has expired,
Barry Meislin:
Thanks for your kind thoughts on my pursuit of La Française! I might write my account someday.
There is an intriguing guy who calls his YouTube channel “Matt vs Japan.” As a teenager he fell in love with Japanese and All Things Japanese and, in the carefully considered and balanced manner of teenagers everywhere, decided to devote his life to Japanese.
https://www.youtube.com/@mattvsjapan/videos
Well, it wasn’t all that simple There were a few bumps and switchbacks on that trail, but he emerged a remarkable young man with a mission in life for language learning and education of others.
He used an immersion input style of language acquisition.
Thanks!
(That gaijin guy sounds fascinating. I tried to sorta learn Japanese once upon a time. Not seriously, though. One might call it, extreme dabbling. When I found out that the language had seven levels of formality, I thought it prudent to cut bait…. Fascinating, nonetheless.)