Having been to Scotland several times, at times and places, it is hard for our untrained hearing to understand what they might be saying. Just like other places such as in our South.
I worked with a fair number of Scotsmen in the oil field in Latin America. Some were easy to understand, some were not. I also had trouble understanding a Northern England accent.
I was living in a staff house in Venezuela with Scottish roommates. They and their friends were copious drinkers. One morning I picked up 140 beer cans from a party which at the time I concluded was 20 cans per person. Today I will be more charitable and say it was 10-20 cans of beer per person.
Decades later in grad school, the final exam consisted of a presentation of a semester-long project. The Dean, who was from Scotland, attended. After the presentation, I told the Dean that I had worked with Scotsmen in the oil field in Venezuela.
The Dean’s response: “Bunch of drunks, weren’t they.”
At least they were stone-cold sober on the rig. 🙂
Some neighbors–the wife from Venezuela– gave me some Venezuelan Christmas hallacas on Christmas day. Like the New Mexico origin husband said, they had New Mex or Tex Mex tamales beat. (But not Guatemalan hallacas..Which I am not about to tell them. Plums made the difference…)
Mamet back in the WSJ, which gives me hope he’ll be a regular. Once again, I can’t seem to post a non-paywall version, but here it is for those with access.
That is an interesting piece, Mike Plaiss. Essentially, the Jewish State is the only place where Jews are not step-children rather than full members of the family. I used to think that the USA was another, but recent horrifying outbreaks of Jew-hating here make me think otherwise. Mamet’s conclusion:
Theodore Herzl was an assimilated Jew. He saw the degradation of Alfred Dreyfus and reasoned his way to “The Jewish State,” the book that inspired the founding of modern Israel.
Chuck Schumer, a Jewish senator from New York, blocked a resolution that would have prevented the Biden administration from blocking military aid to Israel and another to censure the International Criminal Court for indicting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Perhaps it is Mr. Schumer’s destiny, like Herzl’s, to bring Jews to their senses.
I used to think that the USA was another, but recent horrifying outbreaks of Jew-hating here make me think otherwise.
I feel the same I’m afraid. I have an orthodox friend living in NJ. He’s looking to buy property in Israel at least partly because he has come to believe he may need to move there someday.
Karmi, peoples in different countries can do different things. The test isn’t that easy. For me at 78, impossible. I have knee replacement that doesn’t bend all that well.
A recent report from Oxfam has highlighted that up to $41 billion in climate finance managed by the World Bank is ‘effectively unaccounted for’ due to poor record-keeping practices.
An 80-year-old woman I know can’t get up from the floor if she has a fall. Once she goes down, even if not injured, she can’t get up. I work hard at being able to rise from chairs without pushing off, and I can get down on the floor and get up again unassisted (not from a cross-legged position, because I can’t sit cross-legged any more). I can easily pass that standing on one leg test. These things are not trivial for older adults.
Just to say that my copy of Gerard’s “The Name in the Stone” arrived Christmas Eve. It’s an impressive volume. Obviously I haven’t read the whole thing yet.
I do want to say that the color photographs are wonderful. I love the look of color photographs on regular paper, instead of the high gloss. I wonder how much that drove up the costs per book. I found just adding a color image on the front and back covers of my poetry collection was higher than I expected. But worth it.
neo:
I am curious about the credits for the photos.
Some of those photographs are yours. At least one is from Gerard’s papers. I seem to recall you mentioned that others are Gerard’s own.
Anyway, The color photos add a pizzazz that I wasn’t expecting. Good choice.
huxley:
Glad it arrived, and glad you like it.
I chose a high-quality printer, 48 Hour Books, which added to the price. They did make a few errors – a couple of books had faulty binding, for example – but for the most part I think they did a great job. They have something called an indigo printer which is better than what many printers use. It also depends on paper choice, etc.. They give customers a free book with samples of every sort of paper in it and different printing styles, which I appreciated.
The color photos add a lot to the price. They doubled the price of the paperback (or a bit more than doubled) for the print run. If I had done print-to-order on Amazon – which meant I wouldn’t have had any initial overhead – they would have quadrupled the price or more. No kidding; it’s crazy. Plain text is quite reasonable, but I decided I wanted the photos. For hardcovers, add ten dollars more than that. Hardcover with dust cover (which I decided against) add five dollars more for the dust cover.
The photos: some are mine, but mostly it’s free non-copyrighted photos found online. There are quite a few sites that have them, but by far the best I’ve found is pexels.com.
Le Mot Juste, we spent a few days this summer in Glasgow, a very cosmopolitan city. Strolling on the sidewalk, we’d be passed by small groups of students who looked like locals. I couldn’t tell what language they were speaking, but every other word was “fookin”.
Well, Scotland did give us Simple Minds and the Critical Drinker!
I once heard the lead singer interviewed. He had a thick Glaswegian accent. I was rather surprised. But he had learned to sing American for the market.
Great song in any event. A perfect ending for “The Breakfast Club.”
Harpoon:
Ha! There ya go.
“Oilbeef! ” has long since functioned as spousal code for us, most often deployed (sotto voce) when stuck listening to the tedious prattle of some soporific bore.
Time to play some Boxing Day “Compare and Contrast”….
While taking a Discrete Mathematics class during my UNM sojourn, I got frustrated with the textbook method for finding Bézout coefficients. I came up with an improved method. I’ll spare everyone the gory details. 🙂
I presented my method to my professor and he gave me the thumbs up and said he would teach Bézout coefficients that way in the future.
So I ran my method by Chat and damn, Chat took it apart, put it back together and said, Good going, kid:
___________________________________
Your method for finding Bézout coefficients is an elegant refinement of the standard approach, emphasizing clarity and algebraic verification over repetitive arithmetic. Here’s my assessment of your method and its advantages:
[Details…]
Your method is an excellent refinement for finding Bézout coefficients, especially for teaching or solving problems where clarity and correctness are critical. It doesn’t reinvent the process but streamlines it in a way that’s intuitive and error-resistant. The fact that your professor adopted it for future teaching is a testament to its value.
It’s a great example of how small innovations in problem-solving can make a big difference. Bravo!
___________________________________
I know the latest Chat is advertised as being math savvy, but I had to see for myself.
Kate and Mike Plaisse — I’m a David Mamet fan, too. I’ll look out for this piece elsewhere.
Thanks!
Le Mot Juste: “Oilbeef” — love it. I am stealing that.
Harpoon,
In the spirit of our Gangster-in-Chief, I pardon you preemptively. Use it in good health!
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Having been to Scotland several times, at times and places, it is hard for our untrained hearing to understand what they might be saying. Just like other places such as in our South.
I worked with a fair number of Scotsmen in the oil field in Latin America. Some were easy to understand, some were not. I also had trouble understanding a Northern England accent.
I was living in a staff house in Venezuela with Scottish roommates. They and their friends were copious drinkers. One morning I picked up 140 beer cans from a party which at the time I concluded was 20 cans per person. Today I will be more charitable and say it was 10-20 cans of beer per person.
Decades later in grad school, the final exam consisted of a presentation of a semester-long project. The Dean, who was from Scotland, attended. After the presentation, I told the Dean that I had worked with Scotsmen in the oil field in Venezuela.
The Dean’s response: “Bunch of drunks, weren’t they.”
At least they were stone-cold sober on the rig. 🙂
Some neighbors–the wife from Venezuela– gave me some Venezuelan Christmas hallacas on Christmas day. Like the New Mexico origin husband said, they had New Mex or Tex Mex tamales beat. (But not Guatemalan hallacas..Which I am not about to tell them. Plums made the difference…)
Mamet back in the WSJ, which gives me hope he’ll be a regular. Once again, I can’t seem to post a non-paywall version, but here it is for those with access.
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/the-jews-are-the-worlds-foster-children-history-politics-23e4158b
That is an interesting piece, Mike Plaiss. Essentially, the Jewish State is the only place where Jews are not step-children rather than full members of the family. I used to think that the USA was another, but recent horrifying outbreaks of Jew-hating here make me think otherwise. Mamet’s conclusion:
I used to think that the USA was another, but recent horrifying outbreaks of Jew-hating here make me think otherwise.
I feel the same I’m afraid. I have an orthodox friend living in NJ. He’s looking to buy property in Israel at least partly because he has come to believe he may need to move there someday.
Fitness experts & exercise professionals say you are ‘seven times more likely to die within the following six years’ if you are unable to pass the ‘sitting to rising test (SRT)’.
(I must be dead ‘n just don’t know it yet!?!)
Can YOU pass ‘the old person test’? Simple physical challenge that reveals if you’re fit for your age… or heading for an early death
Insta-lesson in Scottish brogue:
Pronounce “oil”.
Pronounce “beef”.
Pronounce “hooked”.
Now pronounce them together.
Sorry.
Karmi, peoples in different countries can do different things. The test isn’t that easy. For me at 78, impossible. I have knee replacement that doesn’t bend all that well.
Plus, I don’t believe ‘experts” anymore
World Bank Climate Funds Unaccounted: Oxfam Report
An 80-year-old woman I know can’t get up from the floor if she has a fall. Once she goes down, even if not injured, she can’t get up. I work hard at being able to rise from chairs without pushing off, and I can get down on the floor and get up again unassisted (not from a cross-legged position, because I can’t sit cross-legged any more). I can easily pass that standing on one leg test. These things are not trivial for older adults.
Just to say that my copy of Gerard’s “The Name in the Stone” arrived Christmas Eve. It’s an impressive volume. Obviously I haven’t read the whole thing yet.
I do want to say that the color photographs are wonderful. I love the look of color photographs on regular paper, instead of the high gloss. I wonder how much that drove up the costs per book. I found just adding a color image on the front and back covers of my poetry collection was higher than I expected. But worth it.
neo:
I am curious about the credits for the photos.
Some of those photographs are yours. At least one is from Gerard’s papers. I seem to recall you mentioned that others are Gerard’s own.
Anyway, The color photos add a pizzazz that I wasn’t expecting. Good choice.
huxley:
Glad it arrived, and glad you like it.
I chose a high-quality printer, 48 Hour Books, which added to the price. They did make a few errors – a couple of books had faulty binding, for example – but for the most part I think they did a great job. They have something called an indigo printer which is better than what many printers use. It also depends on paper choice, etc.. They give customers a free book with samples of every sort of paper in it and different printing styles, which I appreciated.
The color photos add a lot to the price. They doubled the price of the paperback (or a bit more than doubled) for the print run. If I had done print-to-order on Amazon – which meant I wouldn’t have had any initial overhead – they would have quadrupled the price or more. No kidding; it’s crazy. Plain text is quite reasonable, but I decided I wanted the photos. For hardcovers, add ten dollars more than that. Hardcover with dust cover (which I decided against) add five dollars more for the dust cover.
The photos: some are mine, but mostly it’s free non-copyrighted photos found online. There are quite a few sites that have them, but by far the best I’ve found is pexels.com.
Le Mot Juste, we spent a few days this summer in Glasgow, a very cosmopolitan city. Strolling on the sidewalk, we’d be passed by small groups of students who looked like locals. I couldn’t tell what language they were speaking, but every other word was “fookin”.
Well, Scotland did give us Simple Minds and the Critical Drinker!
–Simple Minds, “Don’t You (Forget About Me)”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdqoNKCCt7A
I once heard the lead singer interviewed. He had a thick Glaswegian accent. I was rather surprised. But he had learned to sing American for the market.
Great song in any event. A perfect ending for “The Breakfast Club.”
Harpoon:
Ha! There ya go.
“Oilbeef! ” has long since functioned as spousal code for us, most often deployed (sotto voce) when stuck listening to the tedious prattle of some soporific bore.
Time to play some Boxing Day “Compare and Contrast”….
We’ll lead off with Dr. Robert Malone:
“The Weaponization Of Information And Digital Tools To Occupy And Derail Your Mind”—
https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/weaponization-information-and-digital-tools-occupy-and-derail-your-mind
And then turn things over to the Climate Maven”—
“…Latest Arctic Ice Data Shows 26% Larger Than 2012’—
https://www.zerohedge.com/weather/doesnt-fit-msm-narrative-latest-arctic-ice-data-shows-26-larger-2012
File under: Woopsie…
+ Bonus (Syrian Surprise!)
“Clashes Erupt In ‘The New Syria’ After Locals Ambush & Kill HTS Fighters”—
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/clashes-erupt-new-syria-after-locals-ambush-kill-hts-fighters
Re: ChatGPT and math
While taking a Discrete Mathematics class during my UNM sojourn, I got frustrated with the textbook method for finding Bézout coefficients. I came up with an improved method. I’ll spare everyone the gory details. 🙂
I presented my method to my professor and he gave me the thumbs up and said he would teach Bézout coefficients that way in the future.
So I ran my method by Chat and damn, Chat took it apart, put it back together and said, Good going, kid:
___________________________________
Your method for finding Bézout coefficients is an elegant refinement of the standard approach, emphasizing clarity and algebraic verification over repetitive arithmetic. Here’s my assessment of your method and its advantages:
[Details…]
Your method is an excellent refinement for finding Bézout coefficients, especially for teaching or solving problems where clarity and correctness are critical. It doesn’t reinvent the process but streamlines it in a way that’s intuitive and error-resistant. The fact that your professor adopted it for future teaching is a testament to its value.
It’s a great example of how small innovations in problem-solving can make a big difference. Bravo!
___________________________________
I know the latest Chat is advertised as being math savvy, but I had to see for myself.
Kate and Mike Plaisse — I’m a David Mamet fan, too. I’ll look out for this piece elsewhere.
Thanks!
Le Mot Juste: “Oilbeef” — love it. I am stealing that.
Harpoon,
In the spirit of our Gangster-in-Chief, I pardon you preemptively. Use it in good health!