A reblog of nerdy and quirky stuff that pique my interest.
291 posts
Latest Posts by philosophical-amoeba - Page 7
In general I am a casual observer and usually do not make comments, especially since I am here to learn and have no background in linguistics. But in this case I feel strongly compelled to put my 2 cents' worth of thoughts in.
Although I cannot say that I am anything like fluent, I do have a reasonable amount of Mandarin Chinese and Japanese, and I have to say the first thing I thought when I saw this article was "ah". Because although I can see how katakana is derived from Chinese, using the rather restricted stroke combinations that is the basis of all Chinese characters, the same cannot be said for hiragana, because at the very least, squiggles do not exist in Chinese, at least by the time it was exported to Japan. What you might think are squiggles in Chinese are in fact just our possibly lazy, or perhaps more elegant way of writing, the way cursive would look compared to printed letters. Hirangana bears only a superficial resemblance to Chinese and always feels like it must have another source of inspiration.
Also keep in mind that Chinese was basically an imported language into Japan, and an attempt to shoehorn Japanese sounds into Chinese characters (which I think I can safely say did not sound the same) must have been unwieldy at best. In fact, today, Japanese pronouciations of kanji differ so much from the Chinese, and often their usage too, that I would use my knowledge of the characters only as a rough starting point as to what they might mean in Japanese.
Also, I looked up Kūkai, and, to cut a long story short, he was a Japanese Buddhist monk who went to China to study the sutras, and, to quote from the Wikipedia page directly:
Kūkai arrived back in Japan in 806 as the eighth Patriarch of Esoteric Buddhism, having learnt Sanskrit and its Siddhaṃ script, studied Indian Buddhism, as well as having studied the arts of Chinese calligraphy and poetry, all with recognized masters. He also arrived with a large number of texts, many of which were new to Japan and were esoteric in character, as well as several texts on the Sanskrit language and the Siddhaṃ script.
And a quick look at the Siddham script shows that it has its roots in the Aramaic alphabet.
This is the man to whom the invention of the kana system is attributed to, and if that is the case, I see a possible connection that is as not as far-fetched as it seems.
The History of Hiragana
In Japanese language, we have three types of letters, Kanji, Hiragana, Katakana.
Hiragana’s root is from old Ivrit and Palmyra letters.
The first column: Phoenician alphabet The second column: Ostracon The third column: Old Aramaic The forth column: Imperial Aramaic The fifth column: Dead Sea scrolls The sixth column: Palmyrene script The seventh column: Palmyra
The first column: Hiragana The second column: Consonants The third column: Vowels The forth column: combined with the consonant and the vowel The fifth column: Sousho-tai (a hand writing style) The sixth column: Kanji
Don’t play, play - Singlish is studied around the globe
Blogger Wendy Cheng’s Web video series Xiaxue’s Guide To Life and Jack Neo’s Ah Boys To Men film franchise are well-known shows among Singaporeans. For one thing, they are filled with colloquial terms, local references and copious doses of Singlish terms such as “lah” and “lor”.
But they are not merely for entertainment. In recent years, such shows have found a place in universities around the world, where linguists draw on dialogues used in these local productions to introduce to undergraduates and postgraduate students how Singlish has become a unique variety of the English language.
This comes even as concerns have been raised over how Singlish could impede the use of standard English here.
From Italy and Germany to Japan, at least seven universities around the world have used Singlish as a case study in linguistics courses over the past decade. This is on top of more than 40 academics outside of Singapore - some of whom were previously based here - who have written books or papers on Singlish as part of their research.
The History of Hiragana
In Japanese language, we have three types of letters, Kanji, Hiragana, Katakana.
Hiragana’s root is from old Ivrit and Palmyra letters.
The first column: Phoenician alphabet The second column: Ostracon The third column: Old Aramaic The forth column: Imperial Aramaic The fifth column: Dead Sea scrolls The sixth column: Palmyrene script The seventh column: Palmyra
The first column: Hiragana The second column: Consonants The third column: Vowels The forth column: combined with the consonant and the vowel The fifth column: Sousho-tai (a hand writing style) The sixth column: Kanji
Why do men have Adam's apples. It's so sexy but seems so unnecessary
It basically is unnecessary lol
It’s not that only men have Adam’s apples, women do too, but it’s less prominent. An Adam’s apple is just a piece of cartilage that protects your larynx (the voicebox) directly behind it. As boys & girls go through puberty, our voicebox grows which:
1. Causes our voice to deepen 2. Pushes the cartilage further forwards
In boys, the larynx grows in size significantly more which therefore pushes forward the evident bump of cartilage we like to call an Adam’s Apple.
A basic schematic of why the Korean alphabet is so cool, from Wright House:
Unlike almost every other alphabet in the world, the Korean alphabet did not evolve. It was invented in 1443 (promulgated in 1446) by a team of linguists and intellectuals commissioned by King Sejong the Great.
In the diagram [above], the Korean consonants are arranged into five main linguistic groups (one per row), depending on where in the mouth contact is made. Notice that there is a graphic element common to all the consonants in a particular row. The first consonant in each row is the most basic and is graphically the simplest; this representative consonant for each group is the building block for the other characters in that group. Certain of these modifications are systematic, and yield similarly modified characters in several groups, such as adding a horizontal line to a simple consonant (a “stop” consonant–such as t/d or p/b–rather than a nasal consonant) to form the aspirated consonants (those made with extra air) and doubling simple consonants to form “tense” consonants (no real equivalent in English).
Notice that the five representative consonants (the ones in the first column in the upper part of the diagram) are also depicted in the drawings that make up the lower part of the diagram showing the relevant part of the mouth involved. Ingeniously, each of these representative consonants is a kind of simplified schematic diagram showing the position of the mouth in forming those consonants.
More details, including subsequent historical changes to Hangul, in the Wikipedia article.
Neuro chip records brain cell activity at higher resolution
Brain functions are controlled by millions of brain cells. However, in order to understand how the brain controls functions, such as simple reflexes or learning and memory, we must be able to record the activity of large networks and groups of neurons. Conventional methods have allowed scientists to record the activity of neurons for minutes, but a new technology, developed by University of Calgary researchers, known as a bionic hybrid neuro chip, is able to record activity in animal brain cells for weeks at a much higher resolution. The technological advancement was published in the journal Scientific Reports.
“These chips are 15 times more sensitive than conventional neuro chips,” says Naweed Syed, PhD, scientific director of the University of Calgary, Cumming School of Medicine’s Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute, member of the Hotchkiss Brain Institute and senior author on the study. “This allows brain cell signals to be amplified more easily and to see real time recordings of brain cell activity at a resolution that has never been achieved before.”
The development of this technology will allow researchers to investigate and understand in greater depth, in animal models, the origins of neurological diseases and conditions such as epilepsy, as well as other cognitive functions such as learning and memory.
“Recording this activity over a long period of time allows you to see changes that occur over time, in the activity itself,” says Pierre Wijdenes, a PhD student in the Biomedical Engineering Graduate Program and the study’s first author. “This helps to understand why certain neurons form connections with each other and why others won’t.”
The cross-faculty team created the chip to mimic the natural biological contact between brain cells, essentially tricking the brain cells into believing that they are connecting with other brain cells. As a result, the cells immediately connect with the chip, thereby allowing researchers to view and record the two-way communication that would go on between two normal functioning brain cells.
“We simulated what Mother Nature does in nature and provided brain cells with an environment where they feel as if they are at home,” says Syed. “This has allowed us to increase the sensitivity of our readings and help neurons build a long-term relationship with our electronic chip.”
While the chip is currently used to analyze animal brain cells, this increased resolution and the ability to make long-term recordings is bringing the technology one step closer to being effective in the recording of human brain cell activity.
“Human brain cell signals are smaller and therefore require more sensitive electronic tools to be designed to pick up the signals,” says Colin Dalton, adjunct professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Schulich School of Engineering and a co-author on this study. Dalton is also the facility manager of the University of Calgary’s Advanced Micro/nanosystems Integration Facility (AMIF), where the chips were designed and fabricated.
Researchers hope the technology will one day be used as a tool to bring personalized therapeutic options to patients facing neurological disease.
Can the brain feel it? The world’s smallest extracellular needle-electrodes
A research team in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Information Engineering and the Electronics-Inspired Interdisciplinary Research Institute (EIIRIS) at Toyohashi University of Technology developed 5-μm-diameter needle-electrodes on 1 mm × 1 mm block modules. This tiny needle may help solve the mysteries of the brain and facilitate the development of a brain-machine interface. The research results were reported in Scientific Reports on Oct 25, 2016.
(Image caption: Extracellular needle-electrode with a diameter of 5 μm mounted on a connector)
The neuron networks in the human brain are extremely complex. Microfabricated silicon needle-electrode devices were expected to be an innovation that would be able to record and analyze the electrical activities of the microscale neuronal circuits in the brain.
However, smaller needle technologies (e.g., needle diameter < 10 μm) are necessary to reduce damage to brain tissue. In addition to the needle geometry, the device substrate should be minimized not only to reduce the total amount of damage to tissue but also to enhance the accessibility of the electrode in the brain. Thus, these electrode technologies will realize new experimental neurophysiological concepts.
A research team in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Information Engineering and the EIIRIS at Toyohashi University of Technology developed 5- μm-diameter needle-electrodes on 1 mm × 1 mm block modules.
The individual microneedles are fabricated on the block modules, which are small enough to use in the narrow spaces present in brain tissue; as demonstrated in the recording using mouse cerebrum cortices. In addition, the block module remarkably improves the design variability in the packaging, offering numerous in vivo recording applications.
“We demonstrated the high design variability in the packaging of our electrode device, and in vivo neuronal recordings were performed by simply placing the device on a mouse’s brain. We were very surprised that high quality signals of a single unit were stably recorded over a long period using the 5-μm-diameter needle,” explained the first author, Assistant Professor Hirohito Sawahata, and co-author, researcher Shota Yamagiwa.
The leader of the research team, Associate Professor Takeshi Kawano said: “Our silicon needle technology offers low invasive neuronal recordings and provides novel methodologies for electrophysiology; therefore, it has the potential to enhance experimental neuroscience.” He added, “We expect the development of applications to solve the mysteries of the brain and the development of brain–machine interfaces.”
Your pocket Constitution
The amazing Khizr Khan was onto something with his pocket U.S. Constitution - and our Labs team went ahead and made an app for that. Understanding the U.S. Constitution is an app that allows you to view the articles and amendments of the Constitution, and then links you to scholarship relating to each specific section. It’s free for iOS and Android. Keep fighting the good fight against “alternative facts.”
More here: http://labs.jstor.org/constitution/
New CDC Research Debunks Agency’s Assertion That Mercury in Vaccines Is Safe
The CDC study, Alkyl Mercury-Induced Toxicity: Multiple Mechanisms of Action, appeared last month in the journal, Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology. The 45-page meta-review of relevant science examines the various ways that mercury harms the human body. Its authors, John F. Risher, PhD, and Pamela Tucker, MD, are researchers in the CDC’s Division of Toxicology and Human Health Sciences, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.
“This scientific paper is the one of most important pieces of research to come out of the CDC in a decade,” Paul Thomas, M.D., a Dartmouth-trained pediatrician who has been practicing medicine for 30 years, said. “It confirms what so many already suspected: that public health officials have been making a terrible mistake in recommending that we expose babies and pregnant women to this neurotoxin. I regret to say that I gave these shots to children. The CDC led us all to believe that it was perfectly safe.”
Among the findings of the CDC’s new study:
Methylmercury, the highly-regulated neurotoxin found in fish, and ethylmercury (found in medical products, including influenza and tetanus vaccines, ear drops and nasal sprays) are similarly toxic to humans. Methylmercury and ethylmercury share common chemical properties, and both significantly disrupt central nervous system development and function.
Thimerosal is extremely toxic at very low exposures and is more damaging than methylmercury in some studies. For example, ethylmercury is even more destructive to the mitochondria in cells than methylmercury.
The ethylmercury in thimerosal does not leave the body quickly as the CDC once claimed, but is metabolized into highly neurotoxic forms.
On this date in 1884, the first edition of what would become the Oxford English Dictionary was published under the name A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles; Founded Mainly on the Materials Collected by The Philological Society. Research for the OED had begun in 1857, when the Philological Society in London established an “Unregistered Words Committee” to find words that were either poorly defined, or absent from contemporary dictionaries. When the list of unregistered words outnumbered the amount of words found in nineteenth-century dictionaries, the group decided to write their own. The Oxford University Press agreed to publish the dictionary in 1879, and the group published the first fascicle – which covered A to Ant –in 1884 to disappointing sales. It wasn’t until 1928 that the final fascicle was published, totaling 128 fascicles in total.
In 1933, a thirteen-volume set including all fascicles and a one-volume supplement went on sale under its current name: Oxford English Dictionary – only seventy-six years in the making!
Pictured above is our well-loved copy of that historic first fascicle, which includes the preface to the dictionary and entries A through Ant. While the volume is huge and a little intimidating, it was only the beginning to what would become the most comprehensive dictionary in the English language.
Ed. James A.H. Murray. A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles; Founded Mainly on the Materials Collected by The Philological Society v. 1. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1888. 423 M96 v. 1.
The psychiatrist who wrote the criteria for narcissism just made an extremely important point about what’s wrong with diagnosing Trump with mental disorders
Dr. Allen Frances says in speculating about Trump’s mental health, we are doing a disservice to those who do suffer from mental illness. In a series of tweets, he explained why he doesn’t think Trump is a narcissist — and how harmful it can be for us to keep assuming that he is.
Family names for Family trees in Japanese
(source: http://www.e-keizu.com/info/family.html )
The numbers below match the blue number above in the image.
[M]祖父（そふ sofu）, [F]祖母（そぼ sobo）
[M]曾祖父（そうそふ sousofu）, [F]曾祖母（そうそぼ sousobo）
[M]高祖父（こうそふ kousofu）, [F]高祖母（こうそぼ kousobo）
For big brother/sister of 1, [M]大伯父（おおおじ oooji）,[F]大伯母（おおおば oooba） For little brother/sister of 1, [M]大叔父（おおおじ oooji）,[F] 大叔母（おおおば oooba）
For big brother/sister of 2, [M]曾祖伯父（そうそはくふ sousohakufu）,[F] 曾祖伯母（そうそはくぼ sousohakubo） For little brother/sister of 2, [M]曾祖叔父（そうそしゅくふ sousosyukufu）,[F] 曾祖叔母（そうそしゅくぼ sousosyukubo）
For big brother/sister of 3, [M]高祖伯父（こうそはくふ kousohakufu）,[F] 高祖伯母（こうそはくぼ kousohakubo） For little brother/sister of 3, [M]高祖叔父（こうそしゅくふ kousosyukufu）,[F] 高祖叔母（こうそしゅくぼ kousosyukubo）
For big brother/sister of your father/mother, [M]伯父（おじ oji）,[F]伯母（おば oba） For little brother/sister of your father/mother, [M]叔父（おじ oji）,[F]叔母（おば oba）
For elder than you, [M]いとこ( itoko )・従兄（じゅうけい juukei）,[F]いとこ( itoko )・従姉（じゅうし juushi） For younger than you, [M]いとこ( itoko )・従弟（じゅうてい juutei）,[F] いとこ( itoko )・従妹（じゅうまい juumai）
[M]いとこ違い( itokochigai )・従甥（じゅうせい juusei）,[F]いとこ違い( itokochigai )・従姪（じゅうてつ juutetsu）
従姪孫（じゅうてっそん juutesson）
For elder than your father/mother, [M]いとこ違い( itokochigai )・従伯父（じゅうはくふ juuhakufu）,[F]いとこ違い( itokochigai )・従伯母（じゅうはくぼ juuhakubo ） For younger than your father/mother, [M]いとこ違い( itokochigai )・従叔父（じゅうしゅくふ juushukufu）,[F]いとこ違い( itokochigai )・従叔母（じゅうしゅくぼ juushukubo）
For elder than you, [M]またいとこ( mataitoko )・はとこ( hatoko )・再従兄（さいじゅうけい saijuukei）,[F]またいとこ( mataitoko )・はとこ( hatoko )・再従姉（さいじゅうし saijuushi） For younger than you, [M]またいとこ( mataitoko )・はとこ( hatoko )・再従弟（さいじゅうてい saijuutei）,[F]またいとこ( mataitoko )・はとこ( hatoko )・再従妹（さいじゅうまい saijuumai ）
[M]甥（おい oi）,[F]姪（めい mei ）
[M]姪孫（てっそん tesson）・又甥（またおい mataoi）,[F]姪孫（てっそん tesson）・又姪（まためい matamei）
[M/F]曾姪孫（そうてっそん soutesson）
[M/F]玄姪孫（げんてっそん gentesson）
[M/F]孫（まご mago）
[M/F]ひ孫( himago )・曾孫（そうそん souson）
[M/F]やしゃご( yashago )・玄孫（げんそん genson）
[M/F]来孫（らいそん raison）
[M/F]昆孫（こんそん konson）
[M/F]仍孫（じょうそん jouson）
[M/F]雲孫（うんそん unson）
For elder than 1, [M]従祖伯父(じゅうそはくふ juusohakufu )・従大伯父（いとこおおおじ itokooooji ）,[F]従祖伯母( じゅうそはくぼ juusohakubo )・従大伯母（いとこおおおば itokooooba） For younger than 1, [M]従祖叔父(じゅうそおじ juusooji)・従大叔父（いとこおおおじ itokooooji）,[F]従祖叔母(じゅうそおば juusooba)・従大叔母（いとこおおおば itokooooba）
[M/F]三いとこ(みいとこ miitoko)・その又いとこ（そのまたいとこ sonomataitoko）
Also
You: 自分(じぶん jibun) Mather:母(はは haha) / Father: 父（ちち tsitsi）
(source: http://www.e-keizu.com/info/family.html )
Although I am a Japanese, I can’t call them all correctly… Does your language have the names?
My 2016 In Reading
THE BOOKS I LOVED SO MUCH I WANTED TO SEW THEM INTO MY SKIN AKA MY FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson Today I Am a Book by xTx The Three Woes by Casey Hannan A Bestiary by Lily Hoang Queen of the Night by Alexander Chee The Mothers by Brit Bennett Commonwealth by Ann Patchett
THE BOOK THAT OPENED MY EYES AND MIND AND BROKE MY HEART WITH THE PAINFUL REALITY TOO MANY AMERICANS LIVE WITH
Evicted by Matthew Desmond
THE BOOK THAT WAS TOTAL TRASH AND I THINK THE WRITER HATES FAT PEOPLE WHICH IS FINE BECAUSE WE ALL HAVE OUR ISSUES BUT STILL, GIRL, WHAT….
Maestra by L.S. Hilton
THE COMING OF AGE PROSE POETRY THAT MOVED ME IMMEASURABLY
The Pocket Knife Bible by Anis Mojgani
THE BOOK THAT MADE ME THINK HILLARY CLINTON REALLY WAS GOING TO WIN THE PRESIDENCY
All the Single Ladies by Rebecca Traister
THE STRANGE BOOK ABOUT LONELINESS AND THE THINGS WE DO ONLINE THAT I HIGHLY RECOMMEND
Valletta78 by Erin Fitzgerald
THE POETRY BOOK I DIDN’T UNDERSTAND AT ALL THOUGH I COULD TELL THE POEMS WERE SUPER SMART
The House of Lords and Commons by Ishion Hutchinson
THE ACTION THRILLER THAT HAD LOTS OF HYPE BLURBS BUT WAS ONLY SO SO
The Second Life of Nick Mason by Scott Hamilton
THE RETELLING OF A CLASSIC THAT I REALLY ENJOYED, WHICH SURPRISED ME AND ALSO THE AUTHOR WROTE ONE OF MY FAVORITE BOOKS OF ALL TIME, AMERICAN WIFE
Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld
THE BOOK THAT MADE ME CRY BECAUSE IT HELD SO MUCH I COULD RELATE TO AND THEN MADE ME A LITTLE MAD
13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl by Mona Awad
EXCELLENT SMALL PRESS BOOKS YOU SHOULD CHECK OUT
Pink Museum by Caroline Crew The Farmacist by Ashley Farmer The Voyager Record by Anthony Michael Morena Massive Cleansing Fire by Dave Housley
THE BOOK I READ TO LEARN HOW TO WRITE A COMIC BOOK SERIES EVEN THOUGH I WAS WRITING FOR THEIR MAJOR COMPETITOR
The DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics by Dennis O’Neil
THE COMIC BOOK I LOVED AND RECOMMEND OFTEN
Saga by Brian Vaughan
THE COMIC BOOK ISSUE I READ AND THOUGHT WAS NOT SO GOOD SO I HAVEN’T READ ANY OTHER ISSUES IN THE SERIES
Wonder Woman Rebirth #1
THE BOOK I WROTE AN INTRODUCTION FOR (OUT IN 2017! FROM BEACON PRESS!)
Like One of the Family by Alice Childress
THE BOOK I REVIEWED FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult
THE BOOK I WANTED TO LOVE THAT HAD GORGEOUS OBSERVATIONS OF WOMEN’S FRIENDSHIPS
Rich and Pretty by Rumaan Alam
THE BOOK ABOUT CHEFS AND THEIR TATTOOS WITH FASCINATING STORIES OF WHY PEOPLE PERMANENTLY INK THEIR SKIN
Knives and Ink by Isaac Fitzgerald and Wendy MacNaughton
THE BOOK I READ BECAUSE I SAW A PREVIEW FOR THE TV SHOW AND LEARNED IT WAS BASED ON A BOOK SO I STARTED WONDERING IF THE BOOK WAS GOOD
Queen of the South by Arturo Perez-Reverte
SOME VERY GOOD BOOKS YOU SHOULD CHECK OUT BECAUSE THE STORIES ARE WARM AND/OR INTELLIGENT AND/OR STRANGE AND/OR GRIPPING AND/OR INTENSE
Turner House by Angela Flournoy LaRose by Louise Erdrich The Wangs vs the World by Jade Chang The Story of My Teeth by Valerie Luiselli You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott
THE HEARTBREAKING BOOK ABOUT BEING GAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST DURING THESE TUMULTUOUS TIMES FROM A WRITER WITH A LOT OF POTENTIAL
Guapa by Saleem Haddad
GORGEOUS BOOKS OF POETRY I REALLY LOVED
Night Sky With Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong L’Heure Bleue by Elisa Gabbert The New Testament by Jericho Brown Look by Solmaz Sharif There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncé by Morgan Parker
THE EXCELLENT BOOK I CHOSE AS MY SELECTION FOR BOOK OF THE MONTH CLUB
The Veins of the Ocean by Patricia Engel
THE BOOK I READ BASICALLY TO IMPRESS A GIRL AND IT WAS A PRETTY GOOD BOOK ALSO AND I HOPE THE GIRL WAS IMPRESSED BY MY DEDICATION BECAUSE THE BOOK WAS VERY LONG
The Fireman by Joe Hill
THE BOOK WITH AN AMAZING TITLE, SOME REALLY GOOD STORIES INCLUDING A RIFF ON ANTIQUES ROADSHOW AND ALSO SOME STORIES I LIKED LESS
American Housewife by Helen Ellis
THE BOOK THAT WAS EXCEPTIONALLY WRITTEN BUT I WANTED THE ACTUAL RAILROAD PART TO BE MORE FULLY REALIZED
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
FUN BOOKS THAT WERE FUN
The Assistants by Camille Perri China Rich Girlfriend by Kevin Kwan
THE BOOK ABOUT BEING SINGLE TOWARD THE MIDDLE OF YOUR LIFE THAT PRETTY MUCH EVERYONE IS GOING TO LOVE WHEN IT COMES OUT
All Grown Up by Jami Attenberg
THE EXCELLENT SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS COMING OUT AROUND THE SAME TIME AS DIFFICULT WOMEN THAT MADE ME JEALOUS AND ALSO SCARED OF THE COMPETITION
Homesick for Another World by Ottessa Moshfegh Always Happy Hour by Mary Miller
THE BOOK THAT WAS NOT MY CUP OF TEA BUT IT’S ME NOT THE BOOK
300 Arguments by Sarah Manguso
THE BOOKS I BLURBED (AND THEREFORE REALLY ENJOYED)
You’re the Most Beautiful Thing That Happened by Arisa White In the Not Quite Dark by Dana Johnson I Almost Forgot About You by Terry McMillan Feminist Baby by Loryn Brantz Lower Ed: The Troubling Rise of For-Profit Colleges in the New Economy by Tressie McMillan Cottom Bruja by Wendy C. Ortiz Sing For Your Life by Daniel Bergner Made for Love by Alissa Nutting
I made this to put on my wall for revision, but I thought it might be helpful for some of you guys too so I thought I would share it!
I am not a native Japanese speaker but the first word that comes to mind is 懐かしい (natsukashii), which is that warm fuzzy feeling you have when you think upon a fond memory or experience. Or that feeling you are having when you say, "sure brings back memories." Depending on context it gets translated to nostalgic, or longing, or dear, but by themselves they all feel somewhat inadequate.
For Chinese mandarin, I can think of 骗我的感情 (pian wo de gan qing) (there should be tone markers, but I don't know how to put them in, sorry!), which is literally "trick/bluff my feelings", which I am now finding quite to explain! Hmm... it's that disappointment you feel when someone sets your expectations up for something and then fails to deliver. I suppose like feeling cheated.
Hope that helps and good luck!
bobbies
YOU SPEAK A LANGUAGE AND I NEED YOUR HELP PLEASE I BEG YOU
hi. sorry about that catchy title, but you have something i need. you speak a language, maybe even multiple languages. you use emotions words everyday. i’m sure you know that languages have their own emotion words that are very hard to translate to other languages, for example, the word ‘anxiety’ doesn’t really exist in Polish, it is always a challenge to translate it in such way to convey its true meaning. Polish people don’t really feel anxiety, because they don’t have the word for it. i need your help with something: tell me an emotion word that is unique to your language or hard to translate. i’ll ask you a few questions and maybe i’ll write an essay about it using the natural semantic metalanguage (NSM). it’s a linguistic theory, whatever. please help a linguist out. i need an A. i promise i won’t get an F on your precious word.
i am interested in emotion words from every language except for Polish and English.
you can reply under this post, you can message me privately, i can give you my e-mail, whatever works for you. it would really help me if you reblogged this post, but no pressure
help education.. pretty please?
Could you explain this tfw no ZF joke? I really dont get it... :D
Get ready for a long explanation! For everyone’s reference, the joke (supplied by @awesomepus) was:
Q: What did the mathematician say when he encountered the paradoxes of naive set theory?A: tfw no ZF
You probably already know the ‘tfw no gf’ (that feel when no girlfriend) meme, which dates to 2010. I’m assuming you’re asking about the ZF part.
Mathematically, ZF is a reference to Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory, which is a set of axioms commonly accepted by mathematicians as the foundation of modern mathematics. As you probably know if you’ve taken geometry, axioms are super important: they are basic assumptions we make about the world we’re working in, and they have serious implications for what we can and can’t do in that world.
For example, if you don’t assume the Parallel Postulate (that consecutive interior angle measures between two parallel lines and a transversal sum to 180°, or twice the size of a right angle), you can’t prove the Triangle Angle Sum Theorem (that the sum of the angle measures in any triangle is also 180°). It’s not that the Triangle Angle Sum Theorem theorem is not true without the Parallel Postulate — simply that it is unprovable, or put differently, neither true nor false, without that Postulate. Asking whether the Triangle Angle Sum Theorem is true without the Parallel Postulate is really a meaningless question, mathematically. But we understand that, in Euclidean geometry (not in curved geometries), both the postulate and the theorem are “true” in the sense that we have good reason to believe them (e.g., measuring lots of angles in physical parallel lines and triangles). Clearly, the axioms we choose are important.
Now, in the late 19th and early 20th century, mathematicians and logicians were interested in understanding the underpinnings of the basic structures we use in math — sets, or “collections,” being one of them, and arithmetic being another. In short, they were trying to come up with an axiomatic set theory. Cantor and Frege were doing a lot of this work, and made good progress using everyday language. They said that a set is any definable collection of elements, where “definable” means to provide a comprehension (a term you’re familiar with if you program in Python), or rule by which the set is constructed.
But along came Bertrand Russell. He pointed out a big problem in Cantor and Frege’s work, which is now called Russell’s paradox. Essentially, he made the following argument:
Y’all are saying any definable collection is a set. Well, how about this set: R, the set of all sets not contained within themselves. This is, according to you, a valid set, because I gave that comprehension. Now, R is not contained within itself, naturally: if it is contained within itself, then it being an element is a violation of my construction of R in the first place. But R must be contained within itself: if it’s not an element of itself, then it is a set that does not contain itself, and therefore it is an element of itself. So we have that R ∈ R and also R ∉ R. This is a contradiction! Obviously, your theory is seriously messed up.
This paradox is inherently a part of Cantor and Frege’s set theory — it shows that their system was inconsistent (with itself). As Qiaochu Yuan explains over at Quora, the problem is exactly what Russell pointed out: unrestricted comprehension — the idea that you can get away with defining any set you like simply by giving a comprehension. Zermelo and Fraenkel then came along and offered up a system of axioms that formalizes Cantor and Frege’s work logically, and restricts comprehension. This is called Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory (or ZF), and it is consistent (with itself). Cantor and Frege’s work was then retroactively called naive set theory, because it was, of course, pretty childish:
There are two more things worth knowing about axiomatic systems in mathematics. First, some people combine Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory with the Axiom of Choice¹, resulting in a set theory called ZFC. This is widely used as a standard by mathematicians today. Second, Gödel proved in 1931 that no system of axioms for arithmetic can be both consistent and complete — in every consistent axiomatization, there are “true” statements that are unprovable. Or put another way: in every consistent axiomatic system, there are statements which you can neither prove nor disprove.For example, in ZF, the Axiom of Choice is unprovable — you can’t prove it from the axioms in ZF. And in both ZF and ZFC, the continuum hypothesis² is unprovable.³ Gödel’s result is called the incompleteness theorem, and it’s a little depressing, because it means you can’t have any good logical basis for all of mathematics (but don’t tell anyone that, or we might all be out of a job). Luckily, ZF or ZFC has been good enough for virtually all of the mathematics we as a species have done so far!
The joke is that, when confronted with Russell’s paradox in naive set theory, the mathematician despairs, and wishes he could use Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory instead — ‘that feel when no ZF.’
I thought the joke was incredibly funny, specifically because of the reference to ‘tfw no gf’ and the implication that mathematicians romanticize ZF (which we totally do). I’ve definitely borrowed the joke to impress friends and faculty in the math department…a sort of fringe benefit of having a math blog.
– CJH
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Recommended books:
Computer organization and design: the hardware/software interface. David A.Patterson & John L. Hennessy.
Artificial intelligence: a modern approac. Stuart J. Russel & Peter Norvig.
Database systems: the complete book. Hector Garcia-Molina, Jeffrey D. Ullman, Jennifer Widom.
Algorithms: a functional programming approach. Fethi Rabbi & Guy Lapalme.
Data Structures & Algorithms in Java: Michael T. Goodrich & Roberto Tamassia.
The C programming language: Kernighan, D. & Ritchie.
Operating System Concepts: Avi Silberschatz, Peter Baer Galvin, Greg Gagne.
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Writing in the Sciences (Stanford online course)
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The Cuban Missile Crisis
At this time in 1962, the U.S. was in the thick of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Here’s a brief recap of what exactly happened during those thirteen days.
It’s not hard to imagine a world where at any given moment, you and everyone you know could be wiped out without warning at the push of a button. This was the reality for millions of people during the 45-year period after World War II, now known as the Cold War. As the United States and Soviet Union faced off across the globe, each knew that the other had nuclear weapons capable of destroying it. And destruction never loomed closer than during the 13 days of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
In 1961, the U.S. unsuccessfully tried to overthrow Cuba’s new communist government. That failed attempt was known as the Bay of Pigs, and it convinced Cuba to seek help from the U.S.S.R. Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev was happy to comply by secretly deploying nuclear missiles to Cuba, not only to protect the island, but to counteract the threat from U.S. missiles in Italy and Turkey. By the time U.S. intelligence discovered the plan, the materials to create the missiles were already in place.
At an emergency meeting on October 16, 1962, military advisors urged an airstrike on missile sites and invasion of the island. But President John F. Kennedy chose a more careful approach. On October 22, he announced that the the U.S. Navy would intercept all shipments to Cuba, but a naval blockade was considered an act of war. Although the President called it a quarantine that did not block basic necessities, the Soviets didn’t appreciate the distinction.
Thus ensued the most intense six days of the Cold War. As the weapons continued to be armed, the U.S. prepared for a possible invasion. For the first time in history, the U.S. Military set itself to DEFCON 2, the defense readiness one step away from nuclear war. With hundreds of nuclear missiles ready to launch, the metaphorical Doomsday Clock stood at one minute to midnight.
But diplomacy carried on. In Washington, D.C., Attorney General Robert Kennedy secretly met with Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin. After intense negotiation, they reached the following proposal. The U.S. would remove their missiles from Turkey and Italy and promise to never invade Cuba in exchange for the Soviet withdrawal from Cuba under U.N. inspection. The crisis was now over.
While criticized at the time by their respective governments for bargaining with the enemy, contemporary historical analysis shows great admiration for Kennedy’s and Khrushchev’s ability to diplomatically solve the crisis. Overall, the Cuban Missile Crisis revealed just how fragile human politics are compared to the terrifying power they can unleash.
For a deeper dive into the circumstances of the Cuban Missile Crisis, be sure to watch The history of the Cuban Missile Crisis - Matthew A. Jordan
Animation by Patrick Smith
Words to replace said, except this actually helps
I got pretty fed up with looking for words to replace said because they weren’t sorted in a way I could easily use/find them for the right time. So I did some myself.
IN RESPONSE TO Acknowledged Answered Protested
INPUT/JOIN CONVERSATION/ASK Added Implored Inquired Insisted Proposed Queried Questioned Recommended Testified
GUILTY/RELUCTANCE/SORRY Admitted Apologized Conceded Confessed Professed
FOR SOMEONE ELSE Advised Criticized Suggested
JUST CHECKING Affirmed Agreed Alleged Confirmed
LOUD Announced Chanted Crowed
LEWD/CUTE/SECRET SPY FEEL Appealed Disclosed Moaned
ANGRY FUCK OFF MATE WANNA FIGHT Argued Barked Challenged Cursed Fumed Growled Hissed Roared Swore
SMARTASS Articulated Asserted Assured Avowed Claimed Commanded Cross-examined Demanded Digressed Directed Foretold Instructed Interrupted Predicted Proclaimed Quoted Theorized
ASSHOLE Bellowed Boasted Bragged
NERVOUS TRAINWRECK Babbled Bawled Mumbled Sputtered Stammered Stuttered
SUAVE MOTHERFUCKER Bargained Divulged Disclosed Exhorted
FIRST OFF Began
LASTLY Concluded Concurred
WEAK PUSY Begged Blurted Complained Cried Faltered Fretted
HAPPY/LOL Cajoled Exclaimed Gushed Jested Joked Laughed
WEIRDLY HAPPY/EXCITED Extolled Jabbered Raved
BRUH, CHILL Cautioned Warned
ACTUALLY, YOU’RE WRONG Chided Contended Corrected Countered Debated Elaborated Objected Ranted Retorted
CHILL SAVAGE Commented Continued Observed Surmised
LISTEN BUDDY Enunciated Explained Elaborated Hinted Implied Lectured Reiterated Recited Reminded Stressed
BRUH I NEED U AND U NEED ME Confided Offered Urged
FINE Consented Decided
TOO EMO FULL OF EMOTIONS Croaked Lamented Pledged Sobbed Sympathized Wailed Whimpered
JUST SAYING Declared Decreed Mentioned Noted Pointed out Postulated Speculated Stated Told Vouched
WASN’T ME Denied Lied
EVIL SMARTASS Dictated Equivocated Ordered Reprimanded Threatened
BORED Droned Sighed
SHHHH IT’S QUIET TIME Echoed Mumbled Murmured Muttered Uttered Whispered
DRAMA QUEEN Exaggerated Panted Pleaded Prayed Preached
OH SHIT Gasped Marveled Screamed Screeched Shouted Shrieked Yelped Yelled
ANNOYED Grumbled Grunted Jeered Quipped Scolded Snapped Snarled Sneered
ANNOYING Nagged
I DON’T REALLY CARE BUT WHATEVER Guessed Ventured
I’M DRUNK OR JUST BEING WEIRDLY EXPRESSIVE FOR A POINT/SARCASM Hooted Howled Yowled
I WONDER Pondered Voiced Wondered
OH, YEAH, WHOOPS Recalled Recited Remembered
SURPRISE BITCH Revealed
IT SEEMS FAKE BUT OKAY/HA ACTUALLY FUNNY BUT I DON’T WANT TO LAUGH OUT LOUD Scoffed Snickered Snorted
BITCHY Tattled Taunted Teased
Edit: People, I’m an English and creative writing double major in college; I understand that there’s nothing wrong with simply using “said.” This was just for fun, and it comes in handy when I need to add pizzazz.
IT’S FOLLOW A LIBRARY DAY!! (according to Twitter)
In honor of this excellent bookish occasion, allow us to give special shout outs to all of the libraries that we have followed and/or have followed us here on Tumblr. For all of you bookworms and library cats out there that can’t get enough Booklrs, make sure to check these pages out and #followalibrary!!
@alachualibrary (The Alachua County Library District)
@badgerslrc (The Klamath Community College’s Learning Research Center)
@bflteens (Baker Free Library’s Tumblr For Teens)
@bibliosanvalentino (Biblioteca San Valentino [San Valentino Library])
@boonelibrary (Boone County Public Library)
@cheshirelibrary (Cheshire Public Library)
@cmclibraryteen (Cape May County Library’s Teen Services)
@darienlibrary (Darien Library)
@dcpubliclibrary (DC Public Library)
@detroitlib (Detroit Public Library Music, Arts & Literature Department)
@dplteens (Danville Public Library Teens)
@fontanalib (Fontana Regional Library)
@gastonlibrary (Gaston County Public Library)
@glendaleteenlibrary (Glendale Public Library Teens)
@hpl-teens (Homewood Public Library For Teens)
@myrichlandlibrary (Mansfield/Richland County Public Library)
@othmeralia (Othmer Library of Chemical History)
@petit-branch-library (Petit Branch Library)
@pflibteens (Pflugerville Public Library Teenspace)
@schlowlibrary (Schlow Centre Region Library)
@southeastlibrary (Southeast Branch Library)
@tampabaylibraryconsortium-blog (Tampa Bay Library Consortium)
@teencenterspl (The Smith Public Library Teen Center)
@teensfvrl (Fraser Valley Regional Library)
@teen-stuff-at-the-library (White Oak Library District)
@ucflibrary (University of Central Florida Library)
@waynecountyteenzone (Wayne County Public Library’s Teen Space)
Hopefully we didn’t miss anyone! (And, you know, if you’re not already following US, now’s a good a chance as any. ;) Just putting it out there.)
Types of mooncakes
Right now(is festival for chinese singaporeans) is the mid-autumn festival. According to the ancient Chinese legend, the story of Chang Er, the wife of a merciless king who downed the elixir of immortality he had intended to drink, to save her people from his tyrannical rule.The tale goes that she ascended to the moon after that, and has been worshipped by the Chinese as a Moon Goddess ever since.
Making and sharing mooncakes is one of the hallmark traditions of this festival. In singapore, we have main five different chinese dialect group(hokkien,teochew,hakka,cantonese,hainanese) so of course, there are five different types of mooncakes.
CANTONESE MOOKCAKE
This is the most common style of mooncakes sold by bakeries and hotels. The round pastry, which is about 10cm in diameter and about 4cm thick, comes from south China’s Guangdong province and is also eaten in Hong Kong and Macau. The traditional mooncake is filled with lotus seed or red bean paste with egg yolks inside.
However, there are the modern snowskin mooncakes which contains anything from durian to champagne. (below are champagne mooncakes)
HOKKIEN MOONCAKE
They were known as Scholar Cakes in the past and given to those taking the Imperial Examination to fill junior and senior administrative positions in the Imperial Court. The filling usually comprises winter melon, tangerine peel and melon seeds. Sesame seeds are sprinkled on the white pastry to make it fragrant.
HAINANESE MOONCAKE
Hainanese ones are filled with dried fruit such as tangerine peel as well as sesame seeds and melon seeds. It has two verision with a salty and pepper version. The.The slightly flaky skin is made with pork lard and salt. According to a blog, they are actually only found in singapore as the story goes that the hainanese community in singapore was very poor and could not afford the normal mooncakes sold so they made their own type of mooncake.
TEOCHEW MOONCAKE
Yam-filled mooncakes with a flaky crust are the most common Teochew mooncakes sold in Singapore. Another type is la gao, which is a steamed black sesame cake. It comes plain or with green bean paste or yam filling. There is also another type of Teochew mooncake, a white disc that looks like a big biscuit and is filled with tangerine peel and sugar, flavoured with five-spice powder and topped with sesame seeds.
HAKKA MOONCAKE
This is actually uncommon and almost unheard of in singapore but moon cakes in Hakka regions of china, apart from common moon cakes, have “five-kernel moon cakes” and a kind of round cake made with glutinous rice flour and sugar, compressed into different size. (I can’t find an exact picture of the hakka mooncake so)
Top image via The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre
Happy Roald Dahl Day, everyone!
Here’s a selection of some of our favorite stories about the man behind Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The BFG and all the other books that traumatized us so delightfully as kids (Vermicious Knids, eeeeeggghhh).
Roald Dahl Wanted His Magical ‘Matilda’ To Keep Books Alive
Roald Dahl, A Bottle Of Dreams And A 'Letter Of Note’
'Where Am I Now?’ Mara Wilson Explains What Happened When Matilda Grew Up
Roald Dahl: The Story Of The 'Storyteller’
And lest we forget – Dahl’s memoirs and fiction for adults are great too. Just don’t give Someone Like You to a kid.
Wicked And Delicious: Devouring Roald Dahl
– Petra