Category: miscellaneous
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Let it be – words are meant to be “lost”
Charles Darwin would have made a great linguist. In his thinking of life and evolution it is not someone who decides on what survives and what dies. It the larger mechanism of existence that “decides” so. Similarly, words should survive if there is a need for it to do so, not to be forced so…
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One
1. There is something to be said about linguistic determinism, and in particular relativity. Linguistic relativity says that the form or structure of a language influences the way people think, or world-view. The often quoted example is the Inuit people and the words for “snow”. Whereas in English we have snow (and perhaps sleet and slush) the…
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heaviness of rain
more than white noise the drone continues through the night in dark sleep the overflow gutters my one exposed ear until light reveals the heaviness of the rain frogs frolic wetly green suits shining and birds shelter in the eaves leaving reluctantly at my presence as warnings come over the air waves
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midnight
peak of darkness the largest hour the sun is at its lowest hidden beneath the earth seemingly under ground the stars pinhole the sky wall the half-moon noticeably crawls across the black and the air falls upon me – my ominous blanket that keeps me cold
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Beyond dialogue
With post-Periscope here we now have what can be considered not dialogue but what I shall call plura-logue. Conversations no longer static or deferred but dynamic and immediate. It is also dialogue with one and many simultaneously.
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How to set up and use iPhone VoiceOver for Periscope
Do you want to drive and Periscope at the same time but feel it is unsafe (let alone it being illegal in some places)? Well, there is a solution. It is called VoiceOver. 1. Set up VoiceOver Firstly, go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Accessibility Shortcut and check VoiceOver 2. Start a broadcast Now…
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Ben Crystal lectures in Japan
I heard Shakespearean actor, Ben Crystal, talk today. My interest in Shakespeare – which had wained with my miscomprehension or un-comprehension of it in my youth – had returned with the revelation that what I had been watching until now had been inauthentic. Ben had pointed out that modern performances had tended towards Received Pronunciation (RP)…
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Published international research low by Japanese
Compared to the world growth in publishing at eighty-percent Japan is falling behind at just 14%. Figures given this morning showed exchange to America has fallen from the peak of over 47,000 students to under 19,000. Furthermore, money put into research has dropped dramatically. If Japan is to compete academically it will need to increase…
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Philip Roth’s advice to (academic) writers
“The road to hell is paved with works-in-progress.” (1979)
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Should it have been called ‘Brexit’?
As someone who works with words and like words I am always scrutinising it wherever I look. So I was curious as to why the referendum in the United Kingdom for whether to stay in the European Union or not was christened as Brexit, a portmanteau for ‘British Exit’ even before the vote had gone…
ghoti 