Archive for May, 2008
Sunday, May 25th, 2008
America the Beautiful has interesting linguistic properties. In particular, it uses verbs in the subjunctive mood, which is quite unusual in modern English, except in fixed expressions (such as "God forbid."). The subjunctive is usually used to describe a condition that doesn't exist, or a condition that one wishes to ...
Posted in Language | Comments Off
Friday, May 23rd, 2008
Fun Michigan poem in the May 19, 2008 issue of the New Yorker by Bob Hicok, entitled "A Primer."
You never forget
how to be from Michigan when you’re from Michigan.
It’s like riding a bike of ice and fly fishing.
The Upper Peninsula is a spare state
in case Michigan goes flat...
The entire poem: ...
Posted in Books, Literature, the Arts | 1 Comment »
Thursday, May 22nd, 2008
ACLU report:
NEW YORK - The results of an internal Justice Department investigation released today reveal that officials at the highest level of government — including the White House — received reports on the abuse of prisoners in U.S. military custody overseas as early as 2002. Congress called on the department's ...
Posted in Politics and News | Comments Off
Monday, May 12th, 2008
Who invented the wireless telephone?
It's been 100 years since "American inventor and Kentucky melon farmer" Nathan B. Stubblefield received the patent for the first wireless cell phone (UK Telegraph article, via Mirabilis).
Today, the company I work for, Powerset, launched its search product for general public use at powerset.com. It's ...
Posted in Personal and family, Search technology | 1 Comment »
Sunday, May 11th, 2008
Powerset's search for Wikipedia is now live!
Posted in Search technology | 1 Comment »
Sunday, May 11th, 2008
Posted in Search technology | Comments Off
Thursday, May 8th, 2008
The Detroit Free Press is reporting on a new plan to seat Michigan delegates at the Democratic convention. The idea is to give Clinton 69 regular delegates, and Obama 59. "The proposal also would seat the state's 29 superdelegates."
I suspect the hidden (Clinton) agenda is to seat the superdelegates.
Since ...
Posted in Politics and News | Comments Off
Monday, May 5th, 2008
Bush personally approved meetings to arrange torture, which were led by Cheney.
If you consider what the government did to be torture, which is a crime according to U.S. and international law, Bush's statement shifts his role from being an accessory after the fact to being part of a conspiracy to ...
Posted in Politics and News | Comments Off
Monday, May 5th, 2008
See it full size for the best effect, I think: Psalm 131.
I made this slide show for worship this past Sunday, using CC photographs from Flickr, and music from Lindsay Phillips. It was prompted by Psalm 131:
Lord, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high; ...
Posted in Religion | Comments Off
Sunday, May 4th, 2008
Bess has this Grand Plan: to canoe the Kalamazoo River from its headwaters (more or less) to Lake Michigan, and to do it in parts. Yesterday, the Grand Plan commenced. She and I drove to the Twin Lakes Campground near Pulaski Michigan, waking the attendants at 10 am, who dropped ...
Posted in Personal and family | 2 Comments »
Friday, May 2nd, 2008
Besides what must be a playful reference to a fake invention, the "Sacred Harp of Eloquence," and a brief mention in a letter to the editor, the first mention of the Sacred Harp in the New York Times comes in a review of Eleanor de al Vergne Risley's "The Road ...
Posted in First mention, Music | 1 Comment »
Friday, May 2nd, 2008
I updated Wordpress, my blogging software, today. Let me know if there is any problem.
Posted in Meta | Comments Off
Friday, May 2nd, 2008
I enjoyed the Golden Gate Sacred Harp Singing this past week in San Francisco, and even managed to record the afternoon session (not a great recording, but not terrible either; the altos were strong, but perhaps not as strong as they sound in the recording). The singing was chaired ...
Posted in Books, Literature, the Arts, Music | Comments Off
Thursday, May 1st, 2008
I have a couple of days off, so I'm writing a bit on 'a simple desire', hanging out with Bess and Jane, uploading MP3 of the afternoon session of the 2008 Golden Gate singing to my website, and watching a waterboarding video.
Posted in Personal and family, Politics and News | Comments Off