The Wikipedia entry for Gritty, cited in my post "Liberté, Égalité, Gritté", used the modifier "outcoming" [emphasis added]: When Philadelphia played an outsized role in determining the 2020 presidential election, social media users depicted Gritty, as the city personified, defeating outcoming incumbent Donald Trump. Philip Anderson quickly objected in the comments: But “outcoming” (as an […]
Melissa Jeltsen, "Lawyers For Mentally Ill Woman Set To Be Executed By U.S. Contract Coronavirus", Huffpost 11/12/2020.
Watching this this CNN story on YouTube I noticed some really weird closed-captioning. You can try it for yourself — open the story on YouTube, turn CC on using the controls on the bottom right of the video panel, and see what you get. In case it gets fixed, or your environment is different for […]
A chart in Wikipedia ("Indo-European vocabulary") [rearranged here] — see under "Bodily functions and states" — shows the connection between words for "sleep" and "dream" in IE languages, including Tocharian. 1. PIE: *swep- "to sleep", *swepnos "dream (n.)" 2. English: archaic sweven "dream, vision" (< OE swefn); NoEng sweb "to swoon" (< OE swebban "to […]
"Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update: FDA Authorizes Monoclonal Antibody for Treatment of COVID-19", U.S. Food and Drug Administration 11/9/2020: Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the investigational monoclonal antibody therapy bamlanivimab for the treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in adult and pediatric patients. “Bamlanivimab” Try saying that 5… or 9 […]
Charles Yang* is perhaps best known for the development of the Tolerance Principle, a way to quantify and predict (given some input) whether a rule will become productive. He is currently Professor of Linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania, where he collaborates with various researchers around the world to test and extend the Tolerance Principle […]
I'm a few days late with this, but better late than never — Gritty as La Liberté guidant le peuple: Liberté, Egalité, Gritté pic.twitter.com/p1Jnaf54de — Sov Cit Decider (@alicelfc4) November 6, 2020
It has become a meme in China to make fun of people speaking with a Henan accent. Here are two videos of women dancing and singing Christian songs in Yùjù 豫剧 ("Henan opera") that are circulating on the Chinese internet to the accompaniment of much merriment: first (for Easter, eulogizing the scene of the Resurrection […]
To the other educational benefits of Rudy Giuliani's recent press conference in the parking lot of Four Seasons Total Landscaping, we can add the opportunity to learn about Hazard Communications (HazCom) signage. On the right of the garage door forming the backdrop for Mr. Giuliani's presentation, there's a (faded and peeling, but still legible) NFPA […]
Stefan Krasowski, who graduated from the Wharton School of Penn in 2002, and has visited every country in the world, just wrote this note to the e-Mair list: Wattleseed milkshake This Australian milkshake brought to mind a VHM Classical Sinitic class where I first encountered the word "wattle" in translating a Du Fu (712-770) poem.
Ha ha ha OMG! The grand debut of Four Seasons Total Landscaping was AMAZING! Thank you to everyone who showed up! pic.twitter.com/2c5KQKQwgC — coopertom (@thecoopertom) November 9, 2020
One of my favorite places to run to from Swarthmore is a beautiful little lake about three miles away. I've been running down there for a couple of years now after I discovered its existence when I mentioned to some folks who live in Ridley Park, where the lake is located, that I'm always looking […]
When is a Qaghan really a Qaghan? It matters, so let's familiarize ourselves with the meaning of the term right off the bat. In Chinese Studies, we call this "zhèngmíng 正名" ("rectification of names"). Confucius was asked what he would do if he was a governor. He said he would "rectify the names" to make […]