Ioma-chànanach

Massachusetts Senate Special Election, Democratic Debate #1

2009-10-26T19:38:00.004-04:00

(eng) For those who don't know, Massachusetts is currently in the leadup to its special Senate election to fill Senator Kennedy's seat. Just finished is the first of the Democratic debates. There are four Democrats running:

Martha Coakley, Attorney General
Michael Capuano, Congressman, 8th District
Alan Khazei, founder of City Year
Stephen Pagliuca, owner of the Boston Celtics

Martha Coakley is polling thirty-odd points ahead of her closest competitor, currently, and watching the debate I can see why. She's articulate, direct, she speaks to the camera, and she has ideas where other candidates have rhetoric. She's got a strong record as our Attorney General. Overall she seems like an excellent candidate.

Michael Capuano is experienced both as a Congressman and as Mayor of Somerville. He, too, came off very well in the debate, although he spoke more to the moderator than to the audience. His experience in Washington and knowledge of the climate and people there is definitely an advantage. It's nice to have someone who voted against both the War in Iraq and the Patriot Act running. Not that I hold the fact that she wasn't in Congress against Martha Coakley. My one concern about Michael Capuano is that he seems to be doing just fine in the House of Representatives.

Alan Khazei is long-winded and stayed a bit too on-message (at one point he quoted directly, no alteration, from his campaign website). He says all the right things, but I feel he would do better at the local level. He would make an excellent mayor or state representative, but I don't know that he's ready to be Senator.

Stephen Pagliuca, like Alan Khazei, was excessively on-message. It felt when he talked as if he was repeating a script his campaign staff had taught him before the debate. Not a good thing. It's nice to have someone who has put some serious thought into regulatory reform, but he seems a bit like a one-issue candidate — obviously he has positions on other things, but he hasn't been involved with them in the same way the other three have.

The Democratic primary is coming up on December 8th.

Random aside: the Census Bureau has predicted that Massachusetts will be losing a seat after the 2010 Census. Not cool, House of Representatives. Why are you capped at 435 seats?

Nobel Peace Prize

2009-10-09T06:55:00.004-04:00

(eng) If the Nobel Prize Committee's goal was to completely devalue the Nobel Peace Prize, it has been singularly successful. This is the first time ever that I have been in agreement with the BBC's Have Your Say comments, e.g. "If you can win a Nobel Peace Prize for a few months in office, a lot of rhetoric and little or no action then is says a lot for the value of the prize...".

Don't get me wrong — I'm perfectly fine with Obama, although I wish he were stronger on domestic issues. But I don't think he's done anything to seriously merit the Nobel Peace Prize.

The song of this morning is "Les étoiles filantes" by Les Cowboys Fringants.

(fra) Si le Comité des Prix Nobel voulait complètement dévaluer le Prix Nobel de la paix, il a réussi singulairement. C'est la première fois où je me trouve d'accord avec les commentaires du Have Your Say du BBC, e.g. « Si l'on peut gagner un Prix Nobel de la paix pour quelques mois en office, beaucoup de rhétorique et peu ou pas d'action, ça parle beaucoup au valu du prix... ».

Ne m'interprètes pas mal — je n'ai aucune chose contre Obama, bien que je veuille qu'il soit plus fort sur les issus domestiques. Mais je ne pense pas qu'il a rien fait pour sérieusement mériter le Prix Nobel de la paix.

La chanson du matin, c'est « Les étoiles filantes » Par les Cowboys Fringants.

Ishmael

2009-08-13T16:34:00.003-04:00

(eng) So, my all-grade summer reading book this year was Ishmael, by Daniel Quinn. I literally just finished it, and I am at a loss for words. Everyone should go read it. Immediately.

One sentence summary: It's a book about a student, a teacher, the meaning of the word, divine interventions in the world (kind of), and the destiny of man; the teacher happens to be a gorilla.

It's a detailed deconstruction of our culture and all of the assumptions that go with it, and it's one of the best books I've ever read. It's far and away better than any of the summer reading books I've ever had, with the exception of My Ántonia, and I'm not sure you can really compare the two — they're so different.

The book begins with an advertisement: "TEACHER seeks pupil. Must have an earnest desire to save the world. Apply in person." Reading this book feels like responding to the advertisement: through Socratic dialogue, Quinn shows us the origins of the culture in which we live, why it's headed towards self-destruction, and what we can do about it.

Also I may have found my senior project.

(fra) Alors, la lecture d'été pour ma classe entière cet été fut Ishmael, par Daniel Quinn. Je viens de le terminer, et je n'ai aucun mot. Tout le monde doit aller le lire. Immédiatement.

Sommaire d'une phrase: C'est un livre sur un étudiant, un professeur, la significance du monde, les interventions divines dans le monde (un peu), et le destin de l'humanité; le professseur est un gorille.

C'est une déconstruction détaillée de notre culture et de toutes les assumptions qui vont avec elle, et c'est un des meilleurs livres que j'ai jamais lu. C'est très loin de tous les autres livres qu'on a eu pour lecture d'été, sauf My Ántonia, et je ne suis pas certain qu'on peut comparer les deux — ils sont si différents.

Le livre commence avec une publicité: «PROFESSEUR cherche étudiant. Doit avoir un vrai désir de sauver le monde. Appliquez en personne.» Lire ce livre sent comme répondre à la publicité: en utilisant le dialogue socratique, Quinn nous montre les origines de la culture dans laquelle on vit, pour quoi ça va vers la soi-destruction, et ce qu'on peut faire pour nous sauver.

Aussi, j'ai peut-être trouvé mon projet final.

A Myopic Child

2009-07-20T00:25:00.000-04:00

(eng) By Yannis Ritsos.

The other kids romped around the playground;
their voices rose up to the roofs of the quarter,
also the "splock" of their ball
like a globular world,
all joy and impertinence.

But he was reading the whole time,
there in the spring window,
within a rectangle of bitter silence,
until he finally fell asleep
on the windowsill in the afternoon,
oblivious to the voices of those his own age
and to premature fears of his own superiority.

The glasses on his nose looked like
a little bike left leaning against a tree,
off in a far-flung, light-flooded countryside,
a bike of some child who had died.

L'Ombre du vent

2009-07-18T23:49:00.001-04:00

(eng) "This place is a mystery, Daniel, a sanctuary. Each book, each volume you see, has a soul. The soul of the one who wrote it, and the soul of those who read it, lived and dreamed with it. Each time that a book changes hands, that someone runs his gaze along its pages, its spirit grows and becomes stronger. When my father brought me here for the first time, many years ago, this place had already existed for a long time. As long, perhaps, as the city itself. No-one knows exactly how long it has existed, or who created it. I will repeat for you what my father told me. When a library disappears, when a book drifts out of memory, we who know this place and are its guardians make sure that it arrives here. In this place, books that no-one remembers, that have vanished in time, keep living while waiting to pass one day into the hands of a new reader, to gain a new spirit. In the store, we buy and sell books, but in reality they have no masters. Each cover that you see here was someone’s best friend."

M. Sempere introduces his son to the Cimetière des Livres Oubliés.

(fra) «Ce lieu est un mystère, Daniel, un sanctuaire. Chaque livre, chaque volume que tu vois, a une âme. L’âme de celui qui l’a écrit, et l’âme de ceux qui l’ont lu, ont vécu et rêvé avec lui. Chaque fois qu’un livre change de mains, que quelqu’un promène son regard sur ses pages, son esprit grandit et devient plus fort. Quand mon père m’a amené ici pour la première fois, il y a de cela bien des années, ce lieu existait déjà depuis longtemps. Aussi longtemps, peut-être, que la ville elle-même. Personne ne sait exactement depuis quand il existe, ou qui l’a créé. Je te répéterai ce que mon père m’a dit. Quand une bibliothèque disparaît, quand un livre se perd dans l’oubli, nous qui conaissons cet endroit et en sommes les gardiens, nous faisons en sorte qu’il arrive ici. Dans ce lieu, les livres dont personne ne se souvient, qui se sont évanouis avec le temps, continuenet de vivre en attendant de parvenir un jour entre les mains d’un nouveau lecteur, d’atteindre un nouvel esprit. Dans la boutique, nous vendons et achetons les livres, mais en réalité ils n’ont pas de maîtres. Chaque ouvrage que tu vois ici a été le meilleur ami de quelqu’un.»

M. Sempere présente a son fils la Cimetière des Livres Oubliés.

Español, me haces falta

2009-07-18T23:36:00.003-04:00

(esp) Me hace falta el español. Estaba escuchando la música hoy mientras que íbamos a ver las ballenas, y escuché algunas buenísimas canciones españolas. Normalmente me habría encantado cantarlas (o por lo menos los partes de ellas que puedo cantar), pero no podía — habría recibido un billete blanco (una mala cosa). Y me di cuenta de que todavía me encanta el español — leerlo, hablarlo, no importa mucho. El libro que leo en francés, L'Ombre du vent, me gusta, pero preferiría leer algo en español — es demasiado largo y, aunque me encante la historia, a veces un poco aburrido.

Mañana voy a terminar el otro libro inglés que leía para descansar, pues trataré de terminar L'Ombre du vent para que pueda leer Nada y La Grosse femme d'à côté est enceinte.

Canción del dia

2009-07-18T22:46:00.004-04:00

"Viviré para ti"—Los Amigos Invisibles

Qui est d'accord ?

2009-07-01T16:24:00.003-04:00

(fra) Moi, j'ai dit à mon prof que la version française du hymne national du Canada est, ou par moins était, très politique, avec ses «fleurons glorieux», le Canada qui «sait porter la croix», dont la «valeur de foi trempée protégera nos foyers et nos droits». Pour moi, ça représente l'histoire unique des québécois: ils sont tous seuls, encirculés par les anglophones et les protestants. «La croix» représente la religion catholique, «les foyers» les foyers des catholiques québécois, et l'implication non dite de la fin, «...protégera nos foyers et nos droits», c'est «...des non québécois». Par moins, c'est ça que je pense, moi.

Off again

2009-06-27T19:38:00.002-04:00

(eng) I hope you've enjoyed those last two posts, because after this I'm off to Québec City for five weeks of intensive French. See you when I return!

(fra) J'espère que vous avez bien aimé ces deux postes finaux, parce qu'après ceci je m'en vais à Québec pour cinq semaines de français intensif. Jusqu'à ce que je retourne !

(esp) Espero que esos dos puestos finales os hayan gustado, porque despues de esto me voy al Québec por cinco semanas de francés intensivo. ¡Hasta que regreso!

Translation of "Pensamientos sobre 'La noche de los lápices'"

2009-06-26T18:14:00.003-04:00

(eng) I should begin by saying that La noche de los lápices was a magnificent film. I cannot imagine why there are no English subtitles so that non-Spanish speakers could understand it. The story was fascinating, the characters believable, the presentation realistic. It was a good movie even without having read all of the stories that we read in [my independent study], but after having read them, some things were evident. The story that the movie shows was not just a story from Argentina. The same story can be seen in all of the countries of Latin America, especially the South American ones. And these stories of dictatorship and oppression have obviously influenced Latin American writers. This is why the stories of Sábato, García Márquez, and Allende have their tone of the "tragic feeling of life" that Don Miguel speaks so much of. This tone of sadness is everywhere in the stories we read. The same feeling is evident, albeit to a slightly lesser degree, in the Spanish stories, too, i.e. those of Ana María Matute, because she was writing during and after the dictatorship of Generalísimo Franco.

What I have noticed during my reading in general, not just in these Spanish stories, is that each region has its particular characteristics. English literature, for example, has a sense at once of newness and of immense age, of adventure. Canadian and American literatures have regional variations: New English literature (i.e. from New England) has the same sense of age as English literature, but also a nostalgia. The Maritime provinces of Canada have a nostalgia even greater than that of New England. Québec has the isolation of the Québécois culture. The Southeast of the US has its particular lazy rhythm, and the Southwest of the US has the Native American and Latino culture that fills everything that comes from there. The things that differentiate Latin American literature are the tragic feeling of dictatorship in oppression, the Catholic religion, and the nearness of the past and of the revolutions and wars of independence. Latin America feels young, although some of its countries are older than some European countries. Spain, whos literature has a sense of age in place of the youth of Latin America, has the same feeling of tragedy, and religion is extremely important in its literature.

This movie, then, shows explicitly what lies behind the short stories and books that we read: the fact of dictatorship, the desaparecidos, and the oppression that existed over the course of many years in various Latin American countries. As a result of the dictatorships and the youth felt by Latin America, the writers are like troubled teenagers — they cannot pass beyond the recent past, because it was so traumatic. It seems that Spanish speakers have known so much tragedy that now they know nothing else. That would explain the stories we read, at least.

On the subject of the United Nations:

2009-06-26T16:29:00.005-04:00

(eng) A common criticism of the United Nations is that it has no restrictions on who can join, as long as a sufficient number of current member states agree to a new state's entry. This means dictatorships, repressive regimes, etc. can all sit and have equal voice to the democratic powers, including the right to stand for election to any of the other committees, from the Security Council to the Human Rights Council.

On the one hand, this can make the UN hypocritical. To be sure, something seems wrong about countries like Myanmar or Sudan condemning human rights abuses. On the other hand, the fact that their hearts may not be in the condemnation should be disregarded. On the contrary: UN resolutions often are all-encompassing, applying as much to the United States as to France, Iran, Zambia, or Tajikistan. From this angle, even if a country doesn't think the resolution should apply to it or doesn't take action regarding it, that country has still publicly acknowledged whatever the issue the resolution is dealing with. Even if the country didn't vote for the resolution, it is still affected by virtue of being a UN member state, and if the world actually started to care about the United Nations, that would be quite significant.

On the other hand, however, the fact that the UN includes representatives from almost every recognized state, plus several observer states, means that it is one of a very few organizations in the world that can claim to be universally representative. That kind of legitimacy is extremely valuable, although it's currently underappreciated. To my mind, a larger problem with the UN is that it does not effectively use this legitimacy.

On the subject of the UN, one important issue of UN reform that never comes up (to my mind more important than many others): the veto power of the permanent members of the Security Council. It shouldn't exist. It's a holdover from the idea of the global policemen, and it reeks of imperialism. It also messes things up for everyone. However representative the UN may be, it can only truly claim to speak for the world's governments when the veto-empowered states lose the ability to overrule the rest of the world.

Another would be the issue of funding. The United Nations currently requires member states to pay only a certain percentage of their annual dues in order to retain their votes. As a result, a number of member states, the United States included, do not pay their full dues. Chronic underfunding is a serious problem for an organization that attempts to do as many things as the UN does. Two possible solutions:

keep the minimum percentage, but if the full dues are not payed the following year, the member state loses its vote, even if the minimum dues were paid, until the full dues are payed. Essentially, the minimum dues would exist for countries that were having economic issues.
if the full dues are not payed, the member state loses its vote until the full dues are payed.

(fra) Un criticisme comun de l'Organisation des Nations Unies est qu'elle n'a aucune restriction sur qui peut joindre, si un numéro suffisant des états membres sont d'accord avec l'entrée d'un nouvel état. Ça veut dire que des dictatures, régimes repressifs, etc. peuvent tous s'asseoir et tenir une voix égale à celles des pouvoirs démocratiques, y compris le droit de se proposer pour élection à tous les autres comités, du Conseil de Securité au Conseil des Droits Humains.

D'un côté, ceci peut faire l'ONU hypocrite. C'est sûr, quelque chose semble...problematique sur des pays comme Myanmar ou le Soudan qui condamnent les abus des droits humains. De l'autre, le fait que leurs cœurs peuvent ne pas être dans la condamnation doit être ignoré. Au contraire: résolutions de l'ONU sont souvent tout-compris, c'est-à-dire qu'ils sont applicables tant aux États-Unis comme à la France, l'Iran, la Zambie, ou Tajikistan. De ce côté, même si un pays ne pense qu'une résolution doit s'appliquer à lui-même ou n'y prend pas d'action, ce pays a néanmoins reconnu le problème auquel la résolution s'addresse. Même si le pays n'a pas voté pour la résolution, néanmoins c'est affecté en étant état membre de l'ONU, et si le monde commencerait de s'intéresser à l'Organisation des Nations Unies, ça serait très significatif.

De l'autre côté, alors, le fait que l'ONU inclut des représantants de preque tous les états reconnus, plus quelques états observateurs, veut dire que c'est une d'un très petit peu des organisations dans le monde qui peuvent dire qu'elles sont universellement représantatives. Ce sort de légitimace vaut beaucoup, bien que ce soit maintenant mal apprécié. À mon avis, un problème plus grande de l'ONU est qu'elle n'utilise pas éffectivement cette légitimace.

Au sujet de l'ONU, un problème important de la réforme de l'ONU qui n'est jamais dit (à mon avis plus important que quelques autres): le pouvoir du veto des membres permanents du Conseil de Securité. Ce ne doit pas exister. C'est un survivant de l'idée des agents mondiaux de police, et ça pue de l'impérialisme. Aussi, ça ruine tout pour tous. Bien que l'ONU soit représentative, elle ne peut pas vraiment prétendre de parler pour tous les gouvernements du monde quand les états autorisés au veto perdent l'abilité d'annuler tous les autres pays du monde.

Autre serait le problème du financement. L'Organisation des Nations Unies maintenant demande que les états membres paient seulement un pourcentage certain de leurs dûs annuels pour retenir leurs votes. Comme résultat de ça, des états membres, y compris les États Unis, ne paient pas leurs dûs complets. Le malfinancement (j'ai créé ce mot !) chronique est un problème sérieux pour une organisation qui essaie de faire autant de choses que l'ONU essaie. Deux solutions possibles:

retenir le pourcentage minimal, mais si les dûs complets ne sont pas payés l'année prochaine, l'état membre perd son vote, même si les dûs minimaux étaient payés, jusqu'à ce que les dûs complets soient payés. En brèf, les dûs minimaux existeraient pour les pays qui ont problèmes financiers.
si les dûs complets ne sont pas payés, l'état membre perd son vote jusqu'à ce que les dûs complets sont payés.

To Whom It May Concern:

2009-06-15T12:59:00.003-04:00

(eng) I'm going to be away until next Thursday, the 25th of June. We'll be in Dublin, visiting Trinity College Dublin, then Edinburgh for the University of Edinburgh, with a day trip to St. Andrews for the University of St Andrews, and then on to London, whence we shall be visiting University College London, possibly, and Oxford. See you in ten days!

Pensamientos sobre "La noche de los lápices"

2009-06-01T21:40:00.002-04:00

(esp) Debo comenzar por decir que La noche de los lápices era una película magnífica. No puedo imaginarme por qué no hay subtítulos ingleses para que los que no hablen español puedan comprenderla. La historia era apasionante, los personajes creíbles, y la presentación realista. Era una buena película aún sin haber leído todas las historias que leímos en el estudio, pero despues de haberlas leído, algunas cosas eran evidentes. La historia que la película muestra no es solamente una historia de Argentina. La misma historia se ve en todos los países de América Latina, especialmente los de Sudamérica. Y estas historias de dictadura y opresión han claramente influído los escritores latinos. Es por esto que las historias de Sábato, García Márquez, y Allende tienen su tono del "sentimiento trágico de la vida" de que Don Miguel habla tanto. Este tono de tristeza es por todo en los cuentos que leímos. El mismo sentimiento es evidente, aunque sea un poco menos, en las historias españolas también, o sea las de Ana María Matute, porque ella escribía durante y despues de la dictadura del Generalísimo Franco.

Lo de que me he dado cuenta (¡solamente dos de estas palabras tienen significancia afuera de este contexto!) durante mi lectura en general, no solamente de estos cuentos españoles, es que cada región tiene características particulares. La literatura inglesa, por ejemplo, tiene un sentimiento en mismo tiempo de novedad y vejez inmensa, de andanza (claro que sabías que usaría esta palabra). Las literaturas canadiana y americana tienen variaciones regionales: la literatura nuevainglesa (o sea, de Nueva Inglaterra) tiene la misma vejez que la inglesa, pero también una nostalgia. La de las provincias marítimas de Canada tiene una nostalgia más grande aún que la de Nueva Inglaterra. El Québec tiene la isolación de la cultura quebequesa. El sudeste de los EEUU tiene su ritmo perezoso particular, y el sudoeste de los EEUU tiene la cultura autóctona y latina que llena todo que viene de allá. Las cosas que diferencian la literatura de América Latina son el sentimiento trágico de dictadura y opresión, la religión católica, y la proximidad del pasado y de las revoluciones y guerras de independencia. América Latina se siente joven, aunque algunos de sus países tengan más años que algunos países europeos. La España, cuya literatura tiene un sentimiento de vejez en vez de la juventud de América Latina, tiene el mismo sentimiento de tragedía, y la religión también es importantísima en su literatura.

Esta película, pues, muestra explícitamente lo que yace detrás de los cuentos y libros que leímos: el hecho de la dictadura, los desaparecidos, y la opresión que existía durante muchos años en varios países de América Latina. Por causa de las dictaduras y la juventud sentida por América Latina, los escritores son como adolescentes aquejados de problemas — no pueden pasar mas allá del pasado recente, porque era tan traumático. Parece que los hispanohablantes han conocido tanta tragedía que ya no conocen nada de otro. Eso explicaría las historias que leímos, por lo menos.

La noche de los lápices

2009-05-31T22:37:00.003-04:00

(esp) Hay que hacer una versión subtitulada de la película magnífica La noche de los lápices. Muestra la historia de algunos estudiantes argentinos durante la dictadura militar en argentina. Lo recomiendo a todos que comprendan un poco de español.

Filosofía: Miguel de Unamuno

2009-04-24T17:16:00.008-04:00

(eng) For my independent study in Spanish reading, we're reading two books, one of which is San Manuel Bueno, mártir. We finished it last week, and although I think most of Unamuno's thing is pretty stupid (i.e. that common people shouldn't be educated so that they can stay faithful, ignorant, and happy; what good is ignorance going to do you when the educated elite decide to launch a world war, say?), I was very pleased by the end of the novel, where Unamuno discusses the reality of fictional characters:

"How did this document come to rest in my hands, this memoir of Ángela Carballino? I have something here, reader, something that I should keep secret. I give it to you just as it came to me, apart from some small corrections, small particularities of editing. So it seems similar to other things I've written? This says nothing about its objectivity, its originality. And do I know, moreover, if I haven't created out of myself real and effectual beings, living immortality? Do I know if that Augusto Pérez, he from my novel Niebla, wasn't right in claiming to be more real, more objective, than I myself, who believed I had created him? Of the reality of this San Manuel Bueno, martyr, as revealed to me by his disciple and spiritual daughter Ángela Carballino, of this reality I have no doubt. I believe in her more than she believed in that same saint. I believe in her more than in my own reality."

This more or less matches up with my contention about existence, namely that existence in the mind (conceptual existence, if you will) is no less great than existence in reality. It may even, as Unamuno hints here, be greater. I believe nothing is binary, i.e. there is nothing for which there are only two options. I originally excluded existence from this as an exception, but the more I considered it, the more sure I was that conceptual existence was just as real and just as powerful as physical existence. Ask any author and he or she will tell you that characters take on a life of their own during the process of writing. Things with no physical existence have just as much power to make us laugh, cry, or anything else, as things we can see with our own eyes.

From a philosophy of language perspective, it boils down to the idea of denotation and connotation. Connotation, in this context, is a physical example of something. Denotation is a trait associated with it. So, for example, "giant fire-breathing lizard, hoarding treasure, lives under mountains" would be some of the things denoted by "dragon". Connotation, in contrast would be saying "my cat Merlin" for "cat". As we learned it in my logic class this summer, things without physical existence cannot be connotations; I disagree completely. "Smaug" is a perfect connotation of "dragon"; just because each person who thinks of Smaug will have a different image in his or her head does not make Smaug any less real to that person.

So there's my random musing of the day.

(esp) Para mi estudio independiente en lectura española, leemos dos libros, uno de que es San Manuel Bueno, mártir. Lo terminamos la semana pasada, y aunque creo que la mayoría de lo que dice Unamuno es estúpido (i.e. que las personas vulgares no deben ser educados para que puedan continuar tener fe, ser ignorantes, y estar contentos; ¿cómo les servirá la ignorancia cuando los elitos educados deciden de hacer una guerra mundial, por ejemplo?), el fin de la novela me gustó mucho, donde Unamuno discute la realidad de los personajes ficcionales:

«¿Cómo vino a parar a mis manos este documento, esta memoria de Ángela Carballino? He aquí algo, lector, algo que debo guardar en secreto. Te la doy tal y como a mí ha llegado, sin más que corregir pocas, muy pocas particularidades de redacción. ¿Que se parece mucho a otras cosas que he escrito? Esto nada prueba contra su objetividad, su originalidad. ¿Y sé yo, además, si no he creado fuera de mí seres reales y efectivos, de alma inmortalidad? ¿Sé yo si aquel Augusto Pérez, el de mi novela Niebla, no tenía razón al pretender ser más real, más objetivo que yo mismo, que creía haberle inventado? De la realidad de este San Manuel Bueno, mártir, tal como me le ha revelado su discípula e hija espiritual Ángela Carballino, de esta realidad no se me ocurre dudar. Creo en ella más que creía el mismo santo; creo en ella más que creo en mi propia realidad.»

Esto es más o menos similar a lo que pretendo yo sobre la existencia, o sea que la existencia en la mente (existencia conceptual, si se quiere) no es menos grande que la existencia en realidad. Aun podría, como Unamuno sugiere aquí, ser mayor. Yo creo que nada es binaria, i.e. que no hay ninguna situación para lacuál solamente haya dos opciones. Originalmente no incluí la existencia en esto, como una excepción, pero lo más que lo consideraba, lo más que llegaba a ser seguro que la existencia conceptual era justo tan real y justo tan poderoso como la física. Pregúntalo a algún autor, y os dirá que los personajes ganan sus propias vidas durante el proceso de la escritura. Cosas que no tienen existencia física tienen el mismo poder de hacernos reír, llorar, o algo de otro, como cosas que podemos ver con nuestros propios ojos.

De un perspectivo de la filosofía del lenguaje, llega a la idea de denotación y connotación. Conotación, en este contexto, es un ejemplo físico de algo. Denotación es una característica que tiene. Pues, por ejemplo, «reptil gigante que respira el fuego y colecta el tesoro y vive debajo de las montañas» serían algunas cosas que denota «dragón». Connotación, en contraste, sería el decir «mi gato Merlín» por «gato». Como lo aprendimos en mi clase de lógico este verano, las cosas sin existencia física no pueden ser conotaciones; yo estoy completamente de desacuerdo. «Smaug» es una connotación perfecta de «dragón»; el hecho que cada persona que piensa en él tendría un imagen diferente no importe para nada: Smaug es todavía real por estas personas.

Pues, lo que pienso al azar hoy.

Movie Review: Réveil: Waking Up French

2009-04-20T15:05:00.002-04:00

(eng) If anyone ever has the chance, watch the (Michael Moore-style) documentary Réveil: Waking Up French. It chronicles the story of French in New England and current attempts to revive Francophone culture here, but it is also relevant to the issues surrounding the idea of melting-pot globalization and cultural integration in general.

(fra) Si quelqu'un a l'opportunité, regarde le documentaire (en façon de Michael Moore) Réveil: Waking Up French. Il montre l'histoire du français à Nouvelle-Angleterre et les tentatives courantes de raviver la culture francophone ici, mais il est aussi pertinent aux problèms entourants l'idée du melting-pot de la globalisation et de l'integration culturelle en général.

Europe

2009-04-17T13:05:00.003-04:00

(eng) The European Union is a great thing, in my opinion, but it really needs to adopt UN-style regional blocs. It would help things run much more smoothly, e.g. the chaos that was Obama's meeting with EU heads of state. If, instead of twenty-seven leaders, there had been maybe eight (the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Poland, Italy , the Czech Republic [central bloc], Greece [southeastern bloc], and José Manuel Barroso, e.g.), everything would have run much more smoothly.

(fra) L'Union Européenne est une chose magnifique, à mon avis, mais il lui faut vraiment adopter des bloc régionaux comme l'ONU. Ça l'aiderait à mieux fonctionner, e.g. le chaos qui accompagnait le visite d'Obama avec les chefs d'état de l'UE. Si, contre vingt-sept chefs d'état, il y avait eu peut-être huit (le Royaume-Uni, France, Allemagne, Polande, Italie, la République Tchèque [bloc central], Grèce [bloc sud-est], et José Manuel Barroso, e.g.), tout serait mieux allé.

almost visible

2009-03-03T19:53:00.003-05:00

(eng)
he was almost
visible
thin
pale
fading
in and out
of conversation
speech;
an irregular
flickering
(a loose connection)
his eyes
folding
half-shut
moving
like the current
of a timeless
tv
a ghost
of neon
blinking
in and out
of dreams
holding himself
between words
and then slipping
fading
almost
visible
— Ken J. Harvey

Random Oscar Musing

2009-02-22T23:54:00.003-05:00

(eng) For next year: Coraline should be nominated for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score.

Oscars Review

2009-02-22T23:08:00.004-05:00

(eng) Great victory of the night so far: "Jai Ho" wins Best Original Song. Great failure of the night so far: Wall•E didn't win Best Original Score. But Slumdog Millionaire did, so it's a trade-off. The other great failure of the night: Gran Torino wasn't nominated for anything. It deserved a Best Picture nomination, at least.

Movies that have been added to my list of movies to see because of the Oscars:

Australia
Departures

Movies that I added to my list of movies to see tonight, but not because of the Oscars:

All My Friends are Leaving Brisbane
December Boys
Kings
My Boy Jack
Once
Driving Lessons
Gone Fishing

And I need to see all of the nominated short films.

Coraline 3-D

2009-02-20T23:05:00.002-05:00

(eng) I just watched Coraline 3-D. I cannot speak overly highly of it. The animation was incredible. Unbelievable. Whoever did the music (Bruno Coulais, as it happens), deserves an Oscar for Best Original Score. The plot was perfectly adapted from the book. They did almost a better job than Neil Gaiman in making you feel that you would really want to stay with the Other Family. The characters were perfectly creepy. Everything was great. Except: they added a character, one "Wybie", the male companion for Coraline. He was a great character, except...

When my father came by to pick me up at the T, he was parked next to a nearly-identical car. My thought: "OMG it's my Other Father". The first thing I did when I got in the car was check his eyes. No buttons.

Butterfly

2009-02-12T22:26:00.001-05:00

(eng)
The last, the very last,
So richly, brightly, dazzlingly yellow,
Perhaps if the sun’s tears would sing
against a white stone….

Such, such a yellow
Is carried lightly ‘way up high.
It went away I’m sure because it wished to
kiss the world good-bye.

For seven weeks I’ve lived in here,
Penned up inside this ghetto.
But I have found what I love here.
The dandelions call to me
And the white chestnut branches in the court.
Only I never saw another butterfly.

That butterfly was the last one.
Butterflies don’t live in here,
in the ghetto.

— Pavel Friedmann, in the Terezin ghetto in occupied Czechslovakia, 1942. This poem is one of a few things that can consistently bring me to the brink of tears.

Chad Vader is back

2009-02-11T21:38:00.000-05:00

Lament

2009-02-11T18:49:00.002-05:00

(eng) "Lament"
Rainer Maria Rilke

Everything is far
and long gone by.
I think that the star
glittering above me
has been dead for a million years.
I think there were tears
in the car I heard pass
and something terrible was said.
A clock has stopped striking in the house
across the road…
When did it start?…
I would like to step out if my heart
and go walking beneath the enormous sky.
I would like to pray.
And surely of all the stars that perished
long ago,
one still exists.
I think that I know
which one it is—
which one, at the end of its beam in the sky,
stands like a white city…

(ger) „Klage“
Rainer Maria Rilke

O wie ist alles fern
und lange vergangen.
Ich glaube, der Stern,
von welchem ich Glanz empfange,
ist seit Jahrtausenden tot.
Ich glabue, im Boot,
das vorüberfuhr,
hörte ich etwas Banges sagen.
Im Hause hat eine Uhr
geschlagen...
In welchem Haus?...
Ich möchte aus meinem Herzen hinaus
unter den großen Himmel treten.
Ich möchte beten.
Und einer von allen Sternen
müßte wirklich noch sein.
Ich glaube, ich wüßte,
welcher allein
gedauert hat,—
welcher wie eine weiße Stadt
am Ende des Strahls in den Himmeln steht...

Everybody Wins

2009-02-10T20:40:00.002-05:00

(eng) Israel's Kadima and Likud parties, led by Tzipi Livni and Benjamin Netanyahu, are both claiming victory in today's general elections. As far as it goes, both are correct, but in different contexts. Livni's Kadima had a stronger showing than Likud individually (exit polls, according to the BBC, show Kadima with a one-seat advantage over Likud). However, although Netanyahu's Likud was not as strong individually as Kadima, smaller right-wing parties made strong showings, and there seems to be a high probability that right-wing parties will have more seats in the Knesset, opening the possibility of another Netanyahu prime ministry.

(fra) Kadima et Likud en Israël, menés par Tzipi Livni et Benjamin Netanyahu, prétendent tous les deux d'avoir gagné les élections génerales d'aujourd'hui. En ce qui concerne ça, les deux sont correctes, mais en contextes differents. Le Kadima de Livni eut une meilleure victoire individuellement (les sondages de votants à chaud, selon le BBC, montrent un Kadima avec avantage d'un siège sur Likud). Mais, bien que le Likud de Netanyahu ne fût pas aussi fort individuellement que Kadima, les plus petits partis de droite firent bien aux élections, et il semble très possible que les partis de droite aient plus de sièges dans le Knesset, qui crée la possibilité d'autre premier ministère de Netanyahu.

The Dark is Rising

2009-02-09T21:38:00.000-05:00

(eng) It is Will Stanton's 11th birthday, and he is about to discover that he has power beyond imagining. Will is the last of the Old Ones, the immortals charged with protecting the Earth from the ravages of the Dark. And his mission, whether he chooses to accept or not, is to seek the Signs of the Light, one of the Things of Power that can help defeat the Dark and bring peace to the world once again. Adventure! Growing up! Holiday cheer! Time travel! What more could you ask for in a novel? The second book in Susan Cooper's classic masterwork of young fantasy [...].

Chanson du jour

2009-02-09T19:58:00.001-05:00

(fra) Ne vous en faites pas—je parle encore le français.

Nuclear disarmament

2009-02-09T19:52:00.003-05:00

(eng) From the Green MPs of Australia, an interesting approach to the promotion of nuclear disarmament.

On a similar subject, there's an essay in One World or None, a book by prominent nuclear physicists who worked on the Manhattan Project, titled "If the bomb gets out of hand" by Philip Morrison of Cornell University that should be required reading for anyone aspiring to be the leader of a nuclear power.

Academic Freedom

2009-02-09T19:35:00.004-05:00

(eng) A fascinating article by Stanley Fish, whose blog is now to be found in my blogroll. I'm torn on this issue. The kind of radical teaching that Rancourt espouses is appealing to me on one level, but at another level, it's also important that students get an education. Say I were thinking of going into environmental science: the fact that Rancourt has decided to go rogue, as it were, and teach political activism has prevented me from reaching that goal. While I'm sure what he teaches interesting stuff, there's also a level on which it's extremely irresponsible and could end up doing more to hinder his students, perhaps turning them into reactionaries rather than helping them achieve a more revolutionary approach to life in general (generally, in my view, a good thing).

The "Junior Science Research Project"

2009-01-29T22:06:00.000-05:00

(eng) I'm doing the loosely-scientific subject of seat apportionment in the House of Representatives. I'm going to try to find the most proportional method of representation for the House in general, the most proportional for the electoral college, and the one that is best for both. It's going to be a lot of apportioning. But since I do that in my spare time, anyway...

If I were drafting a government for New England...

2009-01-27T21:45:00.005-05:00

(eng) ...which I am doing in my spare time (I AM COMPLETELY NORMAL!), it would be tricameral, as follows:

The House of Commons, the lower house. It is mixed-member proportional, with 200 total MHCs (Members of the House of Commons). Prince Edward Island's one riding sets the basis for the other provinces to be in proportion to that (which leads to some ridiculousness, e.g. 46 ridings for Massachusetts but only 4 for Vermont). Once the single-member ridings have been apportioned, the remaining seats are elected by a party-list system under the Saint-Laguë method. The party in the plurality nominates the Prime Minister, who takes the responsibilities of the head of government as well as acting as chairman. The House of Commons operates on a snap-election system, with the maximum term length being three years.
The House of Representative, the middle house. It is equal-representation, with five directly-elected MHRs (Members of the House of Representatives) from each province (50 members total). The House of Representatives elects from among its membership a Presiding Officer who breaks tied votes if necessary and acts as the chairman. The House of Representatives is non-partisan and has longer term lengths than the House of Commons: 5 years, and the terms of MHRs do not all expire simultaneously; rather, one-fifth of the MHRs are up for election each year (one from each province).
The Provincial Council, the "upper house". It is equal-representation, but different: each provincial legislature sends a five-person delegation to the PC. The delegations votes are counted together, i.e. if two MPCs (Members of the Provincial Council) from Nova Scotia's delegation vote in favor of a proposed piece of legislation and three vote against, Nova Scotia is counted as voting against.

"Upper house" is in quotation marks because the Provincial Council is more of an advisory body, designed to have a broader view of issues. Although it votes on issues and if unanimous can stall a bill, legislation cannot be proposed by it. In contrast, the House of Commons is supposed to provide a more immediate view of issues. The House of Representatives, being non-partisan, exists to counter the impulsiveness of the House of Commons by providing a longer view of issues.

Poetry

2009-01-26T21:36:00.000-05:00

(eng) Courtesy of Leah.

Gerland Locklin
where we are

(for edward field)

"i envy those
who live in two places
new york, say, and london,
wales and spain,
l.a. and paris;
hawaii and switzerland.

there is always the anticipation
of the change, the chance that what is wrong
is the result of where you are. i have
always loved both the freshness of
arriving and the relief of leaving. with
two homes every move would be a homecoming.
i am not even considering the weather, hot
or cold, dry or wet: I am talking about hope."

Canción del Día

2009-01-26T21:03:00.000-05:00

I was going to do a list...

2009-01-26T19:30:00.005-05:00

(eng) ...but it was getting too repetitive. What it boils down to is this: if I lived in a country with a multi-party system, there are very good odds that I would vote for the Greens, cf. Canada, France, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, etc.

I'd vote for the Greens in the UK if they stood a chance of winning any seats. Since they don't, I'd probably vote for the Lib Dems. In Canada, I'd probably vote NDP if they weren't anti-Senate—reform it, yes; abolish it, no. In New Zealand, I'd also be tempted by the Alliance.

(fra) ...mais elle devenait trop repetitive. En brèf, c'est ceci: si j'habiterais dans un pays avec un système de plusieurs partis, c'est bien probable que je vote pour les Verts, cf. Canada, France, Irlande, Australie, Nouvelle-Zélande, etc.

Je voterais pour les Verts au R-U s'ils pourraient gagner quelque siège. Parce qu'ils ne le font pas, je voterais probablement pour les Démocrates Libéraux. Au Canada, je voterais NDP s'ils ne seraient pas anti-Sénat—le réformer, oui; l'abolir, non. À Nouvelle-Zélande, je serais aussi tenté par l'Alliance.

(esp) ...pero se puso demasiado repetitiva. Se reduce a esto: si vivía en un país que tenía un sístema de muchos partidos, es probable que vote por los Verdes, cf. Canada, Francia, Irlandia, Australia, Nueva Zelanda, etc.

Votaría por los Verdes en el RU si podrían ganar alguna silla. Porque no lo hacen, votaría probablemente por los Demócratas Liberales. En Canada, votaría NPD si no serían anti-Senado—reformarlo, sí; abolirlo, no. En Nueva Zelanda, sería también tentado por la Alianza.

Radical redesign!

2009-01-26T18:48:00.001-05:00

(eng) I got bored of the other look; I hope you like this new one. Minima blue.

Slumdog Millionaire and Gran Torino

2009-01-16T21:30:00.006-05:00

(eng) Both excellent movies. Both should be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. Gran Torino will probably win, although I'd be unable to choose between them. Dark Knight should be nominated, too, I suppose, but it doesn't even come close to these two.

(fra) Les deux, films excellents. Les deux doivent être sélectionnés pour L'Oscar du meilleur film. Gran Torino va probablement gagner, bien que, moi, je ne puisse pas choisir d'entre eux. Dark Knight doit être sélectionné, aussi, je suppose, mais il n'est pas du tout aussi bon que ces deux.

Important Note

2009-01-12T21:04:00.001-05:00

(eng) It has come to my attention that I should clarify this: I am never in favor of violent revolution. That is all.

Note to the World: There is no Right of Conquest

2009-01-12T10:30:00.004-05:00

(eng) Several things.

No, you didn't "conquer it fair and square". There is no such thing as a right of conquest. In a war, you have a responsibility under international law not only to captured or wounded enemy soldiers but also to the citizenry in captured territories. To those who argue that a nebulous definition of the "soldiers" involved in recent conflicts denies them those rights, I have this to say: get a definition. My Model UN committee last year recommended a Fifth Geneva Convention to address the rights of non-soldier combatants. Maybe I should start a petition.
Just because civilian deaths have always been a byproduct of war does not mean that we should lie down and accept that so that we can have our wars. We should be up in arms to prevent wars and thereby prevent unnecessary civilian deaths. Maybe I should start a petition.
United States, Russian Federation, United Kingdom, People's Republic of China, and French Republic: give up your veto power immediately and start respecting the United Nations. You can still be permanent members of the Security Council, but that does not and should not give you unlimited rights to reject other nations. Maybe I should start a petition.

The moral of this post: I should start a petition.

Independence Movements

2009-01-11T22:25:00.004-05:00

(eng) Based on my now-formalized criteria for independence, some independence/autonomy movements of which I am conditionally in support:

Québec, Canada: if the Bloc Québecois can muster enough political self-will in the province, that is.
Wessex, United Kingdom: because you're cool like that, Wessex Regionalists.
Wales, United Kingdom: the Welsh Assembly was a good step forward for the Plaid Cymru. Hooray for greater local autonomy!
Scotland, United Kingdom: if the Scottish National Party ever gets around to holding that referendum about it...
Cornwall, United Kingdom: Mebyon Kernow is agitating, and rightly so, for greater autonomy for the only unrecognized Celtic nation in the United Kingdom.
Isle of Man, United Kingdom: because small island countries are VERY AWESOME, and the Tynwald is arguably the oldest continuously-functioning parliament (similar claims: San Marino and Iceland). Good luck, Mec Vannin.
Basque Region, Spain and France: for a whole lot of reasons, including linguistic issues and some serious rights-squelching by the Spanish Supreme Court. Here's to you, Basque National Party.
Corsica, France: very good luck to you, Corsica Nazione, in your promotion of nonviolent protests. Down with violence! Up with Corsica!
Brittany, France: in response primarily to the French government's disgusting policy towards minority languages, good luck Union Démocratique Bretonne.

Song of the day: "Thomas O'Malley" from the Danish Aristocats.

(fra) Basé sur mes maintenant-formalisés critères de l'indépendence, quelques mouvements pour l'indépendence/autonomie que je soutiens sous condition:

Québec, Canada: si le Bloc Québecois peut obtenir assez de soi-volonté politique.
Wessex, Royaume-Uni: parce que vous êtes cools comme ça, Wessex Regionalists.
Pays de Galles, Royaume-Uni: l'Assemblée Galloise était un bon pas devant pour le Plaid Cymru. Hooray pour plus d'autonomie locale !
Écosse, Royaume-Uni: si le Scottish National Party avait du temps pour organiser ce référendum...
Cornouailles, Royaume-Uni: Mebyon Kernow fait campagne, bien, pour plus d'autonomie pour la seule nation celtique qui n'est pas reconnu au Royaume-Uni.
Île de Man, Royaume-Uni: parce que les petites nations sur île sont TRÈS COOLES, et l'on peut soutenir que le Tynwald est le parlement continument-marchant le plus âgé (affirmations similaires: Saint-Marin et l'Islande). Bonne chance, Mec Vannin.
Pays-Basque, Espagne et France: pour beaucoup de raisons, y compris des problèmes linguistiques et du droite-silencieux sérieux par le Cour Suprême espagnol. Allez-y, Basque National Party.
Corse, France: très bonne chance à vous, Corsica Nazione, en promouvant les protestations non-violentes. À bas la violence! À haut la Corse!
Bretagne, France: en répondant essentiellement à la policie dégoûtante du gouvernement français aux langues de minorité, bonne chanc Union Démocratique Bretonne.

Chanson du jour: «Thomas O'Malley», de Les Aristochats danois.

Joyeux Noël (film)

2009-01-09T21:57:00.005-05:00

(eng) Joyeux Noël is the story of the "Christmas Truce" of 1914; if you are unfamiliar with the Truce, check the link. The movie is excellent. If you have not seen it, you should do so as soon as possible. Without presenting a romanticized picture of the First World War (not overly so, anyway), it manages to be both heartwarming and heart-rending.

The song of the day is "Hvem vil ikke være kat?" from the Danish Aristocats.

(fra) Joyeux Noël est l'histoire de la «Trêve de Noël» de 1914; si vous ne connaissez pas la Trêve, suivez le lien. Le film est excellent. Si vous ne l'avez pas vu, vous devez le regarder aussitôt que possible. Sans présenter une peinture idéalisée de la Première Guerre Mondiale (pas trop, par moins), il peut être réconfortant ainsi que déchirant.

La chanson du jour est «Hvem vil ikke være kat?» de Les Aristochats danois.

The Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territory

2009-01-09T20:11:00.003-05:00

(eng) ...has transcripts of some of its sessions available online. Hooray for government!

Also, a question: how was the Yukon's Senate seat still unfilled for almost two years?

(fra) ...a des transcriptions de quelques sessions disponibles sur le Web. Hooray pour le gouvernement !

Aussi, une question: comment est-ce que le siège du Sénat du Yukon était vide pendant presque deux ans ?

(esp) ...tiene transcripciones de algunas sesiones disponibles en la Red. ¡Hooray para el gobierno!

También, una pregunta: ¿cómo era el escaño del Senado del Yukon vacío por casi dos años?

Tonight

2009-01-05T08:39:00.002-05:00

(eng) Tonight is Twelfth Night.

2009

2009-01-01T00:03:00.001-05:00

(eng) Happy New Year.

(fra) Bonne Année.

New Year

2008-12-31T23:40:00.000-05:00

(eng) Happy almost-New Year. Happy New Year already in Newfoundland (yay half-hour time zones!) and the rest of the world to the East of us.

Happy seventh night.

Response to Leah

2008-12-30T16:12:00.002-05:00

(eng) "Gore. Gore Gore Gore Gore GORE goddamnit."

Three dates for you: 2000, 1888, 1876. Those are the only four times in this country's history that the winner of the popular vote has not won the electoral college. The 2000 election is a whole different issue, at any rate, for a number of reasons. And 1876 was blatantly stolen. No-one pretends otherwise anymore. 1888, then, is left as a fluke.

As a random aside, in 1824, the winner of the popular vote won a plurality electoral vote also but not the presidency. No candidate had a majority, so the House elected John Q. Adams.

As to NY/NE (can I say how much I hate that abbreviation? NE, that is, not NY; it should be NA or NB, cf. KY, AK), that's true, but only just (on an electoral scale).

There are two solutions (that keep the electoral college): throw out our current apportionment system in favor of maintaining a rate of representation as close to n per elector as possible. Problems that arise: Vermont, Rhode Island, Montana, and Alaska have small enough populations that n is going to have to be very small, giving the larger states quite a lot of power in elections.

Or, apportion more electors until the proportions even out naturally. That becomes very unwieldy very fast, and also creates the problem the founding fathers were trying to avoid, namely, switching the balance of power from the small states to the larger states.

And it's a legitimate concern: if the electoral college is abolished, candidates would focus on high-population areas, since low-population ones become essentially worthless. As the system is now, at least, e.g., New England has value outside of Boston and Cambridge. If the popular vote were adopted, a significant portion of the states would be pretty worthless, to say nothing of areas within the states. In order to have won, Obama would have needed only the populations of the following metropolitan areas:

New York: 18,815,988
Boston: 4,482,857
Chicago: 9,524,673
Los Angeles: 12,875,587
Washington: 5,306,565
Seattle: 5,827,962
San Francisco: 4,203,898
Dallas-Ft. Worth: 6,145,037
Orlando: 2,032,496

He did, in fact, win in all of these areas (though obviously not their entire populations). Admittedly, they're larger than just the primary cities they encompass (Boston, e.g. is really Boston-Cambridge-Quincy-Concord, and New York is New York-New Jersey-Long Island); nonetheless, the matter stands. The popular vote leaves out huge tracts of the country. Burlington, VT has only 200,000-odd people in its metro area (all of Vermont, for that matter, is only 621,000 people). Anchorage, AK only has ~360,000 (all of Alaska, for that matter, is only 938,000 people). Dover, DE (state capital) is at about 150,000. All pretty much worthless as far as the popular vote goes goes, but suddenly valuable again under the electoral college.

There's no perfect system, and arguments can be made both ways. The electoral college has its flaws. So does the all-out popular vote. I just happen to prefer the former. It's more fun to watch, incidentally, the electoral vote count go up, than it is to watch the popular vote count go up.

Indirect Elections

2008-12-30T12:54:00.001-05:00

(eng) Everyone makes a big deal about direct elections. We amended the US constitution to provide for the election of senators directly (bonus points if you know which amendment without looking it up*).

So why would I be interested in indirect elections? By this, I don't necessarily mean "appointment by head of state" (cf. Canada), nor do I necessarily mean "appointment by legislature" (cf. the US pre-constitutional amendment).

The problem, as I see it, is that we as a country are gigantic. We have almost three times the population of our northern neighbor. That's ridiculous. And yet, every two years we pumped for the screaming media-, rabid supporter-, and insidious commentator-bonanza that is an election. Every four years, add in some extra yelling for the presidential elections. It's both annoying and preposterous.

For the record, we already have an indirect election for the president, and people gripe about it. Despite all the cries of "popular vote!", the angry Gore supporters (of which I am one), etc., it should be noted very emphatically that the electoral college has a huge advantage over the popular vote. Barack Obama won the popular vote by about 10 million votes. A fair margin, but not enormous: he was only 7.2% ahead of John McCain. He won the electoral college by 192 votes. That's 35.7%. That is the huge, unmentioned virtue of the electoral college, that it turns a small popular vote victory into a huge and definite electoral one.

The reason I'm on about this is that a friend of mine (the owner of whywhynot?) was complaining about Canada's appointed senators. And I said I wouldn't necessarily be in favor of a directly-elected Senate, either. It would require changes to the office of Senator, unless elections are going to be held at more or less random intervals to account for the life-term-up-to-age-75 aspect, of which I am very much in favor, which would be somewhat ridiculous. I support a life term of office because of the stability it provides the government. The Senate has no power to take down the government, but they can act as a voice of reason and experience.

What I would support would be something like what's already being done, albeit non-bindingly, in Alberta (of all places—I can't believe I'm agreeing with Alberta), namely, the election of "Senators-in-Waiting". The problem lies in larger provinces, i.e. Ontario and Québec. To be fair, I have to choose one method (of the two possible that I had in mind) or the other, so I'm going for the party-list system that I already support in general.

During the general election, parties tally their support within a province. So, in the 2008 election, Newfoundland and Labrador was split 16.5/46.6/33.9/1.7 between the Conservatives/Liberals/NDP/Greens. I would therefore divide the senate seats (6) between those four parties according to those percentages: the Conservatives name one Senator-in-Waiting, the Liberals 3, and the NDP 2. When a Senator from Newfoundland and Labrador resigns, the Prime Minister must choose one of the Senators-in-Waiting to recommend to the Governor General for appointment. Votes for independents are split between all parties.

So, the senate divisions by province/territory after the 2008 elections: (Conservative/Liberal/NDP/Green/Bloc Québecois, where applicable)

British Columbia: 3/1/2/0
Alberta: 4/1/1/0
Sasketchwan: 3/1/2/0
Manitoba: 3/1/2/0
Ontario: 9/8/5/2
Québec: 5/6/3/1/9
New Brunswick: 4/3/2/1
Nova Scotia: 3/3/3/1
Prince Edward Island: 2/2/0/0
Newfoundland and Labrador: 1/3/2/0
Nunavut: 1/0/0/0
Northwest Territory: 0/0/1/0
Yukon Territory: 0/1/0/0

It sounds complicated, but it really wouldn't be that much so. There does remain the problem that the West is underrepresented and the Maritimes overrepresentated. I would probably switch the division of seats, i.e. give 30 to the West and 24 to the Maritimes, instead of the other way around. Regional balance is all well and good, and I wouldn't want to get rid of it, but not completely out of proportion to population.

*(It was the 17th).

Chanson du jour

2008-12-28T16:34:00.001-05:00

(eng) Also a song I acquired on Friday. "Mile Marbhaisg (A Thousand Curses)"—Capercaillie.

(fra) Aussi une chanson que j'ai achetée vendredi. «Mile Marbhaisg (A Thousand Curses)»—Capercaillie.

(esp) También una canción que compré viernes. «Mile Marbhaisg (A Thousand Curses)»—Capercaillie.

Das Leben der Anderen

2008-12-26T21:18:00.000-05:00

(eng) The Lives of Others is an amazing film. At the time it won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, I was quite bitter, because the also-nominated Pan's Labyrinth was also very good. However, The Lives of Others beats it hands down. The story is compelling, the characters are fascinating and credible. The acting is good, the soundtrack is good—everything is good.

Thank you, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, for an amazing film. Because of this, I've made it my goal to watch more of the Best Foreign Language Film winners. My next target: either Kolya (1996) or The Counterfeiters (2007).

(fra) La Vie des autres est un film magnifique. Quand il gagna l'Oscar du meilleur film en langue étrangère, c'était assez amer pour moi, parce qu'autre film proposé, Le Labyrinthe de Pan, m'avait bien plu aussi. Mais, La Vie des autres gagne haut la main. L'histoire est convaincante, les personnages sont fascinants et crédibles. L'interprétation est bonne, la bande sonore est bonne–tout est bon.

Merci à toi, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, pour un film magnifique. À cause de ceci, j'ai fait une résolution, que je regarderai plus des gagnants de Meilleur film en langue étrangère. Le prochain: soit Kolya (1996) soit Les Faussaires (2007).

St. Stephen

2008-12-26T00:30:00.000-05:00

(eng) It's the Feast of St. Stephen. Happy Second Night to you all.

Holidays

2008-12-25T13:26:00.000-05:00

(eng) Happy Christmas and such.

(fra) Joyeux Noël—tout ça.

Memorandum: Israel

2008-12-20T19:18:00.000-05:00

(eng) To whom it may concern:

Calm down, Israel. You, too, Fatah and Hamas. If any of you actually want to make any progress towards peace, or at least stability, you have to stop overreacting and start compromising. A good starting point: neither of you is going to get all of Israel/Palestine. Deal with it.

I expect progress to be reported by Monday at the latest.

Regards,
Sectori

(fra) (Grace à Yiuel) À qui de droit:

Calme-toi Israël. Calmez-vous aussi, Fatah et Hamas. Si quelqu'un d'entre vous veut faire progresser la paix ou, au moins, la stabilité, il faudrait d'abord que vous arrêtiez de réagir de façon excessive et que vous commenciez à faire des compromis. Un bon point de départ : ni l'un ni l'autre ne recevrez l'entièreté d'Israël ou de la Palestine, selon. Acceptez-le.

Je m'attends à ce qu'il y ait du progrès d'ici lundi, au plus tard.

Amitiés,
Sectori

Verbs

2008-12-15T22:18:00.000-05:00

(eng) It's time for my favorite verb tenses! I'll do this by language:

English: present subjunctive (simple), e.g. it is necessary that he be here on time. I love the subjunctive in any language, so...
French: imparfait du subjonctif, e.g. il fallait qu'il allât à l'école chaque jour. I love circumflexes, and I love the passé simple, so what could be better?
Greek (Ancient): aorist optative passive, e.g. ἔλιπον ὡς οὒ τυθεῖτε. What can I say? I love circumflexes and contractions. Yes, I know it's strange sentence.
Gothic: preterite optative, e.g. ik wilda izei mahtedi wáila anakunnan. I'm a sucker for the short -i.
Spanish: imperfect subjunctive in -se (I contrast it with the imperfect subjunctive in -ra, treating the former as preterite and the latter as imperfect), e.g. no creía que viniese cuándo vino.
Japanese: I love the -て/た form, especially of -ぶ, -ぬ, and -む verbs, e.g. わるく日本語を読んだ.
Italian: the present subjunctive is archi-cool (as we say en français), e.g. non si sa mai quando ne hai bisogno. Those of you who were paying close attention noticed that that was Luigina's bella lezione from the end of our book.

I'll leave you with a full Gothic verb conjugation, witan (know), one of my favorite verbs. It's organized by tense, person, and number (singular — dual — plural; ø means no dual form).

Present Indicative

wáit — witu — witum
wáist — wituts — wituþ
wáit — ø — witun

Preterite Indicative

wissa — wissedu — wissedum
wisses — wisseduts — wisseduþ
wissa — ø — wissedun

Present Optative

witjáu — witeiwa — witeima
witeis — witeits — witeiþ
witi — ø — witeina

Preterite Optative

wissedjáu — wissedeiwa — wissedeima
wissedeis — wissedeits — wissedeiþ
wissedi — ø — wissedeina

Chanson du Jour

2008-12-14T00:07:00.000-05:00

"Dragostea Din Tei"—O-ZONE

Wall∙E

2008-12-13T23:52:00.001-05:00

(eng) Amazing movie. That's about all there is to say.

(fra) Film magnifique. Ça, c'est tout ce qu'il y a de dire.

Twilight

2008-12-13T23:13:00.000-05:00

(eng) Twilight. I read it on Tuesday, and I just saw the movie this afternoon. I'm going to briefly discuss each.

The book. The writing's bad, the characters are unbelievably shallow (to say nothing of sketchy), and the plot is pretty awful. The relationship between Edward and Bella is totally unjustified (in their first conversation he psychoanalyzes her? What?). There are a few moments that are good, but not many. Unlike, apparently, all the other people who have read the book, I do not like Edward. He strikes me as irritating, shallow, and sketchy. Some of my friends via CTY were saying they would go out with him if he asked them out, without even thinking about it. Personally, if he was as presented in the book, no.

The movie. The movie is actually slightly better than the book writing-wise. For a book that was badly written, they managed to pull off an OK script. On the other hand, that can't rescue the plot. Edward and Bella are even sketchier than in the book, Bella's school friends are even shallower, and the script leaves out all the details that made the book tolerable, e.g. eliminating the subplot of Alice's origin. And Edward in the sunlight just looked like he was covered with about a quarter-inch of glitter. I had imagined him glowing, perhaps, or shining—not glittering. Some good points: I anticipated that Robert Pattinson would do well as Edward, and although he was shaky at the beginning, he did do much better as the movie continued. Alice was very well-cast. Jacob, although a good actor, did not have the "OMG hotness" that people seem to ascribe to him, probably because of his hair—long hair does not look good on guys, in my opinion. Bella's father was also well-cast.

Some odd moments in the movie: the first vampire attack was completely out-of-the-blue and unnecessary. The most romantic scene in the movie (the romance montage between proclimax and climax) happened at the top of a tree? What? Edward tells Bella he can read minds before she knows he's a vampire? What? Also, if you're undead, can you do facial hair? Because Robert Pattinson definitely had some at various points (but not consistently).

A sketchy moment in both: "I watch you while you're sleeping".

A funny moment in the movie: Alice and Jasper when Bella went to visit the Cullens ("it's OK—you won't hurt her"). Alice is really sketchy in the movie, but it works, partly for the character and partly because the actress is very good.

Finally, Emmett looked like Burn Gorman as Owen in Torchwood.

!

2008-12-08T21:12:00.000-05:00

(eng) So, just yesterday I was waiting in Union Station for my train back to Boston, and someone was playing with the text on the departure signs. Exclamation points, asterisks, spaces, extra letters, and even city names (Philadelphia disappeared from the list of stops briefly) were appearing and vanishing for a good half-hour. Whoever you are, wherever you are, I just wanted you to know that you made my day.

JLPT

2008-12-05T23:08:00.000-05:00

(eng) I will be gone until Monday, as I have the JLPT.

(jpn) 月曜日まだにここにいないよ、JLPTがあるから。

Canada Update

2008-12-04T14:27:00.000-05:00

(eng) Unfortunately, Governor General Michaëlle Jean has decided to prorogue parliament. This is, in my opinion pretty ridiculous, especially given that Harper's request was blatantly political and very definitely not in the best interests of the country. She could at least have given the opposition a chance to make its case. Fortunately, Harper won't be able to do much legislating in the meantime, but nonetheless, this is an upsetting turn of events.

(fra) Malheureusement, Gouverneure générale Michaëlle Jean a décidé de proroguer le parlement. Cela est, à mon avis, très ridicule, spécifiquement étant donné que le demande de Harper était complètement politique et définiment pas aux intéresses vraies du pays. Elle avait pu par mois donner à l'opposition un chance de dire son avis. Heureusement, Harper ne pourra pas bien légiférer pendant ce temps, mais pourtant, ceci est un évènement navrant.

Au Canada

2008-12-03T18:04:00.000-05:00

(fra) Deux choses que j'aime sur le Canada.

Les universités canadiennes. Hier soir je suis allé à une session d'informations sur des universités canadiennes. J'ai parlé avec un représentant de l'Université de Montréal (son accent québécois m'a plu beaucoup), un représentant de l'Université de Toronto (qui offre plus langues que tous les universités à l'Amérique du Nord, apparemment), et en bref aux représentant du Collège Bishop's (avec qui mon père parlait—ça ne m'intéresse pas beaucoup) et de l'Université Laval (à qui je n'avais pas pensé devant, mais maintenant...). Laval offre des programmes d'immersion français pendant l'été, quelque chose qui m'intéresse beaucoup: c'est situé au Québec (la Capitale), c'est longue (cinq semaines), et je serais avec des autres gens à mon âge, quelque chose que ça fait longtemps que j'ai voulu. J'étais un peu étonné que ni McGill ni Acadia n'était là, parce que j'aurais aimé leur parler. Peut-être qu'on (ma famille et moi) va au Canada pour visiter des Collèges cet été.
La bonté des gens canadiens, en général. Bien qu'il n'y ait pas eu beaucoup des étudiants américains (un ami et moi), les canadiens étaient tous très sympas. Le représentant du Collège Bishop's m'a recommendé l'Université de Toronto et aussi l'Université de Montréal—c'était un peu triste (il semblait de savoir que personne n'irait lui parler—c'est une université miniscule), mais c'était bien agréable. Aussi, le représentant de l'Université de Montréal m'a parlé en français pour que je puisse pratiquer (mon père y était allé le matin, donc il leur avait déjà parlé pour expliquer tout ceci). Les représentants de l'Université Laval (que ma prof de français a assisté, il semble) ont aidé mon père, et ils semblaient d'être sympas aussi. Enfin, le fonctionnaire du consulat canadien m'a donné son carte d'affaires pour que je puisse lui envoyer un e-mail si je voulais savoir plus sur l'université au Canada.
Les partis de gauche au Canada ont décidé d'essayer de battre Stephen Harper et les Conservateurs: les Libérals, le Bloc Québécois, et le Parti des Nouveaux Démocrates. Ils veulent former une coalition de majorité. Moi, j'aime tout parlementaire, et surtout les élections, bien que je comprenne qu'autre élection cette année serait un peu...ennuyant.

Ceux-là sont mes pensées sur le Canada pour ce soir.

Le chanson du jour, c'est «Dondaine», pas Mes Aïeux.

Vous pouvez voir un vidéo de meilleur qualité sur le site Web de Mes Aïeux.

Édité: j'aime (platoniquement) la violoniste de Mes Aïeux. Elle est si sérieuse—ça me plaît beaucoup.

Je suis sur YouTube

2008-12-02T22:44:00.000-05:00

(fra) Me voici. Je me rends compte dont je semble un peu ennuyant, mais je vous dis que ce n'est pas vrai en réalité!

ブログをするときだよ！

2008-11-30T14:56:00.000-05:00

(jpn) 日本語でブログをするときだよ。私は日本語をちょっと勉強したことがある。JLPTは来週の日曜日だから、勉強しなければならない。それから、日本語でブログをしようと思った。それから、ここだ。じゃ、三年で(に？)日本語をべんきょうするよ。きょうしつはボストンの言語学（BLI）校にあって、学生は五人いる。きょうしつはとてもおもしろいよ。

学生一人はサラさん。サラさんはペルシア語やイタリア語をBLIへ来る前に勉強した。サラさんはとてもうれしいだが、今くびだ。あたまがとてもいい。

学生二人はシルリさん。じっさいかよ。じっさいかよ。文法のぎが好きだから、日本語はとてもふくざつ。多いべつ物があるよ！

学生三人はマルコさん。かれは俗語の日本語をよく話せる、そしてとてもいいかおんがある。日本のおかしい飲み物をのむ。

学生四人はクレイグさん。クレイグさんは私の町にはたらく。かれはちょっとしずかよ。もう話して、クレイグさん！

じゃあ、ポストを書くのおわる。じゃまた！

Snow

2008-11-29T16:21:00.000-05:00

(eng) I was in Vermont until about noon today, and it was snowing there, even as we were driving away. I cannot understate how much I love snow. My day was made right then.

(fra) J'ai été en Vermont jusqu'à 12h00 aujourd'hui, et il neigeait là, même quand on chassait. Je ne peux pas minimiser combien j'aime le neige. La journée était rendue heureuse juste là.

A Rousseauvian Perspective

2008-11-29T12:55:00.000-05:00

(eng) Besides the other things illegitimizing our government (namely the lack of citizen-based legislative initiative, among other things), as far as Rousseau is concerned, the government of California will be null and void as soon as it accepts Proposition 8 as law. As soon as the government ceases to make general laws (illegalizing murder, e.g.) and starts to make particular laws (laws affecting only part of the community, e.g. illegalizing gay marriage), it dissolves itself.

Just a thought.

(fra) À l'autre côté des autres choses qui illégitiment notre gouvernement (comme suit le manque d'initiative législative basée sur les citoyens, entre autres choses), en ce qui concerne Rousseau, le gouvernement de Californie sera nul et non avenu aussitôt qu'il accepte Proposition 8 comme une loi. Aussitôt que le gouvernement arrête de faire des lois génerales (illégalisant le meutre, e.g.) et commence de faire des lois particulières (lois qui n'affectent qu'une seule partie de la communauté, e.g. illégalisant le marriage homosexuel), il commence de se dissoudre.

Juste une pensée.

India

2008-11-26T17:33:00.000-05:00

(eng) Coordinated terrorist attacks in the city of Mumbai (Bombay), India have killed about 78 people and wounded almost 200. Shooting continues, the head of anti-terrorism in the city has been killed, and the shooters have been seeking out people with British and US passports. Hostages have been taken and are being held in the Taj Mahal Hotel and the Hotel Oberoi, and smoke is coming out of the Taj Mahal Hotel.

This is probably related to the situation in Kashmir, and a fundamentalist Islamic group has already claimed responsibility, although apparently there's still some doubt as to whether that group is actually responsible.

This is bad in so many ways. Bad, bad, bad. More as more comes.

ETA

2008-11-17T20:08:00.000-05:00

(eng) Based on the BBC articles here, here, and here.

The suspected head of ETA's military branch was arrested today in France. This comes a just less than six months after the arrest in May of the senior ETA commander. While I am very much a supporter of the Basque independence movement (smaller states are, after all, easier to govern fairly and to deal with in general, and they are often less likely—with a few notable exceptions—to be terribly warlike; a Rousseauvian democracy is easier to implement with smaller populations, as well), I am never a fan of violence when nonviolence will serve just as well. Two examples spring to mind.

First is the already-present popular movement within the Basque territories which has recently been agitating increasingly for independence. The Basque Nationalist Party, which currently holds the presidency of the Basque Country autonomous community in Spain, called for a referendum to gauge support for independence. The referendum was, unsurprisingly, ruled illegal by the Spanish Supreme Court, prompting widespread protests and clashes of words between regional president Juan José Ibarretxe and national prime minister José Luis Zapatero. This movement represents the potential of nonviolent and diplomatic means to gain support. In contrast, ETA has never been able to gain enough popular support to seriously challenge the established governments of either France or Spain in their rule over Basqueland.

Second is the ever-ready example of India. I seem to use this a lot—it showed up in the current event I posted here, as well as in several others that I wrote and an essay for that same class about the rise and fall of the British Empire. At any rate, Mahatma Gandhi's principles of nonviolent resistance to British rule, though they provoked violence in response, eventually proved extremely effective in bringing about the end of British governance in India. Rather than resorting to the kind of terrorism that ETA has become infamous for, Gandhi and the Indian National Congress used nonviolent methods to create a mass movement and were eventually successful in winning their independence.

To the more general issue of the Spanish government's unwillingness to compromise on this issue, I have this to say: give it up. This is what I would tell the leaders of the Serbian government as well. Essentially, as long as the newly-independent state will be able to effectively support itself, create a functional government, and be generally a good citizen of the international community, I support its independence.

To the concerns of federalists in Spain who foresee the sudden dissolution of the Spanish state: I think you will find there is not as much need for concern as you might think. Unlike, for example, the United Kingdom, which would probably fall apart relatively quickly if Scotland were to declare independence (in my opinion—I have done no extensive research on this), Italy's rampant regional divides, or the fairly legitimate concerns raised about Québec's secession from Canada, Spain stands to lose at most two of its regions, for one simple reason. The only places that have vastly different cultures and traditions, let alone a serious wish for independence, are Basque Country and Catalonia. Both already have a high degree of autonomy within the framework of the Spanish government. Both have strong internal cultures that separate them from their neighbors, most strongly focused on their linguistic differences. Catalan is in fact closer to French than to Spanish, and Basque is unrelated to any known language.

I realize that I have diverged significantly here from my initial topic of the ETA, so I'll wrap up by quickly addressing the one current example of a newly-independent state that fulfills my qualifications for supporting its independence: Kosovo. Kosovars are united by a strong ethnic identity. They have suffered through decades of oppression, and they want nothing more than to demonstrate their ability to function independently of Serbian rule. Having benefited from the goodwill of the international community, there is no reason whatsoever for them to waste that by suddenly turning into some kind of rogue state (the idea of a state as small as Kosovo being "rogue" is almost laughable in and of itself, although now that I've written that I'm sure it'll be the headline on the BBC tomorrow).

There you have it: the will for independence and the drive for self-sufficiency, the ability and will to create a functional government, and a debt to the international community to encourage global good citizenship. That situation is similarly present in Basque Country, not in the ETA but in the PNV and the general population which supports nonviolent independence with the consent of the Spanish government.

Those are my random musings for the night, as well as possibly my Honors presentation about a current event.

Also!

2008-11-11T21:57:00.001-05:00

(eng) Also: it's Armstice Day. The War to End All Wars ended at 11:00 a.m. today, 90 years ago.

Proposition 8

2008-11-11T21:15:00.001-05:00

(eng) If you live in California, I urge you to sign this petition protesting Proposition 8.

(esp) Si vivís en California, pido que firméis esta petición que protesta contra Proposición 8.

Torchwood

2008-11-09T16:32:00.000-05:00

(eng) I just finished watching Torchwood, Series 2. It has now cemented its position as the most epic television program of all time. It beats Doctor Who by many miles.

I was about to cry at the end of the last episode. Doctor Who is fantastic, but it has never been as human as Torchwood is in every episode.

(fra) Je viens de finir de regarder Torchwood, Série 2. Il est maintenant complètement devenu le programme de télévision le plus épique de tous. Il bat Doctor Who par beaucoup de miles.

J'ai presque pleuré au fin de l'épisode final. Doctor Who est fantastique, mais il n'a jamais été aussi humain que Torchwood est dans chaque épisode.

Election Day

2008-11-04T07:11:00.000-05:00

(eng) If you can vote, please do.

(fra) Si vous pouvez voter, allez-y.

Videos

2008-11-01T22:57:00.000-04:00

(eng) I've just recorded two videos of me playing the violin. I'd like to upload them to YouTube, but I'm unsure as to how copyright would apply: one is an arrangement of a Fauré piece (the arrangement copyright Last Resort Music, Inc.) and the other is "Petite Rêve II" by Le Vent du Nord (copyright presumably also held by them). I'm pretty sure posting the second would be copyright-infringing, but I'm not sure about the first. If anyone has any insight, I'd appreciate it.

I'm going to see about getting in touch with Le Vent du Nord to find out about "Petit Rêve II"—I happen to think I played it not badly—not amazingly by any stretch, but not badly—, and I'd like people to see it.

(fra) Je viens d'enregistrer deux vidéos de moi jouant le violon. Je voudrais les télécharger sur YouTube, mais je ne suis pas sûr de comment le droit d'auteur s'y appliquerait: une est un arrangement d'une chanson de Fauré (l'arrangement est le droit d'auteur de Last Resort Music, Inc.) et l'autre est «Petite Rêve II» par Le Vent du Nord (droit d'auteur sans doute à lui aussi). Je crois que la deuxième serait en violation du droit d'auteur, mais je ne suis pas sûr de la première. Si quelqu'un a un aperçu, je l'apprécierais.

Je vais essayer de contacter Le Vent du Nord pour apprendre sur «Petite Rêve II»—moi, je crois que je ne l'ai pas mal jouée—pas extraodinairement, bien sûr, mais pas mauvaisement—, et je voudrais que des gens puissent le regarder.

The Darjeeling Limited

2008-11-01T21:20:00.000-04:00

(eng) What a bizarre, yet oddly touching and heartwarming, film. It's about three brothers who go off to travel around India, partly as a voyage to rediscover themselves, partly to locate their mother, who's been missing for a year. It's...quite good, but extremely odd. Not a movie to watch passively, but definitely worth watching.

(fra) Quel bizarre, mais bizarrement attendrissant et réconfortant, film. Il traite sur trois frères qui vont parcourir Inde, en partie comme un voyage pour se rédécouvrir, en partie pour encontrer leur mère, qui leur a manqué pendant un ans. Il est...très bon, mais extrêmement bizarre. Pas un film pour voir passivement, mais il vaut sans aucun doute le regarder.

(esp) Qué extraña, pero extrañamente enternecedora y alentadora, película. Trata la historia de tres hermanos que van a viajar por India, en parte como un viaje para redesucubrirse, en parte para localizar su madre, que les ha faltado durante un año. Es...muy buena, pero sumamente extraña. No es una película para ver pasivamente, pero indudablemente vale mirarla.

Epic Awesome

2008-10-29T22:20:00.001-04:00

Also, Poetry

2008-10-28T21:30:00.000-04:00

(eng) Also, a poem: "The Wayfarer", by Stephen Crane.

The wayfarer
Perceiving the pathway to truth
Was struck with astonishment.
It was thickly grown with weeds.
"Ha," he said,
"I see that none has passed here
In a long time."
Later he saw that each weed
Was a singular knife.
"Well," he mumbled at last,
"Doubtless there are other roads."

Je me présente...

2008-10-28T21:04:00.000-04:00

(gla) ...sa' Ghàidhlig. 'S mise Sectori, agus tha mi às na Stàitean Aonaichte. Tha mi a' fuireach ann am Massaiteusait. Tha mi seachd deug bliadhna a dh'aois. Tha mi ag iarraidh a' Ghàidhlig, an Fhrangais, an Spàinnis, an t-Siaponais (?), a' Ghotais, agus an Eadailtis. 'S toil leam na cànanan. Chan eil mi ag obair—tha mi a' dol dhan sgoil. Tha trì cait agam.

(fra) Ack! J'ai utilisé tous les bons couleurs! Je vais réutiliser l'orange.

Évenement current

2008-10-26T21:16:00.000-04:00

(eng) Every week I have to write about a current event for my history class, in the context of one of our twelve "essential questions". I'm going to post them here. This one's not as good as they usually are.

Nationalism often plays a significant role in any revolution. While revolutions often begin in response to political or economic problems, they can only continue when the general population supports them. The easiest way to get support for a revolution is to draw on pre-existing nationalistic tendencies. Revolutions are even better facilitated when the population does not need much stirring. Colonies, individual nations within multinational states, and the like are easy starting points for revolutions. Examples of nationalist revolutions can be seen throughout history, and they have historically been very effective in gathering popular support for a revolutionary movements.

April 1916: the Easter Uprising in Ireland. Irish nationalists took over the Dublin post office, declared a Republic, held out for three days under British artillery bombardment, and then surrendered. This was the culmination of a long series of events, beginning with nonviolent protests against British rule, eventually leading to this violent uprising when the British indifference drove enough of the Irish populace to join this uprising. Although it was quickly suppressed, it was too late. The Irish were already behind the revolution, and the British were forced to concede, creating the Irish Free State. In 1948, thirty-two years later, the Republic of Ireland was formed, the product of this nationalist revolutionary movement.

The Indian National Congress in India was inspired both by the example of the Irish Free State and by the popular uprisings in India in the preceeding years. The Indian revolution began similarly to the Irish revolution, with nonviolent protests against British rule. The British, again overreacting, meeting nonagression with force, used violence to suppress the protests, eventually leading to a mass uprising. The Indian people found martyrs, and in having martyrs found motivation to rise up to overthrow the British. Just as in the case of Ireland, Indian nationalism fueled the growth of the Indian revolution. The British were forced to make concessions, and eventually, though not until after much struggle, the Indian National Congress secured independence for India.

Since the rise of Francisco Franco's fascist dictatorship in Spain, the Basques in the northeast part of Spain have agitated for independence from what they see as a central government largely indifferent to their culture and concerns. Recently, the Basque Nationalist Party, which governs the region had planned to hold a referendum on independence. Spain's Supreme Court declared the referendum illegal, prompting widespread protests. Nationalism in the Basque region has always been fairly high, but never before has it reached the threshold it now approaches. The nationalist fervor that has for many years failed to come behind the ETA (a Basque nationalist terrorist organization) now seems poised to rise up in support of the legitimate regional government. It will be necessary to see whether the Spanish response will parallel the British response to India and Ireland.

In conclusion, while revolutions can begin without nationalism behind them, they rarely continue that way outside of extraordinary circumstances. An uprising without popular support is bound to fail, but one that gets the support of the entire population behind it stands a strong chance of some success. Ireland's Easter Uprising led eventually to the independence of that country as the Republic of Ireland. India's revolution resulted in the same. The current popular movement in the Basque Region in Spain is a nationalist movement on the rise. It remains to be seen whether or not it will be as successful as the others.

Paris, je t'aime

2008-10-25T23:23:00.000-04:00

(eng) Last night, we watched a fantastic movie, Paris, je t'aime. It's a collection of eighteen five-or-so-minute stories, each telling a story about love, each set in one of Paris's arrondissements. It runs the gamut of emotions, from ridiculous laughter (Tour Eiffel), to sadness (6e), to odd amusement (Père-Lachaise), to hope (Quais de Seine), to nostalgia (14e), all including love in some way. The stories are expertly woven together, and the movie is excellent. If you haven't seen it, you must as soon as possible.

(fra) Hier soir, on a regardé un film fantastique, Paris, je t'aime. C'est une collection de dix-huit histoires de cinq-ou-quelque-chose-ainsi minutes, chacune disante une histoire de l'amour, chacune située dans un des arrondissements de Paris. Il parcourt toutes les émotions humaines, de rires ridiculeux (Tour Eiffel), à la tristesse (6e), à l'amusement bizarre (Père-Lachaise), à l'espoir (Quais de Seine), à la nostalgie (14e), y compris l'amour en quelque manière. Les histoires sont très bien enlacées, et le film est excellent. Si vous ne l'avez vu, vous devez aussitôt que possible.

(esp) Anoche, miramos una película fantástica, Paris, je t'aime. Es una colección de dieciocho historias de cinco-o-algo-así minutos, cada una diciendo una historia del amor, cada una situada en uno de los distritos de Paris. Trata todas las emociones humanas, de risas ridiculosas (Tour Eiffel), a la tristez (6e), a la distracción rara (Père-Lachaise), a la esperanza (Quais de Seine), a la nostalgia (14e), todas incluyendo el amor en alguna manera. Las historias son muy bien entretejadas, y la película es excelente. Si no la habéis visto, debéis tan pronto como posible.

BBC

2008-10-24T13:44:00.000-04:00

(eng) The British Broadcasting Corporation is one of the most wonderful things on the planet. I'm currently listening to the World Service radio (which can be heard free via its website), and the sheer diversity of listeners, contributors, and the overall volume of stories that it easily available reaffirm my belief that autonomous publicly-funded media is a Good Thing.

Basically, it's having callers from all over the world talking about the economic crisis at the moment. There's a caller from Pune, India, a small business-owner from the UK, and it's had people from everywhere: Massachusetts, Singapore—you name it.

(fra) La Corporation Anglaise de la Radiodiffusion est une des meilleures choses sur la planète. Je suis en traîn d'écouter le Service Mondiale sur le radio (que l'on peut écouter sur sa lien), et la grande diversité d'écouteurs, contribueurs, et la grande quantité d'histoires qu'il a facilement disponible réaffirme ma conviction que les médias autonomes publiquement-financées sont une Bonne Chose.

Basiquement, elle reçoit des appels du monde entière sur le crise économique au moment. Il y a un appeleur de Pune, Inde, un petite entreprise-propriétaire du RU, et il a eu des gens de partout: Massachusetts, Singapore—tu le cites.

(got) So Agglika Galisana Utandiqiþandis ist áina þizo batizons waíhte ana þo aírþa. Ik háusja þata Andbahti Aírþos ana þo radio (ei mag ana izos waíbseit gaháusiþ wisan), jah so mikilo missaqiss háusje, anaáukje, jah so mikil þraíhn spille sijei azete habáiþ tulgjand mein ragin þáiei gahabáidins sik andáugjofraguldanos spillmannins sind áina Goda Waíhts.

Anafalþe, andnimiþ sumans hropans þizos fullons aírþos ana þana aíkonomisk krisja nu. Ist wopjis af Pune, Indja, áina leitilo galisana-habáinda af þis ÞG (þiudangardi gagatiloþs), jah was þize mannins af alláim stadim: Massatjusett, Siggapor—namnjis ƕata wileis.

Moar internetz

2008-10-23T13:19:00.000-04:00

(fra) Si magnifique! (<—Cliquez là.)

Más xkcd

2008-10-23T09:35:00.001-04:00

(esp) Aquí. (<— Cliquead ahí.)

A' Ghàidhlig vs. Y Gymraeg

2008-10-20T22:00:00.000-04:00

(eng) This is the dilemma I've come up against a couple times in my endeavors to learn a Celtic language: do I want to learn Scottish Gaelic or Welsh? The former is the language of my ancestors, but the latter has a much wider body of both literature and speakers. I mean, the Gàidhealtachdan in Scotland and Canada are pretty small, but Y Fro Gymraeg in Wales encompasses to varying degrees almost the entire region. On the other, hand the closest Welsh-speaking area is Wales, vs. the (admittedly small) Maritime Gàidhealtachd in Nova Scotia. Both have cool parent languages (Middle Welsh and Old Irish are both made of awesome). I guess something that might sway the decision would be Irish, which interests me more than either Breton or Cornish (possibly more than both put together, at least as far as learning goes), and would be fairly easily accessible through Scottish Gaelic.

Meh.

The song of the day is "J'traîne des pieds", by Olivia Ruiz.

xkcd

2008-10-20T21:41:00.000-04:00

(eng) I feel like this sometimes.

(fra) Je me sens comme ça de temps en temps.

(esp) Me siento como esto a veces.

(ita) Qualche volte mi sento come questo.

(deu) Ich fühle mich so bisweilen.

Des nouvelles chansons

2008-10-19T23:12:00.001-04:00

(eng) Some new songs I got today:

"J'traîne des pieds" — Olivia Ruiz
"Anything Goes" — John Barrowman from Torchwood :O (yes, both he and the song does deserve that emoticon)
"Tourne en on" — Mes Aïeux
"Hier Naby Jou" — Nicholis Louw
"Rock Daai Lyfie" — Nicholis Louw

(fra) Des nouvelles chansons que j'ai obtenu aujourd'hui: voyez-les au-dessus.

(deu) Einige neue Liede, dass ich habe heute gekauft: sie seht ihr oben.

(ita) Qualcune nuove canzoni che ho comprato oggi: vedile sopra.

(esp) Algunas nuevas canciones que compré hoy: velos (ved-los, ¿no?) encima.

Musique

2008-10-19T00:16:00.000-04:00

(eng) Music. Songs I like, and an open request for recommendations. I realize that really only one person reads this, but if anyone else sees this and has suggestions, I'd be happy to hear them. I'm going to give "Song Name" — Artist (Language). These are some songs I like that are available on YouTube.

"Hier Naby Jou" — Nicholis Louw (Afrikaans)
"Rock Daai Lyfie" — Nicholis Louw (Afrikaans)
"Le rai c'est chic" — Cheb Mami (French)
"Mon amie la rose" — Françoise Hardy (French)
"Mademoiselle Juliette" — Alizée (French) ("J'en ai marre" is OK, too)
"La femme chocolat" — Olivia Ruiz (French)
"My Baby Loves a Bunch of Authors" — Moxy Früvous (English)
"River Valley" — Moxy Früvous (English)
"Life Less Ordinary" — Carbon Leaf (English)
"Birdhouse in Your Soul" — They Might Be Giants (English)
"Dégénérations" — Mes Aïeux (French)
"Dondaine" — Mes Aïeux (French)
"Tunak Tunak Tun" — Daler Mehndi (Punjabi)
"In a Lifetime" — Clannad (English)
"Seanchas" — Clannad (Irish)
"Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World" — Israel Kamakawiwo'ole (English)
"Henehene Kou'aka" — Israel Kamakawiwo'ole (Hawaiian)
"Partons Vite" — Kaolin (French)
"Green Eggs and Ham" — Moxy Früvous (English)
"La Lettre" — Renan Luce (French)

I'm especially looking for music not in English, and even more especially in any of the languages I've blogged in here, or in Welsh.

Nessun Legga

2008-10-14T21:48:00.000-04:00

(eng) No-one reads or comments here, except Leah, sometimes. It saddens me.

(ita) Nessuno legge ni fa commenti su qui, tranne Leah, qualche volta. Mi rattrista.

(fra) Personne ne lit ni commente ici, sauf Leah, de temps en temps. Ça m'attriste.

(esp) Nadie lee ni comenta aquí, salvo Leah, a veces. Me entristece.

(deu) Niemand lest noch kommentiert hier, bis auf Leah, bisweilen. Es betrübt mich.

(eng—again) In other news, I think I'm going to try to pick up another language...I don't know which one. Probably a Celtic language.

The song of the day is going to be more Afrikaans techno-pop, still from Nicholis Louw: "Ek Wonder". Yay, '80s-techno-reminiscent music!

Gothic Emo Poetry

2008-10-13T20:11:00.000-04:00

(eng) It turns out that it's difficult not to write emo poetry in Gothic (i.e., when writing poetry in Gothic, it is difficult to not have it be emo). I give you two examples, in yellow.

At marein ik, mitands ju
þatei aflifnáiþ
Himma daga driusa ik
in þana áiw
Alja ahwa, all usláiþ
ik skal afgaggan

This I wrote on the beach. It's roughly in an Old Irish verse pattern. A relatively free translation:

"I am at the ocean, considering now
that which remains
Today I fall into eternity
into eternity
Except the water, all has gone away
now I must leave."

It's very post-apocalyptic, and I like it in a kind of twisted way. Poem #2 was written for my school literary magazine's haiku contest:

Þái láibos driusand
Jah wintrus wileiþ qiman
Allos usliþun

The leaves are falling
And the winter is coming
All has gone away

It's not a very good haiku, but I wrote it mostly to amuse myself, and I succeeded in that. A better haiku I wrote last year, which made it into the Spring issue of the magazine:

"Shells"
(for lack of a better title)

Waves break on a beach.
Sunlight glints on silver shells,
Reflecting rainbows.

I especially like the alliteration on the last line—it makes it more memorable.

The song of the day is more Afrikaans techno-pop, this time from Nicholis Louw: "Hier Naby Jou".

Review: City of Ember

2008-10-12T22:13:00.000-04:00

(eng) City of Ember, by Jeanne DuPrau, is an excellent bit of children's post-apocalyptic fiction (yes) that was recently made into a movie, released this Friday. The book is excellent. If you have not read it, I certainly recommend it to you. The movie is also very good, and I'm primarily going to write about that.

Firstly, plot. The movie was well-paced, had just the right amounts of action and drama given what it was based on, and stayed generally faithful to the book. The two complaints I would have would be the mole and the prologue. The addition of the mole was pointless and added nothing to the plot of the movie. The prologue gave everything away at the beginning, instead of letting them figure it out over the course of the movie. On the other hand, the prologue was much more accessible than it would have been otherwise, so I guess I can't really complain. I'm not going to give any spoilers here, just a general review.

Secondly, the setting. The people who made this deserve much credit for their work. The city was perfect, conveying the sense of oldness, disrepair, and general about-to-fall-apart vibes. The costumes were excellent, perfectly showing the frayed-ness that one would expect under the circumstances. The lighting was perfect, especially for the blackouts: having a few seconds of pitch-black on screen was a bold move that payed off, and the decision to then lighten up enough to see at a basic level was well-made. The sounds were well-chosen, exactly what one would expect from a city powered by a gigantic hydroelectric generator.

Thirdly, the cast. All of the actors were very good; kudos in particular to Saoirse Ronan, who is 14 years old at present and did an excellent job as Lina Mayfleet. I have very little to complain about in the area of casting, except that it would have been nice if Harry Treadaway (aged 24), as Doon Harrow, had been a bit closer to her age—the difference showed. However, Ronan held her own, and all in all the cast did a wonderful job. Bill Murray played the mayor perfectly, and Martin Landau was wonderful in the role of Sul, Doon's absentminded mentor. Also noteworthy was Tim Robbins as Loris Harrow. He was on the Daily Show recently promoting the movie, and he performed excellently.

To all those critics who say the film lacked action, you're idiots. That's not the point. The point is to show, and very well, a civilization in its dying days, and its one chance at rebirth. It's not about action. It's about the world as we know it, and what happens after.

Imparando l'italiano

2008-10-11T17:54:00.000-04:00

(ita) Ho comminciato di studiare l'italiano, con alcuni amici della scuola. Mi piace questa lingua: penso che è bella, e sono felice di potere impararla. È necessario che io studii il vocabolario, perché già so bene la grammatica: è molto simile al mio conlang, carune, di che vi ho parlato.

Ma, ho una domanda: i plurali dei nomi in -co, -go. Sono -ci, -gi o -chi, -ghi? Il libro dice le due. Non dice che cambiano (e dice che il plurale di «amico» è «amici»), ma usa «laghi» come il plurale di «lago». Mi confonde un po'.

Le canzoni del giorno sono «Hookai stop die Lorrie», per Ray Dylan (afrikaans), e «Ça me vexe», per Mademoiselle K. La canzone afrikaans mi irrita, perché è molto simile all'inglese, ma non posso capirlo.

Mon ami, John McCain

2008-10-08T22:02:00.000-04:00

(eng) It seems that John McCain is actually my friend. Who knew? I've never met him, but that didn't seem to stop him from addressing me, friend to friend, most every time he spoke in last night's debate. Can I visit you during the summer, John? (I assume I can call you John, since we're friends.)

Since variety is the spice of life, I'm going to have a book of the day today: The Dark is Rising, by Susan Cooper, one of my favorite series of all time. Will Stanton is one of the characters with whom I identify most in pretty much any book I've read.

(fra) Il apparaît que John McCain soit vraiment mon ami. Qui savait? Je ne l'ai jamais encontré, mais ça ne l'a pas arrêté de me parler, ami à ami, quasiment chaque fois qu'il parla pendant le débat hier soir. Peux-je te visiter pendant l'été, John ? (Je suppose que je peux t'appeler John—et aussi te tutoyer—, parce qu'on est amis.)

Car la diversité est le sel de la vie, j'aurai aujourd'hui un livre du jour: The Dark is Rising, par Susan Cooper, un série que je préfère au plupart que j'ai lu.

(esp) Parece que John McCain sea de verdad mi amigo. ¿Quién sabía? No lo he nunca encontrado, pero eso no lo impidió de hablarme, amigo a amigo, casi cada vez que habló en el debate anoche. ¿Puedo visitarte durante el verano, John? (Suspecho que puedo llamarte John—y también tutearte—, porque somos amigos.)

Porque la variedad es la sal de la vida, tengo hoy un libro del día: The Dark is Rising, por Susan Cooper, un serie que me encanta sobre casi todos que he leído.

My birthday

2008-10-05T21:00:00.000-04:00

(eng) My birthday was on Friday. I got an iPhone.

(fra) Mon anniversaire a été vendredi. J'ai reçu un iPhone. (Muahaha: passé simple: "...anniversaire fut vendredi...Je reçus un...". Je l'aime beaucoup.)

(esp) Mi cumpleaños fue el viernes. Recibí un iPhone.

Rousseau sur la religion

2008-09-24T18:35:00.000-04:00

(eng) So, I just finished The Social Contract a few minutes ago, and I thought I'd share the one point where I disagreed with Rousseau—sort of. The second-to-last chapter of the book is "The Civil Religion" (book IV, chapter 8), in which Rousseau sets forth his view of the place of religion in society. I agree with most of what he says until he gets to the point of the civil institution of religion, near the very end. He proposes the following tenets for said institution:

the existence of an omnipotent, intelligent, benevolent divinity that foresees and provides;
the life to come;
the happiness of the just;
the punishment of sinners;
the sanctity of the social contract and the law;
no intolerance

While I do like the inclusion of the last point (though it seems oddly-phrased: simply "tolerance" might be preferable), the first four seem to me quite out-of-place. Rousseau first praises the early pagans for their general tolerance and the understanding that the jurisdiction of their gods extended only as far as the edge of their lands, criticizes the religious establishment of Christianity, then proposes institutionalized religion—not any specific religion, but a new merging of religion and state; he goes on to allow that any religion that is tolerant can and must be tolerated.

My disagreement is as follows: I don't see the need that Rousseau seems to for an institutional religion. As I see it, all he really wants is a way to legitimize the authority of the sovereign, the contract, and the laws in the eyes of the citizens, and I think that that is possible to do without a religion of state. I suppose basically what I disagree with is his assessment of the religion of the man as being essentially at odds with the state, for one main reason: he claims that a true follower of any religion, at the personal level, cares nothing for this life, only for the next, so long as he is generally pious and good. Therefore, Rousseau claims, this person has no interest in the affairs of state. I'm inclined to disagree, though I would not be able to argue it so eloquently as he. I don't think that the establishment of a civic religion, especially one with tenets that contradict numerous world religions (a single god, an afterlife, a foreseeing god, etc.), would lead to the civic engagement that he thinks necessary, nor do I think that any such arrangement is necessary: I think that the interests of the religious person, provided that person's religion is a tolerant one, which, Rousseau believes, should be the only ones permitted, should almost always coincide with the general will of any just state. Where they conflict and the particular will of the individual seems likely to overrule the general will, it is time for a compromise between the two wills. Any particular will that opposes the general will threatens the general will's integrity as a whole, so it is the responsibility of the general will to compromise with the particular will in these cases, in my opinion, to ensure the continuance of the state and the contract.

Basically, if the general will and a particular will come into conflict, the contract is threatened unless either the particular will chooses to submit (possible, but unlikely) or the general will compromises with the particular will. Forcing the particular will is not an option, because doing so would dissolve the contract.

Anyway, that's what I think. I don't think I articulated it very well. But besides that, I loved Rousseau's philosophy. Continue with your days.

(fra) Puis, J'ai juste fini Le Contrait Social, ça fait des minutes, et je pensais que je vous dirais la seule chose dont je ne suis pas d'accord avec Rousseau—plus ou moins. Le chapitre avant-dernier du livre est "La Religion Civile" (livre IV, chapitre 8), dans que Rousseau donne son avis de la place de la religion dans la société. Je suis d'accord avec plutôt de ce qu'il dit jusqu'il arrive au point de l'institution civile de la religion, presqu'au fin. Il propose les doctrines suivantes pur cette institution:

l'existence d'un dieu omnipotent, intelligent, bienveillant qui prévoit et provide;
la vie qui vient;
la felicité des justes;
le punissement des pécheurs;
la sanctité du contrait social et du loi;
pas d'intolérance

Bien que j'aime que le point final soit inclus (bien qu'il apparaisse étrangement-écrit: simplement "tolérance" y serait peut-être mieux), les premiers quatre m'apparaissent étranges. Pour commencer, Rousseau loue les premiers paganes pour sa tolerance génerale et le comprension que la jurisdiction des dieux agrandissait seulement jusqu'aux frontières de leurs terres, criticise l'établissement chrétien, et puis propose la religion institutionalisé—pas de religion spéciale, mais une nouvelle combination de religion et d'état; il continue en disant que quelque religion qui est tolérante peut être et doit être tolérée.

Mon désaccord est le suivant: je ne vois pas la necessité que Rousseau voit pour une religion institutionale. Comme je le vois, tout ce qu'il veut est une manière pour légitimer l'autorité du souverain, du contrait, et des lois aux yeux de la population, et je crois qu'il est possible faire ça sans une religion d'état. Je crois basiquement ce que je ne suis pas d'accord est son appréciation de la religion de l'homme comme essentiellement contre l'état, pour une seule raison importante: il dit qu'un vrai disciple d'un religion au niveau personnel ne s'intéresse pas à ce vie, seulement pour la prochaine, aussi longtemps qu'il est pieux et bon. Donc, Rousseau dit, cette personne ne s'intéresse pas aux affaires d'état. Moi, je ne suis pas d'accord, bien que je ne pourrais le dire aussi éloquemment que lui. Ni ne crois-je que l'établissement d'une religion civique, spécifiquement une qui a des doctrines qui contredisent beaucoup des religions mondiales (ne qu'un seul dieu, un au-delà, un dieu qui prévoit, etc.), suivrait à l'engagement civique qu'il pense nécessaire, ni ne pense-je qu'un tel arrangement soit nécessaire: je crois que les intéresses d'une personne religieuse, donné sa religion est une tolérante, qui, Rousseau croit, doit être les seuls permis, doivent toujours coïncide avec la volonté génerale de l'état. Où ils sont en contradiction et la volonté particulière semble d'être au point d'annuler la génerale, il est le temps de compromettre entre les deux. Une volonté particulière qui oppose la volonté génerale menace l'intégrité de la volonté génerale entière, donc il faut que la volonté génerale compromette avec la particulière dans ces cas, à mon avis, pour assurer la continuance de l'état et du contrait.

Basiquement, si la volonté génerale et une volonté particulière sont en contradiction, le contrait est menacé, à moins que la particulière choisisse de soumettre (possible, mais peu probable) ou la génerale compromette avec la particulière. Forcer la particulière ne marche pas, parce que faire ça serait dissoudre le contrait.

Ben, c'est ça que je pense. Je ne crois pas que je l'aie dit bien. Mais sauf ça, j'aimais la philosphe de Rousseau. Continuez avec vos jours.

WWRD?

2008-09-24T10:38:00.000-04:00

(eng) WWRD? = What Would [Jean-Jacques] Rousseau Do?

I have found a large number of situations where Rousseau's philosophy is easily applicable, but never when people who have read him are present. Reminded of the Ethics class at the summer program where I studied logic, I have decided to write on my hand the note you see above: WWRD?

The Ethics class had "WWKD?", i.e. "What Would Kant Do?".

(fra) WWRD? = Quoi Ferait [Jean-Jacques] Rousseau? (en français: "QFR?")

J'ai trouvé beaucoup de situations où la philosophe de Rousseau serait facilement appliquée, mais jamais quand des gens qui l'ont lu y sont. Rappelé de la classe d'Ethique au programme d'été où j'ai étudié le logique, j'ai décidé d'écrire dans ma main la note que vous voyez au-dessus: WWRD?

La classe d'Ethique avait "WWKD", i.e. "Quoi Ferait Kant?" (en français: "QFK?").

Nostalgia

2008-09-20T22:14:00.000-04:00

(eng) Nostalgia, from Greek νόστος (home) and ἄλγος (pain), originally meant "homesickness", but now has changed to mean "longing for the past, particularly for a place associated with happiness". And I find that I am often stricken by it, sometimes rather acutely.

Where I feel it for varies. I am reminded of things all the time: CTY (the summer program where I studied Ancient Greek and Logic), my childhood, the time when The West Wing was still on TV. Sometimes I feel a kind of nostalgia for places and times that don't exist, in particular for books. Do you know the feeling where you finish a really excellent book, and you wish it could go on forever? That's a reason I read so much: to find books that make me feel that way. It's extremely fulfilling to get that much satisfaction out of a book, but at the same time it's painful in a very sad way.

Lately, the object of my nostalgia has been The Dark Lord of Derkholm, and its sequel, by Diana Wynne Jones. Excellent fantasy writer, hilarious without needing to go out of her way to do so, brilliant plots, well-written characters...it's excellent. All of her books are. So I just wanted to put it out there. Going to the University would be impossibly awesome.

The song of the day is "Mon amie la rose", by Françoise Hardy.

(fra) Nostalgie, du grec νόστος (maison) et ἄλγος (douleur), signifiait orginellement «mal du pays», mais maintenant a changé pour signifier «désire pour le passé, spécialement pour un lieu associé avec le bonheur». Et je trouve qu'il me vient souvent, de temps en temps très fort.

Le lieu pour que je le sens varie. Beaucoup des choses me rappellent des lieux: CTY (le programme d'été où j'ai étudié le grec ancien et le logique), mon enfance, le temps quand The West Wing était à la TV. De temps en temps je me sens une sorte de nostalgie pour des lieux et des temps qui n'existent pas, en particulier pour livres. Conaissez-vous le sentiment quand on finit un livre magnifique, et on veut qu'il puisse continuer pour toujours ? Ça, c'est une raison que je lis tant: pour encontrer livres qui me font sentir comme ça. C'est épanouissant, trouver telle satisfaction d'un livre, mais en même temps c'est très douloureux, dans une manière très triste.

Récemment, l'objet de ma nostalgie a été The Dark Lord of Derkholm, et sa suite, par Diana Wynne Jones. Ecrivaine excellente du fantastique, hilarante sans devoir travailler trop fort pour être ainsi, intrigues excellentes, charactères bien-écrits...c'est magnifique. Tous ses livres sont ça. Donc, je voulais l'y mettre. Aller à l'Université serait impossiblement génial.

La chanson du jour est «Mon amie la rose», par Françoise Hardy.

Memorandum

2008-09-16T19:30:00.000-04:00

(eng) Honorable Senators of the United States:

Greetings, and a message. Get to work. You easily have the ability to oppose the Republicans. Do so. Prevent the passing of legislation you do not like. Pass the legislation you like. At least show some life. You are aware, I hope, that you can filibuster legislation that the Republicans are planning to pass that you do not like. If you can't get everyone together for important votes, do so.

Thank you.

Further, because this nation, thank goodness, has no official language, I accompany this message with translations in French and Spanish

The song of the day is "Mademoiselle Juliette", by Alizée, a techno retelling, in French, of Romeo and Juliet, with an all-female "cast".

(fra) Sénateurs Honeurables des Etats-Unis:

Salutations, et un message. Commencez de travailler. Vous avez facilement le pouvoir d'opposer les Républicains. Faites ainsi. N'approuvez pas la legislation qui ne vous plaît pas. Approuvez la legislation qui vous plaît. Par moins soyez vivants. Vous savez, j'espère, que vous pouvez filibustier la legislation que les Républicains veulent approuver qui ne vous plaît pas. Si vous ne pouvez pas être tous là pour des votes importants, faites ainsi.

Merci.

En plus, parce que ce nation n'a, fortunement, aucune langue officielle, j'écris plus deux traductions, une anglaise et une espagnole.

La chanson du jour est "Mademoiselle Juliette", par Alizée, un conte de nouveau électronique, en français, de Romeo and Juliet, avec une "distribution" toute feminine.

(esp) Senadores honorables de los Estados Unidos:

Saludos, y un mensaje. Comenzad de trabajar. Tenéis fácilmente el poder de combatir los Republicanos. Haced así. No aprobéis la legislación que no os gusta. Aprobad la legislación que os gusta. Por lo menos sed vivos. Sabéis, espero, que podéis hacer una maniobra obstruccionista a la legislación que no los Republicanos quieren apobar que no queréis aprobar. Si no podéis todos estar ahí por votos importantes, haced así.

Gracias.

También, porque esta nación no tiene, suertemente, ninguna lenga oficial, escribo también traducciones en inglés y francés.

La canción del día es "Mademoiselle Juliette", por Alizée, un cuento de nuevo, en francés, de Romeo and Juliet, con un "reparto" todo feminino.

The Social Contract

2008-09-07T22:10:00.000-04:00

(eng) Today I started reading The Social Contract, by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. I highly recommend it. Basically, the book is Rousseau's conception of social contract theory, a political philosophy that I happen to like very much. The problem is, I'm reading it in English, and now I feel guilty for not reading it in French.

Oh, well. At least all of my views on the American political system are being validated by a philosopher from the 1700s.

The song of the day is "Paloma", by Carbon Leaf. Ignore the fact that that video is of the teenage mutant ninja turtles.

(fra) J'ai aujourd'hui commencé de lire Le Contrat Social, par Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Je le recommende bien. Basiquement, le livre est la conception de Rousseau de la théorie du contrat social, une philosophie politique qui me plaît beaucoup. Le problème est que je le lis en anglais, et maintenant je me sens coupable pour ne pas le lire en français.

Euh, ben. Par moins tous mes avis sur le système politique américain sont validés par un philosphe des années 1700s.

Le chanson du jour est "Paloma", par Carbon Leaf. Ignorez le fait que ce vidéo-là est sur les tortues ninjas mutantes adolescentes.

Time Constraints

2008-09-05T22:34:00.000-04:00

(eng) There is not enough time in the school year and/or the day. 24 hours is an insufficient number of hours, and 9 months too few to accomplish all the work that needs to be done in a year.

The song of the day is "My Baby Loves a Bunch of Authors", by Moxy Früvous.

(fra) Il n'y a pas tant de temps comme il faut dans l'année de l'école et/ou le jour. 24 heures ne sont pas sufficientes, et 9 mois n'est pas tantes pour accomplir tout ce qu'il faut faire dans un ans.

La chanson du jour est "My Baby Loves a Bunch of Authors", by Moxy Früvous.

(esp) No hay tanto tiempo como faltaría en un año de la escuela y/o el día. 24 horas no son suficientes, y 9 meses no son tantas para acomplir todo que falta en un año.

La canción del día es "My Baby Loves a Bunch of Authors", por Moxy Früvous.

También, un libro

2008-09-02T21:18:00.000-04:00

(eng) The Plain Janes, by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg, is at its most basic a story of growing up and struggling to adapt to a new environment. The book tells the story of "Main Jane" as she moves from Metro City (a metropolis seemingly reminiscent of Tokyo or New York) to suburbia following a terrorist bombing that occurred right next to where she was walking. It's a graphic novel, a quick read with appealing artwork and a fast-paced storyline—I highly recommend it at face value.

Delving deeper, the book addresses controversy surrounding issues of recovery, interpersonal relationships, and even art. What could be controversial about art? I'll leave you to read the book for that—it's pretty central to the plot. More important, to my mind, are the issues of Jane's recovery from the terrorist attack and her parents' reactions to her proximity thereto. Jane's parents move out of Metro City as soon as they are able. Jane is still in a state of shock. She feels disconnected from her friends and from her parents—none of them can understand what it was like to be next to the blast—, and she feels that she will never survive moving to what she views as "the middle of nowhere". Over the course of the book she finds herself moving past the crisis—both of emotions and of identity—that she struggles with initially. Also touched on is the idea of connections that are forged so deeply as to be incomprehensible to those outside, namely the relationship between Jane and "John Doe", a mysterious artist whom she brought to safety while he was in a coma. She brings his art notebook with her to her new home and sends him letters chronicling her new life. Her friends, her parents—none of them really understand their relationship, but to Jane it is the only thing that keeps her going.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough—it's a heartwarming story of growth, change, and how one girl changes an entire community.

(esp) The Plain Janes, por Cecil Castellucci y Jim Rugg, es básicamente una historia de envejecer y luchar para adaptar a un nuevo lugar. El libro cuenta la historia de "Main Jane" mientras que se mueva de Metro City (un metrópolis que se parece a Tokyo o Nueva York) a suburbia despues de un ataque terorístico que occurrió al lado de ella cuando estaba caminando. Es una novela gráfica, leída rápidamente con arte bella y un cuento rápido—yo lo recomiendo al base.

Más profundamente, el libro discute la controversía que rodea los temas de recuperación, relaciones interpersonales, y incluso arte. ¿Qué del arte podría ser controversial? Lo dejaré hasta que leáis el libro—es importante a la historia. Más importantes, creo yo, son los temas de la recuperación de Jane despues del ataque y la reacción de sus padres a su proximidad a ése. Los padres de Jane salen de Metro City tan pronto como pueden. Jane está todavía en un estado de choque. Se siente desconectado de sus amigos y de sus padres—ninguno de ellos puede comprender cómo sentía estar al lado del ataque—, y se siente que nunca podrá sobrevivir mover al «medio de ningún lugar». Durante el libro, comienza de pasar el crisis—tanto de emociones como de identidad—con que lucha inicialmente. También examinado es la idea de conecciones que son tan profundos que nadie afuera las pueda comrender, o sea la relación entre Jane y «John Doe», un artista misterioso que trae a la seguridad mientras que está en coma. Trae su libro de arte consigo a la nueva casa suya y le manda cartas que describen su nueva vida. Sus amigos, sus padres—ninguno de ellos comprende en realidad su relación, pero a Jane es la sóla cosa que la permite continuar.

No puedo recomandar este libro tanto como querría—es una historia alentador de crecimiento, cambio, y los cambios que una niña hace en su comunidad.

L'éducation des langues

2008-09-02T17:00:00.000-04:00

(eng; cross-posted from YoungSentinel) In addition to the issue of teacher wages and school structures that others are discussing, I'm going to bring up two more specific points, both mentioned in brief in my response to the other topic, which Young Sentinel so graciously posted on my behalf. These two points relate to the teaching of specific subjects close to my heart, namely foreign languages and history. Seeing as I've tak up so much room with this study of foreign language teaching, I guess I'm going to save history for another post.

Foreign languages first. I happen to be a language fanatic—I take French and Spanish at school, have taken Ancient Greek during the summer, Japanese during on weekends, and have dabbled in a variety of other languages, including teaching myself Gothic this summer. I've had experience with a variety of teaching techniques, including the classic drill-based method for Gothic and Greek, the primarily usage- and pattern-based method for Spanish and Japanese (i.e., "this is how you say you like things..."), and something in between for French.

All of these classes suffered from a serious failing, namely, a lack of interactivity. It's one thing to speak French with a classmate who is also studying the language, but it's another thing to speak French with a native speaker. You and your classmate will probably have similar non-native accents, use similar vocabulary, and build sentences with the same grammatical structures. You could, on the other hand, encounter a native speaker with a completely different accent, who uses regional vocabulary, and who builds sentences in ways only a native speaker would.

In a world where we are increasingly interconnected, where, for example, an immigrant is just a cell phone/trip to the local library away from instantaneous communication with home, rather than weeks away by snail mail, the "one classroom" model of language education is obsolete. (So, incidentally, is the "melting pot" concept that is so ingrained in American minds, but that's another discussion.) Language is not a closed entity, to be used in the classroom and nowhere else. Language is alive, growing and changing, and it should be treated as such. The technology that allows immigrants to communicate with their families can and should be harnessed to allow students the world over to communicate with each other (and indeed it is used for that, but not to the extent it could be).

Language teachers of the world, unite! Harness the power of emails, internet penpals, and YouTube! Maybe instead of assigning your students weekend homework from the textbook, have them make a short movie for YouTube—in the target language, of course. Rather than give workbook exercises one night, assign them a poem to read. Sign up for some internet penpal service and write letters to students in France, Germany, Mexico, China—wherever. Use the tools that are available, instead of plodding on with the same method that's been used for fifty years. Times are changing, and it's time to start changing with them.

The song of the day is "Kinderly", by the Mediæval Bæbes. Yes, it's bad sound quality and they look like they're doing the Macarena. But it's a cool song.

Olympics

2008-08-28T22:57:00.000-04:00

(eng) So. The Olympics. I'm discarding my more detailed analysis of the closing ceremonies in favor of the next sentence. If the preview that the London delegation gave is anything to judge by, I am psyched to be watching London 2012 from home. I think we'll probably be seeing a lot more of the small-group work that we saw.

Moving on to a more complex issue, and possibly a more interesting one. Every year or so, I get obsessed with future Olympics, who's bidding, and such. So, for example, I can tell you that the IOC may have to get motivated about changing its policy about multinational Olympic bids. For example, I can tell you Montreal and Lake Placid (it's overdue) are considering a cross-national bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics, and they're not alone.

Why would or should the IOC do this? There's one simple reason, the same reason that the Olympics have never been held in Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, Oceania (except for Australia), or Latin America. The cost of hosting the Olympics is simply too high for all but the richest countries to host the games. After Montreal hosted the 1976 Summer Olympics, it was left with massive debts for almost 30 years. Lake Placid, which has hosted the Olympics twice already, would face the challenge of constructing new facilities for almost every event, a challenge echoed in Sochi 2014, for example, as well as most of the other cities that are considering hosting the games in upcoming years. By opening the door for multinational bids, allowing two (or more, I suppose) governments to pool their resources to fund the games, the IOC would make hosting the games a) more affordable for individual cities and b) more attractive to said cities to host.

Also, a prediction: Delhi 2020 will be a successful bid. India has the money, the manpower, and the rising global status to pull off a spectacular games if it puts its mind to doing so. Best of luck to them. Unless Boston decides to bid, in which case pride in my home city demands that I support their bid over India's.

The song of the day ISN'T ON THE INTERNET!!!!1111!!ONE!!!ELEVENTY-ONE!!!!111WON! ZOMGWTFBBQ‽‽‽‽‽ It's "International Airport" by Carbon Leaf. I can has obsession?

(fra) Donc. Les Olympiques. Je jette mon analyse plus détaillé des cérémonies de fermeture pour la phrase suivante. Si la prévue qu'a donné la délégation de Londres est à juger, j'aimerai beaucoup voir Londres 2012 chez moi. Je crois que nous verrons probablement plus du travail en petits groups que nous avons déjà vu.

En passant à une issue plus compliquée, et peut-être une plus intéressante. Chaque année, plus ou moins, je deviens hanté avec les Olympiques du futur, qui va offrir...tout ça. Donc, par exemple, je peux vous dire qu'il faudra peut-être que la CIO se motive pour changer ses policés sur les offres multinationales pour les Olympiques. Par exemple, je peux vous dire que Montréal et Lac Placide (il lui faut) considèrent un offre multinational pour les Olympiques d'Hiver de 2022, et ils ne sont pas seuls.

Pour quoi doit la CIO faire ceci ? Il y a une raison simple, la même raison pour que les Olympiques n'ont pas été en Afrique, le Moyen-Orient, Asie du Sud, Océanie (à l'exception d'Australie), ou l'Amérique Latine. Le coût d'accueiller les Olympiques est trop grand pour tous pays à l'exception des plus riches les accueiller. Après accueiller les Olympiques d'Eté de 1976, il avait des dettes massives pour quasiment 30 ans. Lac Placide, qui a déjà deux fois accueillé les Olympiques, aurait le challenge de construire des facilités nouvelles pour quasiment chaque événement, un challenge qu'a aussi Sochi 2014, par exemple, et des autres cités qui considèrent accueiller les jeux en futur. Par permettre des offres multinationals, par permettre que deux (ou plus, si plus le voudraient) gouvernements combinent ses ressources pour payer pour les jeux, la CIO ferait accueiller les jeux a) plus accessible pour cités individuelles et b) plus attractif pour accueiller pour ces cités.

Aussi, une prédiction: Delhi 2020 succédera. L'Indie a l'argent, l'abilité, et l'influence mundial pour accueiller des jeux magnifiques si elle veut le faire. Bonne chance aux indiens. A moins que Boston décide d'offrir, parce que s'il veut, je devrai souporter son offre au lieu de l'indien.

La chanson du jour N'EST PAS A L'INTERNET!!!!1111!!UN!!!ONZANTE-UN!!!!111GAGNE! ZOMD‽‽‽‽‽ Elle s'appelle "International Airport" par Carbon Leaf. Peut-j'a d'obsession?

Barack Obama

2008-08-28T22:51:00.000-04:00

(eng) Yes.

(deu) Ja.

(ita) Sì.

(got) Jái.

(grc) Ναι.

(esp) Sí.

(fra) Oui.

Closure

2008-08-24T20:32:00.000-04:00

A quick note: the closing ceremony of the Olympics was really the choreographer's tribute to Dr. Theodore Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss.

I had to get it out there fast. A more in-depth review will follow.