Replacement Kevlar

Well, I had to replace my Kevlar today. Yes, I did have Kevlar earlier, and no, I was not shot. These are not Kevlar vests like you may be thinking, but sleeves, and no, I am not worried about someone shooting my arms. I am currently spending some time in a car plant. It is the body shop part of the plant where they stamp all of the sheet metal and weld it all together. These stamped pieces of sheet metal have very sharp edges, so the car plant safety department has declared that anyone working in or visiting the body shop shall wear these Kevlar sleeves. These sleeves feel just like regular cloth (kind of like a cotton-wool blend) and cover from the elbows to the wrists. These sleeves do not guard against a narrow pointed object, but would protect someone from a slicing motion. As a result, you can stick a needle through the sleeves, but you cannot cut them with scissors (yes I’ve tried).
Anyone who has spent any time in a body shop knows that they can be extremely filthy. Even though I spend most of my time in the plant on the computer, and don’t do any actual work (in fact I am prohibited from doing work by the Canadian government, but that’s another story), I still get dirty. Since I use the same sleeves multiple days, they can get pretty filthy. The plant provides clean ones, and asks you to place the dirty ones in a container for “recycling”. It doesn’t say for washing, it says recycling. When I think of recycling, I think of breaking down the original and making new material from the parts. How DO they do that?! It’s Kevlar …..

I'm too sexy . . . I'm so sure!

For the second time today I have heard the song "I'm too sexy" by Right Said Fred in situations that were just hilarious.
The first time I heard it was on a podcast (Berkeley Groks) as a segue after interview talking about a program that they are doing at Cal Tech. At this program they were teaching the students how to dress the when when going for interviews, etc. They call the program From Geek to Shiek.
The second time was as I was waching TV (Psych). I was doing something else at the time, but heard the song and looked up because I had heard it earlier in the day and could not believe that I was hearing it again. This time it was a comercial for the Kennel Club Dog Show.
This just caught me as so funny that I had to tell someone, and now I have.

leitmotif

The other day I was listening to Radio Lab - the WNYC podcast. They used the term "leitmotif". I had to look it up (after I figured how to spell it.) Basically it is a theme that occurs throught a work of art, especially as applied to music. It is kind of like the theme music that is used to indicate a chracter, place, or even in music. It has been around for a long time - now it seems common place, especially in movie scores (think Jaws or Lord of the Rings). It is with Wagner that it really came into its place, although he did not use that particular term.

The whole story is just facinting. Give it a listen at http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/episodes/2008/01/01

I can C clearly now the K is gone

As many of you already know, Chrysler has been bought out by a venture capital group called Cerberus. This is the same name as 3-headed dog that guards Hades in Greek mythology. While Cerberus Capital does not have an image of a three headed dog in its company logo, and I could not find any reference to it in the company profile, it is almost certain that this mythical figure has played some role in the name of the company. I heard the name several times while the news was current. Each time, they called pronounced it /ser-ber-us/ - that is with the C making the S sound. I, too, have pronounced it the same way. I got to thinking, though, that there is no C in the Greek alphabet. There is s K (kappa) and there is an S (sigma). So, as normally happens, my curiosity was piqued and I had to research it.
It turns out that the Greek word for Cerberus was Κέρβερος, (Kerberos) so it really should be pronounced with a hard C sound. Of course, this opened up the flood gates, and made me wonder what other Greek based words starting with “CE” or “CI” we have been mispronouncing. Centaur is another one from Greek mythology - Κένταυρος (Kentauros). Ceramic - κεραμικός (keramikos). Cinema – Κινημα (Kinema).
Probably the way that these words got to their current pronunciation was when Greece was invaded by Rome and these words were incorporated into the Latin language, which by the way, makes profuse use of the S sounding C (e.g. circa). I understand that languages change, but we loose something when we forget where they came from. For instance, the root word for Cinema or Kinema is the same as the root word for Kinetics (or having to do with motion). I think it is simply amazing when words make sense.

King Sized Candy Bars

I really don't have much of a sweet tooth, but every once in a great while I will buy a candy bar or something else when I feel like I need a little extra sugar in the system. The other day, I was craving something and I was really hungry. As of late, my favourite candy bar is FastBreak. I went to the vending machine, and I did not see what I wanted, which was a normal sized candybar. All they had were KING SIZED. I had tried that before with a King Sized Snickers, but was disapointed at the time. Should I try it again with a King Sized FastBreak? Well, I was hungry, so I decided to go for it. That was a mistake. Not only was that more sugar - nougat (<-what is nougat anyhow) chocalate, etc. than I could handle, but it did not taste like the regular sized candy bar. I guess when they increased the size, it is not just longer, but bigger in all directions. When they did that, they lost that critical balance which makes it taste so good. So, no more king sized candy bars.

It’s a conundrum!

I like to look up word etymologies. I usually start with my Pocket Oxford English Dictionary and go from there. Here is one that I started the other day and decided not to go any farther:

Conundrum – 1) a confusing or difficult problem or question 2) a riddle
-Origin – unknown

LOL

Two Quarters or Five Dimes – Type A

It is no secret that boys tend to have a lot of stuff in their pockets. Nearly anything can be found in the pocket of a boy: from a cool rock that is found at the end of the driveway, to a pocket knife, to a favorite baseball card, to bunch of dirt for a dandelion seed experiment. As boys grow up, they tend to put less things in their pockets, or at least to be more particular about what it is that they place in there. As an adult, it may simply be a wallet, keys and coins. Still, those pockets can sometimes get full or heavy. Some men clip their keys to their belt loop, although I have never been able to convince myself that that is really something that I want to do. One thing that I will do, however, is coin management. No, this is not something that I plan on and do everyday, but it is something that crosses my mind as a way to be efficient as I use my currency. Quite simply, this means that I try to not keep any more coins in my pocket than I might actually need. On top of that, one should first use the coins that weigh the most and have the least value. One example of this is to never have more than 4 pennies in my pocket at one time. One should always be able to add pennies to the amount paid so that change received plus change in pocket will never include more than 4 pennies. Another easy example of this, when at a vending machine, one should use two nickels before using one dime. The impetus for this post, and my conundrum came the other day when I wanted something in a vending machine that cost sixty cents. The first ten was simple; I used the two nickels I had. Now I needed fifty cents more, and what I had in my pocket was five dimes and two quarters. I could not convince myself which would weigh less in my pocket. I ended up using the five dimes. It turns out, it is really a flip of the coin. A quarter weighs 5.67g or 0.2268g/cent. A dime weighs 2.268g, also 0.2268g/cent. I guess that weight to value ratio probably originated from when they were both made out of the same solid material. I guess that makes cents (ha ha!).

Nice Refraint!

It happens to everybody one time or another, you start out saying something then switch what you are saying. Sometimes it can be pulled off, but more times than not, words end up getting jumbled, or the entire meaning of what you were trying to say gets all twisted. This happened to me the other day. I was with someone and they were being smarted off to by a third person. The person that I was with bit her tongue trying to refrain from lowering to the other’s level. After the third person left, I said, “Nice refraint!” Yes, even as I am typing right now I have my word processor telling me that refraint is not a word. I knew that. I was just thinking about how she had been refraining from saying anything, and that she was showing nice restraint. The two ideas just blended. Immediately I had caught what I had said and laughed it off. Then I got to thinking, why isn’t it a word, and thought about it in the back of my mind the rest of the night. Today I decided to look up the definitions for REFRAIN and RESTRAIN. The big difference between the two is that to refrain is something that one does to one’s self; to restrain is something that one does to another. The word restraint started as a description of the thing through which the restraining is being done. Restrain comes from Latin words meaning to tie back. The phrase “Nice restraint”, has been around for a long time as a reference to one’s holding back in certain situations. What is the restraint in such a case? What is it that is performing the action of restraining? I suppose it is one’s will power. So, when someone says, “Nice restraint,” they are really saying “Nice will power”. Ok, I can go with that, but let’s take another look at refrain. Refrain comes from words meaning to reign back, or to curb, but if we take those words apart, it means to bridle. What is it then, which we seek to tie down on one hand, or to bridle and control on the other? Some may say that it is our impulsiveness, or our brashness, which is why it needs to be restrained. I disagree. I think it is our spirit, and that sometimes our spirit can be impulsive, or brash. But a spirit is something to be harnessed (- yes I used that word intentionally) and led as one does a horse. So the next time someone shows a particularly good display of control, don’t complement them on tying down their spirit, complement them on the controlling and leading their spirit, and say “Nice Refraint!”

Rumble Strips – Type A

Nearly everyone has driven over those rumble strips at the side of the road. I guess they are there to keep people from accidentally run off the edge of the road incase they had fallen asleep or something. All the rumble strips that I have seen are so boring. I think that they should be set up to play a song or something. All you would have to do is to change the width and separation of the cut to get a different pitch. By doing so in stretches, one could make a song. What is even better, is that the pitch is effected by how fast the car is going. Because of this, if the width and spacing of the cuts are set up for a certain speed, the song will sound best if driving the speed limit (supposing that is the designed speed). That would give the driver an incentive to drive the correct speed. Just think, Beethoven’s ninth would stretch out over 90 miles (at 75mph). Of course one would have to have fun by putting songs like “I can’t drive 55” on the highway. I am sure that many people would be tempted to try the chipmunks’ version of the song by traveling at 75 instead of 55. What would be even more fun is to set it up so that one could use both the right and left set of tires. One could play two notes at once. Just imagine dueling banjos in your car.

Echo – Type B

Have you ever noticed how there are times where a particular word will follow you all day long. I am not talking about a plain word like “a” or “the” or even “green”. It has to be a word that catches you off guard. This is most predominant when one is in a large group of people. Some person will say a particular word, and for one reason or another, that particular word will catch your attention. Soon, you will be having a discussion with someone who will use that same word or you will hear it in a conversation near you, or even worse, you find yourself using it. Sometimes this will happen multiple times in a day. Most of the time when it is within a finite space, this can be dismissed as simply room echo, and is the product of a living language, but other times the dismissal is not so easy. The other day I heard the word harangue in a conversation near me; a simple enough word, but not one that you hear every day. I heard that word at least 3 more times that day, and two of those times were on the radio. What will the word be today?

Retro Calendars – Type A

If you think about it there are only 14 different configurations for a calendar; one for each day of the week without a leap day, and one that starts on each day of the week with a leap day. If you doubt this, you can look it up in the World Almanac, where they have, not only a display of all 14 configurations, but a list of which each one of those configurations will be used for the upcoming years. The almanac that I am looking in list the years from 1821-2080. Wouldn’t it be fun to have calendars for past years that agreed with the current year’s configuration? For instance, this year (2007) is the same as 2001, 1990, 1979, 1973 and 1821 just to mention a few. One could also use the same idea for a futuristic calendar as well and pick 2074. So whenever next years calendars go on sell, and they drop the price on this year’s, pick a few up, they will be good eventually and will be a good conversation piece. I suppose someone could also use this to mass produce calendars like this. If so, I would gladly take any royalties for the idea if I am the first one to publish the idea. Well, still have a few months to get ready for next year. Start digging through your old stuff for a 1980 calendar.

Native Tongue

I wonder how many of us know that when we say the word “Japan”, it is a word foreign to the Japanese (<- yes that one too). How many people like it when their own name is misspelled, or even, mangled in pronunciation. It is like that commercial where everybody keeps saying “Hi, Jim” or “Hey, Bob” and he keeps replying “It’s Tom”. I think that we should start a movement to move the made up English versions out of our language and replace it with a word which is as close as the English language can get it to the native tongue. This is not just some political correctness thing, this is simple human decency between two people who happen to share the same planet. Here is a list of a few of the examples of what I am talking about and a link to the CIA website where they list the names of the countries and their name in their tongue.

English Native Tongue (as close as I can get it)
Japan-----------Nipon
Greece----------Ellada
Germany---------Deutschland
Spain-----------España
Sweeden---------Sverige
Finland---------Suomi
Ireland---------Eire
North Korea-----Choson
Netherlands-----Nederland
Poland----------Polska
China-----------Zhongguo

https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/fields/2142.html

Yeah, Ya, Yea, Yah

As I see it, the English language has got a problem. Ok, ok, it has many, but only one which I will be addressing today. It has two words, one which is an exclamation of joy or support, and the other is an informal way of saying yes. The first is pronounced Yā with a long A sound, and the second is pronounced Yǎ with a short A sound. The problem is that all of these spellings have been used for both usages. Half of these spellings are not even in the dictionary, and dictionaries are inconsistent with the rest. Dictionaries are only a reflection of the current accepted state of a language. We need to pick a spelling for each definition and stick with it. Of course, it will be impossible to enforce this, but here is my vote on how we should proceed. Oh! I guess there is one more that has to be mentioned. There is another which is pronounced Yā with the long A sound but is used as a formal yes, as in a vote.
Yea – [Yā ] This is only to be used as the formal vote. That is easy to remember because it is word jumble of aye.
Ya – [Yǎ] This is to be used for the informal yes – it just looks informal
Yeah – [Yā] Use this as an exclamation of joy, as in rooting for a team. Additional a’s can be added for emphasis.

Let me hear your vote.

Troop vs. Trooper - Type B

Of the many things that have puzzled me over the war in Afghanistan and Iraq is the way that the media is reporting Troop casualties. Over and over again I have heard the media refer to a single person as a troop – at least I hope that is what I am hearing. For instance, here is a quote from a CNN article on the web last October: “That month, 20 U.S. troops died in or near the capital, up from 12 in July and 15 in June. The number rose again last month, to 29.” According to my research, a troop is somewhere between 70-250 soldiers. That would mean that that quote from CNN involved between 5,320 and 19,000 dead soldiers instead of 76. My understanding is that thus far we have only lost about 3,500 (I say only – it is still deplorable). This may just be semantics, but the consequences of these words have a very far reaching meaning when one is talking about the number of dead in a war. CNN is not the only one either; the Associated Press, and NPR have both referred to the soldiers this way. Am I the only one to which this seems strange?

Type A today

I Kant imagine what I am supposed to write about in these. I mean, what is supposed to be my main Foucalt point? I read all kinds of blogs where people tend to Hegel over the littlest things. Some people talk about the most disgusting things like the difference between a Whitehead and a blackhead. Others compare the game of pool to Baudrillards. I want something different to come Fromm this blog. I want this to be Nietzsche ordinary blog. Oh well, maybe next time.