The SEC charged Citigroup with betting against investment "opportunities" it had created. As investors were taking losses the bank made $160 million. The SEC allowed a consent judgment against Citigroup settling the case to be filed the same day it filed its lawsuit against Citigroup.
Did someone smell a rat?
WNYC's blog, citing today's AP story, "City Judge Rejects $285M SEC-Citigroup Agreement" quoted U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff as writing "in any
case like this that touches on the transparency of financial markets whose gyrations have so depressed our economy and debilitated our lives, there is an overriding public interest in knowing the truth.
"In much of the world, propaganda reigns, and truth is confined to secretive, fearful whispers Even in our nation, apologists for suppressing or obscuring the truth may always be found. But the SEC, of all agencies, has a duty, inherent in its statutory mission, to see that the truth emerges; and if it fails to do so, this court must not, in the name of deference or convenience, grant judicial enforcement to the agency's contrivances."
In much the same way the public needs to know what dealings went on behind closed doors to bail out the banks. It's the public's money. We may not now be sophisticated enough to understand what went on, but hey, give us the numbers and some talking heads and we'll see if we should pick up our pitch forks and burning brands or nod our heads at the wisdom of our representatives.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Five Language of Love/Love After Death Row/Modern Love
The NY Times from November 20 had an article about Gary Chapman, pastor of the Brentwood Hills Church of Christ, author of "5 Love Languages". In his taxonomy love is expressed by:
The same issue described the marriage of Sunny Jacobs and Peter Pringle. Jacobs along with her husband and children were passengers in a car which was involved in an incident which left two Florida law enforcement officers dead. Both Jacobs and her husband were sentenced to death. Her husband was electrocuted by Florida. Later, the third adult in the car who turned state's evidence admitted to being the shooter. She was released after 17 years in prison.
Pringle was sentenced to death in Ireland for the death of two police officers following a bank robbery. He was saved by several events: 1) Commutation to 40 years without parole, 2) the transcript of his confession was written before he was interrogated, and 3) Ireland abolished the death penalty. It is not clear that he was innocent.
Their nuptials were attended by three notable actresses,Brooke Shields, Marlo Thomas, and Amy Irving, who had portrayed Sunny Jacobs in the play "The Exonerated".
The "Modern Love" column by Charlotte Alter, a senior at Harvard, contained this gem: "They say that each generation thinks it invented love. But from what I can see, my generation seems to fear we’ve forgotten it."
- words of affirmation,
- gifts,
- acts of service,
- quality time, and
- physical touch.
The same issue described the marriage of Sunny Jacobs and Peter Pringle. Jacobs along with her husband and children were passengers in a car which was involved in an incident which left two Florida law enforcement officers dead. Both Jacobs and her husband were sentenced to death. Her husband was electrocuted by Florida. Later, the third adult in the car who turned state's evidence admitted to being the shooter. She was released after 17 years in prison.
Pringle was sentenced to death in Ireland for the death of two police officers following a bank robbery. He was saved by several events: 1) Commutation to 40 years without parole, 2) the transcript of his confession was written before he was interrogated, and 3) Ireland abolished the death penalty. It is not clear that he was innocent.
Their nuptials were attended by three notable actresses,Brooke Shields, Marlo Thomas, and Amy Irving, who had portrayed Sunny Jacobs in the play "The Exonerated".
The "Modern Love" column by Charlotte Alter, a senior at Harvard, contained this gem: "They say that each generation thinks it invented love. But from what I can see, my generation seems to fear we’ve forgotten it."
Friday, November 11, 2011
Porn in Progress
By now people where I'm teaching know that when I say, "I'm checking my porn." I'm checking the stock market. After the recent stomach churning drop in response to the Greek debt crisis compounded with the Italian debt crisis (from "Too big to fail" to 'Too big to save") Dow Jones is up over 2% today with the index over 12,000.
I can stick some standard boiler plate here about market expectation, consumer confidence, phases of the moon, and technical factors, but I'll simply say that I am astounded. Of course there's still an hour for people to come to their senses and send everything into the dumper.
The right wing has done a phenomenal job over the last 40 years in getting the hoi poli to have a vested interest in the stock markets. With pensions from most worker's disappearing as a factor in their future, money has gone to mutual funds and stocks and with it their expectations.
I try to imagine what others go through when they reach for the brass ring and the merry go round disappears. (I've long abandoned the belief in a "golden retirement". My attitude and expectations are similar to my father: all he wanted was a comfortable place to read.) Can social unrest be far behind if even modest aspirations may soon be out of reach?
Something will happen, but I can't see what it will be.
The right wing has done a phenomenal job over the last 40 years in getting the hoi poli to have a vested interest in the stock markets. With pensions from most worker's disappearing as a factor in their future, money has gone to mutual funds and stocks and with it their expectations.
I try to imagine what others go through when they reach for the brass ring and the merry go round disappears. (I've long abandoned the belief in a "golden retirement". My attitude and expectations are similar to my father: all he wanted was a comfortable place to read.) Can social unrest be far behind if even modest aspirations may soon be out of reach?
Something will happen, but I can't see what it will be.
Saturday, November 05, 2011
Tom Keith RIP
I got the news on tonight's Prairie Home Companion. Tom was the sound effects guy on PHC. I don't think it strange that I miss someone I never met, but who's work I heard every weekend. I'll never hear a chicken cluck, a wapiti's mournful cry, or pterodactyl screech again without thinking of Tom.
Tom's passing will probably be the end of the annual Radio Sound Effects Championship which always ended with Tom's challenger being disqualified for hiding a whistle in his nostril. One part of the contest featured 10 sound effects in 30 seconds. From 2008 this included a helicopter, a swarm of bees, a flying goose, a knife thrown into a door, a firecracker, a tennis match, a cantaloupe falling from a great height, a giant sneeze (SNEEZE, BELL), an incoming rocket, and arrows shot from a quiver and landing in a bowl-full of lime jello.
Tom's passing will probably be the end of the annual Radio Sound Effects Championship which always ended with Tom's challenger being disqualified for hiding a whistle in his nostril. One part of the contest featured 10 sound effects in 30 seconds. From 2008 this included a helicopter, a swarm of bees, a flying goose, a knife thrown into a door, a firecracker, a tennis match, a cantaloupe falling from a great height, a giant sneeze (SNEEZE, BELL), an incoming rocket, and arrows shot from a quiver and landing in a bowl-full of lime jello.
Thursday, November 03, 2011
Socratic Backfire
The article "Socratic Backfire?" by Kaustuv Basu in the October 31, 2011 issue of Inside Higher Ed
discussed the case of Steven Maranville whose denial of tenure seemed to be based on his use of the Socratic method. Specifically his students objectioned to being asked questions even though they hadn't raised their hands and being required to work in groups.
I would have thought that being business students this would be regarded as training for corporate life. Silly me.
In a comment, Larry Gillis proposed a warning label:
I would have thought that being business students this would be regarded as training for corporate life. Silly me.
In a comment, Larry Gillis proposed a warning label:
WARNING: this course may make you think. Occasional discomfort or, in rare cases, actual embarrassment, may occur. If thoughtfulness lasts more than four hours, please consult your physician.Of course there is more to it. The professor is blind. He gave up a tenured position to at the University of Houston to move to Utah Valley University. It seems that department chair and an associate dean approved his teaching style.
Tuesday, November 01, 2011
If any of you cry at my funeral...
"If any of you cry at my funeral, I'll never speak to you again." Stan Laurel as cited in The Funeral Of Stan Laurel also on http://www.lettersfromstan.com/.
From Wikipedia I got these quotes: "You can lead a horse to water, but a pencil must be led." (Laurel, Brats) and "I was dreaming I was awake, but I woke up and found meself asleep." (Laurel, Oliver the Eighth)
What was impressive about the life of Stan Laurel was that when he realized that he and Oliver Hardy would not be able to make the films they wanted to make he stopped working. There were some appearances here and there, but he seemed content in retirement. Nice if you can do it.
What was impressive about the life of Stan Laurel was that when he realized that he and Oliver Hardy would not be able to make the films they wanted to make he stopped working. There were some appearances here and there, but he seemed content in retirement. Nice if you can do it.
In medias res
In medias res or medias in res (into the middle of things) is a Latin phrase denoting the literary and artistic
technique wherein a story begins either at the
mid-point or at the conclusion, rather than at the beginning (ab ovo, ab initio). (I thought I saw the term in A.O. Scott's review of the film "Anonymous", but apparently not.)
The presumed advantage of in medias res is to open the story with a bang, and then fill in the rest after the reader/listener/viewer is hooked.
It made me think of some disturbed souls of my acquaintance who assumed that everyone was familiar with the dramatis personae of their lives. Stars of their own life and that of everyone else. At the time I thought it made them special, not realizing how double edged that descripton can be.
On meeting they'd start a conversation assuming you were already familiar with their live, referring to people by nicknames and places by short hand reference. "We were all down at The Corner" presumed that you knew that "we" referred to the usual crowd of friends minus Larry who used to be a friend, but was now, because of the tiff with Sooz, no longer, and "The Corner" was the south west corner of the student center.
The presumed advantage of in medias res is to open the story with a bang, and then fill in the rest after the reader/listener/viewer is hooked.
It made me think of some disturbed souls of my acquaintance who assumed that everyone was familiar with the dramatis personae of their lives. Stars of their own life and that of everyone else. At the time I thought it made them special, not realizing how double edged that descripton can be.
On meeting they'd start a conversation assuming you were already familiar with their live, referring to people by nicknames and places by short hand reference. "We were all down at The Corner" presumed that you knew that "we" referred to the usual crowd of friends minus Larry who used to be a friend, but was now, because of the tiff with Sooz, no longer, and "The Corner" was the south west corner of the student center.
Affinage/You Only Go Through Life Once
The October 5th edition of the New York Times contained an article, "Cheese: A Coming-of-Age Story" about affinage,
The Times taste sampling of 3 cheeses supported the idea that attention to the cheese resulted in a better cheese.
Living close to the bone it's unlikely that I'll ever taste an artisanal cheese. Chalk it up to parochial tastes, inherent cheapness, pedestrian aspirations, something.
Oh, wait. It's could be like the time my brother brought a special meatloaf over for us to sample. I could tell it was special because there were two different textures of meat separated by pistachio nuts and the slice had a crust around it. Nice meatloaf I said. When my brother was able to stop laughing he identified it as a hideously expensive pâté. (I can't recall the exact figure, but as I remember it, a pound of that pâté costs as much as a ticket to a first-run Broadway show.) Tasted OK though.
Going through life once? Oh that. I had a recent conversation with an aunt, the wife of the uncle who wouldn't eat cheese, who said we only have one shot at life. Why not enjoy it? Why suffer? In the specific, she was referring to fixing up her house and eating good food. My mind translated this to dying as my money runs out: having a fatal attack with the last morsel of that hideously expensive pâté.
That would be OK in my own home, but not in a restaurant. Keeling over in a restaurant would stick my estate with the bill and inconvenience the establishment. Not a socially responsible way to go.
"the careful practice of ripening cheese... a series of tedious, ritualized procedures (washing, flipping, brushing, patting, spritzing) that are meant to inch each wheel and wedge toward an apex of delectability."Uh-oh. As someone who only draws the line at eating cheese from a spray can, "ritualized procedures" fired its sh*t detectors. Biodynamics, phases of the moon, unnatural acts with common objects. Still I buy into it. Paying attention to what's happening is more likely than not to produce a better cheese. (Of course to my uncle Hal, "good cheese" was an oxymoron.)
The Times taste sampling of 3 cheeses supported the idea that attention to the cheese resulted in a better cheese.
Living close to the bone it's unlikely that I'll ever taste an artisanal cheese. Chalk it up to parochial tastes, inherent cheapness, pedestrian aspirations, something.
Oh, wait. It's could be like the time my brother brought a special meatloaf over for us to sample. I could tell it was special because there were two different textures of meat separated by pistachio nuts and the slice had a crust around it. Nice meatloaf I said. When my brother was able to stop laughing he identified it as a hideously expensive pâté. (I can't recall the exact figure, but as I remember it, a pound of that pâté costs as much as a ticket to a first-run Broadway show.) Tasted OK though.
Going through life once? Oh that. I had a recent conversation with an aunt, the wife of the uncle who wouldn't eat cheese, who said we only have one shot at life. Why not enjoy it? Why suffer? In the specific, she was referring to fixing up her house and eating good food. My mind translated this to dying as my money runs out: having a fatal attack with the last morsel of that hideously expensive pâté.
That would be OK in my own home, but not in a restaurant. Keeling over in a restaurant would stick my estate with the bill and inconvenience the establishment. Not a socially responsible way to go.
Monday, October 31, 2011
BMW: Not Born From Planes
I have a hard time throwing away old papers when I find myself stumbling across articles like "Nope, Not Born From Planes" by Stephen Williams in the January 10, 2011 NY Times.
The BMW (Bayerische Motoren Werke) roundel widely assumed to represent a propeller is actually derived from the flag of the Bavarian Free State. The article was also cited by a blog which had this image:
In true insouciant fashion one response to that blog was: Yeah. Uh huh. And "Puff the Magic Dragon" had nothing to do with drugs, and neither did "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.
I suspect the real value of the article will be in the money which will be won in bar bets.
(As a side note, the headline of the online version is "BMW Roundel: Not Born From Planes".)
The BMW (Bayerische Motoren Werke) roundel widely assumed to represent a propeller is actually derived from the flag of the Bavarian Free State. The article was also cited by a blog which had this image:
I suspect the real value of the article will be in the money which will be won in bar bets.
(As a side note, the headline of the online version is "BMW Roundel: Not Born From Planes".)
Friday, October 21, 2011
John Haggerty Guilty!! But of What?
John Haggerty, a former aide to Mayor Michael Bloomberg was accused of stealing $1.1
million during the last election by promising to use the money to organize "ballot security" through the Independence Party. On the face of it things looked simple: Bloomberg provided Haggerty with funds for arranging for poll watchers based on a budget submitted by Haggerty. Haggerty used
$600K to buy a house.
On the second day of deliberation, the jury asked for clarification: who was the victim? Huh?
The defense argued that once Haggerty got the money Bloomberg had no say over how the money could be used. I don't know nearly enough about the law to understand how charges are assigned, but promising to do something for money and then not doing it violates something otherwise there are some great career options to those of us who can lie with a straight face.
The devil, of course, was lurking in the details: the victim might have been the Independence Party which should have receive the money for watching the polls or the trust fund from which the money came. The defense was arguing that the prosecution's charges were wrong. Unsaid was that their client was guilty; the prosecutors had erred by selecting the wrong victim. It would only be a matter of time, then, until the prosecution, recognizing the error of its ways, came up with the correct indictment and Haggerty would find himself a guest of the state.
The defense tried to make the source of the funds an issue. Because Bloomberg used personal funds, not campaign funds the defense kept implying that Bloomberg was trying to avoid scrutiny because what was being done was a violation of campaign laws. The prosecution kept responding that there were no campaign violations. I'd have to see a transcript to see whether one of the prosecutors replied that if there were a campaign violation, Haggerty would have been charged for that also.
The real fascination of the trial was a glimpse into how casually a billionaire can spend money. Trusted associates got over $400K to help manage the election. No formal contracts. If more of us were aware of how much money could be siphoned off during elections economists might consider working election expenditures into an economic stimulous package.
In the end Haggerty was found not guilty of first degree grand larceny and guilty of second-degree grand larceny and second-degree money laundering this morning. Maximum sentence 15 years.
Grand larceny it seems requires the amount involved to be over $1 million. The amount in question seemed to be the amount Haggerty used to buy the house.
On the second day of deliberation, the jury asked for clarification: who was the victim? Huh?
The defense argued that once Haggerty got the money Bloomberg had no say over how the money could be used. I don't know nearly enough about the law to understand how charges are assigned, but promising to do something for money and then not doing it violates something otherwise there are some great career options to those of us who can lie with a straight face.
The devil, of course, was lurking in the details: the victim might have been the Independence Party which should have receive the money for watching the polls or the trust fund from which the money came. The defense was arguing that the prosecution's charges were wrong. Unsaid was that their client was guilty; the prosecutors had erred by selecting the wrong victim. It would only be a matter of time, then, until the prosecution, recognizing the error of its ways, came up with the correct indictment and Haggerty would find himself a guest of the state.
The defense tried to make the source of the funds an issue. Because Bloomberg used personal funds, not campaign funds the defense kept implying that Bloomberg was trying to avoid scrutiny because what was being done was a violation of campaign laws. The prosecution kept responding that there were no campaign violations. I'd have to see a transcript to see whether one of the prosecutors replied that if there were a campaign violation, Haggerty would have been charged for that also.
The real fascination of the trial was a glimpse into how casually a billionaire can spend money. Trusted associates got over $400K to help manage the election. No formal contracts. If more of us were aware of how much money could be siphoned off during elections economists might consider working election expenditures into an economic stimulous package.
In the end Haggerty was found not guilty of first degree grand larceny and guilty of second-degree grand larceny and second-degree money laundering this morning. Maximum sentence 15 years.
Grand larceny it seems requires the amount involved to be over $1 million. The amount in question seemed to be the amount Haggerty used to buy the house.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
I'll Believe a Corporation is a Person ...
"I'll Believe a Corporation is a Person When Texas Executes One" I first saw the slogan in a cardboard sign carried by an Occupy Wall Street poster. When looking for it on the web I chanced across this decal:
The odd thing is that when I saw the sticker I thought it read:
Isn't that odd?
| SOFTWARE ENGINEER BY DAY WORLD'S WORST DAD BY NIGHT |
Thursday, October 13, 2011
I Love Gail Collins
I'd give a kidney and part of my liver (you bring the fava beans and the fine Chianti) to be able to write like Gail Collins. In her "The Gift of Glib" op-ed piece for Wednesday's NY Times (October 12, 2011) she had a field day with the Republican candidate's 999 debate in New Hampshire.
It slights the original to pick a few quotes, but here are some to whet your appetite:
It slights the original to pick a few quotes, but here are some to whet your appetite:
It turns out that Governor Perry has a big energy plan, known as “The Plan I’m Going to Be Laying Out.” When he does, it’s going to be the answer to almost everything
Michele Bachmann gave the fact-checkers another great night of error-correcting.
Among the elite cadre of Americans who have been thinking about 9-9-9, a good number have determined that it won’t raise enough revenue. “The problem with that analysis is that it is incorrect,” announced Cain firmly. I do admire the way he does this. If I could convey that tone, I would win every argument in my family just by saying “The problem with that analysis is that it is incorrect.”
First They Came for the Anthropologists ...
A clever headline I thought, appropriating its structure from Martin Niemöller's statement (1892–1984) about the lack of opposition from German intellectuals to the Nazis.
The headline which I cribbed from an article in The Atlantic magazine was prompted by statements from Florida's Governor Rick Scott on Monday of this week that he hoped to shift more higher education funding to STEM programs (science, technology, engineering and math). Specifically, he said:
It isn't an unusual political statement and I suspect it isn't much different from the feeling of the population at large. Successful businessman appointed to boards of trustees have made similar comments. They're often surprised then to find that their school gets the most bang for the buck from liberal arts courses which require little in resources than a room, chairs, and someone with credentials to blither on compared with a hard science course with labs, equipment, supplies, special reporting regulations in addition to the credentialed blitherer.
In writing this I learned from Wikipedia that there was no definitive version of Niemöller statement, but Niemöller's preference would be something like this:
The headline which I cribbed from an article in The Atlantic magazine was prompted by statements from Florida's Governor Rick Scott on Monday of this week that he hoped to shift more higher education funding to STEM programs (science, technology, engineering and math). Specifically, he said:
"If I’m going to take money from a citizen to put into education then I’m going to take that money to create jobs. So I want that money to go to degrees where people can get jobs in this state. Is it a vital interest of the state to have more anthropologists? I don’t think so." ~ Inside Higher Ed
It isn't an unusual political statement and I suspect it isn't much different from the feeling of the population at large. Successful businessman appointed to boards of trustees have made similar comments. They're often surprised then to find that their school gets the most bang for the buck from liberal arts courses which require little in resources than a room, chairs, and someone with credentials to blither on compared with a hard science course with labs, equipment, supplies, special reporting regulations in addition to the credentialed blitherer.
In writing this I learned from Wikipedia that there was no definitive version of Niemöller statement, but Niemöller's preference would be something like this:
First they came for the communists,I'm sure that there are parodies in every liberal arts departments across the world ("First they came for the Structuralist, then the Deconstructionists, then the Formalists, and when finally they came for the Hermeneuticists..")
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.
Sunday, October 09, 2011
Beguine/Dijkstra
Back in June I stumbled across a reference to a short film "Beguine" by Douwe Dijkstra. I searched library databases and IMDB to no avail. I should have just done a web search because there it was on the first page.In addition, there was a link to some great black and white images for someone with the same name: Dijkstra's photos
The windmill image really impressed me: just lengthening the exposure made the sails look like a propeller. A friend titled it "Windmill by Boeing".
The video is a hallucinogenic exercise as a dance floor tips sending a man sliding down a long hill into a red ocean at the bottom he finds himself in an office. He walks over to the copier which sucks him in (see image below).
Trapped in the copier he's ignored as his image appeared in the copies. Eventually he's shaving as he plummets down the side of building coming to a gentle landing. What?
You've got to see it to believe it: Dijkstra's Beguine video
Thursday, October 06, 2011
Remembering Steve Jobs
"Steve Jobs didn’t just bring Apple computers, music players, and phones to the world. What Steve Jobs brought was elegance, discipline, crisp design, and a forceful sense of right and wrong.
"Steve knew. He just knew what he wanted. He knew what would be right and what would have been right for any other technology executive, but wouldn’t meet his standards."
There were many businesses which were frustrated by his company's secrecy. By not revealing its hand Apple made it extremely difficult for businesses to plan. In my only encounter with Apple bureaucracy my university couldn't get an iOS developer license because Apple's licensing procedure required talking to the school's chief legal officer. It was a Kafkaesque experience.
Wednesday, October 05, 2011
Bert Jansch RIP
Listening to NPR I caught the name "Jansch" and expected an interview as part of a new tour of America. Not to be. The the man who wrote "Needle of Death", a founder of Pentangle, the guitarist who inspired so many is gone. Here's a link to the story, "Guitarist Bert Jansch Is Dead At 67". If you've got a moment, search for him on youtube or follow the link in the NPR story.
Later in the evening the death of a different cultural icon, Steve Jobs, was announced. The news of Job's death will probably obscure Jansch's. There will be those who will treat Jansch's music as a gift that becomes more valuable when shared.
Later in the evening the death of a different cultural icon, Steve Jobs, was announced. The news of Job's death will probably obscure Jansch's. There will be those who will treat Jansch's music as a gift that becomes more valuable when shared.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Arthur Conan Doyle Quote
The September 27, 2011 of the NY Times reported that Arthur Conan Doyle's first novel, "The Narrative of John Smith" will be publish on October 3rd by the British Library. The original got lost in the mail, was reconstructed from memory, but was never published during his lifetime.
Regarding the loss of the original manuscript, Doyle sad, "My shock at its disappearance would be as nothing to my horror if it were suddenly to appear again — in print ".
Regarding the loss of the original manuscript, Doyle sad, "My shock at its disappearance would be as nothing to my horror if it were suddenly to appear again — in print ".
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Food Porn!
Honest. Newsday has 190 web pages titled "Food Porn!". (The exclamation point is theirs.) If you're expecting phallus or pudenda shaped "food products" you'd be wrong. I include several images:
Personally, I find it difficult to generate a prurient interest in salads or potato chips. Am I alone in this?
Under a picture of grits there is a link to a story about Carolyn Brown of Boutte, Louisiana scalding her sleeping boyfriend with a pot of boiling grits. Does that qualify as porn?
The closest I could find (and I'm stretching it) is image 122, the suggestive curves of triped bass and yellow tail sushi at Sushi Ya (Photo credit: Newsday Photo/Michael E. Ach):
Your experience might vary.
 |
| #30 Watermelon, cucumber and blue cheese salad, photo credit: Marge Perry |
 |
| #68 Potato chips at Deli King in New Hyde Park, photo credit: Erica Marcusof |
Personally, I find it difficult to generate a prurient interest in salads or potato chips. Am I alone in this?
Under a picture of grits there is a link to a story about Carolyn Brown of Boutte, Louisiana scalding her sleeping boyfriend with a pot of boiling grits. Does that qualify as porn?
The closest I could find (and I'm stretching it) is image 122, the suggestive curves of triped bass and yellow tail sushi at Sushi Ya (Photo credit: Newsday Photo/Michael E. Ach):
Your experience might vary.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
mot juste & crepuscular
I've found myself searching for words lately. Could be a cold which has now arrived in no uncertain terms or it could be a harbinger of something darker. Be that as it may, I stumbled across the term mot juste just in time:
Now, if I can remember the pronunciation (those wacky French) I may be able to sound competent. ("Those wacky French" was a phase one of our French profs used to make light of the difficulty students had with French pronunciation.)
And another word which used to be applicable:
crepuscular
My manager at work enjoyed saying that, considering the evidence: avoiding sunlight and being active at night, I was probably a reformed vampire.
But that was then, before other responsibilities intruded.
And another word which used to be applicable:
crepuscular
- of, relating to, or resembling twilight : dim
occurring or active during twilight
My manager at work enjoyed saying that, considering the evidence: avoiding sunlight and being active at night, I was probably a reformed vampire.
But that was then, before other responsibilities intruded.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Machina ex Machina
In the "Identity Crisis" episode of Suits on the USA Network a number of problems/challenges in the episode are neatly resolved through the marvelous use of computers: banking systems are broken into, a university registration system is penetrated, and, as if that were not enough, the über cute über sophisticated female hacker is able to get an official graduation certificate printed and mailed.
I remember the late John Chardi saying that he drew a line in the text of a novel at the point in the story where the writer violated the contract with the reader. A digitally equivalent gesture is needed for the broadcast when a hacker breaks into all the banks in Luxembourg and gets a printout of all the account records in each bank. That all the printouts create a stack of folders barely a foot high would indicate incredibly thin paper, exceptionally tiny fonts, or technology sufficiently advanced so as to be mistaken for magic. Or screen writers who expect the momentum of their story to overwhelm the viewers' common sense.
I remember the late John Chardi saying that he drew a line in the text of a novel at the point in the story where the writer violated the contract with the reader. A digitally equivalent gesture is needed for the broadcast when a hacker breaks into all the banks in Luxembourg and gets a printout of all the account records in each bank. That all the printouts create a stack of folders barely a foot high would indicate incredibly thin paper, exceptionally tiny fonts, or technology sufficiently advanced so as to be mistaken for magic. Or screen writers who expect the momentum of their story to overwhelm the viewers' common sense.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)