The word used for 'tea' in most languages around the world is derived from Chinese. However not all languages derive the word 'tea' from the same Chinese word. Some languages get their word for tea from the Mandarin 'chá', while in other languages the word tea derives from the Min Nan Chinese word 'te'. The result is that in most languages around the world the word for 'tea' sounds something
Tuesday 25 September 2018
Tea or Chai?
The word used for 'tea' in most languages around the world is derived from Chinese. However not all languages derive the word 'tea' from the same Chinese word. Some languages get their word for tea from the Mandarin 'chá', while in other languages the word tea derives from the Min Nan Chinese word 'te'. The result is that in most languages around the world the word for 'tea' sounds something
Monday 24 September 2018
I've always been afraid to go for a walk alone in the woods...
... but I did it today. At Blue Mound:
I had the Indian Marker Tree Trail completely to myself. Beautiful!
Talk about anything you want in the comments.
The long view:
I had the Indian Marker Tree Trail completely to myself. Beautiful!
Talk about anything you want in the comments.
The long view:
The point at which Brett Kavanaugh almost moves himself to tears: "I was focused on trying to be number 1 in my class and being captain of the varsity basketball team."
From the Fox News interview that aired just now.
ADDED: Kavanaugh (and his wife) gave a strong performance. He stuck to absolute denials, and he was asked the question I wanted to hear — did he ever drink to the point of a memory blackout — and he said he did not.
AND: There are so many things that might have made him cry, and clearly he didn't want to cry, but it provides an insight into his mind to see what was the thought that made it most difficult to maintain his composure. He'd been asked about partying and pursuing female companionship, and he was thinking about how he lived in those days. He was trying to be number 1 in his class. That meant a lot to him, and it took tremendous time and concentration. And then, the second thing, being captain of the varsity basketball team. What a good boy I was! All that striving, all that effort at goodness — and look what they are doing to me now!
ALSO: You'll see the whole interview. There were certain words that he repeated over and over, especially that he has always treated women with "dignity and respect" and that all he wants is "a fair process." Asked again and again to speculate about other people's motives, he always declined. He would not say anything bad about any individual. He always made it about the allegations, not the person. The person he spoke of was himself.
"Brett Kavanaugh said Monday he was a virgin in high school and college..."
The full Kavanaugh interview will air at 7 Eastern on Fox News.
And, I'm listening to Fox News now and hearing Brit Hume saying something very close to what I said this morning. I said:
There's a real contrast to the carefully built up Blasey incident, and while the conflict with Blasey seemed to be too much of an unresolvable he said/she said, to say he said/she said was to elevate Blasey to equal status: her word against his. There was dignity in that, and Kavanaugh supporters were being circumspect and allowing that dramatic confrontation to unfold. Now, Kavanaugh antagonists have escalated the attack and seem willing — some of them, anyway — to use anything. I think more sober Kavanaugh antagonists — such as the NYT — rue this development.
ADDED: If the allegations are not true, Kavanaugh must stand his ground. If this effort to take him down works — if the allegations are not true — the same strategy will be used against the next nominee and the one after that. It will never end. If the allegations are true, he should have done something long ago. Either he should have have withdrawn, or he should have conceded his past wrongdoing, apologized sincerely, and said tactfully what he could to minimize the relevance of the incident to the question of his qualification to serve on the Court.
And, I'm listening to Fox News now and hearing Brit Hume saying something very close to what I said this morning. I said:
The new allegations — from Avenatti and The New Yorker — are, I think, helping Kavanaugh's case.... After all the careful work creating credence and empathy for Christine Blasey Ford, we now have an onslaught, a piling on, and it's making Kavanaugh into a sort of hero, who must stand his ground.There was a problem when there was only Blasey's accusation, and it did seem that you'd need multiple accusations to take down Kavanaugh. Multiple accusations were needed to take down Weinstein, Matt Lauer, Charlie Rose, Alex Kozinski, etc. But this new material doesn't seem like more Blasey-like allegations, but something different and much more questionable and more noticeably unfair.
There's a real contrast to the carefully built up Blasey incident, and while the conflict with Blasey seemed to be too much of an unresolvable he said/she said, to say he said/she said was to elevate Blasey to equal status: her word against his. There was dignity in that, and Kavanaugh supporters were being circumspect and allowing that dramatic confrontation to unfold. Now, Kavanaugh antagonists have escalated the attack and seem willing — some of them, anyway — to use anything. I think more sober Kavanaugh antagonists — such as the NYT — rue this development.
ADDED: If the allegations are not true, Kavanaugh must stand his ground. If this effort to take him down works — if the allegations are not true — the same strategy will be used against the next nominee and the one after that. It will never end. If the allegations are true, he should have done something long ago. Either he should have have withdrawn, or he should have conceded his past wrongdoing, apologized sincerely, and said tactfully what he could to minimize the relevance of the incident to the question of his qualification to serve on the Court.
3 brothers demonstrate the problem of men — as opposed to boys — in shorts.
From a huge collection of adults recreating their childhood photographs (which made me laugh out loud about 20 times).
The problem of men in shorts is — as I've been saying for years — that they look like enlarged boys. It's self-infantilizing. But that's hilarious as a one-time photo prank. Not as a way of life.
Also, grabbing your crotch is cute if you're 3 years old. Hilarious as a one-time photo prank for an adult making fun of his old boy-self.
Love the socks and the way they grew up in reverse sizes. I mean the middle one stayed the same. Still the middle. But who cares about the middle child?
"These are smears, pure and simple. And they debase our public discourse ... But they are also a threat to any man or woman who wishes to serve our country."
"Such grotesque and obvious character assassination — if allowed to succeed — will dissuade competent and good people of all political persuasions from service. I will not be intimidated into withdrawing from this process. The coordinated effort to destroy my good name will not drive me out. The vile threats of violence against my family will not drive me out. The last-minute character assassination will not succeed."
Writes Brett Kavanaugh, quoted in the NYT. Also in the Times article is this undermining of the New Yorker's publication of a new allegation from a former Yale classmate named Deborah Ramirez:
The new allegations — from Avenatti and The New Yorker — are, I think, helping Kavanaugh's case. The NYT seems to realize this.
I read between the lines that NYT would not itself have published the Ramirez allegations. It had the story and tried unsuccessfully to corroborate it. And it won't even repeat the "salacious" allegations Avenatti dumped on Twitter. After all the careful work creating credence and empathy for Christine Blasey Ford, we now have an onslaught, a piling on, and it's making Kavanaugh into a sort of hero, who must stand his ground. It's no longer just about the fulfillment of his own aspirations to power and prestige and his own good name. He's now the champion of everyone in the future who — if he fails — will reject the call to public service.
ADDED: A preview of Kavanaugh on FOX News at 7 Eastern:
Writes Brett Kavanaugh, quoted in the NYT. Also in the Times article is this undermining of the New Yorker's publication of a new allegation from a former Yale classmate named Deborah Ramirez:
The New York Times had interviewed several dozen people over the past week in an attempt to corroborate Ms. Ramirez’s story, and could find no one with firsthand knowledge. Ms. Ramirez herself contacted former Yale classmates asking if they recalled the episode and told some of them that she could not be certain Mr. Kavanaugh was the one who exposed himself. The New Yorker strongly stood by its article.The NYT also refers to Michael Avenatti's "additional salacious allegations on Twitter," and characterizes Republicans as "caught between the growing anger of many female voters over the Kavanaugh allegations and the demands of core conservative voters infuriated by what they see as a Democratic plot."
The new allegations — from Avenatti and The New Yorker — are, I think, helping Kavanaugh's case. The NYT seems to realize this.
I read between the lines that NYT would not itself have published the Ramirez allegations. It had the story and tried unsuccessfully to corroborate it. And it won't even repeat the "salacious" allegations Avenatti dumped on Twitter. After all the careful work creating credence and empathy for Christine Blasey Ford, we now have an onslaught, a piling on, and it's making Kavanaugh into a sort of hero, who must stand his ground. It's no longer just about the fulfillment of his own aspirations to power and prestige and his own good name. He's now the champion of everyone in the future who — if he fails — will reject the call to public service.
ADDED: A preview of Kavanaugh on FOX News at 7 Eastern:
"I'm not going to let false accusations drive us out of this process." —Brett Kavanaugh
— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 24, 2018
Watch @MarthaMacCallum's full interview with Judge Kavanaugh and his wife Ashley tonight on Fox News Channel at 7p ET. https://t.co/QFmLfIwW4R pic.twitter.com/r8J2TUYQDj
China's Religious Re-Education Camps
Up to one million people in China have been detained by the Chinese government because of their religion. Uighurs, Kazakhs and other Muslims in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) have been arrested by the Chinese authorities and imprisoned in re-education camps. People have been arrested and imprisoned for having 'abnormal' beards, for wearing veils or for avoiding alcohol. In fact
Life in the Year 2100
According to most current models of climate change life in the year 2100 is going to resemble the most dystopian visions of the future cooked up by writers of science fiction. We can look forward to a world which suffers from extreme heat, rising seas and practically unbreathable air.
For example, MIT recently modeled how climate change could impact on the future of air quality in the USA. The
Rosenstein resigns.
Axios.
I know, Kavanaugh and sex sex sex are so distracting that this big story will just waft by unnoticed....
ADDED: Everything is spinning out of control...
(Image is what you see at Axios, displaying from the next story down after the one I link to.)
AND: The post title is inaccurate. I'm seeing now that he's only considering resigning and that Rosenstein is currently at the White House and we're waiting to hear more.
MORE: WaPo is saying that R has offered to resign.
PLUS: "With Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s ouster, Solicitor General Noel Francisco is slated to oversee the Robert Mueller probe under the Justice Department’s succession plan" (Washington Times).
Vox: "Meet Noel Francisco, the man who will oversee the Mueller probe if Trump fires Rosenstein":
I know, Kavanaugh and sex sex sex are so distracting that this big story will just waft by unnoticed....
ADDED: Everything is spinning out of control...
(Image is what you see at Axios, displaying from the next story down after the one I link to.)
AND: The post title is inaccurate. I'm seeing now that he's only considering resigning and that Rosenstein is currently at the White House and we're waiting to hear more.
MORE: WaPo is saying that R has offered to resign.
PLUS: "With Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s ouster, Solicitor General Noel Francisco is slated to oversee the Robert Mueller probe under the Justice Department’s succession plan" (Washington Times).
Vox: "Meet Noel Francisco, the man who will oversee the Mueller probe if Trump fires Rosenstein":
Francisco is the next Senate-confirmed Justice Department official in line, which means the Mueller investigation would drop to him....
Francisco, a prominent Republican lawyer, has some impressive conservative credentials. He clerked for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and worked in the Justice Department during the George W. Bush administration.
He’s also defended a broad interpretation of executive power.... In 2007, he testified about his views on presidential power during a congressional inquiry into Bush’s politically motivated firing of nine US attorneys.... [H]e criticized the idea of appointing a special counsel to investigate the Bush administration over this scandal....
Francisco also argued for the expansiveness of executive power, saying that conversations between administration officials, even if Bush wasn’t actively involved, could be protected by executive privilege. He didn’t say executive privilege was absolute — but he basically said it was up to the court to decide: “What the courts have said is that in the context of a criminal investigation, if there is a sufficient showing of need, it can obviate the privilege.”....
"I'm a sentimental sap, that's all/What's the use of trying not to fall?/I have no will, you've made your kill/'Cause you took advantage of me!"
That's a 1928 song with lyrics by Lorenz Hart.
I'm thinking about it this morning after reading the questions Michael Avenatti proposed that the Senate Judiciary Committee ask Brett Kavanaugh: "Did you ever witness a line of men outside a bedroom at any house party where you understood a woman was in the bedroom being raped or taken advantage of?” and whether "he ever tried to prevent men from raping or taking advantage of women at any house party." I called "taken advantage of" a "strange locution." You're inquiring about rape, but you're lumping it together with sex where there's "taking advantage."
I'm so hot and bothered that I don't knowOr — to read Ronan Farrow in The New Yorker — you're so drunk you don't know a plastic penis from a fleshly one.
My elbow from my ear...
Here I am with all my bridges burnedThe Wikipedia article about the song says it "can be sung by either gender, but has traditionally been sung by women." Here. Check out the feeling when a man sings it (and here's my 2005 post "Songs transformed with the sex of the singer"):
Just a babe in arms where you're concerned
So lock the doors and call me yours
'Cause you took advantage of me
I have no will, you've made your kill...
What's the use of Brett Kavanaugh trying not to fall?
I'm just like an apple on a bough/And you're gonna shake me down somehow...
