I was just me in my car cuzin
With the tunes turned up
And that shit of being was better than
Drugs
All the fucking drugs in the whole world
Oh hell yes I was filled with the Holy Ghost
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Where did swearing get its taboo status?
Me and my brother were having a debate about swearing, but we both got to the point where aside from it being a social stigma, and a taboo word, we didn't know why (or where) it got its status. Did a group of people get together and outlaw words? Where did these roots of obscenity get their place. I honestly don't know and it sounds like a worthy challenge for the blog. I also had the thought of where did other languages get the taboo words? Each society has a list where did they come from?
Monday, April 2, 2012
Body Language - Lapham’s Quarterly
Just read this great article from the new issue of Lapham's Quarterly called "Means of Communication."
It is a great magazine, and a particularly great issue. Check it out!
Saturday, August 13, 2011
God, the Afterlife, and the Scientific Method
I would like to know whether the traditional religious convictions which hold that “God exists!” and that “there is an afterlife!” are created using the scientific method to interpret subjective data. As I understand the situation of knowledge in relationship to the scientific method, the certainty generated by using the scientific method to reliably predict future events is only reliably possible when using objective data. If that is so, religious convictions which hold that “God exists!” and that “there is an afterlife!” must embrace a greater degree of faith because they seem to be based on using the scientific method with subjective data. But, as a starting point for this journey, is it necessary that the scientific method only be used with objective data for the purpose of reliably predicting future events? Who’s perspective on this matter is trustable and why? Moreover, which method do religious people consciously think they are using to produce convictions that “God exists!” and “there is an afterlife!”? Is there any credible way to see such convictions based on a method other than the scientific method? And again, who’s perspective on this matter is trustable and why?
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Lexicon Valley
So, I was listening to NPR's show "On the Media" and this segment came up unexpectedly...it was great!
Back by popular demand, here's another installment of Mike Vuolo's "Lexicon Valley." In February 2010, the last living speaker of Boa died, and with her, the logic, culture, and history of the ancient people. Mike and Bob discuss the death of languages and why their passing matters. http://www.onthemedia.org/2011/jul/29/lexicon-valley-episode-2/
Monday, February 7, 2011
Our 'Love Affair' With Euphemisms - All Things Considered
In Euphemania: Our Love Affair with Euphemisms, author Ralph Keyes explores the power of words and our power over them. Keyes tells host Robert Siegel he's always been interested in the intersection of language and culture, and how the way people talk reflects changes in society. Nothing, he says, does that more than euphemisms.
Friday, December 24, 2010
Science Friday: Jonathon Keats and "Virtual Words"
"Do you ever 'tweet?' Does your texting vocabulary include the ultra-brief, but oh-so-useful, 'k?' In this segment, we'll talk with Jonathon Keats, author of the book 'Virtual Words.' Keats, a conceptual artist, also pens Wired's 'Jargon Watch' column. We'll talk about how the rapid pace of technology is creating new words and how new ideas drive new language."
Guests:
Jonathon Keats
Author, Wired magazine's "Jargon Watch"
Virtual Words (Oxford University Press, 2010)
Conceptual Artist
San Francisco, California
download mp3: http://public.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/totn/2010/12/20101224_totn_01.mp3
Monday, December 20, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
NY Times: John Cage's Piece 4' 33"
Just in Time for the Holidays: Cage Against the Machine
By BEN SISARIOThe musicians crowded into a London studio, dozens of them, to record a song for charity. Waiting for their cue, they held guitars and drumsticks, and stood at attention by the microphones. Then the producer gave the count: “Quiet in the studio: one, two …”
And then silence. Exactly 4 minutes and 33 seconds of it.
The musicians, including British pop stars like Billy Bragg, the electronic act Orbital and the band Enter Shikari, were there to perform John Cage’s famous tribute to nothingness, “4’ 33”,” as part of a project cheekily called Cage Against the Machine whose goal is to send an unlikely song to the top of the British pop chart at Christmas.
Last year a Facebook campaign helped the anarchist American rock band Rage Against the Machine reach No. 1 with “Killing in the Name,” and now another Web effort is behind Cage Against the Machine. A single is available on iTunes (you can even buy an EP with seven “remixes” of studio chatter and other random sounds), with proceeds going to five British charities.
“Music is made up of more than just formal notes and arrangements,” Julie Hilliard, one of the organizers, told the musicians as they prepared for their silent take. “Here today we are doing something special. We are stopping and appreciating the space between things, the unintentional sounds that make up our world.”
A video of the recording sessions can be seen above or here on YouTube.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
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