At the UCL Phonetics & Linguistics website, you can download IPA fonts. This might be of use to someone out there, so here’s the link.
Category: ASIDES
Good-Bye TOIEC?
That’s what Jodi’s reporting. And I say, good riddance. It’s not just that TOIEC doesn’t test real ability; it’s also that TOEIC sidetracks people from trying to learn to understand English, into memorizing ridiculous obscure grammar points and, worse, memorizing methodologies designed to maximize correct answers on TOEIC tests through absolutely inane grammatical analysis of the questions. Yes, really. Ask Lime if you don’t believe me. Or the people I work with, who can tell you horror stories about TOEIC preparation book questions that make absolutely no sense. Me, I just wonder how anyone convinced so many people to accept …
Baritone Insanity
I’ve decided I simply must get all of the Hamiet Bluiett Baritone Nation albums. This page has some audio samples that finally convinced me that I need CDs in which the majority of the band is playing baritone saxes. (More samples of another Baritone Nation CD here.) This is some heavy stuff. I like it. I shall have to order these or something, since I doubt any music shop will have ’em just sitting on the shelf.
Y-Line Adam, Mitochondrial Eve?
For those who’ve read Greg Egan‘s marvellous short story “Mitochondrial Eve”, I’ve got an old news report for you! Check this out: it seems that studies apparently show a high level of correlation between patrilineal surnames and patrilineal Y-chromosomes, meaning that at least in Britain, marital infidelity resulting in illegitemate conceptions may have been far less common than previously believed, at least in the last millennium. And just as Y-chromosomes can be used within men, mitochondrial DNA can be used to check matrilineal genetic inheritance. They’re even thinking of starting a business for people who want to check out their …
Weird Things You Learn Reading Comic Books Graphic Novels
Wearing silk beneath a suit of armor can make the removal of arrowheads much less damaging and much easier, since the head of the arrow gets “wrapped” in the miniscule threads of the silk. No, really. Learned that little fact in David Mack’s Kabuki, Vol 1: Circle of Blood graphic novel, which is not what I expected but is interesting enough, I suppose.
Helping North Koreans Defect Is Easy Part, Missionaries Find – New York Times
Found in the Marmot’s Hole: Helping North Koreans Defect Is Easy Part, Missionaries Find – New York Times “My wife was never a party member, so it was easier for her to accept Christianity,” he said. “I was a party member for 10 years, and they indoctrinated us with the party ideology. When I hear Christian preaching, it sounds similar to the party teachings. Christians praise God, but North Koreans praise Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il,” the founder of the North Korean state and his son, the current leader. “At least, they are mortal and we can see …
Christmas Essays and More
via The Electric Smack Shack, two great articles on Christma: Bah, Humbug – The horrors of December in a one-party state, by Christopher Hitchens Eluding Happiness: A Buddhist Problem with Christmas, by Jesse Row And finally, some amusing Stalinist pseudoscience: I can’t say I’m surprised but it still makes one shake one’s head.
Dungeons and Dragons: Loving Mockeries
Via Dan Among Den, here are some fun mockeries of D&D using the same script but very different graphics: Summoner Geeks 8BitDandD More insane and funny stuff (gamer-related and otherwise, mostly otherwise) in the Midnight Classics collection at iFilm.
Whatever: Being Poor
John Scalzi’s now-classic post, Whatever: Being Poor, is new to me. The comments about it over at Making Light are worthwhile, too. And there’s old Stefan Jones, from the old old first days of my Internet life, right there in the comments section! Wow. He was the guy who got me into Bruce Sterling’s short stories, and Olaf Stapledon! Stefan’s one of the coolest SF geeks out there.
ET = 1337 h4x0r?
Remember in Independence Day, where Will Smith hacked an alien computer system with an iMac? Someone out there is concerned that the reverse might be far more possible. What if aliens were malicious hackers? The source for the above link, mssv.net, doesn’t seem to find the idea as outlandish as I do. I mean, what are the chances their virus would even work on our Networks? I just don’t buy it. If it were to happen, you’d need more than just data being captured by the SETI@home system; you’d need a malicious hacker somehow present, say, an AI orbiting earth …