Woo! American Philological Association papers without having to go to the University Library! Woo! I'm doing the happy research dance. It's been far too long.
For casual researchers and gnoscophiles like me, this is a great thing! Thanks, Patrick!
I second the request for an explanation of what the begumba a Military Liaison Officer does at a secondary school. We don't have those up here, I don't think. Do they recruit kids for the military? Supervise cadets? What sort of "liaison" takes place between a school and the military? How can the military have any say with regard to what an after school club does? The very idea chills my heart, and I haven't the foggiest where to go looking for an explanation of this bizarre concept.
Larry asks for advice on how to punctuate The follow-on question is, of course, "Do you want to work for a company that thinks that way?".
So since you asked, enclosed sentence-level end punctuation trumps whatever comes outside the quotes, in both the British and the American systems (hey! the rules are the same here! exciting!) so, The follow-on question is, of course, "Do you want to work for a company that thinks that way?" without the final period is just fine.
And degree mills are slimy, and anyone who purchases a degree from one gets slimed. And I think Patrick makes an admirable editor, I'm glad to note that he's not lamenting the lack of under-secretarial opportunities in his life.
gasp. wheeze. sputter.
I narrowly missed the keyboard, and instead got coffee all over the stylesheet on my desk.
The far left Globe and Mail?
Right. And the Harris PC government was cheerfully Marxist. And Maggie Thatcher as a bleeding heart liberal.
My day just got a bit more surreal.
Mr. Orwin,
My ITP Nelson Canadian Dictionary gives the following definitions for "aphorism"
1) A terse statement of a truth or an opinion; an adage
2) A brief statement of a principle
I think that you'll find that most of the major dictionaries give similar definitions. Since I cannot read your mind, I can't tell you if that's what you thought the word means; however, you appear to have used it correctly.
also, one could argue that if not for the americans, the brits wouldn't be there -- so the blame for the ones that are killed in accidents can even be placed at the feet of the americans.
Whoa! Just a linin-pickin' minute! Did I blink and miss the U.S.'s annexation of the U.K.? Is Brittainia no longer a sovereign nation? Blame the U.S. for the war, sure, I've no problem with that. Blame the U.S. military for their "friendly fire" incidence. But several countries have demonstrated that it's possible not to follow where the U.S. leads, and the responsbility for Britsh involvement in this abomination they're calling war lies at the feet of the rulers of a sovereign United Kingdom, who agreed to it.
I don't think anyone here is saying "don't be angry". I think they're saying "Don't be silly." It's a different thing.
Patrick explicitly did not say that protest is a bad thing.
Neither is anger is a bad thing. It's an incredibly powerful motivating force. Anger is also a hopeful sign: it means you haven't succumbed to despair. I'll take an angry team over an apathetic or a defeated one, any day. It's not known for leading to sensible behaviour, though, and if not carefully channeled can be counterproductive. It can also be hijacked.
What I've been hearing are a number of calls to make your anger darned well count, to use it in a way that doesn't make things worse for people who share your goals, and who might be your allies.
That's a far cry from telling people not to be angry.
Bruce Baugh asked about the distinction between "implement" and "enact" in Patrick's posting. The American Heritage Dictionary (4th ed.) gives two definitions for enact: The first is to make into law -- probably not the intended meaning. The second is To act (something) out, as on a stage .
The online version at Bartleby wouldn't give me a definition for implement , preferring instead to give me 94 definitions which used the word implement; however the Usage guide gave the following definition: to put into practice .
So the difference would appear to be the difference between putting on a show of your political ideas and putting your ideas into practice.
Yesno?
I think perhaps the place to start is not tactics, but objectives.
Thanks, Graydon, for saying what I meant much more succinctly than I could manage.
Debbie Notkin states Once again, I'm the voice for valuing a variety of voices, approaches, and perspectives, and for not dismissing approaches simply because some of their consequences will be negative.
Personally, I'm all for dismissing actions whose conseqences will be negative.
If my goal is to open up a discussion with undecided parties, and convince them of my viewpoint, and somebody who is allegedly from my party smashes the windows of their shop, or vandalizes their property, or makes them late for work, that yahoo's exercising of their right to dissent has just made my job that much more difficult. If the person I'm trying to engage is even willing to talk to me after that, I'm going to have to convince them that 1) we're not all like that, 2) the cause isn't about that, and 3) they still want to help us.
Back in the nineties, when I was attending university, and the provincial government cut transfer payments to the universities, the various student representative bodies participated in a number of protests outside the provincial legislature, and at Conservative Party functions. On one memorable occaision, all the student governments organised busses so that students could cut classes, head to Toronto, and protest. Many did. When the then Minister of Education came out to address the protesters, he was booed (understandably, given the crowd) and pelted with boxes of Kraft Dinner. The student papers reported on this approvingly. The student governments said little. I remember wondering how the minister could possibly take seriously students' claims to be hard done by when those students clearly had excess grocery money, and how a dialogue could be initiated when our side was so apparently ready to behave in such a juvenile fashion. If I'd been in student government, I'd have been livid.
These days, when a protest turns violent, when dialogue degenerates to invective, and when people seem to lose sight of their objectives for the sake of gratifying their need to "do something", it still bothers me, and I find myself wishing that they'd go find some other cause to impede, rather than making my job that much more difficult.
Sure, voice your dissent. Sure, differ in opinion from me. Sure, bring all your creativity and energy to an approach I wouldn't necessarily use (I don't like protests -- they scare me; I don't much like parades either, come to that.) Go ahead and tell me how you see things, and lend me the benefit of your perspective. But don't expect me to be happy if your tactics annoy people enough to close their ears to our message.
Scott, I would say that sometimes things _do_ get worse before they get better, rather than that they _have to_ (I'm splitting your proverbial hair still further; it's beginning to look like a feather duster at this end).
Things have to start getting better before they can get better. People have to start doing things that will make them get better. Sometimes, when it's really dark and chaotic, and despair is all around, it's very hard to see any course of action that will make things better, so you settle for not making things worse, for not lying down and dying, for finding room to breathe. That too is a start.
The long view lets you know what you're working for, but the short view is what gives you things to _do_. It's important to keep your eyes on both. It's important that the things you do be things that _can_ be done, and that can _make a start_ at making things better. It's vital not to let the expectation that things surely will get worse keep you from doing what you can to make them better, or at least stop that descent into darkness.
My own lightbulb moment on the introvert/extrovert thing came while I was reading up on Jung's theory of types. He said what several people here have said -- that introverts get their emotional energy from being alone, while extroverts get it from spending time with other people. He also said it was a spectrum, rather than a dichotomy.
When I read the description, a number of characteristics of more introverted friends made a great deal of sense. It still takes some remembering to recall that their tolerances for groups can be a great deal lower than my own, or that even one other person constitutes a drain on energy. It also sometimes takes some remembering to know that my friends aren't upset with *me* personally.
I'm a pretty classic extrovert -- I look forward to gatherings of friends, I feel *great* after an evening of dancing, reading Shakespeare, or good conversation -- and I still find myself needing quiet time, alone, to do "self stuff". Thing is, after a certain amount of self stuff, I'll get tired of my own thoughts, and want to hear someone else's. Also, even though I know I'm good at "small talk" (well, the sort of talk one makes with someone one doesn't know well enough to discuss one's personal life with), I'm generally unhappy in large crowds of strangers, or as the newcomer in a group. And I'm dreadful at formal public speaking.
Lis Carey says
"Occasionally, in my less charitable moments, I toy with the idea of extrovert-as-vampire. After all, if they're energized by interactions with lots of people, instead of being somewhat drained by them (like normal people, i.e., like me:)), they're _taking_ that energy from those other people, right? (Yes, I am aware of the huge, gaping holes in this theory.)"
Mostly we're loaning it to each other, or sharing it around. Also, I, for one, am not energized by *all* interactions with other people.
Hi guys,
Just wanted to add my congrats and condolences.
And thanks for "eucatastrophe". Lovely word.
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|---|---|
| 2004 | 5 |
| 2003 | 20 |
| 2002 | 3 |
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