The most recent 20 comments posted to Making Light by Steven desJardins:

I'm not going to attempt NaNoWriMo.

Instead, I'm going to try to translate a novel in a month. From Hungarian.

And I'm going to spend the first two days travelling, with my best dictionary and the Internet inaccessible, which ensures I'll get off to a slow start. (Five pages read, none translated, dozens of sentences already defeating me.)

And by "going to spend", I mean "spent", showing that too much exposure to Hungarian has already eroded my ability to use tenses.

I can't wrap my head around that behavior. I just can't come up with any explanation of how anyone could behave that way.

But then I've never had any trouble getting service. In that situation I would simply say "Excuse me." I can apparently pack quite a lot of pissed-off-edness into a single "Excuse me." I've never had to escalate further.

If I did have to escalate, I think perhaps I would say, very loudly, "This gentleman appears to have had a stroke. Is anyone here a doctor?"

Raining off and on, in Prague. Unfortunately the "off" parts are snow.

It's true that women are more likely than men to get pregnant, but as men are equally likely to cause a pregnancy (with its associated expenses), it seems quite unfair to use pregnancies as a pretext for charging women higher insurance rates.

"Your Majesty. How is this to end?"

"As stories must when love's denied: with tears, and a journey."

Congratulations, Patrick, on your Hugo nomination.

Hungarian has possessive suffixes, so "Minden anyámnak" and "Minden feleségemnek" would be "All to my mother" and "All to my wife", respectively.

I had a new Hungarian teacher this morning. The first thing she asked was where I lived, and the second was what was happening there today.

Hátkor Barack Obama elnök lesz.

The only criminal case I served on was a gun possession charge. The guy was on probation, the cops did a surprise inspection and found a gun under his bed. They never presented any evidence that he knew the gun was there, though. He lived in a relative's spare room, and one of the previous occupants could have left it there. I thought he was probably guilty, but there was definitely room for doubt.

I was only an alternate, though, so I was dismissed at the end of the trial. I never did find out how it turned out.

One of the sweetest romantic comedies of the last couple years is Lars and the Real Girl, about a pathologically shy man who orders a Real Doll from the Internet and introduces her to his family as his new girlfriend. They take him to a psychologist, who advises them to play along with his delusion while she provides therapy, and pretty soon the whole town is going along with it. It's the kind of film that could easily go completely off the rails, but it never lapses into bad taste and does a wonderful job of showing Lars' growth out of his shyness and the need for his delusion.

Patrick@9: And this is relevant how? The New York Times should have used a different headline on an article about the American automobile bailout because of corruption in the American judicial system?

Just because the New York Times is frequently guilty of similar misdeeds doesn't mean they're guilty this time—and if the difference in the headlines is justified by a difference in the articles I'd say they're not guilty. I frequently criticize the New York Times for holding themselves to a lesser standard of logic when slurring entities they hold in contempt; that behavior is no more attractive when applied to them, than when applied by them.

The content of the Russia article fairly justifies a more negative headline, though. There's a difference between negotiating concessions in return for financial help, and using trumped-up charges and a dysfunctional legal system to force companies to make concessions.

I voted two weeks ago, absentee. I spent the day flying from Vienna to DC, and aside from a brief moment of anxiety around 3 p.m. is was an unstressful way to spend the day.

I sat next to a missionary holding a book titled One Book Stands Alone: The Key to Believing the Bible. I'm surprised the author didn't die of a lethal irony deficiency.

As I was getting off the Metro, two teenage black girls asked me if I'd voted, then who I'd voted for. When I said "Obama", they broke into huge grins and insisted on high-fiving me.

Raphael, Secretary of State and Attorney General are cabinet positions in the federal government. In state governments they're often elected positions, in some cases theoretically non-partisan, and the role of Secretary of State is completely different—in the federal government, the Secretary of State is responsible for our dealings with other countries, while in state government, the Secretary of State handles elections.

Ken Blackwell, who Myrthe referenced, is a notorious example of a partisan Secretary of State. He's the one who made sure Democratic polling sites in Ohio in 2004 didn't have enough voting machines, so voters in many precincts faced (literally) ten-hour waits.

That's why I donated to the Secretary of State Project in 2006 and again this year. By helping to replace some of the most corrupt Republicans with reform-minded Democrats, they've made the election process a lot fairer in five states.

Rulial, Obama's donation form says "U.S. citizen or lawfully admitted permanent resident". So some non-citizens can contribute.

Albatross, I'd disagree that "dogwhistles that only work on committed right-wing activists are kind of pointless in this campaign"--McCain needs more than their votes, he needs their commitment. He needs volunteers willing to stand all day at polling places in Michigan and challenge people whose homes have been foreclosed, for instance; a more savory dogwhistle might not attract volunteers willing to do that. Is there any reason--besides an innate sense of decency--for McCain not to want to get a few thousand volunteers at the cost of disgusting a few tens of thousands of people who mostly weren't going to vote for him anyway?

I'm making electronic books for Project Gutenberg, although I've been lazy and unproductive for the last few months. The projects that are near completion all have tedious, un-fun tasks remaining like HTMLizing indexes and removing age specks from 19th century magazine engravings on cheap paper.

I'm also starting Intermediate Hungarian class next work. When I work my way up to actual fluency, I plan to translate some 19th century novels. (Because nobody else has done it, and someone has to, right?)

Only that morning he had been talking with some one in the office about it, and had been laughingly informed that there was a method that could bring back to his memory that which he desired so ardently to recollect. "If you will tell me how to unravel this tangle that is in my brain, you will have my everlasting gratitude," declared Lester, earnestly.

"It takes people with nerves of steel to accomplish it. A person who is nervous to the slightest degree would not dare to try it, for fear of turning suddenly insane from the terrible mental struggle. Do you still wish to know what it is?"

"Yes," responded Lester, "and I can use my judgment whether I dare try it or not."

"Very good," replied the gentleman, "then here it is: Counting five thousand backward will either restore your loss of memory, or, as I have taken care to warn you gravely in advance, cause you to go insane. It must be done rapidly, and in a given space of time. In my belief the remedy is by far worse than the malady. I feel, somehow, as though I ought not to have told you about it."

(Mischievous Maid Faynie, a 19th century romance novel by Laura Jean Libbey)

He should, just by talking and turning on his charisma, get the terrorists to offer him a date with their sister.

I believe you have confused our president for Jean Luc Picard.

I believe you have confused Jean Luc Picard with Captain Kirk.

Wash plays all nine parts, while manipulating plastic dinosaurs.

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