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eftychia at 06:25pm on 2003-07-01
eftychia at 06:25pm on 2003-07-01- SCA Camping 101 -- a guideline for non-campers headed to their first SCA camping event. I disagree with one or two particular points (mostly regarding tent selection) but it looks like a pretty darned good primer.
- Boundaries of the United States presented as an animated GIF that shows how the boundaries changed on various dates (uh, every date on which boundaries changed). It's pretty cool seeing the Louisiana Purchase pop into place then get divvied up; wait for the formation of West Virginia; watch lines move a little here and there; notice borders marked "disputed boundary" that I hadn't known about; etc.
- The Chemist's English, a summary (with comments) of a book with the same title, is an unexpectedly interesting examination of writing style for technical papers. I was amused by the use of chemical analogies to explain English usage decisions. Includes an explanation of how to be properly nitpicky about hyphens, n-dashes, m-dashes, etc. Much of the advice is germane to technical writing in any field (and in fact, to writing in general). "'Million dollar words' can truly be worth a million dollars, if used sparingly and in the right context. Used out of turn, they sink to the value of one-billion Zaire notes in the waning years of Mobutu."
- I was thinking about letters from Middle English that we no
longer use in Modern English, and the inspiration struck me to
write a parody of "Oak and Ash and Thorn" about them, which I
was going to call "Eth and Ash and Thorn". But in searching for
the lyrics to the original, I stumbled across an existing parody
with the same idea, done better than I'm likely to have managed,
by the lovely Echo's Children:
"Yogh and Ash and Thorn". So now I don't have to write it;
I just have to memorize theirs. :-)
"Vowel shift" said somebody miffed "It's more like a hey or a bransle"
"Letter and sound keep swapping around and 'hands about go all!'"
Some were stored and some ignored and some were mangled and torn,
Caught up in the rout as vowels fell out with yogh and ash and thorn. - Speaking of Middle English, I stumbled across a pretty thorough page about the stages and influences in the development of English, which has more information about the subject in one place than I've found elsewhere so far. An engrossing read, it starts before the arrival of English at all, when folks there spoke various Celtic languages, then traces the waves of invasion and immigration that brought in the beginnings of Old English, the additions and subtractions that Danish influence caused, the Normans and Middle English, the Tudor influence on the language, and Modern English. There's even a bit about prescriptive grammar and "invented rules" that most of us learned in school but are relatively recent. (Well, 250 years is "relatively recent" compared to 1400 years, no?) I learned a bit about history beyond language as a side effect. Fun.
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thespian found some
vaguely unsettling [to me] candy- A Washington Post article about too-loud-car-stereo competitions. But unlike the bozos who blast me out of bed and drown out my television driving up Lombard St., "Any sound that escapes from these cars is sound that doesn't show up on the decibel meter. (In dB parlance, it's lost 'sound pressure.') So these vehicles aren't merely bolted shut during races, they're sealed like vaults, with hydraulic pumps, or metal clamps and steel rods. Which means that when the judge says 'go' and the participants face off and detonate their stereos, there's very little to hear." Sounds like a better approach to me! I was amused by the "irascible gray-haired woman named Alma Gates" who was quoted: "My son grew up," says Alma, nodding approvingly. "I didn't."
- In case anybody still hasn't seen it: Once More With Cursing is a Harry Potter parody of the musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer It turns out somebody else had already done the same idea, but I've misplaced that link at the moment. (When I find it, I'll edit this entry.)
- "Cleaning The Fucking Kitchen" is the sarcastic vitriol many people have wished they had the nerve to spout at housemates over time. (I'm not perfect in that regard, but thank goodness I'm not that bad...)
- kathrynt mused about the
monkey ownership approach to managing psychodrama, crediting
the underlyind idea to imalion: "What it boils down
to is, when embroiled in a crisis, stop and ask 'Is this my monkey,
or someone else's?' If it's not your monkey, why do you feel
responsible for its care and feeding? If it is your monkey, why are
you letting it run around and wreck people's things?" That's
the important bit, but it's worth reading the rest.
(no subject)
The tent selection all seemed pretty reasonable to me. I don't DO SCA camping, but I do go camping, and all the stuff on tent selection is about what I'd have said.
(no subject)
Further, I find shock-corded poles a PITA in general. I understand the point to them -- they make poles that fold up into a very short package -- but since I'm always bringing in my gear by car or truck, not hiking in, I'd rather have the long, aluminium poles that I trust and which don't try to pull apart while I'm setting up. (My attitudes towards nylon tents with fiberglass poles would probably be much different if I were backpacking. But since the page in question was specifically about SCA camping, I'm assuming the use of a vehicle.)
Like I said, just a couple of particulars.