I remember Ray Kurzweil for his work on a machine that could read any text to the blind and for the musical instrument manufacturer that bears his name. He thinks that human immortality via technology will be a reality within 20 years, and is doing his best to assure that he lives long to see it.
Irish language has been loser in North-South clash.
There is some interesting conversation on Slugger regarding the state of the Irish language, and some suggest that it would benefit from a pairing with programs championing Ulster-Scots, another minority language of the country. It seems that advocates of the two language often find themselves in competition with each other as opposed to being support of each other in the face of English language homogeny.
Bad Baby Day?
Jeeze, Louise. First there was a story about a newborn child being tossed out of a moving car. Later it turns out that the woman who claimed that she witnessed the event was the mother, and she made the story up to keep her family from finding out she was pregnant. Next, a woman kills an female attacker who apparently was trying to steal her unborn child. What next?
Christopher Lloyd Plays Lessig on West Wing.
This begs the question… who would play Dave Winer? I’d vote for Richard Karn, “Al Borland” on TV’s “Home Improvement.” Give him a pair of glasses and a bit of grey in the beard, and voila!
Useless and worthless.
This article is filled with so many inaccuracies and generalizations it’s hard to pick a place to begin. First and foremost, the Hawaiian language is not extinct. It never was outlawed, however, its use as a medium of education was. The word “Hawai’i” does not mean “homeland.” The author informs us that he has “studied languages for years and traveled extensively on five continents” and has written two unpublished two books. Hopefully they are better researched than this article.
To quote Elvis Costello…
“Was it a millionaire who said ‘imagine no possessions’?”
Super Yawn.
So far it’s not impressive. Sloppy. Best commercial so far is from just before kickoff – a monkey walks around his enclosure at the zoo with a banana to the side of his head and talking into it – imitating the Verizon “can you hear me now?” guy. Cute. Most touching – an Anheuser-Busch add featuring soldiers walking though an airport and being applauded by the people in the terminal. My son has been in Baghdad for close to a year, and we’re anxious for him to get home, obviously. He related that kind of experience as he returned to…
Mixed Signals?
CNNSI’s Michael Ventre brings up some interesting points. CBS was fine over a half-million dollars over a one second flash of Janet Jackson’s breast. ‘The Best Damn Sports Show Period’ removes ‘Damn’ from its title for their Superbowl pregame show. But we have TV commercials that talk about what to do if your medication-induced erection lasts for more than four hours. Thank goodness it doesn’t induce rectal bleeding or I’d have to explain to my daughter what that is.
One Week To The Inaugural Hawaiian Grammy.
Both the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and the Honolulu Advertiser offer in-depth previews of the awarding of inaugural Hawaiian Grammy, and interviews with the nominees. The most interesting statistic is found at the bottom of the Star-Bulletin article: 17,000 Recording Academy members; Hawai’i-based voting members: about 90. One NARAS trustee estimated that about 10% of members vote in the Folk category; that’s about 1,700 voters. I wonder how many people will cast their vote for an artist they have never heard but only know by name. For this reason, I’m making no predicitons, however, if the voting was restricted to Hawai’i voters,…
Anthony McCann’s ‘Beyond The Commons’ is one of the most amazing works I’ve ever read.
It talks about the expansion and consolidation of power within the Irish Music Rights Organization (IMRO) from 1995 through 2000. IMRO is similar to ASCAP and BMI in the U.S. in that it administers and licenses the musical compositions of its members. It went from being reviled to broad acceptance in a relatively short period of time through some very saavy negotiations and licensing agreements.