An interesting article from the Times-Argus site discusses the increasing use of “y’all” beyond the south. Is the South rising again, is it the use of “y’all” in hip-hop, or is the term filling a linguistic hole that isn’t easily filled by standard English? Read on. I’ve caught myself using it a few times, mostly with humerous intent. Scott uses it all of the time, most interestingly after “aloha”.
Ward Churchill To Speak at UH-Manoa.
There has been a s**t-storm of controversy swirling around Ward Churchill since his (insert your own adjective) statements comparing 9/11 victims to an infamous Nazi war criminal. Those statements prompted the governor of Colorado to call for his dismissal, and the University of Colorado Board of Regents to investigate the possibility of doing so. His situation has generated a lot of heated discussion on our campus listserve over the past few weeks. Churchill will hold a public lecture, “Speaking Truth to Power: Academic Freedom in the Age of Terror,” at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, February 22, 2005 at the UH…
Yawn.
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!
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.
A Waste Of Cyberspace?
[ From the Ottawa Citizen via Scripting News ] “”Without visiting all 37 million sites coughed up by Internet search engines, it is safe to assume that most blogs are not worth the cyberspace they occupy.” Who cares? Does the presence of this or any other blog prevent a more worthy entry from occupying its cyberspace? Why not rant on the billions of junk mail solicitations (the paper variety) that are sent out each year and end up in our rubbish dumps? I blog here because it helps my thought processes and (hopefully) my writing. If someone finds it interesting…
I won’t say Jack Shafer doesn’t get it, but his comparison of blogging and Shamberger’s ‘Guerrilla Television’ misses the target.
One huge difference is the availability of pipes – amateur videographers had no vehicle for getting their creations to a mass audience. The web gives bloggers equal access to the same audience as the Times. The trick is getting people to find you – no small feat.
Minus 54 in Minn?
I have a sister in northern Minnesota, Bemidji to be exact. I’m waiting for a weather report from her.