[classic language quiz] five simple questions

1. Hoi polloi means what in Greek?

2. The expression vox populi, the voice of the people, is often followed by which other vox?

3. Paparazzo (played by Walter Santesso) was a character in a film by Federico Fellini. Which film? This is the origin of the term paparazzi.

4. Which Latin adjective is sometimes inserted in mea culpa to emphasize the point, so that it reads, roughly, as "my most grievous fault"?

5. Procrustean means an arbitrary standard to which exact conformity is forced. The name, referring to a character from Greek mythology, means the ________ .


Answers are here.

[canadian roulette] whither integrity

The Canadian situation illustrates that in politics, no blow is too low:

In the Commons, Mr. Dion attacked Mr. Harper for considering a move to prorogue Parliament – ending the session and starting another one in the New Year – portraying him as taking illegitimate steps to dodge defeat in a confidence vote on the economic update the Tories introduced last week.

So, rather than work in with Harper to get over this economic crisis and thrash out some sort of joint policy, Dion resorts to separatists to overthrow a recently elected government which requires stability to achieve anything at all. Is Dion providing Canada with that stability? Can he be trusted? Then again, Harper himself resorting to a tactic he did, say, in 2005, was outrageous.

What it all says to me is that party politics is the worst way to run a country when the chips are down.

[brit girls] are easy

There's been another one of those interminable studies. An Australian travel blog mentions a study saying that British girls are the most promiscuous in the world:

Basically, the Poms are up for one-night stands and casual sex. Far more so than Australians, if the study is to be believed.

Now, this might have come as a surprise to the older set, still pushing the "no sex please, we're British" stereotype. However, as any once-lonely Aussie backpacker will be able to tell you, it's pretty much the opposite that's true. Which is probably why we get on so well.

One commenter agreed with the study's findings:

Yep, found that English (and Irish) girls (outside of their own country) are always fun to meet. When they're back home I've found they can be a bit more conservative, but that's probably the same anywhere right?

I've always observed [in celibate and saintly manner, from a distance, of course] that most nations' ladies are not above a little international cooperation.

[libraries] always a place for the dead tree media

Blogger Xensen has almost finished rebuilding his library and that raises the question, in my mind, of whether we need physical libraries any more. Let me say up front that I feel we do.

Bryan Appleyard took on the might of the digitisphere in early 2007 with his article on the death of the book and replied to the flak thus:

I wrote an article in The Sunday Times about Google's digitisation of the world's libraries. Some - Google included - seemed to think I said this was about to destroy civilisation. This does not fill me with hope about the ability of these people - Google included - to read.

Commenter Mitar is an apostle of the new reading:

I just hope that there will be the day when information will be freely accessible and not limited only to the people who can afford it, which, I believe, will help more developing nations than care for their cultural well-being.

Overall it seems to me that very similar ideas were around when Gutenberg invented movable type. 500 years ago we got books which enabled us to share information and knowledge easier, more rapidly and to regions where this was not possible before.

Now we are at the similar point in our history, we are getting rid of the limits the material nature of the books have and we are going forward. This are steps forward. I think you should enjoy the ride.

I was interested in Mitar's "this are steps forward". Bit more than a typo, methinks. Commenter Jack covered my thoughts about literacy and reading here:

I can say, from the point of view of this librarian at a baccalaureate institution, that it's not the death of the book we should be worried about, it's the death of reading. Like the USA Today newspaper in America that shortened all journalism into two paragraphs, digitising a book gives it to a medium that does not encourage reading, is not designed for reading, and considers reading to be tedious.

It used to be called "sustained reading," a concept teachers promoted to encourage a lifelong appreciation for the written word, and the book was the ultimate device for delving into the understanding of the world. But now Google's push for digital copy will accelerate that death, by moving it to a medium that looks remarkably like a television, and by all accounts acts like one too. Is it any wonder we know so little about our world?

It seems to me that both have a point - the net has certainly freed up information but there are two points which need addressing straight away.

Firstly, commenter Devon said:

You seem to have an overarching assumption that when data is held digitally, it is of a lower form called information. Conversely, when touched by a human mind, this data is risen to a higher form called knowledge. Now, I am likely oversimplifying your views, and I don't wish to be condescending.

Even if we are to simply regard knowledge as either true or useful information, there is absolutely no reason to assume that a human is more likely than an algorithm to reference it until we know more about both the human and the algorithm.

Data held digitally is of no less quality than information on the dead-tree page but there is now a second issue - that the whole aim of the Google digitization, being to make information freely available across the globe, is undercut by the development of the ebook, DRM, the two-tier net and semi-governmental regulatory practices.

About ebooks, L'Ombre says:

Well mostly what we seem to have learned is that there is a demand for ebooks and that if the publisher doesn't meet that demand then others will do so. Furthermore there is probably a continuum. If no ebooks exist then many high quality free versions of popular books will show up, if the publisher sells the ebooks with DRM at high prices then some bootleg copies will occur and if the publisher makes the books available for low cost (and without DRM though it is hard to control for that) then very few if any bootleg copies will be made available.

So we are back to the same old story - that information will again be available for those willing to subscribe to it, i.e. those with the money. The only hope for the less affluent is the public library and for the slightly better off, the slow building of a real library in real space in a real room.

The danger in that, of course, was illustrated in Fahrenheit 451.

In the end, to Mitar's distinction between information and knowledge, can be added a third issue - simple literacy. I hate to say it but the syntactical, grammatical and spelling errors which abound today, even in publications intended for foreign learners of English [and that is mortifying] show how far literacy has slipped in two generations.

UPDATE: You might like to look at Angus Dei's take on the matter.

[macintoshes] why so gleefully attacked by pc users

It doesn't seem too far fetched to compare Macintosh users to the subject two posts ago - the Jews - in some respects. Constituting a minority in the computer community, Mac users have been seen by many as arrogant, feeling they are immune from the vicissitudes of PC users and that their way is superior.

Firstly, there is a distinct difference between Apple Corp itself and Mac users. Having used both systems, I can say that the Mac is more limited in scope, with less add-ons and more prescriptive but you have to look at its target user.

These are reasonably tech savvy people who want a smooth and reliable operating system which makes day to day computing effortless and enjoyable. Mac delivers on that big time - the computer is a delight to operate. I don't need a programming device or a high tech interface - I want to have everything at hand to blog with and to deal with my correspondence whilst enjoying the multi-media.

The way PC users come down on this small minority is surprising in my eyes - it's a large field and we're not threatening anyone. It's just another computer, after all. Do people come down on the Linux Ubuntu way, for example? And as for its supposed invulnerability, it seems to be with glee that the PC world has pounced on Apple's recommendation to install anti-virus software:

Until now, Apple has been telling customers they did not need to have antivirus software installed on their Mac laptops and desktop computers, since it was deemed by the company as an unnecessary measure. Now, it seems that the tide has turned and Apple has even recommended some antivirus options to its users, such as Intego VirusBarrier X5, Symantec Norton Anti-Virus 11, which are both available on Apple Online Store with a commercial license and McAfee VirusScan for Mac.

Well no, actually. For a start, Apple is continually sending upgrades and yes, they want to defend their impregnable reputation and yes, they do think that mulit-antivirus systems can help that, as they stated:

"The Mac is designed with built-in technologies that provide protection against malicious software and security threats right out of the box," he said. "However, since no system can be 100 percent immune from every threat, running antivirus software may offer additional protection."

For a long time, it was the PCs which were hacked and Macs, being a fairly insignificant portion of the market, were relatively untargetted. Now they are being targetted and Apple is having to pull out all stops.

We live in a world where faith is being increasingly questioned and consumer demands more and more unrealistic. For crying out loud - we're not using some NASA trillion dollar moon-landing technology here. We're using a PC with multi-media on it and the ability to use say, the Microsoft suite.

All computers can be hacked and harbour trojans. Mac is better than many in making life relatively trouble free but it is not G-d. It does what it does, does it reliably and elegantly and it works for a long time. That is all.

[advent] a calendar of sorts

You might like to click, each day up till Christmas, on the day's badge in the sidebar. Hope you enjoy.