BBC: Jane Austen's Style Might Not Be Hers

Frank sent me this article last week:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11610489

As much as it bursts a childhood bubble (Authors are crazy geniuses! Which, come to think of it, is still mostly true for some authors.), I know that most art, most literature, doesn't happen in a vacuum. And having been on the inside, as it were, I've seen just how much (or little, if the author's really good) editing goes into the making of a book. I shouldn't be so surprised that a lot of editing went into Austen's books.

Except, well, I am. I've always thought of her as one of those pioneering women in the arts world, for all that her writing is somewhat the "chick lit of the Regency era". It comes as a bit of a shock to my inner high school English student that her (male) editor had such a hand in making Pride and Prejudice or Persuasion what they are.

NYTimes: Having a Sister Makes You Happier

A very interesting New York Times article I found today:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/26/health/26essay.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=homepage

More technical details on the study:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/5089197/Having-a-sister-makes-you-happier-and-more-optimistic-say-psychologists.html

I have (for the few of you who don't know this) a younger sister. I can attest to the truth of the conclusion. We used to fight like cats and dogs, when we were much younger (I was about twelve, and she was about six); but as we grew older, we found that we understand each other as few others do. She does make me happier, and the one downside to going to school so far from home is that I don't see her as often as I would like.

I don't tell you this enough, Celine: I love you. I hope you knew this already.

Cats => Croissants

Wendy sent me this a few days ago. Very surreal, very amusing:



Isn't it awesome? My friends are amazing. (Not just for the cat videos, but they certainly don't hurt!)

Today

is the 271st anniversary of the beginning of the War of Jenkin's Ear, which is possibly the strangest-ever name for a war that I've ever encountered. I shouldn't be amused, because a sailor's ear (Capt. Robert Jenkins of the Rebecca) was sliced off by his Spanish counterpart (Capt. Julio León Fandiño of the coast guard), but it's a little too ridiculous not to laugh.

Of course, that was merely the instigating incident, much as the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the spark, but not the underlying cause of the first World War. It was mostly a conflict between two colonial powers for control of the high seas and trading rights.

BBC: Background Noise Affects Taste of Foods

I fly (in airplanes) a lot. I have to, considering that I go to school in California and live in New York, not to mention that our debate league consists of mostly East Coast schools. One thing I've noticed about air travel is the general disappointment that is airplane food. The BBC has an explanation:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11525897

It's not that airlines don't try -- some of them try way too hard, hence the salt overloading -- but it's just a natural phenomenon. Good to know!

The New Yorker: Einstein Tries to Park His Car in New York

A clever Einstein joke:

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/issuecartoons/2010/10/11/cartoons_20101004#slide=4

I'm a fan of science humour (xkcd, anyone?). Also, I read a lot of Freeman J. Dyson in middle school. (Me, a nerd?)

NYTimes: A Planet, Just Discovered, May Be Inhabitable

Huzzah for scifi-evoking awesomeness!

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/30/science/space/30planet.html?hpw

I believe there's life out there -- we just haven't found it yet (see the Drake equation). This, the discovery of an inhabitable planet, is one step closer.

Pax Vobiscum

My roommate, Wendy, and I were discussing valedictions to formal letters, and I mentioned that I'm in the habit of signing off with "Pax vobiscum", or simply "Pax" (meaning "Peace be with you" and "Peace", respectively, in Latin). I thought that perhaps I should vary it a bit. With minimal Googling, I found the following site, which lists the translations for "peace" in practically every (written) language out there:

http://www.columbia.edu/~fdc/pace/

I'm aware that "Pax vobiscum" is most often encountered within the Catholic Church, where it has the connotation of wishing God's grace and protection upon the recipient, a benediction, of sorts. It need not be imbued with any religious meaning, as the words themselves are purely secular. Latin in itself was not originally a religious language -- unlike, say, Hebrew.

R.I.P. Dame Joan Sutherland

The famed Australian soprano Joan Sutherland passed away yesterday:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/12/arts/music/12sutherland.html?_r=1&hpw

She was one of the titans of the operatic world during the height of the bel canto school. Early in her career, in the 1960s, she was nicknamed "La Stupenda" by Venician audiences who were blown away by her rendition of the Handel opera "Alcina". She went on to portray a number of the most famous Bellini heroines, and is also credited with boosting the career of one Luciano Pavarotti (he surely needs no introduction), who was then a promising young tenor just setting out in the opera world; she later recorded with him one of the authoritative versions of Puccini's Turandot.

Anyhow, I have some of her recorded work, and it's absolutely brilliant. I never, unfortunately, had the opportunity to see her on stage, and now I never will.

She will be greatly missed.

The Onion: Historians Admit to Inventing Ancient Greeks

My thanks to Lewis for sending this to me; The Onion is great!

http://www.theonion.com/articles/historians-admit-to-inventing-ancient-greeks,18209/?utm_source=recentnews

I'm a huge fan of classical history, so I find this especially funny. I can't imagine the actual undertaking of creating this sort of cultural richness; it would be like Tolkien x 100!

I wouldn't be surprised if some people got it in their heads to actually believe all this was fabricated though, like the people who think that dinosaur fossils were planted by God or something.

The Rabbit Panther High-Speed Internet Commercial

Brett showed this to me a few weeks ago; it's an advertisement, but also an exercise in absurdity:



...

I noticed that the tags on this post are basically the same as the ones on the last video, minus "cute". (I don't find hairless rabbit-panthers cute, myself...) I don't think I've any more funny animal videos in the queue, though, so it's not becoming a trend, never fear.

Edit (10/25/10): About animal videos not becoming a trend... http://sarahsmiscellany.blogspot.com/2010/10/cats-croissants.html. Yeah...

NYTimes: Waiter, There's Soup in My Bug

Speaking of insects:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/22/dining/22bug.html?hpw

(I first noticed this article for its title. Go figure.)

This story is amusing to me because I've eaten my fair share of insects (silkworms and waterbugs, and some other bugs for which I don't know the English name). Silkworms are actually really tasty.

I find it interesting and rather illogical that most of the Americans I know are squeamish about meats outside of their normal poultry, pig, and cow. What is so special about these particular species? If it's just an issue of emotional attachment or specific associations, would you eat, say, a dog or a cat you did not know, of a breed you had never previously encountered? If it's a matter of hygiene, would you eat a mouse that had been cleared of diseases and thoroughly disinfected prior to cooking and eating?

I don't subscribe to any food taboos; I'll try anything once. Hey, I'm Asian. :)

MSNBC: New Species from New Guinea

And this is why conservation matters:

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/10/05/5235675-new-species-from-new-guinea?GT1=43001

 I especially like the "bug with bugged-out pink eyes". It's actually kind of pretty, in a bright, insectoid sort of way.

NYTimes: The Rise of the 3-D Printers

This looks awesome:

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/29/the-rise-of-the-3-d-printers/?ref=technology

The concept of 3-D printing verges on science fiction; the thought of this technology becoming widely available within my lifetime is incredible.

Also, Maker Fair looks like a whole lot of fun. I've always wanted to go to one, but never seem to be in the right place at the right time.

One Idea for a Novel

This is what I'll be writing about next month:

A boy accidentally strangles a horse with a monstrous vine, and has to figure out where in his muddled ancestry the vine came from, and why.

Cat + iPad

It's so cute!



*squee*

Today is World Animal Day, and the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi

It's pretty self-explanatory: it's basically a day to spread awareness of conservation efforts and animal rights, observed by a variety of organizations (such as animal shelters, wildlife conservation groups, schools, churches, &c.) as well as individuals from all walks of life.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Animal_Day

Interestingly enough, it is no coincidence that today is also the feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi, the much-beloved Italian monk who founded the monastic order that bears his name, and who is the patron saint of animals, nature, and the environment at large. He's another of my favorite saints; I tend to prefer the ones, I find, who did great and charitable works out of compassion and love, rather than merely being martyred for their conviction in their faith. (The exception would be saints who had particularly witty last words; see St. Lawrence.)

NYTimes: A Bible Reference, Hidden in a Computer Virus, Provides Clues to Origins

This sounds like something out of a Dan Brown novel:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/30/world/middleeast/30worm.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=homepage

The concept of calling cards (in this case, the sort left by a criminal, rather those of a Victorian houseguest) has always both irked and fascinated me.  It's a terribly foolhardy move on the part of the hacker -- which is, I suppose the point of hacker bravado -- but also very interesting in that it's a much more sophisticated form of terrorism, specifically the claiming of a criminal act by a certain cause. It's a message and an act of war (well, pseudo-war), all in one.

So long as they don't start with Bible codes and whatnot.

The New Yorker: Namesake

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/issuecartoons/2010/10/04/cartoons_20100927#slide=9

I am amused.

Strangeness

I find this a particularly apt sentiment:

There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.

~ Francis Bacon

We so often endeavour to attain perfection for ourselves and that which we hold dear; inevitably, all parties fall short of the mark, and therein lies dissatisfaction and despair. We are, after all, only human.

Accordingly, I strive for coherence, for completeness of being and richness of experience, rather than for perfection. I am, every day, honing the many pieces of me, that they might coalesce as a greater, deeper, and more beautiful whole than they were the day before. They, and I, need not be perfect -- only better.

This is a reminder, for whomever needs reminding, to take us as we are, as we shall be, rather than as you might wish we were. This is also a reminder, to all the strange, wonderful, imperfect people I know -- you are beautiful.

I am reminded, also, of the poem "Pied Beauty" by Gerard Manley Hopkins. Go read it; it's lovely.