Blog? What's In A Name?

Have I described lately what this 'blog' of mine is meant to be? Well... what 'my blog' is, is: a repository for items that have caught my attention and that I feel it appropriate to reiterate that particular item herein. Or some thought or idea of my own is a subject I feel is interesting enough upon which to offer my own individual comments. And that's all it is.


For example: Why is precise language so important in The Law? Well, I read at Language Log the following:

Virginia law on passing a stopped school bus has been clear for 40 years. Here -- read it yourself: "A person is guilty of reckless driving who fails to stop, when approaching from any direction, any school bus which is stopped on any highway, private road or school driveway for the purpose of taking on or discharging children." Yes, drivers must stop a school bus which is, er, stopped. Wait. Is something missing there? Indeed. The preposition "at" was deleted in 1970 when the law was amended, the statute's history shows. And a man who zipped past a school bus, while it was picking up children with its lights flashing and stop sign extended, was found not guilty recently by a Fairfax County Circuit Court judge. "He can only be guilty if he failed to stop any school bus," Judge Marcus D. Williams said at the end of the brief trial of John G. Mendez, 45, of Woodbridge. "And there's no evidence he did."

Again, here is the link to this most interesting article.

. . .

A man that I respect who sometimes goes by the name 'Steve Harris' within an opinion piece, recently wrote: "Literacy sharpens the mind." I thought about that for a while. And I wonder if the statement is true.

If one defines literacy as simply 'the ability to read and write' as most dictionaries do, then I would question the statement. After all, a great many students graduate from high school with the basic ability to read and write, but they rarely do so. Their literacy has most probably not sharpened their minds.

But then I asked myself, 'What is the fullest meaning of the word, literacy?" And after a diligent search, I found:

"Literacy involves the integration of listening, speaking, reading, writing and critical thinking; it incorporates numeracy. It includes the cultural knowledge that enables the speaker, writer or reader to recognise and use language appropriate to different social situations. For an advanced technological society such as Australia, the goal is an active literacy which allows people to use language to enhance their capacity to think, create and question, in order to participate effectively in society.

Source: Australian Council for Adult Literacy, 1991.

Using that definition, then I would certainly agree with, and admire Steve's clear, direct, and deeply profound statement.

. . .

Ann Patchett said: "The way I write, I have a novel in my head for a long time that I think about, and in those months it is so beautiful, so incredibly profound . ... The novel in my imagination travels with me like a small lavender moth making loopy circles around my head." She said: "As soon as I start to put it on the page I kill it. It always breaks my heart. For me, the greatest challenge is to stick with the book I'm writing when what I want to do is hit the delete button."

That comes pretty close to describing my own often admitted dilemma.

. . .

On the Celcius temperature scale, water freezes at 0 degrees and boils at 100 degrees. That seems to me a most sensible method to express graduations of temperature. So, why then do we in the United States still cling to the more complex Fahrenheit scale, wherein water freezes at 32 degrees above zero and water boils at 212 degrees?

Outer ring is Fahrenheit, inner rink is Celcius

I could look up the reason, but I think that I prefer to remain in the dark on that subject.

. . .

New word --

numinous (NOO muh nuhs)
Numinous is from the Classical Latin numen and is an English adjective describing the power or presence of a divinity.

Someone defined it further, saying: It may be viewed as "the intense feeling of unknowingly knowing that there is something which cannot be seen." This "knowing" can "befall" or overcome a person at any time and in any place -- in a cathedral; next to a silent stream; on a lonely road; early in the morning or in the face of a beautiful sunset. Similarly, unpleasant or frightening scenes or experiences can lead to a sense of an unseen presence of ghosts, evil spirits or a general sense of the presence of evil. Visions or hallucinations of god, gods, the devil or devils can also happen.

One might say that numinous is a synonym for delusional.

Yes? No?

. . .

I can't remember whether or not I previously posted the link to my Facebook photo album featuring pictures of the dogs in my life. It's fairly recent and so is not yet filled, but it has a few captioned pictures. It's what I call my Eva Photo Album.

. . .

And, yes I am still working, every day, on revising my NaNoWriMo novel.

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