From the monthly archives: February 2010
I’ve always wondered why scientists and some in the media refer to earthquakes as “temblors“. It always sounded weird to me. Why not “tremblor” or “trembler” –where did the R go? — I wondered…
As it turns out, temblor is the Spanish word for earthquake.
Seriously, how did we live before Google?
Lol:
For years, people have been claiming to see Jesus in the unlikeliest of places — cheese, chicken, etc . But throughout the history of these sightings, toast as always been the most common culprit. Looks like the tables have turned, Jesus. (via Urlesque)
A poignant way to look at health care reform from Yglesias:
JacobLyles asks: “What do you think of McArdle’s idea of universal catastrophic coverage? Relatively affordable and universal.”
Short answer: I think that’d be great.
Long answer: I’m not a believer in the “here’s this other idea of mine that’s good & since it’s good that’s a good reason to oppose Obama’s health care plan” theory of evaluating legislation. A bill that would have Medicare provide catastrophic coverage to all Americans would be a good bill. The House health care bill is also a good bill. The Senate health care bill is another good bill. And the administration outline is is yet another good bill.
Jeebus tapdancing christmas. This is one of the funniest things I’ve read in a while:
What about 2000 and 2004, Jebster?In a recent interview with Newsmax, [Former Florida Governor Jeb] Bush was asked whether he thought Palin was a viable candidate for president. Though he had some nice things to say about her “charisma,” it was clear that Bush thinks Palin doesn’t have the intellectual heft to occupy the oval office. He said that Palin’s success depends on her willingness to add a “depth of understanding of the complexity of life we’re living in today” to her rhetoric.
“That’s up to her,” he said. “I mean, I don’t know what her deal is, but my belief is in 2010 and 2012, public leaders need to have intellectual curiosity.”
I have taken such a shine to conservative economic historian Bruce Bartlett:
[T]he whole premise of starve-the-beast theory has gone straight down the toilet. Yet, to my amazement, Republicans and Republican lackeys continue to talk about cutting taxes with no corresponding spending cuts as if it is the height of fiscal responsibility. (See this silly Larry Kudlow column and Diane Rogers’ evisceration of it here.) When pressed, they fall back on starving the beast even though there is not one iota of evidence giving it operational meaning since at least 1996, when Ross Perot last ran for president. It has become, in fact, nothing but a license for Republican fiscal irresponsibility.
A couple of years ago I went through the history of starve-the-beast theory in great detail here. Ironically, the originator of the idea turned out to be none other than John Kenneth Galbraith. To the extent that I personally had any role to play in putting this awful idea into play I regret it.
I am just so royally pissed off about the Office of Professional Responsibility’s granting of a get-out-of-disbarment-free card for the Torture Lawyers that I can’t even write a cogent post on it.
But I can pass this along, which is an excerpt from an OPR investigator interview with one of the authors of the Torture Memos:
At the core of the legal arguments were the views of Yoo, strongly backed by David Addington, Vice President Dick Cheney’s legal counsel, that the president’s wartime powers were essentially unlimited and included the authority to override laws passed by Congress, such as a statute banning the use of torture. Pressed on his views in an interview with OPR investigators, Yoo was asked:
“What about ordering a village of resistants to be massacred? … Is that a power that the president could legally—”
“Yeah,” Yoo replied, according to a partial transcript included in the report. “Although, let me say this: So, certainly, that would fall within the commander-in-chief’s power over tactical decisions.”
“To order a village of civilians to be [exterminated]?” the OPR investigator asked again.
“Sure,” said Yoo.
Check out ABC’s This Week today (video below). In a rare moment of quality, they had on California Gov. Schwarzenegger and Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell to talk about infrastructure and the real facts about the impact of the stimulus bill.
Their discussion was productive, fact-based and free of the usual fighting-back-and-forth nonsense between partisan hacks. Will this usher in a new age of interesting Sunday morning TV? I doubt it.I’ve always been fascinated by language. If given oodles of money and a point of disembarkation from the never-ending racetrack of maintaining a “real” career, I might take up comparative linguistics as a prolonged academic pursuit.
On that note, I find insults (and “bad words” generally) to be one of the most interesting facets about everyday language usage.
So, I just wanted to start out a thread where we can share some of the more amusing ways to insult someone or swear in a foreign language.
My favorite right now is:
BAHNHOF SCHLAMPEI came across this one while studying in Germany. Schlampe, by itself, generally means Slut. However, when you combine it with the word Bahnhof, which is German for Train Station, it transforms Shlampe into something like Train Station Whore, which has a more commercial, sex-selling context, presumably from the heavy pedestrian traffic at German train stations that would make it easy for a Bahnhof Shlampe to ply her wares.
Just to ruminate on this in a comparative context, think about this term versus our storied American Truck Stop Whore. I know it’s not a commonly used term, as such. However, we can all immediately bring the meme to mind when the topic of women of ill repute loitering in truck stops comes up. Considering that America is The Land of the Free and the Home of the Automobile, it would make sense that we wouldn’t contextualize whores in a mass transit context.
Anyway, enough from me, what are some of the interesting seedy phrases you’ve come across in your travels? Please share in the comments.
Update: As a bonus, I was just doing a bit of googling and found an interesting context for the Thai manner of calling people Ugly:
NAH GLIAT
Writes KnowPhuket:
It means ugly but you will also often hear Thais use it affectionately for babies and small children. It is an old Thai superstition that you do not call babies lovely or beautiful because that may attract the attention of demons who want to whisk beautiful babies away. Of course, Thais do not actually believe this, but just in case…
Snack Food
Politico parodies itself (via): The Senate, once the chamber of deliberation and reason, is getting its own extreme makeover. Moderates such as Maine Republican Olympia Snowe and Democrat Ben Nelson are bolting an institution that barely resembles the one they entered as idealistic deal makers. Ben Nelson? Idealistic dealmaker? These are words that should not be in the ... (1 comments)Despicable Quote of the Day - Icky Gay Sexytime Is A Threat To National Security
“Given the propensity for members of the homosexual community to engage in frequent and anonymous sexual encounters, the risk to national security of having a homosexual in a high-ranking position with access to secret information is obvious.” Bryan Fischer, Nutbag (0 comments)Newsweek Hearts America. Seriously. They Really F*cking Mean It.
I guess a cover featuring Uncle Sam hungrily masturbating to a painting of Jesus wearing an American flag was deemed to be insufficiently patriotic.
[Embiggen]
(1 comments)Paul Ryan Suddenly Realizes That Ayn Rand Was A Rabid Atheist
Republicans Cave Again: Student Loans Edition
Mississippi: A Shining Example Of Limited Government
Ah, the land of Mississippi – that shining bastion of God-fearing, limited-government conservatism. Well, unless you want to father illegitimate babies — then the government will throw you in jail. (5 comments)Over in the UK, Labour is now up big over the ruling Tories. Part of that is almost certainly a stalled, ailing economy, but what’s sort of interesting because a big part of their drop is due to implementing a cap on charitable deductions, which is essentially what Obama wanted to do here to cut ... (0 comments)Death Penalty Loses Another One
Connecticut ends the practice. I have to say, this is one of those social movements that is regularly winning big victories, but almost nobody seems to be paying attention. Which is fine by me–under the wire is probably the best way for this thing to go for now. (0 comments)Look, Mitt, I know you want to get women back on your side, but the notion that women have lost 92.3% of jobs in the recession may be technically correct in some manipulated and spun context, but it’s not correct, and it’s not even a good bullshit statistic. You might have been able to get ... (0 comments)What Do You Want Schwarzenegger To Write About In His Memoirs?
The Santorum Has Officially Been Mopped Up In The 2012 Race
I think this gets it right. Additionally, though, while I find Rick Santorum’s beliefs to be pretty risible, and his inability to accept that his ideas had some less-than-ideal results during the ’00s is a personal failing, but at the very least he seemed to possess some sense of personal honor and integrity. Not as good as ... (0 comments)I hadn’t used Instagram because I’m not so much a pictures sort of guy, but an article in the SF Chronicle article makes an interesting point that they were a much bigger threat to Zuckerburg’s empire than the other commonly named competitors. (0 comments)Fun Friday: Robocop Is Filmed In Front Of A Live Studio Audience
(THE GRAPEVINE
