"If a person is walking out of church on a Sunday morning and is struck by a meteorite and killed, I would say he was in the right place at the wrong time. Do you agree that oftentimes this phrase is applied incorrectly?”
...I agree with you that the wrong place at the wrong time is overused—even a cliché. It hasn’t been fresh since the middle of the Korean War, when General Omar Bradley said "... in the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, this strategy would involve us in the wrong war, at the wrong place, at the wrong time, and with the wrong enemy.”
It’s true that any one of Bradley’s four wrong phrases would have made the same point—but less emphatically. Oddly, the two main ways to be forceful in English are to be succinct and to be wordy. The latter is out of fashion, and people who don’t like it call it redundancy. Those of us who do sometimes like it call it pleonasm: “the using of more words than are required to give the sense intended … often resorted to deliberately for rhetorical effect.”
02 October 2008
"The wrong place at the wrong time"
Is that phrase grammatically incorrect - or if not grammatically incorrect, is it logically incorrect? Here's the discussion, from The Atlantic's Word Court column:
What music goes well with an economic Armageddon?
How about Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire." The original music video is a bit dated, so I've embedded a newer adaptation.
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it.
More discussion of the song and its allusions at Wiki.It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it.
Magic bullet "trick" - in real life!
Earlier this week I embedded a video of Penn and Teller performing the Magic Bullet trick, in which the magician catches a bullet in his teeth.
This morning Arbroath features a story in which a Croatian man did the same thing - for real - during a murder attempt: The couple got caught up in a row between two men over a debt, one of whom pulled a gun and shot at them at point blank range...
The bullet grazed the cheekbone of Mr Cavlovic's terrified wife and slammed into his mouth. But instead of killing him, the shot got caught in his dentures and fell harmlessly to the ground.
"I thought I was dead for sure," he told police. "I didn't even see the bullet hit my wife. I just saw the flash of the gun's barrel. The next thing I knew was something hit my false tooth and I spat out the hot lead. It hurt like hell but we're both still alive."
This morning Arbroath features a story in which a Croatian man did the same thing - for real - during a murder attempt: The couple got caught up in a row between two men over a debt, one of whom pulled a gun and shot at them at point blank range...
The bullet grazed the cheekbone of Mr Cavlovic's terrified wife and slammed into his mouth. But instead of killing him, the shot got caught in his dentures and fell harmlessly to the ground.
"I thought I was dead for sure," he told police. "I didn't even see the bullet hit my wife. I just saw the flash of the gun's barrel. The next thing I knew was something hit my false tooth and I spat out the hot lead. It hurt like hell but we're both still alive."
Bleeding tooth fungus
Found in association with conifers, especially in Scottish pine woods of America and Europe. The "bleeding" liquid contains atromentin, a pigment with heparin-like anticoagulant properties.
Blogged for the great photo; image credit to Darvin DeShazer.
More info re mushrooms.
Sec. 503 Exemption from excise tax for certain wooden arrows designed for use by children.
The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 now also includes the Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008 and a smorgasbord of other add-ons. Among the notable features of the additional provisions are tax credits for wind and solar power, an extension of relief from the Alternative Minimum Tax, a provision to ensure that healthcare plans include mental health benefits and so many other handouts to various constituencies that no blog post would be sufficient to include them all.The pigs are at the trough, loading onto the bill everything they can think of to appease voters, pay back their campaign contributors, and funnel funds to their congressional districts. Why else would this bill to stabilize the American economy include, and I quote:
- Sec. 503 Exemption from excise tax for certain wooden arrows designed for use by children.
Exotic comestibles
I've had reindeer while visiting Norway, but only as steak. The pate is said to be made with cognac and spices. The "monkey-picked tea" is described as follows:
"... Nowadays the practice of monkeys picking tea has all but died out, except in one small remote village where they still continue this remarkable tradition. No monkeys are harmed or mistreated in order for us to bring this rare brew to you! In fact the monkeys and their ancestors before them have been doing this job for generations and are treated as respected members of their human keeper's families."The scorpion is "specially bred" for human consumption and heat-treated to remove toxins. It is sugar free. Posted for Dave and Lan, who may have had the opportunity to enjoy this delicacy in Wuhan.
(found at k9pincushion)
Atlanta, 1864
Another one of the interesting Shorpy photos of the Civil War period, this one illustrating how goods were transported at the time. One can imagine the pure hell that must have ensued after heavy rains. Click photo to supersize for full appreciation.
01 October 2008
Hundreds of billions of bailout $$ to foreigners
Not just billions. HUNDREDS of billions. Here's a partial transcript of the CNBC discussion, which can be viewed at this YouTube link:
Larry Kudlow:
Let me just ask you one question. I think you are referring to foreign banks headquartered in the United States. I do not see how foreign investors get bailed out.
Rep. Brad Sherman:
Larry you have to read the bill. It's very clear. The Bank of Shanghai can transfer all of its toxic assets to the Bank of Shanghai of Los Angeles which can then sell them the next day to the Treasury. I had a provision to say if it wasn't owned by an American entity even a subsidiary, but at least an entity in the US, the Treasury can't buy it. It was rejected.
The bill is very clear. Assets now held in China and London can be sold to US entities on Monday and then sold to the Treasury on Tuesday. Paulson has made it clear he will recommend a veto of any bill that contained a clear provision that said if Americans did not own the asset on September 20th that it can't be sold to the Treasury.
Hundreds of billions of dollars are going to bail out foreign investors. They know it, they demanded it and the bill has been carefully written to make sure that can happen.
And here is the wording of the bill:
SEC. 112. COORDINATION WITH FOREIGN AUTHORITIES
4 AND CENTRAL BANKS.
5 The Secretary shall coordinate, as appropriate, with
6 foreign financial authorities and central banks to work to
7ward the establishment of similar programs by such au
8thorities and central banks. To the extent that such for
9eign financial authorities or banks hold troubled assets as
10 a result of extending financing to financial institutions
11 that have failed or defaulted on such financing, such trou
12bled assets qualify for purchase under section 101.
Larry Kudlow:
Let me just ask you one question. I think you are referring to foreign banks headquartered in the United States. I do not see how foreign investors get bailed out.
Rep. Brad Sherman:
Larry you have to read the bill. It's very clear. The Bank of Shanghai can transfer all of its toxic assets to the Bank of Shanghai of Los Angeles which can then sell them the next day to the Treasury. I had a provision to say if it wasn't owned by an American entity even a subsidiary, but at least an entity in the US, the Treasury can't buy it. It was rejected.
The bill is very clear. Assets now held in China and London can be sold to US entities on Monday and then sold to the Treasury on Tuesday. Paulson has made it clear he will recommend a veto of any bill that contained a clear provision that said if Americans did not own the asset on September 20th that it can't be sold to the Treasury.
Hundreds of billions of dollars are going to bail out foreign investors. They know it, they demanded it and the bill has been carefully written to make sure that can happen.
And here is the wording of the bill:
SEC. 112. COORDINATION WITH FOREIGN AUTHORITIES
4 AND CENTRAL BANKS.
5 The Secretary shall coordinate, as appropriate, with
6 foreign financial authorities and central banks to work to
7ward the establishment of similar programs by such au
8thorities and central banks. To the extent that such for
9eign financial authorities or banks hold troubled assets as
10 a result of extending financing to financial institutions
11 that have failed or defaulted on such financing, such trou
12bled assets qualify for purchase under section 101.
Wrapping gifts with U.S. dollars
The wife of Washington lobbyist Ed Rogers gets the money sheets from the United States Bureau of Engraving... and then slices and dices as you would any wrapping paper to best fit the gift and get the best pattern on the front of the package (in this case it's lining up Washington's face just right). No matter that she regularly cuts several bills in half in the process, to be frugal she sticks to the dollar paper and only uses it to wrap "small" gifts.I'll refrain from making a value judgement on the choice of the wrapping paper. Anyone can buy these sheets at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing's cleverly-named website, moneyfactory.gov. I should think those printing presses must be smokin' right now. Personally, I'd recommend exchanging some of your USD for Euros or Loonies or Yen or whatever and waiting a few years when dollars will be much much cheaper...
(link found at Tell Me Something I Don't Know)
Uvula crusher
In Aetius (II.iv.2), there is an interesting description of the amputation of the uvula by first crushing it in a forceps so as to prevent haemorrhage and then cutting it off. Hippocrates (I.63) mentions the uvula crusher as one of the instruments necessary for the outfit of the physician.There is no clarification at the link regarding what disorders might have led the Romans to amputate the uvula, but in modern practice uvulectomy is part of the procedure of uvulopalatopharyngoplasty, employed to correct obstructive sleep apnea.
Identifying subspecies of giraffes
Data presented this past year indicate that there are at least six subspecies of giraffes, rather than the single one previously assumed. The distinctions were defined using mitochondrial DNA, but as the top image indicates, the differences may be evident from the animals' pelage patterns. By far the coolest name is the South Kenyan Giraffa camelopardalis tippelskirchi. More details at the link, which includes information on distances of separation of the genetic patterns.
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