I’m a language geek, not a math geek.
Views: 48
Monthly Archives: February 2020
Poem of the day
A Zacinto
by Ugo Foscolo (1778-1827)
Nè più mai toccherò le sacre sponde
Ove il mio corpo fanciulletto giacque,
Zacinto mia, che te specchi nell’onde
Del greco mar, da cui vergine nacque
Venere, e fea quelle isole feconde
Col suo primo sorriso, onde non tacque
Le tue limpide nubi e le tue fronde
L’inclito verso di Colui che l’acque
Cantò fatali, ed il diverso esiglio
Per cui bello di fama e di sventura
Baciò la sua petrosa Itaca Ulisse.
Tu non altro che il canto avrai del figlio,
O materna mia terra; a noi prescrisse
Il fato illacrimata sepoltura.
Views: 21
Poem of the day
Flyttfåglarna
by Johan Ludvig Runeberg (1804-1877)
I, flyktande gäster på främmande strand,
när söken I åter ert fädernesland?
När sippan sig döljer
i fädernedalen
och bäcken besköljer
den grönskande alen,
då lyfta de vingen,
då komma de små;
väg visar dem ingen
i villande blå;
de hitta ändå.
De finna så säkert den saknade nord,
där våren dem väntar med hydda och bord,
där källornas spenar
de trötta förfriska
och vaggande grenar
om njutningar viska,
där hjärtat får drömma
vid nattsolens gång
och kärleken glömma
vid lekar och sång,
att vägen var lång.
De lyckliga glada, de bygga i ro
bland mossiga tallar sitt fredliga bo;
och stormarne, krigen,
bekymren och sorgen,
de känna ej stigen
till värnlösa borgen,
där glädjen behöver
blott majdagens brand
och natten, som söver
med rosende hand
de späda ibland.
Du, flyktande ande på främmande strand,
när söker du åter ditt fädernesland?
När palmerna mogna
i fädernevärlden,
då börjar du, trogna,
den fröjdfulla färden,
då lyfter du vingen
som fåglarna små;
väg visar dig ingen
i villande blå;
du hittar ändå.
Views: 41
There is no bottom to this administration
“President Trump has long made it a practice to tear up his papers and throw them away. It is a clear violation of the Presidential Records Act, which is supposed to prevent another Watergate-style cover-up. When the National Archives sent staff members to tape these records together, the White House fired them.
“In 2017, a normally routine document released by the archives, a records retention schedule, revealed that archivists had agreed that officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement could delete or destroy documents detailing the sexual abuse and death of undocumented immigrants. Tens of thousands of people posted critical comments, and dozens of senators and representatives objected. The National Archives made some changes to the plan, but last month it announced that ICE could go ahead and start destroying records from Mr. Trump’s first year, including detainees’ complaints about civil rights violations and shoddy medical care.
“It’s not just ICE.”
Views: 24
Poem of the day
The Ground-Swell
by E.J. Pratt (1882-1964)
Three times we heard it calling with a low,
Insistent note; at ebb-tide on the noon;
And at the hour of dusk, when the red moon
Was rising and the tide was on the flow;
Then, at the hour of midnight once again,
Though we had entered in and shut the door
And drawn the blinds, it crept up from the shore
And smote upon a bedroom window-pane;
Then passed away as some dull pang that grew
Out of the void before Eternity
Had fashioned out an edge for human grief;
Before the winds of God had learned to strew
His harvest-sweepings on a winter sea
To feed the primal hungers of a reef.
Views: 25
Poem of the day
Seele des Lebens
by Georg Trakl (1887-1914)
Verfall, der weich das Laub umdüstert,
Es wohnt im Wald sein weites Schweigen.
Bald scheint ein Dorf sich geisterhaft zu neigen.
Der Schwester Mund in schwarzen Zweigen flüstert.
Der Einsame wird bald entgleiten,
Vielleicht ein Hirt auf dunklen Pfaden
Ein Tier tritt leise aus den Baumarkaden,
Indes die Lider sich vor Gottheit weiten.
Der blaue Fluß rinnt schön hinunter,
Gewölke sich am Abend zeigen;
Die Seele auch in engelhaftem Schweigen.
Vergängliche Gebilde gehen unter.
Views: 22
It doesn’t matter as long as they win
Paul Krugman in the NYT: “In practice, any Democrat would probably preside over a significant increase in taxes on the wealthy and a significant but not huge expansion of the social safety net. Given a Democratic victory, a much-enhanced version of Obamacare would almost certainly be enacted; Medicare for All, not so much. Given a Democratic victory, Social Security and Medicare would be protected and expanded; Paul Ryan-type cuts wouldn’t be on the table. …
“Now, the Democratic Party is very different from the G.O.P. — it’s a loose coalition of interest groups, not a monolithic entity answering to a handful of billionaires allied with white nationalists. But this if anything makes it even harder for a Democratic president to lead his or her party very far from its political center of gravity, which is currently one of moderate progressivism.”
Views: 116
Will this mean cheaper saffron?
Thanks to efforts to bring saffron from the Mediterranean to New England, Mainers soon may be cashing in on this golden spice.
Views: 96
Forty years in the wilderness?
I doubt it will be that long but the Remainers have a long wait. Or perhaps not so long if, as I suspect, the UK will wind up with no deal at the end of the year, thus making Brexit even more painful. One thing is for sure, Boris Johnson isn’t going to accept a deal that leaves the UK close to the EU (à la Switzerland) and the EU isn’t going to give the UK access to a Single Market that doesn’t include free movement of peoples. And you can count on the US to exploit its superior bargaining position in free trade talks. That probably means higher prices in the UK for prescription drugs and letting American agricultural products in, GMO or no GMO. At least, we can expect the EU to keep its doors open to the repentant prodigal.
Views: 41
Game of the week
I chose this game because today is Svetozar Gligoric’s birthday. He would be 97 and he was one of the best players of his era.
Views: 39