Dear life 91
Dear life,
Before leaving for DC, I made this decision of posting on my blog the interesting things that I read or hear. So from now on, some of my posts will just be notes on what I have found worth noting and perhaps links to the original articles.
A musical play by New Jersey Repertory Co. brings to stage lives of two rare book dealers. That in itself is amazing. But the point that took my attention is that these two dealers, Madeline B. Stern and Leona Rostenberg, actually read every book they got and sold. No more words on that!
The article you can find at: New York Times under the title “A Writer Finds the Rare Lives of Two Rare-Book Dealers Worth Singing About.”
Sex. That is an issue, a significant one in all our lives, right? No argue on that. But what are our reasons for having sex? (I know, some of you would now say “do we need a reason?”) Come on, have you ever thought about that? Now, psychologists at the University of Texas at Austin have carried out a research on the reasons why people have sex and they have actually listed 237 ones! Can you believe that? The reasons vary from “being drunk”, “to get things, like a promotion, a raise” (this is the case more for men, unlike the reputation that goes for women, or is it that women don’t confess to it?!), “burn calories” (you exercise addicts!), “making the partner feel good about himself/herself” (what sacrifices we do for people!), to even “wanting to feel closer to God” (can you believe it?). And the list is a not-yet-complete one, going on and on. So what reasons have you had for having sex?
If you want to know more go to New York Times and find the article “The Whys of Mating: 237 Reasons and Counting”
A friend noted an interesting point the other night, one of these cultural translation barriers. What’s the English equivalent for مرام? I have been thinking it over and not any good ideas. Really, what is it? Anyone got any suggestions?
Language evolution. I remember how many lessons and articles we studied on the subject in school - not that I remember the contents, but at least I remember Chomsky and the fact that the subject like many other scientific ones is one of controversy. Anyway, there is a new book on the matter, “The First Word” by “Christine Kenneally”. The thing mentioned in the review I read about the book that made me think was the question the book author had put forward, “Imagine a group of infants stranded on the Galapagos Islands, provided with all the necessities of life but no access to speech. Would they create a language? How many babies would it take, what might their language be like, and how would it change over the generations?” The answers her interviewees provided ranged from no language to a complete one, but what I myself have been thinking about is: what does she mean by “all the necessities of life”? Does that mean stuff to just survive or stuff to live a normal life? Then if they are “infants”, who are to care for them so that they grow up in the first place? Necessarily there should be some adults, but would these adults also be lacking language or just restrain from using it (could they?)? Then would the word “stranded” have a meaning at all? Then again what does she mean by “no access to speech”?
When I read the word “access”, this thought string just brings this other word to my mind: “internet”! So do they have access for example to internet (isn’t it a necessity of life today?) books, newspapers, or any kind of written language, or nothing of the kind? I think it would be a more interesting case if we imagine them having access to written words and yet having no idea how to read them or pronounce them and having to find out instead of they themselves inventing their own. Anyway, the review of the book can be found at New York Times, “Language Evolution’s Slippery Tropes”
Before leaving for DC, I made this decision of posting on my blog the interesting things that I read or hear. So from now on, some of my posts will just be notes on what I have found worth noting and perhaps links to the original articles.
A musical play by New Jersey Repertory Co. brings to stage lives of two rare book dealers. That in itself is amazing. But the point that took my attention is that these two dealers, Madeline B. Stern and Leona Rostenberg, actually read every book they got and sold. No more words on that!
The article you can find at: New York Times under the title “A Writer Finds the Rare Lives of Two Rare-Book Dealers Worth Singing About.”
Sex. That is an issue, a significant one in all our lives, right? No argue on that. But what are our reasons for having sex? (I know, some of you would now say “do we need a reason?”) Come on, have you ever thought about that? Now, psychologists at the University of Texas at Austin have carried out a research on the reasons why people have sex and they have actually listed 237 ones! Can you believe that? The reasons vary from “being drunk”, “to get things, like a promotion, a raise” (this is the case more for men, unlike the reputation that goes for women, or is it that women don’t confess to it?!), “burn calories” (you exercise addicts!), “making the partner feel good about himself/herself” (what sacrifices we do for people!), to even “wanting to feel closer to God” (can you believe it?). And the list is a not-yet-complete one, going on and on. So what reasons have you had for having sex?
If you want to know more go to New York Times and find the article “The Whys of Mating: 237 Reasons and Counting”
A friend noted an interesting point the other night, one of these cultural translation barriers. What’s the English equivalent for مرام? I have been thinking it over and not any good ideas. Really, what is it? Anyone got any suggestions?
Language evolution. I remember how many lessons and articles we studied on the subject in school - not that I remember the contents, but at least I remember Chomsky and the fact that the subject like many other scientific ones is one of controversy. Anyway, there is a new book on the matter, “The First Word” by “Christine Kenneally”. The thing mentioned in the review I read about the book that made me think was the question the book author had put forward, “Imagine a group of infants stranded on the Galapagos Islands, provided with all the necessities of life but no access to speech. Would they create a language? How many babies would it take, what might their language be like, and how would it change over the generations?” The answers her interviewees provided ranged from no language to a complete one, but what I myself have been thinking about is: what does she mean by “all the necessities of life”? Does that mean stuff to just survive or stuff to live a normal life? Then if they are “infants”, who are to care for them so that they grow up in the first place? Necessarily there should be some adults, but would these adults also be lacking language or just restrain from using it (could they?)? Then would the word “stranded” have a meaning at all? Then again what does she mean by “no access to speech”?
When I read the word “access”, this thought string just brings this other word to my mind: “internet”! So do they have access for example to internet (isn’t it a necessity of life today?) books, newspapers, or any kind of written language, or nothing of the kind? I think it would be a more interesting case if we imagine them having access to written words and yet having no idea how to read them or pronounce them and having to find out instead of they themselves inventing their own. Anyway, the review of the book can be found at New York Times, “Language Evolution’s Slippery Tropes”
posted by friend @ 3:01 PM
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