Lionel Mandrake
Lionel Mandrake's JournalLinguistics vs. English departments
Am I imagining things, or is there tension between these different types of scholars?
English departments prefer traditional grammar and emphasize "correct" (prescriptive) grammar, whereas linguists prefer transformational grammar, which is purely descriptive (i.e., if people say or write it, it's idiomatic, which is all that matters).
English departments emphasize literature which is part of the "canon" (Shakespeare, Chaucer, Byron, Keats, et al.), whereas linguistic departments view their subject as an empirical science, not an art.
Can anyone explain the syntax of "I saw it happen"?
It's a very short sentence, but I don't understand it. I'm guessing that "it happen" is a clause, in which "happen" is the verb", but then I must ask: is "happen" an infinitive or is it inflected? What's going on here?
How should a teacher who has sex with a student be punished?
The conduct is certainly unprofessional, and the teacher always loses his or her job. If the student is underage, then it's "statutory rape", which is a felony and can result in a long prison sentence. But what if they love each other? Should all be forgiven?
Consider for example the case of Leah Gayle Shipman:
Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/21/leah-shipman-ex-teacher-marries-student_n_2521118.html
"Particle Fever"
is now streaming by NetFlix. I started to watch it last night. It's an excellent popularization of the search for, and discovery of, the Higgs boson at CERN.
The movie includes polemics against the SSC by some idiots in the US Congress. If it hadn't been canceled, the SSC would probably have found the Higgs . Shame on us for electing so many idiots to Congress.
Why are we spying on Germany?
Are we trying to get the Germans to hate us? Do we wish to see Germany aligned with Russia? WTF?
Things Are Getting Better
That's the title track of this album. The tune was written by Cannonball Adderly.
Cannonball Adderley -- alto saxophone
Milt Jackson -- vibes
Wynton Kelly -- piano
Percy Heath -- bass
Art Blakey -- drums
R. I. P. Horace Silver
Horace Silver died yesterday. His Wikipedia article has already been updated to show this.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_Silver
Here is a recording of his that I like a lot.
Donald Knuth and a deplorable trend in the history of science
The creator of TeX and Metafont is passionate about the history of science in general, and the history computer science in particular. He praises historians of math, who continue to publish articles with technical content. He despises the "externalist" trends in histories of other sciences.
I agree with him. The problem as I see it is that most so-called historians of science don't know squat about science, and what's more, they don't want to learn squat about science. They are underachievers and proud of it, man. They are interested only in the view of science from the outside, and their pseudo-scholarly articles lack technical content. George Sarton (the founder of the discipline of history of science) must be turning over in his grave.
Here is Donald Knuth's lecture on this preposterous state of affairs:
Today is the 70th anniversary of D-day,
June 6, 1944, when Allied soldiers and sailors stormed the beaches of Normandy. American losses at Omaha Beach were terrible, but the invasion succeeded. Eleven months later the Germans surrendered, and that was the end of the Second World War in Europe.
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