a thaumaturgical compendium

Jill’s posting on how to speak French is both amusing and helpful. It reminds me of Jamie and my attempts to save our interlocutors from embarassment in Japan. I became expert in changing inflections on:

mmm, so da ne…
taihen, korya…
saaaaaa

Not to mention perfecting the teeth sucking hiss or click that could get you through anything. And no, none of these mean anything, really, so you can use them at any juncture (or, given the language, without a juncture). You can also pop in an “itsumo dori” (same as it ever was) once a conversation, and you are golden. Just have to wait for them to compliment your Japanese, roll off a “tondemonai” (don’t fly me!), and you’ll have them convinced. Oh, and if you know a regionalism (e.g., “so da pe!”, “bochibochi denna”), this is usually good for a laugh.

In the past, I’ve thought it an important task to be able to ask where the bathroom is, along with some other key tourist phrases, in as many languages as possible. Now I wonder whether you could create a “fake it in 12 languages” (or somthing like it) course.

JD Lasica has a post that wonders why no one is running with the story that Bush engineered a connection between Iraq and 9/11. I think, strangely, that this doesn’t come as a shock to most Americans. I have a feeling that a lot of people knew that we were on thin ice in invading Iraq, and wanted it to happen anyway. They weren’t looking for a justification, they were looking for an excuse. That’s the (new?) American way: troubles at home (terrorism, economy) are best fought abroad. Bending the truth is not only OK, it’s good practice.

I’ve been puzzling over this for a while. The early views of the war among the undergraduates in my class were mixed. Many felt as though it was going to happen, so they might as well support it. It seemed as though they were less interested in the truth than they were interested in the style and rhetoric of the position. That was late February.

Later in the semester, when we talked about the Freedom of Information Act, many said that we should just get rid of it. One student said “the authorities know more about this than we could ever understand, and we should trust them.” The consensus was that the FoIA was just a way for lefties (like me) to sully America.

I think that we are seeing a new emphasis on style (fascists love style!), so if the confrontation is to happen, it needs a charismatic leader, who will not only ask the right questions, but will do so in a way that is entertaining and engaging. I don’t honestly think Dean is the best man for that job. We need a crusader, someone who will take up the mantle of truth, justice, and the American way, and run with it. I’m thinking Samuel L. Jackson.

Postrel notes that while the mainstreaming of gay culture in the US has certainly been remarkable, that an ad like this one for Travelocity can play on British TV, but is not aired for the American market, indicates there remains room for more acceptance.

She may be right, although I could certainly see the opposite side: perhaps an advertising campaign based on stereotypes (all men who are flight attendants are flaming) won’t fly here precisely because the gay lobby may be strong enough to hurt Travelocity if they found it offensive. I find it amusing. I suspect many gay men would as well, but its hard to say how many, really. It may be that the same commercial ten years ago would have been quite offensive to the gay community, and it is less so today.

Did I just see what I thought I saw? Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to rewind life by 30 seconds and be able to reply it? Now you can, with these relatively cheap (~$80) eyeglass-mounted cameras. The eventual aim is to have cameras that record, you know, your whole life. I would go for one of those in a second. I wonder what it does to social interaction. Steve Mann would know.

Anyway, far too large, in my opinion. It has advantages over a pinhole camera at the lapel or necktie, in that it follows your line of site, but even if it is lightweight, it is also intrusive. The obvious solution is a fibre optic line, but that’s a big jump in cost.

“On any given day, Iyman Faris appeared to be a hard-working, independent truck driver,” Attorney General John Ashcroft told a news conference Thursday. “But Faris led a secret double life.”
Ashcroft said: “[Faris] worked in concert with al Qaeda, our enemies, to plot potential attacks against America and our citizens here in his adopted homeland.” – CNN.com – Ohio trucker joined al Qaeda jihad

I wonder if I am the only one for whom this brought to mind a similar discussion…

It seems that you’ve been living two lives. In one life, you’re Thomas A. Anderson, program writer for a respectable software company, you have a social security number, you pay your taxes, and you help your landlady carry out her garbage. The other life is lived in computers, where you go by the hacker alias Neo and are guilty of virtually every computer crime we have a law for. One of these lives has a future, and one of them does not. I’m going to be as forthcoming as I can be, Mr. Anderson. You’re here because we need your help. We know that you’ve been contacted by a certain individual, a man who calls himself Morpheus. Now whatever you think you know about this man is irrelevant. He is considered by many authorities to be the most dangerous man alive. My colleagues believe that I am wasting my time with you but I believe that you wish to do the right thing. We’re willing to wipe the slate clean, give you a fresh start and all that we’re asking in return is your cooperation in bringing a known terrorist to justice. – The Matrix

Published work, scholars, and institutions are increasingly measured in terms of “impact,” or the number of citations attracted. The process is similar to what Google does. So which departments have the highest impact in Communication?

Rank	University	Number of papers, 1997-2001	Citations per paper
1	University of Wisconsin, Madison	132	2.06
2	University of Michigan	60	1.83
	Rutgers University	53	1.83
3	Northwestern University	50	1.82
4	University of Washington	62	1.77
5
	University of Illinois, Urbana	56	1.63

The question (which isn’t answered on the site) is whether they excluded citations from those within the same department. I doubt they did. I wonder what effect this would have on the numbers. In any event, it’s nice to see the old alma not too far from the top.

Once you get past the cheesy voiceover*, DoCoMo’s video. demonstrating their vision for 2010, is very interesting. It would have been perfect for my course at UW, where students had to envision the world at 2010 (or 2008, depending on the section :). Definitely worth a watch. (via Yu-Tsui)

• I’ve often wondered about this. I suspect that it is a combination of things. Chief among these is that voice “talent” who have a relationship with a Japanese company are likely to be valued for their clearly enunciated English, both because it makes for easier conversation with Japanese who have learned English as a second language, and because they may also be voices for language education voice-overs or corporate missives with an international audience. The other part of this is that I have a feeling that most Japanese managers trust their own judgment regarding the realism and/or clarity of voice work more than they would an audience analysis. I think I get this impression in part because of a story I read by a native English subtitler working in Japan (Rick Kennedy?) who always had his boss correcting his English, and this sounds vaguely familiar to my own experience.