Reads, Listens

Reading list of books, magazines, newspaper articles, other physical documents, or online posts
Playlist of posts listened to, or scrobbled

🎧 Lectures 26-27 of The Story of Human Language by John McWhorter

Listened to Lectures 26-27: The Story of Human Language by John McWhorter John McWhorter from The Great Courses: Linguistics

Lecture 26: Does Culture Drive Language Change?
The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis proposes that features of our grammars channel how we think. Professor McWhorter discusses the evidence for and against this controversial but widely held view.

Lecture 27: Language Starts Over—Pidgins
This lecture is the first of five on how human ingenuity spins new languages out of old through the creation of pidgins and creoles. A pidgin is a stripped-down version of a language suitable for passing, utilitarian use.

👓 Half-million-dollar settlement offer would bar embattled director from ever returning to work at the Altadena Library | Pasadena Weekly

Read Half-million-dollar settlement offer would bar embattled director from ever returning to work at the Altadena Library by Andre Coleman (Pasadena Weekly)
A local attorney contends that an element of a settlement offer made by the Altadena Library Board of Trustees to embattled Library District Director Mindy Kittay would bind future boards in choosing a qualified person to run the library. In a letter to Jeffrey Thompson, lawyer for the Library District, Kittay’s attorney Dale Gronemeier said his client, who is currently on administrative leave, would not agree to a $501,000 settlement offer if it included a clause prohibiting Kittay from accepting future employment at the library. “Director Kittay does not assert an entitlement to be the next full-time director, but she will not agree to prevent the new board from bringing her back if it chooses to do so,” Gronemeier wrote.
Sounds like she’s a relatively innovative librarian following the trends of many local libraries in the US to redefine themselves. It’s sad to have a contentious outcome like this with such a huge settlement in which the money could have been far better used for public good instead of in-fighting like this. We deserve better from our public officials.

👓 Squatters’ takeover of Torrance home illustrates landlord frustrations with state law | Pasadena Star News

Read Squatters’ takeover of Torrance home illustrates landlord frustrations with state law (Pasadena Star News)
California law protects squatters who take over rental properties, drawing the ire of landlords such as Cindy Oye-Marquez, who must initiate an arduous eviction process to force out the people who …

👓 ‘Madness’: 1,000 Disney fans wait hours to snap up coveted Hatbox Ghost tiki mug | Pasadena Star News

Read ‘Madness’: 1,000 Disney fans wait hours to snap up coveted Hatbox Ghost tiki mug (Pasadena Star News)
Fans began lining up at 2 a.m. to pay $30 for the souvenir, which can fetch several times that amount online.

👓 School Closings and “Draconian” Budget Cuts Dominate Pasadena School Board Meeting | Pasadena Now

Read School Closings and “Draconian” Budget Cuts Dominate Pasadena School Board Meeting (pasadenanow.com)
Hundreds of angry and saddened students, staff, parents, and teachers packed the Pasadena Unified School District Board chambers, overflow meeting rooms and hallways Thursday, while the award-winning Wilson Middle School Lion Drum Corps performed outside in formation in the parking lot. The PUSD Board had convened a special meeting Thursday to discuss the District’s Financial Stabilization Plan and proposed budget reductions for the upcoming three school years.

👓 Old School Knife Sharpening Meet Peripatetic Knife Sharpener Julio Toruno | Pasadena Now

Read Old School Knife Sharpening Meet Peripatetic Knife Sharpener Julio Toruno by Christopher Nyerges (pasadenanow.com)
Julio Toruno is intimately involved with knives everyday. But he’s not a survivalist, a knife collector, nor a cutlery dealer. He doesn’t live in a remote compound, and he’s never heard of all the TV survivor actors. Toruno is a quiet man who’s found his peace through the art of knife-sharpening. Many times a week, he sets up temporary shop from the back of his truck, mostly at farmer’s markets, and not far from Sierra Madre. “Have stone, will sharpen,” seems to be his motto.

👓 New Stater Brothers Market in North Pasadena Sets Grand Opening for November 14 | Pasadena Now

Read New Stater Brothers Market in North Pasadena Sets Grand Opening for November 14 (pasadenanow.com)
A much-anticipated new Stater Brothers Market at 1390 Allen Avenue is scheduled to open November 14, a company spokesperson said. The store’s remodeling construction is reportedly virtually complete. Remaining work includes the final paving of the parking lot, employee training, and stocking of shelves with goods for sale, which is expected to start about Wednesday, October 17.

👓 Power Outage in East Pasadena Not Related to Preemptive Power Shutoffs, SCE Says | Pasadena Now

Read Power Outage in East Pasadena Not Related to Preemptive Power Shutoffs, SCE Says (pasadenanow.com)
An early morning power outage in Northeast Pasadena affecting 3,100 customers is not part of Southern California Edison’s announced pre-emptive circuit shutdowns designed to reduce fire hazard, a company person said. The 5:06 a.m. outage struck a wide area in the Hastng Ranch / Kinneloa area. SCE spokesperson Lois Bruce said the area affected was confined to Sierra Madre Boulevard on the north, Altadena Drive on the south, Santa Rosa Drive on the east and New York Drive on the west. It is not connected to the power shut off program, and “we do not have a specific cause” yet identified, Bruce said.

👓 La Pintoresca Associates Announce Fundraiser Featuring Tales of Resilience | Pasadena Now

Read La Pintoresca Associates Announce Fundraiser Featuring Tales of Resilience (pasadenanow.com)
Award-winning author Naomi Hirahara shares the story of the resilience of Japanese Americans transitioning back to freedom and rebuilding their lives after internment as part of the La Pintoresca Associates 3rd annual fundraiser on Sunday, Oct. 21 from 2 to 4 p.m. at Pasadena Public Library’s La Pintoresca Branch, 1355 N. Raymond Ave. Music from EPC Jazz Group, a performance by the Kodama Taiko drummers and a taste of Japanese, Italian and American foods will also be featured. The event is free.

👓 Pasadena Man Pleads Not Guilty to Stabbing Two Men, One to Death | Pasadena Now

Read Pasadena Man Pleads Not Guilty to Stabbing Two Men, One to Death (pasadenanow.com)
The stabbing attack occurred near a bar in the 2600 block of East Colorado Boulevard A 66-year-old Pasadena man pleaded not guilty Monday to murder and attempted murder charges stemming from a stabbing incident early in the morning of September 12 in the 2600 block of E. Colorado Blvd. Two men sustained stab wounds during the attack, according to reports from the Pasadena Police Department, and one of them, Jerry Chan, 42, died later. The other victim, Dan Trevino, 32, was treated for stab wounds in the leg and survived. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office said the suspect, Jose Antonio Santiago, pleaded not guilty to the charges during his arraignment Monday at the Pasadena Courthouse of the Los Angeles County Superior Court.

👓 City Takes Close Look at Chandler School’s Plans to Build New 3-Story Classroom, Laboratory | Pasadena Now

Read City Takes Close Look at Chandler School's Plans to Build New 3-Story Classroom, Laboratory (pasadenanow.com)
Pasadena’s Historic Preservation Commission will conduct a Special Meeting Tuesday to review the proposed project site for a new addition to Chandler School’s campus at 1005 Armada Drive in Pasadena – a new three-story building that will house classrooms and the school’s innovation laboratory.

👓 Pasadena Bank Robber Known as “Luger Bandit” Sentenced to Prison | Pasadena Now

Read Pasadena Bank Robber Known as “Luger Bandit” Sentenced to Prison (pasadenanow.com)
A Pasadena man dubbed the “Luger Bandit” was sentenced Monday to 14 years in federal prison for a string of bank robberies in Southern California. Ramsin Jonathan Malek, 35, was also ordered by U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson to pay $85,000 in restitution and serve five years of supervised release after he serves his time.

👓 Caltech Mom Wins Nobel Prize, Son Is JPL Mars Flight Tech | Pasadena Now

Read Caltech Mom Wins Nobel Prize, Son Is JPL Mars Flight Tech (pasadenanow.com)
“What the heck does Mom want? Oh, Mom probably doesn’t understand the time difference, she’s in Dallas right now and is probably still thinking it’s California time…maybe she just wants me to go check on her cats…” A litany of mundane explanations ran through James Bailey’s bleary mind at 3:23 a.m. on October 3 when he was awakened from a deep sleep by three phone calls from his mother’s cell number. Bailey silenced his phone for the first two, getting grumpier with each ring. Call #3 did the trick. He picked up the phone and said groggily, “What do you want?” With great excitement and maybe a tinge of impatience, his mother said, “I wish you had picked up your phone, but I just won the Nobel Prize.”

👓 Interim Police Chief to Tell City Committee Today Pasadena Experienced 3 Murders in Less Than 5 Weeks | Pasadena Now

Read Interim Police Chief to Tell City Committee Today Pasadena Experienced 3 Murders in Less Than 5 Weeks (pasadenanow.com)
Pasadena Interim Police Chief John Perez is scheduled to tell a City Committee today that three homicides that have occurred over the past month in Pasadena and that his Department has arrested the alleged killer in each case. Perez will present his Chief’s Monthly Report Wednesday before the City Council’s Public Safety Committee and is expected to include details about the homicides, all of which involved knife attacks between people who were familiar with each other.