Reads, Listens

Reading list of books, magazines, newspaper articles, other physical documents, or online posts
Playlist of posts listened to, or scrobbled
Listened to Lectures 9 and 10 from The History of the English Language, 2nd Edition by Seth LererSeth Lerer from The Great Courses

Lecture 9: In this fascinating lecture, Professor Lerer looks closely at the changes wrought by the French in English during the 11th to the 14th centuries. In the process, he raises questions about what we might call the "sociology" of language change and contact.
Lecture 10: This lecture presents the central features of Chaucer's English. Its goal is not only to address a particular period in the history of the language (or even in the history of literature) but to allow you to recognize and appreciate the force of Chaucer's poetry and its indelible impact on English linguistic and literary history.

cover of The History of the English Language by Seth Lerer

Lecture 9: What did the Normans do to English?

Words borrowed for two reasons

  • prestige
  • vacant slots with no native words

English words for animals in the countryside, but the words for cooked meats are French

  • cow/beef
  • deer/venison
  • sheep/mutton

Trilingualism: English, French, Latin

Lecture 10 Chaucer’s English

This lecture presents the central features of Chaucer’s English. Its goal is not only to address a particular period in the history of the language (or even in the history of literature) but to allow you to recognize and appreciate the force of Chaucer’s poetry and its indelible impact on English linguistic and literary history.

​

Read Hyperchatting by Jack BatyJack Baty (baty.blog)
People seem very focused on technological solutions to online communication (ActivityPub, Indieweb, this absurd BlueSky idea), but the hyperconversation approach is trying to prove that the problem is a human problem. If you read and listen to each other and try to respond thoughtfully and carefully - and try to
Read TiddlyWiki and Roam and my Daily Notes by Jack Baty (baty.blog)
A few notes about differences between TiddlyWiki and Roam related to my daily note taking process. In October, 2018, I created a wiki at rudimentarylathe.org using the wonderful TiddlyWiki. Since then I've written just shy of 1,000 "tiddlers" there and it's been a totally pleasant experience. The original
Read How to Measure the Correct Hurley Size (cultec.ie)
  • The player stands nice and relaxed with their hands down by their sides.
  • The distance from the ground to their wrist is the correct length.
  • The player should be able to hold the hurley at the top and the hurley should be just touching the ground.

If it is not possible to perform this test e.g. you are buying a present for someone a good rule of thumb is half their height.

If a player is between sizes it is still better to have the hurley too small rather than too big.

Read How to create a free website by Malcolm BlaneyMalcolm Blaney (mblaney.xyz)
i.haza.website currently offers free website hosting, with the only requirement being that you register a domain name! I reckon that's pretty good, but a few people have put me on to freenom.com, who also offer free domain registration. So now you can get a website set up for free! There's a few st...
Listened to Sons of the Soil from On the Media | WNYC Studios

How Hindu nationalists are rewriting the story of India.

Last week, India’s ruling party (the BJP) passed the Citizenship Amendment Act. The legislation grants a clear path to Indian citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Opponents pointed out flaws in the law almost as soon as it was introduced. The law fails to mention Muslim minorities who face persecution in their own countries, such as the Rohingyas in Myanmar. Critics see it as the latest step in the Hindu nationalist government’s steady march toward a Hindu nation-state. The move follows the revocation of Kashmir’s autonomy this summer, and two million people losing statehood in Northeast India after being left off of a national register of citizens. The list requires citizens to provide documents to prove Indian ancestry. Many Muslims fear that the National Register of Citizens will be enacted across India, leaving religious minorities in the world’s largest democracy in danger of losing their home.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah twisted history to provide justification for the Citizenship Amendment Act, shouting to his colleagues in Parliament that decades ago it was the now opposition, Congress Party, that divided India and Pakistan along religious lines. As Indian historian Romila Thapar wrote in The New York Times earlier this year, “extreme nationalists require their own particular version of the past to legitimize their actions in the present.” This week, we go back to a piece reported by OTM Producer Asthaa Chaturvedi. She examines how Hindu nationalists are rewriting Indian history in the world’s largest democracy, with journalist Shoaib Daniyal, political scientist Christophe Jaffrelot, and sociology professor Nandini Sundar.

Read I Was Wrong About Speed Reading: Here are the Facts by Scott H. Young (Scott H Young)
7 years ago I wrote an article about speed reading. Turns out I made a lot of mistakes. Discover why speed reading might not be as useful as expected.
Most speed reading material always seem off. This one is reasonably measured and at least indicates a balance between speed and comprehension and retention. Seems like a dearth of references here. I can’t imagine that there isn’t more peer reviewed research on speed reading and comprehension. 

Of course the memory portion can be handled relatively easily, but even that takes some work and repetition. 

Read IndieWeb Link Sharing by Max Böck (Max Böck - Frontend Web Developer)
A pain point of the IndieWeb is that it's sometimes not as convenient to share content as it is on the common social media platforms. Let's improve that.
This sounds a lot like some of the bookmarklet tools that I use for my WordPress website. Kudos to Max for making it easier for those with static sites!
Read The Christmas Eve Confessions of Chuck Todd by Jay RosenJay Rosen (PressThink)

That disinformation was going to overtake Republican politics was discoverable years before he says he discovered it.

Press Think logo card

I keep saying that anyone who has Kellyanne Conway or her ilk on their airwaves is actively suborning perjury in the public commons. Kudos to Jay Rosen on this excellent piece.

It’s honestly hard to believe that even Christianity Today seems to have come around on  some of the truth of what is happening before Chuck Todd has.

I’m glad that at least Chuck Todd knows/understands what is happening now and may change course to help protect it. Perhaps he needs to spend a few days with George Lakoff to attempt an intervention and a solution?

Looking back at our history of reportage of white power/white nationalism will provide some additional immediate ideas. WNYC’s On the Media has had some great material in the last few years on these topics:

One might suggest, “just replace the word ‘racist’ with ‘Republicans'” in these stories, but I think many of them have generally done that for themselves already.