According to the Doonesbury site's feature "Say What?" today, Lauren Caitlin Upton, the reigning Miss South Carolina, was recently asked on TV why so many Americans can't find their own country on a map, and her impromptu reply, dutifully transcribed by various sources (though not yet checked aganst the original recording by Language Log staff), was:
I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because some people out there in our nation don't have maps, and I believe that our education like such as South Africa and the Iraq everywhere like such as, and I believe that they should... our education over here in the U.S should help the U.S or should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future.
Those who enjoy laughing at stereotypically pretty young women (yes, Miss Upton does appear to be blonde) for stereotypically lacking intelligence will get a few giggles out of this one. And they will probably not reflect on whether they themselves have ever sounded similarly stupid when speaking spontaneously under pressure and under lights, in response to an unexpected question under circumstances that made them feel they are expected to talk.
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👓 Language Log is strong | Language Log
A small point, while I think of it, at the risk of seeming a tiny bit pedantic, concerning how to make reference to Language Log. You may have noticed, from other websites or our occasional direct quotations from them, that there are many people who write things like "I really enjoy the Language Log". To take a random example, this page from the website of the radio program Here and Now says The "Language Log" is an online hub where linguists trade thoughts on all aspects of language. And another site said (and we really are flattered and grateful): the website of record for die-hard language buffs is the Language Log, acknowledging in the following sentence: The Language Log, I admit, is not for the faint of heart (see it here). Many thanks for the praise; but for the non-faint of heart, it's "Language Log", not "the Language Log". If I may use the terminological distinction drawn in The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language in pp. 517ff, recently mentioned here), Language Log is a strong proper name, not a weak one.
👓 Casey Affleck Addresses Sexual Harassment Allegations | Variety
In an interview with the Associated Press, Affleck admitted to contributing to an unprofessional environment on the set of “I’m Still Here,” which was shot in 2008 and 2009. “I tolerated that kind of behavior from other people and I wish that I hadn’t. And I regret a lot of that,” Affleck, who directed, produced, and co-wrote the film, said. “I really did not know what I was responsible for as the boss. I don’t even know if I thought of myself as the boss. But I behaved in a way and allowed others to behave in a way that was really unprofessional. And I’m sorry.”
Someone has either coached him and/or he’s got a great publicist helping him out. He was never eloquent enough to pull off statements like these in my experience.
👓 Static Indieweb pt2: Using Webmentions | Max Böck
How to pull interactions from social media platforms like Twitter back to your own site, using Webmentions, webmention.io and Bridgy.
Clear and lucid tutorial for adding Webmention to one’s Eleventy-based static site.
👓 Static Indieweb pt1: Syndicating Content | Max Böck
How to automatically publish content from a static site on Twitter, using Eleventy and Netlify's lambda functions.
A nice little article with some excellent code examples for those who want to follow along.
👓 tultywits | Kicks Condor
talk of and use the little things you want to survive.
👓 Impeach Donald Trump | The Atlantic
Yoni Applebaum (The Atlantic)Starting the process will rein in a president who is undermining American ideals—and bring the debate about his fitness for office into Congress, where it belongs.
Just the sort of great, historic writing that The Atlantic is well known for creating.
Highlights, Quotes, Annotations, & Marginalia
As a House Judiciary Committee staff report put it in 1974, in the midst of the Watergate investigation: “The purpose of impeachment is not personal punishment; its function is primarily to maintain constitutional government.” Impeachable offenses, it found, included “undermining the integrity of office, disregard of constitutional duties and oath of office, arrogation of power, abuse of the governmental process, adverse impact on the system of government.” ❧
January 18, 2019 at 07:36PM
The question of whether impeachment is justified should not be confused with the question of whether it is likely to succeed in removing a president from office. ❧
January 18, 2019 at 07:41PM
Here is how impeachment would work in practice. ❧
January 18, 2019 at 08:01PM
The Nixon impeachment spurred Charles L. Black, a Yale law professor, to write Impeachment: A Handbook, a slender volume that remains a defining work on the question. ❧
January 18, 2019 at 08:07PM
In fact, the Nixon impeachment left Weld with a renewed faith in the American system of government: “The wheels may grind slowly,” he later reflected, “but they grind pretty well.” ❧
January 18, 2019 at 08:12PM
👓 Infographic Breaks Down Film Genre Popularity of the Past 100 Years | No Film School
Check out this cool look into how Film Genre Popularity has evolved over time from 1910 - 2018.
👓 The Indieweb.xyz Translations Project | Kicks Condor
Matthias Pfefferle asked for a German edition of Indieweb.xyz and it is ready now.
👓 Instagram’s Archive feature is now available for everyone to hide embarrassing old photos | The Verge
Instagram is releasing its Archive feature to all users today, after testing it with a smaller group of people last month. The feature lets anyone on Instagram hide their old posts without deleting...
👓 Lawmakers Vow To Investigate Evidence That Trump Told Cohen To Lie To Congress | BuzzFeed News
“Such an instruction would amount to obstruction of justice,” one Democrat said.
BuzzFeed is definitely milking this story with the primary version and this mini-follow up.
👓 President Trump Directed His Attorney To Lie To Congress About The Moscow Tower Project | BuzzFeed News
Trump received 10 personal updates from Michael Cohen and encouraged a planned meeting with Vladimir Putin. Update: The office of the special counsel is disputing BuzzFeed News’ report.
If true, this is a major bombshell and a painfully impeachable offense. As I read it though, I wonder if it will make a dent in the devolving atmosphere of the government.
👓 Please update your RSS subscription | John Cook
Done and done.
👓 Trump startled by cozy Barr-Mueller relationship | CNN
President Donald Trump was startled Tuesday as he watched television coverage of his nominee for attorney general describing a warm relationship with the special counsel Robert Mueller in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, according to three people familiar with the matter.
👓 So, I Got an Email From Matthew Whitaker’s Wife | Slate
Marci Whitaker, wife of the acting attorney general, says the Mueller investigation is “wrapping up.”
This is just bizarre. I wonder if she discussed this with her husband before sending? (Not that she needs to, but it just seems so odd that something like this could cause them more trouble than not.)