Much has been written about keeping one's mind active, and that such will (might) defer mental weakness in old age. Many people do puzzles such as crosswords or sudoki. What do you have after doing a puzzle? Nothing.
Here is a better way to exercise your mind: Learn Ancient Greek. Here's how to do it. A very fine, enjoyable book aptly titled, Learn Ancient Greek, will help you. The book was written by Peter Jones [ISBN 0-7156-2758-9] and it WILL help you learn to read and translate the ancient Greek language in which Socrates, Aeschylus, Sophocles and even the New Testament was written.
I know - I have finished 17 out of 20 chapters, with the last three mostly more translation exercises. The selections are from Antigone, Plato and the Gospel of John. Peter Jones teaches basic pronunciation, grammar and the common words. He focuses on reading and recognizing the usage of a word, which he presumes you will use a dictionary to find the meaning of its stem. His lessons have humor and are practical.
Once you know the basics, you can find great texts in Ancient Greek from the Loeb Classics Library of Harvard University Press for $24 each, including the translation in English on the opposite pages. Also, the Cambridge University courses for more study of Ancient Greek are available on Amazon, including CD recording on its pronunciation.
Put that puzzle down and Learn Ancient Greek!
Word of the Day
"Scaramouche" - noun [$10] a Mencken word.
Scaramouche means a character of the Italian theatrical form known as commedia dell'arte: an unscrupulous and unreliable servant. His affinity for intrigue often lands him in difficult situations but he always manages to extricate himself, leaving an innocent bystander as his victim.
Sentence: The debt ceiling 'talks' participants all seem to be scaramouches with the plain people - Joe & Jane Average, as their victims.
Showing posts with label languages. Show all posts
Showing posts with label languages. Show all posts
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Language Connections
Your writer's studies of the ancient Greek language continue. I can now translate much basic Greek prose with the aid of a dictionary, including a good bit of the New Testament (which was originally written in ancient Greek). By simply learning how the language is pronounced and focusing on grammar and reading skills, progress in learning a foreign language is much, much faster than trying to learn to speak it (as an adult).
Books that I have for French and German reading state that about 180 hours of effort are needed. Diistributing that effort over 1/2 to 1 hour sessions works best. Thus you, too, can learn to read a foreign language as an adult in less than one year. Try it! Remember, use read-only mode.
Word of the Day
"Dryad" - noun [$10] Mythology.
Dryad means a nymph inhabiting a tree; a wood nymph.
Sentence: If no naiads appear, perhaps the Epicurean canoeists will encounter a band of dryads in the forests surrounding the lakes.
Books that I have for French and German reading state that about 180 hours of effort are needed. Diistributing that effort over 1/2 to 1 hour sessions works best. Thus you, too, can learn to read a foreign language as an adult in less than one year. Try it! Remember, use read-only mode.
Word of the Day
"Dryad" - noun [$10] Mythology.
Dryad means a nymph inhabiting a tree; a wood nymph.
Sentence: If no naiads appear, perhaps the Epicurean canoeists will encounter a band of dryads in the forests surrounding the lakes.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Another Blank Wednesday
Nothing is happening. The market - if one can use that word anymore for the playground of hedge funds and computers - continues to take wild swings on no notice or news. The SEC has let the Street destroy itself and drive away in the common man investor. Why bother to look for reason when quant computer funds drive the wild swings ? Humans aren't in charge anymore. The giant hedge funds battle each other to grab some food (aka fees); human beings enter at their own risk of a stomping by the elephants.
Languages
After a month off to build a good starting base in ancient Greek, I've returned to my original sexalingual studies of French, German, Spanish (a bit), Italian, Polish and Latin. Ancient Greek continues, of course. This summer I intend to review thoroughly the original six and make sure I've learned all the vocabulary and inflection endings to date. That will create a good base for the next foray to seek a higher level of all.
Word of the Day
"Anent" - preposition [$10] archaic or Scottish or North American
Anent means concerning.
Sentence: Anent market reforms, let's just put all stocks on the New York Stock Exchange under the old rules. The great benefit of that is all order flow goes through the same exposure AND the regulators just have to watch one person for each stock - its specialist. Simple, easy reform. Do it.
Languages
After a month off to build a good starting base in ancient Greek, I've returned to my original sexalingual studies of French, German, Spanish (a bit), Italian, Polish and Latin. Ancient Greek continues, of course. This summer I intend to review thoroughly the original six and make sure I've learned all the vocabulary and inflection endings to date. That will create a good base for the next foray to seek a higher level of all.
Word of the Day
"Anent" - preposition [$10] archaic or Scottish or North American
Anent means concerning.
Sentence: Anent market reforms, let's just put all stocks on the New York Stock Exchange under the old rules. The great benefit of that is all order flow goes through the same exposure AND the regulators just have to watch one person for each stock - its specialist. Simple, easy reform. Do it.
Friday, May 21, 2010
TGIF
I must be jaded after living through the past three years. The screeches of panic just don't affect me any more. I lived through the Crash of 1987, the Panic of 2008 and then the grinding fall to the lows in March 2009. This latest "panic" seems just stupid. To me, it's another sign of too much money sloshing in trading hedge funds. For a few months they loaded up on resource stocks, tech and some big industrials. Now they all sell at once on "fear" (reportedly). Of what ? Most likely, on the fear their management fees for the year to date will be lost.
Sigh ...
It's good to have a dog running my Krypto Fund. My dog, Krypto, is unaffected by all this bloviation and blather. She only understands a few words of American and simply invests by the numbers. I'll run Krypto's model this AM to see if she has any orders. A week has past since the last actions, so it's time to re-look.
Mrs. B seems ready to buy some stocks now. If she does, I'll post it.
Otherwise, it's a beautiful day here and I'll likely take a long walk.
Languages
My study of ancient Greek are going well. I think I'll be able to become roughly literate in it in a couple years, but I will, of course, be dictionary-dependent. Once ancient Greek gets onto a solid footing, I'll re-start by general language program.
DC
The Senate passed the financial reform bill. I suppose the head DC knave, Harry Ried, just could not resist playing some political games as he refused to let votes come up on some good amendments, viz., those of McCain and Cantwell. The sleaze is DC is so manifest: the Augean stables were pristine compared to DC.
Word of the Day
"Repine" - verb, intransitive [$10]
Repine means to be discontented or low in spirits; complain or fret; 2. to yearn after something,
Sentence: Bunkerman repines for a few honest leaders to be elected in November for DC.
Sigh ...
It's good to have a dog running my Krypto Fund. My dog, Krypto, is unaffected by all this bloviation and blather. She only understands a few words of American and simply invests by the numbers. I'll run Krypto's model this AM to see if she has any orders. A week has past since the last actions, so it's time to re-look.
Mrs. B seems ready to buy some stocks now. If she does, I'll post it.
Otherwise, it's a beautiful day here and I'll likely take a long walk.
Languages
My study of ancient Greek are going well. I think I'll be able to become roughly literate in it in a couple years, but I will, of course, be dictionary-dependent. Once ancient Greek gets onto a solid footing, I'll re-start by general language program.
DC
The Senate passed the financial reform bill. I suppose the head DC knave, Harry Ried, just could not resist playing some political games as he refused to let votes come up on some good amendments, viz., those of McCain and Cantwell. The sleaze is DC is so manifest: the Augean stables were pristine compared to DC.
Word of the Day
"Repine" - verb, intransitive [$10]
Repine means to be discontented or low in spirits; complain or fret; 2. to yearn after something,
Sentence: Bunkerman repines for a few honest leaders to be elected in November for DC.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
3G
I've been wrestling with what will be my focus for the next three months - that is, besides bashing beefers (aka big, evil funds).
First, at the prodding of Mrs. B, an old high school teacher and my readings from the ancient world, I will start to learn ancient Greek. That will complete my language program to truly cover ALL the major languages of Europe and European history. I have one advantage - I already know the Greek alphabet from my physics training.
Second, I will start an intensive program in German. My German has languished as the beginner study materials available are a bit inferior to those available for the other languages. BUT I think with an intensive effort, I can overcome that and move my German to the next level, where the study materials are quite good.
Third is GREASE. I am making this the summer of the Half-track. A local friend & I will finish the brakes and suspension spring check-out. We have one track brake to adjust properly, which involves removal and re-installation of a 400 lb. track. After that, the rest is easy. Then I'll clean the spark plugs and fire it up. The half-track will roll again !!! Photos to be posted when it does.
A 3G summer should be fun.
Actions
Market were up again, frustrating me. Doing nothing, have cash to reinvest.
Word of the Day
"Pertinacious" - adjective [$10]; "Pertinacity" - noun [$10]
Pertinacious means stubborn, persistent, obstinent (in a course of action).
Pertinacity means the quality of being pertinacious.
Sentence: Bunkerman hopes the "tea party" movement has pertinacity in finding honest candidates who will reduce the size of government.
First, at the prodding of Mrs. B, an old high school teacher and my readings from the ancient world, I will start to learn ancient Greek. That will complete my language program to truly cover ALL the major languages of Europe and European history. I have one advantage - I already know the Greek alphabet from my physics training.
Second, I will start an intensive program in German. My German has languished as the beginner study materials available are a bit inferior to those available for the other languages. BUT I think with an intensive effort, I can overcome that and move my German to the next level, where the study materials are quite good.
Third is GREASE. I am making this the summer of the Half-track. A local friend & I will finish the brakes and suspension spring check-out. We have one track brake to adjust properly, which involves removal and re-installation of a 400 lb. track. After that, the rest is easy. Then I'll clean the spark plugs and fire it up. The half-track will roll again !!! Photos to be posted when it does.
A 3G summer should be fun.
Actions
Market were up again, frustrating me. Doing nothing, have cash to reinvest.
Word of the Day
"Pertinacious" - adjective [$10]; "Pertinacity" - noun [$10]
Pertinacious means stubborn, persistent, obstinent (in a course of action).
Pertinacity means the quality of being pertinacious.
Sentence: Bunkerman hopes the "tea party" movement has pertinacity in finding honest candidates who will reduce the size of government.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Affolement !!!
That means Panic !!! in French.
Remarkably, the headlines in Le Monde are about panic in the markets, while the US financial press seems like a typical boring Wednesday.
From Le Monde ->
La Grèce et le Portugal affolent les marchés. Les Bourses d'Asie plongaient, mercredi, dans le sillage des places européennes. Les craintes que d'autres pays, comme l'Espagne et l'Italie, soient à leur tour touchés se multiplient.
Greece and Portugal panic the markets. The Asian markets were plunging Wednesday, in the wake of the European markets. The fears that other nations, like Spain and Italy, might be touched in their turn multiply.
And what are the headlines in the foolishly US-centric American financial press ?
IMF may increase loan to Greece. Yawn.
Finance bill is blocked again. a broken record.
Goldman bruised, defiant in Senate. more denials.
Is there any wonder why more, a lot more, education in foreign languages is important ? The US press is so lazy and myopic, that I'm almost unable to take it seriously anymore. The "reporters" all want to be "journalists", yet can't even do the hard work of reporting.
Sigh ........ One gets better news coverage in the European press. After my current break from languages, I need to hit them hard again and turn this blog into a true septalingual center of fresh opinion [ i. e., mine ;) ] about world events.
Italian is now on a firm footing. I need to turn up the dial on German - Frankfurter Allgemeine covers these events rather well. Polish is doing well. Next to do: restart Spanish as now the confusion with Italian will be lessened. French needs vocabulary work. I'm halfway through Latin. I think all my languages need an intensive vocabulary review, though. How many new words can one cram into one's head over a year's time ?
The keys for the future: learn languages, read books !
Markets
Krypto has no new orders for me. Interestingly, after yesterday's drop, Mrs. B's Sky Fund is still at new highs, well over its 2007 all time high level. I guess Mrs. B is the new investment boss. They are both crushing the performance of my old 1-2-3 Fund, which I now declare to be closed. I need a new name & new ideas.
I suppose retiring and turning my portfolios over to my wife & dog is OK. [joke]
Word of the Day
"Natiform" - adjective [$1000]
Natiform means resembling of having the form of buttocks.
Sentence: Sycophants for Goug'em Sachs might be wary that a natiform vision approaches as they to avoid the clear, simply truth that GS is dirty. In other words, they are sticking their heads up their butts in denial. I wonder how one says, "Butthead" in Polish or German ?
Remarkably, the headlines in Le Monde are about panic in the markets, while the US financial press seems like a typical boring Wednesday.
From Le Monde ->
La Grèce et le Portugal affolent les marchés. Les Bourses d'Asie plongaient, mercredi, dans le sillage des places européennes. Les craintes que d'autres pays, comme l'Espagne et l'Italie, soient à leur tour touchés se multiplient.
Greece and Portugal panic the markets. The Asian markets were plunging Wednesday, in the wake of the European markets. The fears that other nations, like Spain and Italy, might be touched in their turn multiply.
And what are the headlines in the foolishly US-centric American financial press ?
IMF may increase loan to Greece. Yawn.
Finance bill is blocked again. a broken record.
Goldman bruised, defiant in Senate. more denials.
Is there any wonder why more, a lot more, education in foreign languages is important ? The US press is so lazy and myopic, that I'm almost unable to take it seriously anymore. The "reporters" all want to be "journalists", yet can't even do the hard work of reporting.
Sigh ........ One gets better news coverage in the European press. After my current break from languages, I need to hit them hard again and turn this blog into a true septalingual center of fresh opinion [ i. e., mine ;) ] about world events.
Italian is now on a firm footing. I need to turn up the dial on German - Frankfurter Allgemeine covers these events rather well. Polish is doing well. Next to do: restart Spanish as now the confusion with Italian will be lessened. French needs vocabulary work. I'm halfway through Latin. I think all my languages need an intensive vocabulary review, though. How many new words can one cram into one's head over a year's time ?
The keys for the future: learn languages, read books !
Markets
Krypto has no new orders for me. Interestingly, after yesterday's drop, Mrs. B's Sky Fund is still at new highs, well over its 2007 all time high level. I guess Mrs. B is the new investment boss. They are both crushing the performance of my old 1-2-3 Fund, which I now declare to be closed. I need a new name & new ideas.
I suppose retiring and turning my portfolios over to my wife & dog is OK. [joke]
Word of the Day
"Natiform" - adjective [$1000]
Natiform means resembling of having the form of buttocks.
Sentence: Sycophants for Goug'em Sachs might be wary that a natiform vision approaches as they to avoid the clear, simply truth that GS is dirty. In other words, they are sticking their heads up their butts in denial. I wonder how one says, "Butthead" in Polish or German ?
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Septalingual Exercises
No, boys, this is NOT a post out of the Kama Sutra or any other sex manual. This post is about languages - seven of them. I'm studying six of them to try to become "literate" and have some simple speaking skills; that's the goal for now and it's reasonable. The six foreign languages are French, German, Italian, Polish, Spanish and Latin: all the major languages of Europe that use the Latin alphabet. I speak English, that is, American, making seven. Reading and writing is a lot easier for me than speaking. Listening comprehension is easier than speaking, too. I've been doing this now for nine months for all six and have made very good progress. I started French earlier, hence am much further along in it. Spanish lags since it's confusing vs. Italian, and I like Italian better.
But I can now often grasp the gist of the headlines in their major newspapers (except for Poland - one cannot "guess" the meaning of Polish words). The news in these nations is really quite different that in the US. I suppose that's no surprise to many, but when one gets the Obama propaganda day-in, day-out, the understanding that most people in the world couldn't care less is actually refreshing.
Today the lead headline in Il Tempo (Italy) is about Iran accusing the government of Italy of being under the influence of the US in connection with nuclear policy. It's a typical lie from the Iranian dictatorship, but that headline sure adds to one's perspective about the issue of Itan obtaining nuclear weapons. Europe is in range (now), NOT the US.
In Germany, it's the Luftansa strike.
In France, LeMonde leads with problems with air traffic control.
In Spain, it's the economic crisis.
In Poland, it's the Olympics. Poland has a very accomplished woman in cross-country skiing who has won two medals.
Another way I get some enjoyment from all this work is to work out how to write (say) simple phrases into all seven langauges. That's a bit of fun and the bonus is that intriguiing connnections appear between these Indo-European languages. You've seen my septalingual "I am doing nothing" quite often in the Markets section of this blog.
Here's another one: In Roman times during a triumph, a slave would ride in the chariot of the honoree and and as the crowds were cheering wildly, he would whisper in the grandee's ear, "you are not a god". This was to remind the fellow just that - he was a man and could fall from grace like any man. Well, of course the slave spoke Latin.
Here is the septalingual "You are not a god".
Non es deus.
Sie sind kein Gott.
Vous n'est pas un dieu.
Pan nie jest bógiem.
Lei non è un dio.
Usted non es un dios.
You are not a god.
Another one, more appropriate for this winter, is "It's snowing" ->
Nevica.
Il neige.
Pada śneig.
Nieva OR Está nevando
Es schneit.
Ningit
It's snowing.
By the way, the language order is NOT the same in both examples.
As I improve, I intend to incorporate more "worldly" information in this blog.
Government
This week's "Economist" magazine has a cover asking what's wrong with American politics. Walter Lippmann would understand. The American voter is making a fundamental error in how he/she chooses his/her representatives. The voter either lets positions on issues dominate and influence him/her, or worse, lets the "bring home the bacon" slogan guide the choice. BOTH are wrong. The common voter has little information that could possibly permit him/her to make a rational choice on issues, and the latter selection style is simply swallowing the pitch of a mountebank.
The correct method is to vote for the most honest person with good principles.
Be bipartisan - vote for honesty. Don't vote for liars, anyone corrupt in any way, or for slime who are trying to buy your vote. He's paying you to bend over so he can have his way with you.
Markets
I bought more puts yesterday. My speculative 1-2-3 Fund is now effectively 200% short. I don't like recent unemployment claims and Obama's jobs "death star" is now alive again. That's very bad development. Now I wait.
Word of the Day
"Abjure" - verb [$10]
Abjure means 1. to renounce upon oath; 2. to reject solemnly; 3. to abstain from.
Sentence: If most of the American voters would abjure voting for any candidate not very, very honest, the nation's problems could be solved rather quickly. But ....
But I can now often grasp the gist of the headlines in their major newspapers (except for Poland - one cannot "guess" the meaning of Polish words). The news in these nations is really quite different that in the US. I suppose that's no surprise to many, but when one gets the Obama propaganda day-in, day-out, the understanding that most people in the world couldn't care less is actually refreshing.
Today the lead headline in Il Tempo (Italy) is about Iran accusing the government of Italy of being under the influence of the US in connection with nuclear policy. It's a typical lie from the Iranian dictatorship, but that headline sure adds to one's perspective about the issue of Itan obtaining nuclear weapons. Europe is in range (now), NOT the US.
In Germany, it's the Luftansa strike.
In France, LeMonde leads with problems with air traffic control.
In Spain, it's the economic crisis.
In Poland, it's the Olympics. Poland has a very accomplished woman in cross-country skiing who has won two medals.
Another way I get some enjoyment from all this work is to work out how to write (say) simple phrases into all seven langauges. That's a bit of fun and the bonus is that intriguiing connnections appear between these Indo-European languages. You've seen my septalingual "I am doing nothing" quite often in the Markets section of this blog.
Here's another one: In Roman times during a triumph, a slave would ride in the chariot of the honoree and and as the crowds were cheering wildly, he would whisper in the grandee's ear, "you are not a god". This was to remind the fellow just that - he was a man and could fall from grace like any man. Well, of course the slave spoke Latin.
Here is the septalingual "You are not a god".
Non es deus.
Sie sind kein Gott.
Vous n'est pas un dieu.
Pan nie jest bógiem.
Lei non è un dio.
Usted non es un dios.
You are not a god.
Another one, more appropriate for this winter, is "It's snowing" ->
Nevica.
Il neige.
Pada śneig.
Nieva OR Está nevando
Es schneit.
Ningit
It's snowing.
By the way, the language order is NOT the same in both examples.
As I improve, I intend to incorporate more "worldly" information in this blog.
Government
This week's "Economist" magazine has a cover asking what's wrong with American politics. Walter Lippmann would understand. The American voter is making a fundamental error in how he/she chooses his/her representatives. The voter either lets positions on issues dominate and influence him/her, or worse, lets the "bring home the bacon" slogan guide the choice. BOTH are wrong. The common voter has little information that could possibly permit him/her to make a rational choice on issues, and the latter selection style is simply swallowing the pitch of a mountebank.
The correct method is to vote for the most honest person with good principles.
Be bipartisan - vote for honesty. Don't vote for liars, anyone corrupt in any way, or for slime who are trying to buy your vote. He's paying you to bend over so he can have his way with you.
Markets
I bought more puts yesterday. My speculative 1-2-3 Fund is now effectively 200% short. I don't like recent unemployment claims and Obama's jobs "death star" is now alive again. That's very bad development. Now I wait.
Word of the Day
"Abjure" - verb [$10]
Abjure means 1. to renounce upon oath; 2. to reject solemnly; 3. to abstain from.
Sentence: If most of the American voters would abjure voting for any candidate not very, very honest, the nation's problems could be solved rather quickly. But ....
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Another Blank Wednesday
As usual for Wednesdays, nothing is happening. I await in hope for a double cratering of ObamaCare and Copenhagen. In both cases the ruling classes are frantically trying to hide the lies and sheer bunco scams in those efforts in order to slip something through as a "start" to get more power for themselves over the common man.
Actions
My speculative urges are rather tepid at these prices in the markets. Lots of buying power is being consumed for small gains. The resistance seems rather strong here. Good news produces few new buyers. Again, on a pop higher, I'll try to find short sale plays. And on a serious dip, I'll do some speculative buying. Otherwise, I'll enjoy the holidays.
Languages
Polish verbs aren't as hard as I had first thought. German word order is still a big problem. Italian is a joy; I've upgraded my efforts there. French listening and speaking skill is rapidly improving now. Spanish is still at the back of the bus - I just don't enjoy it much. Latin progress is rapid, too; I really like these pithy quotations in Latin from antiquity.
Word of the Day
"Hyperesthesia" - noun [$10]; a Mencken word
Hyperesthesia means an excessive physical sensibility, esp. of the skin.
Sentence: Many [Most ?] Americans have a mental hyperesthesia towards arbitrary or unexplained commands and orders. Whether this is passed through the generations as a cultural meme, or is some deep genetic difference in behavior, is unknown. But it's there, no doubt.
Actions
My speculative urges are rather tepid at these prices in the markets. Lots of buying power is being consumed for small gains. The resistance seems rather strong here. Good news produces few new buyers. Again, on a pop higher, I'll try to find short sale plays. And on a serious dip, I'll do some speculative buying. Otherwise, I'll enjoy the holidays.
Languages
Polish verbs aren't as hard as I had first thought. German word order is still a big problem. Italian is a joy; I've upgraded my efforts there. French listening and speaking skill is rapidly improving now. Spanish is still at the back of the bus - I just don't enjoy it much. Latin progress is rapid, too; I really like these pithy quotations in Latin from antiquity.
Word of the Day
"Hyperesthesia" - noun [$10]; a Mencken word
Hyperesthesia means an excessive physical sensibility, esp. of the skin.
Sentence: Many [Most ?] Americans have a mental hyperesthesia towards arbitrary or unexplained commands and orders. Whether this is passed through the generations as a cultural meme, or is some deep genetic difference in behavior, is unknown. But it's there, no doubt.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Languages
Nothing much is happening. I guess the world is returning to normalcy. The press still screeches about the dollar, climate change, "capitalism", and mostly fawns over La Grande Bouche, but I think they are just trying to retain viewers &/ readers. ['$/' means 'and/or']
The common man is hurting still, but it's not getting worse (so far).
The markets pushed to a new post-Panic high. The advance was steady and broad, so perhaps there is sufficient buying power (or covering power) to get to S&P 1200 by year end, which was my intermediate term target posted here last spring, I think.
Checking the allocations for Krypto Fund, Krypto saw no major moves to make (she pushes a butting on the computer). Good doggie, here's a tasty biscuit for your management fee. Krypto is a super fund manager - good performance for ... dog biscuits. Why pay a beefer big bucks ?
I am doing nothing, except monitoring my existing 1-2-3 Fund positions. BA and MT made good moves, but I'm holding those calls for now. I'm still looking for screaming buys/sells.
Languages
Below are my initial thoughts on the six languages that I'm trying to learn. My initial goals for year 1 are ability to understand slow speech, speak a bit and semi-literacy, which means knowing the grammar and thus having the ability to read almost anything with lots of help from the dictionary.
French - French is further along - I have already attained the year 1 goals there. Now I am focusing on speaking and listening skills. I neglected them last year in a sprint to learn attain semi-literacy. What is hard about French ? The pronunciation and aural comprehension. French has many difficult sounds for an American and has many letters in the words that are important to know for gender and endings, but silent. What is easy ? Learning a lot of the vocabulary - one can guess the meaning of a huge number of French words. English borrowed a lot of French words and Latin gave many words to both languages.
German - The hard part is the sentence word order. Germans move verbs around, split verbs into pieces and put a bit at the end of clauses, and shift the position of subject and objects. It's tough, but over time, I suppose one gets used to it. For a purportedly logical people, their language is a jumbled mess. The easy part is pronouncing the sounds. American is a Germanic lanugage in root sounds. You might be surprised, but pronouncing those long German words is rather easy. Our mouth and tongues can to it naturally. Germans has relatively few noun cases and few declensions and verbs are fairly simple. Plurals are hard, though, as they are rather irregualr.
Polish - Everything is hard in Polish. Knowing some Latin does help as Latin and Polish are both very old Indo-European languages with deep connections going back at least 4,000 years. However, the sounds are mostly different. Polish has many verb conjugations, many cases in several noun declensions, all the gender and number inflections of Latin, and has spelling and sounds changes depending on case, etc.. Plus you have to pronounce all those z, zh, sh, cz, dz, etc. sounds and palatalize lots of consonants. The saving grace is that it's rather logical in word order and grammar. Spending the time gives progress. The two years of Russian I had in college help my pronunciation. Compared to Russian, Polish is easier for an American as Polish uses the Latin alphabet plus a few Latin letters with diacritic marks for special sounds.
Italian - this is my recommendation for a fun and useful language that is relatively easy. Italian pronounces all the letters - there are a few diphthongs that have odd spelling, but those are easy to get used to as one has probably seem them in American borrowings already. Most letters have the same sound as in American. The cases and verb conjugation are easy to learn - not complex. And it's fun. One can use and see it in restaurants and movies and the culture is old and very high. Art, music, and literature all have heavy Italian influences and borrowings.
Spanish - Relatively easy, too. My Spanish is the least advanced as I must be careful about confusing what I learn with the Italian. They are rather close languages, as you might guess. Spanish does seem to have more letters that don't have the usual American sounds. I suppose one can speak to lots of people in Spanish, but do you want to ? And there is little classical literature in Spanish except Don Quixote. Perhaps my views will change as I learn more.
Latin - I had some Latin in high school 40 years ago, so this is fairly easy for me. I'm re-sparking lots of old, decrepit memory cells with a shot of vitality. Latin has lots of different verb conjugations and noun declensions, but the vocabulary is rather easy to guess, as so many words have American connections via direct borrowing or etymology. Also, listening is not important. Speaking is only party important, but helps the memory of the words. I think if one wants to be multilingual in Indo-European languages, learning Latin helps a lot. Plus no language can beat Latin in pithy aphorisms. One reads so many Latin phrases in books. A modest investment in attaining semi-literacy in Latin pays off big.
Word of the Day
"Sorites" - noun [$100] Logic.
Sorites means a form of arguments having several premises and once logical conclusion, capable of being resolved into a chain of syllogisms, the conclusion of each of which is a premise of the next.
Sentence: Arguments that use sorites must be analyzed carefully before being accepted, as a flaw in any link in the chain of syllogisms, perhaps from verbal vagueness or imprecise definitions, can cause the sorties to fail. A common fallacy in argumentation and rhetoric is the sorites "slippery slope" which relies on vague terms or faulty analogies to scare or intimidate an audience improperly into thinking - wrongly - that something bad would happen if the opposing argument prevails. These can be hard to detect when heard orally, so be wary of any sorites in speeches.
The common man is hurting still, but it's not getting worse (so far).
The markets pushed to a new post-Panic high. The advance was steady and broad, so perhaps there is sufficient buying power (or covering power) to get to S&P 1200 by year end, which was my intermediate term target posted here last spring, I think.
Checking the allocations for Krypto Fund, Krypto saw no major moves to make (she pushes a butting on the computer). Good doggie, here's a tasty biscuit for your management fee. Krypto is a super fund manager - good performance for ... dog biscuits. Why pay a beefer big bucks ?
I am doing nothing, except monitoring my existing 1-2-3 Fund positions. BA and MT made good moves, but I'm holding those calls for now. I'm still looking for screaming buys/sells.
Languages
Below are my initial thoughts on the six languages that I'm trying to learn. My initial goals for year 1 are ability to understand slow speech, speak a bit and semi-literacy, which means knowing the grammar and thus having the ability to read almost anything with lots of help from the dictionary.
French - French is further along - I have already attained the year 1 goals there. Now I am focusing on speaking and listening skills. I neglected them last year in a sprint to learn attain semi-literacy. What is hard about French ? The pronunciation and aural comprehension. French has many difficult sounds for an American and has many letters in the words that are important to know for gender and endings, but silent. What is easy ? Learning a lot of the vocabulary - one can guess the meaning of a huge number of French words. English borrowed a lot of French words and Latin gave many words to both languages.
German - The hard part is the sentence word order. Germans move verbs around, split verbs into pieces and put a bit at the end of clauses, and shift the position of subject and objects. It's tough, but over time, I suppose one gets used to it. For a purportedly logical people, their language is a jumbled mess. The easy part is pronouncing the sounds. American is a Germanic lanugage in root sounds. You might be surprised, but pronouncing those long German words is rather easy. Our mouth and tongues can to it naturally. Germans has relatively few noun cases and few declensions and verbs are fairly simple. Plurals are hard, though, as they are rather irregualr.
Polish - Everything is hard in Polish. Knowing some Latin does help as Latin and Polish are both very old Indo-European languages with deep connections going back at least 4,000 years. However, the sounds are mostly different. Polish has many verb conjugations, many cases in several noun declensions, all the gender and number inflections of Latin, and has spelling and sounds changes depending on case, etc.. Plus you have to pronounce all those z, zh, sh, cz, dz, etc. sounds and palatalize lots of consonants. The saving grace is that it's rather logical in word order and grammar. Spending the time gives progress. The two years of Russian I had in college help my pronunciation. Compared to Russian, Polish is easier for an American as Polish uses the Latin alphabet plus a few Latin letters with diacritic marks for special sounds.
Italian - this is my recommendation for a fun and useful language that is relatively easy. Italian pronounces all the letters - there are a few diphthongs that have odd spelling, but those are easy to get used to as one has probably seem them in American borrowings already. Most letters have the same sound as in American. The cases and verb conjugation are easy to learn - not complex. And it's fun. One can use and see it in restaurants and movies and the culture is old and very high. Art, music, and literature all have heavy Italian influences and borrowings.
Spanish - Relatively easy, too. My Spanish is the least advanced as I must be careful about confusing what I learn with the Italian. They are rather close languages, as you might guess. Spanish does seem to have more letters that don't have the usual American sounds. I suppose one can speak to lots of people in Spanish, but do you want to ? And there is little classical literature in Spanish except Don Quixote. Perhaps my views will change as I learn more.
Latin - I had some Latin in high school 40 years ago, so this is fairly easy for me. I'm re-sparking lots of old, decrepit memory cells with a shot of vitality. Latin has lots of different verb conjugations and noun declensions, but the vocabulary is rather easy to guess, as so many words have American connections via direct borrowing or etymology. Also, listening is not important. Speaking is only party important, but helps the memory of the words. I think if one wants to be multilingual in Indo-European languages, learning Latin helps a lot. Plus no language can beat Latin in pithy aphorisms. One reads so many Latin phrases in books. A modest investment in attaining semi-literacy in Latin pays off big.
Word of the Day
"Sorites" - noun [$100] Logic.
Sorites means a form of arguments having several premises and once logical conclusion, capable of being resolved into a chain of syllogisms, the conclusion of each of which is a premise of the next.
Sentence: Arguments that use sorites must be analyzed carefully before being accepted, as a flaw in any link in the chain of syllogisms, perhaps from verbal vagueness or imprecise definitions, can cause the sorties to fail. A common fallacy in argumentation and rhetoric is the sorites "slippery slope" which relies on vague terms or faulty analogies to scare or intimidate an audience improperly into thinking - wrongly - that something bad would happen if the opposing argument prevails. These can be hard to detect when heard orally, so be wary of any sorites in speeches.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Sayonnara Summer
Summer was minimal here. June was all rain & cold. Some pleasant days occurred in July, but then August was mostly rain or horrible hot and humid weather. The past few days plus perhaps another two weeks was all we had for a pleasant summer. With the Labor Day weekend approaching, it's over. Often a bad winter is offset by a good summer. Not this year. Last winter had enduring extreme cold. This summer had excessive rain and cold. Uh ... I guess global warming took a break.
Languages
My language self-learning program re-started successfully yesterday with hour-long lessons in German, Polish and Latin. Having previously scoped and explored the entire grammars over the past few months, I am now going back to the foundations and doing a multi-sense approach: reading, listening speaking, and writing all together slowly with simple sentences and concepts first (except French gets more complex sentences as it's a year further along). Today I'll hit French and German and Polish again. This weekend, Italian and Spanish are re-started. Over the next year I hope to get all six languages on good learning paths. This is a five year plan for fluency in all six by age 60.
Here's a tidbit. All my languages derived from old Indo-European. Let's explore this a bit. Below I list the word for third person plural of "to be" in all seven (including English).
English: are
Latin: sunt
French: sont
Italian: sono
Spanish: están or son in different senses.
German: sind
Polish: są (pronounced 'so' with a bit of nasalization of the 'o')
The similarities are obvious, but English is the odd one. I wonder why ? There are other peculiar aspects of English, such as its "do" constructions and its mandatory progressive verbs in present tense. These can be traced to old Celtic, but then, where did Celtic get them ? They are not Indo-European. From an aboriginal people in Europe before the Indo-Europeans ? Genetic data suggest this is possible. More to come in a future blog ...
Markets
A decent rally occurred yesterday after a few down days. This is how the prior pullback ended. One might note that the levels of support here are higher than for the last pullback. My list for buys is not progressing well. I'm not having ideas for good, individual names. Most of my ideas are large cap stocks already in Mrs. B's Sky Fund (UTX, MMM, ITW, etc.). I'll keep working, though.
Perhaps I'll do nothing, except ride this bull elephant to the next waterhole.
Food
This weekend I make my world famous spring rolls - a few dozen. I'll post the recipe sometime, but as they are reminiscent of a pile of gold bars, they are totem for much future good fortune.
Word of the Day
"Abreaction" - noun [$10]; and "Abreact" - verb [$10]
Abreaction means (psychology) the free expression and consequent release of a previously repressed emotion.
Abreact means (psychology) release (an emotion) by abreaction.
Sentence: The August town hall meetings seemed to cause large numbers of the American people to abreact their fears of being dominated by an oppressive government. I've wondered for awhile whether this quality of Americans is learned or has a inherited component from self-selection of their ancestors to move to the new world.
Languages
My language self-learning program re-started successfully yesterday with hour-long lessons in German, Polish and Latin. Having previously scoped and explored the entire grammars over the past few months, I am now going back to the foundations and doing a multi-sense approach: reading, listening speaking, and writing all together slowly with simple sentences and concepts first (except French gets more complex sentences as it's a year further along). Today I'll hit French and German and Polish again. This weekend, Italian and Spanish are re-started. Over the next year I hope to get all six languages on good learning paths. This is a five year plan for fluency in all six by age 60.
Here's a tidbit. All my languages derived from old Indo-European. Let's explore this a bit. Below I list the word for third person plural of "to be" in all seven (including English).
English: are
Latin: sunt
French: sont
Italian: sono
Spanish: están or son in different senses.
German: sind
Polish: są (pronounced 'so' with a bit of nasalization of the 'o')
The similarities are obvious, but English is the odd one. I wonder why ? There are other peculiar aspects of English, such as its "do" constructions and its mandatory progressive verbs in present tense. These can be traced to old Celtic, but then, where did Celtic get them ? They are not Indo-European. From an aboriginal people in Europe before the Indo-Europeans ? Genetic data suggest this is possible. More to come in a future blog ...
Markets
A decent rally occurred yesterday after a few down days. This is how the prior pullback ended. One might note that the levels of support here are higher than for the last pullback. My list for buys is not progressing well. I'm not having ideas for good, individual names. Most of my ideas are large cap stocks already in Mrs. B's Sky Fund (UTX, MMM, ITW, etc.). I'll keep working, though.
Perhaps I'll do nothing, except ride this bull elephant to the next waterhole.
Food
This weekend I make my world famous spring rolls - a few dozen. I'll post the recipe sometime, but as they are reminiscent of a pile of gold bars, they are totem for much future good fortune.
Word of the Day
"Abreaction" - noun [$10]; and "Abreact" - verb [$10]
Abreaction means (psychology) the free expression and consequent release of a previously repressed emotion.
Abreact means (psychology) release (an emotion) by abreaction.
Sentence: The August town hall meetings seemed to cause large numbers of the American people to abreact their fears of being dominated by an oppressive government. I've wondered for awhile whether this quality of Americans is learned or has a inherited component from self-selection of their ancestors to move to the new world.
Friday, August 14, 2009
A Two-For-One
This blog post provides two good lessons from one simple example - a learning bargain. And it's multi-lingual, too.
Yesterday I was doing a bit of preparation for my upcoming canoe trip to the distant Canadian north, viz., looking up French words for some of the activities our group will be doing. This is a good way to improve one's vocabulary. One of the group has guaranteed that he will catch plenty of fish for food for a few meals. Another fellow seems skilled at fishing, too, as he speaks of various lures, etc., that should work. So I looked up the word for "fishing" in French. Lo and behold, I found that it's quite similar to the word for "sin". And for "peach", too. Here they are:
Le péché - noun - meaning "sin" and pronounced "payshay".
La pêche - noun - meaning "fishing" and pronounced "pesh" [The word for "peach" is identical, but I'll stick with fishing and sinning.]
Lots of derivative words exist, too: pécher - verb for "to sin", le pécheur - a male sinner; And pêcher - verb for "to fish", le pêcheur, a male fisherman.
So what does this mean ? Do the concepts of sin and fishing have some connection in French culture ?
Hmmm ... speculating lazily, one could wonder if the Christian religion that dominated French culture and society for centuries might have produced some connection, via the notion of Christ "fishing" for souls, or from St. Peter being a fisherman, or the ancient sign for Christians being a fish. That's what a slothful pundit or blogger would bloviate. Not your writer.
I decided to check the facts - French is a romance language and many words derive from Latin. As I am re-learning Latin, I looked up the Latin words for "sin" and "fish". And lo and behold, here is what I found.
Latin for "to sin" is "peccare", thus "I sin" is "pecco". this is pronounced "pekko".
Latin for "a fish" is "piscis", pronounced "piskis" with the 'i' as in "pin" and the 's' as in "sin".
The similarities in the classical Latin of 2000 years ago can be no accident.
Over the centuries, classical Latin became the vulgar Latin of the common man, then became 'fratin' in Gaul, then Old French and now modern French. The spelling and pronunciation changed. Voilá - the two words independently converged. Modern French uses the acute accent é and the circumflex ê to distinguish the now minor spelling difference and modest pronunciation difference.
What are the two lessons ?
1. Independent, unconnected events, characteristics and traits CAN and DO evolve into near identities. Even two nearly identical things or events do not necessarily have a causal connection.
2. Check your facts, or risk a blunder.
Actions
I am still doing nothing. Je ne fais encore rien.
Word of the Day
"Perchance" - adverb [$10]
Perchance means 1. by chance; 2. possibly, maybe.
Sentence: Similarity may be due to a connection, or perchance be a mere accident.
Yesterday I was doing a bit of preparation for my upcoming canoe trip to the distant Canadian north, viz., looking up French words for some of the activities our group will be doing. This is a good way to improve one's vocabulary. One of the group has guaranteed that he will catch plenty of fish for food for a few meals. Another fellow seems skilled at fishing, too, as he speaks of various lures, etc., that should work. So I looked up the word for "fishing" in French. Lo and behold, I found that it's quite similar to the word for "sin". And for "peach", too. Here they are:
Le péché - noun - meaning "sin" and pronounced "payshay".
La pêche - noun - meaning "fishing" and pronounced "pesh" [The word for "peach" is identical, but I'll stick with fishing and sinning.]
Lots of derivative words exist, too: pécher - verb for "to sin", le pécheur - a male sinner; And pêcher - verb for "to fish", le pêcheur, a male fisherman.
So what does this mean ? Do the concepts of sin and fishing have some connection in French culture ?
Hmmm ... speculating lazily, one could wonder if the Christian religion that dominated French culture and society for centuries might have produced some connection, via the notion of Christ "fishing" for souls, or from St. Peter being a fisherman, or the ancient sign for Christians being a fish. That's what a slothful pundit or blogger would bloviate. Not your writer.
I decided to check the facts - French is a romance language and many words derive from Latin. As I am re-learning Latin, I looked up the Latin words for "sin" and "fish". And lo and behold, here is what I found.
Latin for "to sin" is "peccare", thus "I sin" is "pecco". this is pronounced "pekko".
Latin for "a fish" is "piscis", pronounced "piskis" with the 'i' as in "pin" and the 's' as in "sin".
The similarities in the classical Latin of 2000 years ago can be no accident.
Over the centuries, classical Latin became the vulgar Latin of the common man, then became 'fratin' in Gaul, then Old French and now modern French. The spelling and pronunciation changed. Voilá - the two words independently converged. Modern French uses the acute accent é and the circumflex ê to distinguish the now minor spelling difference and modest pronunciation difference.
What are the two lessons ?
1. Independent, unconnected events, characteristics and traits CAN and DO evolve into near identities. Even two nearly identical things or events do not necessarily have a causal connection.
2. Check your facts, or risk a blunder.
Actions
I am still doing nothing. Je ne fais encore rien.
Word of the Day
"Perchance" - adverb [$10]
Perchance means 1. by chance; 2. possibly, maybe.
Sentence: Similarity may be due to a connection, or perchance be a mere accident.
Monday, August 3, 2009
A Bid
Ms. Market is getting a lot of bidders every morning. I start watching the financing news on Blabberg around 4AM ET. For a couple weeks, the green in the European market prices and US futures early in the morning has been striking. Money flow is definitely there.
Copper prices are strong again early today.
I guess the GS fig lief is gone at last. FT: "Goldman Sachs reputation among both the general public and financially sophisticated Americans has been damaged by the events of the past year, according to research conducted for the Financial Times." They are finally seen as the greedy passel of hogs they've always been. How can a firm that makes almost all its profits raping its own clients in trades be anything but a piranha ?
Of course, all Wall Street "trading profits" are just that.
Politics
I read the Democrats' health care "plan" has 1,000 pages. Anything that big has to be a disaster waiting to happen. And it must be laden with payoffs and favors for their supporters. What a bad joke !
Earnings
HBC reported a surprise profit this morning. A loss was expected, but this major bank with probably the most exposure to the emerging market came through.
Langauges
I've started re-learning Latin. I like it - and it seems rather easy. That's probably due to all the work I've done with French ... and Italian and Spanish and the three years of Latin I had in high school. I also think the Latin helps me on the French, Italian and Spanish as it connects them and makes them seem more logical. The first problem I have is that my unabridged Latin dictionary just has Latin to English, not the reverse. I'll have to find one that has both.
Word of the Day
"Pecuniary" - adjective [$10]; and "Pecunious" - adjective [$10] from the Latin, pecunia, a feminine noun meaning "money".
Pecuniary means 1. of, concerning or consisting of money (pecuniary aid, pecuniary considerations); 2. (of an offense) entailing a money penalty.
Pecunious means abounding in money, wealth, rich.
Sentence: Pecunious powerful people dominate American - and world - governments.
Verbum Diei [that's 'word of the day' in Latin].
"Regere" - verb, second conjugation.
Regere means to rule.
Sentencia: Pecunia reget.
Sentence: Money rules.
Copper prices are strong again early today.
I guess the GS fig lief is gone at last. FT: "Goldman Sachs reputation among both the general public and financially sophisticated Americans has been damaged by the events of the past year, according to research conducted for the Financial Times." They are finally seen as the greedy passel of hogs they've always been. How can a firm that makes almost all its profits raping its own clients in trades be anything but a piranha ?
Of course, all Wall Street "trading profits" are just that.
Politics
I read the Democrats' health care "plan" has 1,000 pages. Anything that big has to be a disaster waiting to happen. And it must be laden with payoffs and favors for their supporters. What a bad joke !
Earnings
HBC reported a surprise profit this morning. A loss was expected, but this major bank with probably the most exposure to the emerging market came through.
Langauges
I've started re-learning Latin. I like it - and it seems rather easy. That's probably due to all the work I've done with French ... and Italian and Spanish and the three years of Latin I had in high school. I also think the Latin helps me on the French, Italian and Spanish as it connects them and makes them seem more logical. The first problem I have is that my unabridged Latin dictionary just has Latin to English, not the reverse. I'll have to find one that has both.
Word of the Day
"Pecuniary" - adjective [$10]; and "Pecunious" - adjective [$10] from the Latin, pecunia, a feminine noun meaning "money".
Pecuniary means 1. of, concerning or consisting of money (pecuniary aid, pecuniary considerations); 2. (of an offense) entailing a money penalty.
Pecunious means abounding in money, wealth, rich.
Sentence: Pecunious powerful people dominate American - and world - governments.
Verbum Diei [that's 'word of the day' in Latin].
"Regere" - verb, second conjugation.
Regere means to rule.
Sentencia: Pecunia reget.
Sentence: Money rules.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Spelling
Why hasn't American had a reform in spelling ? Usually Americans are quick to adopt innovations and new ideas. Why is "laugh" spelled in such an archaic way ? Even comic strips sometimes spell it, "laf". Maybe the new text message written dialect will eventually incite a reform in spelling.
Maybe 700 years ago in Middle English the "gh" in laugh was pronounced in a gutteral Germanic asperated "ch" as in "ach". The printing press froze those archaisms into the spelling, but in oral speech, they are long gone. Noah Webster started a break from English spelling in the late 18th century and over the 19th century many American spelling simplifications were adopted, such as public for publick. Another successful change our revolutionary ancestors made was to get rid of the "u" in words like colour, making it color. But many, many suggested spelling reforms died stillborn.
About 80 years ago in his fine book, "The American Language", H. L. Mencken traces American spelling and shows how a large number of reforms were adopted, but said that Anglophiles, pedantics and schoolmarms inhibited the adoption of new words, grammars and spelling. He also shows that in Britain, adoption of American spelling reforms was inhibited by Ameriphobes, pedantics and schoolmarms. Sheesh.
Early last century, a Simplied Spelling Board subsidized by Carnegie was active, making many spelling reform suggestions. Very few seem to have been adopted.
Langauges like German and Polish had spelling reforms after World War II (German was as recent as 1996). Why not American ? Sheesh, are we being out-innovated ? America is supposed to be modern, innovative, using concepts and creating new ideas, uses and things. Why don't we reform spelling ?
Words like laugh, slaughter, daughter, eight, and on and on.
Let's start with the obvious, easy ones.
Laugh -> laf.
Slaughter -> slauter
daughter -> dauter.
Eight -> ate. [upon reflection, "ait" works better, as in wait, bait]
Foot -> fut to follow put. That's how the texters spell is now anyway.
Well, I'm running out of time, but I'll post many more suggestions later. And any "good" suggestions from readers are welcome & I'll post those, too.
Word of the Day
"Orthography" - noun [$10]
Orthography means 1(a) correct or conventional spelling 1(b) spelling with reference to its correctness (dreadful orthography); 1(c) the study or science of spelling; 2(a) perspective projection used in maps and elevations in which the projection lines are parallel; 2(b) a map so projected.
Sentence: Reform in American orthography in coming, led by the new text message written diglossia. Bunkerman is calling for a commission to Simply American Spelling, or perhaps a global convention to simply spelling of the American-English language.
La Parola della Settimana
"Bere" - verb, irregular
Bere means to drink.
La frase: Adesso bevo il caffé.
Sentence: Now I am drinking coffee.
Maybe 700 years ago in Middle English the "gh" in laugh was pronounced in a gutteral Germanic asperated "ch" as in "ach". The printing press froze those archaisms into the spelling, but in oral speech, they are long gone. Noah Webster started a break from English spelling in the late 18th century and over the 19th century many American spelling simplifications were adopted, such as public for publick. Another successful change our revolutionary ancestors made was to get rid of the "u" in words like colour, making it color. But many, many suggested spelling reforms died stillborn.
About 80 years ago in his fine book, "The American Language", H. L. Mencken traces American spelling and shows how a large number of reforms were adopted, but said that Anglophiles, pedantics and schoolmarms inhibited the adoption of new words, grammars and spelling. He also shows that in Britain, adoption of American spelling reforms was inhibited by Ameriphobes, pedantics and schoolmarms. Sheesh.
Early last century, a Simplied Spelling Board subsidized by Carnegie was active, making many spelling reform suggestions. Very few seem to have been adopted.
Langauges like German and Polish had spelling reforms after World War II (German was as recent as 1996). Why not American ? Sheesh, are we being out-innovated ? America is supposed to be modern, innovative, using concepts and creating new ideas, uses and things. Why don't we reform spelling ?
Words like laugh, slaughter, daughter, eight, and on and on.
Let's start with the obvious, easy ones.
Laugh -> laf.
Slaughter -> slauter
daughter -> dauter.
Eight -> ate. [upon reflection, "ait" works better, as in wait, bait]
Foot -> fut to follow put. That's how the texters spell is now anyway.
Well, I'm running out of time, but I'll post many more suggestions later. And any "good" suggestions from readers are welcome & I'll post those, too.
Word of the Day
"Orthography" - noun [$10]
Orthography means 1(a) correct or conventional spelling 1(b) spelling with reference to its correctness (dreadful orthography); 1(c) the study or science of spelling; 2(a) perspective projection used in maps and elevations in which the projection lines are parallel; 2(b) a map so projected.
Sentence: Reform in American orthography in coming, led by the new text message written diglossia. Bunkerman is calling for a commission to Simply American Spelling, or perhaps a global convention to simply spelling of the American-English language.
La Parola della Settimana
"Bere" - verb, irregular
Bere means to drink.
La frase: Adesso bevo il caffé.
Sentence: Now I am drinking coffee.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Back from the Beast
New York City seems to be coping quite well ... so far. Of course the bears are talking gloom, but the bar was packed, as were the lunch rooms at the clubs. Even the dining room was quite busy.
Fashions seemed alive, too. I saw fewer men in "undertaker" uniforms, and less black in women's fashions. No 1970s era "earth -mother" fashions were in sight. Fashionable tailored pants or skirts several inches over the knee was the rule. The Apple store on Fifth Avenue was crowded at 3PM on a weekday. The fashion indicator is NOT 'flashing" a depression or even a severe recession.
I'll read more about Timmy's financial regulation reforms, but so far, it's OK. He included regulations for hedge funds and all derivatives - both good. I have some problems with relying on these agencies like the SEC. It's still obviously on the take from the Street, as it continues to approve these fraudulent ETFs designed solely for day trading. But I need to read more and will comment more fully later.
Hmmm ... the index of leading indicators is up again. The Philly Fed - for what that's worth - was OK. I guess that cancels the recent poor Empire State number. Net zero, I'd say.
US News & World Report (online): "The Labor Department reported today that the number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits fell for the first time since January, a sign that the economy is slowly recovering. Total unemployment rolls declined by 148,000 to 6.69 million in the first week of June, the largest weekly drop in more than seven years. The decline also breaks a streak of 21 consecutive weeks in which the number of people collecting jobless benefits for more than a week increased."
Sounds like the recession is over and growth is occurring. It's a long way back up, but ... up is up.
I suppose I'll be accused of "data mining". But gold nuggets found when mining are gold and up is up.
The recession ends when growth returns from whatever absolute level. That's the meaning of the terms. A "recession" has to have "recessing" - i. e., declines. Period.
An astute commentor suggested I look at RIMM for a buy. I had deferred for awhile, looking & thinking. I like what I see and plan to buy it for Fido Fund today. From my point of view, the Apple iPhone gets the business of the young and music/entertainment oriented consumer, while RIMM's Blackberry gets the business of the email oriented person. The markets are huge and both can do well. I like the revenue growth and new product innovations. Mrs. B has AAPL in her Sky Fund, so I'll put RIMM in Fido Fund.
Today is triple witching day so volatility could be large. If we get a pullback to the S&P 900 area, I'll probably add to many positions. Otherwise, I'll go over the Obama positions today to see what has had good dips.
Word of the Day
"Geminal" - adjective [$10]
Geminal means 1. of or relating to germs or of the nature of a germ; 2. in the earliest stage of development; 3. productive of new ideas.
Sentence: My language skills in French are rather developed, but for German, Polish, Italian and Spanish, they are much more geminal.
[In the spirit of a multilingual blog, I am switching to a penta-lingual "Word of the Week" for French, German, Polish, Italian and Spanish. I'll try one or two words of each a week and write a sentence using them. For some languages in which I have less skill, the words and sentences will be rather simple for awhile. Important words like drink, beer, wine and similar crucial concepts for humanity will be foundation for awhile.]
Das Worte der Woche
"Trinken" - verb, strong.
Trinken means to drink. The simple past Stem is trank. The past participle is getrunken. One can quickly recognize the common proto-Germanic roots of English and modern German. Compare drink-drank-drunk to trinken-trank-getrunken.
Der Satz: (A) Ich habe drei Biere gestern getrunken. OR (B) Gestern habe ich drei Biere getrunken. OR (C) Ich trank drie Biere gestern. OR (D) Gestern trank ich drei Biere.
Sentence: (A) I drank three beers yesterday. (B) Yesterday I drank three beers. C translates the same as A but uses the simple past tense instead of the conversational past. D translates the same as B, but also uses the simple past tense. German word order is quite sensitive. Putting the adverb, "yesterday" requires significant changes in verb-subject positions in German, versus no changes in English.
Fashions seemed alive, too. I saw fewer men in "undertaker" uniforms, and less black in women's fashions. No 1970s era "earth -mother" fashions were in sight. Fashionable tailored pants or skirts several inches over the knee was the rule. The Apple store on Fifth Avenue was crowded at 3PM on a weekday. The fashion indicator is NOT 'flashing" a depression or even a severe recession.
I'll read more about Timmy's financial regulation reforms, but so far, it's OK. He included regulations for hedge funds and all derivatives - both good. I have some problems with relying on these agencies like the SEC. It's still obviously on the take from the Street, as it continues to approve these fraudulent ETFs designed solely for day trading. But I need to read more and will comment more fully later.
Hmmm ... the index of leading indicators is up again. The Philly Fed - for what that's worth - was OK. I guess that cancels the recent poor Empire State number. Net zero, I'd say.
US News & World Report (online): "The Labor Department reported today that the number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits fell for the first time since January, a sign that the economy is slowly recovering. Total unemployment rolls declined by 148,000 to 6.69 million in the first week of June, the largest weekly drop in more than seven years. The decline also breaks a streak of 21 consecutive weeks in which the number of people collecting jobless benefits for more than a week increased."
Sounds like the recession is over and growth is occurring. It's a long way back up, but ... up is up.
I suppose I'll be accused of "data mining". But gold nuggets found when mining are gold and up is up.
The recession ends when growth returns from whatever absolute level. That's the meaning of the terms. A "recession" has to have "recessing" - i. e., declines. Period.
An astute commentor suggested I look at RIMM for a buy. I had deferred for awhile, looking & thinking. I like what I see and plan to buy it for Fido Fund today. From my point of view, the Apple iPhone gets the business of the young and music/entertainment oriented consumer, while RIMM's Blackberry gets the business of the email oriented person. The markets are huge and both can do well. I like the revenue growth and new product innovations. Mrs. B has AAPL in her Sky Fund, so I'll put RIMM in Fido Fund.
Today is triple witching day so volatility could be large. If we get a pullback to the S&P 900 area, I'll probably add to many positions. Otherwise, I'll go over the Obama positions today to see what has had good dips.
Word of the Day
"Geminal" - adjective [$10]
Geminal means 1. of or relating to germs or of the nature of a germ; 2. in the earliest stage of development; 3. productive of new ideas.
Sentence: My language skills in French are rather developed, but for German, Polish, Italian and Spanish, they are much more geminal.
[In the spirit of a multilingual blog, I am switching to a penta-lingual "Word of the Week" for French, German, Polish, Italian and Spanish. I'll try one or two words of each a week and write a sentence using them. For some languages in which I have less skill, the words and sentences will be rather simple for awhile. Important words like drink, beer, wine and similar crucial concepts for humanity will be foundation for awhile.]
Das Worte der Woche
"Trinken" - verb, strong.
Trinken means to drink. The simple past Stem is trank. The past participle is getrunken. One can quickly recognize the common proto-Germanic roots of English and modern German. Compare drink-drank-drunk to trinken-trank-getrunken.
Der Satz: (A) Ich habe drei Biere gestern getrunken. OR (B) Gestern habe ich drei Biere getrunken. OR (C) Ich trank drie Biere gestern. OR (D) Gestern trank ich drei Biere.
Sentence: (A) I drank three beers yesterday. (B) Yesterday I drank three beers. C translates the same as A but uses the simple past tense instead of the conversational past. D translates the same as B, but also uses the simple past tense. German word order is quite sensitive. Putting the adverb, "yesterday" requires significant changes in verb-subject positions in German, versus no changes in English.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Into the Belly of the Beast
I travel to NYC [midtown] this morning for some meetings and to see some museums. I'll be there through Thursday evening, so no new posts on Wednesday and Thursday.
Election turmoil in Iran continues. Those claims by the past leader of a resounding win seem far-fetched. Perhaps a big lie ?
Barry to bloviate more. What else is new?
Tonight I expect to have a Golden Kryptonite Martini as the "club" bar. It's quite a convivial place, but I know fewer and fewer people nowadays. Time marches on.
Congress seems unable to walk and chew gum at the same time. Financial regulatory overhaul is running into Barry's health care reform and climate change legislation.
My German is making good progress now. But that language sure has some weird constructions. Why would one separate a prefix from a verb and stick it at the end of a sentence or clause ? Weird. And these stem vowel changes are so common. They are a relic in English, too, of its Germanic roots. [e. g. drink, drank, drunk] Some linguists think these oddities go back to a melding of a Semitic language [Phoenician] to proto-German circa 500 B. C. E. Perhaps. This wierdness came from somewhere and not from early Indo-European.
I took Latin in high school and remember some. From a time and population movement perspective, Latin must be rather closer to Indo-European than many modern languages. And its grammar seems closer to Polish than to English, French, Spanish or German. Of course the words themselves are very different.
A language has two dimensions: its words and its grammar. Both are important for understanding linguistic roots. Too much attention is placed on simple word evolution. Grammar might be more important. I strongly recommend the books by John McWhorter on this subject and the Teaching Company CD course by him. He's an excellent lecturer and writer. and extremely knowledgeable without being pedantic.
A language is really a bundle of closely related dialects with one annointed "standard" dialect, usually from the region of capital city of the nation. Standard English comes from the London dialect; standard French from the Paris dialect; and Polish from the Warsaw dialect.
Enjoy the week. The blog will return Friday.
Word of the Day
"Clinal" - adjective [$10]; from cline - noun
Cline means 1. Biol. a graded sequence of differences within a species, etc.; 2. a continuum with an infinite number of gradations.
Sentence: "All peoples of the world speak complex varieties of language, differing in clinal degree from one another and often not assignable as any one "thing". [from McWorter, The Story of Human Language", notes for the Teaching Company CD course, part 3, page 28.]
Das Wort der Woche
That means, "Word of the Week" in German. Coming soon.
Słowo Tygodnia
That means, "Word of the Week" in Polish. Coming soon.
Election turmoil in Iran continues. Those claims by the past leader of a resounding win seem far-fetched. Perhaps a big lie ?
Barry to bloviate more. What else is new?
Tonight I expect to have a Golden Kryptonite Martini as the "club" bar. It's quite a convivial place, but I know fewer and fewer people nowadays. Time marches on.
Congress seems unable to walk and chew gum at the same time. Financial regulatory overhaul is running into Barry's health care reform and climate change legislation.
My German is making good progress now. But that language sure has some weird constructions. Why would one separate a prefix from a verb and stick it at the end of a sentence or clause ? Weird. And these stem vowel changes are so common. They are a relic in English, too, of its Germanic roots. [e. g. drink, drank, drunk] Some linguists think these oddities go back to a melding of a Semitic language [Phoenician] to proto-German circa 500 B. C. E. Perhaps. This wierdness came from somewhere and not from early Indo-European.
I took Latin in high school and remember some. From a time and population movement perspective, Latin must be rather closer to Indo-European than many modern languages. And its grammar seems closer to Polish than to English, French, Spanish or German. Of course the words themselves are very different.
A language has two dimensions: its words and its grammar. Both are important for understanding linguistic roots. Too much attention is placed on simple word evolution. Grammar might be more important. I strongly recommend the books by John McWhorter on this subject and the Teaching Company CD course by him. He's an excellent lecturer and writer. and extremely knowledgeable without being pedantic.
A language is really a bundle of closely related dialects with one annointed "standard" dialect, usually from the region of capital city of the nation. Standard English comes from the London dialect; standard French from the Paris dialect; and Polish from the Warsaw dialect.
Enjoy the week. The blog will return Friday.
Word of the Day
"Clinal" - adjective [$10]; from cline - noun
Cline means 1. Biol. a graded sequence of differences within a species, etc.; 2. a continuum with an infinite number of gradations.
Sentence: "All peoples of the world speak complex varieties of language, differing in clinal degree from one another and often not assignable as any one "thing". [from McWorter, The Story of Human Language", notes for the Teaching Company CD course, part 3, page 28.]
Das Wort der Woche
That means, "Word of the Week" in German. Coming soon.
Słowo Tygodnia
That means, "Word of the Week" in Polish. Coming soon.
Friday, June 5, 2009
TGIF
Nothing is happening. Obama is still on a world tour. Does he ever do anything except bloviate? And rob bondholders?
Rio Tinto's trenches collapsed - that is, the scorched earth anti-takeover sale of core assets to Chinalco to defend against BHP cratered. Obviously RTP top management should be all fired.
It's still raining cabinet ministers in the UK.
According to a poll conducted by Le Figaro, Americans and French people appreciate each other anew in equal amounts: about 47% have a favorable opinion of the other, vs. around 30% four years ago. The unfavorable opinion levels are in single digits now. A link follows.
http://www.lefigaro.fr/lefigaromagazine/2009/06/04/01006-20090604ARTFIG00595-francais-et-americains-s-apprecient-a-nouveau-.php
Tomorrow is the 65th anniversary of D-Day. I read in Le Figaro and Le Monde that Obama will visit Normandy. Let's hope he makes a good speech. I wonder if he can approach the moving speech of Ronald Reagan in 1984?
The movie, THE LONGEST DAY [as corrected] is really good and quite authentic. I have read a lot of nonfiction history and can confirm its quality. Also, the movie follows the book by Cornelius Ryan quite closely, too. I'll watch the movie again tomorrow - yes, I have the DVD.
Mozillo charged with insider trading. Finally, a big shot might pay for his greed. What a hog at the trough !!!
Futures are up ... for now.
Word of the Day
"Repristinate" - verb, transitive [$10]
Repristinate means to restore to an original state or condition.
Sentence: The investment strategy of the Obama Fund is that Battleship Ben plus Obama's weak stimulus plan will be able to repristinate the US economy. If so, large profits will ensue. So far, it's working.
Le Mot du Jour
"Ressentir" - transitive verb, conjugates like partir or sentir
Ressentir mand to feel, to experience, to be affected by.
La Phrase: Selon le sondage, 47% d'Américanes ressentent la sympathie pour la France maintenant. Peut-être, je suis à l'avant-guarde de nouveau intérêt à la langue française.
Sentence: According to the poll, 47% of Americans feel friendship for France now. Perhaps I am in the vanguard of new interest in the French language?
By the way, "la sympathie" means liking, friendship in this usage, not sympathy.
Rio Tinto's trenches collapsed - that is, the scorched earth anti-takeover sale of core assets to Chinalco to defend against BHP cratered. Obviously RTP top management should be all fired.
It's still raining cabinet ministers in the UK.
According to a poll conducted by Le Figaro, Americans and French people appreciate each other anew in equal amounts: about 47% have a favorable opinion of the other, vs. around 30% four years ago. The unfavorable opinion levels are in single digits now. A link follows.
http://www.lefigaro.fr/lefigaromagazine/2009/06/04/01006-20090604ARTFIG00595-francais-et-americains-s-apprecient-a-nouveau-.php
Tomorrow is the 65th anniversary of D-Day. I read in Le Figaro and Le Monde that Obama will visit Normandy. Let's hope he makes a good speech. I wonder if he can approach the moving speech of Ronald Reagan in 1984?
The movie, THE LONGEST DAY [as corrected] is really good and quite authentic. I have read a lot of nonfiction history and can confirm its quality. Also, the movie follows the book by Cornelius Ryan quite closely, too. I'll watch the movie again tomorrow - yes, I have the DVD.
Mozillo charged with insider trading. Finally, a big shot might pay for his greed. What a hog at the trough !!!
Futures are up ... for now.
Word of the Day
"Repristinate" - verb, transitive [$10]
Repristinate means to restore to an original state or condition.
Sentence: The investment strategy of the Obama Fund is that Battleship Ben plus Obama's weak stimulus plan will be able to repristinate the US economy. If so, large profits will ensue. So far, it's working.
Le Mot du Jour
"Ressentir" - transitive verb, conjugates like partir or sentir
Ressentir mand to feel, to experience, to be affected by.
La Phrase: Selon le sondage, 47% d'Américanes ressentent la sympathie pour la France maintenant. Peut-être, je suis à l'avant-guarde de nouveau intérêt à la langue française.
Sentence: According to the poll, 47% of Americans feel friendship for France now. Perhaps I am in the vanguard of new interest in the French language?
By the way, "la sympathie" means liking, friendship in this usage, not sympathy.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
The Creation of Civilization
Archeology and studies of seeds and pollen found in the earliest villages and cities in the dawn of the Neolithic age - perhaps even in the Mesolithic period - show that the core food staples in these communities were bread and beer. The term, "Neolithic" even denotes the age when early man began to domesticate plants and animals, perhaps around 8000 BCE in the Near East.
Sumeria built the first true cities circa 3000 BCE. The first city, Uruk, had perhaps 50,000 people, traded over a large area and its people had division of labor and skills. Sumeria also invested writing. And what is found in the writings of the common man in Sumeria ? Paeans to his beer.
The staple diet of ancient Egypt was also bread and ... beer.
Today's blog celebrates beer and as a multilingual blog, I've written THE crucial sentence that underlies all civilization in six languages.
English: I want another beer, please.
French: Je veux une autre bière, s’il vous plaît.
Italian: Voglio un’ altra birra, per favore.
Spanish*: Quisiera otra cerveza por favor.
Polish: Proszę jeszcze jedno piwo.
German: Ich möchte noch ein bier, bitte.
[* courtesy of an erudite multilingual reader and commentor as I am just now commencing Spanish studies.]
In case you are wondering, after my success and fun with French and recognizing my advanced age, I've decided to learn slowly four more languages at once: Italian, Polish, German and Spanish. With French and English, this will cover every major language and people in Europe. I realized that if I didn't start them all now, I would be 70 before I got to the last one if I just learned them sequentially, assuming about three years intensive study in each to become literate and fairly fluent in speech. I'll bang away at each and after a year, try to accelerate the learning.
This means the feature, "Le Mot du Jour", may occasionally stray to Germans, Italian, Polish or Spanish.
Markets
The recession is over.
The question is how long this bull market will last and whether a period of stagnation will occur once the economy recovers to its prior level. A period of 1970s like stagnation is quite possible due to the huge and all-encompassing new regulations and laws that Obama is proposing on health care and the environment. I expect a rapid market and economic recovery similar to the 1974-1976 period until the wall is hit. Whether inflation also occurs causing stagflation then is not determined. The more global economy and the growth in the emerging markets may affect this, too. There's no need to take a position on this now. I await further evidence and trends.
Meanwhile, Obama Fund is roaring up as is Fido Fund. I am sitting on and riding the elephant to the next water hole.
Word of the Day
"Poteen" - noun [$10]; a Mencken word
Poteen means Irish alcohol made illicitly from potatoes.
Sentence: As they drive stock prices higher, are buyers drunk on poteen after drowning their sorrows, or are they "efficiently and rationally" evaluating future prospects for corporate earnings ? I suspect neither. Less fear simply means the far negative end of the distribution of investor expectaions is being chopped off, forcing the central mean is up in price.
Le Mot du Jour
"Grippe" - noun, feminine: La grippe.
Grippe means flu. There's a line in that great movie (one of my favorites), "Guys and Dolls" where a "doll" is reading about health diagnoses and says "la grippe", meaning the flu. I never understood that line until I learned some French.
La Phrase: Cette panique de la grippe porscine sera une pagaïe.
Sentence: This panic about swine flu will be a mess.
Sumeria built the first true cities circa 3000 BCE. The first city, Uruk, had perhaps 50,000 people, traded over a large area and its people had division of labor and skills. Sumeria also invested writing. And what is found in the writings of the common man in Sumeria ? Paeans to his beer.
The staple diet of ancient Egypt was also bread and ... beer.
Today's blog celebrates beer and as a multilingual blog, I've written THE crucial sentence that underlies all civilization in six languages.
English: I want another beer, please.
French: Je veux une autre bière, s’il vous plaît.
Italian: Voglio un’ altra birra, per favore.
Spanish*: Quisiera otra cerveza por favor.
Polish: Proszę jeszcze jedno piwo.
German: Ich möchte noch ein bier, bitte.
[* courtesy of an erudite multilingual reader and commentor as I am just now commencing Spanish studies.]
In case you are wondering, after my success and fun with French and recognizing my advanced age, I've decided to learn slowly four more languages at once: Italian, Polish, German and Spanish. With French and English, this will cover every major language and people in Europe. I realized that if I didn't start them all now, I would be 70 before I got to the last one if I just learned them sequentially, assuming about three years intensive study in each to become literate and fairly fluent in speech. I'll bang away at each and after a year, try to accelerate the learning.
This means the feature, "Le Mot du Jour", may occasionally stray to Germans, Italian, Polish or Spanish.
Markets
The recession is over.
The question is how long this bull market will last and whether a period of stagnation will occur once the economy recovers to its prior level. A period of 1970s like stagnation is quite possible due to the huge and all-encompassing new regulations and laws that Obama is proposing on health care and the environment. I expect a rapid market and economic recovery similar to the 1974-1976 period until the wall is hit. Whether inflation also occurs causing stagflation then is not determined. The more global economy and the growth in the emerging markets may affect this, too. There's no need to take a position on this now. I await further evidence and trends.
Meanwhile, Obama Fund is roaring up as is Fido Fund. I am sitting on and riding the elephant to the next water hole.
Word of the Day
"Poteen" - noun [$10]; a Mencken word
Poteen means Irish alcohol made illicitly from potatoes.
Sentence: As they drive stock prices higher, are buyers drunk on poteen after drowning their sorrows, or are they "efficiently and rationally" evaluating future prospects for corporate earnings ? I suspect neither. Less fear simply means the far negative end of the distribution of investor expectaions is being chopped off, forcing the central mean is up in price.
Le Mot du Jour
"Grippe" - noun, feminine: La grippe.
Grippe means flu. There's a line in that great movie (one of my favorites), "Guys and Dolls" where a "doll" is reading about health diagnoses and says "la grippe", meaning the flu. I never understood that line until I learned some French.
La Phrase: Cette panique de la grippe porscine sera une pagaïe.
Sentence: This panic about swine flu will be a mess.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Back in the Saddle
I'm back in the saddle again - reading, thinking, doing. My mind is crammed full of data and visions of Sumerian and Egyptian art, culture and history after spending four solid days in the museums of London. Plus I spent a day in the National Gallery viewing fine paintings. That's five solid days of intense study in the humanities. I'm making up for 40 years of science, math and business. and doing quite well so far. The Bunkerman re-education program is at full speed now.
But I did let the body have some pleasures. Within very easy walking district of our hotel in the Mayfair district, we dined at quite fine restaurants every night suggested by the concierge of the hotel. We had a different style every night: British, Chinese, Indian, Italian and French. London has excellent cuisine. The Chinese restaurant produced some of the finest Chinese food we had every eaten. We were particularly delighted with a 'starter' in a vegetarian style of Peking Duck made with fried strips of bean curd served in the style of Peking Duck - magnifique !
British beef is superb. I had fillets twice - they pronounce the "t" in Britain - from Scottish beef which is so tasty and tender. And the wine lists had plenty of excellent reds.
Naturally I did not let the "depression" get in the way of vacation enjoyment. Overall, London is a superb city for the intellectual tourist. I'll write more later, but have an early errand now.
Markets
Up, up and away. The Obama Fund is roaring as is the Fido Fund. These funds are 115% and 100% long, respectively, and doing very well.
I wait to deploy new funds on the next intermediate dip.
Word of the Day
"Etiology" - noun [$10]; British spelling is "aetiology"; adjective is "etiological".
Etiology means 1. the assignment of a cause or reason; 2. the study of causation; 3. all of the causes of a disease or abnormal condition.
Sentence: Some academics in the history of English simply describe its evolution without considering and developing its etiology. I recommend the book, "Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold Story of English", by John McWhorter. That is a excellent, readable book with solid ideas and evidence.
Le Mot Du Jour
None today - out of time. Also, I am planning to modify this feature of the blog to include other languages that I am now studying. The new "Le Mot du Jour" will be pan-European and include French, German, Italian, Polish and Spanish. I'd include ancient Egyptian in the hierglyphic script, but Microsoft Word doesn't seems to have those signs as a font.
But I did let the body have some pleasures. Within very easy walking district of our hotel in the Mayfair district, we dined at quite fine restaurants every night suggested by the concierge of the hotel. We had a different style every night: British, Chinese, Indian, Italian and French. London has excellent cuisine. The Chinese restaurant produced some of the finest Chinese food we had every eaten. We were particularly delighted with a 'starter' in a vegetarian style of Peking Duck made with fried strips of bean curd served in the style of Peking Duck - magnifique !
British beef is superb. I had fillets twice - they pronounce the "t" in Britain - from Scottish beef which is so tasty and tender. And the wine lists had plenty of excellent reds.
Naturally I did not let the "depression" get in the way of vacation enjoyment. Overall, London is a superb city for the intellectual tourist. I'll write more later, but have an early errand now.
Markets
Up, up and away. The Obama Fund is roaring as is the Fido Fund. These funds are 115% and 100% long, respectively, and doing very well.
I wait to deploy new funds on the next intermediate dip.
Word of the Day
"Etiology" - noun [$10]; British spelling is "aetiology"; adjective is "etiological".
Etiology means 1. the assignment of a cause or reason; 2. the study of causation; 3. all of the causes of a disease or abnormal condition.
Sentence: Some academics in the history of English simply describe its evolution without considering and developing its etiology. I recommend the book, "Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold Story of English", by John McWhorter. That is a excellent, readable book with solid ideas and evidence.
Le Mot Du Jour
None today - out of time. Also, I am planning to modify this feature of the blog to include other languages that I am now studying. The new "Le Mot du Jour" will be pan-European and include French, German, Italian, Polish and Spanish. I'd include ancient Egyptian in the hierglyphic script, but Microsoft Word doesn't seems to have those signs as a font.
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