Friday Photography - The Flash

I saw this adorable Baby Chun Li at Nerd Salad and was immediately inspired by it for Friday Photography. This cute li'l "mini-human" version of The Flash made a recent appearance at a Fourth of July celebration.

The Flash

"I'm sure that he would stop and pose for you if you asked!"

That's okay, look at him go! The Flash needs to run, it's best to just let him do what he does best. :)

The Missing Language Link

A missing link in language history has been found. Its discovery connects one extremely endangered ancient language spoken only in Siberia with several other rare languages of Native North Americans. This knowledge may potentially rewrite human history.

The language of Canada's Dene Nation, along with the Navajo and Apache in the United States and many other "Athabaskan" dialects, have origins in the Ket language - an ancient and highly endangered language spoken by only a few people in Western Siberia. Initially written about two years ago by Edward Vajda, a linguistics professor at Western Washington University, the landmark discovery represents the only known link between any Old World language and the hundreds of speech systems among first nations in North America.

The new collection of articles by Vajda and more than a dozen other experts from the U.S., Canada and Europe details a multitude of clear connections -- nouns, verbs and key grammatical structures -- between the archaic language spoken by the Ket people of Russia's Yenisei River region and dozens of languages used by North American aboriginal groups, primarily in Alaska, Northern and Western Canada and the U.S. Southwest.

University of Alaska linguist James Kari says the discovery could rewrite the story of when, where and how ancient Asian migrants arrived in North America. It should also push research into new directions across disciplines beyond linguistics, including archeology, anthropology, paleoecology, biology and genetics.

The Bering land bridge joined present-day Alaska and eastern Siberia at various times during the most recent ice ages. It is believed that a small human population survived the ice age in this region, called Beringia. Isolated from its ancestor populations in Asia, they expanded to populate the Americas sometime after 16,500 years ago, when the last glaciers blocking the way southward melted.

Researchers suggest that the Bering land bridge migration occurred 12,000 years ago and that every Native American is descended from those Eastern Siberians who migrated across the land bridge. This has been backed up by a unique genetic variant widespread in natives across both continents. Now it has also been backed up with language.

So, how was the link discovered? Vajda found that the few remaining Ket speakers in Russia and the native speakers in North America used almost identical words for canoe. They also used similar words for such component parts as prow and cross-piece. That combination, he thought, was beyond the realm of chance. It was the beginning of a linguistic journey that brought together communities separated by an ocean and more than 10,000 years of history.

Representatives of some North American nations believed to share a root language with the Ket traveled to Moscow in April to visit their new-found linguistic kin. The connection between the Ket and Athabaskan peoples could be hugely important. Arctic Athabaskan Council spokesman Danny Creswell said "Upon this base we can build cultural, economic and perhaps political links."

Haiku News - July 13, 2010

Yes, Americans
are the richest, but we're not
nearly happiest.

A new example
of why the free market does
not work for health care.

Humans affect the
environment and we have
for thousands of years.

Some spices used to
flavor curries could reduce
livestock methane gas.

Sometimes research is
unnecessary. There's still
no cure for cancer.

What's in a name? Your
child by any other name
may not be so sweet.

Louisianna
burns, a Senator takes his
eyes off of the ball.

Women in the prime
of their lives have higher sex
drives than their husbands.

They helped to invent
the sport, yet a silly rule
could sideline their team.

It's because Conan
O'Brien rules, and Leno
was never funny.

Friday Photography - 1928 Willys-Knight

This beautiful 1928 Willys-Knight pulled into the parking lot of the Ames Florida Stork House in June during their Blacksmith Demonstration Day. Needless to say, it upstaged the blacksmith for a short time. Though its not often people get to see a blacksmith at work, it is also not often that people get to see a unique vehicle like this.

1928 Willys-Knight

Hood Ornament

Steering Wheel

Gearshift Knob

Tail Light

Check out more photos of the 1928 Willys-Knight.

Ancient Language Deciphered By Computer

The lost language of Ugaritic was last spoken 3,500 years ago in the city of Ugarit, located in modern Syria. Today, it survives on only a few tablets, and linguists were only able to translate it with years of hard work and some luck. Yet, a new computer program deciphered it in just hours.

Created by Regina Barzilay, an associate professor in MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab, Ben Snyder, a grad student in her lab, and the University of Southern California’s Kevin Knight, the computer program relies on a few basic assumptions in order to make intuitive guesses about the language's structure. One of the requirements for the program to work, the lost language must be closely related to a known, deciphered language. In the case of Ugaritic that relative language is Hebrew. Another requirement is that the alphabets of the two languages must share at least some consistent correlations between the individual letters or symbols. The program worked by looking for correlations and correspondences between the two languages, then it mapped the similarities between Hebrew and Ugaritic

The results were stunning. Of the thirty letters in the Ugaritic alphabet, the computer correctly identified twenty-nine of them. Of the roughly third of all Ugaritic words that share Hebrew cognates, the program figured out sixty percent of them, and many of the errors were only off by a letter or two. These results are particularly encouraging because the program still doesn't use any contextual clues, meaning it can't differentiate between the different uses of a Ugaritic word that means both "daughter" and "house", something that is (thankfully) pretty easy to identify in context.

After Ugaritic was first discovered in 1929, it remained untranslatable for years. It was only through happy coincidence that it ever was translated. The computer program, however, was able to get this far in simply a matter of hours. The possibilities this program offers for speeding up the translation process of ancient documents are readily apparent. Additionally, the program could help improve online translation software.

The Ugaritic language is a Semitic relative of Hebrew, though its alphabet resembles the cuneiform used in ancient Sumeria. The Ugaritic texts that survive tell the stories of a Canaanite religion that is similar to that recorded in the Old Testament. The differences between the two texts provide scholars a unique opportunity to examine how the Bible and ancient Israelite culture developed in relation to those found nearby.

Haiku News - July 5, 2010

Some activities
are just inappropriate
for pet inclusion.

They saved a life, then
quietly made their leave in
the coroner's van.

The majority
of farmers try to do right
by their animals.

An olive branch has
been extended by some, and
received by others.

Women and men are
almost as different as
humans and monkeys.

Why is Ozzy still
alive? DNA study
could reveal the key.

Archeologists
are uncovering Mega
Stonehenge in Britain.

Police are "looking"
for a leprechaun, but was
the witness just drunk?

A high-risk, no-knock
warrant issued over codes?
Inappropriate.

It is finally
the Future: Flying cars are
a reality.

Review: Taste of Minnesota

I'd always wanted to go to the Taste of Minnesota, but I had never attended it before. I somehow ended up making plans far away from St. Paul every year on that weekend. This year, I wanted to put it on my calendar as soon as possible so I wouldn't forget it.

That idea was promptly shattered when I read that admission would cost $30, instead of being free or the measly $10 it was to enter last year. My reasoning for not going was that the ticket pricing means either the festival is doing really well and would be too crowded for my sociophobic tendencies, or its doing not so well and organizers are trying to make up for something.

Then two things happened: My travel plans for this weekend fell through and two free admission tickets to the Taste of Minnesota landed in my lap. Was it destiny? I wasn't sure what to expect, but such serendipitous circumstances maybe gave me the impression that I was about to have a truly memorable experience revolving around two of my favorite things: Music and food.

On Friday, July 2nd, 2010, I went to the Taste of Minnesota at Harriet Island in St. Paul, Minnesota, and there was music and food, but I wouldn't say that my experience was particularly memorable. Part of that had to do with something entirely out of the festival's control, and that was the very warm weather with a high of 87 degrees. But most of my disappointing experience rested with the heart and soul of the Taste: the food itself.

When one hears of a festival called “Taste of _____,” it is expected that one will find many food items there that are representative of the local community. Though the most of the vendors there were uniquely Minnesotan, what was on the menu was not. Put most bluntly, this year’s Taste of Minnesota could have been called Taste of Any County & State Fair Anywhere. There were hot dogs, corn dogs, French fries and pizza galore, but you can get that at practically any festival. There were also major chains there like Famous Dave’s, Joe’s Crab Shack, and Bubba Gump, but those were places I have already been to before – I wanted to be exposed to new food choices!

Northwoods Steak Buffet held promise, but they were basically just serving fries and blooming onions. Bennett’s Chop & Rail House served the same but also offered pork chop on a stick. Liffey Irish Pub at first sounded tempting, but was only serving fish, chips (fries), or fish and chips. Booth after booth offered burgers, mini donuts, and ice cream; few had any imagination. The Pioneer Press was dead wrong with its headline touting that the Taste of Minnesota had gone upscale.

There were some winners, though. The 5-8 Grill was there, serving up Juicy Lucy’s and Pig Pens. Edina’s CRAVE and Minneapolis’ SEVEN offered sushi, but the latter kicked in tasty hand-carved beef sandwiches. Vero Pizza was serving pizza, but it was deliciously coal-fired, not made in a normal oven. These were the types of unique foods I was looking for, not the same old run-of-the-mill fair food that saturates the summer festival season.

Another big winner was a booth selling something called Cream Cheese Comets. They were basically large cream cheese wontons filled with flavored fillings, the options being cinnamon-sugar or strawberry. They were so good, we came back to the booth for another strawberry comet!

I liked that the Taste of Minnesota was making a sincere attempt at managing the incredible amount of waste such an event produces. In addition to recycling stations that accepted aluminum cans and plastic bottles, there were organic recycling bins accepting paper and wood products. The only trouble was that some vendors were distributing food in items that didn't meet the recycling or organic waste specifications. One had to seriously look for a trash bin in which to place these items.

The musical entertainment was great! We caught the bands Minus the Bear and The Walkmen on the main stage. Dawes and James Hunter were playing at the City Pages Big Music Tent. Willie Murphy Band was rocking the Red House Records & KFAI Stage. Kids from The School of Rock were jamming at the MomsLikeMe.com Stage.

There were also other forms of entertainment, like ballet and belly dancers at the Circus Suventas, a tent with record spinning deejays, and a ramp where BMX tricksters defied gravity on their bikes. There was even a cooking demonstration where some chefs made sumptuous looking ravioli with some sort of cream-based sauce. This last bit of entertainment made me wonder why there weren’t more creative menus among the Taste of Minnesota participants – bringing the cooking technology needed to make such creations obviously was not the issue.

By the time 7:00 rolled around, the real drawbacks to the festival’s various payment systems were detracting from our experience. First were the admission tickets, which were tiered – pre-purchased $20 tickets had to be redeemed by 4:00 or we would have to pay the $30 gate price. We showed up as close to that time as we could, but after three hours of intense heat with shade providing little comfort the weather was taking its toll on us. We were intensely thirsty, which led to the next trouble involving the food and beverage tickets that had to be purchased at the gate. Food vendors didn’t take cash, they took “tickets” that could be bought in packs of eight for $5, which was smart in that the vendors didn’t have to worry about large sums of money, but discouraging once we ran out of tickets. It was almost two hours to the show we really wanted to see, Atmosphere, and we had already basically seen all we were going to see, eaten all we were going to eat, and drank all we were to have drunk (which wasn’t much, considering we had to shell out $3 for armbands just for the privilege to drink in addition to the equivalent of $6.25 per 12 ounce, tasty Summit beer).

We heard P.O.S. as we were leaving. We were hot and bored with the equivalent of no money, surrounded by beer and food we couldn’t drink, waiting for a musical act that felt like an eternity away. Even so, many of the booths were already closing for reasons we didn't quite understand. Had we actually paid for our admission tickets, we might have made a bigger attempt to stick around for Atmosphere, though I imagine we’d have been too tired and heat-stroked to enjoy it much. Because we left when we did, we could say that we had a pleasant time at the Taste of Minnesota despite missing the last concert - Atmosphere will be back in due time! Scorching weather notwithstanding, we could also say that given the run-of-the-mill food offerings, we probably won’t feel the need to attend the Taste of Minnesota again.

Photos from the Taste of Minnesota.

Friday Photography - Duncan Fine O Meter

Spotted this on my recent trip to Ohio. It was outside a grocery store in Oak Harbor, OH. From what I can tell it is a drop-box for paying parking ticket fines - except it doesn't lock anymore. It didn't look like it had been used in years.

Duncan Fine O Meter

Now that I'm home and looking up information on it, it seems I'm not the first to find the Duncan brand Fine O Meter to be photographically intriguing. I particularly like this yellow one.

Language Police to Halt Murder of English Language

Watch out, the Queen's English Society is going to make a run at being the language police!

The Queen's English Society will form an Academy of English to protect the language from the "impurities, bastardisations and the horrors introduced by the text-speak generation." France has L’Academie Francaise, Spain has the Real Academia Espanola, and Italy is home to the Accademia della Crusca, which all uphold the rules of their respective languages. English has no such defense against verbal corruption. English continuously morphs.

Members of the Queen’s English Society, made up of professionals, academics and other linguists, hope to win official recognition, or even a Royal Charter for their academy.

Though I'm not convinced that such an academy could really slow the evolution of the English language, I am curious to see how they attempt it.