Advocate of plain speaking, believing that heuristically people ought to be able to explore perception and reality and arrive at insights and truths through logic and simple language alone, Oxford professor John Langshaw Austin (no relation to author Jane, though much of his linguistic speculations were posthumously packaged under the above title) in the 1930s greatly expanded the nuanced understanding of the way meaning is imparted, demonstrating that sentences can be more than just interrogative, declarative or directive and in fact usually are none of these things and instead fall somewhere on the spectrum of doing things, a social task or a phememe.
After his wartime service in his majesty’s secret service (a tenure that a whole cadre of Oxbridge instructors took up) for which Austin was credited for as being instrumental in the success of the D-Day Invasion, Operation Overlord—however, perhaps influenced by his intelligence work, his research became even more engrossing in its accessibility. Packing his philosophical quiver, Austin dissected the language of excuse and pardon that people toss about with apparent abandon to find the pregnant meaning in all the ways to say that one is sorry and distance one’s self from moral decrepitude and omission. Not only is there an endless buffet of expressions to choose from to exculpate oneself—oversight, accident, mistake, mishap, misunderstanding, misstep, confusion, etc.—they all have subtle ethical connotations, on second look, that warrant further investigation. Though not naturally duplicitous, people are probably most honest about their feelings when they’re begging-off.
Thursday 10 December 2015
oversight or sense and sensibilia
5x5
we’re walking in the air: a fine retrospective on David Bowie’s magical Christmas classic
resolutions: adorable and mesmerizing animated work-out GIF
monkeyshines: an update on that dapper primate that ran amok in an IKEA three years back
darth trump: seamless mash-up of megalomania
catagories: ๐ถ, ๐, ๐ง , ๐️, foreign policy, lifestyle, networking and blogging, Star Wars
Wednesday 9 December 2015
automatonophobia
The brilliant Kottke, maker of fine hypertext products, introduces us to a new type of uncanny valley in the form of composite three-dimensional masking.
While trying to capture the essence, the thing in itself, of personalities or politicians, one found that a sort of ventriloquist’s dummy is created and despite transferring personรฆ to different individuals, the original speaker still reverberates through gestures and facial expressions that come across as familiar and recognisable but look awkward and alien on the face of another. The eeriness and conflicted vocal cues is probably best illustrated in the video demonstration of the technique with talking-heads and statesmen found at the link above. The fear of anything that impersonates a living being is called automatonophobia (as in an automaton), which can include wax-figures and mannequins too.
catagories: ๐ง , technology and innovation
leader board or it’s the plumber, i’ve come to fix your sink
catagories: ๐️♂️, ๐ฑ, ๐ง , foreign policy
porta sancta
Recognising what the world needs now, Pope Francis threw open the Mercy Gate of the Lateran Archbasilica (the Pope’s church as the Bishop of Rome) and declared an extraordinary Jubilee Year—a decade earlier than the next scheduled time of forgiveness and reconciliation, which are announced periodically at quarter- or half-century intervals.
Ordering the door to be unbricked (sealed in earnest outside of these periods), the Pope promises that this message of grace will counter the violence and fanaticism in the world—and in people’s hearts. Quite a few basilica-major around the world, including Saint Peter’s in the Vatican and Santiago de Compostela in Spain, have their own Holy Doors and their own tradition and millions of pilgrims are expected to pass through these thresholds over the next year. The Papal Bull—Misericordiรฆ Vultus—allows for bishops everywhere to declare his own Mercy Gate for this Year of Jubilee. After the ceremony and reflection, the faรงade of San Giovanni in Laterano became the canvas to promote mindfulness of another urgent threat to peace, environmental degradation, with a light-show of projected images of the natural world. His Holiness is primed to act on Mother Nature’s behalf as well.
catagories: ๐ฎ๐น, ๐ป๐ฆ, ✝️, environment, holidays and observances
Tuesday 8 December 2015
744 evergreen terrace
Long before there was such a concept of the internet leaking and before people could find the others and engage in fancy-dress parties (and prior to the advent of home-owners’ associations that might have not permitted such an addition to their neighbourhood), the ever-intrepid Atlas Obscura places this national landmark on the registry: the Simpsons’ home.
Back in 1997, the television franchise, partnering with one of the cola-war belligerents, offered one lucky winner a dream home that was as true to the show as architects could execute with real world materials and the laws of physics. Presently, the unique home is camouflaged amongst the ticky-tack of suburbia but one can still detect the nuanced faรงade. It’s a little sad to see it having faded into the background—once painted and furnished to order—and to discover that the winning family choose the cash prize instead of moving. I understand it might have been an odd experience at first, but the spacious and resilient house was surely something enviable, especially for the likes of Gil Gunderson or Frank Grimes.
catagories: ๐บ, architecture, The Simpsons