onomastique

With the name Kevin too having been an explosively popular choice for a generation of newly reunified Germans as well, we appreciated this examination by French edition of The Local about how expectant parents were infatuated with the Hollywood-propelled but accented version of the name.
Although Kévin appears in the official rolls of recognised prénoms—which dictated, coincidentally, what parents were allowed to name their children up until 1993, two years after the phenomena that so captured the attention of mothers and fathers swept the continent—as the namesake of an Irish saint that was not uncommon in Brittany, the popularity soon faded and this class of like-named boys and their parents became (like in Germany) targets of mild ridicule and derision. The French government, like that of Germany, still retains discretion on what names might be inappropriate and therefore not allowed—which I believe is a sound and appropriate policy and does strike me as an expatriate associated with an American community with babies and young people named Maverick, Voilà, etc. as something highly advisable.

nosce te ipsum

Despite the prevalence, pedigree and seeming verisimilitude and versatility of the maxim, Know thy Self, Professor Bence Nanay writes it is a potentially dangerous directive, making a pretty persuasive case that we’re wilfully blind to the gradual changes in our personalities, tastes and characters and sticking with the self-same choices and preferences, which are importantly within our control but yet may be misinformed or no longer complimentary to the person we’re becoming, may help perpetuate this delusion.
Not that there are no consistent qualities and abiding principles in our lives, but holding tenaciously on to a self-image that may not be an accurate reflection of oneself is a potential source of tension.  It is also impetus to keep doing things that one does not particularly care for and even resents, because we mentally shroud the contradiction with cognitive dissonance that makes us think our choices are own rather than a resigning to habit because we’ve squandered all of our energies on self-censorship and keeping up appearances. What do you think? We especially liked the quote from André Gide on how “A caterpillar who seeks to know himself would never become a butterfly.” We ought to strive to reacquaint ourselves with ourselves daily to avoid repairing to vanity and pandering.

give me a bouncy c

Taking a cue from the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind, a major internet retailer, we learn via Marginal Revolution, has developed a sort of tonal pass-key that admits or restricts users from collaborative projects on the basis of being in tune, with those discordant or cacophonous ones being identified as inauthentic members.
Although I like to keep my computing time quiet and on mute, I think I might prefer this sort of harmonious CAPTCHA (which is an acronym for Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart, which I think the machines have out smarted long ago) to the usual tests of humanity. Many of the firm’s ideas reportedly have not progressed beyond the sandbox of claims jumping but it’s nonetheless intriguing that being able to sculpt mashed potatoes into Devil’s Tower or that subterranean subterfuge might be indicative of alien visitations is certainly worthy of examination.

lemma, lexeme

Engrossingly, Mental Floss tells the story of the criminally insane former American civil war medical officer and surgeon who was one of the founding (and among the most prodigious) contributors to the Oxford English Dictionary, Doctor William Chester Minor.
The crowd-sourced, definitive reference book differs from other dictionaries insofar as it is a descriptive account of the language that traces the development of words (from the nonce, to slang and to jargon) and changes in meaning and nuance—rather than a prescriptive effort that informs speakers of the correct way to speak, and in order to capture a comprehensive picture of the spoken and written word, the editors enlisted thousands of volunteers to tease out shades of meaning, and confined to Broadmoor asylum, surrounded by stacks of books from all eras, Minor found new meaning for his existence and working on the project alleviated his mental condition during daylight hours—at least. A combination of a severe persecution-complex and undiagnosed nymphomania (sexually frustrated due to his upbringing by strictly religious, missionary parents) eventually led to his honourable discharge from the army, and wracked by a recurring nightmare that quickly became a consuming reality—probably also exacerbated by the horrors of the battlefield and being made to brand a defector with a “D” on his cheek with a cattle iron.
Hoping to escape his nocturnal visitations, Minor used his retirement windfall to relocate to England but to his horror, the mysterious intruder had followed him and menaced him still.  Minor acquired a pistol so as to defend himself and when the intruder presented himself next, Minor brandished the weapon and the intruder fled.  Minor pursued him outside and shot the first bystander he encountered and was thereafter institutionalised for the rest of his life.  Not to make light of mental illness and certainly working on compiling a dictionary that is a reflection of English as she is spoke throughout the ages brought the inmate moments of great lucidity as he helped give to the world a great academic resource, but I do have to wonder what it means that our etymology and shades of meaning is influenced by one so haunted by incubi or succubi.   Minor stopped contributing to the project after being one day possessed of bereaving himself of his member but even that did not cure him of his psycho-sexual burdens, but not before the publisher behind this enterprise got to meet with his chief benefactor and quickly forgot that the encounter was taking place in an insane asylum.

flussbau

We had not realised that the upper Rhein valley acquired its present appearance not by Nature but rather through extensive engineering until reading this profile on Johann Gottfried Tulla.
Of course many of the ancient palaces and fortifications that lend the river its romantic airs existed prior to Tulla’s excavation and construction that worked to straighten meandering sections, deepen the bed to improve navigation and remove numerous islets that began in the first decade of the nineteenth century, but the character of place was really transformed by the efforts to tame the marshlands and regulate flooding. Transportation infrastructure was the primary motivation and not tourism, but the manicured embankments did make for a good monumental showcase. Virtually unrecognisable from an ecological standpoint, Tulla’s landscaping and construction would be considered criminal today and an assault on the environment, it’s hard to imagine villages developing in swampier climes and malaria (which Tulla himself ultimately succumbed to) was rampant in the area. The efforts to mitigate flooding in the industrially-important cities of Koblenz, Bonn and Köln produced flooding further downstream, and presently work is being undertaken to re-naturalise and de-constrain the river as much as possible and allow it to choose its own course.