This morning at the breakfast table:
—Do you need the milk?
—No, there’s no cereal left.
—It’s very good with the biscuits. But I will not tell you, so I can eat them all myself.
… and the living is easy.
The book I’m reading is the first Narbonic collection, a previously-web comic about evil mad scientists; there are four more and a sixth on the horizon. The story’s over (and rerunning as “The Director’s Cut”, with commentary), the archives are open, you know what to do.
Sincere thanks to Freek for the photo, Shaenon Garrity for the comic, and the Dutch weather for the opportunity. Well, two out of three ain’t bad, no?
The papers are published in their original form, except for minor corrections (such as, at one point, changing “true” to “false” and at another “guilt” to “innocence”).
–Robert Stalnaker, in the acknowledgements to Context and Content.
At last! The Mardi Gras.bb have appeared on eMusic.
That is, they’ve shown up on the European site (they’re German, although you wouldn’t guess it from listening), with slightly different punctuation and case (I’m taking the regrettable .bb from their site — apparently it stands for “big band”) but the same glorious sound. The new album, The Exile Itch, isn’t there, but three older albums are (Alligator Soup, 29 Moonglow and Introducing the Mighty Three).
I’m an eMu member since before they raised prices, and I’m not sure I’d pay what they’re asking now. But if you’re already a member, rock on over and check these guys out. There used to be plenty of free downloads on their site, but they seem to have vanished (apart from four tracks from the new album). Grrr! If you can find ‘em, I recommend “Down Down Down” and “Dark Days” as an introduction to their sound. Bet you can’t keep still listening…
… Explained in Words of One Syllable, by George Boolos (not Boole).
If it could be proved that two plus two is five, then it could be proved
that five is not five, and then there would be no claim that could
not be proved, and math would be a lot of bunk.
If you’ve got access to JSTOR or Mind you can get the second section: “I wish he would explain his explanation”.
Shaun Tan’s The Arrival (which I have raved about before) has won a Locus Award: for best Art Book. Well-deserved, I must say (his website has images from the book, they’re even more beautiful full-size on the page).
Now go find it and read it. Look at it. Whatever you do with a wordless story-in-pictures. ‘Enjoy’ is probably appropriate.
[Via John Holbo at The Valve.]
‘Twas five in the morning, and all through the house,
Not a creature was stirring, except for Petros.
When all of a sudden, from out of the blue,
Crash! Bang! (Tinkle. Tinkle.) Who could it be? Who?
A drug-addled woman, a girl really, lay
On the front doorstep — what was she trying to say?
“Just let me come inside to pick up my stuff,
A backpack I left here, it’s harmless enough.”
We told her she’d never been inside before,
We picked up the glass where it lay on the floor.
Police and an ambulance (blood on her face),
Explanation? You kidding? Of course, not a trace.
The glazier is coming to patch up the door,
We’ve picked up the pieces and we’ve vacuumed the floor.
We’re glad that it didn’t turn into a fight
And we hope that the next time she’ll get the address right.
Today I had a four-hour meeting with my thesis supervisors, and got their cautious approval for a radical plan: I’m changing the topic of my thesis entirely and starting pretty near from scratch, with one year of funding to go.
It’s not as crazy as it sounds. Michael Franke (yes, the Iterated Beer Response dude) and I have written a 40-page paper introducing Unawareness to the linguistics fraternity, and that will be the kernel of the thesis. There are obvious extensions and applications to write up, and there are slightly less obvious questions to investigate, that I think I can cover in the year I’ve got left.
It’s an Idea Whose Time Has Come, and I’ll be writing more about it here for sure. For now I’m just crowing that I’ve got the go-ahead to write a book about it.
I’ve started putting the photos from our holiday in Greece online. Only started, there are heaps to come yet (links with dotted underlining go to pages that haven’t even been started yet) but there’s already a bit to see. I’ll post here again when it’s finished, but by the looks of things that might be quite some time.
We’re back from Greece with many photos and stories, which I’ll start putting online in the weekend. For now, a geek-out interlude, mixing work-in-progress from the office (not my own work, admittedly, but the desk next door) and beer.
(Continued)