Caral, Peruvian city of pyramids – older than Egypt’s pyramids, older than India’s Harappa, and “born in trade and not bloodshed,” its discoverer maintains. (Conical hat tip to LRC.) And see this article for similar claims about Harappa. I’m not qualified to evaluate these claims, but they’re interesting.
And the Mewlips Feed
I saw Glenn Beck’s interview with Ron Paul – ick! Beck played super-nice, super-friendly, while at the same time wasting time on internet death threats he’s gotten from Paul supporters (the internet is full of loonies of every stripe – why is this Paul’s problem? I’m sure Paul has gotten death threats from Beck’s ilk as well) and trying to trick Paul into saying he believed in conspiracies (“you say you don’t, but gosh, don’t these people seem deliberately evil?”) and in a 9/11 conspiracy in particular (“and if you deny it, well, I have people who say that’s exactly the lie you’re going to tell, but of course I believe you”). Then he ends by asking Paul if it was a fair interview, so if anyone criticizes him later he can say “see, Paul himself said it was fair.” Beck sounded like an Ayn Rand villain!
People Who Live in Glass Steakhouses …
At Geno’s Steakhouse in Philadelphia, a sign with a big American eagle says:
This Is AMERICA
Please WHEN ORDERING
“SPEAK ENGLISH”
The Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations calls the sign intimidating and discriminatory, and wants to force the owner, Joey Vento, to take it down. Vento’s lawyer says the sign expresses concern for the plight of immigrants and that Vento is trying to help them by encouraging them to learn English.
Okay, two easy questions and one harder one:
1. Is Vento’s sign obnoxious, nationalistic, and bigoted? Yes, of course. (I mean, just look at it. Concern for immigrants, my ass.)
2. Is Vento nevertheless within his rights to post the sign? Yes, of course.
Those were the easy questions. Now the hard one:
3. Why is “SPEAK ENGLISH” in quotation marks?
Perhaps Vento’s grasp of correct English usage isn’t as strong as he supposes – which suggests he may not be ideally positioned to be lecturing others on correct linguistic behaviour.
Stating the Obvious
Guest Blog by Jennifer McKitrick
Watch news, a talk show, or the like, and notice how many times you hear the word “obviously.”
About the flooding in the Northwest the other day:
“Residents are obviously trapped and obviously in need of supplies.”
Umm … what they were showing was houses with water up to the 2nd floor. Maybe they had been evacuated. Maybe someone had just come by and delivered a boat load of supplies. I don’t know. Neither of those things were obvious.
About “baby Grace,” the dead toddler found off the coast of Texas (before she was identified):
“Her family is obviously very worried about her and loves her very much.”
No one knew who her family was, or if indeed they had been the ones that killed her. In fact, her mother and stepfather are now in custody.
I think the use of “obviously” often corresponds closely with what is usually meant by “presumably.”
If you just take “obviously” out of the sentences in which it appears, oddly what is left is something that the speaker is in no position to assert. But somehow “obviously” qualifies what they say, as if they are taking it as obvious. Since the “news” is so often involved with guesswork and presumption nowadays, it’s no wonder that they would often employ words which hedge what they say. What is a wonder is the irony of using “obviously” to characterize something that is not only not obvious, but not even known to be true.
Either that, or it’s just a verbal tick, like “err” and “ummm.”
Jennifer McKitrick is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln, and Vice-President of the Molinari Institute and Molinari Society.
Conan Meets John Galt!
Well, not quite. But Conan creator Robert E. Howard’s 1933 story “Talons in the Dark” (also titled “Black Talons”) does feature a character named John Galt. (It’s not a particularly good story, but there ya go.)
Fabulous Channeling
Has anyone besides me noticed that Mark Buckingham’s artwork on the Fables comic book series is getting to look more and more like a perfect cross between Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and Wally Wood? Click here to see what I mean.
