Firestarters: Highlights of the Highly Miscellaneous Part V

Posted by Unknown , Friday, March 14, 2008 10:25 PM

Time for another Firestarter. Guess what? No news links this time! But damn, is the list random. And long.

• Tao Te Ching
• This is a Taoism resource, for a philosophy not oft considered by Westerners.
• Religion Facts
• Facts on religion that go more in depth than a casual reference. Taoism is included.
  
• Dining in 2015
• Is that a hedgehog?
• How to Learn Any Language
• There's a part of me that wants to be a polyglot. For those of you who are like me, read the tips on this site and feel incredibly lazy because you know you'll never be able to dedicate yourself. Don't worry. You're certainly not alone. We can lament together.
• 36 Beautiful Resume Ideas that Work
• Some very interesting designs for resumes. I don't know that I'll ever be able to use any of them for one of mine, but they are certainly attractive designs.
• CalorieConnect.com
• Food name in, calorie count out. Just a cleaner application than I've seen in the past. It all comes up on one page without reloading.
• How Stuff Works
• Self-explanatory, methinks.
• Dinosaur Comics
• I'd heard of it and read one or two beforehand, but I didn't realize how hilarious it is until I ran across it again. Always silly, but always funny.
• Microsoft Interview Questions
• Can you answer any of those? I knew there was a reason why I wasn't a computer programmer. Besides the math bit. And the logic.
• How to Draw a Woman (video)
• Cool sorta kinda tutorial. I've never seen someone start from the skeletal structure.
• How to Detect Lies
• Always a useful tool, especially in those casual interrogations that we all conduct in our basements, right? Saves on mess.
  
• Why we do dumb s@#$.
• Ten social psychology studies that explain why we don't always make the best judgment we could, among other things.
• Test Your English
• Can you say all of the words correctly the first time?
• Cooking By Numbers
• A good site, if rudimentary. Hilarious sidenote: Some friends and I put what they had in their fridge, and they only complete recipe that came up said, "You have 100% of 2 ingredients to make a Cup of Coffee." Even better: "You have 50% of 2 ingredients to make Scrambled Eggs." What were we lacking? Eggs.
• FilmSecrets
• Make your own films for a fraction of the cost. A cool guide to help those trying to make it on their own.
• Write Your Name in Elvish in 10 Minutes!
• If it was a real language, it would soooo be the best language ever.
  
• "Street Installations"
• Some very cool street artwork. It would be freaky to happen upon, but it's very cool at a distance.
• The Table of Condiments
• Heh. (Thanks mundanejane.)
  

*deep breath* Whew.

I should have gone into journalism, but I'd probably die sooner.

Posted by Unknown , Wednesday, December 19, 2007 7:53 PM

So I'm feeling some leftover aggression from this past semester, and since I don't want to blog over 15 different topics in one post, I'll settle for a really unimportant article that happened to pick a bad moment for me to read it.

For some reason, I take it upon myself to read a half-sports half-public opinion piece in the New York Times. My curiosity was piqued by the title "Fledgling 'Fire Isiah' Movement Takes to the Streets". I had no idea who Isiah was or why people were starting a movement to get him fired, and was immediately interested, considering how topsy turvy the world news has been lately.

Can't say I was surprised when I found out that the Isiah mentioned was Isiah Thomas, "coach and President" of the Knicks, whose record is apparently a sore spot for fans. I knew nothing of this, and kept reading because I have an insatiable desire to be on top of things - whether I care about all of them or not (you never know what's going to come up in casual conversation!).

But I stopped dead at this (bold/italics are mine):

The hour-long rally appeared peaceful. Fans gathered to sign Nathan’s petition, an eight-foot pink slip that was taller than even a N.B.A. center. Several police officers monitored the event, most of them with bemused smiles on their faces.

There are times when I slip up and use a word incorrectly without thinking about it, or misspell things - you know, typical errors. Yet there is a crucial difference between me and Joe LaPointe. I don't have an editor.

In case you're still in the dark, I'll let Dictionary.com do the honors.

Bemused –adjective

1.	bewildered or confused.

2.	lost in thought; preoccupied.

And that's precisely the point. I'm almost absolutely sure that the officers weren't a) struggling to wrap their minds around was going on, or b) daydreaming. It's a common mistake because it sounds the same as what was probably meant - amused. I would have been amused by an eight-foot-tall petition as well. But I'm almost certain - almost completely positive - that they weren't bemused by it.

I'm not particularly upset that it happened, because it was a mistake I made a long time ago. It just bothers me because it's one of those words that people have allowed to lapse in meaning, becoming another synonym that the hefty English language doesn't need. It seems more of a sign of laziness than anything else.

That is all.