Notes from all over.

17 Responses to Notes from all over.

1. Adam Greenwood on June 27, 2008 at 12:15 pm

   The Penelope link sounds too pat to be true, especially since I have a hard time seeing Homer obsessing over the astronomical details, but even so . . .

2. Researcher on June 27, 2008 at 12:32 pm

   Congratulations to Nate and T&S on the citation in the law journal.

   Congratulations to Ayla. I hope she finds a supportive community within the church.

   Congratulations to Ardis for some good posts and also Heidi at Juvenile Instructor for hers.

   Congratulations to the Spanish government for expanding their voting population.

   Congratulations to the authors and readership of T&S for some interesting moments this week.

   (Did I miss anyone?)

3. Patricia Karamesines on June 27, 2008 at 12:44 pm

   Darn. Looks like Dave’s sarcasm link didn’t make the cut. I’ve been drumming my fingers all week waiting to comment on that one.

   Oh well. It’s probably time better spent in the garden, anyway.

4. Researcher on June 27, 2008 at 12:45 pm

   Adam, since you brought up the subject of eclipses and you seem to have some interest in space, how does one check whether there was an eclipse of the sun on any given date? For example, how would you find out whether there was a full or partial eclipse of the sun over eastern Arizona on April 13, 1929? I tried to follow the links within the Penelope story, but couldn’t figure it out.

5. Adam Greenwood on June 27, 2008 at 12:50 pm

   Congratulations to the Spanish government for expanding their voting population.

   To be fair, the government didn’t actually give chimps the right to vote. I exaggerated.

6. Frank McIntyre on June 27, 2008 at 12:52 pm

   Patricia,

   When was Dave’s sarcasm link?

7. Patricia Karamesines on June 27, 2008 at 1:00 pm

   I’m thinking it was last Friday. I don’t think it showed up on last Friday’s “Notes from all over.” Could be I’m mixing things up.

   The article posed that sarcasm has remained in the human toolbox for survival for good reason, etc.

8. Adam Greenwood on June 27, 2008 at 1:01 pm

   No solar eclipse occurred on that date, Researcher, as best I can tell. Eclipses only happen during the new moon.
   The nearest eclipse seems to have happened on May 9 and occurred over the western Pacific and the Indian oceans.
   http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/solar.html
   http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEplot/SEplot1901/SE1929May09T.GIF

   It looks like no eclipse happened in Arizona that whole decade:
   http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEatlas/SEatlas2/SEatlas1921.GIF

9. Researcher on June 27, 2008 at 1:26 pm

   Thanks, Adam. That was the second time I had tried to look up that information (and failed). It was a major anecdote in someone’s story of their childhood and it’s good to know that the person’s memory was not impeccable.

   Of course, as we learned after Mario Cappechi received the Nobel prize this past year and some reporters found out that his childhood memories were not strictly accurate, it doesn’t mean that the real story isn’t just as amazing or even more so than the remembered scenes of childhood.

   And do I understand correctly that you’re retracting your comments about recent events in Spain? What happened? Did the Spanish embassy contact T&S and protest? Or did the Spanish Bureau of Tourism slip you some cash?

   (How long can I keep this up without the use of a smiley!?!)

10. Kaimi Wenger on June 27, 2008 at 1:32 pm

    Yeah, right, Patricia. Suuuure. :P

    “Sarcasm: an evolutionarily adaptive communication strategy. You’re not just funny, you’re devious.”

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20080620/sc_livescience/sarcasmseenasevolutionarysurvivalskill

11. Kaimi Wenger on June 27, 2008 at 1:36 pm

    It looks like Dave’s was one of a few that fell between the cracks. The others are:

    Christian schoolteacher faces discipine for burning crosses onto arms of students. This is not a joke.
    20th Jun 2008 @ 8 PM

    Bruised bananas, licked cupcakes, and other horrible ways to teach about chastity.
    Added: 20th Jun 2008 @ 12 PM

    “The high school has done perhaps too good a job of embracing young mothers.”
    Added: 20th Jun 2008 @ 12 PM

    Science fiction explained.
    Added: 20th Jun 2008 @ 12 PM

    Sarcasm: an evolutionarily adaptive communication strategy. You’re not just funny, you’re devious.
    Added: 20th Jun 2008 @ 12 PM

    LDS Senator Gordon Smith: “The fact of the matter is, I’ve been a leader in the Senate in the fight for equality for gays and lesbians.”
    Added: 20th Jun 2008 @ 11 AM

    The death of generosity
    Added: 20th Jun 2008 @ 7 AM

12. Adam Greenwood on June 27, 2008 at 1:39 pm

    I missed last Friday altogether. Shoot. I’ll update.

13. Researcher on June 27, 2008 at 1:45 pm

    Shoot.

    Is that a command, a suggestion, or a curse?

14. Ardis Parshall on June 27, 2008 at 1:50 pm

    It’s a menu choice (“Eats Shoots and Leaves”).

15. Patricia Karamesines on June 27, 2008 at 2:58 pm

    Heh heh, thanks, KW (I think). I googled “sarcasm toolbox survival” to see if I had dreamed the article and found it myself (sigh of relief: article not my nightmare) but hesitated to bring it up again because … well, because.

    This article is the only one Google can sift out using those three words together, though the article itself has made rounds, turning up on various blogs and websites, including Richard Dawkins’ official website. That Dawkins’ — or one of his acolyte’s — interest intersected with T&S’s is one of those sleights of six degrees of separation.

    Etymology of “sarcasm”: Well, think of the word “sarcophagus.” “Sarcasmus: “to tear flesh, gnash the teeth, speak bitterly” (OED).

    Sarcasm is irony that’s gone slumming.

    Some scholars think that irony is a comparatively recent phenomenon, not an ancient one, as the author’s “two ancient dudes were running from an ancient lion, and the first ancient dude says to the second ancient dude” joke quips (lame, lame, lame — heard better jokes from my 11-year-old). Irony has its celestial spheres; sarcasm hangs with cynicism in the telestial cellar, where they have bricked themselves — and each other — up. Assuming sarcasm has survived in the human social toolbox because it provides an evolutionary advantage is pub logic. That is, during happy hour at the local pub, I can see such reasoning shining at the heights of the intellectual discourse.

    People have patience with sarcasm only when they have the luxury to indulge it. Otherwise, as one of the commenters on Dawkins’ site remarks, sarcasm is evolutionarily disadvantageous, since when matters are tight people tend to “kill the smart***es.”

16. Jessawhy on June 28, 2008 at 4:06 pm

    Some of these headlines I saw during the week, but not all of them.
    How do I get the links?

17. Jessawhy on June 28, 2008 at 4:10 pm

    ok, i see them in the side bar. sorry.