Hermione went on a vacation with her parents to France, and might have gone to other places with them too, I can't quite remember.
I don't think this has fully played its role in the series. She recognized that some people were speaking French at the Quidditch World Cup and mentioned that they might be from Beauxbatons, and later she identifies what Boulliabaisse is, but this hardly contributed anything to the book - all it contributed was JUST before the existence of other wizarding schools were announced, Hermione says "Didn't you know there are other wizarding schools?"
I think Hermione's travels with her parents will contribute something futher to the series at some point, even if it's just one or two minor pieces of information.
Friday, April 22, 2005
Thursday, April 21, 2005
How the church can embrace moral relativism without losing face
I know the church currently does not wish to embrace moral relativism, but when it's ready, I've thought of a good sell.
The concept has already be established that humans are fallible and can be led into temptation. So all the church would need to do is mention, when appropriate, that if one does find oneself led into temptation, one should attempt to cause as little harm and damage as possible. They wouldn't have to have any great fanfare or make a big announcement about the change in policy, and they wouldn't even have to change the rules about what constitutes a sin. Just whenever the topic comes up, mention that, while it's preferable not to sin or give into temptation at all, if you just aren't strong enough to resist, it's better to reduce harm as much as possible.
The concept has already be established that humans are fallible and can be led into temptation. So all the church would need to do is mention, when appropriate, that if one does find oneself led into temptation, one should attempt to cause as little harm and damage as possible. They wouldn't have to have any great fanfare or make a big announcement about the change in policy, and they wouldn't even have to change the rules about what constitutes a sin. Just whenever the topic comes up, mention that, while it's preferable not to sin or give into temptation at all, if you just aren't strong enough to resist, it's better to reduce harm as much as possible.
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
My feet might be famous
The picture in today's Fixer shows a pair of shoes that look exactly like mine. I have no way of knowing if it's really me or not, but I do remember seeing a photographer in that area, although I couldn't tell what exactly was being photographed.
Pope round-up
This post is a compendium of random thoughts that occurred to me as this new pope was being elected. Keep in mind that I'm a left-wing atheist who left the church 10 years ago, so if you don't wish to read commentary on catholicism from my perspective, you might want to skip this post.
1. The "just a humble worker" statement would have been much more effective without that regal red cape around his shoulders.
2. I think no matter what your stance on abortion, euthanasia and related issues, you might want to be concerned about the views expressed here. It seems to me that he's saying he thinks abortion/euthanasia/etc. are bigger, more important issues than war. No matter how you feel about abortion et. al., he should be going around trivializing war like that!
3. The more they go around denouncing moral relativism, the more I think it's a good idea. If everything is absolutely black and white, sin or not sin, there's less motivation to actually be the best person you can, particularly if you adhere to that one passage in the bible that apparently means that everyone is necessarily a sinner. But if all sins are relative, some are worse that others, you get bonus points for attempting to minimize harm, and some things that are generally sins are acceptable under certain extenuating circumstances, people have more motivation to be on their best behaviour and consider the consequences of their actions rather than simply going through the motions of confession/forgiveness. Although this might be why the current church regime is so opposed to moral relativism in the first place.
4. In all the brouhaha, I picked up the factoid that divorced people are to be denied all catholic sacraments. I don't think this is fair, because, under common law at least, both spouses' consent is not required to get a divorce. It seems that living apart for two years is grounds for divorce, and once one spouse has filed for divorce all the other spouse can contest is the terms of the divorce, not the divorce itself. So imagine your spouse suddenly, without warning, abandons you. They don't tell you where they're going or anything, they just disappear. If you make an attempt to have them tracked down, they accuse you of stalking and get a restraining order. Two years later, they file for divorce on the grounds that you've been living apart. When you are summoned before the judge, you can either agree to your spouse's divorce application, or you can contest the grounds of divorce (for example you could try to make it be based on abandonment or cruelty or adultery rather than irreconcilable differences), or you can contest the way you split up all your possessions/sue for alimony etc. If you refuse to show up in court or sign the papers, the judge will grant the divorce on your spouse's terms. There is no mechanism for saying "Your Honour, I do not consent to getting divorced. I love my spouse very much and want to do everything possible to save our relationship." That simply is not an option. One spouse requests a divorce, eventually it will be granted. Because a divorce could happen without someone's consent and despite their best efforts, it is terribly unfair to deny divorcé(e)s the sacraments. You don't go around condemning someone to hell because their spouse was an asshole to them.
5. The more I think about catholicism, the more it reminds me of an abusive relationship.
1. The "just a humble worker" statement would have been much more effective without that regal red cape around his shoulders.
2. I think no matter what your stance on abortion, euthanasia and related issues, you might want to be concerned about the views expressed here. It seems to me that he's saying he thinks abortion/euthanasia/etc. are bigger, more important issues than war. No matter how you feel about abortion et. al., he should be going around trivializing war like that!
3. The more they go around denouncing moral relativism, the more I think it's a good idea. If everything is absolutely black and white, sin or not sin, there's less motivation to actually be the best person you can, particularly if you adhere to that one passage in the bible that apparently means that everyone is necessarily a sinner. But if all sins are relative, some are worse that others, you get bonus points for attempting to minimize harm, and some things that are generally sins are acceptable under certain extenuating circumstances, people have more motivation to be on their best behaviour and consider the consequences of their actions rather than simply going through the motions of confession/forgiveness. Although this might be why the current church regime is so opposed to moral relativism in the first place.
4. In all the brouhaha, I picked up the factoid that divorced people are to be denied all catholic sacraments. I don't think this is fair, because, under common law at least, both spouses' consent is not required to get a divorce. It seems that living apart for two years is grounds for divorce, and once one spouse has filed for divorce all the other spouse can contest is the terms of the divorce, not the divorce itself. So imagine your spouse suddenly, without warning, abandons you. They don't tell you where they're going or anything, they just disappear. If you make an attempt to have them tracked down, they accuse you of stalking and get a restraining order. Two years later, they file for divorce on the grounds that you've been living apart. When you are summoned before the judge, you can either agree to your spouse's divorce application, or you can contest the grounds of divorce (for example you could try to make it be based on abandonment or cruelty or adultery rather than irreconcilable differences), or you can contest the way you split up all your possessions/sue for alimony etc. If you refuse to show up in court or sign the papers, the judge will grant the divorce on your spouse's terms. There is no mechanism for saying "Your Honour, I do not consent to getting divorced. I love my spouse very much and want to do everything possible to save our relationship." That simply is not an option. One spouse requests a divorce, eventually it will be granted. Because a divorce could happen without someone's consent and despite their best efforts, it is terribly unfair to deny divorcé(e)s the sacraments. You don't go around condemning someone to hell because their spouse was an asshole to them.
5. The more I think about catholicism, the more it reminds me of an abusive relationship.
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Mes excuses publiques
Au cas où il lit mon blog, je voudrais sincèrement, formellement, et publiquement m’excuser auprès du collègue qui j’ai par inadvertance abandonné dans le métro. Lorsque j’ai noté que tu ne pouvais pas entrer, j’aurais dû te laisser entrer avec mon Metropass. C’était absolument inexcusable de ne pas l’avoir fait. Je voudrais t’assurer que ce geste n’était pas fait par mauvaise foi, c’était plutôt une erreur passagère et stupide de jugement. Je suis vraiment désolée, et je te prie d’avoir la gentillesse de m’excuser.
Monday, April 18, 2005
Learn from my fashion disasters
If your eyes are green and you like the fact that your eyes are green, it is not helpful to wear a shirt that is a brighter green than your eyes. It will just wash out your eyes and make them look brown.
Star Wars characterization problems (contains the very most minor of spoilers for RotS)
In Attack of the Clones, it is quite obvious that Anakin loves Padmé. However, it is not so obvious that Padmé loves Anakin. She goes through all the motions of loving him and says she loves him and marries him at the end, but as I'm watching the movie I'm not actually feeling the love from her like I am from Anakin.
I didn't notice this at first because I was kind of experiencing the movie from Anakin's point of view, but it becomes more important in Revenge of the Sith. I'm not going to fully spoil this (although it isn't much of a spoiler), but the fact that Anakin loves Padmé more than anything is important to the plot, and the fact that Padmé loves Anakin more than anything is important to the plot. While I can intellectually accept them as a married couple based on the characterization to date, and while I can see based on the characterization to date that Anakin madly and passionately and eternally loves Padmé beyond anything else, I'm not seeing the same depth of love coming from Padmé. And in RotS, her love needs to be just as intense as Anakin's.
I think when it comes to building the romance, George Lucas is telling, not showing, and I'm afraid the final film may suffer for that.
I didn't notice this at first because I was kind of experiencing the movie from Anakin's point of view, but it becomes more important in Revenge of the Sith. I'm not going to fully spoil this (although it isn't much of a spoiler), but the fact that Anakin loves Padmé more than anything is important to the plot, and the fact that Padmé loves Anakin more than anything is important to the plot. While I can intellectually accept them as a married couple based on the characterization to date, and while I can see based on the characterization to date that Anakin madly and passionately and eternally loves Padmé beyond anything else, I'm not seeing the same depth of love coming from Padmé. And in RotS, her love needs to be just as intense as Anakin's.
I think when it comes to building the romance, George Lucas is telling, not showing, and I'm afraid the final film may suffer for that.
On the way home from the subway
Seen: a man in an elegant suit and dreads that are longer than my hair inadvertently attempt to put a metropass into an ATM.
Heard: an older lady loudly complaining in Polish about how terribly cold it was. It was close to 20 degrees and gloriously sunny at the time.
Seen: a man who appeared to be in his thirties attempting to chat up a girl who appeared to be about 16, all while standing in the middle of a small sidestreet rather than walking the whole two metres to the nearest sidewalk.
Heard: an older lady loudly complaining in Polish about how terribly cold it was. It was close to 20 degrees and gloriously sunny at the time.
Seen: a man who appeared to be in his thirties attempting to chat up a girl who appeared to be about 16, all while standing in the middle of a small sidestreet rather than walking the whole two metres to the nearest sidewalk.
Brilliant Ideas That Will Never Work: Dream Coach
This came to me as I was doing yoga relaxation. If something is bothering you physically, a yoga instructor can probably recommend some stretching and breathing that will make it feel better. Similarly, a dream coach will give you advice on how to have dreams that make whatever is bothering you mentally and emotionally feel better. They'll give you advice about how to tweak your sleeping environment and behaviours and what thoughts to focus on so as to produce dreams that will ease whatever particular thoughts and feelings are troubling you.
Sunday, April 17, 2005
Saturday by Ian McEwan
I'm not sure if I like this book. It's almost universally well-reveiewed, but it wasn't entirely a good experience for me. The obsessive minute attention to detail kind of annoyed me, although it is clearly part of the exercise in which the author is engaging. The climax of the story upset me emotionally, although it could easily have been much worse (I'm not describing it here because it would rather spoil the book), and the ending didn't give me satisfactory closure. I literally just finished it and I'm writing this in an attempt to create closure. I'm not in a position to actually assess the literary merits of this book because I'm kind of upset from it. I guess it's good in that it can affect me emotionally like this, but this isn't a good way to be feeling when I have to be at work in 9.5 hours.
How to study for a language exam
My original plan was to do all the previous years' exams, have my grandmother (a native speaker) mark them for me, and use that as a basis for where to focus my studying. However, I ended up not being able to do this because of scheduling conflicts, so I decided to mark the practice exams myself.
That was SUCH a serendipitiously good idea!
I don't have an answer key, so to mark the practice exams I have to look up the answer to every single question that I'm not 100% sure of. Most of the questions are applying my grammatical knowledge rather than spewing back vocabulary, so I have to look up the grammatical rules, understand them fully, and apply them to the example in question. It takes forever (it took me twice as long to mark the first exam as it took me to write it), but it is SO effective!
That was SUCH a serendipitiously good idea!
I don't have an answer key, so to mark the practice exams I have to look up the answer to every single question that I'm not 100% sure of. Most of the questions are applying my grammatical knowledge rather than spewing back vocabulary, so I have to look up the grammatical rules, understand them fully, and apply them to the example in question. It takes forever (it took me twice as long to mark the first exam as it took me to write it), but it is SO effective!
Sci-fi physics
I've seen several times in science fiction a situation in which a spaceship has a brief hull breach and the people inside survive by holding on REALLY tight until the hull breach seals itself, so they aren't sucked out into space.
Is that at all plausible?
Is that at all plausible?
Cono Sur Reserve Chardonnay
This bottle is interesting. It's ever so slightly shorter and stubbier than normal, but still contains the standard 750 mL. The foil is slightly harder to remove than usual, but the cork, though artificial, is easy to remove. The cork is black, which I've never seen before.
As for the wine itself, it's very well-balanced - it's fruity/buttery/oaky in equal measures, and whichever taste you're looking for tends to emphasize itself. It also has a little hint of that "tangy zip" (I don't know what it's really called - is it dryness? acidity?) that you often find in white wines, but you do have to look for it. It keeps you from gulping the wine down, but you don't actually notice that it's doing this.
This is a very archetypal chardonnay - the sort of thing you expect to get when you go to a patio and order a glass of white wine to sip as you watch the world go by.
As for the wine itself, it's very well-balanced - it's fruity/buttery/oaky in equal measures, and whichever taste you're looking for tends to emphasize itself. It also has a little hint of that "tangy zip" (I don't know what it's really called - is it dryness? acidity?) that you often find in white wines, but you do have to look for it. It keeps you from gulping the wine down, but you don't actually notice that it's doing this.
This is a very archetypal chardonnay - the sort of thing you expect to get when you go to a patio and order a glass of white wine to sip as you watch the world go by.
Saturday, April 16, 2005
I have just upgraded my requirements for elected officials
Thomas Walkom mentions in his column that "When bureaucrats went on too long at [Mike Harris's] cabinet meetings, [Harris] would throw things at them."
My requirements for elected officials have now been upgraded to include the provision that any candidate worthy of my vote must have sufficient self-control NOT to throw things in meetings!
My requirements for elected officials have now been upgraded to include the provision that any candidate worthy of my vote must have sufficient self-control NOT to throw things in meetings!
VIA Signature Strengths
A while ago I took the VIA Signature Strengths survey (It will ask you to register and log in, but it's free and they don't spam you). Apparently people who use their signature strengths on a regular basis tend to be happier.
My signature strengths are as follows:
My signature strengths are as follows:
This is a good picture of my inner self, especially if you look at the full results for all 24 strengths (which I stored in my LJ if anyone cares). The problem is that you have to use your signature strengths, and many of mine are things that I cannot deliberately use. I can use my love of learning, and I can sometimes use my creativity, although more often it just jumps out at unexpected moments with random ideas that are of little to no use in real life. However, humility, prudence and critical thinking are all things that are just there. I can no more deliberately use them than I can deliberately choose to inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. In fact, I wouldn't say I even use them, they're just there, part of my self, just like my arachnophobia and my night-owl tendencies and my introversion and my unconscious devoicing of final consonants. I did read the relevant parts of the book, but they don't say anything about HOW one goes about applying these strengths.
- Modesty and humility: You do not seek the spotlight, preferring to let your accomplishments speak for themselves. You do not regard yourself as special, and others recognize and value your modesty. (100th percentile)
- Love of learning: You love learning new things, whether in a class or on your own. You have always loved school, reading, and museums-anywhere and everywhere there is an opportunity to learn. (97th percentile)
- Caution, prudence, and discretion: You are a careful person, and your choices are consistently prudent ones. You do not say or do things that you might later regret. (97th percentile)
- Judgment, critical thinking, and open-mindedness: Thinking things through and examining them from all sides are important aspects of who you are. You do not jump to conclusions, and you rely only on solid evidence to make your decisions. You are able to change your mind. (87th percentile)
- Creativity, ingenuity, and originality: Thinking of new ways to do things is a crucial part of who you are. You are never content with doing something the conventional way if a better way is possible. (82nd percentile)
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Vermeer In Bosnia by Lawrence Weschler
This is a fascinating book! It's a series of essays by New Yorker writer Lawrence Weschler, on subjects ranging from war crimes to art to Polish history to Judaism. I love the way Weschler shows how everything is connected to everything else; in the title essay, he mentions how a justice at the war crimes tribunal at the Hague would destress by going to a museum to look at Vermeer paintings, then proceeds to draw a connection between the political and historical context in which Vermeer painted and the context in which atrocities were committed in the former Yugoslavia. The vast majority of the topics he discusses in this book are things I know nothing about, but he explains everything so well that I am able to follow along like an expert. It sounds like something that would be dull and pretentious, but it's actually fascinating and easy to read. Read this book if you want to feel smart!
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Schoolgirl
What with Karla Homolka being in the news again, I have occasionally seen media outlets referring to Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffey as "schoolgirls."
I find this strange for a couple of reasons. First of all, the word schoolgirl is long and redundant. Anyone in our culture who is young enough to be referred to as a girl is going to be in school. There are many synonyms that are both shorter and more neutral - student, girl, teen, youth - and I can't imagine any situation in which a person would prefer to be referred to as "schoolgirl" rather than "student".
Secondly, the semantic value of the word "schoolgirl" above and beyond "girl who is in school" (which could be just as easily communicated by student, teen, youth, girl) is limited to two negative connotations: trivializing (giggling like a schoolgirl), and objectifying (like one might find in a description of pornography). Both these connotations are clearly inappropriate in this context. There is no good reason to trivialize the victims of brutal torture and murder, and that very sense of objectification is what led to Bernardo and Holmolka choosing to abduct, torture and murder them in the first place.
I realize that not everyone in the world gives as much thought to the implications of word choices as I do (that's why they pay me the big money), but I would think that journalists would be one group of people for whom word choice is an important everyday issue. So what on earth are they hoping to achieve by using the word schoolgirl?
I find this strange for a couple of reasons. First of all, the word schoolgirl is long and redundant. Anyone in our culture who is young enough to be referred to as a girl is going to be in school. There are many synonyms that are both shorter and more neutral - student, girl, teen, youth - and I can't imagine any situation in which a person would prefer to be referred to as "schoolgirl" rather than "student".
Secondly, the semantic value of the word "schoolgirl" above and beyond "girl who is in school" (which could be just as easily communicated by student, teen, youth, girl) is limited to two negative connotations: trivializing (giggling like a schoolgirl), and objectifying (like one might find in a description of pornography). Both these connotations are clearly inappropriate in this context. There is no good reason to trivialize the victims of brutal torture and murder, and that very sense of objectification is what led to Bernardo and Holmolka choosing to abduct, torture and murder them in the first place.
I realize that not everyone in the world gives as much thought to the implications of word choices as I do (that's why they pay me the big money), but I would think that journalists would be one group of people for whom word choice is an important everyday issue. So what on earth are they hoping to achieve by using the word schoolgirl?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)