...DONE GOOD. FOR THE 'FLOW' OF THINGS WE KEPT THE ACTING GOING BUT STOP BY FOR THE NYC VERSION WHERE WE WISH TO USE MORE OF THE PHYSICAL COMPUTING ELEMENTS SUCH AS THE EMOTIV BRAIN CAP AND THE KINECT....ONWARD!
PB
Showing posts with label phillip baldwin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label phillip baldwin. Show all posts
Friday, 20 May 2011
Tuesday, 17 May 2011
I decided to “write a story” purely off lyrics I've loved in random songs. It’s not meant to be amazing, but it’s pleasant no? Also, I left the names of the songs and artists at the bottom. Enjoy.
“Some people think they’re always right, others are quiet and uptight; given a chance, I’m gonna be somebody. Woke up cold one Tuesday, i’m looking tired and feeling quite sick. Went out on the street today, the Canadian dream is as far as it’s ever been. You don’t have to put up a fight, you don’t always have to be right. Young and full of running; tell me where has that taken me? I’ve got too much on my plate, don’t have no time to be a decent lover. I hope it isn’t too late, searching for the time that has gone so fast, the time that I thought would last. Looking for something i’ve never seen. Alone and i’m in between the place that i’m from and the place that i’m in. A city i’ve never been, I found a friend or should I say a foe. I didn’t mean to take up all your sweet time. I’ll give it right back to you one of these days. Half my life is in books’ written pages. Lived and learned from fools and from sages. You know it’s true, all the things come back to you. The more of this or less of this is there any difference or are we just holding onto the things we don’t have anymore? These are the seasons of emotion and like winds they rise and fall, upon us a little rain must fall.”
I used the following songs:
Some people think they’re always right, others are quiet and uptight – You only live once, the strokes
Given a chance i’m gonna be somebody – Use somebody, Kings of Leon
Woke up cold one Tuesday, i’m looking tired and feeling quite sick. – New shoes, Paolo Nutini
Went out on the street today, the Canadian dream is as far as it’s ever been – The Canadian dream, Sam Roberts
You don’t have to put up a fight, you don’t always have to be right – Sometimes you can’t make it on your own U2
Young and full of running; tell me where has that taken me? – Edge of desire, John Mayer
I’ve got too much on my plate, don’t have no time to be a decent lover. I hope it isn’t too late, searching for the time that has gone so fast, the time that I thought would last. – Ever present past, Paul Mccartney
Looking for something i’ve never seen. Alone and i’m in between the place that i’m from and the place that i’m in. A city i’ve never been, I found a friend or should I say a foe – trust me, the Fray
I didn’t mean to take up all your sweet time. I’ll give it right back to you one of these days. – Voodoo child, Jimi Hendrix
Half my life is in books’ written pages. Lived and learned from fools and from sages. You know it’s true, all the things come back to you – Dream on, Aerosmith
The more of this or less of this is there any difference or are we just holding onto the things we don’t have anymore – If I had eyes, Jack Johnson
These are the seasons of emotion and like winds they rise and fall, upon us a little rain must fall. – The rain song, Led Zeppelin
“Some people think they’re always right, others are quiet and uptight; given a chance, I’m gonna be somebody. Woke up cold one Tuesday, i’m looking tired and feeling quite sick. Went out on the street today, the Canadian dream is as far as it’s ever been. You don’t have to put up a fight, you don’t always have to be right. Young and full of running; tell me where has that taken me? I’ve got too much on my plate, don’t have no time to be a decent lover. I hope it isn’t too late, searching for the time that has gone so fast, the time that I thought would last. Looking for something i’ve never seen. Alone and i’m in between the place that i’m from and the place that i’m in. A city i’ve never been, I found a friend or should I say a foe. I didn’t mean to take up all your sweet time. I’ll give it right back to you one of these days. Half my life is in books’ written pages. Lived and learned from fools and from sages. You know it’s true, all the things come back to you. The more of this or less of this is there any difference or are we just holding onto the things we don’t have anymore? These are the seasons of emotion and like winds they rise and fall, upon us a little rain must fall.”
I used the following songs:
Some people think they’re always right, others are quiet and uptight – You only live once, the strokes
Given a chance i’m gonna be somebody – Use somebody, Kings of Leon
Woke up cold one Tuesday, i’m looking tired and feeling quite sick. – New shoes, Paolo Nutini
Went out on the street today, the Canadian dream is as far as it’s ever been – The Canadian dream, Sam Roberts
You don’t have to put up a fight, you don’t always have to be right – Sometimes you can’t make it on your own U2
Young and full of running; tell me where has that taken me? – Edge of desire, John Mayer
I’ve got too much on my plate, don’t have no time to be a decent lover. I hope it isn’t too late, searching for the time that has gone so fast, the time that I thought would last. – Ever present past, Paul Mccartney
Looking for something i’ve never seen. Alone and i’m in between the place that i’m from and the place that i’m in. A city i’ve never been, I found a friend or should I say a foe – trust me, the Fray
I didn’t mean to take up all your sweet time. I’ll give it right back to you one of these days. – Voodoo child, Jimi Hendrix
Half my life is in books’ written pages. Lived and learned from fools and from sages. You know it’s true, all the things come back to you – Dream on, Aerosmith
The more of this or less of this is there any difference or are we just holding onto the things we don’t have anymore – If I had eyes, Jack Johnson
These are the seasons of emotion and like winds they rise and fall, upon us a little rain must fall. – The rain song, Led Zeppelin
It was an image that conveyed the human cost of the Pakistani floods – and the failure to deliver aid to those affected – more powerfully than any statistic: four young children lying on a filthy patchwork quilt, one of them sucking on an empty yellow bottle, all of them covered by flies.
The photograph by Associated Press’s Mohammad Sajjad went around the world and featured in the Guardian’s Eyewitness slot last week. The Guardian identified the child with the bottle as two-year-old Reza Khan and tracked him down to a makeshift camp at a roadside in Azakhel, some 19 miles from Peshawar, the capital of the insurgency-plagued province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, bordering Afghanistan.
The camp is a hotchpotch of about two dozen tents donated by various aid organisations, but it is run by none. Its residents must fend for themselves, and rely on the charity of passersby. There are 19 families here, all of them Afghan refugees: people who were displaced once by conflict in their homeland have now been displaced again by the month-long deluge.
Reza’s family is from Butkhak, near the Afghan capital, Kabul. His father fled the area as a young boy, some 30 years ago, to escape the cycle of foreign occupation and internecine battles plaguing his homeland.
When we found him, Reza was in a tent with his mother, Fatima, who, like most Afghans, has only one name, and six of his seven siblings, all huddled on a blue blanket extended over the muddy floor. He was still clutching the same bottle. It was still empty.
Fatima tried to calm the boy, who cries in a constant, low whimper, as well as his twin brother, Mahmoud. She covered three of her other children – she has eight, all under the age of nine – with a dirty mosquito net somebody in a passing car gave her, but it has several gaping holes. Her eldest child, a nine-year-old girl called Sayma, is mute and seems dissociated from her surroundings. Her green eyes stare blankly ahead, seemingly oblivious to her brothers’ wails. Flies carpet the few blankets arranged on the floor, and swarm all over the children. There is precious little in the tent – one cooking pot, a few cushions and two or three items of children’s clothing. The stench of human and animal waste is overwhelming in the hot, humid air. There is no sanitation, just shallow, open ditches of raw sewage that attract flies and mosquitoes.
“They have had nothing to eat today. I have no food,” Fatima says as she tries to swat the flies away from her children with a bamboo fan. “He’s crying with hunger,” she says, pointing to Reza. “It’s been a month since he had any milk.”
There are several ways you can help. First off, the easiest is to text SWAT to 50555 which is a donation of $10 to the UNHCR’s fund for Pakistan. My personal favorite organization is the Edhi Foundation- 92 cents of a dollar go to the people while 8 cents are for overhead and administrative expenses. You can check at the Embassy of Pakistan in the USA’s websites for items that are desperately needed. Donate at your local community service group or house of worship that may be collecting items or try to organize something. The PIA (Pakistan International Airlines) are shipping items for free. Try items like medical supplies such as band-aids, alcohol swabs, hydrogen peroxide, tablets for diarrhea, etc. They really need you. Please help.
Article courtesy: Dawn news paper, Pakistan.
Vocab
I learned three new exciting words today.
1. Lugubriously:
mournful, dismal, or gloomy,
especially in an affected,exaggerated, or unrelieved manner
2. Expostulate:
Express strong disapproval or disagreement.
3. Animalcule:
Sonia: “a microscopic or minute animal”
4. Cockchafer (The not so exciting yet funny sounding one)
a large European beetle (Melolontha melolontha) destructive to vegetation as an adult and to roots as a larva
1. Lugubriously:
mournful, dismal, or gloomy,
especially in an affected,exaggerated, or unrelieved manner
2. Expostulate:
Express strong disapproval or disagreement.
3. Animalcule:
Sonia: “a microscopic or minute animal”
4. Cockchafer (The not so exciting yet funny sounding one)
a large European beetle (Melolontha melolontha) destructive to vegetation as an adult and to roots as a larva
Books
I have a couple of books on my summer reading list (ending in August)
1. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
2. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
I started The Brothers Karamazov back in July 2010 after I finished Crime and Punishment, but then school got in the way and it hasn’t progressed since then. Just lying there.
I watched the Les Mis play with my World Literature students sometime last year (or maybe two years ago?) and have just felt like I should read the novel. Both are quite thick if you are familiar with them. Let’s see if I can do it.
In the mean time, today I am going to start reading this famous Indian novel called Umrao Jan Ada by Mirza Muhammad Hadi Rusva (David Matthews translation). Book 2 of Rick Riordan’s The Kane Chronicles came out on Tuesday, so that’s there for me once my little brother is done with it (since he gets dibs). Also, book 5 in Michael Scott’s The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel is coming out in a couple of Tuesday’s so I AM SO PSYCHED about that. The Warlock it’s called.
I’ve also started The Shadow of the Wind, but that hasn’t progressed further than the first chapter so far.
1. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
2. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
I started The Brothers Karamazov back in July 2010 after I finished Crime and Punishment, but then school got in the way and it hasn’t progressed since then. Just lying there.
I watched the Les Mis play with my World Literature students sometime last year (or maybe two years ago?) and have just felt like I should read the novel. Both are quite thick if you are familiar with them. Let’s see if I can do it.
In the mean time, today I am going to start reading this famous Indian novel called Umrao Jan Ada by Mirza Muhammad Hadi Rusva (David Matthews translation). Book 2 of Rick Riordan’s The Kane Chronicles came out on Tuesday, so that’s there for me once my little brother is done with it (since he gets dibs). Also, book 5 in Michael Scott’s The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel is coming out in a couple of Tuesday’s so I AM SO PSYCHED about that. The Warlock it’s called.
I’ve also started The Shadow of the Wind, but that hasn’t progressed further than the first chapter so far.
"If you look out of the window as a human being, at nature, all of nature is unconditionally and absolutely beautiful. Whatever it is. Whether it’s a jungle, a desert, the arctic waste, or your own backyard, the only ugly things you will ever see are things made by man. And if, from your earliest age looking at the world you see yourself as a member of a species that can only uglify and spoil the world, it gives what psychiatrists would call a deep sense of guilt. And guilt, as anyone knows, is the major cause of aggression. That’s why you get violent. Because you’re guilty. You feel worthless. And you feel worthless if you don’t believe you’re part of a species that is actually capable of creating beauty. Which we are. In terms of architecture, music, painting, and all kinds of things, beauty is possible. And is good."
The ever-brilliant Stephen Fry on why art and design are key elements of peace.
House
I don’t usually post stuff on here that’s too complicated. I like to keep what I think to myself usually. But stuff has happened that’s forcing me to reflect more than I usually do. This is a good thing.
I don’t really understand the concept of moving out of your parents’ house. I used to think that it was a logical step, with the whole bit about asserting your independence. But now that i’ve matured a little (debatable) I’ve come to think that it’s a pretty ridiculous idea. My parents, like many others sacrificed a very large portion of their life to make sure that I was happy in every conceivable way.
Leaving them seems like a form of betrayal. I’ve had this conversation with my friends and a lot of them see living with their parents as a burden when they’re older. How is that a burden in any possible way? If anything I feel privileged that i’ll have the opportunity to serve my parents in their old age. That will genuinely make me happy. Not only is it a privilege, but it’s a responsibility that I will gladly take. When I was born into my family, I took on the responsibility of being a son. This isn’t just a label that you’re born with. It’s something you earn. A son has the responsibility of maintaining respect for your parents, learning from and with your parents, understanding your parents, and preparing for eventual servitude of your parents.
And since when did asserting your independence mean you had to “move out”? Affirmation of independence isn’t achieved through the process of moving out, it’s achieved by reaching a state of mind where you no longer depend on your parents to make every decision in your life. If you can take care of yourself, whoever you’re with, your children AND your parents, then you’ve effectively affirmed your independence.
A lot of people complain that you don’t necessarily have the same level of privacy if you’re living with your parents as opposed to living on your own. I’m sorry, but my parents never complained when I crapped my pants and they had to clean it, when they moved through 3 countries when they were looking out for me, cook meals for me every single day without missing a beat, making sure I had the best education, paying for my education, counseling me through my relatively insignificant problems, adoring me, and basically making me the focus of their life. If you can’t handle losing a bit of privacy to care for someone who’s devoted so much of their life to you, then you don’t deserve them. The meaning of life is to make a difference in somebody else’s life. That includes your parents.
If you haven’t met my mom. She is cute as hell.
I don’t really understand the concept of moving out of your parents’ house. I used to think that it was a logical step, with the whole bit about asserting your independence. But now that i’ve matured a little (debatable) I’ve come to think that it’s a pretty ridiculous idea. My parents, like many others sacrificed a very large portion of their life to make sure that I was happy in every conceivable way.
Leaving them seems like a form of betrayal. I’ve had this conversation with my friends and a lot of them see living with their parents as a burden when they’re older. How is that a burden in any possible way? If anything I feel privileged that i’ll have the opportunity to serve my parents in their old age. That will genuinely make me happy. Not only is it a privilege, but it’s a responsibility that I will gladly take. When I was born into my family, I took on the responsibility of being a son. This isn’t just a label that you’re born with. It’s something you earn. A son has the responsibility of maintaining respect for your parents, learning from and with your parents, understanding your parents, and preparing for eventual servitude of your parents.
And since when did asserting your independence mean you had to “move out”? Affirmation of independence isn’t achieved through the process of moving out, it’s achieved by reaching a state of mind where you no longer depend on your parents to make every decision in your life. If you can take care of yourself, whoever you’re with, your children AND your parents, then you’ve effectively affirmed your independence.
A lot of people complain that you don’t necessarily have the same level of privacy if you’re living with your parents as opposed to living on your own. I’m sorry, but my parents never complained when I crapped my pants and they had to clean it, when they moved through 3 countries when they were looking out for me, cook meals for me every single day without missing a beat, making sure I had the best education, paying for my education, counseling me through my relatively insignificant problems, adoring me, and basically making me the focus of their life. If you can’t handle losing a bit of privacy to care for someone who’s devoted so much of their life to you, then you don’t deserve them. The meaning of life is to make a difference in somebody else’s life. That includes your parents.
If you haven’t met my mom. She is cute as hell.
Illusion and Reality
What is seen is not the Truth
What is cannot be said
Trust comes not without seeing
Nor understanding without words
The wise comprehends with knowledge
To the ignorant it is but a wonder
Some worship the formless God
Some worship His various forms
In what way He is beyond these attributes
Only the Knower knows
That music cannot be written
How can then be the notes
Says Kabir, awareness alone will overcome illusion
- Kabir
Amar
Meet Amar. He’s 14 and at the top of his class. Someday he’d like to be a professional cricketer, but for now he’s the family’s main breadwinner, working two jobs six and a half days a week on top of attending school in the afternoons. This short observational documentary is a simple journey with Amar through his daily life.
He’s inspirational. You can’t complain about not having enough time.
He’s inspirational. You can’t complain about not having enough time.
Difference between Hindi and Urdu
Basic Urdu/Hindi sound very alike, I completely agree, but there are many words in Hindi that don’t exist in Urdu, and vice versa. Take this simple phrase for an example: “Chinta mat karo” (Hindi = don’t worry), meanwhile in Urdu: “Fikar mat karo.” Same meaning, and the “mat karo” remains the same, while the verb changes.
Hindi derives from Sanskrit, while Urdu derives from Farsi (Persian), and Arabic mostly (although my professor mentioned once that Urdu also derives from Sanskrit..
Really difficult Urdu is often confused with Farsi because the words are similar, if not the same. If you read poets who wrote in Urdu, you can see what I mean.
There are also written differences, of course. Urdu uses the Arabic alphabet, shared with Farsi (alif bay pay, etc.) Urdu alphabet
While Hindi uses the Devangari script from Sanskrit (at least that’s what I can remember from this class I took… maybe I’m spelling Devangari wrong, or mixing up the word completely, I am not sure). This is probably the biggest difference between the two languages that I am aware of.
I speak Urdu, not Hindi, but I could easily converse with someone who spoke Hindi because I’d be able to understand what they were saying. And same would go for them.
If I watch Urdu news however, I can hardly follow what’s going on because the Urdu they speak is at a level that I can’t comprehend. So if a Hindi speaker encountered this, they wouldn’t understand it either. Same with Hindi, if I were to watch Hindi news I’d have no idea what’s going on. Official news channels generally prescribe to the proper form of the language so maybe this is where another difference can be seen.
I think Bollywood movies are usually in Hindi (correct me if I’m wrong), while the songs are in Urdu I think (depending on who wrote the song, because the script writers and song writers are usually different people from different backgrounds)?
It’s important to remember though that since both languages are spoken on the same subcontinent, they have both borrowed words from each other which have naturalized into each respective language. Spoken Urdu and Hindi (especially Hindi and Urdu spoken by the layman) are often difficult to distinguish I’ve found.
Urdu is the contested “official” language of Pakistan, and Hindi is generally viewed as India’s official language, but I don’t think it is. One of my other professors once said India has no official language… this can’t be though? They must have SOMETHING.
Well, it’s hard to teach wit - but all of us can learn the next best thing: the approximation of it by obfuscation, i.e. using big, difficult, and obscure words.
So, to do our part in improving the quality of insults on teh Interweb, Neatorama has come up with a list of 10 Insulting Words You Should Know:
So, to do our part in improving the quality of insults on teh Interweb, Neatorama has come up with a list of 10 Insulting Words You Should Know:
1. FRENCHIFY (v)
Definition: 1) To make French in quality or trait 2) To make somewhat effeminate, and 3) To contract a veneral disease (a 19th century slang).
Analysis: We have the English to thank for this word. Most people implicitly understand that it means to become more like the French, but not a lot know the second or the third meaning. We’re still not sure which is more insulting.
2. BESCUMBER (v)
Definition: To spray with poo.
Analysis: Actually bescumber is just one of many words in the English language that basically mean “to spray with poo”. These are: BEDUNG, BERAY, IMMERD, SHARNY, and the good ol’ SHITTEN. In special cases, you can use BEMUTE (specifically means to drop poo on someone from great height), SHARD-BORN (born in dung), and FIMICOLOUS (living and growing on crap).
Alternative: If that is too vulgar, you can use BEVOMIT and BEPISS, which meanings should be obvious to you, as well as BESPAWL (to spit on).
Oh, and if you want to say poo without looking like you’re saying it, you can use ORDURE, DEJECTION, and EXCRETA. To mean something more specific, you can use MECONIUM (first feces of a newborn child), MELAENA or MELENA (the abnormally tarry feces containing blood from gastrointestinal bleeding), LIENTERY (diarrhea with undigested or partially digested food), and STEATORRHEA (fatty stool that’s hard to flush down).
Here are some words along the same line that may one day prove to be useful for you: TURDIFY (turn into turd), COPROPHAGIA (eating of feces [wiki]), and COPROPHILIA (Think 2 Girls 1 Cup [wiki - don’t worry, SWF], if you don’t know what this is, I shan’t corrupt you any further).
Let’s end entry number two with these two amazing words COPREMESIS and MISERERE, both of which mean fecal vomiting. Yes, fecal vomiting. It’s a medical emergency caused by the obstruction of the bowel (source).
3. MICROPHALLUS (n)
Definition: An unusually small penis.
Analysis: Self explanatory.
Alternative: Insulting a man’s private part is a very reliable way to put him down (if he’s smaller than you) or to get beat up (if he’s larger than you). Usually, even a dimwit can decipher the meaning of this word, after all, it’s just a combination of “micro” and “phallus”.
So, to insult a physically larger opponent, we recommend you use these words instead: PHALLOCRYPSIS (retraction or shrinkage of the penis), CRYPTORCHID (undescendend testicles), and PHALLONCUS (tumor of the penis).
4. COCCYDYNIA (n)
Definition: Pain in the butt.
Analysis: It’s a real medical term: coccydynia is pain in the coccyx or tailbone. Most people simply call it “buttache.”
Similar: PROCTALGIA, PROCTODYNIA, PYGALGIA and RECTALGIA all mean pain in the butt.
Alternative: CERVICALGIA (pain in the neck), PHALLODYNIA or PHALLALGIA (both mean pain in the penis), and PUDENDAGRA (pain in the genitals).
The word “butt” is highly versatile in its vernacular use - you can say “butt face” or “hairy butt” - dem are fightin’ words - but it’s much better to use these instead: ANKYLOPROCTIA (stricture of the anus, the state of “tight-assity”), STEATOPYGOUS (fat-assed), DASYPYGAL (having hairy buttocks), and CACOPYGIAN (having ugly buttocks).
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5. NINNYHAMMER (n)
Definition: A fool or a silly person.
Analysis: The word “fool,” unless you’re Mr. T, is sometimes woefully inadequate to express the stupidity of the person you’re talking about. So use Ninnyhammer. Or at least NINNY.
Alternative: The English language is chockful of colorful words meaning stupid person, such as: DUMMKOPF, IGNORAMUS, JOBBERNOWL, GOWK, and WITLING.
For mental retardation, eschew the ubiquitous ‘tard - rather, use AMENTIA (extreme mental retardation because of inadequate brain tissue), CRETINISM (mental retardation associated with dwarfism, caused by the deficiency of a thyroid hormone, a person with cretinism is a CRETIN), and MORONITY (used to mean mild retardation of having a mental age of 7 to 12 years, now it’s an obsolete term though we still use the word moron).
6. BUNCOMBE (n)
Definition: A ludicrously false statement. Basically it means bullshit or nonsense.
Analysis: Actually, you probably already know this word by its more common spelling: bunkum.
The origin of this word is fascinating. In 1819, a North Carolina congressman, the Honorable Felix Walker, was giving a rambling speech with little relevance to the current debate. He refused to yield the floor, and claimed that he wasn’t speaking for Congress but instead “for Buncombe” (a county in North Carolina he represented). That’s all it took.
Over time, the spelling changed to “bunkum,” and the meaning strangely changed to be “excellent.” Then it changed back in 1870, when a San Francisco gambler introduced a new game “banco” played with dice that were later found out to be loaded. Sure enough, BUNCO became known to mean swindle or cheat, and bunkum reverted back to its original meaning. (Source)
The word DEBUNK came directly from this: it’s just bunk(um) with the prefix de-(meaning to remove).
7. HIRCISMUS (n)
Definition: Offensive armpit odor.
Analysis: Hircismus comes from the root word “hircus” which means goat in Latin. Someone must have thought smelly pits smelled like goats. Actually, this word combines two sources of great insult potential: smelly and armpits. Why this is not used more often in the discourse of hateful communication is beyond me.
Alternative: As we’ve mentioned, armpit is an untapped goldmine for insults. Here are some examples of words you can use: MASCHALEPHIDROSIS or MASCHALYPERIDROSIS (excessive sweating of the armpits). MASCHALOPHILOUS (sexual attraction to the underarms) and AXILLISM (the use of armpit for sex).
Smelling like goats is also a good source of insults (especially since goat is also a slang for a lecherous man). Try CAPRYLIC and HIRCINE (smelling like a pungent goat), and CAPRIC (resembling a goat).
8. CORPULENT (adj)
Definition: Very fat.
Analysis: Good ol’ fat is a reliable insult word. After all, nowadays, no one like a fatty … except Mauritanian men. That’s right: in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, fat and Rubenesque women are sexy and desirable. So much so, that instead of the crash diet of the West, they have a similar but opposite program: crash feeding or “gavage,” where girls as young as 5 years old are force-fed milk, cream, butter, couscous and other calorie-rich food:
Girls as young as 5 and as old as 19 had to drink up to five gallons of fat-rich camel’s or cow’s milk daily, aiming for silvery stretch marks on their upper arms. If a girl refused or vomited, the village weight-gain specialist might squeeze her foot between sticks, pull her ear, pinch her inner thigh, bend her finger backward or force her to drink her own vomit. In extreme cases, girls died. (Source)
Interestingly, the ideal man is skinny (Mauritanians view portly men as womanish and lazy).
Alternative: ABDOMINOUS (potbellied), STEATOPYGOUS (fat-assed), and FUSSOCK (a very fat woman).
9. FEIST or FICE (n)
Definition: 1) A small dog of uncertain ancestry, a mongrel. 2) A person of little worth or someone with a bad temper, and 3) Silent fart.
Analysis: You actually already know this word: feist is used throughout the Midland and Southern United States to mean a snappy, nervous and belligerent little dog. The adjective feisty which means “full of spirit or spunky,” comes from this word. But that’s not why it’s on this list (hint: #3!)
What you may not know is the true origin of the word. Feist comes from the Middle English fisten, which means to break wind (fist originally also meant flatus or fart). Feist is a special type of fart: the silent (and often deadly) type. Oh, and the word “fart” itself comes from another Middle English word farten or ferten,which in turn is from the Old English feortan.
Feist is the type of word that, if introduced to young adolescents, no doubt would spark a lifelong interest in learning new words.
Alternative: Fart is another one of those goldmines of insults. To obfuscate what you really mean, use instead: FLATUOSITY (fart). Other gems: EPROCTOLAGNIAC (someone aroused by flatulence, his own or someone else’s), CARMINATIVE (something that makes you fart), and BDOLOTIC (prone to farting).
10. CACAFUEGO (n)
Definition: A swaggering braggart or boaster.
Analysis: Cacafuego literally means “shit fire” in Spanish. Anyone who boasts their new knowledge of insulting words from this article can be called a cacafuego.
That’s not the only interesting thing about it:
Cacafuego is also the nickname of a 16th century Spanish galleon captured by Sir Francis Drake (El Draque or The Dragon as he was known to his Spanish victims). The ship’s original name was Nuestra Señora de la Concepción(Our Lady of Conception), but for some reason it’s called by her sailors as “cagafuego” (fireshitter) or “cacafuego” (shitfire).
It was Drake’s biggest plunder: it took his crew four days to transfer the cargo from the Cacafuego. In all, Drake got 80 pounds of gold, 26 tons of silver, 13 cases of silver coins, jewels, and more.
Synonym: BLATHERSKITE, BRAGGADOCIO, FANFARON, GASCONADER, and RODOMONTADE (English is full of this kind of word, though I think caca “shit fire” fuego is in a class of its own!)
The Seven Blunders of the World is a list that M.K.Gandhi gave to his grandson written on a piece of paper, on their final day together, shortly before his assassination. The seven blunders are:
* Wealth without work
* Pleasure without conscience
* Knowledge without character
* Commerce without morality
* Science without humanity
* Worship without sacrifice
* Politics without principle
* Wealth without work
* Pleasure without conscience
* Knowledge without character
* Commerce without morality
* Science without humanity
* Worship without sacrifice
* Politics without principle
I found this image rather interesting. Even though, it sometimes bug me that everything can now be accessed on internet and the use of paper media has almost disappeared in our daily lives, I never thought of really losing the heritage that paper media has blessed us with.
I do also agree, that most of the literature and other readable material should be printed on paper and promoted to study in that form too. Being able to sit away from the social web that the internet has weaved all around us, it is essential to get some time away from it all and just enjoy a good read.
It gives one time to reevaluate their aesthetic sense, it gives them an opportunity to grow while reading an interesting article. I personally feel that when I read something on a piece of paper, I tend to remember it more than something I come across on the internet. Maybe it is just my way of learning, and maybe I am just affected by it personally, but still not having print media around in excess is an alarming situation that we must address before it is too late.
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