That was today's phrase of the day. Of course Ben picked it up from Kari. His English has been steadily improving since he arrived here, but lately his progress seems to have shifted into high gear.

When we were in China, he hardly learned any English beyond a very few basics. I actually had picked up more Chinese during those two weeks. Once we arrived in the US, the shoe was on the other foot of course, and Ben began to rapidly build his English vocabulary. He quickly learned the name of everyone in the house, picked up his ABCs, and figured out the names of some of his favorite foods all within the first few days.,

But still, were were speaking like cavemen for the first couple of weeks. By his third week here, Ben was beginning to string together phrases ("Baba drives the car," "Sam and Buddy go 'arf'"), but still pretty basic. After a month or so he was using his American name almost exclusively and his pronunciation was beginning to improve.¹

During the past couple of weeks (perhaps this can be attributed to the beginning of his preschool attendance) he seems to be picking up something new everyday. Last week he began telling us all of the things he likes, food, toys, tv shows, whatever; "I like this one!" he'll say. He'll turn your words around on you, too. Lately he's been telling us, "Don't yell at me."

Big and small, long and short, loud and quiet, fast and slow have all been getting a lot of play as well. If you ask him, he'll tell you how Sam's tail moves fast, while Buddy's tail moves sloooow.

Posted by ksmoker at 11:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Over at Cup O' Books I saw mention of Michael Saffran's Speaking Out article on blog writing and, well, Seth was much more polite than I'm going to be.

Mr. Saffran notes that many bloggers don't pay particularly close attention to the quality of their writing. Gracious me and mine! Call the grammar police! Run-on sentences and dangling participles are running amok on the internets!

Now. To be fair, he does have a point, but it is a mind-numbingly obvious point. If you care to have your writing taken seriously, then put some effort into writing well. Okay, fair enough. So but in addition, Mr Saffran has taken pains to coin a new term for blogging that fits his criteria for quality writing: "wrogging" (as if "blogging" wasn't bad enough).¹

He claims to be "perplexed when some blogging is equated with writing." I don't know, I read blogs and I see all these letters grouped into words which are, you know, strung together to form things that look like sentences that express the ideas and thoughts of the author. It looks pretty much like writing to me. Thing is, you can take his article and substitute "emails," "letters," "interdepartmental memos," or even "newspaper essays" where he has used "blogs" and the point is equally valid. Good writing is good writing. Bad writing is bad writing.

I don't know which bugs me more: that the D&C wasted ink and paper printing such claptrap or that I have wasted the past 15 minutes (and consequently, your precious time, provided that you've read this far) responding to it.

For once, I'm glad I didn't bother to proofread...

Posted by ksmoker at 7:37 PM | Permalink

struggling against sleep
words blurred by heavy eyelids
haiku almost...

Posted by ksmoker at 12:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So I've been digging the back and forth (and back and forth) between The Bad Plus and Darcy James Argue re: Miles Davis' recent induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Wanting to understand more, I went ahead and began my investigation with this, his first exploration of jazz-rock fusion.

In the past, I've been one to naively pooh-pooh Davis' departure from "pure" acoustic jazz. Now, after listening to this and reminding myself that it was recorded in 1969, I am simply blown away.

Posted by ksmoker at 10:57 PM | Permalink

Hey, have we mentioned that Ben likes to eat? Of course he does. He'll try almost anything. Spicy food of any kind is right out, but eggs, cereal, fruits, most meats (including fish), some vegetables (yes, that's spinach he's eating with Kari), and ice cream. All of the major food groups. His "comfort" food of choice seems to be noodles (pasta, rice noodles, chicken noodle soup, etc.). While rice is the staple of Southern China, noodles are big in the North where he's from.

 

And oh yeah, he flipped out the day last week that some kid showed up at our front door with a cardboard box containing a pizza. He loves pizza. Since that magical day, he's been playing "pizza guy," a game where he knocks on the door and hands you an invisible pizza in exchange for real money (a nickel or so usually works).

See? In addition to our language and culture, he's picking up the whole capitalism thing, too.

Posted by ksmoker at 10:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Some serious sampling going on here: Brazilian rhythms, bop-era bass licks, de-tuned marimbas, driving swing beats, etc., etc. Released eight years ago, Tobin's meticulous craftsmanship still sounds fresh today.

Posted by ksmoker at 9:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ben and I spent a fun couple of hours this afternoon, having accepted Benjamin Sneider's gracious invitation to his birthday party which was held at the Rochester Museum & Science Center.

Ben had a great time, but at one point I was a little worried about how well he was able to connect with the other 4-yr-olds in attendance. Then I noticed that most of the other kids were also playing in their own little worlds. Must be a 4-yr-old thing, I guess. And Ben had no problem chiming in with the Happy Birthday song, although it beats me where he learned how to sing it. The only disappointment from the afternoon was that I forgot to bring my camera.

So then, we returned home and watched Animal Planet for a little while in order to unwind before bedtime. I was checking out basketball scores online, so I didn't really pay attention to what Ben was watching. At one point I realized that it was one of the "Animal Cops" shows and that they were showing an ASPCA crew removing a dozen-odd cats from an elderly person's residence. After watching the tearful cat owner describe how well she had learned her lesson w/r/t spaying and neutering, I turned to Ben and saw tears in his eyes.

I explained to him how the lady was sad that her cats were going bye-bye and then soon I was able to show him the happy cats that were playing with their new owners. I have no idea how much he understood, but it's clear that he was empathizing with the old lady. His face is so expressive. I've seen just about every other emotion in it. I think this is the first time I've seen this kind of sadness. It almost broke my heart.

Posted by ksmoker at 9:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

So just who reads the fretful porpentine and smokerblog, you ask? Per my server stats, here are some of the things people are looking for:

"funny cow"

"funny cow pictures"

I just love the cover art of John Adam's Gnarly Buttons.

"poems about pond hockey"

I need to do more like this.

"baseball stirrup socks"

"fashion baseball socks"

"baseball socks horizontal stripes"

"stirrup socks"

Apparently, others are just as obsessed by this phenomenon as I am.

"how do you get a boogy in your butt"

I have no idea, except for, you know, try listening to some P-Funk.

"water polo women tearing suits"

"gymnastic wedgies"

I get a lot of hits from people looking for this kind of thing. They must end up pretty disappointed.

"buh dum dum dum"

Beethoven's 5th? Dragnet? Oh yeah, Cannonball.

"what the name ben beebee mean"

?

"groping tips"

Dude, I so have no advice for you.

Posted by ksmoker at 7:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

In light of the previous post, one might wonder whether Gerry McNamara is on the take.

Or, more in line with Wolfers' thesis, anyone from Duke would look suspicious right now.

Sympathies to all you Orange fans out there.

Posted by ksmoker at 12:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Now that March Madness is upon us, allow me to suggest some light reading for those tv timeouts and halftime lulls. It's something I heard about this on NPR during the drive home from work tonight: a report by economist Justin Wolfers on the likelihood of point shaving in NCAA basketball.¹

We know that point shaving exists. Wolfers' paper claims to be able to measure the incidence of this practice and suggests that it is much more prevalent than previously thought. The strongest part of his argument lies in his finding that teams tend to just barely miss covering the spread by a much larger margin than those who just barely succeed in covering the spread only when the point spread is set at a high margin (12 points or higher). If point shaving did not occur, you would expect these results to be evenly split (as tends to occur when point spreads are tight).

It's an interesting argument, but it fails to convince me. From what I understand (I'll have to consult a more knowledgeable gambler to know if I've got this right), bookies in Vegas don't care about the actual outcomes of a game. The spread is set so as to induce an equal amount of betting action on either side. Since heavily favored teams also tend to be popular teams, bookies would need to induce more betting action against these teams by artificially inflating the point spread.

For what looks like a more authoritative opinion, the comments to this Freakonomics blog entry contain some interesting analysis of Wolfers' argument.

Posted by ksmoker at 10:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Not that this winter has been all that cold, but this weekend Rochester is getting its first big warm spell in some time. We, however, headed south to some really warm weather and a visit with Kari's parents in North Carolina.

One of the things that amazes us is how quickly Ben learns who his people are. After an intial bashful period, he really warms up to them. This was true with me, Kari, my parents, his cousins, our friends, and now Kari's parents (the smudges on his cheeks below are from somebody's lipstick).

Obviously, he also likes animals of all sizes.

Posted by ksmoker at 4:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The official band lineup for the 2006 Rochester Interational Jazz Festival will not be announced until April 6, but some acts are being revealed ahead of that announcement. The Jazz@Rochester blog's been all over it.

There's one performer, though, that the organizers must have felt that they couldn't keep user wraps, or maybe they are looking to generate some buzz, because they've gone and announced this act ahead of schedule.

Woody Allen and His New Orleans Jazz Band will open the Festival on June 9 at The Eastman Theater with a benefit concert for Hurricane Katrina victims. That's right, when Woody's not soing his slump-shouldered kvetching on the set of his own films, he's playing a mean jazz clarinet down at Café Carlyle. Personally, I'm more interested in seeing the Charlie Hunter Trio that night, but that's just me.

[Looks like Seth's also scooped me on this story. Nothing like being late to the party.]

Posted by ksmoker at 11:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

So we totally missed the Oscars. A little pooped after a long drive home from visiting extended family, we just went to bed and read. I hear that local boy Philip Seymour Hoffman did well. But Jon Stewart, maybe not so much.

So then it seems that I did catch Stewart's prime weekend performance when I watched his interview with Larry King on Saturday night.

It was bizarre. Larry spent most of the time laughing at Jon Stewart's jokes, but kind of in that stiff, I'm-laughing-to-cover-up-my-discomfort kind of way. Stewart meanwhile seemed baffled by King's questions.

Here's where it got really wacky. They'd been discussing potential presidential candidates and King threw out the name of Senator Bill Frist:

STEWART: Let's vote tomorrow. Frist, please! He diagnosed Terri Schiavo as not being in a persistent vegetative state from like five seconds of a videotape. The guys a cardiologist, "Ah, she looks OK." I mean that's the whole thing. This country we can't even get the two political parties to agree on what reality is.

You know the Democrats look at Terri Schiavo and they're like, "Ah, she's been dead for 20 years. Take her water away." The Republicans are like, "Ah, she's a couple of Pilates classes away from, you know, joining the Rockettes," like nobody can agree what reality is. I am so tired of both of these groups.

KING: Both.

STEWART: I cannot tell you.

KING: Then what is left for you, Jon?

STEWART: What is left for me?

KING: If you're tired of both groups?

STEWART: Hosting a basic cable show. That is what is left for me, sitting every day and getting to rub my eyes and make stupid faces on videotape. That is all that is left for me. That is the catharsis that I live for.

KING: So, in a sense you're happy over this.

STEWART: No.

KING: This gives you fodder.

STEWART: Yes, I prefer not the fodder. I'm not -- we're not the guys at the craps table betting against the line. I would -- we'd make fun of something else. If public life, if government suddenly became inspiring and moved towards people's better nature and began to solve problems in a rational way rather than just a way that involved political dividends, we would be the happiest people in the world to turn our attention to idiots like, you know, media people, no offense.

KING: So, you don't want it to be bad?

STEWART: Did you really just ask me if I want it to be bad?

KING: Yes because you...

STEWART: What are you -- I have kids what do you think? Yes, I don't want them to have any kind of a -- I want things to corrode to the point where we're all living in huts.

KING: Not all living in huts but generally comics political comics like things to go a little wrong, don't have to be the end of the world.

STEWART: Like things to go a little wrong like birdshot to the face of a guy that will survive.

KING: That's right.

STEWART: Not like things to go wrong until it's like Mad Max, every man for himself, let's all ride around with machineguns on, which seems to be the way that it's...

KING: You don't want Medicare to fail?

STEWART: Are you insane?

There was a lot of that kind of thing. Including more on Cheney's mistaking his hunting parter for a bird. (Full transcript)

Posted by ksmoker at 12:27 AM | Permalink

after demotion,
radar's consolation prize:
a new face to lick

Posted by ksmoker at 10:01 PM | Permalink

by Richard Rorty

Back in the days when I thought that I wanted to be a history professor, I had a job at the University of Virginia Law Library. One of my duties was to deliver various journals, newspapers, and periodicals to the professors' offices. To perform these duties, I had a passkey. I was drunk with power, I tell you, empowered to snatch 5-week-overdue reference books from professors' desks in semi-regular guerilla raids.

One of the UVA professors whose office I would visit was Richard Rorty (he now holds a position at Stanford). Unfortunately, I don't recall anything about him or his office, but his name stood out as I was vaguely aware that he was some philosophy hot-shot; I often wondered why he was on the law faculty as opposed to the philosophy department faculty.

Well, after reading this book of his essays, I've decided that it's likely that the philosophy department didn't want him anywhere near their students. Rorty is from the Pragmatist school and as such has spent the bulk of his lengthy and prodigious career arguing against the very premises upon which much of traditional philosophy is based. Rorty describes this as "a set of philosophical distinctions (appearance-reality, matter-mind, made-found, sensible-intellectual, etc.): what Dewey called 'a brood and nest of dualisms'."

The classic example of philosophical dualism is Plato's Allegory of the Cave. That is, our perception of the world around us is fuzzy at best, and we can only approximate the "essence" of the things we encounter. It should be every thinking person's goal to understand this hidden, deeper "reality" that exists in the world.

Rorty doesn't exactly say that these hidden truths do not exist. His point is that human beings are inherently incapable of comprehending the essence of things since our very existence depends on interactions with the world around us. Everything has some relation to something else; it is the only way we can make sense of things. So rather than say his opponents are wrong, he simply says that they are thinking in the wrong terms. In other words, Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, and Kant are simply no longer relevant.

Instead of searching for a hidden truth, Rorty focusses on how to improve human interactions in order to create a better society. This of course is the source of the "pragmatist" label. This is also where the title of this book figures in. Rorty sees much to be hopeful for in the slow evolution of our societal values. This trend is not inevitable, though. He warns of potential obstacles to continued improvement and advocates for vigilance in maintaining human freedoms. This book was published in 1999 and, clearly, he now has some serious doubts about the direction our society is heading today.

I'm about 2/3 of the way through the book right now. It's the kind of book that, as I read, I find myself nodding in agreement. Rorty inhabits a space equally annoying to the political right and academic left that seems very comfortable to me. I'm secretly hoping to find within this book's pages an answer to the semi-troubling question Mike posed a while ago.

Posted by ksmoker at 8:33 PM | Permalink

I picked this up at the local Barnes & Noble a while back. This recording isn't all that flashy and I'm not blown away as sometimes happens with other Glass works, but it is certainly phillip-glassy enough for my tastes and, hey, for $5, I've got no complaints. I'm thinking that the Naxos label has got a great thing going here.

Posted by ksmoker at 10:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)