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You say Tlingit, I say Hlingit

msalt — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:36:17 GMT

After years of work, New Zealand scholar Sally-Ann Lambert just released volume 2 of her 9-volume linguistics series. "Hlingit Word Encyclopedia: The Origin of Copper" is a 630-page encyclopedia of the SE Alaskan native language Tlingit. She traveled to Sitka for a mid-January book release and found one little problem: none of the Tlingit native speakers or scholars there recognized the language in it.

Lambert published the encyclopedia through her imprint WE International, "the innovator in indigenous language resources." Their web page says:

For the Hlingit language learner, the book offers a much easier way to learn the grammar. Observe the grammar in the story, see the breakdown of complex word parts made clear and sensible according to a native perspective. I am an outsider, but I have the wisdom to know this. Partly because I'm coming at it from a more ancient viewpoint than anyone else. That's my mode of operation.

Lambert told KCAW radio: "I think often I'm led spiritually, and I don't make my decisions with the full knowledge of the situation. ... To some degree I think I was trying to bring my mother and father back together through my Celtic heritage. My father had a little French, and my mother had a little Scottish. And I thought that when they lost their culture, they lost their reason for being together. And I think that deep in my heart I was looking for that family togetherness, and I wanted to find that through language."

Virtual Medieval Europe, a journey back in time through text and illustrations

filthy light thief — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:02:17 GMT

If you'd like to know a bit about medieval life in Europe, History on the Net has some information on life in medieval times, prepared as educational summaries for students. If you'd like to know more, Medieval Life And Times has a broader scope, and the surface links often have a number of subsequent links to even more information on sub-topics. If you want even more specifics, here is a list of medieval occupations, some information on buying, selling and bartering in medieval times, and a history of horses in Europe.

The occupations and bartering links are part of the Economics section of The Magic Jar project, "a magical item which gives glimpses of some other world." The site was put together as a part of The Crystal Obelisk project, a "virtual roleplaying soapbox" for hosting a variety of things for roleplaying games, like Don't Eat Them - A Guidebook to Companion and Work Animals (in which you can find the history of horses in Europe).

The list of occupations came from various sources, including this alphabetical list of occupations (Archive.org view of a now-dead site), that has apparently become part of Geneaology Knowledgebase, though the Old Occupations list doesn't show up for me.

History on the Net is a pretty broad site, too, and has been seen on the blue twice before, once on a post about various types of homes, and then on the marriages and reformation of Henry VIII.

I shot myself at 15 p.s.i. just to make sure.

hot_monster — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:28:58 GMT

President Obama fires a marshmallow gun built by an 8th grader.[SLYT]

The President meets Joey from Phoenix, AZ at the White House Science Fair. The two launch a marshmallow across the State Dining Room of the White House with Joey's science project - an air cannon.

Face the thing that should not be

Hickeystudio — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:22:55 GMT

In the coldest spot on the earth's coldest continent, Russian scientists have reached a freshwater lake the size of Lake Ontario after spending a decade drilling through more than two miles of solid ice. Maybe the mountains of madness are underground. Lovecraft would loved to have seen this.

Program or be Programmed

DU — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:54:02 GMT

Programming is the new High School Diploma

"...though we may have our differences, we are one people, and we are one nation, united by a common creed."

zarq — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:34:56 GMT

Founded in 1857, The Atlantic is one of the oldest publications still being produced in the US. They have created a commemorative issue for the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War that includes articles published in the magazine over a century ago, an extensive gallery of images, as well as a few essays and analyses by modern writers, including President Obama. Editor's note. (Via: James Fallows' Reddit AMA)

Table of Contents (Just in case anyone missed it above.)

Some essays, poems and stories by notable authors: Mark Twain, Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Nathanial Hawthorne, Frederick Douglass and W.E. B. Du Bois.

DIY WALL-E

mrzarquon — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:49:52 GMT

The WALL-E Builders Club formed in October 2007 as an offshoot of the R2 (yes that one) builders club, to create their own WALL-E replica. This is their current progress on the project.

The Great Backyard Bird Count

elsietheeel — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:10:53 GMT

Next weekend, February 17-20, is the 2012 Great Backyard Bird Count, sponsored by the National Audubon Society, the Cornell Lab for Ornithology, and Bird Studies Canada.

The Count has been an annual event since 1998. The information collected goes into Cornell's bird database, the Avian Knowledge Network, which holds 36 million records of bird observations.

The GBBC relies on volunteers across North America to help them collect information about bird populations. You can do a count in one place like your backyard, recording the number of species you see in a minimum of 15 minutes, or you can do a traveling count, recording the birds you see as you hike along a trail. If you're unfamiliar with bird identification, WhatBird is a pretty handy resource, as is Cornell's Bird Guide

In 2011, the most counted bird in America was the European Starling, an introduced species descended from 60 birds released in Central Park in 1890 by the American Acclimatization Society and an eccentric pharmacist named Eugene Schiefflin, who wanted to introduce all of the birds mentioned by Shakespeare to North America.

Citizen science bird counting isn't just for President's Day Weekend, either. Audubon has the 111-year-old Christmas Bird Count, Cornell and Bird Studies Canada have the winter-long Project FeederWatch, and eBird counts year-round.

If birds aren't your thing, Cornell has a list of other citizen science projects that need your help.

Birds previously on Metafilter: Audubon - Birds of America and This One's for the Birds.

An Internet Troll

Avenger50 — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:03:48 GMT

So there you go: an internet troll. That's what they look like.

CHEEZ Cartoon Art

Ark_Light — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:02:43 GMT

Canada's Exclaim magazine former cartoonist Fiona Symth's new art. CHEEZ was originally a monthly comic/drawing published in Canada's Exclaim Magazine over a ten year period from 1992 to 2002. There were no editorial restrictions on the work apart from the monthly deadline and the colour restrictions of the paper (the art work had to be black and white). Each strip was created shortly before the deadline and numbered in chronological order. This CHEEZ will be drawn weekly and will continue with the same numbering sequence and restrictive palette. A collection of the first one hundred strips was published as CHEEZ 100 by Pedlar Press in 2001.

"I don't understand how you evolved. You are too goofy,"

quin — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:59:36 GMT

"The idea that a species domesticated itself is a bit crazy, but there are some species that outcompeted others by becoming nicer." Wired examines the phenomena of self-domestication.

"This possibility is most apparent in bonobos, a close cousin of chimpanzees. Unlike their violent cousins, bonobos are generally peaceful. And while many animals have evolved to be socially agreeable, bonobos — and possibly other species — seem to be experiencing something more precise and profound: the physical and behavioral changes specifically described in studies of domestication, but as a natural evolutionary process."

States Target Foreign Law

reenum — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:36:55 GMT

There are several groups trying to pass bills in different states to ban the application of foreign laws in a US court, especially Sharia law. These groups are almost all using model legislation drafted by anti-Muslim activist David Yerushalmi.

Coming back like Jordan wearing the 45

cashman — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:50:59 GMT

Tom Murphy is an Anchor/Reporter/Producer and Weather Man on Channel 11 in Alpena, Michigan.

Bonus: "You don't want it with Mario on the 150cc, especially on Toad's Rainbow Road".

Jeremy mother fuckin' Lin

mathowie — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:38:41 GMT

"Lin is saving the Knicks with super-human play, but he's dispelling myths about Asian America by being otherwise hyper-normal and I thank him. He doesn't have a duty to embrace Asian America, speak for Asian America, or represent Asian America because right now he IS Asian America." -- Eddie Huang on Yao Ming, Jeremy Lin, and being Asian in America.

(Jeremy Lin, New York Knicks)

wah wah wah wah waahhh

troika — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:26:09 GMT

John Williams turned 80 today! The American composer is best known for the themes from Star Wars, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Indiana Jones, but starting with the score adaptation for Valley of the Dolls, he's racked up 47 Oscar nominations in a 44-year span, including 5 wins.

Oscar Wins:
1971: Best Scoring Adaptation and Original Song Score, Fiddler on the Roof
1975: Best Original Dramatic Score, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-sX2Y0W8l0
1977: Best Original Score: Star Wars
1982: Best Original Score, ET The Extra Terrestrial
1993: Best Original Score, Schindler's List

Other Scores:
1974: The Sugarland Express
1978: Superman
1987: Empire of the Sun
1989: Born on the Fourth of July
1990: Home Alone
1993: Jurassic Park
2001: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
2002: Catch Me If You Can
2011: The Adventures of Tintin
2011: War Horse

Other Works:
Olympic Fanfare
Mission Theme (NBC Nightly News)
NBC Sunday Night Football
Air and Simple Gifts (from Barack Obama's inauguration as US President)

He also composed a Fanfare for Michael Dukakis for the 1988 presidential campaign, but I can't seem to locate it.

52 Songs 52 Stories

Sailormom — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:58:01 GMT

52 Songs 52 Stories

It's a simple idea, really. Each week in 2012 I'm going to pick a song, usually at random. I'm going to write a very short story inspired by that song, and post a video for the song and a story here. From author Iain Rowan.

Reviews of Bad Books

latkes — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:48:21 GMT

Nicole Cliff has been reviewing Classic Trash fiction for The Awl, with a recent exposition on Clan of the Cave Bear. Jeffrey Sconce reviewed 100 obscure and largely unloved books last year on Consumed and Judged, and shows no sign of slowing down. Pop Sensation profiles the cover of one, generally trashy, paperback, three times a week, (and includes a seemingly random quote from the book).

"The Enemy", wear thin?

running order squabble fest — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:44:26 GMT

"Muslim-American Terrorism in the Decade Since 9/11" (PDF) is a report by Professor Charles Kurzman of the University of North Carolina, published by the Triangle Center for Terrorism and Homeland Security. The TCFTHS is a collection of experts in the "Research Triangle" of North Carolina, associated with Duke, UNC and NC State and RTI, the independent research institute dedicated to aggregating and marketing the research resources of these three institutions.

The report finds that 20 Muslim-Americans committed or were arrested for terrorist crimes in 2011, making it roughly average in relation to the 193 arrests or convictions in the 10 years since 9/11. However, not one of the 14,000 murders reported in the US in 2011 were attributable to Islamic extremism, according to Kurzman. This also represents a second consecutive annual drop in convictions and arrests. Only one arrest involved accusations of executing a terrorist attack.

Eight Muslim-Americans were charged with non-violent support for terrorism in 2011, down from 27 in 2010. The four cases involving financial support all involved less than $100,000 in funds.

Although many of the numbers in the report show consistent trends (a 70/30 citizen/non-citizen split, and an ethnically diverse group, with 30% Arab, 25% white and 15% African-American), some statistical anomalies were reported. 25% of the 2011 perpetrator group had military experience. The number of identifiable tips to law-enforcement from Muslim-Americans (2 out of 14) is out of proportion to the approximately 0.6% representation of Muslims in the population of the US, although consistent with earlier years.

David Schanzer, Director of the Triangle Center, said of the report:

While homegrown radicalization is still a problem, the offenders from 2011 were less skilled and less connected with international terrorist organizations than the offenders in the prior two years. Hopefully, the seriousness of this threat will continue to decline in the future.

(NYT article)

Civilisation with an s

baejoseph — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:16:24 GMT

Civilisation: A Personal View by Kenneth Clark is a 13-part documentary produced by the BBC that was first aired on in 1969. It is considered to be a landmark in British Television's broadcasting of the visual arts. Here's the entire series (13 one-hour episodes) on YouTube. This is a treat for those of you who like History of Art, especially so if you haven't yet got around to seeing it.

Episodes:

1. The Skin of our Teeth
2. The Great Thaw
3. Romance and Reality
4. Man - the Measure of all Things
5. The Hero as Artist
6. Protest and Communication
7. Grandeur and Obedience
8. The Light of Experience
9. The Pursuit of Happiness
10. The Smile of Reason
11. The Worship of Nature
12. The Fallacies of Hope
13. Heroic Materialism

An 18% gratuity will be charged if this post gets more than 6 viewers

twoleftfeet — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:29:25 GMT

How do people read menus? [More] Apparently we read them top-to-bottom and left-to-right, just like books! For your reading pleasure, here's a selection of menu items from the New York Public Library, the University of Washington, the CIA, Derrick Bostrom, Rusty Thomas, Johnson & Wales, Mark, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Colorado, Italy, and other places...

APPETIZERS

Beluga Malossol Caviar, in the Russian Tea Room

Lagoon Onion Rings, $4.95 at Harrah's in Laughlin, NV

Aiquilettes of Fresh Mahimahi, Saute, aux la Amandines, a l'Outrigger Canoe Club. $3.75 at the Outrigger Canoe Club 1967

Arrosto promiscuo, from Tagliatelle Fatte In Casa Il 1909

ENTREES

A 72 oz. steak at the Old Country Kitchen

Broiled Chicken Livers, from Harry's Cafe

The Green Turtle served at a Banquet of the National Hardware Association

O'possum and Sweet Potatoes, in Alexander's Hotel 1884

L'Escalopes De Foie Gras De Canard Grillée Aux Navets Carmelises (Grilled Foie Gras with Carmelized Turnips) is a specialty at The Ryland Inn

The bacon and tomato sandwich is delicious at the Out West Cafe

Soused Mackarel and Smoked Beeftongue, for a Luncheon held by the Holland-American Line 1899

Grilled Eel with Orange Slices, for your Last Supper

Roast Filet of Beef, served on the Hindenburg

DESSERTS

Port Wine Jelly, a popular favorite in 1883 at The Cozzens

Apple Pie, direct from the White House

Peaches in Chartreuse Jelly, a final course on the Titanic

Previously: Planes, trains, and ships

United States v. Shipp

jedicus — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 05:52:21 GMT

The Supreme Court of the United States has held only one criminal trial in its history: United States v. Shipp.

The Famous Trials project has an excellent page on United States v. Shipp, including primary sources, trial transcript excerpts, and contemporary newspaper accounts.

The case produced two opinions: United States v. Shipp, 203 U.S. 563 (1906) (addressing preliminary matters and holding that the trial could proceed) and United States v. Shipp, 214 U.S. 386 (1909) (delivering the result in the trial).

It's not addressed clearly in the case, so in case you're wondering: the reason that the Supreme Court had original jurisdiction in the case despite the limits of Article Three, Section 2 is that the Court had appellate jurisdiction over Ed Johnson's habeas corpus case, and thus had the power to issue necessary orders in aid of its jurisdiction, including holding state officials—such as Shipp—in contempt. Ex parte Young, 209 U.S. 123 (1908); Act of Sept. 24, 1789, ch. 20, § 14 (the Judiciary Act of 1789).

MORE CHEETAHMEN THAN YOU EVER THOUGHT POSSIBLE

DoctorFedora — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 05:32:15 GMT

THE HISTORY (AND MYSTERY!) behind Action 52 and Cheetahmen, FINALLY REVEALED! And, if you have five hundred bucks to spare, NES cartridges of the newly unearthed(?) CHEETAHMEN: THE CREATION is available for sale! VINCE PERRI AT HIS DESIGN BEST, the web site proclaims, though it's unclear what this is expected to mean to us!

Entire genome of extinct human decoded from fossil

Meatbomb — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 04:48:29 GMT

Entire genome of extinct human decoded from fossil

I was kind of hoping for a discussion of necessary trespass, but...

Navelgazer — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 04:02:50 GMT

Justice Sonia Sotomayor stops by Sesame Street for a cup of coffee...

Santorum Surges From Behind!

leotrotsky — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 03:46:51 GMT

Rick Santorum predicted winner in Minnesota & Missouri. Mr. Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator best known for his feud (and subsequent google-bombing) with Dan Savage over his comparison of homosexuality with bestiality, is the predicted winner of Republican primaries in Minnesota and Missouri, and is currently leading in the third, Colorado.