http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DilbertDailyStrip/~3/SPlVodXiwAk/

http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2009-12-22/

Sorry about that -- I intended to post that to the Conlang Community page. However, since some of you may be interested in seeing a partial description of the Na'vi language from Avatar, I won't delete it.

I don't know what's going on with the links I just posted -- they worked yesterday, but today they return only 404s. However, if you go to Google and type -- "Some highlights of Na'vi" Language Log -- in the search box you can get to the article.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DilbertDailyStrip/~3/s0Mk7LmO7Yo/

http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2009-12-21/

writinginct would like to know, is "He had had enough" correct?

(With examples from Dorothy Sayers' Peter Wimsey mysteries.)

( It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is. )

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DilbertDailyStrip/~3/Yx80VOVgpGI/

http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2009-12-20/

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DilbertDailyStrip/~3/sQ3HF7W12vk/

http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2009-12-19/

* This post on disability symbology on the Sociological Images blog made me happy.

* Somewhat related, a few months ago badgerbag proposed a Wikipedia cleanup project to remove ableist language from articles. I've spent the last day or so attacking the search results for "wheelchair-bound", and let me tell you, I had forgotten how much Wikipedia is populated by tiny dictators who zealously guard their fiefdom.

* For anyone else who's interested in such a project, I've found that an edit summary of "MOS:IDENTITY; reflect terminology preferred among people with disabilities" gets best results, while if there was already such a change made and reverted in the page history, I'm adding a section to the article talk page:

== "Wheelchair-bound" ==

"Wheelchair-bound" is considered derogatory usage and should not be reintroduced into the article. Please see [[List of disability-related terms with negative connotations]] before reverting this change again. --~~~~

I've gotten up to item 180 260 out of 822 on search results (which don't seem to be updating), if anyone else wants to pitch in. "Confined to a wheelchair" is another good target, with 349 results as of now.

* While working on the Christmas knitting (only one pair of socks and a few towels/washcloths left to go!!!) sarah and I have been watching Holmes on Homes. It is, perhaps, amusing to contrast our reactions:

sarah: OH MY GOD WE SHOULD NEVER BUY A HOUSE IT'LL FALL DOWN AROUND OUR EARS AND WE'LL NEVER BE ABLE TO FIND CONTRACTORS WHO KNOW WHAT THEY'RE DOING AND THEY'LL JUST RIP US OFF AND AUUUUUUUUUUGH
synecdochic: They did what to that poor house? WHAT IS THAT HOLE DOING THERE? Oh my GOD, don't tell me you only used 2x6 boards there, I don't care what code says! OH MY GOD THAT POOR HOUSE.

Guess which one of us was raised by a general contractor. Go on, guess.

* Watching this show has also made me tempted to write a post about how to choose a general contractor who knows what s/he is doing, won't rip you off, and won't make stupid mistakes. A good hint: if s/he tells you that you don't need a permit because it's just a waste of money, run. (EDIT: many of you seem to think there needs to be such a post! I will see what I can do.)

* Did I tell you I was nearly done with the Christmas knitting? BECAUSE I AM.

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 We now have two fledglings!  

One of them almost came out Wednesday; the parents (and Thomas and me) spent all afternoon encouraging the little hatchling that kept poking its head out.  He got so close that at one point we thought surely he'd just fall out.  But no.  Then the mother bird got back in the nest, and while the Daddy bird fluttered and called, she literally PUSHED the hatching!  The nest shook, but that little thing clutched the edge of the nest hole with all his might.  Finally we all gave up.  

Then Thursday when I got up it was just there, sitting on top of the nest box, like it'd been there all along.  Then after a couple of hours it had had enough of the real world and when back in the nest and wouldn't come back out again.

Finally, this morning, the other hatchling decided that enough was enough and it was time to fledge.  Plus, it had been two more days, and that was probably how much younger it was than the sibling.  —They had thrown out an egg a few days ago that didn't hatch, so it (the egg) was probably laid on the day between the two that hatched.  It's amazing how exactly on schedule these little things are.  Books and things always say "around" so many days, when they talk about hatching, and fledging, but I've raised several nests full, and they are alway precisely on time.  One at a time hatches, and one at a time fledges.

Of course we can't be sure for another week or two of their sex, after their final feathers all color up and their beaks get their final color.  They're not full grown even after they fledge, after all.  They still have to be fed for another week, a job the daddy bird does all by himself once they are out of the nest.  (They both have to feed nestlings, since the little things need food much more often.)  And I have to remove the nest box, because the female is likely to lay another egg today.  And it wouldn't be good for her to have clutches so close together.
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For a while in the 1980s, before the epidemic of Dumbing Down The Magazines began, there was a wonderful magazine called Southern. I was sorry when that one folded. The item below is on page 74 of "Charleston Through a Child's Eyes," by William Price Fox, on pp. 73-74 of the March 1987 issue.

"One of the better walking-around stories about the old town concerns an elderly pair of sisters who had fallen on lean times. Despite their circumstances, they insisted on telling everyone that they were still summering in Paris. At night, they would slip out of their shuttered home and take their constitutional along the Battery. One night, a child recognized them and wanted to say hello. Her mother held her back, saying, 'No dear, we don't speak to them in the summertime. They're still in Paris.' If this isn't the story that William Allen White was referrring to when he said that 'Charleston is the most civilized town in the world,' it should have been."

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DilbertDailyStrip/~3/qzg1IkRDGgc/

http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2009-12-18/

I've just done a thirty-minute interview about LAadan for the BBC, as part of a segment they were doing on constructed languages; other guests on the segment included Arika Okrent, author of _In the Land of Invented Languages_, someone talking about Klingon, and perhaps a few more. The interview went very well; however, I have no idea how much of the thirty minutes will actually be used.

The show is called "Word of Mouth", and this episode goes out on 5 January at 16:00 [GMT]; you can also listen again for a week at the Radio 4 website which is http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4 .

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DilbertDailyStrip/~3/eNJnoj4P53U/

http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2009-12-17/

It occurs to me that these might be useful for those of you who are interested...


Thandi

Phonemes:
/b/, /bh/, /p/, /ph/, /d/, /f/, /sh/, /zh/, /TH/, /th/, /g/, /gh/, /l/, /L/, /lh/, /r/, /m/, /n/, /ng/, /w/, /y/, /a/, /e/, /E/, /i/, /o/, /u/, /h/.



Lenadess

Phonemes:
/b/, /bh/, /p/, /ph/, /d/, /t/, /f/, /sh/, /s/, /zh/, /g/, /gh/, /l/, /L/, /lh/, /r/, /m/, /n/, /ng/, /w/, /y/, /a/, /e/, /E/, /i/, /o/, /u/, /h/.



Aubre

Phonemes:
/b/, /p/, /k/, /g/, /d/, /t/, /f/, /th/, /TH/, /sh/, /ch/, /zh/, /l/, /r/, /m/, /n/, /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/, /h/.



Nangdi

Phonemes:
/b/, /bh/, /p/, /ph/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /kh/, /q/, /’/, /g/, /gh/, /w/, /l/, /r/, /R/, /m/, /n/, /ng/, /th/, /TH/, /sh/, /a/, /ae/, /e/, /E/, /i/, /I/, /o/, /u/, /oy/, /h/; three tones -- high, low, and falling.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DilbertDailyStrip/~3/tIPdPpS8vp0/

http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2009-12-16/

I won't have anything this year.  I just barely made them put a tree up, and it has built in lights is the only reason it has lights.  And no one even brought the ornaments up from the basement, so I'm decorating the poor thing with the Christmas cards I'm getting!  Actually, since several family members and a couple of friends have sent those photo-card things, it's really kinda cool.

To comment, please click here: http://sherron0.dreamwidth.org/182663.html

The Swadesh lists for the four languages in the new U.S. Corps of Linguists novel are now at my SFWA website. The link to the lists is at the end of the first Announcement, at http://www.sfwa.org/members/elgin/Announcements.html .
If you have comments or questions, just respond to this post.

Please update any post you've made on the genderfail issue to indicate that the code has now been rolled back and will not be pushed with the next codepush!

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I think jdn has found his soulmate.

(Found by azurelunatic.)

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DilbertDailyStrip/~3/IehJ1tkRRyE/

http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2009-12-15/

Updated my PSA post with a response from Anjelika Petrochenko, US general manager, on the "gender" profile field. Please pass on as necessary.

Please see the original post for subsequent updates.

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I edited my PSA, and am also reboosting signal in case people don't read back that far on their reading list: in addition to submitting Feedback, some research has turned up the email address of the general manager of US operations: anjelika@livejournalinc.com

Please copy any email you send to Feedback to her.

Please see the original post for subsequent updates.

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immortalje wants to know: In the example "the Wizarding/Muggle world," what words should be capitalized?

Fortunately, Harry Potter is a book fandom, so we have a written source.

As much as J.K. Rowling's universe overlaps with our own, her books are still fantasy books and, as all fantasy authors do, she created the rules for the bits she made up. So, diving into Rowling's text, I see that Dumbledore wields a Put-Outer to extinguish lights, Floos are distinguishable from ordinary flues, and a wizard or witch might be a Metamorphmagus. Yet brooms are still brooms, even if they fly, though their make might be Cleansweep or Firebolt.

For our reader's particular question, Rowling uses "wizarding world" and "Muggle world." Follow the canon author's precedent.

It's been a while since I've been furious with anything LJ has done; having DW has done a lot to calm down my knee-jerk "AUUUGH NO" whenever LJ headquarters does something stupid again. But this one takes the cake:

(EDIT: See further responses at end of post; this change has been rolled back.)

( Original text preserved behind cut )

Edit 12/15 1017 EDT: As mentioned in the responses many people have received, the code has now been rolled back and will not be pushed with the next codepush.

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DilbertDailyStrip/~3/ppTQWPC44rw/

http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2009-12-14/