no girls allowed

And for something a little more light-hearted: this is a great entry on couch/house forts and on the grades for the quality of each.

We went to Eastern Market last Sunday, a last-minute diverge from the DuPont Farmers Market, and managed to feed kids, order a pearl necklace, and buy me a big, new (used) living room chair. With the four kids and two adults we couldn’t fit the chair n the car so we’ll be back down on Sunday morning to get both the pearls and the chair. The first thing that L. asked me was if she could have my corner of the couch. I bequeathed it to her but was sort of overridden by X and her dah-di-dah. Of course, X has a wholly self-created daybed/coach/snug off in another corner with her computer so I don’t think it’ll matter in the end.

And, to follow-up on a NYTimes piece about PowerPoint that made our rounds last week, and to which I agreed, know this: this is more my position on that program and I think Farhad is stealing from my brain. See my bit on clipart from whenever.

I just wrapped up my mid-terms for the quarter. Knife cuts...again. My fine julienne is exceptional.

Love to all

t

what's that you say?

Language. people, and culture. Here's a great read on a theory about the relationship between how cultures think and the affect on language; or vice versa, or vice versa; pick your versa [thanks to Andrew Sullivan]. I've read some Steven Pinker, who knows from language and always intrigues, and this is exactly the type of wonder that runs through my mind every few years - and certainly during my time in Monterey where you made friends who were in myriad language training courses. Some of the differences in how language difficulty was ranked back then were no doubt based on both pronunciation difficulty and some of the psychological aspects of given languages. Spanish and French were grouped together at the lower end of difficulty, followed by Hebrew and others, and it finished at the highest difficulty with Russian, Chinese, and Arabic, among others. When we're exposed to something so distant from our cultural norm, whether a language or a life, we're probably going to struggle not only with the objective language but also with the basis beyond the language; and that's the people. In fact, the most memorable stories that most people have from Monterey (aside from poorly though out and failed marriages) usually revolve around our teachers. All the instructors there are native speakers so the curse and promise of their upbringing and culture had a massive effect on many students results. I'm sure that differing alphabets only add to the worry. Maybe the next time my mind starts to roil with language I'll look at it a bit differently.

The Eastern Market in D.C. is reborn today after two years of restoration following a massive fire in 2007. I was thinking of heading in this afternoon even before realizing the throng of locals and press that may be in attendance; I think I'll step up and head in, regardless. Maybe I'll bring my new camera and pass along some views.

More later.

t

the house has the advantage

Now we’re talking serious action – and it’s for charity. Since I’ve read quite a bit of Buffet’s own writing, innumerable articles and books about his life, and being an Omaha boy, there’s no way I’m not taking Buffet on this one. First and foremost, he’s not in unless he thinks it’s a (near) done deal. Second, hedge funds guys have no rules, no real heroes, and no chance. Good stuff.

I’m a bit mystified by Big Brown’s run on Saturday. They claim the hoof wasn’t an issue but it’s a little hard to believe a horse of that stature simply had nothing to give. The jockey pulled him up at the head of the stretch and coasted home in last place. I’ve seen Triple Crown bids ended by a horse getting beat on the long stretch run but I don’t remember an attempt that ended with such a nonchalant performance. The jockey, in an interview this morning, said the horse simply had nothing to give and there was no point in legging it out for fifth or sixth place. I don’t know. I suspect there’s more to it than we know.

t