It’s been said that the politics in academia are so vicious because the stakes are so low. Case in point: Tihomir Petrov, a professor at Cal State Northridge, was charged with peeing on a fellow professor’s office door.
Of course, the chief reason for mentioning this on the last word is that Petrov is a mathematics professor. Which means his alleged behavior makes him a…math whiz!
C’mon. It was too good to pass up.
Turns out Vladimir Nabokov—author of Bend Sinister, Lolita, and Pale Fire, among others—was right all along when he hypothesized that butterflies came to the New World from Asia.
Nabokov, an amateur, self-taught lepidopterist, came up with his theory in 1945. Then, the experts blew him off; nearly seven decades later, the old man is vindicated. Put that in your pipes and smoke ’em, you over-credentialed hacks.
Like supreme court justice Antonin “The Hammer” Scalia, I skipped last night’s State of the Union speech. It’s not a political thing; it’s just that I find them a bit monarchist—what with all the pomp and preening.
I did, however, glance over the prepared text, which is available on the White House website. And I found this, near the end: “If you adhere to our common values you should be treated no different than anyone else.”
(Shudder.)
Paul Brians, who I’ve quoted before (here, here, and here), explains this issue better than anyone. I’ll paraphrase: “Americans say ‘different from,’ the British say ‘different to,’ and those who don’t know any better say ‘different than.'”
Descending into the bowels* of the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture this afternoon, I happened to notice, hanging on the wall, an old sign for what was once a stationery company. I can’t remember the name of the business, but the tagline on the sign read something like, “If its made of paper, we sell it.”
Did you catch the error? No? I’m not surprised. The question of whether to use “its” or “it’s” manages to confound even the most diligent of writers. Good thing I’m here to set things straight:
See? That’s not so hard, is it? The tagline should therefore read, “If it’s made of paper, we sell it.”
*It was pretty disappointing, actually. Seems to me that a museum basement ought to be musty, dirty, dark, cobwebbed, and, well…spooky. The MAC’s? More like an operating room.
The latest issue of PROOF! just got a little love from BUILDblog, so we’re giving a little right back. If you dig architecture—or just great design—be sure to check ’em out. Shown is their Plywood Re-usable Christmas Tree Prototype, which, quite frankly, is a giant bucketful of awesome.
In honor of Gary Burton‘s birthday—which is this Sunday—I’m a-gonna treat you to a funky little blues number of his called “Walter L.” It’s from 2009’s Quartet Live, and features, in addition to Burton on vibes, Pat Metheny (guitar), bassist Steve Swallow, and Antonio Sanchez on drums.
Take it away, Gary:
[audio:https://helveticka.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/05-Walter-L.mp3|titles=05 Walter L]Bad news if you’re a celebrity pitchman: “Over the course of [the] last year…endorsements were largely ineffective and failed to yield the benefits popular wisdom promises.”
Good news for the companies that shelled out big bucks for those same pitchmen: Scotch in a can.
The decline and fall of Western Civilization continues apace, courtesy of some weenies busybodies up north:
The Dire Straits song “Money for Nothing” was ruled by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council to be “extremely offensive” and thus inappropriate for airing on radio or television because it uses an anti-gay slur.
Do there exist people so thin-skinned as to take umbrage at a single word in a 26-year-old pop song? Really?
Anyway, the song’s banned—and the decision cannot be appealed. Coming so soon after the news that Huckleberry Finn is about to be bowdlerized, one can’t help but wonder if certain individuals have far too much time on their hands.
Researchers at the universities of Cambridge and Edinburgh have managed to engineer chickens that don’t transmit the avian influenza virus (known to medical professionals as “bird flu”) to other chickens—even normal ones.
Dr. Laurence Tiley, Senior Lecturer in Molecular Virology at Cambridge, helpfully noted that “these particular birds are only intended for research purposes, not for consumption.”
The study was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC); the paper “Suppression of avian influenza transmission in genetically modified chickens” was published in the January 14 edition of Science.
In my capacity as a professional writer and editor, I’ve learned that, for the most part, the rest of the world can be divided thus: (1) those who don’t particularly care about writing fundamentals, and (2) those who care just enough to cling tenaciously to fallacies such as the never-start-a-sentence-with-a-conjunction rule, which we’ve dealt with here and here.
For the latter group, Farhad Manjoo explains why you should never, ever use two spaces after a period.
The Oregon Department of Education is allowing the use of spell check on the state’s required writing exam. Even more alarming is the position of state schools superintendent Susan Castillo, who seems to believe that all that pesky spelling nonsense is somehow a barrier to creative expression.
And this is the state that won’t let you pump your own gas.
While he’s Spokane’s best-known fine artist, Harold Balazs’s finest contribution to society may very well be “Transcend the Bullshit,” his mantra-turned-typographical treatment that has become synonymous with the artist’s life and work. Today, it can be found on all kinds of merchandise at our very own Boo Radley’s. In fact, I’m a proud owner of one of the T-shirts as well as a fine belt buckle—the latter a recent gift from my staff.
My oldest daughter Haley decided to put a new twist on Harold’s notion, perhaps recognizing that transcendence from all the bullshit surrounding us is aspirational at best, and that we’re more often than not doomed to wallow in it. Like Velcro, it seems some form of BS is always holding us back. So with deep (and I mean deep) humility, I submit that there are now two ways to ponder our own existence: one to give us hope, the other to keep us grounded.
Harold’s is on the left; Haley’s is on the right:
Major Dick Winters, commander of “Easy Company” of the 2nd Battalion of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division during World War II, died January 2. He was 92.
In an interview for HBO’s Band of Brothers, Winters eschewed the notion that he was a hero. If he wasn’t, then there’s no such thing.
Over at More Intelligent Life, Anthony Gardner has some thoughts on “verbing”—that most deplorable of language trends. My theory is that it’s the result of ignorance rather than the natural order of things. And since, as a species, we appear to be getting stupider, it’s going to get a lot worse.
Just finished White Cascade: The Great Northern Railway Disaster and America’s Deadliest Avalanche. It’s about the massive storm of 1910 that shut down the rail lines in Stevens Pass just west of Leavenworth, and the resulting avalanche that swept two trains and a hundred people into the canyon below Wellington. The author, Gary Krist, is a novelist, and that makes a huge difference: instead of a dry historical account, you get a beautifully crafted story, with characters, plot, and a climactic chapter that is simply breathtaking. And not a word of invented dialogue, either.
Took the family to see Tron: Legacy over the weekend. It was just what one wants from a Sunday afternoon at the theater: pure escapism, with impressive effects and, it must be said, an effective soundtrack. The whole idea behind it is patently ridiculous, of course (and the original’s worth is directly proportional to your age in 1982), but who cares? It was fun.
Finally, a nod to the EWU football team, crowned FCS national champions (!) Friday night after an improbable come-from-behind victory over Delaware. Who’d a thunk it? Now, if only people in Spokane would stop obsessing over WSU and Gonzaga long enough to notice…
One of the world’s most iconic brands has changed its logo. Actually, it’s more of a refresh than anything else. It’s well done and maintains all the visual equity the previous mark garnered, but without extraneous elements (who needs to use your company’s name, anyway?). It’s rare when a company achieves the kind of global brand awareness that allows it to use just a symbol and a single color for a logo.
Graphic designers love the Starbucks brand. It gives us hope. Not only did they reinvent a whole new product category in the U.S., they’ve done it with a consistent voice—through store interiors, product packaging and merchandise, playful messaging, and a high quality consistent product. And all while giving consumers more options than they’ll ever have buying a new car. If you think about it, until just recently, their brand was largely built without traditional print advertising—just pure experience driven by pure design. Thank you, Starbucks. You are my brand hero.