There's a billboard I keep seeing around here that looks like it should have been written by a member of the Fool's Guild.

Remember, it's not Toady, it's Todey (Toddy)

Or something like that.

For a car dealership.

Last post here

All right. New blog is going live. wilful.dualism is the new journalhome; this one's not going to contain the most personal stuff, because my family will read it. (Yes, I do keep most of my personal life separate from my family life. If you had my family, you would too.)

Accordingly, things which I don't want my family to read will be showing up at the LiveJournal.

Farewell, TransDimensional.

I took an IQ test here. No big, and, in a development which should surprise no-one, I did quite well.

However, I don't think IQ tests measure anything other than how good you are at IQ tests. (Anyone who scores below 126 and wants to join The International High IQ Society anyway, I'm happy to give you my answers, by the way, for I surely do think that high IQ societies are lame, and would find it cool to subvert the system.)

But you look at the kind of questions they ask. Why do I rate well? Because my vocabulary is large, my spatial recognition skills are good (with the exception of the tesseract questions, at which I suck), and I'm good at algebra. And I know what to look for.

This question appears in pretty much every IQ test ever:

What is the next number in this sequence? 1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21...

They take it to a varying level of the sequence, of course, but you see, to anyone who's done enough Maths, the instant reaction is "Oh, that's the Fibonacci sequence, wherein you add the two previous numbers together to get the next number". And voila, correct answer. Easy for me, since I learnt the Fibonacci sequence many years ago, when my father assigned me "write a program which calculates the Fibonacci sequence" as a project as he was (attempting) teaching me to program.

Other questions, where you have "if A is worth x and B is worth Y then what's C worth?" you just work out what they have in common, represent those as variables, and reduce it with some very simple algebra. You do that enough times while learning algebra in high school, it's automatic. Anyone who's learnt to do it can get that right on an IQ test, but you could get someone far more intelligent than I am who didn't do so much algebra in high school, or who just doesn't think in terms of algebra for such questions, and they don't get the answer.

It's silly. Not quite as silly as groups like MENSA and the International High IQ Society, both of which I can mock quite comfortably on the grounds that I could join either if I wished. But not only do I think intelligence levels are a poor basis for selecting the people you keep company with - even if it's a factor, because let's face it, too wide a disparity doesn't work for either of you - because you may not share interests, at all, there's the undeniable fact that a lot of intelligent people are prats, and when you deal with people who are so hung up about their intelligence they have to join select clubs just so they can be snooty about it, you're probably looking at a damn high prat percentage.

Which would, of course, be why I've never joined an IQ-based society of any kind, because I have a feeling I'd end up committing mass murder, and giggling with "I had to do it! I had to! They all just had to die!" all the way to prison as the nice men from the tactical response group carried me off, which totally wouldn't endear me to any jury at all, and then I'd spend the rest of my life in jail, and that would be boring.

So, no.

Archives on this blog are going to be removed soon - no particular reason short of I'm going to need somewhere to post I'm willing to let my family read soon, both when I'm on my trip and because they're now aware I journal, and well. There you go, you see? Accordingly, if there's something I said you simply must see again, grab it now. (Unlikely as that seems.) A girl must have some privacy from her parents, after all.

Now that the end of semester crunch is done with, I'm going to be placed to start doing stuff here again. Because the Good Lord knows I'm a wordy wench, and now I'll actually have things to say that don't relate solely to History.

I finally picked up a copy of the soundtrack to Rent. It intensifies my desire to see this performed at some point, but I rather like a lot of the music as it is. And I like the way its overall message is positive. Even if it does have a track called "Today 4 U", which I like except for the title.

I hate the substitution of things like 4 and U for "for" and "you". Because, really, it's not THAT much harder to type the proper words, now is it, and it's got the significant advantage of not being a vicious crime against a poor defenceless language.

I'm not sure whether it's something I should feel bad for or proud of - sure, I'm resolute in maintaining my own standards of grammar and spelling online. In online journal, e-mail, and instant message conversation alike I use proper words, proper spelling, and complete sentences. Go me. But I also think less of people who don't, because, well, I associate a lot of it with being an absolute twinkie. (I'm more or less resigned to people who don't use their shift keys, but that's my line of tolerance.)

It's not so much that I think people who don't use proper words in chat or e-mail are too stupid to use it when they choose to. But it's a sign of something negative that they don't care enough, or respect the process of communication enough to communicate properly.

Besides, you then get the kids who start using IM colloquialisms in formal schoolwork and so on. Which is just beyond me - I mean, who doesn't get the difference between formal academic writing and EVERY OTHER KIND of writing? Take a sentence from one of my recent essays.

"Without a means of linking fascism to the background of European social philosophy and sociopolitical development, fascism remains to an extent impenetrable; it is here that he uncovers the foundation for fascism's existence as a metapolitical phenomenon, a manifestation of the process of Europe's political progress."

Now.

In what UNIVERSE do I talk or write like that normally? Normally I use far fewer polysyllabicisms, and I use less elaborate sentence structure. Now, there's a difference between written and spoken English; written allows longer sentences, and more involved clauses, like this sentence for example, which I wouldn't even attempt to construct if i were speaking off the cuff. And which, you'll note, is still distinctly less involved than that other one.

It's the important distinction between categories of language, is all. It's a pet peeve of mine. If you are intending to communicate with another human being, unless you know them well, it is a sign of elementary respect to communicate with them using actual, real language.

Things which amuse Rae when she has been far too intent on her fascism essay

Roger Griffin, whom I hate, alleges that there is a "new consensus" in fascism studies.

Roger Griffin has the hobbyhorse that the core element of fascism is palingenetic nationalism - that is, the myth of national rebirth.

Diethelm Prowe has adopted an ideological perspective to define fascism which ignores any role of the myth of rebirth.

Hahahahahahahaha.

You suck, Roger Griffin. Remember that always. Remember that you suck.

Hahahahahahahaha.

And also, DUDE.

Read this!

Apparently an Iraqi VP suggested Hussein and Bush should fight a duel, to avoid a war.

Then the New Yorker did this.

Hee. This is where the Yanks want President Jesse Ventura...

A minor rant.

An article I was reading discussing the recent arrests in the Washington area sniper case thingie (discussing how wrong all the profilers were) quotes a pundit who remarked on his shock that the snipers proved to be "African-American".

I have rage.

Why?

Because one of the two snipers was from Jamaica. Indeed, a citizen of Jamaica.

Let me elaborate my rage in a Question-and-Answer format.

Q: What is the purpose of the politically-correct term 'African-American'?

A: Something to do with negative connotations to the word 'black', I understand, and so used to describe Americans whose ancestors come from Africa, because apparently you can't just be American if you're black, you have to be African-American, because people miss the point that drawing the distinction is kind of racist.

Q: What is America?

A: In general usage, a subsection of the continent North America, the United States of.

Q: What is Africa?

A: A continent. Head for Europe and turn south-westish. Big place. Can't miss it. Desert at the top, jungle in the middle, bit more temperate down the bottom. Contains lions.

Q: Is Jamaica a part of Africa?

A: No. It is a part of the West Indies, however.

Q: Is someone from Jamaica an African, therefore?

A: No. He is a Jamaican.

Q: If someone is from Jamaica, and is a Jamaican citizen, is he American?

A: No. He is a Jamaican.

Q: If someone is a Jamaican, is he an African-American?

A: No. He is a Jamaican.

Q: Does African actually equal black?

A: No. Along one line of my ancestry, my family has been living at the south end of the continent since, I believe, 1632. I feel this is an adequate duration for us to count as locals. My ancestors are African. They are also white. (My actual direct antecedents, anyway. Not all my relatives are. All hail the revocation of the laws forbidding mixed-race marriages, for now absolutely nothing is different bar people are now legal about it.)

Q: Does black and an American necessarily mean African-American?

A: No. I have heard people use the term "African-American" to refer to Indians. India is also not in Africa.

Q: Are many pundits, reporters, and politically correct people complete morons?

A: Yes, yes they are.

And one final point about political correctness.

Let's look at our terms here, kids. Sure, "nigger" is an ugly word - but it's not, in itself, racially offensive in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness because it wasn't meant to be. (It was racist, but it's one of those interesting signs of the culture of the period that are the POINT of literature.) So we don't use it any more, because nowadays it is only applicable nastily.

On the other hand, 'black' is used purely descriptively, in the same way 'white' is, in the sense that it's totally inaccurate but people know what you mean.

"People of colour"? I'd feel just as uncomfortable using that phrase as I would using "nigger", because the only people I've known who used it are the kind of people who make you feel degraded just being near them, because racism is in intent, and you can put a spin on "people of colour" that even "kaffir" can't carry.

Oh, and my other rant on racial terminology? "Caucasian" does not mean white. Caucasian technically includes Indians, who come in a range of colours to suit every decor including very, very black, and who generally do not count as white. (In the Bad Old South Africa, the racial code for white was 00, and for Indian was 05. No, I don't know these things off-hand, I had to check the explanation of codes on the back of my birth certificate.)

White means white. "European" works reasonably well, except that there are lots of Europeans who aren't white these days, and besides, what about the white people who aren't European?

Mostly, I think the idea that changing the language will change people's attitudes is stupid, after the beginning point where you make it socially unacceptable to use the really nasty words. You can be just as racist in politically correct terms, only with better camouflage.

And I think that calling someone an African-American when he's neither is positively moronic.

A review of a book on the subject of "Hitler and the Power of Aesthetics". Worth reading. (The review, and I presume the book.)

And because it's clearly Blogger Day today rather than LiveJournal day, a search hit recap. I should check this more often, I've been getting weird ones lately.

"escape velocity nova" crack - funny only because of the intent when I originally used the terms for EVN and crack in the same post. (All the EV crack references.)

volkisch theory - Hi there! I'm a bit too eclectic and too relentlessly undergraduate to be a good reference source, unfortunately, but I hope you enjoyed my ramblings.

"Prince William" psychological behaviour - Er. No, I'm not the Royal Therapist, I'm afraid.

The names of the artists who draw the Madam and Eve Cartoon er. S. Francis, H. Dugmore, and Rico, minus the one who left, and I forget which one that was. Try their website.

history of grapetiser - Well, first, it was grapes. Then it was put in cans and carbonated...

uwa guild+transdimensional - the "uwa guild archives" I could understand more readily than this one.

anthropology "madam and eve" tv - hein? There's a story behind this one.

metaphors+of+love - with the pluses and all, it looks like a surreal yet somehow romantic heavy metal band name.

Another article.

Sibling Rivalry: why the nature/nurter debate won't go away, by Steven Pinker.

I have issues with this. Not just because he tries to lend credibility to his arguments about how silly theories which have, in fact, yes, since been proved wrong are by using ethnic jokes. He's got a smug self-righteousness about him, and a tendency to attribute all that is Good to alignment with his particular hobbyhorse and non-alignment with credulous idiocy.

web-log

I've been browsing. Some pages worth a read:

A review of 'Vegetarianism: A History', by Colin Spencer. By Ellen Ruppel Shell. Haven't read the book, but having read the review I don't feel the need to; I do love a good scathe.

Columbus was a quack. No, I'm not joining the Flat Earth society and neither is the author; deflating, rather, some of the myths and falsehoods surrounding this figure.

ACLU recap of the dissolution of American civil liberties.

a review on a study of ethnic humour, far from the best book review I've ever read but, conversely, this mediocre review has me intrigued to read the book it's reviewing, whereas the excellent one above has me convinced I won't. Interesting point there.

I like the advisory on the top of this article on Salon; "To print this page, select "Print" from the File menu of your browser". Thanks for that, Salon.