docoflove1974

On the topic of high-speed rail, California was set to introduce a system that would take you between Sacramento, San Francisco and Los Angeles (and all spaces in between) quickly and efficiently. In 2008 we citizens even approved bond money to pay for it, with the studies saying that it would only cost around $45 billion--the bond money would go to the first sections being built in the Central Valley, about $3B being funded by bonds, another $3.5B from the feds, and the rest of the monies being collected from elsewhere. Since then, there's nothing but delays and expenditure increases. So much so that a peer review recommended that the system not be built. Essentially, the total costs for the system have ballooned to over twice the amount (to over $100B), and the federal subsidies are not expected to come in. Additionally, the federal money is contingent on projects being completed by certain deadlines, and the peer review suggested that those deadlines could not be met due to lack of planning. Since the state legislature tends to follow what the peer review suggests, it's expected that high-speed rail could be axed. Especially since we're still under financial crisis in this state, it'll be interesting to see if it'll happen.

Here's to you having a most wonderful day!

On the Cooking Channel here, they often show Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay shows from a few years ago. During the holidays they showed Gordon Ramsay's, which I couldn't stop giggling through. Let's face it, Gordon's lost much of his Glasgowegian ways, but his mother sounded like she was straight out of there (which, from what I gather, she is). Yeah, the dishes they served were interesting...but it was the linguistic patterns that caught my attention! And then there's Mr. Oliver. My mom can't watch him, as she can't understand him. She keeps saying he sounds like he's either drunk or Scottish...which makes me laugh even harder. I will say, if one did a statistical analysis on how many colloquialisms he uses (and makes up...I swear he makes a bunch of them up), I bet it would be higher than your average TV presenter. Then again, it's part of what makes him interesting. BBC America is just now about to start running his special series of going around America...can't wait to watch that, and see how the folks in the Ozarks and in the Deep South react to him lol

Wow....GoC...that was awesome! Reminds me of my old neighbor, Mr. MacGreggor. He'd have a tendency to rant on, with people only getting a few words here and there. Mr. Finnerty, the dude from Muenster, Ireland, would understand a few more words, but always would shrug his shoulders like the rest of us, wishing there was some sort of Scottish-English translator near by.

Wow...she's beautiful. Congrats, V, to both you and your lovely lady. Hopefully all are doing well.

GoC...I can just see Siri throwing fits when a Scottish accent is thrown at her. I know I have my own issues... Melvadius, yes, anecdotal evidence is abundant. But various linguists have proven the pathways of modern language shifts through these 'weak links', and many of us historical linguists apply some of the same techniques to follow the paths of linguistic change over time. It's pretty cool....ok, for me it's pretty cool. <-- language nerd

A friend on Facebook shared this video...and I was in stitches. Warning, there's a lot of Scottish...perhaps there's foul language, but it's Scottish...but can anyone really tell? It reminds me of growing up, and the variety of languages and dialects that I heard. We had in our immediate neighborhood: Irish (from Muenster), Scottish (from Glasgow), Filipino (specifically, Tagalog), Japanese, Mandarin, Cantonese, and Hindi. If you expanded it to those I went to school with, you'd have to include the rest of the English-speaking world, half of Polynesia, various dialects of Spanish, at least two regional dialects of Italian, Greek, Armenian, Farsi...wow, the list goes on and on. I grew up hearing so many versions, pronunciations and combinations of English, it's a miracle that I came out with the 'standard West Coast' dialect myself. Thanks to Hollywood, everyone things that California is this liberal utopia (save for Orange County), but in fact the Central Valley is home to many 'country folk'--or redneck, if you're a Jeff Foxworthy fan ( ). To be sure, the population there exploded during the Dust Bowl era (the 1930s), and all the Oakies and Arkies settled in the agricultural areas to work the fields, hoping to get a plot of land of their own. This is when my dad's family ran away from their lives in southwestern Missouri--another story for another time--and settled in Sacramento, the capital of the state and, one could say, the northern point of the Central Valley. Between the farms and the military bases, the flow of people from the south-central and south-eastern part of the United States has been fairly constant. As a result, to this day you still hear 'rural' American dialects well-represented. My dad's family isn't immune to this manner of speech. I noted as a child how my dad sounded 'normal' at home and in our area, but the second he was in the company of his sister (the only one of his (at that time) 5 siblings that he liked), he would immediately sound 'country'. And he knew it, so much so that the whole hour-long car ride back home to the Bay Area he would talk a ton just to get the 'country' out of his system. Today we all spent time with that same aunt of mine--one of my cousins passed away unexpectedly, and today was the funeral. Dad's gotten over his linguistic self-consciousness, and didn't even care that he slipped back into his ancient speech pattern. But what I wasn't prepared for was the fact that I did it, too...I started sounding country, just a hint of it, like when I lived in Texas. There is a theory of socio-linguistics that holds that there are people with strong ties to their speech community, and others who have weak ties. Those with strong ties will never lose their speech patterns--their 'accent', if you will--and do not associate with many people outside of their speech community for any length of time. The ones who have weak ties to speech communities are the opposite; much like honey bees, they go to various speech communities, sound a little like all of them, tend to have neutral speech patterns (which helps communicativity in various groups), and are the ones who introduce change to different speech communities. Just like the honey bee that goes from one flower to another to pollinate them all, those with weak links bring various modes of speech to various speech communities, just to see what sticks. Clearly Dad and I are weak links...and not in the Anne Robinson meaning. I can't speak for him, but perhaps that's part of why I never did feel comfortable about that side of the family. Eh, it's all good in the end.

...And this is why I read a few every morning. I need a good laugh

Thanks, all! As far as I'm concerned, I celebrate the entire year, so no worries on the tardiness. The party's still going!

I'm seriously wondering if there's every a forecast (particularly a 'long range' one) that is negative? They all seem to be fairly positive...and about the same. Has there ever been a yearly forecast that said something like:

Thanks, all! It's been a wonderful day--the weather totally cooperated here, and it just couldn't have been better. The most hilarious part just happened: not 20 minutes ago, I was thinking that I was nice and comfy, and not really wanting to get dolled up to go out to a party 30 minutes away...but, hey, I told my youngest brother I'd go, so ok. He just called to say he was too tired to go...we're making a night of it at my place, with a couple of bottles of bubbly. No driving, no dressing up...just chillin in the Cali winter moonlight. Happy New Year, all!

This birthday really started last night...an awesome dinner with my brothers and sister-in-law at our family's favorite Italian restaurant in the City, a bunch of great chatter and tons of good food. I went to bed last night in a good place...and woke up to a beautiful sunrise. Clearly, this is an omen from the Heavens that the forecast for the day, and perhaps the year, will be a good one. At least, that's what Optimistic Me says. And since I don't allow any other Me to express itself on my birthday, as it were, I'm going with that sentiment. Even the horoscope this morning was quite positive: I'm going with either career or romance as the areas to be affected...at least, that's the hope. Who wouldn't? A different star-reading had the line of the day, at least for me: Wait...I'm a Capricorn...I naturally think about every offer before I take it...how is that a prediction? Meh, whatevs. I'm gonna celebrate life and enjoy...hope all of you do, too. Happy New Year, all...Buon anno, tutti. A festeggiare! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARsSHoyGKc0

M'Lord, it sounds like you're full of bah humbug...a sad outcome, really. Maybe it's just the people you're around that brings you down; clearly you just need to switch that attitude a bit, and you'll be golden. GoC...love that song! Very similar to my thoughts...it's a great time of year!

From sunny California, a Merry Christmas...we never have snow here (save for the mountains--although they're isn't any this year), but we have plenty of sun and crisp weather. Just frost on the ground, of which there is plenty. Now, time to go play with family!

Christmas Eve. This day has a ton of personal memories. Growing up, it was always the day of a ton of food, then church, followed by a light supper and tons of Mom's awesome Christmas cookies. And a very fitful night of sleep, as I really couldn't wait until the morning to open packages. My bedroom was right next to the living room, where our tree was. My parents had to walk by my room to get there, and had to do so silently as I always have been a light sleeper. When they woke up in the morning, they'd quietly walk with the hidden gems of presents to the tree, put them down, and then go to the garage or other hiding places to get the rest. My brothers and I would wake up--in my case I'd have been woken up by the rustling in the next room, and who knows about my brothers--and we'd try to open our doors ever so quietly. Maybe we could sneak a peek, just to see what we'd be getting? My mom would then yell at us to close the doors. Of course, we did that, lest she take away our presents. But I could always hear her and my dad giggling afterwards. They tried every year to get us to stay in our rooms longer and longer--at the very least so that they could put the pot of coffee on, get my grandmother, great-aunt and great-uncle upstairs, and get everything set before the three tornados came in and made a mess. But it never quite worked that way. Then I'd hear something be placed outside of my bedroom door...ooh, the stocking! Since we didn't have a fireplace, it wasn't very logical to assume that's how Santa got in...and trust me, I asked constantly. So my parents came up with a different explanation: Santa landed on the deck outside of the living room, and used his magic to open the door so quietly that even I didn't hear him. And yet when I looked out on the deck, I didn't see any sleigh marks on the frost...but, of course, that was magic. (Wow, I was seriously too cynical as a kid!) And, yes, the secret of Santa got spoiled for me, and very early...but my mom asked me to play along, for the sake of my younger brothers. And despite never being an early riser, Christmas morning was always the exception. The anticipation of the stocking, and of the generosity of others, well, it always got me out of bed early. Even this morning, Christmas Eve morning, when I fully expected to sleep well past 8am, I was tossing and turning at 7:15. Seems like I'm eager to get to Mom and Dad's house, and get this show on the road. I mean, you never know what Santa will bring :-)

O: Sorry, gov, we're right out of politicians T: I see, I see, I get the picture O: I've got a slug T: Does it talk? O: Not really, no. T: Well it's scarcely a replacement, then, is it??? O: Look, I'll tell ya wot, tell ya wot, if you go to my brother's shop in Rangoon, he'll replace your politician for you.

That is hilarious! And will be put to good use next fall...I'll show that to my intro to linguistics students!

LOL you should be here...I have plenty of leftovers from what I gave my students. Yeesh...well, at least I now have more time to go to the gym *yay*

GPM, that looks good, and I'll read it more in depth later...thanks! Ursus, you've hit part of the issue for me...which Minerva? I know that there were a few, and that Athena's warlike nature wasn't generally associated with Minerva. The website you provided also looks like a good source. Thanks, gentlemen! Something to read this weekend, before finals week hits!

That show has its moments...and that's one of them! It's for this reason that I don't give out many gifts, and would rather bake...it means I tend to get candy in return, which is never a bad thing

No, I think that the 'triple goddesses' is in reference to someone else...not exactly sure what, though. I finally got access to JSTOR late last night, but couldn't find any decent articles on this subject, which doesn't surprise me. I would imagine that what I'm looking for is like an overview of Roman and Greek mythology. I have something around here, but nothing that talked about Minerva much. I know that, etymologically, there is a Menrva goddess for the Etruscans, and I *think* that's the basis for the Roman goddess Minerva...although I'm not entirely sure of that.

Partly for personal reasons and partly for research, I'm looking at a compare/contrast of Minerva and Athena. In trolling on Amazon for a starting point (I hate it when my library's database is shut down, albeit temporarily), I found this book: Wisdom Goddesses by Hephaestus Books Has anyone heard of this book? There is evidently a similar book on the Virgin Goddesses, also across the ancient religions. Also, are there any recommendations that you have? It doesn't have to be

So, how exactly are the British public reacting to Mr. Clarkson's amazing contortionist display of putting foot in mouth? It's gotten hardly any play here--interesting, since Top Gear is a huge hit for BBC America. Anyone think that Jezza will be sanctioned by the Beeb, or worse yet be removed from the airwaves?

LOL Maybe I *am* overthinking this!

Well, most of the presents have been figured out and either purchased or made...just that one person left. You know how it is...there's always that one person that you have no idea what would be a good gift. In this case, it's my middle brother. And since I already found a good gift for my sister-in-law, I have to think of something equally good for him. So a gift for the couple is out...I think...hmmmmmmmm.... Ok, I'll let you in on the secret: I got my sister-in-law a gift certificate for an hour long massage at a day spa...maybe I could give my brother a certificate for something to do while his wife is getting the massage? Or some other thing that would be equally 'pampering' to him? If my brother and I got along better, this probably would be easier. But the fact is that we don't, for a number of reasons that I don't really wish to go into here. Suffice it to say that we haven't ever really gotten along, not even as kids. I thought about doing a 'lunch and day together' thing, but I don't think he'd like that very much. Sigh and alas, I think it'll take me a while to figure this gift out. Thankfully I have until the 30th, when we siblings meet up, so I have a chance at getting him a good gift. And, no, I don't fret much over gifts, but just enough to make sure they aren't the cheesy gifts that no one wants. As I watch the commercials--note I said watch, because I mute the TV when the ads come on--there are all of these commercials for *that special gift* for *that certain someone* in your life. Surely the man whose gift you are searching for will want a new electric razor...or perhaps this cologne? Of course there's always power tools and big-screen TVs, because what male can resist the allure of a cordless drill or a 3D plasma screen. And the 'gifts' for women are just as comical...if the ads are to be believed, every heterosexual man knows that we ladies want jewelry, and that if we don't get any there will be hell to pay. At least, it seems that way from the ads; how many are of men desperately searching for the diamond that sparkles the brightest? Or the tennis bracelet that has the most precious stones? Really? I mean, sure, if you'd like to give me jewelry, so be it--I'm definitely not going to refuse it. But there were other things on my list that I was hoping Santa would bring.