Author Archives: Anton

nothing to hide

“Lady Liberty” says it well: So rest peacefully in your assumption that none of the invasive new laws or procedures applies to you because you don’t have anything to hide. You’ll be just fine as long as the police never … Continue reading

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æsthetics

Ah, phooey: I’ve carelessly deleted my preferred “theme”. May as well leave it for now while I go learn how to write one properly.

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para-grammatogenesis

Some people amuse themselves at inventing languages and scripts; that sport’s most famous player was of course Tolkien. And some avidly study whatever notes Tolkien left concerning his Elvish language family. Tolkien invented at least three scripts: Sarati, an alphasyllabary; … Continue reading

Posted in fandom, language | 3 Comments

Kelo v. New London

State control of the economy, maintaining the forms but not the substance of private property — isn’t that a definition of fascism? I’ve been puzzled, by the way, at the argument that the Fifth Amendment allows takings only for ‘public … Continue reading

Posted in constitution | 2 Comments

am I keeping you awake?

This post from Shanghai makes me wonder how widespread is the notion of counting sheep.

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Studio Gibberish

Miyazaki’s film (ハウルの動く城) of Diana Wynne Jones’s novel Howl’s Moving Castle is pretty, of course, but the story got lost somewhere. The royal sorceress has an unexplained grudge against Howl, an eccentric but kind young wizard with an unexplained reputation … Continue reading

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the asynchronous world

WiReD summarizes the work of Kiwi maverick philosopher Peter Lynds: His answers make the mathematics of space and time look strange. If instants don’t exist, then calculus – in which equations depend on fixed before-and-after positions in space – doesn’t … Continue reading

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