book
my book is good.
diamond (the author) sometimes throws shit out as true fact when its actually still controversial issues. i guess that's my beef with him.
archaeology isn't a precise science, you need a lot of evidence to state a claim.
when a claim can't be fully supported, you can publish it, but you need to infuse it with doubt. especially with books read by laymen who will easily take what they've read as fact (because that's the only way the info has been presented to them) then you're doing harm. you're trying to mold the public's opinion to support your own theories.
Peking Man may have not had controlled fires, neandertals may not have been tards who were outcompeted by its more gracile cousins, and i've heard nothing of a "third man" in between the australopithecine and homo split.
that last one he really didn't explain well, maybe for time/space constraints, but that claim seemed wholly unsupported.
but either way, even if most of the stuff i already knew or was acquainted with (so far) i'm enjoying the book 100. no 1000 times more than that dickens book.
it's time to dropkick that one to the curb even though i only got through half of it.
the other intriguing part of my day was talking with renee (the deaf woman).
i said hello and she commented on how its the first time today she's had a chance to talk. i thought that just meant that she was busy all day (which she was), but she actually meant it literally. she had some convention that she went to downtown for ASL. so everyone there never talked and only communicated with sign language. it was kinda weird, cuz she was in the pool talking to me but using sign language. she was in the pool hanging on one side with one arm still being able to use both arms to sign. she seemed to manage well. i guess she was still in ASL mode, cuz before she had only done random words every now and then, actually very rarely. but today she was balls-out ASLing.
i kinda enjoyed it. just seeing the nuances in how ASL works is intriging. like when signing "Bothell" from bothell high school. it seemed like she skipped the vowels, like yiddish or egyptian heiroglyphs.
it was just an awesome thing to watch. if you sat in a classroom for an hour a day and just had someone talk to you while signing, i think you could probably start to pick it up a bit. however you might confuse words. she was talking about her "stupid brother", but i picked up the sign for stupid as the word for brother (two finger in peace sign-like fashion against the forehead with the palm facing outward).
we got to talking about new words that are forming in ASL as time progresses. "Computer": make a 'C' with one hand and swipe your other hand through the C like you were motioning someone to "cut it out" or "quit it".
email's the same sort of thing. you make an ASL "X" with one hand and run the other flat hand over it with the palm facing down.
who knows why they picked "X" instead of "E". i didn't ask her. maybe its for eXpress, even though Email is Electronic. whatever.
i asked her about her opinion on cochlear implants. i did a research project on it in one of my classes last year. she said she's against them. she said she thinks people should be bilingual. and that people don't really know what they're missing out on if anything.
i told her how opinions of parents who are hearing vs. nonhearing children vary radically over the topic. she said she'd run into an incident with hearing parents but 3 deaf brothers, and she sided with the deaf brothers.
i kinda think it's up to the parents, so their choice, i have no reason to pressure anyone's decision.
she also mentioned that she wouldn't want the implant because it would mean you couldn't swim. cuz its got all that electrical shit, and well, its drilled into your head. but i'm sure that'll heal up nicely.
the deaf culture is so interesting. whereas blind people are just fucked unless they can find a stick to wave infront of them, deaf people have developed a whole system of communication to get beyond what some might see as their handicap or disability.
i guess i could kinda be a cultural anthropologist. i kept coming up with shit to ask her. but when i think of the profession in the stereotypical sense, it makes me think of becoming a hippie that i might not even want to become. although living with exotic, foreign cultures is somewhat alluring. to see how life can be lived through the eyes of someone who's religion/culture evolved independently from the one we've all been engulfed by.
sorry, jesus.
diamond (the author) sometimes throws shit out as true fact when its actually still controversial issues. i guess that's my beef with him.
archaeology isn't a precise science, you need a lot of evidence to state a claim.
when a claim can't be fully supported, you can publish it, but you need to infuse it with doubt. especially with books read by laymen who will easily take what they've read as fact (because that's the only way the info has been presented to them) then you're doing harm. you're trying to mold the public's opinion to support your own theories.
Peking Man may have not had controlled fires, neandertals may not have been tards who were outcompeted by its more gracile cousins, and i've heard nothing of a "third man" in between the australopithecine and homo split.
that last one he really didn't explain well, maybe for time/space constraints, but that claim seemed wholly unsupported.
but either way, even if most of the stuff i already knew or was acquainted with (so far) i'm enjoying the book 100. no 1000 times more than that dickens book.
it's time to dropkick that one to the curb even though i only got through half of it.
the other intriguing part of my day was talking with renee (the deaf woman).
i said hello and she commented on how its the first time today she's had a chance to talk. i thought that just meant that she was busy all day (which she was), but she actually meant it literally. she had some convention that she went to downtown for ASL. so everyone there never talked and only communicated with sign language. it was kinda weird, cuz she was in the pool talking to me but using sign language. she was in the pool hanging on one side with one arm still being able to use both arms to sign. she seemed to manage well. i guess she was still in ASL mode, cuz before she had only done random words every now and then, actually very rarely. but today she was balls-out ASLing.
i kinda enjoyed it. just seeing the nuances in how ASL works is intriging. like when signing "Bothell" from bothell high school. it seemed like she skipped the vowels, like yiddish or egyptian heiroglyphs.
it was just an awesome thing to watch. if you sat in a classroom for an hour a day and just had someone talk to you while signing, i think you could probably start to pick it up a bit. however you might confuse words. she was talking about her "stupid brother", but i picked up the sign for stupid as the word for brother (two finger in peace sign-like fashion against the forehead with the palm facing outward).
we got to talking about new words that are forming in ASL as time progresses. "Computer": make a 'C' with one hand and swipe your other hand through the C like you were motioning someone to "cut it out" or "quit it".
email's the same sort of thing. you make an ASL "X" with one hand and run the other flat hand over it with the palm facing down.
who knows why they picked "X" instead of "E". i didn't ask her. maybe its for eXpress, even though Email is Electronic. whatever.
i asked her about her opinion on cochlear implants. i did a research project on it in one of my classes last year. she said she's against them. she said she thinks people should be bilingual. and that people don't really know what they're missing out on if anything.
i told her how opinions of parents who are hearing vs. nonhearing children vary radically over the topic. she said she'd run into an incident with hearing parents but 3 deaf brothers, and she sided with the deaf brothers.
i kinda think it's up to the parents, so their choice, i have no reason to pressure anyone's decision.
she also mentioned that she wouldn't want the implant because it would mean you couldn't swim. cuz its got all that electrical shit, and well, its drilled into your head. but i'm sure that'll heal up nicely.
the deaf culture is so interesting. whereas blind people are just fucked unless they can find a stick to wave infront of them, deaf people have developed a whole system of communication to get beyond what some might see as their handicap or disability.
i guess i could kinda be a cultural anthropologist. i kept coming up with shit to ask her. but when i think of the profession in the stereotypical sense, it makes me think of becoming a hippie that i might not even want to become. although living with exotic, foreign cultures is somewhat alluring. to see how life can be lived through the eyes of someone who's religion/culture evolved independently from the one we've all been engulfed by.
sorry, jesus.
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