When will someone take this approach with our administration

by liberal japonicus Via Language Log, this jaw-dropping article analyzes video footage of appearances of Kim Jong Un’s daughter, Kim Ju Ae, to draw conclusions about her place in the North Korean inner circle. Using facial-recognition technology driven by artificial intelligence, Nikkei identified scenes in which Kim Ju Ae appeared out of 14,115 hours of … Read more

What are those words on the wall?

by liberal japonicus I feel like I’m channelling wj’s optimism when I say that this seems like reading Mene mene, Tekel, Upharsin on a nearby wall. Though it might be just to prevent myself from vomiting after reading it. David’s evolution as a columnist has also been one of the most visible intellectual journeys in … Read more

But tell me what you really mean

by liberal japonicus This article, with the headline Spanish Scientist finds cure for pancreatic cancer, concludes with the following: Such reactions reflect a broader tension in cancer research communication, namely the gap between legitimate scientific caution and public desperation for definitive cures, particularly for diseases with historically grim outcomes. Jeez, I wonder why?

Feeling Philoctetes

by liberal japonicus In the previous post titled Moral Insanity, I shared the opening of The Cure at Troy, by Seamus Heaney, which is the story of Philoctetes, after a play by Sophocles. Nous astutely provided the lines after the part I quoted, and having figured out the verse block on the blog, I put … Read more

Moral insanity

by liberal japonicus This is the second post from this podcast by Hasan Minaj, with the transcript for the podcast linked here. Jacob Soboroff’s second book is Firestorm: The Great Los Angeles Fires and America’s New Age of Disaster and he recounts a very strange anecdote that has been knocking around in my head. Minaj … Read more

Carney’s speech

by liberal japonicus Discuss It’s a pleasure – and a duty – to be with you at this turning point for Canada and for the world. Today, I’ll talk about the rupture in the world order, the end of a nice story, and the beginning of a brutal reality where geopolitics among the great powers … Read more

Rememory

by liberal japonicus Going to make two posts from this podcast by Hasan Minaj, but following up on nous’ suggestion of https://podscripts.co/, I found https://www.podchaser.com, which had a transcript for the podcast I want to talk about, where Hasan Minaj interviews Jacob Soboroff about two books he’s written. (Unfortunately, the transcript is raw, so you … Read more

An interesting map

by liberal japonicus This is an illustration from issue 372 of Sino-Platonic papers (pdf link) which consists of S. Robert Ramsey’s book The Japanese and Their Language: How the Japanese Made Their Language and It Made Them. Sino-Platonic papers is “a monograph series…[whose] chief focus of the series is on the intercultural relations of China … Read more

Talarico

by liberal japonicus I was a bit surprised to see Ezra Klein interviewing James Talarico, who is running for the Senate seat of Texas currently occupied by John Coryn, but after listening, I can see that Talarico hits some of Klein’s sweet spots. Some things about where I’m coming from on this. Because I didn’t … Read more