Send your name to Pluto!

(via /.).

Essential bleakness

From a NY Times review of the “DruidSynge” presentation of a number of JM Synge’s plays, Nasty, Brutish and Long: J. M. Synge, All at Once :

[T]he essential bleakness of Synge’s vision: life as a volatile but futile battle to achieve fulfillment in the face of the universe’s indifference, time’s velocity and the soul-destroying oppressions of the collective culture.

Ouch.

Kunonga Watch IV

The judge in Kunonga’s trial has stepped down, according to this BBC story.

“I believe I will now withdraw as judge of this trial,” Judge James Kalaile said, in response to the lengthy disagreements before the trial got under way. “I have not in my years as a judge in Malawi or elsewhere heard anything like this before.”

The AP reports:

Kunonga has refused to comment on the allegations against him. But the state-run Herald newspaper described him Thursday as the victim of a “white racist clique” that is pursuing him for refusing to join clergy that have demonized Mugabe’s government. Church leaders are among Mugabe’s most outspoken critics.

The UK Telegraph called the trial a farce because of Kunonga’s ‘vexatious’ objections.

Pauline Makoni, another leading Zimbabwean Anglican who travelled from London to give evidence against the bishop, said: “Our canons remain broken, our case against the bishop will not go away, we will continue.” Wearing a cerise cassock and surrounded by family members, Bishop Kunonga emerged from the courtroom, convened at Harare Royal Golf Club, smiling broadly and claiming victory.

According to the Zimbabwe Herald, all but two charges (out of 36) have been dropped; the original charges included incitement to murder.

Kunonga Watch III

More news articles: Bishop Kunonga: more equal than others and list of charges (NewZimbabwe.com). Harare bishop risks being excommunicated (IOL.co.za). Church court puts Mugabe bishop on trial (Telegraph.co.uk). Thanks, Yahoo! Alerts.

Kunonga watch II

Pro-Mugabe bishop faces charges in court : Mail & Guardian Online

An Anglican bishop who is a strong supporter of autocratic President Robert Mugabe has been brought before an ecclesiastical court investigating charges ranging from inciting murder to besmirching the church.

(I knew Kunonga when I lived in Evanston.)

Even more on index size

Jean Véronis got slashdotted on the index size story.

The NCSA is somewhat disclaiming the index size study published on the NCSA website, and the study has been revised somewhat. Véronis is keeping up: his latest post, Technologies du Langage: Yahoo: Missing pages? (4), includes the original stronger disclaimer, and discusses why the revised study is still flawed.

In conclusion, this new study is just as biaised as the previous one. It still counts numerous junk documents returned by Google, and doesn’t address other important issues.

I’m a bit surprised that no one else has mentioned the English bias of the NCSA study.

In some ways, the thing that most disturbs me about this flap is that the Vernon Burton has had his name taken off the study (including the old study), leaving his two students ‘on the battlefield,’ as Véronis put it. This morning, Google and Yahoo still have a version of the August 8 version of the study the in their respective caches, showing Burton’s name as a co-author.

Found spam poems (I)

utensil devotion toast,
if whale bivouac and
marriage doorman.

DIY Maps

(2004 Sacred Harp Conventions)

Nice Do it yourself map creation tool written in Flash.

those which, from a distance, look like flies (*)

Daughter Jane straightened out our DVDs today, at her mother’s request. She decided to organize by genre:

1. Fighting movies (e.g. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon),
2. Animation (e.g. The Incredibles),
3. Classicish (e.g. It’s a Wonderful Life),
4. Magic (e.g., Harry Potter),
5. Modern Action (e.g., Charlie’s Angels),
6. Princess Movies (e.g. The Princess Diaries),
7. Movies That I Have No Intention of Watching in the Next Millenium (e.g. 2001, A Space Oddesey).

(*) See The Analytical Language of John Wilkins.

Neave Lab › Flash Earth

Beautiful