Ancient Sumerian part 2

I had previously and quite briefly looked at the ancient Sumerian language.

Those Sumerians had some peculiar religious beliefs. How odd that they would worship the cat from the Mr Bean cartoon.

Right there below the tail

I suppose it could be a star which would fit with its also meaning the heavens. 

Or an asterisk which would have the odd effect of suggesting that a foot note is a call out to god. 

Ancient Sumerian

Never let it be said that this isn't a classy, high brow establishment interested in other cultures and languages.

The ancient Sumerian symbol for woman :

Sumerian pictogram for woman

Below is the Ancient Sumerian symbol for man. It seems more ambiguous. It could be a fist and forearm or a cartoon man standing in a helmet or a tailless seahorse.

spotty

Ici Repose

I wasn't aware that "ici repose" was french for "here rests" Up until recently I assumed it was meant what it sounded like : Dead in the ground lying in icy cold repose.

How Orwellian : Joschka Fischer & Putzgruppe

The NYTimes in 2001 says about Joschka Fischer (former Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor of Germany under Gerhard Schröder) :

The minister says he has never hidden his leftist past, always opposed terrorist violence and apologizes for having been a ''street fighter.''

and

''Should I distance myself from the struggle over Vietnam or Chile?'' Mr. Fischer asks in a conversation with a handful of journalists. ''No. What I must distance myself from is being a street fighter.'' But, he adds, to compare freedom fighters with rightists or Nazi revisionists -- as has happened here of late -- ''is simply grotesque.''

Above is Joschka Fischer (former Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor of Germany under Gerhard Schröder), Hans-Joachim Klein and other putzes beating/freedom fighting German police officer Rainer Marx.

"Putz," as everyone knows, refers to a stupid person and is Yiddish for "dick."  Although this seems entirely appropriate, it turns out Putzgruppe is German for "cleaning squad" while the first syllable being an acronym for Proletarische Union für Terror und Zerstörung, "Proletarian Union for Terror and Destruction"

Fun fact : Joschka Fischer harbored members of the Red Army Faction and lent his car to Hans-Joachim Klein and Klein used the car to smuggle guns that were latter used to assassinate Hessian Secretary of Commerce Heinz-Herbert Karry. The German wiki page for Putzgruppe mentions they used molotov cocktails more than once including burning (or freedom fighting, if Herr Fischer would prefer) policeman Jürgen Weber over 60% of his body.

When he says the comparison to rightists or Nazis is "simply grotesque" I think he really means "accurate but not flattering."

I wonder if the NYTimes might want to rethink paraphrasing without qualification "always opposed terrorist violence" about a member of a group that included the word "Terror" in its name.

How Orwellian : Gaps in understanding the meaning of equality

The WEF's Gender Gap report (PDF) redefines inequality as equality. 

US Educational Attainment (page 370)

The female to male ratio of USA enrollment in tertiary education is 1.41 but it is scored as "1" (1 = Equality). There is no extra credit given for women being in an advantageous position as the maximum score is one. When there is a gender gap where men suffer then it is defined as equality.

Fiji Educational Attainment (page 198)

The result of truncating the score at 1 is that Fiji's Educational Attainment has women equal to men or leading men in 3 of the 4 subcategories but because they trail in one subcategory the entire category is graded as showing inequality to women.

Cameroon Health and Survival (page 158)

Further, they define the "equal" life expectancy ratio at 1.06:1. If men and women have the same life expectancy, like Cameroon, then that is marked as inequality. 

Also note that the Sex ratio at birth is bounded at a predetermined "equal" value of 0.94 instead of Cameroon's actual 0.97. The result is that despite being equal in life expectancy and higher in sex ratio at birth the result is a overall Health and Survival score of 0.961 – Not Equal. 

As an aside, I'm unclear as to why "Sex ratio at birth" is a significant category. It doesn't capture female infanticide (except for sex selective abortion) and unlike most categories it doesn't seem determined by traditions or social institutions. A cynical person might suggest that it is a subcategory added solely to lower the Health and Survival average and to game the OMGsomethingHasToBeDone system.

Burundi Health and Survival (page 154)

Burundi's women have a higher sex ratio at birth than average and a higher life expectancy than men. This may lead some to think men are suffering inequality. Not according to the WEF. Because the sex ratio at birth score is capped at 0.94 and because women outlive men but do not outlive them to a sufficient degree that means the women of Burundi are the ones suffering inequality. 

In Australia (p120) men have a lower life expectancy than women by 3 years which the WEF scores as women suffering a gender gap. 

It is interesting to note the existence of a category listed under "Additional Data - Social Instutitions" : "Quota type" which notes if there are laws requiring a quota of female candidates or if laws require seats in the legislature be reserved for women.

On page 4 they acknowledge that they could present both gaps in the achievements of women and also the gaps in men's achievements but "We find the one-sided scale more appropriate for our purposes." 

One might get the impression these are not the most rigorous egalitarians.




the critique of the WEF Gender Gap report continues here.

A French accent isn't that hard

A French accent isn't that hard and there is such a thing as French actors (and there is even such a thing as unpretentious French actors) so I don't understand why some movies have people speaking with a British accent when the character is French.  If it were an all-British production it would be more understandable but even the American actors put on a British accent. Almost everything is in English except they will say "monsieur" and "mademoiselle" instead of Sir and Madam and French proper names, some or all written text, and the names of locations are said in French.

They could simply make the point that the setting is France with a graphic in the beginning that says "Location : Paris, France" and then carry on in English. Or they could do it in French and subtitle it.

I assume the reasoning is due to one of or several of the following :
a) A shortcut to let it sound foreign and yet understandable.
b) Hollywood has a very, very poor grasp of geography.
c) A ploy to piss off the frenchies.

A couple examples from the movie Hugo (2011)  (keep in mind that every single character is supposed to be French) :

As I recall, another example would be the 1998 movie version of Les Misérables which had a mess of accents, mostly not French – specifically, Liam Neeson didn't bother putting on an accent and Claire Danes' French character alternated between an American and a British accent.

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It's an interesting poster/mural from the movie Hugo.  A globe, a chubby body with something exiting his heart, a blob and a VU on either side. It looks vaguely familiar but I can't place it. I'd love to know what it is.

word

Recently, I turned on the TV, switched to the old movie channel and a moment later the word "SLUT" appeared on the screen. I was shocked and, of course, hurt and confused. The TV and I had always had a good relationship, at least I thought so. To call me a slut was uncalled for and, I would argue, not a very accurate. I pondered getting written statements from witnesses to testify to my mostly good character.

But then it turned out to have been the last bit of a Danish movie and "slut" is the danish word for "end." TV and I are back on speaking terms.

And now I can argue with someone, make my case and signify the end of my statement by saying "Slut!" Or criticize their lack of knowledge and signify the end of my statement by saying "Ignorant! Slut!"