Alarming News: I like Morgan Freeberg. A lot.
American Digest: And I like this from "The Blog That Nobody Reads", because it is -- mostly -- about me. What can I say? I'm on an ego trip today. It won't last.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: We were following a trackback and thinking "hmmm... this is a bloody excellent post!", and then we realized that it was just part III of, well, three...Damn. I wish I'd written those.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: ...I just remembered that I found a new blog a short while ago, House of Eratosthenes, that I really like. I like his common sense approach and his curiosity when it comes to why people believe what they believe rather than just what they believe.
Brutally Honest: Morgan Freeberg is brilliant.
Dr. Melissa Clouthier: Morgan Freeberg at House of Eratosthenes (pftthats a mouthful) honors big boned women in skimpy clothing. The picture there is priceless--keep scrolling down.
Exile in Portales: Via Gerard: Morgan Freeberg, a guy with a lot to say. And he speaks The Truth...and it's fascinating stuff. Worth a read, or three. Or six.
Just Muttering: Two nice pieces at House of Eratosthenes, one about a perhaps unintended effect of the Enron mess, and one on the Gore-y environ-movie.
Mein Blogovault: Make "the Blog that No One Reads" one of your daily reads.
The Virginian: I know this post will offend some people, but the author makes some good points.
Poetic Justice: Cletus! Ah gots a laiv one fer yew...
In January I complained that communication, in written and verbal form, seems to have diminished to a purely ornamental ritual. The evidence in front of my eyes indicates there has been a widespread resignation to the defeatist realization that, no matter how many words & syllables are used, very few ideas are going to be exchanged. You see it in quite a few places. Ordering food is the most common and frustrating example, but there are many others.
Via Boortz, we learn about a plane that nearly crashed because the pilots didn’t speak English.
The navigation problems occurred because the co-pilot had entered the wrong coordinates before takeoff, causing the navigation system — which also runs the auto-pilot — to shut down.
The pilots were then forced to use emergency controls and rely on directions from the ground.
On several occasions, the co-pilot steered the plane in a different direction than the air traffic controllers instructed, The [London Daily] Mail reported.
The airliner almost crashed into another airplane at one point, forcing the other plane to change its course.
My goodness, what are we to do about this? Oh wait, there seems to be a solution. The article continues…
Only a few Polish pilots understand English, which is the international language of aviation, The Daily Mail reported. Many countries have failed to ensure that their pilots were proficient in Engilsh by March this year, a deadline set by the International Civil Aviation Organization. [emphasis mine]
Hmmm…….
You know, I live in a country that speaks English. Except that is not the official language of this country; my country doesn’t have an official language. Some are of the opinion that would be racist. Now I don’t know if they’re in the majority, but the people who make the rules sure seem to be afraid of those folks so in my lifetime I don’t think I’m going to see English made the official language of the United States of America. Not on paper anyway…not without a whole lot of yelling. In something.
Well gosh. It looks like the international aviation world is way ahead of us. And the language they chose is — English! What a bunch of damn racists!
But it’s easy to see, this is a world in which babbling away and playing games of make-believe that the other guy understands what you said — which seems to be exactly what’s happening at the fast food counter, every time I see business transacted across one — are luxuries that can’t be afforded at ten or twenty thousand feet. And so they did what was necessary.
Down here on the ground, it seems we have things completely backwards. When it comes to thoughts you carry around in the privacy of your cranium, we “standardize”…you aren’t allowed to think certain things, even though those things make a lot of sense. Like, for example, the English language isn’t racist. Then when the standardized ideas are carried to our mouths suddenly the standardization falls away. Jabber away in valley-girl-rap-hybrid, ebonics, Leeloo’s Fifth Element language, Klingon, Pig Latin, surfer-dude, whatever you want. It’s the other guy’s problem to figure out what you’re mumbling.
This is the one place where we can really use standardization — where we try to convey and receive thoughts. If there isn’t a common platform, it’s a futile endeavor.
Our prevailing sensibility seems to be pushing us into an unhealthy habit of standardizing on everything else. Where that plane bumbled around and nearly crashed, there but for the grace of God fly the rest of us.
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