Tuesday, March 12, 2002 9:39 AM
From: Arnold Nelson
To: Kathryn Jean Lopez
Jay Nordlinger's piece today...
...the comment on [figure skating champ] Sarah Hughes: I don't own a TV, but did happen to hear Hughes talk for a couple minutes after winning the medal, and again yesterday for a somewhat shorter time, on her reception at home. She sounded like a sixteen-year-old, with plenty of "ya know"s, but I have yet to hear her say 'like'. I overhear 40-year-olds on the el here in Chicago who can barely say three words without a 'like' let alone go three minutes without it.
Appreciating civilized talk wherever I can hear it,Arnold H. Nelson (from the democrat occupied west bankof Lake Michigan, Illinois 9th CD)
PS sent this to you because I did not see a link for Mr. Nordlinger.
[I met Nordlinger face-to-face at a reception for National Review editors and readers at the East Bank Club here in Chcago. He's from Ann Arbor MI, and was quite interested that I was from South Haven. I told him about our high school band marching/playing in U of M stadium in 1952 at band day. There were 94 bands that marched out on the field, and we were the third, so we got to watch 91 other bands march on after us. He seemed impressed.]
Tuesday, March 12, 2002
Tuesday, March 5, 2002
Tough rats
Monday, March 5, 2002 noon
Editors, The New York Times
The March 5, 2002 New York Times' article 'Waiting for the A Train, the Sophisticated Pigeon' starts out by listing some "...strange subway stories — some pure urban legend, some alarmingly real...," specifically those about animals.
One item: "...rats tough enough to survive the third rail."
Any rats surviving contact with the third rail do it because of agility, not toughness. They may jump there somehow, but they will only survive by anotherlucky jump. If any part of them (such as their tail) touches any suitable ground, such as a traction rail, while also in contact with the third rail, they will be tough only to some creature trying to consume their remains (if any.)
Arnold H. Nelson 5056 North Marine Drive Chicago IL
Editors, The New York Times
The March 5, 2002 New York Times' article 'Waiting for the A Train, the Sophisticated Pigeon' starts out by listing some "...strange subway stories — some pure urban legend, some alarmingly real...," specifically those about animals.
One item: "...rats tough enough to survive the third rail."
Any rats surviving contact with the third rail do it because of agility, not toughness. They may jump there somehow, but they will only survive by anotherlucky jump. If any part of them (such as their tail) touches any suitable ground, such as a traction rail, while also in contact with the third rail, they will be tough only to some creature trying to consume their remains (if any.)
Arnold H. Nelson 5056 North Marine Drive Chicago IL
Saturday, March 2, 2002
Bo Schembechler
Tuesday, April 2, 2002 7:38 AM
From: "Arnold Nelson"
To: Klopez@nationalreview.com
Miss Lopez: Any chance we can find out where Mr. Moore found that great Bo Schembechler quote in hisMonday 4/1 column?
("I saw a preposterous quote by Bo Schembechler(former Michigan football coach) who was criticizingthe Fab Five for failing to win the nationalchampionship....")
To Bo's credit is a story I understand he tells on himself: When he was announced as new UM football coach at some gigantic M Club luncheon, he concluded his acceptance statment with "And now we're gonna get rid of those stripped helmets." He said the room went absolutely silent (and they still have those helmets that Fritz Crisler directed maybe 60 years ago. [Still using them in 2008, too, I think])
Arn Nelson from the democrat-occupied west bank of Lake Michigan
From: "Arnold Nelson"
To: Klopez@nationalreview.com
Miss Lopez: Any chance we can find out where Mr. Moore found that great Bo Schembechler quote in hisMonday 4/1 column?
("I saw a preposterous quote by Bo Schembechler(former Michigan football coach) who was criticizingthe Fab Five for failing to win the nationalchampionship....")
To Bo's credit is a story I understand he tells on himself: When he was announced as new UM football coach at some gigantic M Club luncheon, he concluded his acceptance statment with "And now we're gonna get rid of those stripped helmets." He said the room went absolutely silent (and they still have those helmets that Fritz Crisler directed maybe 60 years ago. [Still using them in 2008, too, I think])
Arn Nelson from the democrat-occupied west bank of Lake Michigan
Monday, January 7, 2002
Bataan in the Phillipines
Chicago Monday, January 7, 2002
Voice of the Prople Chicago Tribune
The Almanac in the Monday, January 7 Tribune says "In1942, the Japanese siege of the Philipine Island of Bataan began in World War II."
Bataan is a peninsula, not an island.
Arnold H. Nelson 5056 North Marine Drive
Chicago 60640
Voice of the Prople Chicago Tribune
The Almanac in the Monday, January 7 Tribune says "In1942, the Japanese siege of the Philipine Island of Bataan began in World War II."
Bataan is a peninsula, not an island.
Arnold H. Nelson 5056 North Marine Drive
Chicago 60640
Saturday, January 5, 2002
Servers
Saturday, January 5, 2002 1:09 AM
From: "Arnold Nelson"
To: "Bill Safire" New York Times columnist
Bcc: "Jim Snyder"
Mr. Safire: in your "On Language" column in the NewYork Times 1/6 Sunday Magazine you refer to Yahoo! as an "...Internet server..." and further as a "...popular server...."
I've been using Yahoo! for almost 3 years, every day,for most of the day, and this is the first time I've seen YaHoo! described as a 'server'. I thot it was a 'portal', a software tool used to access the internet,which runs physically on a system of 'servers', whole computers (very specialized and very powerful computers at that) used by ISPs (Internet Service Providers.) An ISP is technically a 'portal' too, but can have very limited portal capabilities compared to something like Yahoo!
Only very recently has Yahoo! been reported to be considering adding servers to become an (initially limited) ISP.
I would hate to see these two up-to-now completelyserparate and mutually exclusive elements of computing terminology (hardware and software) start to overlap and become blurred, as happens so much in English.
Arn Nelson in Chicago
From: "Arnold Nelson"
To: "Bill Safire" New York Times columnist
Bcc: "Jim Snyder"
Mr. Safire: in your "On Language" column in the NewYork Times 1/6 Sunday Magazine you refer to Yahoo! as an "...Internet server..." and further as a "...popular server...."
I've been using Yahoo! for almost 3 years, every day,for most of the day, and this is the first time I've seen YaHoo! described as a 'server'. I thot it was a 'portal', a software tool used to access the internet,which runs physically on a system of 'servers', whole computers (very specialized and very powerful computers at that) used by ISPs (Internet Service Providers.) An ISP is technically a 'portal' too, but can have very limited portal capabilities compared to something like Yahoo!
Only very recently has Yahoo! been reported to be considering adding servers to become an (initially limited) ISP.
I would hate to see these two up-to-now completelyserparate and mutually exclusive elements of computing terminology (hardware and software) start to overlap and become blurred, as happens so much in English.
Arn Nelson in Chicago
Friday, December 14, 2001
Tuesday, December 11, 2001
Dog graphic in Chicago Tribune
Tuesday, December 11, 2001 9:45 AM
From: Arnold Nelson
To: Stacy Sweat, Chicago Tribune graphics editor
Ms. Sweat, that is a fine graphic in today's (Tuesday,December 11, 2001) Tribune explaining why dogs have such a good sense of smell. I always wondered how they did that.
The accompanying text says: "Fron the nasal membrane,the scent is transmitted to the olfactory lobe, which has an area of up to 150 cubic centimeters in dogs and 3 cubic centimeters in humans."
If olfactory lobes, dogs or humans, have areas, they are measured in square centimeters, not cubic centimeters. If they are measured in cubic centimeters, then they have volumes, not areas.
But you have great graphics - keep up the good work.
Arnold H. Nelson
North Marine Drive Chicago
[Ms. Sweat sent me a personal reply to this, but the only point she made was that she completely missed my point. SO then I sent this:
Monday, December 17, 2001 5:42 AM
Chicago Tribune Voice of the People:
A graphic caption "How the nose knows" accompanyingthe article "Demand big for dogs that smell trouble"in the Tuesday, December 11, 2001, Chicago Tribunesays: "From the nasal membrane, the scent istransmitted to the olfactory lobe, which has an areaof up to 150 cubic centimeters in dogs and 3 cubiccentimeters in humans.
I'm no veterinarian, so I wouldn't know a nasal membrane from an olfactory lobe if they bit me, but I do know that an 'area' is measured in square units of length (even an acre is 43,560 square feet,) not cubic units of length. Only if the lobe has a volume is it measured in cubic units of length (cubic centimeters,or even gallons, which are 231 cubic inches.)
If no one at the Tribune is aware of these distinctions, maybe they should have been satisfied with just their opening sentence, "Dogs are able to pick up scents better than most animals because a large part of their head and brain is used exclusivelyfor smell."
Arnold H. Nelson
5056 North Marine Drive]
From: Arnold Nelson
To: Stacy Sweat, Chicago Tribune graphics editor
Ms. Sweat, that is a fine graphic in today's (Tuesday,December 11, 2001) Tribune explaining why dogs have such a good sense of smell. I always wondered how they did that.
The accompanying text says: "Fron the nasal membrane,the scent is transmitted to the olfactory lobe, which has an area of up to 150 cubic centimeters in dogs and 3 cubic centimeters in humans."
If olfactory lobes, dogs or humans, have areas, they are measured in square centimeters, not cubic centimeters. If they are measured in cubic centimeters, then they have volumes, not areas.
But you have great graphics - keep up the good work.
Arnold H. Nelson
North Marine Drive Chicago
[Ms. Sweat sent me a personal reply to this, but the only point she made was that she completely missed my point. SO then I sent this:
Monday, December 17, 2001 5:42 AM
Chicago Tribune Voice of the People:
A graphic caption "How the nose knows" accompanyingthe article "Demand big for dogs that smell trouble"in the Tuesday, December 11, 2001, Chicago Tribunesays: "From the nasal membrane, the scent istransmitted to the olfactory lobe, which has an areaof up to 150 cubic centimeters in dogs and 3 cubiccentimeters in humans.
I'm no veterinarian, so I wouldn't know a nasal membrane from an olfactory lobe if they bit me, but I do know that an 'area' is measured in square units of length (even an acre is 43,560 square feet,) not cubic units of length. Only if the lobe has a volume is it measured in cubic units of length (cubic centimeters,or even gallons, which are 231 cubic inches.)
If no one at the Tribune is aware of these distinctions, maybe they should have been satisfied with just their opening sentence, "Dogs are able to pick up scents better than most animals because a large part of their head and brain is used exclusivelyfor smell."
Arnold H. Nelson
5056 North Marine Drive]
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