A Quest

04 October 2007

Streets Without Signs? Bricks Without Straw?

Are streets without traffic signs conceivable? Seven cities and regions in Europe are giving it a try -- with good results.

clipped from www.spiegel.de

"We reject every form of legislation," the Russian aristocrat and "father of anarchism" Mikhail Bakunin once thundered. The czar banished him to Siberia. But now it seems his ideas are being rediscovered.

European traffic planners are dreaming of streets free of rules and directives. They want drivers and pedestrians to interact in a free and humane way, as brethren -- by means of friendly gestures, nods of the head and eye contact, without the harassment of prohibitions, restrictions and warning signs.

"The many rules strip us of the most important thing: the ability to be considerate. We're losing our capacity for socially responsible behavior," says Dutch traffic guru Hans Monderman, one of the project's co-founders. "The greater the number of prescriptions, the more people's sense of personal responsibility dwindles."

20 September 2007

Scientists & Dying Languages

I'm not a fan of Fox News, but this was interesting.

clipped from www.foxnews.com

Scientists Race Around World to Save Dying Languages

WASHINGTON — When every known speaker of the language Amurdag gets together, there's still no one to talk to.

Native Australian Charlie Mungulda is the only person alive known to speak that language, one of thousands around the world on the brink of extinction.

From rural Australia to Siberia to Oklahoma, languages that embody the history and traditions of people are dying, researchers said Tuesday.

While there are an estimated 7,000 languages spoken around the world today, one of them dies out about every two weeks, according to linguistic experts struggling to save at least some of them.

Five hotspots where languages are most endangered were listed Tuesday in a briefing by the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages and the National Geographic Society.

15 September 2007

Where Will You Go, Sweetheart?

The Series 5 Special, from the White Box, really displays the dramatic tension between Eddy and Saff.

clipped from www.youtube.com

12 September 2007

Comedic Satire

A little humor from the BBC's brilliantly-talented writer and comedian, Jennifer Saunders, played onscreen by Mo Gaffney in the role of Bo Chrysalis. This is a laugh shared across the wide ocean.