The most important thing is insight, that is to be - curious - to wonder, to mull, and to muse why it is that man does what he does. — William Faulkner, who died in 1962
Sydney has ways of providing soulful afternoon ... peppered with sunny weather ... sunnier geranium stories, Iggy bread Hungarian cabai and all kinds of Dorrigo like fresh farm delicatessens ... TABJ is the new way of gambling 🎰 during brunches 😎... Brunches appeal to descendents of Italian stock - like Sicilian connected Julie and Alannah ...
From more than 6000 submissions, the National Audubon Society has selected the winners of The 2020 Audubon Photography Awards, featuring some of the best bird photography of the year. The top photo, of a cormorant diving for dinner, is by Joanna Lentini and the second photo, of a thirsty hummingbird, was taken by Bibek Ghosh.
Doublespeak: Language Designed to Mislead While Pretending Otherwise
Linguist William Lutz, former editor of the Quarterly Review of Doublespeak, went on CSPAN in 1989 to promote his book, Doublespeak. The video above is a 7-minute distillation of his thoughts on what he calls “language designed to mislead while pretending not to”. (Watch Lutz’s full interview here.)
You can read the first chapter of Doublespeak; an excerpt:
Doublespeak is not the product of carelessness or sloppy thinking. Indeed, most doublespeak is the product of clear thinking and carefully designed and constructed to appear to communicate when in fact it doesn’t. It is language designed not to lead but mislead. It is language designed to distort reality and corrupt thought… In the world created by doublespeak, if it’s not a tax increase, but rather “revenue enhancement” or “tax base broadening”, how can you complain about higher taxes? If it’s not acid rain, but rather “poorly buffered precipitation”, how can you worry about all those dead trees?
See also On Bullshit and Donald Trump