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Today, is the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day. International Women's Day is recognized as a time to celebrate the global inequalities women have overcome and to work on removing inequalities that still remain. The first International Women's Day was held in Germany, Austria, Denmark and Switzerland, during the year 1911. What began as campaigns, rallies, and protest for Women's rights has transitioned, some what, into a celebration of equalities achieved for women, economically and socially. Although it is true we have made great strides, all over the world Women are still treated less than Man.
Some Interesting Facts about the Plight of Women*
Women perform 66% of the world's work, but....
Women represent 70% of the world's poor
6 out of every 10 women experience sexual/physical abuse
Women were not allowed to vote until the year 1920, in the U.S.
1964, The Civil Rights Act was passed, which also help to prevent discrimination of women in the workplace
In times of War, Women are brutally punished
N.O.W., National Organization for Women founded 1966
1987 Congress established Women's History Month
Each year an International Women of Courage Awards ceremony is held. This year it will be hosted by none other than Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton and First Lady Michelle Obama.
Your favorite social sites are Celebrating International Women's Day, which means YOU can get involved with just a click of a button. Via Facebook you can sign CARE International Women's Day Petition. The petition will be sent to Congress to encourage our representatives to "support policies that help empower women". Sign the Petition HERE. Via twitter you can place bids to have your favorite celebrity (Brett Michales, Brian White, George Lopez, Ashley Tisdale, etc) follow, tweet, or retweet you. All proceeds from the bids will go to CARE, to help educate Women. Visit TwitChange HERE.
As a Woman, what do you do to EMPOWER those around you? Men, what women INSPIRE AND/OR EMPOWER YOU? COMMENTS!!!
*Facts were derived from several internet resources, dates and details vary by source


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Bulletin Letter from January 22
Dear Friends,
Last week I wrote of a number of upcoming opportunities for Adult Faith Formation that are being offered throughout this semester. There is a brochure available giving more details about all of them. This Thursday evening at 7 PM, I will begin a three-part discussion called "You Have A Right to What?" It will be focused on two very important contemporary social (moral) issues: "marriage equality" and "reproductive rights." Here I intentionally use the titles by which these areas are referred to in public discussion today. I am going to approach both subjects from the standpoint of rights that claimed in our culture today. When someone claims a right, especially when it is a new right, the first question should be "Where did that right come from?" So, the first of the three sessions (Jan 26), we will look at the historical, philosophical and theological question: "Where do rights come from?" This session will be the foundation for the other two discussions and will cut to the heart of the matter in the Catholic understanding of the human person. The subsequent sessions will deal with the two broad issues: "Marriage Equality" (Feb 2) and "Reproductive Rights" (Feb 9). I expect and invite a lively discussion. We will get started at 7:00 and it is my goal to be finished by 8:30.
Be reminded elsewhere in the bulletin of other faith formation opportunities in the near future.
Over the holiday break, I was reflecting on the last semester and the many, many ministries offered by our parish. I became aware once again of what a great staff I have been blessed with! The Friars and Sisters, the lay ministry and support staff, all are hard-working and a joy to be around. We are also blessed with scores of volunteers who make our work easier. I am aware that I do not say often enough how appreciative I am of the hard work that goes into making this parish function and thrive. THANK YOU ALL for your commitment to excellence in our community. God bless you all as we move into yet another busy and productive semester.
This entry was posted by St. Thomas More Catholic Newman Center on January 22, 2012 at 12:03 pm, and is filed under Pastor's Corner. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

subset: commoncrawl


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Hallagan Upholstery Furniture Discussion With Todd of Webster Interiors
Take a Tour of Our Showroom!
Tips for Decorating your Home Office
No matter if you're running a home business or simply want a room in which you can use your computer and catch up on your paperwork, you'll need home office decorating ideas in order to make that important space a pleasant area in which to spend your time. Office decorating has a very important purpose.…Read More
Decorating? No Need to Rush into things!
One of the things that drives me crazy is seeing people who are decorating their new home rush into many decisions and then regret them soon after. As an interior designer, that is one of the worst things I see. It might be surprising that one of the biggest things I have to tell people…Read More


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Hi folks, I'm Mike Henry. Thanks for your interest in the Henry Milker. I'd like to tell you about how my milking machine came about. I grew up milking goats and after starting a family in Alaska, I decided the goats must return. I began with five acres and a fiesty doe named Millie.
At 58 years old (and counting, reminds my daughter), I sure wasn't a young sprout anymore. Milking by hand was tough on the hands. Millie was putting up such a fuss, maybe I was out of practice? After the hundredth kicked over bucket, clumps of hair in the milk, straining and sterilizing the milk and tedious clean-up, I figured there had to be a better way.
Encouraged by my wife and daughter, I put on my overalls and went to work in the garage. After a week or so of tinkering, I had my first Henry Milker. It sure was crude, but I gave it whirl with Millie, and heck if I didn't have a little bit of milk!
Step by step, I improved the milker. Everyone was happier. Millie, my hands, my wife, my daughter. I started sharing my invention by selling it on Ebay. Buyers sent me a lot of great compliments and great suggestions, and I've implemented them into the milker.
I've had people from countries across the world order the Henry Milker for all types of animals, including miniature goats, cows, mares, mules and more.
My goal is to make milking enjoyable and easy for everyone. I love hearing from the people all around the world using the Henry Milker. If you have any questions or suggestions, please send me an email. Even better, post a video on YouTube of your goat and the Henry Milker and I'll feature it on my website.


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Sins of the Future contains fifteen terrifying futuristic tales written by fifteen brilliant authors. Each tale is different than the next and they all come together beautifully to make up one amazing anthology. The stories vary in the futuristic realm, some happen here on Earth, other's happen up in outer space. Some stories contain robots, other stories contain animals that walk and talk like we do.
Take a look at the banners created for each story to get an idea of just what our anthology is going to entail. We hope you are left on the edge of your seat in anticipation for our release October 31, 2015.
Mercury's Kiss by Jen Ponce
View original post 606 more words


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Dear all,
on behalf of the journal Biosemiotics, I refer you to a questionnaire which we now distribute in the biosemiotic community in preparation of the second review article in the biosemiotic glossary project. Carlo Brentari, Riin Magnus and I have been assigned as authors of this scientific article, which will review the term 'Umwelt' (in the sense established by Jakob von Uexküll in his Umwelt theory). As part of the editorial process, each review article will, when submitted, be distributed to the members of the editorial board of Biosemiotics and further to those cited in the article, for feedback.
A survey in the biosemiotic community is conducted in preparation of each review article. The associated questionnaire, which is to be returned to me as handling editor, is distributed to a wide range of biosemioticians, including but not necessarily restricted to/via the members of the editorial board and advisory board of Biosemiotics, the biosemiotics email list (firstname.lastname@example.com), the board members of the International Society for Biosemiotic Studies (ISBS), the board members of the International Society of Code Biology (ISCB), and the Biosemiosis blog (http://biosemiosis.blogspot.com/).
The invited authors are tasked with describing the outcomes of the survey associated with their review article, and to do so systematically and in an unbiased manner. However, when it comes to synthesis and suggestions, they will have the freedom to propose their own view even if it contradicts the general/popular understanding.
The deadline for returning the attached questionnaire is August 20th. It should be sent to my email address (mortentoennessen AT gmail.com or alternatively morten.tonnessen AT uis.no). The questionnaire (Word format) is available via my Academia.edu page, here.
My best,
Morten Tønnessen
Co-Editor-in-Chief of Biosemiotics
See also:


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This week's episode of The Gigaom Show tackles the big news of the week right up front: the ascension of just the third CEO in Microsoft's history, Satya Nadella, to the top spot, and Barb Darrow helps us set it straight. Nadella has got a lot on his plate, but at least he doesn't have to figure out how to make cars talk to each other (yet), something Kevin Fitchard helps us break down. And finally, we catch up with Stacey Higginbotham's quest to expose all the crazy dealings of the broadband world with her latest installment on the growing signs that ISPs are fighting back against video providers by throttling your Netflix.
Hosts: Tom Krazit, Stacey Higginbotham
Guests: Barb Darrow, Kevin Fitchard
Nadella's the one: Microsoft names new CEO, Gates stays on board, Thompson is chairman
The Gigaom Interview: A chat with Microsoft's Satya Nadella from before he was the (likely) next CEO"
The biggest Microsoft question: What about Bill?
The networked car is no longer just an idea; it will be mandated in future vehicles
There's something rotten in the state of online video streaming, and the data is starting to emerge


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In the newly published tween novel by Marcy Winograd and Jackie Hirtz, 11 year-old Lola Zola becomes a super sleuth to save her struggling town from a swindler who promises to "make America greater than great again."
Tween novel star Lola Zola is back. . . and this time the New Girl on Salt Flat Road rocks her world. by Marcy Winograd and Jackie Hirtz The sequel to the tween novel Lola Zola and the Lemonade Crush from Brown Girls Publishing debuts May 21, 2015 n Brown Girls Publishing's latest tween novel by educators Marcy […]
Brown Girls Publishing Presents Lola Zola & the Lemonade Crush
Marcy Winograd and Jackie Hirtz: 6th grader Lola tries to support her family when the pink slips arrive, but there's trouble across the street — and the dude in the Derby hat, swaggering down the lemon yellow carpet, is named Buck or Bucket of Slime.
Lola Zola and the Lemonade Crush
Self-assured, goal oriented, eleven year-old Lola Zola tries to support her laid-off parents and her tuxedo cat Bowzer by going into business selling "magical" lemonade rumored to zap wrinkles and promote world peace.


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**(Calls cost 7p per minute plus your phone company's access charge)
Click here for more information
Find where you're going and take the most convenient route with our GPS Navigation System.
The international airport for the capital of the Czech Republic stands 12 miles northwest of the city. Prague Vaclav Havel Airport is a modern air hub that is easily the country's busiest airport, and the busiest in many of the surrounding eastern European countries too. It was formerly known as Prague-Ruzyne Airport. Now there are four passenger terminals, two freight terminals, about 3,000 parking spaces but no train or metro connection. So hiring a car is one of the easiest ways to get into Prague itself. The R7 Expressway leads northwest towards Germany, while the Evropská road leads towards the centre of Prague.
Visitors who hire a car at Prague Airport can easily explore the attractions of this popular capital. Highlights include the Charles Bridge over the Vltava River lined with baroque statues and the Old Town Square where a medieval astronomical clock spectacularly celebrates on the hour. The gothic St Vitus Cathedral is the Czech Republic's most important church and Prague Castle looms over the old city centre, today serving as the President's residence and a symbolic landmark of the nation. Of course, it's also a city to relax and try a Czech beer in one of the famous bars, or simply wander the narrow streets and shops of the historic quarter.
The British Collection brings a touch of class to your journey. Relax in a comfortable Land Rover while travelling cross-country, or enjoy the freedom of cruising through the city streets in an ultimately British Jaguar.
Available at Edinburgh Airport, Glasgow Airport, London Heathrow Airport, London Marble Arch and Manchester Airport. Book now.
Please note that from 15 Nov to 15 Apr many cities are required by law to restrict the circulation to only vehicles equipped with snow chains or winter tyres. For a summary of the orders, please visit www.poliziadistato.it. To comply with the regulations, in specific locations subject to this requirement, vehicles are equipped with snow chains - the price is included in the rental charges through the cost of "Winterization Fee". At pick-up if you decide to bring your own snow chains or do not intend on driving on the roads subject to this requirement, you may decline the equipment by signing the appropriate release form. This change will be reflected in the rental charges. For more information on the fees, please click here. In all other regions, we recommend that you check before renting if your journey includes one of the roads subject to this requirement and therefore request the snow chains, if necessary.


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New system for signing operations, now safer21 De de 2015
Please be advised that from 10 June, the SMS Signature system will be changing to adapt to Securepay European guidelines
The new system will still request on screen two coordinates from your personal codes card, and additionally, depending on the type of operation, a code that will be sent immediately to your mobile phone, by means of a free SMS message.
We will only ask for this code on certain operations; it is unique and will only be valid for that operation.
Remember that we ask only two coordinates of your code card and just to confirm transactions you have previously requested.


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January 4, 2017 by Polarn O. Pyret
How is a piece of clothing actually created? What is the process beforehand?
Designer Susan has the answers to these questions as well as a few more!
Everything begins with a discussion regarding which print the garment is to have. Our print designers then draw it. Together the designers consider different color schemes and then decide which ones will be on the prints for the garments. When this has been done, an original is sent to the supplier for a print trial on fabric.
Testing is the next step.
The supplier sends garments in accordance with the instructions on the garment sketch and measurement list, and we test them at the head office. The design assistant and pattern maker check the fit and make sure that the supplier has understood our sewing instructions. The pattern has not been printed on the fabric at this stage, so the garment can come in all sorts of prints and colors. Fabric that the supplier currently has on hand is used.
At this point, a print trial on the fabric will have arrived. We check to make sure the print has the right size and color. We examine the colors against our color reference in a light cabinet. If the colors deviate, the supplier is responsible for improving them and sending new samples. We naturally want the entire collection to match.
When we have approved the print, the fabric's quality and the garment's fit, production can commence. At this stage, the garment generally arrives as it is meant to be so that we can have a look at the end result before the factory begins sewing our entire order. This gives us a final opportunity to make any improvements. Sometimes we are lucky enough to have children available to test our samples!
Category Fun, Patterns, Swedish Culture, Uncategorized | Tags:


text: NaturaLawn of America Lawn Care Service InLake Zurich, IL Crystal Lake, Algonquin, McHenry, Woodstock, Cary and surrounding areas Franchise Description 100% Pesticide-Free Lawn Care Natural Alternative® Lawn Program 100% pesticide free - perfect for households with children and pets. Promotes a healthy soil and lawn to deter pests naturally. Read More Organic-Based Lawn Care Alternative®Lawn Program Organic-based with minimal, targeted materials used for those who want enhanced weed and pest control. Read More Additional services available in McHenry, IL: Lawn Care - 100% Pesticide-Free Lawn Care - Organic-Based Aeration Aeration & Seeding Grub Control Natural Alternative® Ice Melt Tree & Shrub Service If you're looking for a Lake Zurich organic lawn care company that can do it all, call NaturaLawn of America. To improve the quality of your lawn, we use natural alternatives that regenerate and revitalize soil. We understand that not all lawns are the same, which is why we design personalized programs to revive your soil, grass, and plants. Best of all, when you choose NaturaLawn of America, you choose impeccable service. Our staff is punctual, perceptive, and polite. We let you know when we arrive, and we clean up right after we perform our work. We even share our knowledge with you! Do you have pets that love running around your yard? For their safety, we won't start until you can corral them indoors. When you contact us for Lake Zurich organic lawn care, we treat your home like it's our own. We provide the following services to Lake Zurich homes: Tree and Shrub Services – To finish off our work, we use a granular organic fertilizer. Grub Control –We use naturally occurring bacteria to eliminate grubs that dwell in your soil. Aeration – Bring air, water, and nutrients back into your soil and plants. When you aerate your lawn, you can expect thicker, greener grass. Aeration & Seeding – We introduce new varieties of grass to help your lawn resist weeds, insects, and disease. This also improves soil quality. For the best results, schedule regular aeration and seeding services. 100% Pesticide-Free Lawn Care – We provide your lawn with essential nutrients without the use of pesticides. Organic-Based Lawn Care – Control weeds and insects, encourage root growth, and revive depleted soil with customized solutions that are perfect for your lawn. Natural Alternative® Ice Melt – This non-toxic, biodegradable product won't damage your turf or plants. The ideal way to melt snow and ice, this product is easy to use and incredibly effective. Change the way your grass looks and feels. Contact the experts at NaturaLawn today to schedule professional Lake Zurich organic lawn care service.


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Primary tabs
Adam Geary
Photographic Bio
I've been taking photos now for around four years. I began this wonderful hobby by going out on day trips with my dad Steve while he took some photos. After a while I asked him if he had an old camera I could borrow so I could take some pictures of my own. After a very short period of time I was hooked. My favourite style of photography is sports, although I have been enjoying landscape photography recently and I also take a lot of photos of my little girl. Every once in a while I try my hand at some creative pictures and have had some reasonable results.
I am really enjoying my time here at Leek Photographic Club. It's great to be part of a club with a real 'family' atmosphere which takes its' photography and its' members seriously.
Camera equipment
Canon 70d, 50mm lens, 90-300mm lens, 10-20mm lens, macro lens with ring flash, and a flask of good quality coffee
Preferred subjects
Favourite photographer
Gallery - Click to see full images
Copyright information
The copyright in all photographs within this gallery are owned exclusively by the photographer. No copying or distributing of any kind without the written consent of the copyright owner is allowed.


text: Paul Bowles is Past-President of the Canadian Society for the Study of International Development and is also a Honourary Professor at Hebei University, China, and an Adjunct Professor of the Autonomous University of Zacatecas, Mexico. He specializes in Globalization, Regionalism, Economic Growth and Development in the Asia-Pacific region, and is also interested in the History of Economic Thought, Currency Issues, and China's Political Economy. Currently he is researching China's exchange rate and currency policies. Media Experience: Dr. Bowles has participated in media outreach in Canada and Australia.


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Southern California native Mark Anthony Tierno has crafted a truly epic fantasy novel that will take you to the ends of a world of magic, alien vistas, and ultimate evil. Now the two-volume first novel is available in a special reduced-price bundle that includes a FREE full-color map of the world of Maldene itself.
Monrovia, CA, Aug 20, 2016 Maldene is the epic of epics, a story so vast that the mere start of it has to be sold in two volumes. But now something is brewing. For the first time, the first Maldene novel is available the way it was written
together. Now you can get Maldene Volumes 1 AND 2 together in one order (ebook only for this offer), but there is a little something more. The map of the world of Maldene inside the front cover of the book is in black and white and rather low-res; just like many fictional world maps. Now, however, the author is making available a FULL-COLOR, ancient parchment looking, extremely HIGH-RES worldmap of Maldene, Free with this bundle download. Additionally, the total price of the two-book package has been reduced by $5.
Now you can get both, get it cheaper, and get a great looking map that you can zoom into until your hearts content. This special bundle is available at http://www.maldene.com/downloads/maldene-volume-1-2-with-free-map.
About The Book: Maldene, by Mark Anthony Tierno, is the first novel of an epic new Fantasy/Sci-Fi series. Standing at a total of thirteen full novels, 5.2 million words, and 250 characters, it is a story that redefines the word epic. A mysterious world of magic and ancient secrets, the story of Maldene is unlike anything else out there, spaning several continents, cultures, worlds, and thousands of years of alien history- all of it revolving around a plot as big as all space and the most evil villain of them all.
To Order: To find out more about the world of "Maldene", including a free sample to read online, just go to Mark Anthony Tiernos web site at http://www.maldene.com. To order any of his books, you can either find them on Amazon or via his ordering page at his site.
About the Author: The holder of a Masters degree in Physics, between that and over two decades of caring for ailing parents, Mark Anthony Tierno somehow managed to work in time enough to write the Maldene series, as well as other series of books in the Fantasy-SF cross-genre, not to mention ghostwriting for a variety of clients. He is currently working on a few other projects with writing partners, but admits that "Maldene" is his first love.


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On December 1, 1997, President Bill Clinton signed the 50 States Commemorative Coin Program Act. This called for new designs on the quarter dollar, to honor each of the nation's states. For ten years five different quarters were released annually, in the order in which the states joined the Union. The program began with the Delaware quarter in 1999 and ended with Northern Mariana Islands in 2009.
The way designs were selected varied somewhat across the series. For most states, citizens submitted ideas and the governor picked out several. Then a committee approved the final concept. After that a Mint artist developed the design—a little work of art small enough to fit on a one-inch coin.
The State quarter program created a sensation in the United States. The quarters are credited with introducing millions of Americans to the fun of coin collecting. Dozens of innovative products were created to help collect and store coins. Colorful Foam Collector Maps, library-quality Whitman Classic coin albums, and inexpensive folders are just a few.


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Welcome to the IUSL
The Institute for Ultrafast Spectroscopy and Lasers (IUSL) of the City University of New York (CUNY) is a world-renowned multidisciplinary research laboratory devoted to promoting research and education in photonic and laser technologies for scientific, engineering, medical, and industrial applications.
Established in 1982 by Professor R. R. Alfano, the IUSL has grown to encompass ten laboratories located in the Marshak Science Building of The City College of New York. Research and support staff now total 47. Among the major technical accomplishments are inventions of chromium-based forsterite, cunyite, and emerald lasers; fluorescence and excitation biopsy techniques for medical diagnostics; and optical biomedical imaging techniques. The IUSL researchers have published over 700 papers and have thus far been awarded more than 100 U.S. patents. The IUSL receives research grants from various federal and state agencies and industrial concerns. The research funding garnered by the IUSL has been over $3 M per year for the last 5 years. To date, 51 students, including 7 female and 5 from underrepresented minority groups, have received their Ph.D. degrees conducting research at the IUSL laboratories.
Conference Chair Robert R. Alfano, City College/CUNY
OPTICAL BIOPSY XV: Toward Real-Time Spectroscopic Imaging and Diagnosis, SPIE International Symposium on SPIE BiOS:
Jan. 28-Feb. 2, 2017, Moscone Convention Center, San Francisco, CA.
ABSTRACT DUE DATE: July 18, 2016
The goal of the conference is to present novel state-of-the-art work in non-invasive spectroscopic methods to detect the onset and progression of disease including pre-malignancy and malignancy and tissue response to external conditions including therapeutic intervention, unintended injury, and laser energy deposition. See flyer for more information.
Professor Robert Alfano
160 Convent Avenue
Marshak Science Building
Room MR-201
New York, New York 10031
p: 212.650.5531
f: 212.650.5530
e: email@example.com


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Well it seems that the recent word press hacks affected us a lot more then I originally though. I am in to process of restoring the site to at least a usable condition. This might take a little time however. I am to have the site up to at least accept new content by the Weekend.
One thought on "Website Outages"
A WordPress Commenter
Hi, this is a comment.
To get started with moderating, editing, and deleting comments, please visit the Comments screen in the dashboard.
Commenter avatars come from Gravatar.


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The Torrens Valley Christian School, Out of School Hours Care (OSHC) Program aims to provide a safe, enjoyable, relaxed environment where students can continue to grow to their full potential in a Christian environment. We work together with parents to ensure we are meeting the needs of all families and children. Children are encouraged to be honest, communicate openly, respect and enjoy one another and our environment, be confident and responsible.
Our play areas include indoor spaces, covered outdoor spaces, basketball courts, playgrounds and the oval. The program includes art, craft, DVDs, outdoor games as well as time set aside for homework. We follow the school's Sun Smart Policy with regard to the wearing of hats outdoors. All children are provided with an afternoon snack on arrival after school. These snacks include such items as sandwiches, fruit, savoury biscuits and water.
Session Times
Before School Care from 7:15am
After School Care 3:00pm – 6:00pm
Last day of each term 12:30pm – 6:00pm
Bookings are essential and can be made on a permanent or casual basis by contacting the school office. All children must be signed in/out by a parent or guardian when arriving at before school care or leaving the after school premises for OSHC.


text: "How to get contracted into closed and narrow payer networks – "The secret sauce,". To get immediate access to the slides please complete the form below: Name* First Last Company Name*Job TitleEmail* Phone*Enter the characters belowThis field is required to be sure that a real person is enrolling and not a computer generated request. Thank You.


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Volvo is looking for drivers who commute into west London to take part in its forthcoming self-driving cars trial in the Capital.
The Guardian's reporting that those behind the wheel of the initial will not "read the paper" but will need to sit ready to grab the wheel just in case, they are then looking for volunteers to test out the technology's possibilities by doing other things while being transported.
The newspaper says it is recruiting up to 100 commuters for the London trial to try out its semi-autonomous vehicles from the summer of next year and that the company is looking for professionals of different age groups – people who regularly commute to or from west London via the M40, M4, M25 or A4.
It says it will focus on people who are normally frustrated when they drive to work in the morning and that think it will be useful for them to be able to use this time on other things.
It adds that Volvo does not anticipate that drivers will need additional training or driving tests and that its aim is to make it almost like using a smartphone.


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* This PDF contains interactive features that must be read in Adobe Acrobat Reader to function properly.
Click on « Save as », and retrieve the file on your computer. Then right click on it and go to "Open with", and then choose "Acrobat Reader".
If you don't have Acrobat Reader on your computer, you can download it for free here: https://get.adobe.com/reader/
CAE's consolidated financial statements and MD&A (for the year ended March 31, 2017) have been filed with the Canadian Securities Administrators on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) and are available on our website (www.cae.com). They have also been filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and are available on its website (www.sec.gov).
Holders of CAE's securities may also request a hard copy of the Company's consolidated financial statements and MD&A free of charge by contacting the investor relations department (email@example.com).


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Bath Crystals decoratively stored in a 350 ml Kilner jar.
Sea salt infused with pure essential oils to soothe your mind and relax your body.
Buy Now
Enjoy a wonderful moment of relaxation in a lavender-scented bath.
The essential oil of lavender, resulting from the organic farming used in t
A rich body lotion from Autrepart in France to add to their Olive bio range.
This is a lovely perfumed body lotion with the delicate and nourishi
Enriched with Olive Oil this naturel shower gel from Autrepart with its wonderful perfume is particularly good for dry and sensitive skins.
Direct from France and Autrepart's Rose Range these wonderful bath salts presented in a very pretty plastic, easy to use bottle will decorate any [...]
Shower gel Madagascar Shea butter
This shower gel from France cleans your skin gently while coating you with a delicate flavor o
A traditional favourite. For a fragrant, foaming bath, pour the gel into warm running water.
For use in the shower apply directly on to a sponge.
This bath and shower gel contains the classic fragrance of lily of the valley with a note sparkling citrus and the fragrance of white rose, jasmine [...]
This moisture, rich shower gel from the Nantucket Briar range leaves your skin refreshed and clean with the fragrance of extracts of linden flower, [...]
Inspired by the rainforests of Sarawak, Malaysia, Crabtree & Evelyn's Sarawak products are designed to nourish your body as they are enriched [...]
A moisture-rich, cleansing gel which produces a copuious lather and is formulated to help soothe and conditin your skin with extracts of linden [...]
Bottle pump for Dr Hauschka's body & bath oils. This one fits the 150ml bottles but there is also one available for the 100ml bottles. These are very [...]
La Source, Produits Naturels,Manoir Sainte Cecile, Rue Louis Esparre, Juvigny sous Andaine, 61140 Juvigny Val d' Andaine Tel: 02.33.38.11.21
Copyright © 2020 La Source Produits Naturels


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Devloopers is a Web , App Development and Design Company that is revolutionizing Development, Design and IT Services industry. Founded in 2012 it has already completed 2000+ projects with 67% repeat customers.
It has built Cluster, a patent pending technology to bring down development costs. This is an Interview with the founder Krishna Murthy on how they are able to deliver fast and at reduced costs, their future roadmap and insights in design services.
Few Highlights :
ECommerce Development in Rs 23940 – 10 Days
Online Forum Development in Rs 23940 – 9 Days
9Gag Like Website in Rs 59,940 – 10 Days
How so cheap and fast ?
Ha Ha Ha. I'm glad you asked cheap. We don't like being called inexpensive. :P. We are like AWS of Development and Design Industries. We are dirt cheap and fast. We are similar to AWS in what many ways.
We have built a patent pending cloud technology called 'Cluster' that distributes project into small chunks, tracks progress and then collaborates to get the project completed. Currently more than 15000 Freelancers are connected across 67 countries by Cluster which are monitored and guided by our dedicated professionals. As the project gets distributed into chunks the respective freelancers from their expertise fields bid on it. In the bidding competitive landscape the customer gets ultimate benefit of speed and cost. You can read more about Cluster here.
What led to Devloopers ?
My partner and I were working in a web design and development company. We were surprised to see that non-IT background clients used to to pay hefty prices. Also the work was done inefficiently. We then suggested 'Cluster' idea to the founder but he refused. Thats when we thought to start on our own and hopefully journey has been great. Some new improvements have worked and some not but we always learn.
How is Devloopers different ?
Before answering to this question I just want to start with a little premise here.
If you don't belong to tech background then you are likely to pay 300% to 600% more for IT Services. Apparenty Ignorance is not a bliss here. We are changing that.
80% of the service takers don't know about how will their Project look like. They just make an image in their mind that their project will come out like this. Sometimes the development company lives upto that image but most of the times it doesn't but then customer has to accept it s enough time has already been passed. The other side of the coin is the customer doesn't know that there can be a better website/app designed. Its like a Frog living in a well story. It doesn't know about the outside world. So we came up with first of its kind WYSIWYG (What You se+e is What You get) model. Here the customer selects what should his/her Website should look like. We have Sample images of website and we then customize it to customer's content like Company name, About Us etc. This saves a lot of time in discussing and gives customer and us a head start. We also do fully custom projects. Also the customer can track progress from his/her account and is notified at various stages.
Is Design important ?
Ofcourse Yes.
Design is an integral part of any product. Its like we call it 'Every pixel matters'.
How much projects you get from India ?
It varies from category to category.
For example If we consider Web Development and App Development India is like others and commands higher percentage. On the other hand 99% of our Design Projects like Branding, Logo Design, Print Media are coming from outside of India. People in India don't care about designs.
For eg : They don't want their business card to be unique. They will get it in '200 mein 100'. Business Cards should look like an accessory when you give it to someone. A good looking business card and its sure to remain in wallet of third person for long. A bad one may get torn off after your meet is over. Also a different business card makes its name into the mind of third person. So even if he doesn't need your services and others want they will recall it and recommend you.
An example of Travel Business Card
Same goes for Resumes. In India still that Black Ink on White paper are used as Resumes.
People try to include as much text as possible in presentation and audience gets bored.
An example of of Presentation
Future Roadmap ?
We are currently using 'Cluster' Technology in Web Development, App Development and some part of our Design Services and its invite only for now. We will try to incorporate our other services like Online Marketing and SEO services too and make it more stable. The problem with connecting Online Marketing and SEO Services to Cluster is that it requires a personal touch so its like you have 1 steering and too many drivers. But we are looking for a way to add it. Also currently the penetration and mindset of Design in India is very much low or negligible. Its same as ecommerce 3-4 yrs ago. Then Flipkart and Snapdeal changed the landscape and now people are buying online and we want to do same in Design Services in India.
Iamwire users can get flat 10% off on our services by using coupon code : IAMWIRE
You don't have to pay anything but just place a dummy order and select Free Checkout. Devloopers Support will contact you and answer your every question.
So visit Devloopers
Disclosure: Devloopers is a sponsor on Iamwire


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Almond milk is the healthiest summer drink. Almonds are known for innumerable health benefits from improving memory, improving skin and hair and many more. Almond milk is easy way to include almonds in daily diet. In winters milk can consumed warm and in summers chilled almond milk is very refreshing.
Here is the video recipe for easy reference:
Below is the detailed recipe as well:
Milk - 1 glass full cream
Soaked Almonds - 15-20 pcs
Cardamom powder -1 pinch
Sugar - 1 tsp
Saffron (Kesar) - few strands
1. Almond paste - In a mixer jar add soaked almonds, sugar, cardamom powder, saffron soaked in warm milk along with little milk. Grind to get a almond paste.
2. Simultaneously boil milk in a pan and simmer for 5-10 min till thick. Stir in between to avoid sticking milk at base and sides of pan.
3. Add almond paste in boiled milk and simmer for 5-10 more minutes till all the flavours gets infused in milk. Switch off the flame. Cool down and keep in fridge for cooling till chilled.
4. Serve chilled almond milk garnished with almond slices and saffron strands.


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Fans of emojis, both young and old, will be thrilled to know that Prima Toys has launched a fun, emotional, expressive range of iconic Disney Emoji toys. It's time to have fun and express your feelings!
There is something for everyone in the range. Whether you enjoy displaying small collectibles or cuddling a cute plush, the Disney Emoji range has a variety of products that will help you express your feelings.
The collectibles are super cute and come in a plastic container that looks like a speech bubble. There are also mini Emoji chat packs and tins allowing you to display them in a variety of ways. The #Swapsies are a brilliant way to express feelings through play, especially for younger children. Children can explore feelings and express themselves through Minnie Mouse or Belle Swapsies. They are super-squishy, mega-sized plush toys with 20 fun expressions to choose from. Children (and adults) can have fun swapping the expressions to suit their own mood.
Whether you enjoy displaying small collectibles or cuddling a cute plush, the Disney Emoji range has a variety of products that will help you express your feelings.
The Disney Emoji Squeezables are yet another way of expressing feelings. These interactive plush toys feature 10 different sounds. Squeeze them and you will hear! There are four Disney Emoji Squeezables in the launch range, and they are sure to become firm favourites in any toy box. For those who prefer a smaller plush, the 10cm Disney Emoji Plush range features some of the coolest squishiest Disney Emoji characters around. They're perfect for squishy fun!
"The emojis that we have grown to love on our smartphones have now crossed over from the virtual world into the real world. The Disney Emoji range includes collectibles, swapsies, squeezables and plush toys. The brand new, fun products will definitely spread a good mood," says Chiquita Patrizi, spokesperson for Prima Toys.
Disney Emojis are a fun way of expressing feelings and the smaller products are perfect as stocking fillers for the Festive Season. Disney Emojis are available at good toy stores and retailers countrywide. For more information go to www.primatoys.co.za


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A la Carte
Custom Color Analysis
The first of two foundation styling elements. We analyze 2000+ colors and create a custom color fan and color guide for easy outfit coordination and a vibrant, healthy look. Your custom guide covers your color temperature, contrasts, intensity, and how to place color on your body type for the most flattering visual. It also talks about color psychology and how you can use your palette to influence others. A powerful tool – $557 (see video)
Body Architecture Analysis
The second foundation styling element. We take 20 body measurements and analyze your skin, hair, and facial features. We then look at your lifestyle and style preferences to create a 15+ page custom style guide, an inspiration board on Pinterest and a personal account on MyPersonalStylist.com. You'll save thousands by avoiding mistakes in garments, accessories, makeup choices, hairstyle choices – $755
DIY Style Kit and Signature Style Program discounts available. Ask about seminars for group rates.
Hourly Rates
$150 per hour ($450 minimum per day)
Get an additional 10% off and stay locked into your rate when you buy a DIY Style Kit or Signature Style Program.
This rate applies to the tasks you may find hardest to do on your own or just don't have the time or desire.
— Personal Shopping (online and in stores)
— Wardrobe Audits (including closet re-organization)
— Outfit Creation
— Special Event Styling


text:
5x18: Behind the Red Curtain
In this episode of The Mentalist, an actress is murdered in the city of Sacramento. With the help of LaRoche, Patrick will try to solve this crime
Datos sobre el episodio y opinión
We do not have a review about this episode yet, but... You can collaborate by writing your own review! You can upload it by clicking here
Caution: the comments section is located below this text. It is impossible for us to moderate everything said by the users due to high traffic volume. Please, if you did not watch the episode yet, be careful with spoilers


text:
Articles published on this site are based on the references made by the editors. Information provided in these articles are meant only for general information and are not suggested as replacement to standard references. Any inaccurate information, if found, may be communicated to the editor.
Contact us at: email@example.com
Kurt Lewin (1890-1947) is considered as the father of social psychology
He was born in Germany, later emigrated to the US.
He is well known for his writings on group dynamics, group therapy and social psychology.
Kurt Lewin introduced his field theory concepts, emphasizing that the group differs from the simple sum of its parts.
Lewin coined the term group dynamics in 1939.
His field theory states that "one's behavior is related both to one's personal characteristics and to the social situation in which one finds oneself."
His most influencial theory was his model of the change process in human systems.
Kurt Lewin theorized a three-stage model of change that is known as
the unfreezing-change-refreeze model that requires prior learning to be rejected and
Driving forces
Driving forces are forces that push in a direction that causes change to occur.
forces facilitate change because they push the person in the desired direction.
Restraining forces
Restraining forces are forces that counter driving forces.
Restraining forces hinder change because they push the person in the opposite direction.
Restraining forces cause a shift in the equilibrium which opposes change
Equilibrium is a state of being where driving forces equal restraining forces and no change occurs
Equilibrium can be raised or lowered by changes that occur between the driving and restraining forces.
Consists of three distinct and vital stages:
1. "Unfreezing"
Unfreezing is the process which involves finding a method of making it possible for people to let go of an old pattern that was counterproductive in some way.
Unfreezing is necessary to overcome the strains of individual resistance and group
Unfreezing can be achieved by the use of three methods.
First, increase the
driving forces that direct behavior away from the existing situation or status quo.
Second, decrease the restraining forces that negatively affect the movement from the
existing equilibrium.
Third, find a combination of the two methods listed above.
2. "Moving to a new level or Changing" or Movement
This stage involves a process of change in thoughts, feeling, behavior, or all three, that is in some way more liberating or more productive.
3. "Refreezing"
Refreezing is establishing the change as a new habit, so that it now becomes the "standard operating procedure."
Without this stage of refreezing, it is easy to go back to the old ways.
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text:
Bees, Beware & Business
Season 6 • Episode 6
Carlo's is all abuzz this week when Buddy makes a giant behive cake made with real honey! Later, Buddy gets a request from a wife who wants to prank her unsuspecting husband. Finally, all jokes are put aside when Grace and Buddy get down to business.
21 min|TV-PG|Premiered 10/09/2011


text:
- Search for JobsSearch for Jobs
- Browse for JobsBrowse for Jobs
- Create a ResumeCreate a Resume
- Company DirectoryCompany Directory
What You'll Do
Ever wondered what it would be like to immerse yourself in the ocean of major technology disruptions in the world today? What if you could be rewarded for being at the epicentre of helping drive the sales of one of the largest pioneers of the Internet on our planet, shaping the future through connecting the previously unconnected?
As a dynamic leader, you will be providing technical direction and business guidance to the regional sales team and driving business impact through technology and resource allocation. You will work with internal and external stakeholders in order to drive technology, services, and software adoption, business relevance, contributing to building a strong business network.
Join us to lead a team of high-performing Technical Solutions Specialist and continually seek innovative methods for improving your teams performance and overall impact. You will use Cisco technology to stay virtually connected with team members, customers and peers using collaboration tools and processes.
Who You'll Work With
You will be part of one of Ciscos fastest growing, disruptive, and innovative sales teams and the talent engine for Cisco Sales. We serve our customers life-cycle through a series of selling motions in order to drive higher value and an optimal experience from Cisco solutions.
The Global Virtual Engineering team within the Global Virtual Sales and Engineering (GVS & E) organization is a dynamic and multicultural team that consistently delivers technology sales enablement therefore contributing to profitable growth. Within this trusted team you can share best practices, your ideas, feel supported by your colleagues, challenge the status quo, be innovative, and have the flexibility to drive projects you are passionate about.
We connect Cisco customers with solutions that can transform their businesses and change the world for the better. You will have a significant impact in how customers are driving value from these solutions and technology offers.
We will provide you with a platform for success including: coaching, training and on-the-job learning that will strongly support you in your career advancement.
You will discover an innovative, flexible and award-winning working environment using the latest Cisco technologies to enable and empower you to perform to the very best of your abilities. Our teams can adapt quickly to respond to market changes and are highly encouraged to give back to our local communities.
Who You Are
Are you a people-focused technical sales professional with a broad knowledge of Cisco and/or relevant industry products, solutions, technologies, software and related programs?
Do you love facilitating communications and understanding requirements from customers, partners, sales, and engineering teams?
If you are a guru in translating technology vision, strategy and goals into a compelling value proposition for the team, then we want you!
Our minimum requirements for this role:
o Desired Technical sales leadership experience as a Systems Engineer Manager, Customer Success Manager, Software Engineer Manager, Technical Account Manager
o Passionate about the rapidly evolving world of Information Technologies, understand and follow the new technological trends and business models
o Bachelors degree in physical sciences, engineering, economics or mathematics
o Masters degree in related field is a plus.
o Bring energy and emotional intelligence and lead through motivating people
o Can navigate between organizational levels breaking silos and finding opportunities to collaborate between groups.
o People oriented, interested and skilled in growing talent & team, able to work with early in careers as well as experienced specialists
o Understands the value of scripting, software and everything-as-as-service
o Excellent written and verbal communication, listening and strong presentation skills
o Strong problem solving skills: ability to assess a problem and figure out an effective course of action. Ready to take on calculated risks.
o Ability to speak English is required, and other language skills will be favourable.
Why Cisco?
We connect everything securely: people, processes, data, and things. We innovate everywhere, taking bold risks to shape the technologies that give us smart cities, connected cars, and handheld hospitals. And we do it in style with unique personalities who arent afraid to change the way the world works, lives, plays and learns.
We are thought leaders, tech geeks, pop culture aficionados, and we even have a few purple haired rock stars. We celebrate the creativity and diversity that fuels our innovation.
We are dreamers and we are doers.
Before you go...
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text:
Market Cap: $263b
24H Vol:
btc dominance: 64.71%
Google Searches for 'Bitcoin Halving' Are Starting To Spike, How Will This Affect BTC Price?
BitMEX Research: Lightning Network Exposes 60,000 Non-Cooperative Channel Closures
Bitcoin Futures Transactional Volume Surges in the Wake of the Latest Crypto Market Bull Run
Bitcoin, Gold Prices Surge After Iran Responds With Missile Attacks; Safe Havens Trending For 2020
Ethereum's Block Rewards Increase by 25% in 2020 After The Muir Glacier Hard fork
Digital MLB Bobbleheads on Ethereum Network Fetch Thousands of Dollars in Sale
Domain Registrar EnCirca now allows Registrations of Ethereum Addresses
Third largest Russian Retailer uses Ethereum Tech to Simplify Trade Finance
IOTA Suffers Mainnet Issues, More Than 15 Hours Of Transactions Halted Due To 'Corrupt Ledger State'
XRP Transactions Are Growing And Accumulation Is Ongoing, Waiting For A Price Breakout
John McAfee to Launch 'Epstein Didn't Kill Himself' Token Following Controversial Death
Ripple Unveils "RippleNet Home" But XRP Price Doesn't Care Yet
Bitbond STO - First of its Kind German Security Token Offering
Real-Estate Giant That Owns World's Tallest Building Burj Khalifa Plans an ICO
The Money Circle Platform, FundChain AZ Token Public Sale Starts From 1st March 2019
Make Your Stand At The Sigmaico Battle
Ethereum and Tron Dominate Decentralized Blockchain Apps in 2019 as EOS Slides Behind in Q4
Blockchain Startup Alchemy Receives $15 Million Investment Boost From Tech Giants
Zerion Receives $2 Million Investment To Build Out Its Decentralized Finance (DeFi) App
Volvo starts using Blockchain to Check Source of Cobalt for Its Electric Vehicle Production
Market Cap
Volume 24H
Circulating Capacity
Max Supply
Singapore-Based Crypto Businesses and Exchanges to Fall Under New AML Rule
Top 5 Most Reliable Bitcoin Mixers for 2020
Is Bitcoin Really the Best Cryptocurrency?
Top 28 Best Ways to Earn Bitcoin and Get Paid in Cryptocurrency for 2020
Gold Bug Peter Schiff Loses Access To His Bitcoin Wallet, Rants About Bitcoin Being Unsafe
Canadian Regulatory Guidance Might Put Crypto Custody Exchanges Under Security Law
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text:
Find Your Laughter
February 25, 2013
This is the beginning of inspiration Monday on my blog. It will be full of the things that most inspire me, not just the beauty that I find every day in objects or nature, but the loveliness of the human spirit.
I had intended something different for my first post, but after coming off of the most fun weekend that I've had in some time, full of dear friends, surprises, a lot of laughter and a heavy dose of dancing, I'm just going to leave you with a simple quote.


text:
Off the Hook Communications proud to sponsor Graham Heath's race car for motorsport events.
Graham has owned and raced this car for more than ten years. What was originally a standard Nissan Pulsar when he first started racing has now seen many modifications and is now one of the top 2-wheel drive gravel sprint cars in the Wellington gravel sprint series.
After a great 2016 season in the Wellington gravel sprint series Graham has now won the the series ten times and has claimed the record for the most wins ever of the series. Graham will now be on the hunt for some new gravel challenges but will also be going for some more wins is the Wellington gravel sprint series.
If you are at a motorsport event that Graham is at and would like some information about Off the Hook Communications, have a chat with him about what we can do for your business – and if you're lucky, you may even get a ride in his race car.
Click here for more motorsport videos


text:
Connecting People and Wildlife through Rehabilitation, Education and Research since 1994
Found an injured animal?
If you have found a wild animal that you believe needs
help please call us (262)965-3090 or visit our
frequently asked questions page before intervening.
Choose from the categories to narrow the information
to the species you have found.
Education Programs
WINC's education department provides quality
educational programs for our community, reaching
groups of ALL ages.
Programs consist of a PowerPoint presentation,
live education animals, or both!
Typical education programs at any site run from
30 to 60 minutes in length.
(For small groups, WINC has facilities for on-site programs.)
Mission Statement
To provide wildlife rehabilitation to Wisconsin wildlife with the intent to release back to the native habitat, conduct research designed to further the positive impact of rehabilitation, and provide quality community education programs and services.
Vision Statement
Advance the well-being of wildlife through rehabilitation and education


text:
Did you have any childhood
experiences which particularly sparked your interest in language and writing
systems? Your father's family is
from Suffolk and your mother's family is from Wales; Did the different linguistic ancestry of your parents create an environment in which you were encouraged to view the world from more than one perspective? Did you occupy the mediator or communicator role in the family dynamic? As a child were you particularly drawn to stories or books written in other languages?
Simon: Both my parents speak more or less RP ["Received Pronunciation"] English so there were never any communication problems at home. My mum grew up in England and doesn't speak Welsh, neither did her parents, though her grandparents did. My dad's family moved around the country a lot so he has never picked up any particularly regional accent.
I grew up speaking English with a slight Lancashire accent.
My default accent is closer to RP now, though I tend to adjust the way I speak
to suit whoever I'm talking to. This process is partly conscious and partly
We used to go on holiday to various parts of England, Wales
and Scotland and I was interested by all the different English accents I came
across, and enjoyed, and still enjoy, trying to imitate them.
I only had limited exposure to foreign languages as a
child. I remember occasionally overhearing my mum's Welsh language lessons on
records and tapes. I was also interested in the foreign languages and alphabets
on the stamps I used to collect, and on product labels and instructions. I was
also fascinated by the strange alphabets in the Hobbit.
Ever since I learnt to read I've been a very keen reader,
though I didn't come across books in foreign languages until I started studying
French and German at secondary school.
How has your perspective on
English and English-speakers shifted because of your studies of other
Simon: Learning other languages has given me a better
understanding of the complexities of English. I can now appreciate why foreign
students of English struggle with certain aspects of the language. Monoglot English speakers seem to have difficultly grasping the idea that English is
difficult to learn.
Do you think exclusively in
English, or do you sometimes think in other languages? Are there any useful concepts
represented by a single word in a non-English language for which you wish there
was an English equivalent?
Simon: When speaking, I tend to think in whatever language
I'm speaking. When not speaking, I generally think in English.
There are many concepts for which there are no exact
English equivalent. They aren't necessarily "useful" but are
interesting. For example, the Chinese word "tangjie" means "a
female cousin on your father's side who is older than you". There are
another seven other words for cousin in Chinese.
Chinese kinship terms are much more precise than the
English ones - they specify whether the relative in question is male or female,
older or younger than you, and on your father's or mother's side of the family.
In Japanese and Korean you have all this, plus a different set of terms for
talking about other people's relatives.
On your Frequently Asked Questions page you explain that Omniglot originally developed from the multilingual section of a website you were building to promote a translation service. Do you have a feel for what particular aspects of writing systems caught your interest so strongly? Is there a high-level way to describe what you're learning as you study new languages and writing systems?
Simon: I think it was the appearance of writing systems that
first interested me in them: I found them strange, beautiful and exotic. As far
as I know, there isn't a word for the study of writing systems and languages.
Grammatology and graphology are both used to refer to the study of writing,
though graphology usually means the study of handwriting in order to
determine character.
How many hours of labor would
you estimate you've spent so far in developing Omniglot? What motivates you to invest so much
energy in a public service without getting paid?
Simon: I reckon I've spent at least 2,000 hours working on
Omniglot over the past four years. I enjoy the research and writing and have
learnt an enormous amount from it. Explaining writing systems and languages to
others helps me to understand them better myself.
Many people write to me simply to say how much they like
the site, how useful it is to them and how much they've learned from it. Others
write with corrections, suggestions or new information and also praise the
site. It's great to hear that my
efforts are useful and appreciated.
The site is now visited by about 150,000 people per month
and generates a modest income from a number of affiliates programs and from
What's the most enjoyable part
of Omniglot for you? Discovering a
beautiful new script? Extending or
clarifying your existing articles?
Simon: Discovering a new writing system is particularly exciting. So is finding significant new information about a writing system already featured on Omniglot. I also enjoy answering the language-related questions from people who contact me through the site.
Since Egyptian Hieroglyphics
were invented around 3,500 BCE, when did they start using the hieroglyphics
phonetically (as an abjad)? When
did the Sumerians begin using Cuneiform phonetically? How long is the typical lag time between the invention of a
logographic writing system and the reuse of that system phonetically?
Simon: I
think the Egyptians were using hieroglyphs for their phonetic values from a
very early date. There is evidence for limited use of cuneiform symbols for
their pronunciation from the earliest stages of cuneiform.
The idea
of using symbols phonetically seems to have occurred to users of writing
systems not long after the writing systems were invented. They probably
discovered the rebus principle fairly quickly and the acrophonic principle
A rebus
is a picture of something used to represent a word with similar pronunciation.
For example, a picture of a sheep (ewe) could represent the word
acrophonic principle involves using only the initial sound of a word. For
example, a picture of the sun could represent the sound /s/.
Which tools were originally used to write with? How did paper develop?
Simon: The
Sumerians wrote with styluses either on clay tablets or on wax-covered wooden
writing boards. The Ancient Egyptians wrote on papyrus, a plant which grew
along the Nile in Egypt during biblical times. Papyrus scrolls were made by
cutting and pressing sections of the papyri plant together at right angles.
The typical maximum length of a scroll was about 35 feet. The scribe, when
using papyrus, would often use the natural horizontal fibers of the papyrus
plant as guidelines. He would take a blunt instrument and score horizontal
lines and then score two or more vertical lines as margins for the edge of the
sheet or to define columns on it. We get the word "paper" from the Egyptian word papyrus, which literally means "that which belongs to the house" (of official court scribes).
to Chinese historical records, paper was invented in China in 105 AD when the
emperor Ts'ai Lun came up with the idea of making it from the bark of paper
mulberry tree, Broussonetia papyrifera. A material known as 'barkcloth' had
been in use in Chinese for many centuries before then and Ts'ai Lun probably
adapted it to make it suitable for writing on.
popular writing material was parchment, which is made from the skins of sheep
or cattle, and sometimes pig, goat, and other animals. It was invented in the
2nd century BC in Pergamum (modern Bergama in Turkey); hence the name parchment
from the Latin pergamena (of Pergamum). Skin had been used as a writing
material before this, but the refined methods of cleaning and stretching
involved in making parchment enabled both sides of a leaf to be used, leading
eventually to the supplanting of the scroll by the bound book. Vellum is a fine
kind of parchment made from delicate skins of young animals. Paper began to replace parchment from about the 14th century, but parchment is still used for certain
kinds of documents, and the name is often applied to high-quality writing
Is it true that Greek was the
first phonemic alphabet (meaning it includes vowels, as contrasted with an
Abjad, or consonant-only script)?
What prompted this development?
The Jewish mystic tradition of Kabala emphasizes "doubles," or
Hebrew words which could be pronounced two different ways depending on which
vowels one intones. Ergo, a single
written word could be spoken aloud as two different words. This was thought to prevent non-initiates
from understanding Kabalistic texts without training. Also, early Hebrew scribes believed that a written word with
two often contradictory meanings contained magical power. What was lost when vowels began to be
Greek was indeed the first phonemic alphabet. When the Greeks adapted the
Phoenician script they used consonants which had no equivalent in Greek to
write Greek vowels, which play an important role in the language.
Phoenician, Hebrew, Arabic and other Semitic languages, most words are built up
from a core of three consonants. Vowels are used to indicate tenses, plurals
and other grammatical baggage. Full vowel indication is generally only used in
religious texts and poetry. Those familiar with these languages can easily
figure out which vowels should be in a word. English can also be written in
this way - txt msgs r a gd xmpl f ths.
Did Native Americans have a
written language before coming into contact with Europeans? If not, why didn't the Olmec/Mayan
writing system ever migrate up from Mexico and Central America?
There is no physical evidence for pre-European usage of written language in
North America as far as I know, though the Cree claim their syllabary was
based on a pre-European Blackfoot syllabary, rather than having been invented
by James Evans in 1840.
Interestingly, there's evidence that the Chinese visited and settled in
parts of both North and South America between 1421 and 1423. Some scholars
believe that the Chinese were visiting the Americas long before then and that
perhaps the Mayan, Aztecs, Olmecs and other people of Central America were
inspired to create writing systems after seeing written Chinese.
I don't
know why there was a lack of contacts and culture transmission between the
peoples of Central and North America. Perhaps geography was a factor - the
Mayans, for example lived in central Mexico, a long way across difficult
terrain from the native peoples of the southern parts of North America.
Do you think English lost
something valuable by not inheriting the Greek and Latin technique of noun
declension? Do we lose something
by not gendering nouns?
Simon: English is not related to Latin or Greek - it just
has absorbed a lot of vocabulary from both languages. Old English/Anglo-Saxon
originally had noun declensions and a complex gender system. Modern English
still has the remnants of both and they mainly affect the choice of pronoun.
The gender system in English is logical - male people and animals are all
assigned to the masculine gender (he), female people and animals to the
feminine gender (her), and everything else is neuter (it).
Logic is conspicuously absent from the gender systems of
other languages. Which makes them hard for English speakers to learn. We expect
gender to correspond to sex like it does in English. Unfortunately this is not
the case in most languages which have gender. I don't think gender systems are
useful or necessary - plenty of languages manage perfectly well without them.
Chinese and Japanese are
particularly difficult written languages for English-speaking people to
learn: European languages tend to
use our familiar Roman characters, or a slight variation on them. Chinese and Japanese aren't even built
on the same system of abstraction — both writing systems are
logographic (characters represent words) rather than phonetic (characters represent sounds).
Japanese then adds at least two layers of phonogrammatic writing systems. And though China has a single system of writing, the Chinese still use hundreds of spoken languages. What attracted you to such a challenging field?
Simon: I was sure I wanted to study foreign languages at
university but it took me a while to decide which ones. At first I was planning
to continue studying French or German and maybe another language. Then I
thought that my employability might be enhanced if I chose a lesser-studied
language. I considered Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Arabic and various other
languages and eventually settled on Chinese. I'm still not entirely sure why.
It just seemed like a good idea at the time. Not long before I started the
course, one of the lecturers at the university wrote to ask me if I was
interested in doing a new course in Chinese and Japanese. I jumped at the
Once I'd decided to study Chinese, I find out as much as I
could about China by reading newspaper articles, guidebooks and any other information I could find. I knew next to nothing about the language but this didn't worry me. The opportunity to spend time in China was a major reason for choosing the course.
By the way, Chinese characters represent both sound and
meaning, though they aren't very good at doing either. Written Chinese is based
on spoken Mandarin. Other varieties of Chinese, of which there about a
thousand, are rarely written. The linguistic situation in China is a bit like
the medieval Europe where Latin was the main written language and there were
many spoken languages.
Does that mean the Mandarin Chinese language evolved simultaneously with Chinese logograms? What about Cantonese?
Simon: Cantonese is sometimes written in informal contexts,
and occasionally appears in newspapers and magazines.
The written and spoken forms of Chinese developed in
parallel and affected one another. In written Chinese each character represents
a syllable and has a meaning. This gives Chinese the appearance of being
monosyllabic. In spoken Chinese however, many words are made up of two or more
syllables. The characters can be rearranged to create new words, many of which
don't appear in dictionaries. As a result, readers sometimes have to guess the
meaning the writer is trying to convey.
Chinese written language often
expresses abstract ideas by using two logograms representing concrete objects,
one placed atop the other, to create a metaphor. Will the Chinese system for dealing with abstract comments
change as logograms are phased out?
Will this fundamentally change the thought-process of the Chinese?
Simon: Only a few Chinese characters represent abstract
ideas. Most consist of a part which gives a clue to the sound and another which
hints at the meaning. Chinese people tend to learn characters by rote and don't
generally analyze the individual parts of characters, at least not until they
reach the higher levels of education. I don't know if the thought processes of
the Chinese would change significantly if the characters were abandoned.
Do phonogrammatic languages
encourage the creation of new words more than ideogrammatic languages?
Simon: I don't think the type of writing system used for a
language encourages or discourages the creation of new words. One thing for
which the complex scripts like Chinese are ill suited is absorbing new words
from others languages.
If alphabetic writings systems
are more efficient than logographic writing systems, are Syllabic writing
systems more efficient still? Why
haven't they caught on more? How
difficult would it be to create a syllabic writing system for English?
Simon: Syllabic scripts work well for languages with
relatively few syllables, such as Japanese, Inuktitut and Cherokee - Japanese
has about 50 syllables, for example. Creating a writing system for English or
most other European languages would be difficult due to the large number of
symbols needed: for English there'd be over 8,000. A syllabic script for
Mandarin would need over 400 symbols.
Young people in Japan are
gradually learning less and less Kanji (logographic characters) and focusing
more on Hiragana, Katakana and English (phonetic characters). Since sounds-based writing systems nearly always evolve from word-based and idea-based writing systems, and this shift always dramatically reduces the amount of effort necessary to gain basic fluency, does this mean that phonogrammatic systems are necessarily superior? Or is something essential lost when ideogrammatic systems are discarded? Do you think Japanese Kanji might eventually be phased out
entirely? Your site includes a spoof article in which the Chinese government announces that Chinese writing will be replaced with Hànyŭ Pīnyīn; do you think logographic writing systems are gradually nearing extinction?
Simon: I wrote the spoof article about the phasing out of
Chinese characters in China after reading Asia's Orthographic
Dilemma by Wm C. Hannas, who argues convincingly that Chinese
character-based writing systems are too complicated and are likely to gradually
be replaced by alphabetic or syllabic systems. Hannas explains the usage of Chinese characters in China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam and shows why attempts to reform or simplify the characters have not succeeded in the past and will not succeed in the future. Characters take a long time to learn, are difficult read and write, and using them on computers is far too complicated.
Alphabetic and syllabic writing systems are much easier to
learn then logographic scripts. They are also easier to read, write and type.
Chinese characters look pretty but are not a particularly practical way of
writing in the modern world.
You agree with Wm C. Hannas'
suggestion that the logographic writing systems of China, Japan, Korea and
Vietnam are likely to be gradually replaced with alphabetic writing
systems. What will be lost when
the original written languages are phased out? Will literary classics written in those languages lose their
power? Will it be the equivalent
of Shakespeare in some future world in which English has become a dead
language? The three most
widely-translated books in the modern world are the Bible (Hebrew & Greek),
The Ghita from the Mahabharata (Sanskrit) and the Tao-te-Ching (Chinese
ideograms). What will become of
the Tao-te-Ching once the language is no longer living? Will mankind's perception of the book
drift further and further from the original meaning?
Simon: The Chinese literary classics were written in Classical Chinese, the main written language used in China before the 1920s. Classical Chinese has a similar status to Latin in Europe or Sanskrit in India: it is no longer used as a spoken or written language and requires special study in order to read it. For Chinese speakers, reading the Tao-te-Ching is roughly
equivalent to English speakers reading Beowulf. If the characters are phased
out, Modern Chinese translations of literary classics would probably be published. Anybody wanting to read the original texts would have to learn to read Classical Chinese.
During the 1920s a new form of written Chinese based on
spoken Mandarin emerged. It has been used ever since though some writers still
use Classical Chinese constructions. If the characters were abandoned, new
phonetic versions of 20th century literary works would most likely be
published. Chinese written with a
phonetic script would be essentially the same language as Modern Chinese
written with characters, with a few minor adjustments.
The Greek word logos (lovgoz), means both language and consciousness. Prominent philologists including Max Müller, Owen Barfield, and J.R.R. Tolkien have advanced the notion that it is language which allows us to sort sensory data into useful categories, and thus become "conscious" of the world. For example, Tolkien's Ents aren't magical talking trees; they're everyday trees who were taught language by the elves, and so became thinking beings. Is your experience with languages consistent with this perspective? Could language acquisition be described as an expansion of consciousness?
Simon: I think language and consciousness are closely
linked. Without language some form of consciousness probably exists, but with
language it is vastly expanded and enhanced. Learning a foreign language
provides you with a different way of describing and thinking about the world,
though I'm not sure if it can change the way you perceive the world.
Foreign languages which I don't know sound to me like
continuous streams of sound - all I can understand might be the names of people
and places and possibly a few other words. As I learn a language, I gradually
get better at distinguishing the words, even if I don't know what they mean.
It's a bit like tuning in a radio. The language hasn't changed but my
perception of it has.
Philologist Max Müller is
generally regarded as the founder both of comparative mythology and the idea
that philology (the study of the evolution of language) and mythology (the
study of the evolution of stories) are misleading distinctions for what is
really a single field. That is, he
demonstrates that language-evolution and story-evolution are interchangeable
names for a single process; "My day was excruciating" is a shorthand
which conveys the same information as "My day was unpleasant in a way
comparable to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ." To what degree do you focus on a culture's history and
mythology while acquiring the language?
Do you agree with Müller's idea that language and mythology strongly
Simon: Language and mythology are closely related. Learning
a culture's history and mythology gives you a better understanding of the etymology of words and of the origins of proverbs and sayings. If you want to
acquire more than a superficial knowledge of a language, learning about the
history and mythology is essential.
Leonard Shlain's 1998 book
The Alphabet Versus the Goddess hypothesizes that the development of alphabetic writing systems may have reconfigured the human brain to favor men and diminish women. Do you agree with this theory?
Simon: I'll have to read the book before I can comment on
the theory.
Why are some languages
right-to-left, others left-to-right?
Is this to do with dominance of a brain hemisphere? If not, does it encourage a dominance
of a brain hemisphere?
Simon: I
don't know why languages are written in the different directions. It could be
something to do with the writing surfaces and tools originally used, and/or
with the structure of the writing systems.
writing systems, such as Sumerian Cuneiform, Egyptian Hieroglyphs and Linear B,
were often written in boustrophedon fashion - alternatively right to left then
left to right. The choice of writing direction was to some extent determined by
the writing surfaces and tools used. For example, Sumerian scribes wrote on
clay tablets with styluses and when they got the end of a line they flipped the
tablet and wrote the next line in the opposite direction.
I don't
know if the direction in which you write has an affect on your brain.
Logographic writing systems tend to imply a lot of information contextually, while English and other western languages tend to be more explicitly spelled-out. Does this suggest a different way of thinking? Is this why the Japanese have a reputation for subtlety? Is it true they rarely say
"no" outright?
Japanese language can be just as explicit as English or other European
languages. Most Japanese people don't use their language in this way though -
they tend to omit a lot of information and approach subjects in a roundabout
way. They're not keen on saying "no" either, instead they say things
like "that would be difficult". There is a similar aversion to
negativity in Korea and China.
Murasaki Shikibu's Genji
Monogatari (The Tale of Genji, 1011 CE) is often called "the world's first novel." The book makes
frequent mention of notes sent between lovers, which are usually described not
only in terms of explicit information content, but also in terms of the
emotional information conveyed by the "hand," the manner in which the
characters are written. Sometimes
a curt, brisk hand can say more than ten pages of courteous pleasantries. Presumably this "emotional
layer" of written information was eliminated because the printing press
and related writing technologies standardize character depiction. However, now that writing
takes place more and more via computers, and computers have the capacity to
reintroduce emotional information to the written word, do you believe this
layer will gradually be reintroduced?
Will keyboards develop that register not only the keystrokes, but the weight
of each keystroke?
Simon: Long after the invention of printing, most documents
were handwritten. This remained the case really until the use of typewriters
and computers became widespread. People have developed various ways of showing
their moods or emotions in typed text: punctuation marks, bold, italic,
different fonts, pictures, similes, etc :). Possibly a system registering the
weight of keystrokes will also be developed, and if it is, I'm sure people
will find interesting ways to use it.
By the way, The Tale of Genji and similar books were
written by the wives of Japanese nobles for an audience of other women. These
women were denied opportunities to learn the vocabulary used by men with its
many Chinese-derived terms. Instead they developed a type of written Japanese
almost entirely stripped of the Chinese terms and they wrote it with the
hiragana syllabary, which was known as "onnade" (women's hand).
Ancient Egyptian, Japanese, and
Hebrew often used black ink for normal writing, and red ink to record the
utterances of the gods. What is
the significance of this? Is red
ink used merely because it's easy to make, or does it symbolically represent
blood? Are there other writing
systems which use color-coding?
Since most modern reproductions of ancient writing omit color
differences, are we discarding an essential layer of meaning?
Chinese is usually written with black ink on white paper, but on festive
occasions, such as weddings and birthdays, red paper is used. Red ink is
usually used for Chinese name chops and Chinese emperors used to write their
edicts in red ink.
Red is
considered a lucky color in Chinese culture, however it is considered unlucky
to write your name in red ink because in Buddhist tradition the names of dead
people are written in red. How red acquired all these associations is a
mystery. Color symbolism and usage is similar in Japan and Korea.
a Color Symbolism Chart, an essay on color symbolism and a page on the color-based writing system used by the Edo and Benin people of southern Nigeria.
The serifs of roman characters
help lead the eye. Do other
written languages have similar devices?
How old are serifs? Who
invented serifs?
Here's some possible origins of serifs: Nobody can say with any accuracy how serifs suddenly arrived on the scene. The most plausible explanation has to do with the lettering in Rome.
At the
time, letters were carved into stone columns and so on. These letters were
carved after a scribe, using a brush, "painted" the letters onto the
stone. The serif appeared when the scribe stopped the brush and lifted it,
leaving a bit of a brush edge on the letter. The carver, not seeing the error,
simply chiseled that edge out of the stone as well. Thus the serif.
explanation is the serif was developed by scribes adding a stroke when the hand
drawn letter was finished.
The origin of serifs and other useless information
writing systems, including as Greek, Cyrillic, Hebrew, Georgian and even
Chinese, have typefaces with serifs or serif-like bits.
Many languages, including
English, create a "hierarchy" of nouns, by making the subject primary
and the object secondary. That is,
the subject acts upon the object, which is passive. "I eat paste." Do languages exist which imply a different relationship
between nouns, such as peer-peer?
("The ship/shore approach each other.")
Simon: The
subject (S), verb (V) and object (O) are arranged in various ways in different
languages. English is a SVO language, Japanese and Korean are SOV languages,
Welsh and Irish are VSO languages, though the parts of a sentence can be
rearranged to emphasis a different element.
eating chocolate (SVO)
ga chocoreto o taberu (Japanese - SOV)
Tá mé ag ith seacláid (Irish - VSO)
There are
even a few languages with OSV word order - Jamamadi, Apurinã, Kayabí and Nadëb which are spoken in Brazil. Languages like Latin and Greek which mark every word to show the role it plays in a sentence have fairly free word order.
A "tense" is a way of
indicating the time an action occurred through verb conjugation. English uses past, present and future
tenses. Other layers of
information expressed through English tenses include Continuousness ("I
will have been waiting for over an hour by then!"), Nonlocalization within
past/present/future ("I have seen that movie"; general past, not any
particular day or time, called "perfect" tense), or Conditionality
("My ideal house would have a pool"), plus the Imperative tense
("Go get my slippers").
Some languages also use different verb conjugations depending if the
subject is singular or plural.
Logographic languages, like Mandarin Chinese and Japanese, tend to imply
tense through context rather than state it explicitly, as English does. This is because there is usually one or
two logograms per verb, and no way to "conjugate" the verb by writing
it differently. Are there any
exotic tenses or other layers of meaning expressed through verb conjugations in
other languages which seem lacking in English? Do most other languages use a "tense" system, as
English does? What other ways do
languages transmit information such as time-of-action? Are there any writing systems which
indicate time-of-action through modification of the characters, rather than the
arrangement of characters (that is, indicating past tense with a hash mark on
the verb, or similar)?
Each language has different ways of indicating tense: affixes (suffixes,
prefixes or infixes); internal vowel changes; auxiliary verbs; separate
particles, or a combination of these methods. To
illustrate this, here are a few examples:
I write a
letter to my friend once a month. (present habitual - no change to verb)
writing a letter. (present continuous - auxiliary verb, plus suffix on main
I wrote a
letter yesterday (past - internal vowel change)
write a letter tomorrow (future -
auxiliary verb)
The same
sentences in a few other languages are:
meige yue yici wo xie xin gei wo pengyou.
(lit "every month once I write letter give I friend)
wo zai
xie xin. (lit: "I at write letter")
zuotian xie xin (lit: "I yesterday write letter")
mingtian xie xin (lit "I tomorrow write letter")
In each
case the verb to write, xie, doesn't change. Chinese is in fact a isolating
language with a partly logographic script rather than a logographic language.
Tense is often indicated using time phrases, such as yesterday, next week, etc,
though this is optional. You can also use particles to indicate past, future or
completed action (time of completion isn't indicated).
wo xie le
xin - completed action
wo xie
guo xin - past action
wo jiang
xie xin - future action
Mai getsu
ichidou watashi ga tomodachi ni tegami o kaku. (lit: "Every month once I
[subj] friend to letter [particle] write")
ga tegami o kaiteiru. (lit: "I [subj] letter [particle] writing")
watashi ga tegami o kaita. (lit: "Yesterday I [subj] letter [particle]
watashi ga tegami o kaku. (lit: "Tomorrow I [subj] letter [particle]
is an agglutinative language and has two main tenses - past and non-past. There
are different verb endings for various levels of politeness. For example:
Formal /
/ kaku - non-past
/ kakanai - non-past, negative
/ kaita - past
/ kakanakatta - past, negative
/ kakou - volitional - "would like to write"
kakeba -
conditional - "would write"
- passive
- causative - "cause to write"
kake -
imperative - "write!"
kakeru /
kakemasu - potential - "can write"
/ kakanakuchanaranai - "have to write" - non-past
/ kakanakuchanaranakatta - "had to write" - past
Dw i'n
sgwennu llythyr at nghyfaill unwaith y mis. (lit: "Am I [particle] write
letter to myfriend once the month")
Dw i'n
sgwennu llythyr. (lit: "Am I [particle] write letter")
O'n i'n sgwennu
llythyr ddoe. (lit: "Was I [particle] write letter yesterday")
Bydda i'n
sgwennu llythyr yfory. (lit: "Will I [particle] write letter
In Welsh
you usually have a part of the verb 'to be' (bod) at the beginning of a
sentence, followed by the subject, then a 'verbnoun', which indicates what's
happening. There are different verb forms for negative sentences and questions,
Dw i ddim
sgwennu llythyr. (lit: "Am I not write letter") - negative
Ydw i'n
sgwennu llythyr? (lit: "Am I [particle] write letter") - question
Note: the
above sentences are written in colloquial Welsh. In formal literary Welsh the
verb to write is ysgrifennu rather than sgwennu.
has hundreds of forms for each verb, including some quite strange ones. For
Dubitative Continuous Compound Tense (used for hearsay) - geliyormusum; It's
said that I'm coming
Compound Reportative (used in literature) - geleymisim; I wished I had come
More information is available on the Turkish verb conjugations page.
I don't
know of any languages which use a modification of characters to indicate tense.
A popular hobby for language
enthusiasts is to create an original "conlang", or "constructed
language." The two most
well-known conlangs are probably Quenya, created by philologist J.R.R. Tolkien
beginning in 1917, and Klingon, created by linguist Dr Marc Okrand in 1984
(based mostly on some nonsense syllables actor James Doohan invented and actor
Mark Lenard spoke in Star Trek; The Motion Picture). What are the primary differences
between conlangs and the real languages that develop organically over thousands of years? Do conlangs
feel simplistic, or unfinished, or too orderly to occur naturally?
Simon: The main difference between natural languages and
conlangs is that the natural languages are usually passed on from parents to
children whereas conlangs are created and usually learned by adults. As a
result, conlangs often include structures and features which may seem perfectly
logical to their creators, but which make little or no sense to others.
Some conlangs are designed for use as international
auxiliary languages (IALs), some as linguistic experiments, and others just for
fun. IALs are generally based on Latin or modern Western European languages and
tend to look and sound fairly natural. While they tend to be more regular than
natural languages, this doesn't make them seem unnatural. Some natural
languages, such as Swahili and Turkish, have no irregular verbs, or at least
very few.
Quenya could be mistaken for a natural language, though the
likelihood of meeting anyone who speaks it fluently is remote.
Other conlangs can look and sound very strange. Those
written with the Latin alphabet often include lots of accented letters,
apostrophes and other orthographic complexities. Few of the alphabets and other
writing systems invented for conlangs look like natural scripts.
Esperanto, the only conlang with significant number of
speakers and a literary tradition, feels and looks like a real language to me.
Most people learn Esperanto as adults so few sound entirely at home with it.
Because there are no communities where Esperanto is used as an everyday
language you have to make a special effort to seek out other Esperanto
What's your reaction to 12480,
the conlang from the proposed Ecclemony videogame?
Simon: The various 12480 scripts are quite interesting
though look very difficult to read. I don't understand why he makes the claim
that, "A writing system based on phonemes will only last as long as the
human voice is used." He seems to be suggesting that at some point in the
future we'll abandon language and use some kind of number-based communication
system. Language is a fundamental
part of being human and I don't think we're ever going to stop using it.
George Bernard Shaw left a
portion of his inheritance to creating Shavian. He believed that the Latin alphabet was a poor vehicle for the English language and would be replaced if a more efficient script were
created. Typographer Kingsley Read
invented a script which met Shaw's criteria, yet it failed to catch on and
replace Latin characters as Shaw had hoped. Why? Was Shaw's
idea naive?
Simon: Kingsley Read's Shavian alphabet is more efficient than the Latin alphabet in some ways - the symbols are simpler, faster to write and there is a one-to-one phoneme to grapheme correspondence. On the other hand,
many of the letters look similar which makes them difficult to read. People who
use the Shavian alphabet all seem to agree that it's writing it is quick and
easy but reading it is tricky.
To date no efforts to reform English spelling have
succeeded, with the exception of the minor adjustments made to American
English. Advocates of spelling reform all agree on the need for reform but not
how to go about it. Few spelling reformers propose the adoption of a completely
new alphabet, recognizing that this would most likely be unpopular, and
expensive and difficult to implement.
Another problem with spelling reform is that it is usually
based on one particular variety of English, for example Shavian is based on
British English. Speakers of other varieties of English would find it difficult
to decipher.
von Bingen (1098-1179 CE) is believed to
be first person to ever construct a synthetic language from scratch: her
Lingua ignota (Unknown Language).
What's your take on her? Do
you believe she may have influenced J.R.R. Tolkien's creation of original
languages for his Middle Earth books?
Hildegard von Bingen created an alphabet, Litterae ignotae (Unknown Writing),
and used it occasionally for titles in her correspondence. She also invented a
language, Lingua ignota (Unknown Language), which consisted of about 900 words,
mainly nouns, including the names of plants and herbs. Her language appears to
have been based on German with Latin-like grammar. She used the language only
in one of her works: Symphonia, and encouraged her nuns to speak it to enable them to communicate in secret.
was particularly interested in language, both written and spoken. Words, their
origins, and their meanings fascinated him. He studied Latin, Greek and Gothic
as a child, and then studied Finnish, Welsh, Old English and a number of other
Germanic languages at Oxford University.
apparently first created the languages and alphabets to amuse himself, then
wrote the Hobbit and other Middle Earth books to give him somewhere to use
them. His Elvish languages, Quenya and Sindarin, were based largely on Finnish
and Welsh, while his Tengwar script appears to be an original invention, with
perhaps some influence from the alphabets of India. His other alphabets were
based on the Latin, Greek and/or Runic alphabets. There's no mention of influence
by Hildegard von Bingen in any other information about Tolkien I've read.
Do you see the world moving
towards a single written and/or spoken language?
Simon: I don't think there will ever be a single world
language, at least I hope not. Many of the languages currently spoken are
likely to disappear during this century, but hundreds, if not thousands of
languages will remain in use. The "big" languages like English and
Spanish will continue to spread and new varieties will probably develop.
Cuneiform is structured around
tools: chisels and rocks. Later
languages developed from brush-and-ink tools. As the printing press and computers gradually replace the
physical act of writing ink on paper, what new direction do you see written
languages going in?
Simon: On a computer you can write in many different
languages and choose from numerous font styles, sizes and colors, as long as
you have the relevant fonts, keyboard layouts, etc. In most programs you can
only write horizontally from left to right or right to left (depending on the
language you're using). Scripts written in other directions, such as from top
to bottom, are poorly catered for.
Complex scripts like Chinese and Japanese require special
input software and fonts. One of the reasons why Wm C. Hannas suggests that
Chinese characters will be abandoned is the difficulties of inputting them into
computers, and the complexities of word processing, indexing, and storage and retrieval
of text.
When writing by hand there are no restrictions, other than
your own knowledge and skill. You can write in any combination of languages,
writing systems and directions. You can add notes, corrections or pictures
anywhere on the page.
Taking into account all that
you've observed about the evolution of written language to date, how do you
think written languages might continue to evolve?
Simon: During the past few decades there has been a
significant increase in the use of icons and other symbols in writing. This is
particularly noticeable in computer programs. There has also been an
significant increase in the use of abbreviations, acronyms and unconventional
spellings, particularly in txt msgs, chatrooms and email. Some of these
abbreviations are widely recognized and used. These trends are likely to
What are your ultimate
ambitions for Omniglot?
Simon: I hope that Omniglot will one day include details of
all writing systems, both those currently in use and extinct ones. I'd also
like to add details of as many languages that have a written form as possible.
I plan to expand the foreign phrases section and make it
possible for site visitors to add new phrases and to edit existing
phrases. Ultimately it would be
great if the site could generate enough income to live off.