This has never been a political site, nor will it ever be. But there is something on my mind and heart, and I need to bleed it out here for permanent record. It’s also been a little while since I’ve done any analytical writing, and, well, I suppose I just need to jam. [click to continue…]
Via the New York Times, Google Uses Web Searches to Track Flu’s Spread.
That simple act [of searching for phrases like “flu symptoms” in Google], multiplied across millions of keyboards in homes around the country, has given rise to a new early warning system for fast-spreading flu outbreaks, called Google Flu Trends.
Those genius Google peeps. Wow again.
→ Unknown “Structures” Tugging at Universe, Study Says
In an attempt to simplify the mind-bending concept, picture yourself floating in the middle of a vast ocean. As far as the eye can see, the ocean is smooth and the same in every direction, just as most astronomers believe the universe is. You would think that beyond the horizon, therefore, nothing is different.
No I wouldn’t, actually.
(via nationalgeographic.com)
There are several pairs of synonymous words in the English language that I’ve occasionally found myself pondering, using them as starting points for study and conversation. Among these pairs would be “crucial” and “critical”. What exactly is the difference between these two? In past conversations, I’ve argued that if the two words were compared to each other on a level degree, then crucial would mean important, and critical would mean more important. That is, it’s crucial that I find a Band-Aid for the cut on my finger, but it’s critical that you call an ambulance because my skull is cracked open.
Luke fired up the the Apple Dashboard dictionary this weekend to see what it had to say about these two words. According to it, via Luke:
Crucial implies that an outcome is dependent upon it, e.g., the battle was crucial to their victory. Critical refers more to a crisis, and the outcomes have more of a negative-positive connotation.
So perhaps the two words should not be compared to each other by level of degree, but by context. Luke’s study on the origins of the words:
Crucial: from Latin crux, meaning cross.
Critic: From Latin criticus, which is from Greek kritikos, meaning judge.
Crisis: From Greek krisis, meaning decision, obviously related to kritikos.
Luke offers:
Clearly, they share the same roots in the sense of decision. The question, then, why did they both evolve into these two slightly different connotations? To throw it out there: the crucial is a function of the cross, how it can go both ways. But the critical is dependent on the value judgment, the kritikos.
Yeah. I can see that. While the two words are practically interchangeable in everyday conversation, I suppose crucial is most appropriate when talking about something that pivots on a circumstance (visualize the point of intersection on a cross), with the outcome of the circumstance going either way (usually positive or negative). i.e. Speeding up is crucial to whether or not I’ll beat the red light. Critical is probably the better word when directly referring to the observably negative outcome of the crucial situation. i.e. It is critical that I beat that red light, otherwise I won’t get to the airport on time and I’ll miss my flight.
Vivor, who’s never been a water lover, set a new record for himself today, thanks to some peer pressure. With the tide low, he ventured out further than he’s ever gone before and swam out to the rocks, largely inspired by his new buddy, a three-year-old water-loving pit/lab mix, Lola. No, that’s not Kona out there; it’s Lola.
With the pressure on, he got out there without hesitation. Then reality set in when he realized he needed to come back to shore. After about a minute of of the little chicken pacing around figuring out his next move, I rolled video and caught the final seconds.
Today was a hot one for November. We went down to the beach below Trump’s and treated ourselves to a couple frolicking hours of make-believe, pretending it was July.
While there, we met Lola. A rescued black lab / pit mix. JUST LIKE KONA. Lola’s three years old, and I was having quite the deja vu thing. It was like going back in time seven years. She’s exactly like Kona was, an energetic puppy, very hard to photograph, with a love for the water. She even had a pink collar, which is what Kona was wearing the day I met her in 1999.
↓ Nope, not Kona. Lola.
↓ The real Kona’s on the left.
↓ The real Kona’s on the top left.
↓ The real Kona’s in the background talking to Lola’s mom, who was tripping out on the situation as much as anybody.
↓ Seeing Lola in context next to Vive was surreal.
