Lu T'ung. Photos du journal. A Magazine Is an iPad That Does Not Work.m4v. “Most obscene title of a peer-reviewed scientific article” – an amusing award for a serious academic paper | Research. This post was contributed by Professor Jean-Marc Dewaele, from Birkbeck’s Department of Applied Linguistics and Communication.
This post contains strong language. As an applied linguist and a multilingual I have always been interested in the communication of emotion in a person’s multiple languages. It seems that telling jokes in a foreign language, declaring love or promising something in a foreign language does not quite have the same resonance as it typically has in a native language (see also my taster lecture – contains strong language!). One particularly interesting area is how multilinguals swear. Indeed, swearwords in a foreign language don’t sound quite as bad as the ones in the native language, and students spending some time abroad are eager to pick up some of these words that their teachers did not want to teach them.
However, these enthusiasts abroad quickly realize that the people around them do not necessarily approve of the liberal use of swearwords. The man who hears colour. 15 February 2012Last updated at 15:37 Artist Neil Harbisson is completely colour-blind. Here, he explains how a camera attached to his head allows him to hear colour. Until I was 11, I didn't know I could only see in shades of grey. I thought I could see colours but that I was confusing them. When I was diagnosed with achromatopsia [a rare vision disorder], it was a bit of a shock but at least we knew what was wrong. Doctors said it was impossible to cure. When I was 16, I decided to study art. I was allowed to do the entire art course in greyscale - only using black and white.
At university I went to a cybernetics lecture by Adam Montandon, a student from Plymouth University, and asked if we could create something so I could see colour. If we were all to hear the frequency of red, for example, we would hear a note that is in between F and F sharp. Continue reading the main story Shades of grey It looks like an antenna that comes out from my head and goes up to the front of my face. Beautiful Places to Read in London. Word recently reached us that the imposing Freemason’s Hall has a library in its belly.
And thus, we began the day climbing a monumental marble staircase towards our appointment to view a poem about William Blake, enclosed in a book ‘bound in masonic ritual’. Alas, whilst the location is most beauteous, the librarians helpful, and there are many eccentric volumes to peruse, as a specialist library this repository of secret knowledge proved ill-suited for idle pleasure reading. William Blake by James Thompson, at the Library and Museum of Freemasonry Having taken our fill of Masonic memorabilia, my companions departed for their afternoon labours and I found myself ambling alone across Lincoln’s Inn Fields towards the Hunterian Museum. Looking forward to reading within that wondrous deposit of medical oddities, I’d completely forgotten it was half term. Thrice thwarted, I found myself once again upon the High Street, when a friend’s recent suggestion sprang to mind.
22 Rules of Storytelling by a Pixar Storyboard Artist. Žižek!: 2005 Documentary Reveals the “Academic Rock Star” and “Monster” of a Man. Ian Kirk Magician Close Up, Wedding, Table Magic located Chandlers Ford - Eastleigh - Southampton - Hampshire. Giant Fish Sculptures Made from Discarded Plastic Bottles in Rio. As part of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) an enormous outdoor installation of fish was constructed using discarded plastic bottles on Botafogo beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The sculptures are illuminated from the inside at night creating a pretty spectacular light show. Love this. See much more over on this Rio+20 Flicker set. (via hungeree and razor shapes)