I just finished reading a book I found on the discount table at Borders, called "Our Magnificent Bastard Language" by John McWhorter. It's a pretty interesting look at how the English language was evolved into what it is today from its' various origins in Norse, Old German and Celtic with some Old French thrown in. McWhorter puts an entertaining twist on what to most people would be a pretty dry and scholarly topic. It's actually pretty casual reading--less than 200 pages broken into 5 chapters. If words mean anything to you, this is a good book to read.
And now... on the the Olympics!! Not literally of course though that wouldn't be a bad trip to make. For some reason I've always been partial to the Winter version, maybe because I like hockey and skiing, even though I can't do either.
As I watch the Russians and the Czechs pound each other into Iron Curtain submission, I realized I don't think the fall of Communism was a good thing for Olympic hockey. Back in those bad old days, we only ever saw these guys every 4 years, so we basically had to take the word of the commentators how good they were. Now all the best players are in the NHL, and we see them all the time. So it's not nearly as interesting from a curiosity standpoint.
And I've actually discovered I don't completely hate all these newer X Games type sports. The Ski Cross is pretty cool and I even watched all of the womens aerials qualifying without any ironic thought.
On a more local theme, one thing I've been thinking about is the proliferation of these guys who are always standing around with these signs saying they are homeless. Except the fact they are all fairly well dressed, they have backpacks, and even though the faces change, the signs are the same one, written in the same style. Makes me think there is something more to it than meets the eye.
And why are there still cars parked on the streets that haven't been dug out of the snow?
OK, that's enough for now...
Selah
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