A Mind @ Play

IBU Biathlon World Championship Under Way

On 16th February 2009

Kati Wilhelm of Germany shoots during the Women 7,5 km sprint of the IBU Biathlon World Campionships on February 14, 2009 in Pyeonchang, South Korea. (Photo by Martin Rose/Getty Images)

The Biathlon World Championship got underway this weekend in Pyeongchang, South Korea, and what an eventful start it’s been. The weekend began with the news that three members of the Russian team had been banned following failed drugs tests, two from the women’s and one from the men’s events, all very strong contenders. In addition, the track had to be entirely covered with artificial snow to make the event even possible, after warm weather had melted all of the natural covering, leading not only to speculation that the later men’s event would be even more difficult to undertake, but also complaints from competitors and team managers that the snow covering was unsuitable. As if the problem of snow wasn’t sufficient, the track’s location near a wind farm was indication enough of the rather difficult atmospheric conditions for shooting, but as the weekend unfolded it became clear that the adverse conditions would only play a supporting role to the actions of the competitors.

Beware the Squiggly Red Line

By Fips

On 13th February 2009

In Languages

Our language is constantly evolving. That’s almost a tautology for any language that hasn’t been officially pronounced dead. Whilst the rate of change often appears virtually imperceptible to us, a quick flick through a dictionary containing word etymologies, or a glance at the literature from bygone centuries soon proves the point. Words arise and mutate, they spontaneously alter their usage and change their position in a sentence, they crop up in unusual scenarios through metaphor, and before long appear to us in an entirely new guise from their original form. Whilst we occasionally borrow words from foreign languages, and typically for the moment derive new words for new technologies, the main source of new words in our language comes from the current stock. Each of us has an inbuilt sense of how words should be used and formed, and through repetition and popularity, a new word (or an old one with new stripes) can worm its way into one of those revered tomes we like to call dictionaries.

In Store for the New Year

By Fips

On 2nd January 2009

In General

After spending time this last month trying to sort out the increasingly lengthy drafts list on this blog, I’ve come to the conclusion that some things will just never be ready, and trying to chisel readable posts out of the draft mountain only produces a mountain of chiselled drafts. Unfortunately they’ll have to remain unfinished, as this January will see me moving to Germany, and I don’t expect there to be much opportunity for keeping this blog updated, at least initially. On the other hand, I’ll be making more time for writing with good old-fashioned pen and ink, and I’ve no doubt there’ll be plenty in the Bundesrepublik to spark my appetite.

On a more serious note, I’d just like to comment on the rather sad news that Noah Grey‘s blog is now closed. As there doesn’t seem to be anywhere more pertinent, I may as well use this post to pay my respects to Noah and wish him all the best for the future. The Web is palpably missing some real creativity and inspiration.

Zoo of Untrue

By Fips

On 30th December 2008

In Arts, Politics

Thought I’d post this little selection, sadly missing from its original home, before it gets lost in that tangled salad of Internet pipes. Also an excuse to try out WordPress’ gallery function without putting any effort whatsoever into creating pretty pictures.

WordPress 2.8 Roadmap

By Fips

On 25th December 2008

In General

With the latest 2.7 release barely out of the door, the WordPress team are already looking to set out the roadmap for 2.8. The recent update had an impressive mix of tweaks, fixes, features and a nice interface overhaul, and their little survey has a list of tasks to prioritise for the next release. Unfortunately, however, the one thing I should really like to see doesn’t make an appearance, that being some simpler ways to create a multilingual blog built into the core. At the moment there are a number of plugins out there that offer to do just that, and whilst they may do exactly as they say on the tin, the potential for a plugin to become outdated and fall behind the current WordPress release could create a lot of work sometime in the future, not to mention the fact that each plugin goes about creating a multilingual environment in its own unique way. Whilst I’m not alone in calling for at least some standardised framework, I can’t see any progress being made in the near future.