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All this week the Writer's Almanac has been documenting the changes the Norman invasion of England had on the English language. This is today's offering: One of the most important consequences of the Norman conquest of England was its effect on the English language. At the time, the British were speaking a combination of Saxon and Old Norse. The Normans spoke French. Over time, the languages blended, and the result was that English became a language incredibly rich in synonyms. Because the French speakers were aristocrats, the French words often became the fancy words for things. The Normans gave us "mansion"; the Saxons gave us "house." The Normans gave us "beef"; the Saxons gave us, "cow." The Normans gave us "excrement"; the Saxons gave us lots of four letter words. The English language has gone on accepting additions to its vocabulary ever since the Norman invasion, and it now contains more than a million words, making it one of the most diverse languages on Earth. Writers have been arguing for hundreds of years about whether this is a good thing. Walt Whitman said, "The English language is the accretion and growth of every dialect, race, and range of time, and is both the free and compacted composition of all." On the other hand, the critic Cyril Connelly wrote, "The English language is like a broad river … being polluted by a string of refuse-barges tipping out their muck." And the poet Derek Walcott, who grew up in a British colony in the West Indies, said, "The English language is nobody's special property. It is the property of the imagination: it is the property of the language itself."
Data crusader Josh Tauberer ’04 is someone a policy wonk could love By Brett Tomlinson, associate editor at PAW.
July 16, 2008 Since graduating from Princeton in 2004, Josh Tauberer has led a double life. By day, he’s a mild-mannered graduate student in linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania. By night, he commands a legion of computer programs, trolling the Internet for data about congressional bills and republishing the information on GovTrack.us, a popular Web site for bloggers, policy wonks, and concerned voters. 
Some 10,000 visitors view GovTrack each day — more when a hot bill is up for debate — and its freely available databases feed a handful of government watchdog sites, including OpenCongress.org, a portal of congressional news; and MAPLight.org, which tracks the votes of members of Congress in parallel with the contributions they receive from special-interest groups. At the center of this web of information is Tauberer, GovTrack’s sole employee, who works from a slightly cluttered desktop in his Philadelphia apartment. He’s just one citizen, doing his part for democracy. “You could put it that way,” Tauberer says, stifling a laugh, “but ... I happen to enjoy it. It’s not like I get up in the morning and [say], ‘Oh, I’ve got to save the world by making this site.’” Indeed, when Tauberer began organizing his site as an undergraduate, few thought that there was any need for it. The Library of Congress had been publishing congressional bills on its THOMAS.loc.gov site since 1995. But Tauberer found THOMAS difficult to navigate and filled with cumbersome quirks. So, with hopes of building a better source for legislative data, Tauberer, a largely self-taught computer programmer, began creating “screen-scraping” programs that look for specific patterns on Web pages, copy the information they find, and store it in a database. Technically, screen-scraping is not very difficult, he says, but it can be a hassle to decipher page formats and sort through data that may be incomplete, inconsistent, or unreliable. And when a source Web site is redesigned, the screen-scrapers need to be retooled as well. (“Fortunately, the government doesn’t change anything — ever,” Tauberer jokes.) Perseverance paid off for Tauberer when he launched GovTrack in September 2004, more than three years after he first envisioned the site. Users began to take notice later that year after Tauberer was awarded the top prize in a Web development contest run by Technorati.com — the citation called GovTrack “School House Rock on steroids” — and a January 2005 New York Times story about the site provided an additional boost. Today, when Web searchers type a congressional bill number into Google, more often than not the top result is a URL that begins with “www.govtrack.us.” Other GovTrack-supported sites are close behind. “GovTrack is really the central hub in federal legislative information,” says John Wonderlich, director of the Sunlight Foundation’s Open House Project, which lobbies for better Web access to legislative data. “It’s the clearinghouse for data coming from the Library of Congress, and that’s kind of amazing that [Tauberer] has managed to do that on his own.” While Tauberer’s hope was to improve government accountability by making it easier to access and digest the details of legislation, he is the first to admit that “information only gets you so far.” Footnotes, references, and amendments to amendments to amendments can make bills nearly indecipherable, even to well-informed readers. So, in addition to publishing the full text, status, and Library of Congress summary for each bill introduced on Capitol Hill, GovTrack provides other useful tools: e-mail alerts linked to specific bills, members of Congress, committees, or topics of interest; detailed maps of congressional districts, created by Tauberer using census data and Google maps; graphs that illustrate votes on a particular bill; and a blog of legislative analysis, written mainly by unpaid contributors. Each senator and representative also has a GovTrack page that includes the member’s voting history, links to bills he or she has sponsored, and a graphic that shows the member’s standing on GovTrack’s “Ideometer,” an ideological spectrum that Tauberer created using a statistical analysis of bill sponsorship patterns. John McCain, for example, pushes the Ideometer’s needle to the right, about a third of the way toward the Republican end of the spectrum, while Barack Obama is positioned to the left, about two-thirds of the way toward the Democratic end. Both are labeled “rank-and-file,” which means they fall within the middle 50 percent of their respective parties. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) occupies the far left pole, and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) stands on the far right. Tauberer would like to add more analytical features like the Ideometer, but he concedes there are limitations to his skills. While he’s a whiz with databases, he lacks the design expertise needed to generate the slick infographics that newspapers and magazines create. And then there’s the simple arithmetic of time. After four years of graduate school, Tauberer is drafting a proposal for his dissertation in linguistics, which he hopes to complete in the coming year. Working on a Web site that promotes government transparency has been a significant departure from Tauberer’s academic work, which deals with phonetics and how children acquire language skills. He majored in psychology at Princeton while pursuing a certificate in computer science, and it was his interest in technology — not politics — that drove the development of GovTrack. In the spring of 2001, Tauberer was a student in computer science professor Andrew Appel ’81’s freshman seminar, “Speech Is a Machine,” which addressed tech-related topics like copyright in the Internet age and whether computer programs qualify as “speech.” Tauberer first encountered THOMAS while studying a recently passed bill that restricted fair-use rights. He began thinking of ways to make the site’s vast wells of information more accessible. One year later, he devised a rough system for GovTrack, and in his senior year, when most of his classmates were immersed in thesis research, Tauberer laid the framework for his site, which he would finish in the summer after graduation. Classmate David Robinson ’04, now the associate director of Princeton’s Center for Information Technology Policy, says that Tauberer showed the same sort of dedication and ingenuity as an editor for The Daily Princetonian. In 2003, Tauberer designed a survey methodology for conducting student-opinion polls, using a random list of student phone numbers and a customized, secure Web site in which pollsters could enter the data they collected. Robinson says Tauberer was “sublimely confident” that GovTrack would find an audience. (Tauberer calls it “naïveté.”) And as one who urges the government to share its data in more user-friendly formats, Tauberer, who hopes to work as an advocate for better access to government data after completing his Ph.D., has stayed true to those principles, providing free access to his own databases. Advertising on GovTrack pays for operating expenses like server space and provides a modest profit. The openness that Tauberer sought to expand with his own site is becoming a major focus among scholars at Princeton and other institutions who are studying technology, says Robinson. “In general, we’re looking at all the ways that digital technology and public life interact with one another, and it’s becoming clear that transparency is one of the main ways that digital technology and public policy interact,” he notes. Robinson, Professor Ed Felten, and graduate students Harlan Yu and William Zeller recently wrote a paper, “Government Data and the Invisible Hand,” outlining a novel strategy for more transparency: Reduce the federal role in presenting data on the government’s own Web sites, such as THOMAS, but step up government provision of reliable, raw data that nonprofit and commercial groups can use on their sites. Wonderlich, of the Sunlight Foundation, says that most issues in government openness still are unresolved. Some are technical, such as standardizing the format in which data are released. Other issues involve making information easier to obtain. In pre-Internet days, items of public record were acceptably relegated to file drawers and dusty bookshelves. Today, Web users have grown to expect instant access. “People see that the Internet is making it easier to shop and do a lot of other things,” Wonderlich says. “It intuitively makes sense to people that Congress should operate in the same way.” On the campaign trail, both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton spoke about technology as a means for openness. Clinton, in a January Meet the Press interview, called for more transparency and Web access to government information, and Obama’s technology plan, outlined on his campaign Web site, vows to “mak[e] government data available online in universally accessible formats to allow citizens to make use of that data to comment, derive value, and take action in their own communities.” Last year, Tauberer dipped a toe into the political waters, contributing to the Sunlight Foundation’s Open House Project report, which drew endorsements from a handful of representatives on both sides of the aisle, and writing an op-ed piece for The Hill, a daily newspaper that covers Congress, on improving government databases. But Tauberer’s main interest is in civics, not politics, he says, and GovTrack is nonpartisan. The site’s only official position is that the government should publish more data. “Definitely, the information has to be out there and usable,” Tauberer says. “I can only hope that it makes some sort of real difference.” See how GovTrack presents the next president of the United States: For Barack Obama Click Here; for John McCain Click Here.
9/26/08 Catch This if You Can
Last night we saw the first performance of Profile Theatre's new season, "I Ought to be in Pictures." Each year Profile features the works of one playwright. This year it's Neil Simon. There are 4 more performances of this FREE staged reading: the next three nights at 7:30 PM and tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 PM. All performances are held at Theater! Theatre!, 3430 SE Belmont Street, Portland, OR 97214. 
Danny Bruno and Kelly Marchant in "I Ought to be in Pictures."
Profile Theatre picks a "monster" for its 2008-'09 seasonby Marty Hughley, The OregonianTuesday May 20, 2008, 2:40 PM"Is nothing sacred? Are there no secrets to be kept? But the Monster has observed, and what he has observed, he will reveal. Even the truth about himself."The monster in question? Would you believe that master of mainstream comedy, Neil Simon?Most folks would consider Simon a monster only in terms of professional stature, as a Tony- and Oscar-gobbling titan of the typewriter, the creator of such beloved popular entertainments as "The Odd Couple," the only playwright to have had four Broadway shows running simultaneously. But that quote is his own, from the intro to the 1971 book "The Comedy of Neil Simon." And it is both his commercial potency and his gifts as a trenchant observer of human foibles that make him a natural choice as the focus for Profile Theatre's 2008-'09 season.The company's 12th season -- each of which has been devoted to the work of a single playwright -- will include four full productions and two staged readings of Simon's works, plus a reading from the yet-to-be-determined playwright for 2009-'10:
"I Ought to be in Pictures" (reading), Sept. 25-28
"Fools," Oct. 15-Nov. 16
"Lost in Yonkers" (reading), Nov. 20-23
"Biloxi Blues," Jan. 14-Feb. 15
"Jake's Women," Mar. 4-April 5
"The Sunshine Boys," May 13-June 14
2009-'10 sneak preview, June 18-21.Tickets go on sale July 1; www.profiletheatre.org or 503-242-0080.
Beyond Bailout: Reinvesting in “U.S.”
For Release Sunday, September 28, 2008 © 2008 Washington Post Writers Group By Neal Peirce 
With the Wall Street mortgage meltdown so massive its costs could reach toward $1 trillion, where’s the economic plan to rebuild America’s cities and infrastructure, to retool our businesses and people for a risky century? It seems totally missing in official Washington today. Yet it ought to be a central issue of the presidential campaign, asserts Phil Angelides, chairman of the Apollo Alliance and former California state treasurer. The four-year old Apollo Alliance of labor, business, environmental and community leaders has been campaigning hard for an ambitious nationwide, “Made in America,” “green collar” jobs initiative. Its claimed goal is nothing less than making the country truly competitive, a global leader (rather than a laggard) in the clean 21st century energy products and services — just as President Kennedy’s original Apollo Program made us first on the moon. 
Would all this cost money? Yes, tens of billions of dollar a year, Angelides acknowledges. Investment has to come early and strongly, he argues — to double the federal R & D budget focused on a green economy, to equip factories, retrain workers, rebuild inefficient energy grids, develop wind and solar power at an accelerated rate, upgrade energy efficiency of buildings nationwide, and help cities build and expand transit systems for mobility in an oil-scarce, carbon-challenged era. Is it a “new thing” for our national government to invest heavily for its citizens’ future? No way, argues Angelides. And the precedent isn’t just FDR’s New Deal combatting the Great Depression. An equally compelling example: President Lincoln’s leadership in the midst of a Civil War that was to take 620,000 American lives. The nation was shattered physically. Yet Lincoln pressed to charter the transcontinental railway to cement a nationwide economy. He persuaded Congress to pass the Morrill Act for state land-grant colleges, training workers for our coming industrialization. And he won passage of the Homestead Act, which in time made millions of Americans equity owners in our society. “Remarkable achievements,” Angelides asserts, “for a nation on its knees.” Today many Americans (and culture war conservatives) prefer flying their flags to admitting how deep our 21st century crises have become. Yet the facts are there. The national security is at risk because of our massive foreign oil addiction, rapidly rising energy costs, Katrina-scale storms and global warming, weakening manufacturing power and a slow, pernicious hollowing out of the middle class. That makes the Apollo Alliance’s call for “a New Deal, Marshall Plan style commitment to clean energy and good jobs” a bit hard to dismiss as more “liberal” “tax and spend” politics. If we can afford seemingly endless hundreds of billions to bail out unwise investors, how can we not invest forward in our own people and economy? Indeed, the bailout plan itself cries out of a more creative “Chapter Two.” There’s rather broad support for rescuing our financial institutions from their follies and a fiscal free fall that could afflict us all. But the economy is more than financial markets. It is also about communities, scientists, engineers, working people. And it is about talent, invention, productivity, goods and services of real and high competitive value produced with less energy, less environmental cost. Right now people are scared and nervous. The federal bailout will ease concerns for the time being. But it won’t achieve much lasting impact unless we show our creativity and invent a more powerful economic model than the present financial short-of-hand. There’s ample evidence we’re ready for change, even if our national leaders have largely failed to articulate it. Note the powerful recent surge of private sector investment in solar, wind power and biofuels. And note our fascination with ideas like T. Boone Pickens’ program to build huge wind farms across the Great Plains. The “New Apollo Program” is endorsed by groups ranging from the AFL-CIO and Steelworkers to the Union of Concerned Scientists and the community organizers ACORN. Other organizations are on the same page. The “America 2050″ group is urging a new national plan to meet the infrastructure, economic and carbon reduction needs of the times. The Brookings Institution urges reshaping the federal government to promote economic clusters and energy breakthroughs in our metro regions. The Apollo leaders express distress that GOP presidential candidate John McCain is now focusing on the highly limited returns likely from offshore oil drilling and not the renewables and carbon cap and trade system he championed before. They’re far happier with Barack Obama’s endorsement of major infrastructure investment, commitment to retooling American industry, and creating 5 million new jobs through green initiatives. But no matter which candidate wins, the overwhelming need to invest in a radically greener, energy efficient, globally competitive America won’t go away. Bailout of errant markets is just the prelude to the really hard work ahead. Neal Peirce’s e-mail is npeirce@citistates.com
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The Thoughts on Democracy exhibition is comprised of posters created by sixty leading contemporary artists and designers, invited by The Wolfsonian [Florida international Museum] to create a new graphic design inspired by American illustrator Norman Rockwell’s “Four Freedoms” posters of 1943, which were recently gifted to the museum by Leonard A. Lauder.
Chip Kidd:"I really, really struggled with this one. I was torn between pursuing two different concepts‹first, the lack of these freedoms in other countries; second, a caution about the abuse of these freedoms in the US. I ultimately went with the latter. The point is that every day we see how these freedoms can not only be taken for granted, but that they can be twisted to harmful ends by the very people they are meant to serve. Thus Freedom from Want leads to rampant obesity; Freedom of Worship leads to using God to hate; Freedom of Speech leads to destruction of property; and Freedom from Fear leads to the proliferation and deadly use of guns."
Chipp Kidd is a graphic designer and writer based in New York City. His book jacket designs for Alfred A. Knopf, where he has worked since 1986, have helped spawn a revolution in the art of American book packaging... The Cheese Monkeys, Kidd’s first novel, was published in 2001 and was a national bestseller, a well as a New York Times Notable book of the Year. His second novel, The Learners, was published in 2008 to tremendous acclaim. A comprehensive monograph of Kidd’s work, CHIP KIDD: BOOK ONE was published in 2005 with an introduction by John Updike; the 400 page book features over 800 works. He is the recipient of the 2007 National Design Award for Communications. Of his work, Time Out New York write: “The history of book design can be split into two eras: before graphic designer Chip Kidd and after.”Posted by The Wolfsonian-Florida International University
"It is the poet's privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. The poet's voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail."
The Joy Of Ear-Cleaning by Joe Palca To listen to this story Click here and then click on "Listen Now." Morning Edition, September 1, 2008 · Some 12 million people a year seek medical treatment for impacted earwax. Now, the American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery Foundation is releasing clinical guidelines on the management of earwax impaction. 
The guidelines suggest that patients and doctors keep in mind that earwax, technically known as cerumen, is a beneficial, self-cleaning agent with protective properties. It should be removed only when it builds up to a point where it causes symptoms such as pain or hearing loss. Appropriate options for physicians to treat cerumen impaction are: • cerumenolytic (wax-dissolving) agents, such as water or saline • irrigation or ear syringing, a procedure that involves a clinician injecting a stream of water into the ear canal. • manual removal with special instruments or a suction device Inappropriate or harmful interventions are: • inserting cotton-tipped swabs into the ear canal • oral jet irrigators, such as a Waterpik • ear candling, a technique that involves inserting a paraffin coated tube into the ear and then lighting it 
There are no proven ways to prevent cerumen impaction, but not inserting cotton-tipped swabs or other objects in the ear canal is strongly advised. Individuals at high risk, e.g., hearing-aid users, should consider seeing a clinician every six to 12 months for routine cleaning.
