F you, comma, the slog
There are things – things! – of substance that I’d actually like to talk about for a change, but I’m feeling too lazy and brainjumbled to form anything coherent and worthwhile at the moment.
Uhhhhh…yep.
Floobing thinky-deal. Work better, how ’bouts.
Bene scribete.
N…n-no.
Bene scribete.
I have a frowny face today.
I finally broke down and decided to replace my verging-on-twenty-year-old mattress to see if a new bed would help mitigate my chronic fatigue (probably in vain, but hey, it has to be better than aging time-compressed springs, right?). After waffling around for a month, I ended up ordering one of those fancy 12-inch three-layer gel memory foam types. A little wary of ordering a mattress without being able to try it first, but it was on super-sale and very well reviewed, so here’s hoping.
It was supposed to arrive on Thursday, but when it still didn’t on Friday, I gave UPS a call. Apparently they lost the package.
How do you lose a mattress?
I mean, a book or movie or something I can understand, but…
Anyway, I called the seller, and they said they’d work with UPS to try to find it, and otherwise send out a new one, which is good, but it means I’ll probably have to wait another couple weeks to maybe hopefully actually finally get a good night’s sleep for once.
Oh, the little things we look forward to…
Bene vīvite.
Speaking of interesting word websites – here’s another!
Forvo is an audio pronunciation database which aims to have every word in every language (yes, even swear words and slang) pronounced by a native speaker. It looks like it’s already most of the way there for the more widely spoken languages – at least any random thing I tried in English, Spanish, German, Italian, and Japanese was available.
The interface is presented in multiple languages, but any word in any language can be queried from any of them without needing to specify the language of origin. Words not natively in Roman characters can be searched for either in the native script or their Romanized versions (e.g., 犬 or inu).
Common words also tend to have multiple pronunciations to listen to, phrases with the word, and translations to other languages as well. If you’re a native speaker of a language whose word is not yet included, or is not pronounced to your satisfaction, you can help Forvo out by submitting your own words and pronunciations.
Give it a look (and listen) at http://forvo.com – it’s pretty neat!
Bene scribete.
What three words could unambiguously identify where you are right now? A question you probably didn’t ask, but was nevertheless answered by U.K.-based organization what3words in their efforts to create a universal addressing system for the world.
They’ve divided the planet into a grid of nine-square-meter (3×3) segments and given each and every one a globally unique sequence of three common words – the fact that that’s even possible just goes to show how vast the permutations of language are. (>^-‘)>
It sounds a little silly at first, but the more you think about it, the more useful you realize it could be. Most of the world – including much of it where people actually live – has no address, no way to positionally identify a given location beyond longitude and latitude, and to reach this level of precision with coordinates, you’d generally need to get down to the hundred-thousandth of a degree. A sequence of three words is a lot easier to remember and convey than a series of fourteen digits. It’s even simpler than a lot of conventional addresses – what’s more efficient to get across, slinky.little.fox or 2301 NE 32nd St. Bldg #102? Plus, how much more fun is it to say “deliver that pizza to slinky.little.fox“? (>^-‘)>
There are several disadvantages, however, even aside from the obvious one of adoption. The sequences are meaningless in isolation, and there’s no relational information built in; if you’re familiar with an area, the street name of a conventional address will at least give you a general idea where something is, but the real slinky.little.fox is not even on the same continent as, say, slinky.little.ferret. The order of the words also matters (slinky.little.fox and little.slinky.fox are entirely different places), but so does the order of numbers, which are still easier to mix up. Not every sequence flows together nicely as a phrase, but with a grid of this resolution you’ll have several to choose from on a typical plot, and so are likely to find one that’s snappy enough. Finally, discovering the name of the square you’re in or the location of another given sequence requires the use of a computer or mobile device of some sort, which is not as conducive as it could be to the places where this could be the most beneficial.
Still, it has the potential to be a pretty nifty alternate addressing scheme, especially because it’s already done. The developer offers a lightweight API to implement into any application, service, or website that deals with locations. You can get their standalone application for phones and tablets right now (Android | iPhone), or find out where you are right in your browser:
So what say you, fellow word lovers? Feasibly functional or just flippantly fun? (>^-‘)>
Bene scribete.
Writin' Fish 