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SubscriptionsSites I Read
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| the next google?
www.powerset.com
if i remember my math correctly, a powerset is a set of all sets.... probably something like: given a set S, the powerset of S is the set of all subsets of S.
definitely something to watch. i'm excited for what it will be able to do, or maybe just excited for it to be successful.
on a somewhat related note, i was telling my dad the other day that no, i'm pretty sure you can't find anything online that will translate something for you, just like that and for free. natural language is too complex and machine translation is totally not there yet. not that i know much about machine translation. but i know about the difficulty of their task!
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| structural ambiguity"I just talked on the phone to a travel agent with an Australian accent."
my brother said, hey, isn't that one of your nerdy language things?
well, he's right, and it's called structural ambiguity.
I just talked on the phone [to a travel agent with an Australian accent].
i.e. the travel agent had an Australian accent to his English.
I just talked on the phone [to a travel agent] [with an Australian accent].
i.e. I spoke in an Australian accent, when I spoke with the travel agent.
sorry i can't draw you the trees here on computer.
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| hello again.
everything with me is either slow or delayed.
and so. inspired by my friend jetta77's post, one day a while ago, a san leandro day, i walked into rasputin's and bought myself a used U2 cd. i took a lot of time in the store deciding to do it, but it was totally worth it. (me, and buying music? i think i can tell you the number of times i've ever done this for myself.)
my favorite song on the cd is definitely "walk on".
today, i was in a rather cool grocery store (not big chain), and this song was playing as i walked into the produce section. there were already nectarines on sale, but the song just made the whole experience very joyful and fun for me.
i have been feeling very hesitant about my life this week, "losing momentum".
i want to share something that encourages me tonight:
We are still
praying that you can go in Aug. don't give up, If God wants you to go, you'll
go, it might be that you'll get your permit and visa at the last minute. So be
prepared and be flexible,
Praying for
you,
Love,
A.
Sharon
the "A." stands for Auntie. don't analyze anything. rejoice with me at the admonition, Be prepared and be flexible. i dunno, that really "hits the spot" for me right now. it's not the words or the ideas; nothing is new. just God's good timing. i'm thankful that my heart is able to receive things at this time.
...
what you got, they can't steal it,
no they can't even feel it
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| from a five year oldI got the chance to present to my mom's Kindergarten class about my upcoming plans. It was very fun, and also very fun that this year I know many of the kids, so when they asked questions, I could call on them by name. I told them that there are people in png who don't have the Bible in their languages, and I told them the story of me and katylin playing "go fish" in Arosi, where the Arosi people laughed so hard when we said, how do you say, "no, go to the sea (to go fish)". i asked the CCS kindergarteners how to spell "ai'a, hanoa huasi"? so they used their English (spalding) phonograms to spell, "hieea, hanowa ..." and then I said, hm, but there's something missing in that first word, what is it? I didn't really mean for it to turn into a phonetics lesson, but then I was sorta telling them about the glottal stop. Mainly, about how there are sounds in other languages that our English alphabet doesn't easily represent.
I got out my map of the Pacific Ocean, to show them where I'm going. Many of these kids have traveled with their families to Hong Kong or Taiwan for christmas, etc, so they were asking me questions like, "how many hours is that airplane trip?" and one little boy, he said, "I've been there!!" I gently corrected him with, "I think you've been to Vietnam, is that right?"
One little girl, my mom's most difficult, smart-alecky student this year, raised her hand and asked, "Why are you going somewhere that's so far?" wow, what an insightful question. I said, "That's a good question". which, i've found lately, means that I think it's a good question, and that I don't know where to begin to answer it. in this case, especially given that this is my mom's classroom and I'm speaking not just to her students but to my mother. I answered it, but I don't think I gave a very good answer. there is a good answer, perhaps the one that says, because God has called me, but how do you talk about something so personal in front of your mother and 27 five-year-olds? (my cop-out answer is usually: because that's where there are people who don't have Bibles in their languages.)
maybe when i come back, my presentations will be more typically missionary-like. exotic pictures and challenging missionary calls. for now, there's still the timid joyce, going so far away only because God moves me along in spite of my fear.
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