Unequally Yoked
I realize I started experimenting with cooking and giving up gnosticism just in time (or possibly too late!). You see, I went out with friends to see Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado and when Katisha opened a song with:
Alone, and yet alive! Oh, sepulchre!
My soul is still my body’s prisoner!
My friends leaned across the seats to nudge me and say, “Look, she’s a dualist, like you!”
Oh dear.
Our discussion of determinism a few weeks ago petered out unsatisfyingly, but that’s ok, because this Dinosaur Comic is really the last word on the question:
Via Patheos blogger The Crescat in the Catholic Portal comes the answer to a question I’ve had ever since the big overhaul of the English-language Roman Missal: there does appear to be an ASL version of the Mass in development!
Watching the interpreter in my local parish, I noticed he was usually signing with the syntax of spoken English, so I assumed there wasn’t a full translation.
The video below should give you a pretty decent idea about the difference between the syntax of real ASL and what’s sometimes called Simple Signed English (SEE) or English on the hands. Ally is signing a translation of the song in the full screen and translating word-by-word in the inset screen.
Sign language is a full language that encodes meaning spatially, instead of aurally. Because I’m such a math nerd, I really geek out about cool uses of spatial reasoning. Needless to say, I was delighted to see the NYT‘s visualization of orchestral conductors.
I may have mentioned how much I’ve enjoyed the “Building a Search Engine” programming class I’ve been taking from Udacity. Registration is open now for their next cycle of classes (the most basic of which requires no previous programming experience). I really recommend them and I’m glad to answer any specific questions in the comments.
That wraps up the quick takes for this week. I’ve got an action packed weekend ahead of me. I’m heading over to Catholic University of America to see a symposium on “Creation and Modern Science” which will include Edward Feser (whose book The Last Superstition, I’ve blogged about previously). And later that day: roller derby.
For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!
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