Another Lotus blossom.

What do you think of it? Sexy? Boring? Whatever the case may be, it is the first new Lotus in 13 years.

McCain on Geography.

Pop quiz! Where are all the terrorists in the Middle East?

I say we ask John McCain the same question. After all, he is the candidate the Republicans are trying to paint as the best choice for National Security.

There is a problem, however. John McCain has proven today that he truly doesn’t know what the hell is going on around him.

Smart phones for dumb people?

I’ve recently had some debate with someone who is best described as a fanboy. Except that she’s a girl.

The topic of our conversation was, in part, Blackberry. Not the naturally occurring capsule of fruity goodness, mind, but the seemingly popular mobile device by Research in Motion. You see, this person just bought one of Apple’s new iPhone 3Gs, and was keen to point out some issues that she thought the Blackberry did better with. This led to some absolutely useless arguing over personal preference, but it also got me thinking about the topic of mobile phones in general; now, I can say with certainty, smart phones are for dumb people.

What? No mustache?

Say it ain’t so: it seems Hollywood has seen the need to take a chance at ruining another classic television series by completely changing it for the silver screen. If you like your Hawaiian shirts as much as I do, you won’t be pleased.

“Critical Thinking” against Evolution.

When I was in elementary school, I remember being told the importance of critical thinking. The questions posed under the “critical thinking” guise were always more difficult and took more time, but they allowed for a greater range of creative answers than a normal academic question. This was the purpose of critical thinking.

It seems that Louisiana, with the passage of the “Academic Freedom” bill, wants to redefine the word to serve a Christian agenda.

A ghost word.

Here’s an interesting tidbit: anyone ever used the word “dord?”

According to Snopes, this word is a “ghost word.” It never existed in the English lexicon, but did appear in Webster’s dictionary. How could something like that happen?

South African Language Policy

Normally, I post linguistics papers on my language-only blog, LINGUISTIquips. This particular paper, however, is more related to sociolinguistic aspects of language (a largely sociopolitical issue), and so I decided it was worthy of the pages of Crispy Quips.

I recently completed this paper for a class in Multilingualism at UC Davis. It’s got a few illustrations, so I’m providing it in PDF form instead of formatting it for the web.

The work is concerned with the language policy of South Africa, and how English seems to retain political dominance even though native languages (such as Zulu and Xhosa) are more commonly spoken. Do give it a read; it’s worth your time.

Click here for PDF: South African Language Policy

“Gear” becoming official?

We’ve all known for some time now that NBC was (supposedly) preparing an American Top Gear spinoff called “Gear,” which was to star Adam Carolla as the host. Amazingly, it seems that this story wasn’t complete bollocks, as NBC now has mention of a Top Gear-esque “new show” on their website.

In fact, it’s so Top Gear-esque, it’s called… Top Gear? Huh?

Sounds good to me. Don’t worry about making some crappy American spinoff that can’t do auto reviews because of corporate sponsorship. Jeremy Clarkson is oodles better than ol’ Adam, anyway.

To Africa.

It’s not often that one finds religious quotation on Crispy Quips, but the other day I found a beautifully written piece by Bishop Catherine Roskam concerning western relations with Africa and the situation that much outside influence has created. A short quotation from this wonderful piece follows.

I am sorry, Africa.
Of all the places we have exploited - and we have exploited many - it is only from you that we have also stolen the people.

I would strongly encourage everyone to browse to “Blane,” a blog written by a Rhodesian which has a copy of Roskam’s transcript… amazingly appropriate considering that Rhodesia itself no longer exists due to the strife of Africa.

Bueller? Bueller?

Anyone here remember Ferris Bueller’s Day Off?

That movie featured many memorable items. The first that comes to my mind, however, is the famous scene in which a Ferrari 250 GT California goes flying backwards through the window of Cameron’s dad’s garage. Of course, it was no real 250 GT; the car featured in the movie was actually a Ford Mustang with a special body kit. However, the 250 GT California is a real Ferrari, and perhaps one of the most well known (and best looking) Ferraris ever made.

Of course, Ferrari never likes to let a good car go by the wayside (think Superamerica), and so they have revamped their famous 60’s roadster and embodied its essence in something fully modern: the new 2009 Ferrari California. With that name, I like it already.