October 31, 2019 U.S. Aid Makes Corrupt Countries More Corrupt

Our 'democracy building' assistance to certain countries - including Ukraine - has produced kleptocracies, or worse. By JAMES BOVARD • October 30, 2019

Counting on foreign aid to reduce corruption is like expecting whiskey to cure alcoholism. Most of the press coverage has tacitly assumed that American assistance is vital to fighting corruption in Ukraine. But that ignores foreign aid’s toxic record and Ukraine’s post-Soviet history. 

Bribing foreign politicians to encourage honest government makes as much sense as distributing free condoms to encourage abstinence. 

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/foreign-aid-makes-corrupt-countries-more-corrupt/

October 27, 2019 Even the BBC may overlook the possessive pronoun:

However, even in the Nordics, where the ritual of roasting in a sauna is baked into everyday life, there is an increasingly vocal backlash against incorporating the tradition into the start-up scene, at a time when it’s lack of gender diversity is already in the spotlight.

October 23, 2019 Social jet lag is the "misalignment of social and biological time", according to Till Roenneberg, a professor of chronobiology at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich who coined the term. It occurs when our biologically determined sleep needs don't line up with other obligations, and we give way to the obligations.

https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20191023-the-body-clock-science-behind-later-school-start-times

October 21, 2019 Fedor Tyutchev's famous line "Мысль изреченная есть ложь" has many translations (some of them are anonymous):

A thought once uttered is untrue.  (V. Nabokov)
A thought once uttered is a lie;
For when voiced what are they but lies!..
A thought once spoken is a lie.

The word, pronounced, is a lie;  (Yevgeny Bonver, источник)

A thought expressed becomes a lie. (Elisabeth Konovalova)

A thought once mouthed is a fake.  (Boris Leyvi, источник)

A thought you've spoken is untrue. (F. Jude)

October 17, 2019 A good deal of our life consists in communicating with other people. In the process of communication a human being creates and acts out different “roles” for all sorts of occasions and places.

1964 saw the publication of a bestselling book "Games People Play: The Psychology of Human Relationships" by psychiatrist Eric Berne. Since then it has sold more than five million copies. Its enormous popularity is accounted for by Berne’s collection of games: people read the games first skipping the body of theory. However, the theory tries to make it easy for the reader by avoiding ‘clever’ words and offering simple schemes.

October 13, 2019 The great L. S. Vygotsky in "Thought and Word" (1934):

In our speech, there is always the hidden thought, the subtext. Because a direct transition from thought to word is impossible, there have always been laments about the inexpressibility of thought:

How shall the heart express itself?

How shall another understand?

(F. Tiutchev)

October 11, 2019 He fielded questions about organized crime in the city of Odessa and the continued presence in his government of high-ranking officials who have long been stained by corruption. And he was asked repeatedly about Ihor Kolomoisky, a billionaire and former business partner of Mr. Zelensky, whose looming influence over his administration is at odds with his promises to finally expel the oligarchs from power. All the while, members of the public meandered around just a few yards away, buying muffins and occasionally yelling out questions or complaints of their own. The event had the appearance of Mr. Zelenky’s favorite medium: theater.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/10/world/europe/ukraine-trump-zelensky-burisma-blackmail.html

October 7, 2019 The city of around 40,000 people is clearly one of duality: street signs are all in two languages; residents can choose whether their children will use French or German in primary school; and the university even offers a bilingual curriculum.

However, head to medieval Basse-Ville, caught between the German- and French-speaking divisions of Fribourg, and you’ll find yourself in a no-man's land where the two languages have become one: le Bolze.

Speak to any Swiss national, and you’ll likely find them enthralled with the topic of communication, probably because languages are so incredibly diverse within this small country. The nation can be geographically divided into three major language groups. The south, which shares in the famous lakes of the Swiss-Italian lake region, is Italian-speaking. To the west near Geneva is French-speaking; while central and eastern parts of the country, such as Zurich and St Moritz, rely on German (and the south-eastern canton of Graubünden even includes Romansh speakers).

http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20190422-the-swiss-language-that-few-know

October 3, 2019 For centuries historians of English wondered whether the Anglo-Saxon invaders had performed genocide on the Celts. The latest investigations of the burial sites discovered Celts being buried alongside Anglo-Saxons. This fact suggests that though subjugated the Celts were not exterminated, but display a robust community. This hypothesis was confirmed by the documents traced down to a 7th century king of Wessex [John McWhorter. Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue]

October 1, 2019 For European languages it's a decidedly peculiar individual who is given for every one of their actions that they are indeed in the process of accomplishing it at this very instant: Estoy escribiendo (Spanish), Je suis en train d'écrire (French), Ich bin am schreiben (German). [John McWhorter. Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue]