Things That Are Meta

Below is a list of "must-read books on words and language."  This may actually fall one step short of meta: books about language and words, which compose books, rather than books about full books themselves. However, if I've done triple-layered meta as a blog topic, I feel entitled to also do stripped-back, not-quite-meta. Besides, if the author titles it so, it must be so.  Right?  WRONG .  Well, that example aside then. This is a BrainPickings repost .  Meta: 5 Must-Read Books on Words & Language by Maria Popova What single Chinese men have to do with evolution and insults from Virginia Woolf. We love , love , love words and language. And what better way to celebrate them than through the written word itself? Today, we turn to five of our favorite books on language, spanning the entire spectrum from serious science to serious entertainment value. THE STUFF OF THOUGHT <="" a="" align="right" width="170"...

Lisbeth pointed me to this excellent meta lobbyist article, before I even realized that its author is my friend's roommate.  Small world, DC journalists writing about lobbying, small world.  And, a side note, I was going to post along with this post the first image that came up when I google-image-searched 'lobbyist,' but they were all so negative that I decided it went against the point of this article.  See for yourself. Key excerpt: In a city full of journalists, lawyers, and congressmen, lobbyists have kept an unfortunate claim on being the most despised profession in town. But unlike some of those other punching bags, they know what to do about it. For the past 30 years, the American League of Lobbyists has worked to dispel the stereotype of money-grubbing, briefcase-toting palm-greasers. They are the lobbyists’ lobbyists. And the Young Lobbyists Network, with its cheerful happy hours, is Exhibit A in the campaign to change their public image— to spin the p...

Thanks to Junayd for this hit blog post idea. The ONLY better, more meta coffee table book would be a book about coffee table books.  But shh.

I receive a text from Erik, my little brother. Erik: What is a question? Thinking I'm clever, I respond: An expression of curiosity. But apparently (obviously), I was supposed to realize it was meta!  Oops...  Erik is good at this.

This is an Atlanti c repost, by Hampton Stevens - The Meta, Innovative Genius of 'Community' It's one of the most inventive shows in sitcom history. But can it make us care about the characters? NB C Community is the most innovative sitcom of all time. Wait! Hold on. Don't pummel the comments section with rants about All in the Family and Cheers just yet. "Most innovative" doesn't necessarily mean the best. It doesn't mean the NBC show, which airs the conclusion of its two-part season finale tonight, is the funniest sitcom ever, or has the most memorable characters. Community 's protagonist Jeff Winger, played by Joel McHale, is no charming scamp like Sam Malone. Jeff and Britta, played by Gillian Jacobs, are certainly not a classic sitcom couple that audiences will root for like Sam and Diane. Or Ross and Rachel. Or Jim and Pam, Niles and Daphne, Dave and Maddie, Mulder and Scully, Jeannie and Major Nelson, an...

Taking a break from the blog until June for a trip to Istanbul and then REUNIONS!!! See you en juin.

Due to some recent confusion about what indeed constitutes 'meta,' here is a fun little quiz I devised at your disposal.  Here you will see the thought process I go through daily... Q: Would the blog 'Stuffwhitepeoplelike' be meta? Since it's white people talking about stuff white people like ? A: yes. Q: Is volunteering to volunteer meta? A: yes, probably Q: Are charts about sex meta? A: No. Elaborate A: i want to say yes. but i dont think so. am i missing something? charts about charts = meta sex about sex = waht's that? sex while watching sex = meta but not quite there. lady's source: http://feministing.com/2011/ 04/20/whats-better-than-sex- charts-about-sex/#more-32530

All, I'm slowing down on blogging this week, not sure why.  Maybe I got a bit of a life?  Anyways. What would you think about me switching this over to a blog about 'decisions to be made' - there are so many!  And don't you always wonder WHO makes such decisions?  I might not get all the answers but I'm sure I could dig up some - or if not, ask the question. Examples -who in an office building decides at what temperature the rooms should be set, or is there some law or building manager code all in the building must follow? -when you are on the bus and you see "irving and mount pleasant" stop illuminate above the driver in the bus abbreviated "irvng and mt p" - is there one person whose job it is to pour through all stop  names in an entire bus system and decide which vowels to drop? -traffic lights; is it semi random how long each one is green for, especially at those intersections where you feel like you are waiting forever for your lig...

With no further ado, I present to you Poetics by A. R. Ammons . I do like a good poem during a relatively somber time such as this.  Thanks Kaleena. Poetics A.R. Ammons I look for the way things will turn out spiraling from a center, the shape things will take to come forth in so that the birch tree white touched black at branches will stand out wind-glittering totally its apparent self: I look for the forms things want to come as from what black wells of possibility, how a thing will unfold: not the shape on paper -- though that, too -- but the uninterfering means on paper: not so much looking for the shape as being available to any shape that may be summoning itself through me from the self not mine but ours. (a poem about form, about the poetry of nature, yes?)

Colin reports on Colin (without knowing it).  FuNnY.

http://www.wired.com/ wiredscience/2011/03/what-is- success-true-grit/ It's an article about how people can be born with the talent to work hard.  It's meta in that talent for hard word breeds other talent.  A talent for cultivating talents. The repost : Which Traits Predict Success? (The Importance of Grit) By Jonah Lehrer   What are the causes of success? At first glance, the answer is easy: success is about talent. It’s about being able to do something – hit a baseball, play chess, trade stocks, write a blog – better than most anyone else. That’s a fine answer, but it immediately invites another question: What is talent? How did that person get so good at hitting a baseball or trading stocks? For a long time, talent seemed to be about inheritance, about the blessed set of genes that gave rise to some particular skill. Einstein had the physics gene, Beethoven had the symphony gene, and Tiger Woods (at least until his ca...