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nevver:

When some words have hit the big time, they’ve left clunky related words behind.

1. EXHAUST/INHAUST
   While “exhaust,” from the Latin for “draw out of,” was first attested in 1540 and went on to a great career in the English vocabulary, “inhaust,” with the meaning “draw into,” was attested in 1547 (something about a “flye inhausted into a mannes throte sodenly”) but soon became obsolete.
2. OMNISCIENT/NESCIENT
   You know about “omniscient,” which comes from the Latin for “all knowing,” but did you know there was a counterpart meaning “not knowing”? You can now consider yourself more-scient!
3. RESUSCITATE/EXSUSCITATE
   “Exsuscitate” was around in the 1500s, as was “resuscitate,” but where “resuscitate” was for the act of bringing someone back from the dead, “exsuscitate” was for the less impressive act of rousing or waking someone up from sleep. It didn’t stick, and it doesn’t look likely to be resuscitated.
4. PRELIMINARY/POSTLIMINARY
   “Postliminary” has a technical use in international law, where it refers to the “right of postliminy” (stuff taken in war gets returned), but it’s also been used sporadically since the early 19th century as the opposite of “preliminary.”
5. INCANTATION/EXCANTATION
   If your incantation turns out to be a magic spell that somehow gets you in a jam, it might be good to be able to perform an excantation to get yourself out of it. Too bad the word, attested in 1580, is now obsolete.
6. INCRIMINATION/CONCRIMINATION
   It wouldn’t be fun to be the subject of an incrimination, but it might be a little more fun to be part of a concrimination with your friends, meaning “a joint accusation.” The word shows up in a 1656 dictionary, but we have no evidence that anyone ever used it.
7. INAUGURATE/EXAUGURATE
   Back in 1600 the word “inaugurate” was used to describe a ceremonial act of consecration or induction into office, but there was also the word “exaugurate” meaning, according to the OED, “To cancel the inauguration of; to unhallow, make profane.”

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amaditalks:

Wayne LaPierre of the NRA says that the answer to school shootings is an armed police officer in every school in America, and Congress should ensure that this happens when kids come back from winter break in January.

Because cops are bulletproof, apparently, and are never shot. And a shooter with an AR-15 in his hand, finger on the trigger, will be stopped by a cop with a .9 millimeter in a holster who doesn’t know the asshole is coming.

And schools are the only place that’s vulnerable. Tell that to the Sikhs in Oak Creek, the moviegoers in Aurora, the shoppers in Clackamas, the staff and patients at the hospital facility here in Pittsburgh, Gabrielle Giffords and her constituents outside a grocery story. The women at the LA Fitness in Bridgeville, PA. The people at Tennessee Valley UU Church. The lunch eaters at the McDonalds in San Diego. The soldiers at Fort Hood.

Because cops never open fire on unarmed civilians who they “think” have guns. Because shootouts between cops and criminals never kill bystanders. (Who in LaPierre’s construction, would be children.) Because cops are inherently trustworthy and their presence in a school wouldn’t escalate the potential for school violence to turn deadly. (Where there’s a gun, a gun can be used.)

LaPierre also blamed violence not on guns, but on television, movies and video games, specifically naming “Mortal Kombat” in which none of the characters have a gun.

And LaPierre specifically scapegoated people with mental illnesses, calling for a national database of people with mental illnesses. No national database of guns or gun owners, but of those of us with mental illnesses. Never mind that people struggling with depression who can’t get out of bed don’t kill people. Just ignore the fact that two soldiers with PTSD commit suicide every day, on average, but so far, none have shot up a crowd of innocent people. Forget that people with schizophrenia, widely thought dangerous, are actually exponentially more likely to be victims of crime rather than perpetrators. And easily, casually, thoughtlessly set aside the fact that the vast, vast majority of gun crimes are not committed by a person with a mental illness.

Where there’s a gun, there’s a gun that can be used. Increasing the number of guns in vulnerable places (which would be, we’ve seen, as 2012 has shown us, is everywhere) only increases the likelihood of someone being shot there, and that’s not an improvement. Not by any means.

This is the NRA’s “substantial offering” to solve gun violence. This is the same old rhetoric they’ve been pushing for the entirety of their existence. It is anti-science, anti-statistic, anti-factual nonsense.

It’s time to be serious — which starts with no longer letting an organization that represents 1.3% of Americans dictate public policy on this issue.

(via cozylampshade)

pinterblog:

One of the most rewarding moments on Pinterest is when you come across someone’s boards and instantly realize this person is amazing and you two would probably get along really well.

You can repin, like, write a comment or follow someone to show how you love their taste, but we’re also…

(via iamjedmund)

putorti:

Modernism is fundamentally a reaction to the past and a response to change. Windows 8 too is a response to the UI of the past and the continual change of technology. The Modernist ideas reflected in Windows 8 inform much of its core experience tenets, and understanding this past is key to understanding Windows 8 and its future.

Interesting take on it!