ODNB

Today's ODNB Life of the Week is John Maclean.

Totting up the damage

I feel like someone has taken a rubber mallet to my shoulders and upper arms. The left is noticeably worse than the right. That makes sense as, being righthanded, I tend to drive into contact with my left shoulder. The bottom of my ribcage is sore, again worse on the left than the right. The tip of my right index finger is a bit mangled so I'm doing the two fingered typing bit with my middle finger. There is a large footprint on the inside of my left thigh. Otherwise it's just very tired muscles. Fortunately the conjunctivitis seems to be pretty much gone.

General theory of least worst

Roy Hattersley writes that Right now, we need Blair. Leaving aside the somewhat amusing conceit of Mr. Hattersley posing as Labour's socialist conscious he does, indirectly, raise an interesting point. His basic argument is that, awful as Blair is, as his credibility crumbles he must be supported because the alternative is worse. It's an argument for voting Labour I've heard just about all my life and it is a very seductive one. It's the argument that has kept the Liberal Party of Canada in office for most of the last thirty years. In both cases nobody has any clear idea what the party stands for except its own reelection. It's also an all but irrefutable argument in a first past the post electoral system. I don't think the case for democratic renewal could be made more starkly. If the "choice" a citizen is offered in an election is between a wasted vote, voting for a party one hates because that's the only way anything can change or holding one's nose and rewarding corruption and incompetence then one is clearly participating in a system that mocks democracy.

And that's my thought for May Day.

Shout out

This is a shout out to those of you who have a better knowledge of British history in the Romano British and immediately following periods. I understand that the current academic consensus is strongly against the "old" theory that what we call England was largely created by significant numbers of Germanic incomers and that what is believed to have happened is the widespread adoption by the existing population of a cultural package with roots across the North Sea. OK, I think I can buy into that in general terms but the bit I can't get my mind around is the language issue. How does a settled population with a long history and a settled culture come to adopt an entirely new language? I can't think of any other examples or parallels. Anybody able to help me out on this?

Y indeed

Comment on this entry and I will give you a letter if you want. Write ten words beginning with that letter in your journal, including an explanation of what the word means to you and why, and then pass out letters to those who want to play along.

The letter Y, assigned me by c_mantix:

Yakuza - Japanese mobsters notorious for getting tattoos all over their bodies. Just like daubentonia, except, as far as I know, he isn't a gangster.

Yamato - an exceedingly large Japanese battleship that turned out to be not very useful. Still battleships are cool.

Y-chromosome - what made me the man that I am, the mathematician the others all quote.

Yclept - essential for getting the appropriate faux-medieval tone in, for example, Chaucer parodies.

Yorkshire - a rapidly eroding excrescence to the east of Lancashire.

Yeast - no yeast, no fermentation. No fermentation, no booze. 'nuff said.

Yukon - largely uninhabited part of Canada notable mainly for the mythical Sergeant Preston of and the Yukon Gold potato which was actually developed in Guelph, Ontario.

Yowl - a source of many sleepless nights, especially before Leela and Padmini were fixed.

Yosemite - a rather nice park. Also the highest I've been except on a plane.

Yakisoba - a kind of noodle. I eat lots of noodles but not that kind very much.