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BBC Senses Challenge

Can’t remember how I came across this one, but as soon as I saw it I knew it would have been perfectly suited for the “Illusions” section of the Intro to Psychology Lab at St. Olaf College for which I was a preceptor. Sadly, it looks as though the lab is no longer offered… perhaps had we been using the Senses Challenge, it would still be around!

The BBC Senses Challenge, nestled within their Human Body & Mind section, demonstrates some of the most common illusions and offers a bit of general instruction on our senses (including “tasty” food combinations of which you may not be aware).

A Journey Through the Digital Past

On March 5th, 2006, I received and promptly accepted an invitation to Gmail.  I am able to so precisely pinpoint this date due to the fact that Google’s “Welcome to Gmail!” message has been sitting unread in my inbox since that day.  Since then, somewhere between my frequent usage of Apple’s Mail viewer (which I’ve got set up to leave copies on the server) and my tendency to leave messages for later perusal, my inbox spiraled out of control.  Somehow, I was able to ignore this grand disorder and go on, telling myself that I’d get to it “someday.”  A few months ago, however, my coworker’s balking at my 4000+ unread e-mails (not to mention those countless read but unsorted) served as a wake-up call: the time to address this issue had come.

Since then I have engaged on a systematic journey through the past five plus years of correspondence, labeling and sorting those that I could and leaving those unable to be immediately categorized for a second run through. I am proud to announce that as of yesterday, I have successfully completed my first pass, bringing my inbox to 1200 messages on the dot (an estimated reduction of approximately 7000) and bringing my unread total to under 200 (almost all of which are messages I’ve sent to myself for purposes of addressing later).  Not wanting to lose momentum, I immediately embarked upon Phase Two, and have come to realize that much of my uncategorized mail is just screaming for a place on this blog (whether it was intended for such or not).  So, I present the first of what I will henceforth call “Web Gems”; expect (many) more in the days to come.

The Squashed Philosophers

My senior year at St. Olaf College freed me up to take some elective courses, and after some negotiation with facilitator Dr. Charles Taliaferro (I offer a simple Google search only because he has done SO much more than the college’s page would let on) I found myself in a philosophy seminar on personal identity. In addition to the riveting exchange typical of any good philosophy course, this seminar required us to read Being and Time by Martin Heidegger–a charge I took very seriously (which is more than I can say for some of my philosophy major classmates) and the completion of which I consider one of the crowning achievements of my life.

However, completing is not necessarily comprehending, and though I believed I had gleaned some existential insights at the time of reading (few of which I could report today), I desired further elucidation.  In an effort to achieve said clarification, I came across the brilliant Squashed Philosophers, a collection of abridged versions of some of philosophy’s most influential works.  Alas, no Heidegger, though it sounds like for a good reason:

From: Glyn Hughes

To: Peter Lynn

Date: Mon, Jun 4, 2007 at 8:18 AM

Subject: Squashed Philosophers

Dear Peter,

Aw! Thanks for your praise, it is very much appreciated.

As to Heidegger, unfortunately, he is still in copyright which means that his family will want money, and I still owe Wittgenstein £90!

Glyn

I used to work on the West Side of Saint Paul, which took me up and down George Street at least eight times a week.  On one of my trips, I noted the sudden appearance of a very strange assortment of cryptic street signs with no discernible cohesion or purpose.  Back then, I made a very superficial and unsuccessful inquiry in their regards and forgot about them… until now.  Though much more information has been posted since my initial “investigation,” I figured I’d try to pull it together in a useful and educational manner.

The Images
Before we get in too deep, let’s first get these images on display, so people have a sense of with what we’re dealing (or to jog people’s memories if they too have seen the signs).  The following photographs were taken by me and my lovely wife Brenna while the signs resided on Third Street East between Birmingham Street and White Bear Avenue (to where they were moved after George Street); they are displayed in order beginning on the south side of Third walking east toward White Bear and then returning westward on Third’s north side until Birmingham.

Neat, huh?  You can see how they might pique one’s curiosity…

Their Genesis: The Art of Traffic Calming

The informational blurb at left (which eluded me on my daily drives) appears on the backside of at least one of the signs and introduces their purpose as that of “traffic calming.”  Indeed, if one calls the listed hotline, they are met with Saint Paul Public Works director Bruce Beese explaining the project:

Over the next several weeks, Saint Paul residents will witness one of the latest innovations in traffic calming methods: the use of public art signs to make motorists more aware of their surroundings.  … Using public art to calm traffic is an idea so new in traffic engineering circles that it must now prove itself worthy of the claim.  To that end, Paul St. Martin, manager of our traffic, signal and lighting division, will oversee testing of the art signs to determine if the signs have the intended effect of slowing traffic in the areas where they have been installed.  …  City residents should keep in mind that the display of these signs is temporary; whether they will become a permanent part of the city’s boulevards remains to be seen. [Hear or read Mr. Beese's full hotline message.]

Indeed, Mr. Steven Woodward was St. Paul’s Artist in Residence from 2005 to 2006, during which time he “participated in community forums on strategies to make city neighborhoods safer and more pedestrian friendly“; based heavily on the traffic-calming work of David Engwicht, the signs are the end product of his proposal based on these forums, as well as of

the highly motivated professionals within the department of public works, the continuing efforts of Public Art Saint Paul, an organization dedicated to integrating art into the public realm for the past 20 years, and my own investigation of the ever evolving concept of what a sign is, and how it can be used to communicate multiple meanings despite its apparent simplicity.  [Hear or read Mr. Woodward's full hotline message.]

Also partially funded by the Saint Paul Neighborhood STAR Program, which issues grants for capital improvement projects within the city, the signs are meant to slow traffic by “shaking people out of their routine,” as traffic manager Paul St. Martin explains in his lecture on traffic calming:

Public education can be an effective tool to help change the attitude and behavior of drivers.  Educational efforts aim at addressing the possibility that residents of the affected neighborhood are not attentive to the speeds that they are driving and modifications of their own driving behavior may solve the problem.  …  The art signs are an attempt at educating drivers that they are driving on a city street in a residential area and the drivers should obey the speed limit.  Often, drivers become accustomed to existing signing and conditions on a street, and speeds tend to increase.  The art signs will provide a change of conditions and hopefully a reminder to drivers that there are residents, schools, bicyclists and pedestrians which share the public right of way and drivers should behave accordingly. [Hear or read Mr. St. Martin's hotline message.]

Whether or not these signs have successfully served to “remind” drivers to slow down seems more or less unresolved; we’ll touch on that shortly.

A Few Afterthoughts

When I first noticed the art signs, my initial instinct was to uncover their meaning, thinking that surely they must be some elaborate, Winter Carnival-esque code that I was destined to crack.  Upon learning they were art, however, I abandoned my quest for the images’ individual meanings; I believe art ought to be interpreted on a personal basis and that knowing the intentions or inspiration with which the artist went in often limits or compromises the visceral experience of said art (case in point: Led Zeppelin’s “Bron-Y-Aur Stomp”).  That being said, Mr. Woodward touches briefly on a few of the sign’s meanings in the slideshow attached to WCCO’s report; view them at your own risk!

Saint Paul’s official page on the project indicates no currently scheduled locale for the signs; it would seem their future depends on their effectiveness and public response.  I have e-mailed Mr. Saint Martin inquiring as to official city reports on both; I have yet to receive any response but will promptly report one should it come.  According to the aforementioned local news report, speeds on Hamline and Thomas Avenues were unchanged by the signs’ presence, though it is acknowledged that the testing period, which overlapped with our infamous and ludicrously popular state fair, may have provided atypical data.

As for public response, web comments on the City Pages’ article on the subject paint a fairly negative picture; however, this is certainly a small sample and is likely unrepresentative.  Personally, my immediate fascination with the signs stemmed from their unparalleled uniqueness, and I think they are worth taking pride in; they simply add to the overwhelming character that makes our capital city so beautiful.  I hope the city opts for their continued display, and I think Mr. Woodward, Saint Paul Public Works, and all other parties involved deserve praise and congratulations for being brave and creative enough to put them in action.  In fact, if you too would like to see the signs continue to make their way around our fair city, please—let your voice be heard!

(Note: This post has been updated in “‘Ide,’ Ethnocentrism, and SOWPODS: Clarifications and Updates.”)

I play a lot of Scrabble, primarily online via Hasbro’s official application for facebook. In this Scrabble context, I have long been frustrated by the fact that “ides” is a valid English play, while “ide” is not. The following is an exploration of this troublesome truth.

The Roman Calendar

The English word “ides” is derived from the Latin word “Eidus,” and refers to a day in the Roman calendar that falls either on the 13th or the 15th, depending on the particular month. The “Eidus”—eventually “Idus”—was one of three sacred days used as markers for reporting the date; in ancient Rome, days were given by their temporal relation to the “Kalendae,” “Nonae,” or “Idus,” which due to their hallowed nature bore ample accompanying rituals and sacrifice.

In Latin, however—and here’s where we start to get some answers—”Idus” and its partners are given in the feminine plural tense; as a result, the English equivalents “Kalends,” “Nones,” as well as our “Ides” exist exclusively as plural nouns. (The Oxford English Dictionary entry for “ides” cites a few examples of “ide” employed literarily, but these seem by all logical reasoning to be flawed usages.)

Still, the good question remains: why were days given as plurals in Ancient Rome? Unfortunately, the unsettling answer seems to be that no one really knows for sure. My web research led me to the Oxford Companion to the Year, in which I could not find my answer… so I e-mailed its authors, Doctors Bonnie Blackburn and Leofranc Holford-Strevens, who replied promptly with a very authoritative (albeit disappointing) report that a well-supported answer has yet to be discovered. However, Agnes Michels writes in her Calendar of the Roman Republic:

It is an interesting fact that in Latin and Greek the names of the regularly recurring days are often plural, as are many of the annual religious observances which give names to calendar days.  Why this should be true of some days and not of others is a puzzle.  Nonae is the feminine plural of nonus, indicating that the Nones are always on the 9th day before the Ides.  Kalendae, always spelled in the archaic manner with a K, is in some way connected with a verb calo, which occurs in the rites for the day.  Idus may be of Etruscan derivation. [boldness added]

In connection with this passage, Dr. James May, professor of classics at my alma mater Saint Olaf College, suggested that perhaps the plural day markers stem from the rituals for the day—one set of rituals, but still a “plurality of actions.” Though speculative, this seems to be the most logical explanation I have come across and the one that I’ve been using to reduce my own cognitive unrest. (I have furthermore been pursuing the Etruscan roots of “Ides” in particular but have yet to uncover any novel insight as to plurality.)

Ide the Fish

For the time being, then, we’ll try to be satisfied with the fact that our question baffles even esteemed experts in the field. However, over the course of my waxing obsession with all of this, my lovely wife pointed out that while “ide” as a singular form of ides is not apparently an English word, there is an “ide” that is—at least in some circles.

Going back to our trusty Oxford English Dictionary, we have “ide: a cyprinoid fish (Leuciscus idus or Idus melanotus), inhabiting the fresh waters of northern Europe.” Also known as an orfe, this ide appears rather legitimate… but still not enough so for Scrabble. I couldn’t complete this investigation without addressing ide the fish, could I?

The official validity of a given word for Scrabble is determined by whether or not it is included in the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary (OSPD) or the Official Tournament and Club Word List (OWL), depending on your game; the primary difference between the two, from what I can ascertain, seems to be that OSPD4 is more oriented towards “family play”—that is, OWL contains the vulgarities omitted from the OSPD.  According to the National Scrabble Association, the most updated versions of these lists—OSPD4 and OWL2—are comprised by a compilation of words from four source dictionaries:

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th edition
American Heritage College Dictionary, 4th edition
Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th edition
Random-House Webster’s College Dictionary, 2000 2nd revised and updated Random House edition

I have successfully located three of these dictionaries and confirmed they bear no “ide”; I’d be willing to wager the same is true for the Random House Webster’s College Dictionary—especially as “ide” doesn’t make it into the Random House Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language. There are a few unabridged dictionaries in which ide the fish does appear, however: the aforementioned Oxford English Dictionary, and perhaps more notably—at least in our Scrabble context—Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged. With Merriam-Webster publishing said dictionary and Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary being a source dictionary for the OSPD, I figured this may be the best option at hand for getting “ide” into one of the above named dictionaries.

Convincing Merriam-Webster

From the same National Scrabble Association page as above, we have a helpful protocol for petitioning a given word’s inclusion in Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate dictionary (note that Merriam-Webster.com‘s official response to the same inquiry is rather disappointing).  Though I have sought “ide” in many different dictionaries as well as encyclopedias both common and biological to no avail, Wikipedia maintains a collection of several different online sources employing “ide” as a fish. T’was from citations within these online sources that I extracted the print sources I mentioned in my letter to Merriam-Webster advocating for ide’s upgrade from unabridged to collegiate dictionaries.  This letter was mailed September 1st, 2009, and though I have no idea whether I should expect a response or not, I will report anything I may hear.

That seems to wrap it up… perhaps a disappointing result in that the plurality of the Roman days remains an unsolved mystery, but at least I can now rest knowing it is likewise unsolved to the leading experts of the field. As for ide the fish, I have made my case to Merriam-Webster; all we can do is wait. Of course, if anyone has any information that might be enlightening in these matters—specifically a grounded explanation of idus’ plurality or additional print sources containing ide’s usage as a fish, please do not hesitate to let me know…

…the internet is all about sharing information, after all.