NBierma.com File

Friday, December 31, 2004

Posted 1:34 PM by Nathan
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,125516,00.html
Saving 'Merry Christmas'
Wednesday, July 14, 2004
LOS ANGELES - It isn’t exactly the season for “Jingle Bells” and Santa Claus, but one man is on a crusade to save Christmas anyway.
Manuel Zammarano has formed the Committee to Save Merry Christmas (search ) to protest the fact that big retailers profit from Christmas shopping dollars but refuse to mention the holiday by name.
His group has boycotted Federated Department Stores Inc. (search ), which owns Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s, for collecting Christmas cash without giving Christmas credit for all the end-of-year gift buying.
Federated issued a statement saying phrases like “Season’s Greetings” and “Happy Holidays” embrace all religious and ethnic celebrations that take place in November and December and are more appropriate for the “many diverse cultures in America today.”
Macy’s also points out that it features Santa in its parade and plays Christmas music in its stores.
But Zammarano says that such gestures mean little as long as retailers give in to political correctness.
Go to the video box near the top of this story to watch a report by FOX News' William La Jeunesse.

Wednesday, December 29, 2004

Posted 11:09 AM by Nathan
From the Plain English Campaign:

We'll leave you this year with the following piece, sent to us by Alexandra Jones of San Francisco, who received it from Ralph Ostermueller of The Financial Valuation Group.

The Night Before Christmas:

Whereas, on or about the night prior to Christmas, there did occur at a certain improved piece of real property (hereinafter "the House") a general lack of stirring by all creatures therein, including, but not limited to a mouse.

A variety of foot apparel, e.g., stocking, socks, etc., had been affixed by and around the chimney in said House in the hope and/or belief that St. Nick a/k/a/ St. Nicholas a/k/a/ Santa Claus (hereinafter "Claus") would arrive at sometime thereafter. The minor residents, i.e. the children, of the aforementioned House were located in their individual beds and were engaged in nocturnal hallucinations, i.e. dreams, wherein vision of confectionery treats, including, but not limited to, candies, nuts and/or sugar plums, did dance, cavort and otherwise appear in said dreams.

Whereupon the party of the first part (sometimes hereinafter referred to as ("I"), being the joint-owner in fee simple of the House with the party of the second part (hereinafter "Mamma"), and said Mamma had retired for a sustained period of sleep. At such time, the parties were clad in various forms of headgear, e.g., kerchief and cap.

Suddenly, and without prior notice or warning, there did occur upon the unimproved real property adjacent and appurtenant to said House, i.e., the lawn, a certain disruption of unknown nature, cause and/or circumstance. The party of the first part did immediately rush to a window in the House to investigate the cause of such disturbance.

At that time, the party of the first part did observe, with some degree of wonder and/or disbelief, a miniature sleigh (hereinafter "the Vehicle") being pulled and/or drawn very rapidly through the air by approximately eight (8) reindeer. The driver of the Vehicle appeared to be and in fact was, the previously referenced Claus.

Said Claus was providing specific direction, instruction and guidance to the approximately eight (8) reindeer and specifically identified the animal co-conspirators by name: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen (hereinafter "the Deer"). (Upon information and belief, it is further asserted that an additional co- conspirator named "Rudolph" may have been involved.)

The party of the first part witnessed Claus, the Vehicle and the Deer intentionally and willfully trespass upon the roofs of several residences located adjacent to and in the vicinity of the House, and noted that the Vehicle was heavily laden with packages, toys and other items of unknown origin or nature. Suddenly, without prior invitation or permission, either express or implied, the Vehicle arrived at the House, and Claus entered said House via the chimney.

Said Claus was clad in a red fur suit, which was partially covered with residue from the chimney, and he carried a large sack containing a portion of the aforementioned packages, toys, and other unknown items.

He was smoking what appeared to be tobacco in a small pipe in blatant violation of local ordinances and health regulations.

Claus did not speak, but immediately began to fill the stocking of the minor children, which hung adjacent to the chimney, with toys and other small gifts. (Said items did not, however, constitute "gifts" to said minor pursuant to the applicable provisions of the U.S. Tax Code.)

Upon completion of such task, Claus touched the side of his nose and flew, rose and/or ascended up the chimney of the House to the roof where the Vehicle and Deer waited and/or served as "lookouts." Claus immediately departed for an unknown destination.

However, prior to the departure of the Vehicle, Deer and Claus from said House, the party of the first part did hear Claus state and/or exclaim: "Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!" Or words to that effect.

Posted 11:08 AM by Nathan
Among the additions to the forthcoming 2nd edition of the New Oxford American Dictionary, according to Oxford editor Erin McKean:

Splen·da /?splend?/ * n. trademark an artificial sweetener used as a calorie-free sugar substitute.

cop·y·left /?käpï?left/ * n. an arrangement whereby software or artistic work may be used, modified, and distributed freely on condition that anything derived from it is bound by the same condition.
DERIVATIVES: cop·y·left·ed adj.
ORIGIN: 1980s: on the pattern of copyright.

size·ism /?s¥z?iz?m/ (also siz·ism) * n. prejudice or discrimination on the grounds of a person's size: requiring large passengers to buy two seats is pure sizeism.
DERIVATIVES: size·ist (also siz·ist) adj. & n.
ORIGIN: from size + -ism 'basis for prejudice.'

ad·ult·es·cent /?adl?tes?nt; ??d?l-/ * n. informal a middle-aged person whose clothes, interests, and activities are typically associated with youth culture.
ORIGIN: 1990s: blend of adult and adolescent.

Sed·na /?sedn?/ * Astronomy a reddish celestial body about half the size of earth's moon. It is the most distant known object in the solar system and orbits the sun every 10,500 years.

Thursday, December 23, 2004

Posted 1:51 PM by Nathan
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-11-23-tv-rather_x.htm?csp=34
CBS News anchor Dan Rather has been known for his folksy sayings. A sampling:

Election night 2004:

"(John) Kerry can still win it, but at this point he's got his back to the wall, his shirttail on fire, and a bill collector's at the door."

The election is "closer than Lassie and Timmy."

"Put on a cup of coffee; this race isn't going to be over for a while."

"(President) Bush is sweeping through the South like a big wheel through a cotton field."

"No one is saying that George Bush is not going to win the election, and if you had to bet the double-wide, you'd have to bet that he'd win."

"We used to say if a frog had side pockets, he'd carry a handgun."

Election night 2000:

"This race is as tight as a too-small bathing suit on a too-hot car ride back from the beach."

"Bush is sweeping through the South like a tornado through a trailer park."

"Sip it, savor it, cup it, photostat it, underline it in red, put it in the album, hang it on the wall: George Bush is the next president of the United States."

Election night 1998:

"Democrats and Republicans are nervous as pigs in a packing plant over these returns."

Inauguration Day 1993:

"If an American inauguration can't bring a lump to your throat and a tear to your eye, if you don't feel as corny as Kansas in August, maybe you need a jump-start and some vitamins."

Election night 1992:

"I'd like to leave you with the words of that popular, secular, patriotic hymn: 'Long may our land be bright with freedom's holy light.'

Source: USA TODAY research

Friday, December 17, 2004

Posted 9:19 AM by Nathan
I had linguist Mark Liberman diagnose this statement by my wife:

"Oh well, right?"

I'm inclined to support your analysis that it's a kind of quote. A
similar case might be the use of fragments of familiar phrases:

"'How sharper than a serpent's tooth', right?"

or

"'Let him who is without sin', right?"

But the context doesn't seem to be as open to non-linguistic material as
quotative "be all" and similar things, where

"He was all _______'.

allows arbitrary mimesis, with or without any linguistic content at all
or even any sound.

Or do you think that your wife might have (for instance)

"[mimes gagging], right?"

I don't mean that she was quoting anyone in particular, but rather
quoting a generic mode of self-expression. Maybe "reference" or "refer
to" is better than "quote".

The analogy is to the use of fragments of famous phrases, like

"sic transit", right?

My idea was that such fragments don't need to be full phrases normally
interpreted, but can instead be allusions to the projection of ideas or
attitudes stereotypically associated with the referenced expression.

In the case of "oh well", what's referenced is an exclamation not a
fragment, but the idea would still be to allude to the attitudes
stereotypically associated with the expression.

Wednesday, December 08, 2004

Posted 2:20 PM by Nathan
OED on merry

I. That causes pleasure.

1. a. Of an occupation, event, state, or condition: causing
pleasure or happiness; pleasing, delightful. Obs.

eOE ÆLFRED tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Otho) xxxi. 70 [For] y
ic nat hwæt a wor[uldlustas] myrges bringa [L. quid habeat
jucunditatis] hiora luf[igendum]. eOE Metres of Boethius (partly from
transcript of damaged MS) xiii. 45 Him a twigu inca emne swa merge æt
hi æs metes ne rec. OE ÆLFRIC Catholic Homilies: 1st Ser. (Royal) x.
259 eos woruld eah e heo myrige hwiltidum geuht sy, nis heo hwære e
gelicre ære ecan worulde, e is sum cweartern leohtum dæge. c1225 (?OE)
Body & Soul (Worcester) 7 onne domes dai [cum]e onne scalt u, erming,
up arisen, Imeten ine mordeden eo e murie [were]n, Seoruhful ond
sorimod. c1230 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Corpus Cambr.) 198 He..spec
swie swoteliche & wordes se murie et ha mahten deade arearen to liue.
c1300 St. Sebastian (Laud) 19 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary
(1887) 179 Guod it is and murie breren to wonie i-fere. c1330 (?c1300)
Speculum Guy (Auch.) 905 Hu murie hit were to haue e siht Off godes
face! 1435 R. MISYN tr. R. Rolle Fire of Love 57 No inge is meriar en
lhesu to synge. 1502 W. ATKYNSON tr. T. à Kempis De Imitatione III.
vi. 200 Nothynge is more swete than is loue,..nothynge..meryer [L.
jucundius].

b. With implied impersonal subject and indirect object denoting
the person characterized by happiness or joy. Cf. sense 4a. Obs.

OE Homily: Larspell (Corpus Cambr. 419) in A. S. Napier Wulfstan
(1883) 237 He sæde, æt him nære næfre ær swa ee ne swa myrige on nanum
yfele, swa him a wæs. OE Homily (Hatton 113) in A. S. Napier Wulfstan
(1883) 152 Hyre wæs myrge on hyre mode urh æt. c1275 (?a1200) LAAMON
Brut (Calig.) 11691 Him wes to murie, for is lond wes a swie god.

c. Of music, speech, etc.: pleasing to the ear, pleasant to hear.
Of a musical instrument: producing a sweet sound; (of a bird) having a
pleasant song. (In later use passing into sense 5.) Obs.

OE Hymns (Durh. B.iii.32) cxxvii. 5, in I. Milfull Hymns of
Anglo-Saxon Church (1996) 413 Dulci..ymno omne per aevum : mid
merigum..lofsange geond ælce ylde. c1175 (OE) Homily (Bodl. 343) in S.
Irvine Old Eng. Homilies (1993) 198 ider e [sc. the blessed] beo
ibrohte mid murie lofsongum. c1275 Owl & Nightingale (Calig.) 345 Ne
bo e song neuer so murie at he ne shal inche wel unmurie.

...

e. Of weather, climate, a season, a day, etc.: pleasant, fine. Of
a wind: favourable for sailing. Also fig. Obs.
The sense is attested earliest as a surname.

1214 in P. H. Reaney & R. M. Wilson Dict. Eng. Surnames (1991) s.v.
Merryweather, Henry Meriweder. c1275 (?a1200) LAAMON Brut (Calig.)
20924 Wind stod on wille weder swie murie. ?a1300 in R. H. Robbins
Secular Lyrics 14th & 15th Cent. (1952) 144 Myrie a tyme I telle in
may, Wan bricte blosmen breke on tre.

...
f. Of looks or appearance: pleasing to behold, attractive. Obs.

c1225 Life St. Katherine 314 i leor is, meiden, lufsum, & ti mu
murie. a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. 2258 Her non hadden o loten miri.
a1500 (c1400) Sir Cleges (Adv.) 27 The knyt hade a ientyll wyffe..And
mery sche was on site. 1559 Passage Q. Eliz. Aij, Her grace by holding
vp her handes, and merie countenaunce to such as stode farre of,..did
declare her selfe [etc.]. 1703 London Gaz. No. 3948/4 A dun
Gelding..with a round Barrel, longish Legg'd,..a merry Countenance.

...

2. Of a tale, saying, jest, etc.: amusing, diverting, funny.
Now only with mixture of sense 5.

c1390 CHAUCER Parson's Tale 46, I wol yow telle a myrie tale in
prose. c1400 (c1378) LANGLAND Piers Plowman (Laud) B. XIII. 352
ei..anne had merye tales, And how at lechoures louyen lauen an iapen.
1488 HARY Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace II. 36 Quhen Wallas
herd spek of that mery saw, He likit weill at that mercat to be. 1530
J. PALSGRAVE Lesclarcissement 244/2 Mery taunt, lardon. 1530 J.
PALSGRAVE Lesclarcissement 244/2 Mery jeste a ryddle, sornette. 1563
Homilies II. Idolatry III. (1859) 265 Seneca much commendeth
Dionysius, for his merry robbing of such decked and jewelled puppets.
1594 SHAKESPEARE Tit. A. V. ii. 173 Two of her brothers were condemnd
to death, My hand cut off and made a merrie iest.

...

II. Characterized by happiness or joy.

4. a. Full of animated enjoyment (in early use chiefly with
reference to feasting or sporting); full of laughter or cheerfulness;
joyous. Also of a person's general disposition: given to joyousness or
mirth.

c1325 in G. L. Brook Harley Lyrics (1968) 49 Heo is..Maiden murgest
of mou. a1375 William of Palerne 4926 ei muriest at e mete at time
seten. c1390 in C. Brown Relig. Lyrics 14th Cent. (1924) 148 When men
beo murgest at heor Mele, I rede e enke on uster-day. a1438 Bk.
Margery Kempe I. 63 Why ar e no myryar?

...
c. Boisterous or cheerful due to alcohol; slightly drunk, tipsy.
Cf. market-merry s.v. MARKET n. 12b, merry-drunk s.v. MERRY adv. 2.

a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.): 1 Kings (Bodl. 959) xxv. 36 er was
to hym a feste in his hous..and e herte of naabal myrie [a1425 L.V.
iocounde; L. iucundum]; forsoe he was drunke ful myche. c1475 (1392)
MS Wellcome 564 f. 52, Whanne he is drunken, he is oirwhile angri and
oirwhile merye.

..

b. Of a season or festival: characterized by celebration and
rejoicing. Freq. in Merry Christmas! and other seasonal greetings.

1565 Hereford Munic. MSS (transcript) 209 And thus I comytt you to
god, who send you a mery Christmas & many. 1600 SHAKESPEARE 2 Hen. IV
V. iii. 36 Welcome mery shrouetide. 1617 F. MORYSON Itinerary II. 87
To keepe a merry Christmas. 1667 EARL OF SANDWICH Let. in W. Temple
Wks. (1720) II. 136, I wish you a very merry Christmas. 1711 SWIFT
Jrnl. to Stella 25 Mar. (1948) I. 223 Morning. I wish you a merry
New-year; this is the first day of the year, you know, with us. 1798
J. AUSTEN Let. 25 Dec. (1995) 30, I wish you a merry Christmas, but no
compliments of the Season. 1843 DICKENS Christmas Carol iii. 104 They
wished each other Merry Christmas in their can of grog. 1909 Daily
Chron. 26 Jan. 5/6 'A Merry Christmas!' he shouts light-heartedly at
curtain-fall. 1944 H. MARTIN & R. BLANE (title of song) Have yourself
a merry little Christmas. 1987 Woman's Own 19-26 Dec. 69/3 'A merry
Christmas, Uncle!' he said cheerfully. 'God save you!'

III. Phrases.

6. a. to make merry: to be festive, to celebrate; to enjoy oneself
with others in drinking, dancing, etc.; also with reflexive pronoun as
object in early use.
[In quot. c1330 app. a blended construction: made hem ioie and made
hem miri. It is not clear whether the use with reflexive pronoun is
the original construction.]

c1330 (?a1300) Arthour & Merlin (Auch.) 8218 er ai made hem ioie and
miri For store and tresor at ai brout. a1375 William of Palerne 1880
Make we vs merie for mete haue we at wille.

...

www.oed.com

Monday, December 06, 2004

Posted 2:29 PM by Nathan
The New York Times
October 19, 2003
ON LANGUAGE; Flagellum Dei
By William Safire

We will come to sodomy in a moment. To stagger together through today's
column about grammatical possessiveness, you and I must agree on the
difference between a gerund and a participle.

Take the word dancing. It starts out as a form of a verb: "Look, Ma, I'm
dancing!" When that word is used as an adjective to modify a noun -- "look
at that dancing bear!" -- it's called a participle.

But when the same word is used as a noun -- "I see the bear, and its dancing
isn't so hot" -- then the word is classified as a gerund. (From the Latin
gerundum, "to bear, to carry," because the gerund, though a noun, seems to
bear the action of a verb.)

We give the same word these different names to tell us what it's doing and
what its grammatical needs are. Two great grammarians had a titanic spat in
the 1920's over the use of the possessive in this sentence: "Women having
the vote reduces men's political power." H.W. Fowler derided what he called
"the fused participle" as "grammatically indefensible" and said it should be
"Women's having"; Otto Jespersen cited famous usages, urged dropping the
possessive and called Fowler a "grammatical moralizer."

Comes now Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia with the latest manifestation
of this struggle. An Associated Press account of his stinging dissent in
Lawrence v. Texas, in which the Court struck down that state's anti-sodomy
law, quoted Scalia out of context as writing, "I have nothing against
homosexuals," which seemed condescending. His entire sentence, though, was
not: "I have nothing against homosexuals, or any other group, promoting
their agenda through normal democratic means."

Note the lack of apostrophes after homosexuals and group to indicate
possession; Fowler would have condemned that as a "fused participle." Such
loosey-goosey usage from the conservative Scalia, of all people?

"When I composed the passage in question," the justice informs me, "I
pondered for some time whether I should be perfectly grammatical and write
'I have nothing against homosexuals', or any other group's, promoting their
agenda,' etc. The object of the preposition 'against,' after all, is not
'homosexuals who are promoting,' but rather 'the promoting of (in the sense
of by) homosexuals.'

"I have tried to be rigorously consistent in using the possessive before the
participle," Scalia notes, "when it is the action, rather than the actor,
that is the object of the verb or preposition (or, for that matter, the
subject of the sentence)."

But what about his passage in Lawrence, in which he failed to follow Fowler
and fused the participle?

"I concluded that because of the intervening phrase 'or any other group,'
writing 'homosexuals"" -- with the apostrophe indicating possession -- "(and
hence 'any other group's') would violate what is perhaps the first rule of
English usage: that no construction should call attention to its own
grammatical correctness. Finding no other formulation that could make the
point in quite the way I wanted, I decided to be ungrammatical instead of
pedantic."

But his attempt to be a regular guy backfired. In a jocular tone, Scalia
observes: "God -- whom I believe to be a strict grammarian as well as an
Englishman -- has punished me. The misquotation would have been more
difficult to engineer had there been an apostrophe after 'homosexuals.' I am
convinced that in this instance the A.P. has been (unwittingly, I am sure)
the flagellum Dei to recall me from my populist, illiterate wandering. (You
will note that I did not say 'from me wandering.')"

My does beat me before that gerund wandering. Robert Burchfield, editor of
the third edition of Fowler's Modern English Usage, writes, "The possessive
with gerund is on the retreat, but its use with proper names and personal
nouns and pronouns persists in good writing."

Now let's parse Scalia's self-parsing. In his refusal to say "from me
wandering," wandering is a gerund. When a personal pronoun comes in front of
a gerund, the possessive form is called for: say my, not me. This avoidance
of a fused participle makes sense: you say about the abovementioned bear "I
like his dancing," not "I like him dancing," because you want to stress not
the bear but his action in prancing about.

In Scalia's dissent in the Texas sodomy case, promoting is a gerund, the
object of the preposition against. His strict-construction alternative,
using apostrophes to indicate possession -- "against homosexuals', or any
other group's, promoting" -- is correct but clunky. He was right to avoid
it, and is wrong to castigate himself for eschewing clunkiness.

There would have been another choice, however: put the gerund ahead of the
possessors. Try this: "I have nothing against the promoting of their agenda
by homosexuals, or by any other group, through normal democratic means."
That would not only avoid the confusing apostrophes, but follows "I have
nothing against" with its true object, the gerund promoting -- and would
make it impossible for any reporter to pull out a condescending "I have
nothing against homosexuals." ...

[This column was printed as the introduction to Safire's "The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time." In a response printed in the book, Scalia points out that Safire's inversion--"their agenda by homosexuals"--violates the rule that antecedents should precede their pronouns.]

Saturday, December 04, 2004

Posted 10:31 AM by Nathan
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/06/03/entertainment/main556831.shtml
http://www.afi.com/tv/handv.asp

From the American Film Institute's list of top 100 movie heroes and
villains,
with character and performer names and the film:

Heroes
1. Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck), ``To Kill a Mockingbird.''
2. Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford), ``Raiders of the Lost Ark.''
3. James Bond (Sean Connery), ``Dr. No.''
4. Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart), ``Casablanca.''
5. Will Kane (Gary Cooper), ``High Noon.''
6. Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster), ``The Silence of the Lambs.''
7. Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone), ``Rocky.''
8. Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), ``Aliens.''
9. George Bailey (James Stewart), ``It's a Wonderful Life.''
10. T.E. Lawrence (Peter O'Toole), ``Lawrence of Arabia.''
11. Jefferson Smith (James Stewart), ``Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.''
12. Tom Joad (Henry Fonda), ``The Grapes of Wrath.''
13. Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), ``Schindler's List.''
14. Han Solo (Harrison Ford), ``Star Wars.''
15. Norma Rae Webster (Sally Field), ``Norma Rae.''
16. Shane (Alan Ladd), ``Shane.''
17. Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood), ``Dirty Harry.''
18. Robin Hood (Errol Flynn), ``The Adventures of Robin Hood.''
19. Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier), ``In the Heat of the Night.''
20. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, (Paul Newman and Robert Redford),
``Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.''

Villains
1. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), ``The Silence of the Lambs.''
2. Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), ``Psycho.''
3. Darth Vader (David Prowse, voiced by James Earl Jones), ``The Empire
Strikes Back.''
4. The Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton), ``The Wizard of Oz.''
5. Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher), ``One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.''
6. Mr. Potter (Lionel Barrymore), ``It's a Wonderful Life.''
7. Alex Forrest (Glenn Close), ``Fatal Attraction.''
8. Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck), ``Double Indemnity.''
9. Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair), ``The Exorcist.''
10. The Queen (voiced by Lucille LaVerne), ``Snow White and the Seven
Dwarfs.''
11. Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), ``The Godfather Part II.''
12. Alex DeLarge (Malcolm McDowell), ``A Clockwork Orange.''
13. HAL 9000 (voiced by Douglas Rain), ``2001: A Space Odyssey.''
14. The Alien (Bolaji Badejo), ``Alien.''
15. Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes), ``Schindler's List.''
16. Noah Cross (John Huston), ``Chinatown.''
17. Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates), ``Misery.''
18. The Shark, ``Jaws.''
19. Captain Bligh (Charles Laughton), ``Mutiny on the Bounty.''
20. Man, ``Bambi.''

(AP) Atticus Finch from “To Kill a Mockingbird” beat out an army of
swashbuckling idols for the top spot on the American Film Institute's list
of top screen heroes. Hannibal Lecter from “The Silence of the Lambs” chewed
up the competition to lead the list of film villains.

The institute unveiled its ranking Tuesday night of the top good and bad
guys in American film on the CBS special “AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Heroes &
Villains.”

Finch, played by Gregory Peck in the 1962 classic, was a faultlessly noble
widower raising a daughter and son amid Southern racial unrest as he
defended a black man accused of raping a white woman.

“I think Atticus Finch just represents the goodness all of us want to see in
others and feel in ourselves,” said Jean Picker Firstenburg, the institute's
director. “This is a hard time in human history, and we look for the bright
spots that show us the way.”

Harrison Ford's Indiana Jones from “Raiders of the Lost Ark” was No. 2 on
the heroes list, and Sean Connery's James Bond from “Dr. No” came in third.

Lecter, played by Anthony Hopkins in the 1991 thriller plus the sequel
“Hannibal” and the prequel “Red Dragon,” was a delectably fiendish serial
killer who boasted about eating a man's liver with fava beans and a nice
Chianti.

Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) of “Psycho” was second on the bad-guy list,
and Darth Vader (played by David Prowse and voiced by James Earl Jones)
placed third for “The Empire Strikes Back.”

Arnold Schwarzenegger, host of the AFI special, was the only actor to place
essentially the same character on both lists. His malevolent cyborg from
“The Terminator” was No. 22 among villains, while his nice-guy cyborg in
“Terminator 2: Judgment Day” placed 48th among heroes.

“I am absolutely ecstatic about it,” Schwarzenegger said. “To say you are
one of the 50 favorite villains and one of the 50 favorite heroes in the
history of American motion pictures, that is unbelievable, and I felt very
honored.”

Rounding out the top 10 list of heroes, in order: Rick Blaine (Humphrey
Bogart), “Casablanca”; Will Kane (Gary Cooper), “High Noon”; Clarice
Starling (Jodie Foster), “The Silence of the Lambs”; Rocky Balboa (Sylvester
Stallone), “Rocky”; Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), “Aliens”; George Bailey
(James Stewart), “It's a Wonderful Life”; and T.E. Lawrence (Peter O'Toole),
“Lawrence of Arabia.”

The rest of the top 10 villains, in order: the Wicked Witch of the West
(Margaret Hamilton), “The Wizard of Oz”; Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher),
“One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest”; Mr. Potter (Lionel Barrymore), “It's a
Wonderful Life”; Alex Forrest (Glenn Close), “Fatal Attraction”; Phyllis
Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck), “Double Indemnity”; Regan MacNeil (Linda
Blair), “The Exorcist”; and the Queen (voiced by Lucille LaVerne), “Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs.”

The 100 heroes and villains were chosen from 400 character nominees on
ballots sent to 1,500 actors, directors, critics and others in the movie
business.

The heroes list included one dog (Lassie in “Lassie Come Home,” No. 39), two
comic-book heroes (Superman in the 1978 movie version, No. 26, and Batman in
the 1989 film, No. 46), and loads of real-life figures.

Along with T.E. Lawrence, heroes based on real people included Oskar
Schindler (Liam Neeson) in “Schindler's List,” No. 13; Norma Rae Webster
(Sally Field) in “Norma Rae,” No. 15; Mahatma Gandhi (Ben Kingsley) in
“Gandhi,” No. 21; Gen. George Patton (George C. Scott) in “Patton,” No. 29;
and Erin Brockovich (Julia Roberts) in “Erin Brockovich,” No. 31.

The villains list contained a range of non-humans, including the HAL 9000
computer in “2001: A Space Odyssey,” No. 13; the murderous extraterrestrial
in “Alien,” No. 14; the shark in “Jaws,” No. 18; and the Martians in “The
War of the Worlds,” No. 27.

Humanity as a whole made the list: “Man,” whose encroachment menaced forest
wildlife in “Bambi,” ranked as villain No. 20.

© MMIII The Associated Press.

Friday, December 03, 2004

Posted 6:08 PM by Nathan
Becoming Good:
A Pentadic Analysis of the Moral Messages in Elementary School Curricula and Textbooks from Two Contexts

Marissa Bambrey, Wooster College

presented at NCA 2004

partial list of Works Cited:

Bellitto, Christopher M. “Incomplete Pictures: Religion in High-School Textbooks on European History.” Social Studies 87 (1996): 274-80.

Kohlberg, Lawrence. “Moral Development and the New Social Studies.” Social Education 37 (1973): 369-75.
---. “Stages of Moral Development as a Basis for Moral Education.” Moral Development, Moral Education, and Kohlberg: Basic Issues in Philosophy, Psychology, Religion, and Education. Ed. Brenda Munsey. Birmingham: Religious Education, 1980. 15-98.

Nord, Warren A. Religion and American Education: Rethinking a National Dilemma. Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina P, 1995.

Primary Grade School Social Studies Curriculum. Unpublished collection. Kingsway Christian School [Orrville, Ohio], [2003].

Pritchard, Ivor. “The American Standards for Citizenship: Do They Include Morality?” International Journal of Social Education 16 (2001): 94-108.

Purpel, David E. The Moral and Spiritual Crisis in Education: A Curriculum for Justice & Compassion in Education. Granby: Bergin & Garvey, 1989.
---. “The Politics of Character Education.” The Construction of Children’s Character: Ninety-sixth Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education. Ed. Alex Molnar. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1997. 140-53.

Revell, Lynn. “Children’s Responses to Character Education.” Education Studies 28 (2002): 421-31.

Vitz, Paul C. “Religion and Traditional Values in Public School Textbooks.” The Public Interest (1986): 79-90.

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to determine how basic values and morals are presented rhetorically to elementary school students in grades one through six in the social studies curricula and textbooks used by public, secular schools and private, Christian schools. The study examined the curricula and textbooks used in both settings to determine how morality was portrayed and presented to students who learn in environments utilizing the requirements set forth by the United States government and the Christian schools they attend. Due to the separation of church and state in America, which as it appears in the Establishment and Free Exercise clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution states that the government should not promote or hinder the practice of religion in regards to a particular faith or a broad social phenomenon (Carter 6), it was expected that the curricula would include both similarities and differences in its content concerning the appropriate ways in which to instill values in young people. The research sought to determine how these messages are different and similar in the secular versus the religious domain.

Posted 6:07 PM by Nathan
NY Times
11/29/04

DEAR DIARY:
It was a weekday afternoon. I was on a downtown E train absorbed in my newspaper. The door from the preceding car opened and a bespectacled man entered.
"Thank you, ladies and gentlemen!" he shouted and, as if reading my mind, added: "I am not here today to ask you for money. I am here to thank you for what you have already been kind enough to give me over the past few months. Your money has allowed me to get these special glasses that I am now wearing. I am still legally blind, but now I can read. This is what has allowed me to get a job. A job! So I thank you! I thank all of you!"
He went into the next car, and I could see him addressing those riders, too. I couldn't remember encountering him before this, and I certainly didn't remember giving him any money. But I certainly would like to have done so.
Gene Epstein

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