Punkin Chunkin' Trebuchet

Our readers know that nHumanities is foolishly fond of trebuchets, the medieval seige weapons used to batter walls and toss projectiles over them. (See previous posts Trebuchet of the Day and More on Trebuchets.)

At left, however, is a trebuchet with a typically American twist: it's designed for punkin chunkin'.

Millsboro, Delaware, recently hosted the 20th annual Punkin Chunkin contest, where a variety of homemade machines launch pumpkins across the beach. This year's winner was an air cannon dubbed "Second Amendment" which launched its pumpkin 4,331.72 feet. Yep, the Second Amendment would be a citizen's right to bear arms, although nHumanities doubts the Founding Fathers included Punkin Chunkers in their original intent.

Among other deadly weapons designed to chunk pumpkins was the pumpkin trebuchet pictured above, named the "Yankee Seige." According to the article at NPR, the Yankee Seige was designed to throw pumpkins as heavy as 300 pounds. Sadly, throwing the contest's standard 8-10 pound pumpkin requires a more delicate launch, because the Yankee Seige turned its first competition pumpkin into "pie" (pumpkin that disintegrates upon launch).

Thought Showers, Deferred Success, and Misguided Criminals

Global Language Monitor has released its list of the "The Top Politically inCorrect Words for 2005." The list provides examples of efforts to change language so that it is less offensive.

Some of the winners:

• Thought Showers instead of Brainstorm (Intended to reduce possible offense to indivduals "with brain disorders such as epilepsy.)
• Deferred Success instead of fail (Intended to increase self-esteem among students who might be discouraged by failure.)
• Misguided Criminals instead of Terrorist (Intended--by the BBC--to strip emotion from language in news reporting.)

Link

Cool--and legal--Online Music

Pandora--a new online music discovery service--provides you with suggested listening on your own stations. If you've ever had a friend who has said something like, "Okay, if you like The Beatles' "Yellow Submarine," then you probably will like The Byrds' 'The Times They Are A-Changin''" . . . then you've got the basic concept of how Pandora works.

The creators say,

For almost six years now, we have been hard at work on the Music Genome Project. It's the most comprehensive analysis of music ever undertaken. Together our team of thirty musician-analysts have been listening to music, one song at a time, studying and collecting literally hundreds of musical details on every song. It takes 20-30 minutes per song to capture all of the little details that give each recording its magical sound - melody, harmony, instrumentation, rhythm, vocals, lyrics ... and more - close to 400 attributes! We continue this work every day to keep up with the incredible flow of great new music coming from studios, stadiums and garages around the country.

We've now created an interface to make this available to music lovers so they could use this musical 'connective-tissue' to discover new music based on songs or artists they already know.

The result is a cool interface--Pandora--which keeps the music coming on your computer. nHumanities tried it with our '60s pops favorites, and we're happily bopping along in the past.

Preview Day :: 11Nov05

Take a peek at Northwest College!

Preview Day--Friday, 11 November 2005, is a chance for high school students and their families to visit our campus for an open house. Activities start at 8:30 am with check-in and run until 12:30 pm, with the drawing for a free iPod nano.

nHumanities is doing its part, with two three demonstration classes (both at 10:00 am, in ORB 115, ORB 135, and ORB 131) and a screen writing demonstration at 11:00 am (ORB 108).

For a full schedule, please contact Casey Coburn, Director of Recruiting, by email, at 307.754.6103, or toll-free at 800.560.4NWC (560.4692).

Big Ideas Come Out of Big Pencils

Big Ideas Come Out of Big Pencils is a Canadian web site sponsored by Leo Burnett Worldwide. Leo Burnett, who was listed by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most important people of the 20th century, " . . . launched today's visual assault on the senses by proving that images, not words, were the nuclear power of advertising." His was the creative force behind many of the last century's most beloved product images, such as the Jolly Green Giant, the Marlboro Man, the Pillsbury Doughboy, and Tony the Tiger.

. . . but that's not why nHumanities is posting. Apparently, Burnett always kept a big container of BIG pencils on his desk, saying, "Big ideas come out of big pencils." The Big Ideas web site is a visual playground, with the quirkiest navigation we've seen for a while--a big pencil that the user pushes around the computer screen. Take a look!

BibliOdyssey

BibliOdyssey is a blog which specializes in book art and science: "Books ~ Illustrations ~ Science ~ History ~ Visual Materia Obscura ~ Eclectic Bookart."

The site features book illustrations from all cultures and times and wonderful links to sources.

The Japanese-looking woodcut above, for instance, is the work of Walter J. Phillips (1884-1963), who was born in England but spent the majority of his life in Canada. This print is "Rime," a 1934 color woodcut on paper.

Enjoy!

"If You're Majoring in English, You're Majoring in Death"

Former U. S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins (left) says, "If you're majoring in English, you're majoring in death," in an interview on NPR's All Things Considered (06Nov05).

Actually, that's just one idea Collins covered in conversation with Jacki Lyden, but nHumanities found it irresistible.

Collins discussed his new book The Trouble with Poetry: And Other Poems, and he explained that although death is one of poetry's main themes, a second theme--in response to the former--is gratitude.

You can read a couple of Billy Collins's new poems at the NPR webpage.

Google Print

Google has extended its search to the full text of library books today by adding the initial batch of scanned books to its index. Called Google Print, the program is a cooperative effort between Google and five major libraries, including Harvard and Stanford.

As Google says, it wishes to organize the world's information, but much of that information isn't online yet. Through its Library Project, Google aims to get those books online.

The way Google Print works is that if your search calls up a book in the public domain (with an expired copyright, for instance), then you'll be able to page through as much of it as you like, save pages, and use cut 'n' paste tools. For books that are still under copyright, however, the search results will include only snippets of text relating to a person's search terms. (Copyrighted books are not yet showing up in Google Print search results, but Google plans to add them later.)

Not everyone is happy with the Google Print program. Google is facing two lawsuits from publisher and authors groups, who are insisting that Google obtain permission before scanning a copyrighted book. Google argues that showing snippets of copyrighted texts will increase demand for and sales of books still protected by copyright.

Until the legal dust settles, enjoy finding and reading some old books!

Cathy Belben to Speak

Cathy Belben, staff writer for the popular UPN series "Veronica Mars," shares insight into her craft Nov. 5 during a two-part program sponsored by the Northwest College Writers Series and the Rosebud Film Group in Powell.

The program begins at 10:30 a.m. in Room 70 of the Fagerberg Building. Belben will explain how a television script is generated and the dynamics that apply to group writing. She'll show clips from "Veronica Mars," explaining how writers' ideas and words translate to television.

A light lunch will be provided at noon, followed by a second session featuring a screening of "Veronica Mars" with commentary provided by Belben.

For more information, read the article UPN series writer to speak in Powell in the Billings Gazette.

Links:
Warner Brothers site for Veronica Mars
CBS site for Veronica Mars
UPN site for Veronica Mars