SamPratt.com

The decline of a language must ultimately have political and economic causes: it is not due simply to the bad influence of this or that individual writer. But an effect can become a cause, reinforcing the original cause and producing the same effect in an intensified form, and so on indefinitely. A man may take to drink because he feels himself to be a failure, and then fail all the more completely because he drinks.

It is rather the same thing that is happening to the English language. It becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts.

The point is that the process is reversible. Modern English, especially written English, is full of bad habits which spread by imitation and which can be avoided if one is willing to take the necessary trouble. If one gets rid of these habits one can think more clearly, and to think clearly is a necessary first step toward political regeneration: so that the fight against bad English is not frivolous and is not the exclusive concern of professional writers.

—GEORGE ORWELL, POLITICS AND THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE (1946)

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Clover

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February 27, 2010

Quotable Herbert/Franklin

For want of a nail, the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe, the horse was lost.
For want of a horse, the rider was lost.
For want of a rider, the battle was lost.
For want of a battle, the kingdom was lost.

And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

—PROVERBIAL RHYME VARIOUSLY ATTRIBUTED TO GEORGE HERBERT, BEN FRANKLIN, ET AL.

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PHOTO: Union College Concordiensis (2006)
The Albany Times-Union and just about everyone else reports that former GOP Congressman John Sweeney, who has run into problems with alcohol before will go to jail due to his latest DUI arrest:
He will serve 30 days in the Saratoga County jail as part of the plea agreement following his sentencing scheduled for April 23. After Sweeney is released from jail, he will be fitted with an alcohol detection ankle bracelet, a device that reveals the presence of alcohol in the wearer's body. The system will allow Sweeney's probation officer to monitor him from a computer. It costs $4,000 a year [...]

However, by pleading guilty Sweeney evidently will manage to hold onto his law license and avoid a felony conviction. His lawyer insists he’s a “model citizen” and is being “unfairly persecuted” for driving while being a former Congressman.

February 25, 2010

Shelter from the Storm

The Hudson Valley Press is reporting that community shelters have been set up in Athens, Taghkanic, Kerhonkson, and Hurley for those without power and needing to get warm. Click this link for details.

[UPDATE: The Taghkanic shelter has closed, evidently because power is restored in most, though definitely not all, of Columbia County.]

Meanwhile, friends in Spencertown report that they are not only without power, but that trying to get through to NYSEG to report their outage is nearly impossible; all they get is a recording. Another friend suggested trying their Clifton Park office at (518) 664-9534. Still another had some success in the past with dialing NYSEG’s (800) number, then pressing the button for “no” when asked if you’re calling about your service address. (Ah, the joys of an emergency in the era of automation...)

Central Hudson (according to the Daily Freeman) is giving out bottled water and dry ice at various distribution points to residents without power in Dutchess, Greene and Ulster counties.

National Grid maintains a Storm Outage page and maps of where power is out, plus estimates of restoral times. But of course those without power probably aren’t reading this.

Any excuse to say “quahogs”

Marilyn Bethany interviewed me about the problems with the plans for the Hudson waterfront at Rural Intelligence—click here to read the Q&A.

But what I’d really appreciate you doing is to click through to Hudsonwaterfront.org and take action right away to help ensure that a greener, more sustainable, and more economically-beneficial plan gets enacted.

February 24, 2010

Light posting

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February 23, 2010

A spring tale

While out shoveling this morning, I start to notice a dense, even pattern of dark flecks on the snow, like tiny black caraway seeds.

I’m figuring maybe this is ash that floated down from my chimney or over from a neighbor’s wood boiler. But when I inspect a handful of snow, one of the flecks jumps. The mini-carraway seeds are actually zillions of little insects.

My next thoughts are of a plague of locusts, or that I’m having a Hunter Thompson moment.

But a friend who used to live in the Catskills says they’re just “snow fleas”—benign critters which play a useful role in our ecosystem, and are often found in forested areas. They’re also known as springtails, because their appearance in temperate winter weather is considered a harbinger of the next season. With storms predicted for the rest of the week, don’t break out the Bermuda shorts quite yet.

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Snow day

Ever wondered what it’s like to be the plow guy during a snow storm? Deborah Gilbert has a terrific slice-of-life piece over at the Columbia Paper about riding shotgun with Taghkanic’s Mike Conn.

in Towns | Taghkanic, Weather | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

February 22, 2010

Lawyer up

Reading Carole Osterink’s recent reports on the demolition of historic structures in Hudson, one has to think: Isn't it time that Historic Hudson put a sharp attorney on retainer, so the organization can act swiftly when such emergencies arise?

House tours and general awareness-raising are all fine and good. But too many structures in Hudson have been lost to wrecking balls in the past decade. An attorney could get timely court orders as necessary, slowing the process of destruction and forcing bad actors to follow the rules. A legal pit bull (on a long chain) would also provide deterrence—showing those who don’t take local laws and codes seriously that the preservationists do.

Without any legal muscle to back up well-meaning preservation ideals, those hostile to such ideals are free to flout the rules, without consequences.

And if certain members of the City's preservation commission feign ignorance of the district boundaries they are supposed to oversee, isn’t it time to either make them produce that documentation, or to find it for them?

in Cities | Hudson, Historic Preservation | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

SamPratt.com

March 2, 2010

It’s funny because it’s horribly true

March 1, 2010

Martindale

Quotable Orwell