tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5931227998239921482.post5925930472311523050..comments2020-10-03T06:18:18.780-07:00Comments on Progressive Positive: Change is goodLanceMillerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12967321155433918187noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5931227998239921482.post-14894281124748447512007-12-26T06:58:00.000-08:002007-12-26T06:58:00.000-08:00Good article.Regarding the sky gods: the pre-chris...Good article.<BR/><BR/>Regarding the sky gods: the pre-christian norse/german/english religions have a very complex relationship between the tribe of sky gods (the Aesir such as Odin, Thor and Tyr) and the earthier Vanir. Instead of one group subjected and transformed into demons of the underworld, the rival tribes of co-existed in spite of their conflicts. Theories about this relationship include the idea that the sky gods only partially replaced the older earth-based religion, or that the different gods reflect different social classes or relationships between tribes. Regardless for the reason, this religion was one of the strongest competitors to christianity in it's time and<BR/>the Norse had a very complex moral sense that allowed them to be conquerers and businessmen at the same time. (Something many world leaders aspire to today with mixed results.)<BR/><BR/>A trans-national affinity group to keep an eye on is Deaf culture. 150 years ago people with low hearing and speech ability were not considered intelligent beings. Without words they must be unable to think, so they must have the minds of animals rather than what was considered "human" at the time. When it was discovered that they had languages of their own which were as incomprehensible and foreign as any spoken language, a serious effort was made to eradicate this "new"* species by re-educating the Deaf in schools where signed languages were forbidden. This exposed even more deaf people to Deaf culture through covert transmission of the language, and today Deaf culture includes non-deaf children of Deaf parents and other people closely involved in Deaf communities.<BR/><BR/>(*we literally cannot know how old Deaf culture is because we don't have descriptions of Deaf communities before the 1850's)<BR/><BR/>Deaf culture has an interesting relationship to modern technology. It is very difficult to record signed languages without video recording technology. Spatial relationships and movement are not only used to create discrete signs but to tag signs with special context-specific meaning.<BR/><BR/>Lip-reading skills common among Deaf people are helping machines understand speech. The resulting combination of machine and "human" (by the more recent definition of human which includes the Deaf) has even provided us with the dubious privilege of listening in on the private life of Adolf Hitler:<BR/><BR/>(See <A HREF="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=189608705425991617" REL="nofollow">Hitler Speaks</A> on Google video.)<BR/><BR/>Another interesting character is Robert Weitbrecht - who was born deaf but not raised in Deaf culture. Weitbrecht worked as an electrical engineer on the Manhattan Project, and developed a radio-teletype for ham radio, but as he became more involved in Deaf culture over time, Weitbrecht decided TTY over the existing phone network would be affordable to most deaf people (and not require ham certification), setting the stage for a confrontation with the phone monopoly similar to the later efforts of crackers and phreaks.<BR/><BR/>(See <A HREF="http://gupress.gallaudet.edu/excerpts/POOOone.html" REL="nofollow">the first chapter of "A phone of our own"</A>)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03072541194513236270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5931227998239921482.post-78359694369998812982007-12-24T10:42:00.000-08:002007-12-24T10:42:00.000-08:00I wasn't so sure where you were going with this, b...I wasn't so sure where you were going with this, but I like the outcome...the idea that people are reflecting on a bygone time and wanting to return the present...as if we FULLY understand the past the same as if it were today. <BR/><BR/>This is especially true because our understanding of past events are mainly based on symbolic explanations of them...though some people do physically have experiences that live with them in the present that are stronger and more pronounced then symbolic representations. <BR/><BR/>This is probably one of the more positive postings I've read of yours.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com