Atheist Quotes Site
If you’re an athiest or interested in athiesm, Chris has a digg-like quotes site:
When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bicycle. Then I realised that the Lord doesn’t work that way so I stole one and asked Him to forgive me.
Emo Phillips
Here’s another gem:
Blind faith is an ironic gift to return to the Creator of human intelligence.
Unknown
Some words mean one thing, others mean yet another!
Melanie Spiller wonders why some words have one meaning, while others have yet another, for sets of very similar words. She gives definitions, but I’m going to bring out the derivations from the OED:
Adapt v. Adopt:
Adapt is from the latin ad + aptare, to fit for yourself. Adopt comes from latin ad optare, to choose for yourself. The common prefix is now understandable, and the difference is in the “apt” or “opt,” both of which now stand on their own.
Accede v. Exceed:
Accede is from the latin ad + cedere, to move on. Exceed is from the latin ex + cedere, to move [go] out. This time, the words differ by prefix rather than suffix, one bringing something in, the other moving out.
Infamous v. Notorious:
Infamous is from the latin word famosus, for fame. Notorious is from classical latin, notoria–a written notice informing a crime. Thus, the two are basically indistinguishable, though have come to have slightly different connotations in modern form.
English 354: British Modernist Novel
This semester I’m taking English 354: British Modernist Novel at Cornell University. Here’s the course description:
Virginia Woolf observed, “in or about December, 1910, human character changed.” In her (tongue-in-cheek) statement, the early twentieth century inaugurated a very different understanding of character, and a consequent shift in the emphasis of the novel. The class reads novels by Woolf, E. M. Forster, D. H. Lawrence, Ford Madox Ford, Jean Rhys, and Rebecca West, along with critical and theoretical writings by these novelists. Writing requirements include a weekly post to the class e-list and two ten to twelve page papers.
For the class, we’ll be reading the following books:
