A Click of the Tongue: Ultrasound Translates Dying Languages: Scientific American
Amanda Miller sits facing an old woman in Upington, South Africa, one hand on a cylindrical probe that she holds underneath the woman’s chin. “Speak,” Miller says in the woman’s native language, N|uu, and as the words flow out, an ultrasound screen flickers with the video of a tongue in motion. Linguists are using the same technology that images fetuses to study endangered languages.
For someone who studies phonetics—the science of how sounds are perceived, articulated and organized in different languages—it is crucial for Miller to track the speaking tongue. Miller is a visiting assistant professor at Ohio State University and one of about 40 linguists worldwide who uses ultrasound. This portable technology, which became affordable to linguists around 2000, allows researchers to see the tongue as it moves in real time. It is one of the only medical scanning devices that can keep up with speech; MRIs, for example, are too slow.
Before ultrasound, linguists relied on x-rays and glue-on electronic probes. The x-rays failed because they exposed subjects to harmful radiation, whereas the probes were often inconvenient. “You can imagine if you walk into a village and say, ‘Look, people, all I want to do is blow-dry your tongue and glue things to it,’ people might be a little nervous,” says Diana Archangeli, a linguistics professor at the University of Arizona who has worked with ultrasound since 2004.
Thanks to this emerging technology, Miller and her colleagues have documented some of the fastest sounds in human speech: the click consonants present in many rare African languages. Because linguists did not know exactly how the clicks were produced, the sound was placed in a “mixed-bag” category of the International Phonetic Alphabet, a universal system that catalogues all the sounds in the world’s languages. Linguists use this alphabet to study the relation between different sounds and, through that, the origins of people and languages.
Miller has investigated more than 40 different kinds of click consonants. Her research, published in 2009, organized the clicks based on attributes such as airstream (where the air comes from), place (where the mouth constricts) and manner of articulation. These changes have allowed the clicks to be properly classified into the alphabet. “Once you have the [clicks’ classifications and] subclassifications, you can begin to see similarities ... to other sounds in English, for example,” Miller says. Both “t” and “k” share some characteristics of click consonants.
Elsewhere, other linguists are using ultrasound to teach foreign languages and help the deaf to speak. As for Miller, she will continue to study endangered languages, seeking to integrate new sounds into the International Phonetic Alphabet.
Niagara Falls ran dry: Photos show moment iconic waterfall came to standstilll | Mail Online
Their plan was to remove the large amount of loose rock from the base of the waterfall, an idea which they eventually abandoned due to expense in November of that year.
During the interim, they studied the riverbed and mechanically bolted and strengthened a number of faults to delay the gradual erosion of the American Falls.
The team, made up of U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, blew up their temporary dam in November 1969 and six million cubic feet of water once again thundered over the falls' sides every minute.
Now, after lying unseen for more than four decades, a set of images showing the eerie calm at the American Falls that year have been unearthed by a man from Connecticut.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1338793/Niagara-Falls-ran-dry-Photos-...
'Time' Magazine's Person Of The Year ... In Years Past : The Picture Show : NPR
In 2006 it was you. It 1999 it was the founder of Amazon.com. In 1932 (and again in 1934) it was FDR. Time magazine's "person of the year" profile (formerly "man of the year") started with aviator Charles Lindbergh in 1927; today, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was announced 2010 person of the year. To catch yourself up to speed on all 84 past recipients of the title, check out Life magazine's retrospective gallery.
A Day That Shook The World: Edward VIII abdicates - History, Life & Style - The Independent
On 11 December 1936 King Edward VIII chose the love of a woman over his country and confirmed his decision to abdicate.
The King and Emperor, who had acceded to the throne less than a year before his abdication, caused a constitutional crisis by proposing to American divorcee Wallis Simpson.
The British government and other influential figures in the Empire opposed the marriage, arguing that the Monarch and head of the Church of England could not have a divorced wife.
Rather than relinquish his relationship with Mrs Simpson, Edward relinquished the throne – the first British Monarch to have done so since 1399
Chapter and verse: The surprising story of the song 'Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag' - Features, Music - The Independent
"Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag,
And smile, smile, smile,
While you've a lucifer to light your fag,
Smile, boys, that's the style.
What's the use of worrying?
It never was worthwhile, so
Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag,
And smile, smile, smile."
So runs the chorus line of one of the two great marching songs (along with It's a Long Way to Tipperary) of the First World War. And indeed able to afford a smile, or three, is Aubrey Powell, the grandson of Felix Powell, its composer. This Armistice Day at the Cenotaph, as the band strikes up Pack Up Your Troubles, more pennies will drop into Powell's bank account, thanks to his grandfather's foresight in retaining the rights to his tune.
In fact it has been a good year for Aubrey – what with the worldwide Dell computer adverts that samples his grandfather's ditty, as well as R&B singer Eliza Doolittle's hit single, Pack Up. "It pays for a few dinners", he says.
Pack Up Your Troubles is a culturally durable, as well as lucrative, song, transcending its Edwardian music-hall roots to live on in movie titles (including Laurel and Hardy's 1932 comedy of the same name), pop songs (by Richard Thompson and Eliza Doolittle among others), and even children's TV shows like Rugrats. One commentator has included it, along with Rock Around the Clock, My Way and Dancing Queen as one of the "songs that defined a century".
"What amazes me is that the song was written in 1915 and here we are, 95 years later, and it has become even more part of the English language than it was before", says Powell, who lives in London when he is not touring the world in his role as a film and rock concert director. "I remember watching TV at the time of the Wayne Rooney sex scandal. I was watching the news with Rooney going off to play Switzerland, and the newsreader saying, 'There's Wayne Rooney, packing up his troubles in his old kit bag.
Abraham Lincoln Brigade: Spanish Civil War History and Education: Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives
During the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), almost forty thousand men and women from fifty-two countries, including 2,800 Americans, traveled to Spain to join the International Brigades to help fight fascism. The U.S. volunteers served in various units (medical, combat and transportation) and came to be known collectively as the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.
The deadliest war
By far the deadliest conflict was in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1998 to 2003. Eight African nations participated in the fighting on Congolese soil, many hoping to seize control of its vast mineral wealth. Some 4 million Congolese died during the conflict and nearly another 1 million have died in the lawless aftermath from starvation, conflict and preventable disease. Tens of thousands of children were forced to become soldiers, and as many as two out of three women were victimized by rape and other forms of sexual violence.
This is still happening today.
Perhaps the lack of attention toward these atrocities explains the disconnect in Washington between the compassion felt for the people of eastern Congo and the nominal advancement of specific policies to bring sustainable change to the region. Fortunately, that began to change this summer with passage of the Dodd-Frank Act, which required reporting the origin of potential conflict minerals from Congo. I hope that the incoming Congress will continue the bipartisan movement for sustainable peace and prosperity in that region.
Much remains to be done to help the Congolese people secure their region for the long term. In a defiant response to circumstances beyond their control, the resourceful and resilient Congolese people have flourished and begun to rebuild the foundation for effective government. This potential was evident in the national elections held four years ago and in the relative stability that has followed.
The potential can also be seen through local organizations such as Synergy of Women for Sexual Violence Victims in North Kivu. I am amazed how Synergy - despite regular threats - works to end gender-based violence and to provide survivors with critical support. This is just one of the many community-based solutions that bring about substantive change.
Through extensive time spent in Congo and my work with the Eastern Congo Initiative, I can attest to the authenticity of progress. But I can also speak to its fragility. Supporting Congolese efforts to move beyond their nation's violent past and ultimately stabilize civil society requires strong leadership and a more holistic approach from the United States.
To secure the peace, we must continue to support local leaders and trust their ability to manage their own destiny. At the same time, we cannot refuse to recognize that the reinforcing cycle of poverty and corruption still rules and that many crimes are still committed with impunity. We need to also acknowledge that achieving stability within Congo's borders requires understanding the dynamics outside those borders and throughout the Great Lakes region.
This isn't just altruism. The United States has security, economic and diplomatic interests in a peaceful and stable Congo. That is why the Eastern Congo Initiative has developed a set of recommendations for U.S. policymakers that can lead to a mutually beneficial improvement in the lives of the Congolese people. The four most significant recommendations happen to be the easiest to implement, with several already mandated by existing legislation.
First, it is imperative that the United States maintain the State Department office of special adviser for the Great Lakes region with a new appointment and open a renewed political dialogue.
Second, Washington must implement the provisions in the Dodd-Frank Act designed to strengthen enforcement sanctions related to conflict minerals. Only in an equitable and transparent business environment can Congo's mineral wealth pay for Congo's future.
Third, the United States and the international community must continue to provide technical assistance and ensure the appropriate environment for the elections scheduled for 2011. Fair national, regional and local elections, in which the outcomes are accepted by the people, are vital for reestablishing confidence in civic institutions.
Finally, we must support Congo's efforts to implement administrative and judicial reforms to root out political interference, stop corruption and foster the rule of law. Sealing the security vacuum with something other than militias will place the Congolese people in control of their destiny.
Following bipartisan leadership in the United States, the world can ensure that Congo never again experiences the violence and exploitation that defined much of its past two decades.
Synergy's creator, Justine Masika Bihamba, began helping women after rebels broke into her house and sexually assaulted her daughter. Her family is under constant threat because of her humanitarian efforts. When asked why she stays, she says, "I have to do my work."
For the same reason, to help realize a vibrant Congo with abundant opportunities for economic and social development, we can't leave either.
The writer, an actor and director, first visited Congo in 2007 and founded the Eastern Congo Initiative early this year.
