Titanic

   For those who deny the relevance of the number 12 in world history, consider this:
   The ill-fated ship Titanic was named after the 12 Titans of ancient Greek mythology. It left Ireland on its maiden voyage on April 12, 1912, and a few days later it was struck by an iceberg shortly before 12 midnight and sank less than three hours later.
   Add this to the list of "coincidences" that show the appearance of the number 12 throughout the world and its history. That list runs to three pages and continues to grow.
   Here's a reminder.
   There are:

12 inches in a foot
12 months in a year
12 grades in the American school system
12 signs of the zodiac
12 items in a dozen
12 dots on a pair of dice
12 units in a hypodermic syringe
12 dozen make up one gross
12 pencils in box
12 checkout lanes in a local supermarket
12 pence to a shilling
12 stars in the flag of the European Union
12 primary colors in the color wheel formulated by Isaac Newton
12 troy ounces in a troy pound, used to measure gold and silver
12 people on a jury
12 bronze tablets held an attempt to codify Roman laws, done by
12 men in 450 B.C.
12 soldiers in an Army squad
12 channels on early television sets -- 2 through 13
12 districts in the U.S. Federal Reserve bank system
12 tribes of Israel
12 apostles in Christianity, which borrowed the idea from
12 apostles in Mithraism
12 imams in the Shiite Islamic spiritual tradition
12 Hindu temples dedicated to the Lord Shiva
12 labors of Hercules, imposed as punishment
12 major Olympian gods in the ancient Greek pantheon led by Zeus
12 gods in Valhalla, honored by Vikings. (Odin, Thor, etc.)
12 major gods in the Celtic pantheon
12 gods honored by the Sami people of northern Scandinavia
12 knights seated at King Arthur's Round Table
12 days to the Christmas season, borrowed from
12 days of Yuletide, the celebration of the Winter Solstice
12 steps to humility, (St. Benedict, 520 A.D.)
12 steps of pride (St. Bernard of Clairvaux, 1130 A.D.)
12 steps to sobriety (Bill Wilson founder of AA, 1937)
12 parts to the Boy Scout Law (Trustworthy, Loyal, etc.)
12 tones in the chromatic musical scale
12 bars in standard blues music
12 animals in the Chinese cycle of years (rat, ox, tiger, etc.)
12 points to a pica, the standard printer's measuring system
12 times 6 picas = 72, the number of points to an inch
12 times 3 = 36, the number of inches in a yard
12 times 2 = 24 cans in a case of beer
12 times 2 = 24 hours in a day
12 times 4 = 48 cards in a pinochle deck
12 times 5 = 60 minutes in an hour
12 times 5 = 60, the number of watts in the most popular light bulb
12 times 5 = 60 miles per hour, a widely used speed limit
12 times 30 = 360 degrees in a circle
12 times 10 = 120 beats per minute, the standard marching pace
12 times 10 = 120, the optimum systolic blood pressure
12 volts in automobile electrical systems
12 cylinders in early, expensive automobiles
12 gallons in a tank of gasoline for smaller cars
12 gauge shotgun, a popular firearm
12 furlongs is the maximum length for American horse racing
12 was the base for early mathematics
12 hour relief is the promise made for over-the-counter medications
12 inch square is the size of many floor tiles
12 Chairs in the Mel Brooks movie based on a Russian folk tale
12 Monkeys, another movie, by Terry Gilliam
12 Years a Slave, the title of a book and a movie
12 vertebrae in the human chest,
12 pairs of ribs
12 pairs of cranial nerves
12 pairs of thoracic nerves
12 strands in a DNA sequence

   Finally, the atomic weight of carbon, the base of all life forms on earth, is 12.01.

Word Play

   Some scholars claim the word "barbarian" began in ancient Rome when visitors from other regions did not speak Latin, so Romans who could not understand them insisted that their talk only amounted to noise, like "bar-bar-bar."
   These scholars  ignore the reality that the current word for "beard" in Italian and other languages is "barba," and someone who trims facial hair is called a "barber."
   Therefore, the thinking goes, a political or military opponent with facial hair is called a "barbarian," not because he has facial hair but because he talks funny.
   These so-scholars either have not done their homework or they choose to remain ignorant.
   A brief dictionary search shows nearly identical words for "beard" or "barba" in Italian, Bosnian, Catalan, Corsican, Croatian, Dutch, French, Frisian, Galician, German, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Serbian, Slovenian, Spanish, Ukrainian and Yiddish.
   It follows that if the scholars are right about the babble, then all the languages just mentioned are only noises made by ignorant talkers.
   Either that or the so-called scholars are just plain stupid.
   By the way, the current English word "bizarre" is borrowed from the Basque language, and "skag" from the Danish.
   Our language is a blend of many others, beginning with Anglo-Saxon, and includes Norman French, Brythonic, Gaelic, Latin, Greek, German, Italian, Spanish and many others, including Native American languages, Oriental and Middle East. Moreover, new words and usages are invented regularly. Ask anyone politician or advertising agent.
   The job of a linguist is to describe what is, not to make rules on what should be. We leave that to the self-appointed grammarians.

Gaza Go Away

   1/ This land is mine. God gave this land to me. All you other guys have to leave.

   2/ But we've been here for thousands of years. This is our home.

   1/ I don't care. You guys haven't done anything to make the land prosperous so you have to leave and we'll make things better.

   3/ That's the same argument Andrew Jackson used when he told the Cherokee to leave their homes and go to Oklahoma.

  4/ Why can't we all just get along?

Spiritual Unity

We are all climbing the same mountain.

How we see the top depends on where we come from.

The Druid Way

  1/  You are a worthwhile person.

  2/  Believe in yourself.

  3/  Think for yourself.

  4/  Follow your bliss.

  5/  Seek beauty in life, in Nature, in other creatures.

  6/  Enjoy beauty in music and art as you perceive it.

      Don't let others tell you what you "must" enjoy.

  7/  Read. Anything and everything that pleases you.

  8/  Do all things in moderation.

  9/  Say please and thank you.

10/  Find someone to love. Tell them so.

11/  Seek balance in all things.

12/  If it harm none, do what you will.

Responsibilty

To say, "The Devil made me do it," is to clear you of any blame.

To say, "I am nothing without God," is to deny you any credit.

You are responsible for your actions and behavior, whether  good or ill.

Dialect Dilemma

   Which is correct: Speak well or talk good?
   Or is it the reverse: Talk well or speak good?
   Someone can be  a good speaker or a good talker. Or someone can be well spoken. Why not the reverse of all of the above?
   Many folks will say it's not logical. And they would be right, because language is not logical. It is what it is.
   Many Americans are told to never split an infinitive, and to never use no double negatives.
   (There, I just did both. Sue me.)
   But in French, double negatives are required, as in "ne ... pas." Or in Spanish: "No tengo nada," which translates to "I ain't got nothin.'"
   As for the term "ain't," teachers insist that isn't good English. But we can shorten "is not" to "isn't" and we can reduce "are not" to "aren't" and some folks shorten "am not" to "amn't."
   So it's only a short linguistic step from "amn't" to "ain't."
   All those examples delete the vowel  from the word "not" and combine it with the relevant form of the verb "to be."
   Here they are again: "Is not" becomes "isn't" and "are not" becomes "aren't."
   Also, "were not" becomes "weren't" and "would not" becomes "wouldn't" or even "won't." Or maybe it should be "will not" becomes "won't." Maybe  "willn't" would be a better alternative. Perhaps the earlier form was "woll," which became "will."
   I hear you insisting that statement isn't logical. And you're  right, because language isn't logical.
   (There, I just used an apostrophe to substitute for a vowel that was abandoned.)
   Also, there are people who say "amn't" rather than "am not." Is that poor grammar? Try telling that to the Irish who use that term that it's not good English and it shows that the user doesn't talk good. See how far you get insisting that the Irish are not good with language.
   Conclusion: All dialects are equal. They all enable  their users to communicate with others. To say that some dialects are superior to others is a social judgment, not linguistic.