叫不叫高傲? - S is for Arrogance
My post on Min Yi's current vocabulary (yes, the one you are reading right now) made me think "S is for arrogance", hence this little story first. My apologies for the detour.
A rare moment of peace: Dubya behind his desk in the oval office. Stewart Baker, the new assistant secretary for policy of the Department of Homeland Security on the other side. One absorbed in pretending to read his policy documents and the other-
D: Stewart!
S: Yessir?
D: My computer just crashed.
S: ...
D: Don't just sit there. My computer doesn't work. Come over here and fix it!
S: Uhm... actually.. it's - (raises his wrist and considers saying "time for the war on hunger") ... besides, I'm not-
D: ...my personal helpdesk, I know. Now come over here and fix it.
(Stewart spots a Van Zant CD on the desk and barely swallows an uh-oh)
D: I was fiddling around with this when my computer went ballistics on me.
S: Uhm... the DRM on the CD could be the problem.
(Dubya gives him a blank stare.)
S: SonyBMG? This has been kind of all over the news over the last two weeks.
D: Don't lecture me..... was it?
S: Well...
As Stewart quickly and routinely describes the issues surrounding SonyBMG and the hoops that one has to jump through to get an uninstaller from Sony, Dubya's look goes blank again.
D: Damn that sounds complicated. I knew those Chinesians couldn't be trusted.
S: Uhm, SonyBMG is a Japanese-German joint venture sir.
D: Don't lecture me. Go out there and do something... say something!
Dubya waves his hand to dismiss Stewart.
S: You mean, like a statement?
D: Damn right I mean a statement. Come up with something catchy and sexy.
Stewart peers into Dubya's blue-screen.
S: Japanese-German... joint-venture... Shall I rewrite your axis of evil speech?
D: No, I may need that one for something more serious soon. Still, I think this one requires a strong reaction. I mean, it may be their copyrights, but it's still my computer!
S: ...
D: ...
S: That's it! Stewart grabs a make-belief microphone, pouts his lips and sings but it's MY computer
D: Yeah whatever. Just one thing. Don't mention any company names. We're the government remember? Gotta be... (does a little virtual quote in the air) inpedendent!
For a moment Steve just looks, not sure what to say. Then the twinkle in Dubya's eyes signals him it's ok to laugh. Slowly he giggles, and Dubya giggles a little bit as well.
D: Just make it sound serious, or... he can hardly contain himself now or...
D + S:... or the terrists wil have won! they howl in laughter now
The format of this story was inspired by some of the hilarious posts on The Religious Policeman.Thus it happened that two weeks after the initial post, in which Mark Russinovich explains how he discovered that SonyBMG tries to protect the contents of some of their CD's in really nasty ways, the snowball turns into a real A V A L A N C H E and also DHS finds it necessary to comment on the issue. Stewart Baker was quoted as saying "It's very important to remember that it's your intellectual property -- it's not your computer."
Yesterday, Sony decided it would temporarily stop using their GRRRRReat technology.
From a security and privacy point-of-view, I find this story very interesting to follow. Living with an ex-Sony employee, I have also found it downright amusing. The lowest point, I think, was Thomas Hesse, President of global digital business of SonyBMG, saying (I paraphrase) "well, the majority of customers don't know what a rootkit is, so why should they care?" (listen to the radio item). Of course, I present all this as irrefutable evidence that large companies, especially those in the entertainment industry, are inherently evil and not to be trusted.
Other vocabulatory matters
And all of the above because I wanted to write a little something on Min Yi's current vocabulary. The powers of association... but that would be another article entirely...
Vocal cords normally work from the moment a bay is born, I don't think I need to convince anyone of that. The more interesting is what happens after that. Initially, a baby just cries, but as time passes you will always hear ecstatic parents say things like "oh, but this is a hunger cry, and this is cry out of boredom.". It is interesting, I admit, but why are parents so excited about it? What's great about a baby being able to express 1001 emotions through crying? If that's so great, what's to stop us all from just crying to communicate? Wouldn't life be ever so simple and hey, there would be no language issues. A Chinese cry for beer in the bar would be understood in South Africa as well.
My theory is that men in fact do try to achieve this. But, instead of crying they use the grunt. Also short, simple, and nearly universal. I can grunt for another beer at the bar in South Africa, even though I don't speak a word of Xhosa. And my theory works! Min Yi, obviously not male, has gone through her phase of grunting (I wrote about this in the beginning of October) but has obviously decided that that is not for her. Too rough, too simple, too easy. In short: too male.
Min Yi has, for a while already now, moved into the next stage. She's now trying to do more than just grunt, and although far from fluent, she's eloquent in her own special way. So I proudly present her first dictionary:- Pfffffff -
- (a) gimme a break
- (b) interesting object, let me have a better look
- (c) here I am
- Hmmmmmmm
- (a) I'm tired!
- (b) interesting object, let me put that in my mouth
- (c) I'm hungry!
- Bababa
- (a) I say bababa because you say bababa
- (b) I'm happy
- (c) I'm relaxed
- (d) I'm AWAKE!
