It’s reading week, and there is a maths assignment to be done, with the following brief:

Please hand in printed solutions via a computer.

This is what sits in front of me as I do just that:

Who ever heard of a WYSIWYG anyway?

My brain hurts.

Glossolalia, or simply ’speaking in tongues’ is a phenomenon interested me for some time now. It does, of course, refer to the phenomenon of supposedly speaking some unknown language, especially during religious worship. Explanations as to why people suddenly burst into glossolalia range from divine intervention (a popular one among Pentecostal Christians) to blunt mental illness.

Comparative studies seem to indicate that glossolalia somewhat resembles ordinary language, in so far as it demonstrates some degree of phonological structure, rhythm and accent, yet studies in neuroscience claim that it shows brain activity which differs from everyday speech when it is being uttered.

Finding a video which sufficiently demonstrated the tara ba rumeso kare mapoti shalafa ‘ sound but which doesn’t spill over into religious instruction proved difficult. This is the best I could come up with:

The ‘meaning’ of these utterances is an interesting topic in its own right. Glossolalists believe that ‘tongues’, or whatever you want to call it, actually constitutes a real language, one with its own lexicon and grammar. Yet if asked to repeat what they say or translate it into their native language, most are unable (or are unwilling) to do so. The ability to speak in tongues is, according to them, a divine gift from their deity.

The consensus from the viewpoint of linguistics seems to be that is that glossolalia does not constitute a truly meaningful language. Rather, the seemingly random speech sounds serve as a sort of tool to express deep belief in and attachment to a higher being. Nonetheless, speaking this pseudo-language is generally a deeply significant and emotional experience for the person involved.

Somewhere in the middle there are believers who do think that the descriptions of ‘tongues’ in the new testament (notably in Acts, apparently), refer to the God-given language which modern-day worshippers describe. They do not, however, believe that the utterances of modern-day worshippers, such as those in the following video, relate to this language, dismissing them on-the-spot and meaningless.

I definitely fall into the ‘pseudo-language’ category, but I find the whole thing fascinating nonetheless. I am still amazed at the effect religious belief has on people’s minds, and sit here wondering whether the glossolalists consciously make themselves behave this way, or whether it’s a sort of out-of-body experience.

In the past week or so we have witnessed two extraordinary interruptions.

First, some background information:

The first interruption occurred when Barack Obama delivered his healthcare reform speech to a joint session of Congress. As he once again confirmed that his proposed health plan would not cover illegal immigrants, Obama was childishly and loudly interrupted by GOP congressman Joe Wilson, from South Carolina. You could see the shock and anger on Nancy Pelosi’s face as she heard ‘You lie!’ from the opposite chamber. Presumably after being smashed about by his party whip, the congressman came out afterwards and apologized.

The second interruption, while in rather different circumstances, was equally inappropriate and laughable. As Taylor Swift stood up to accept her first Video Music Award, the gold-plated imbecile who is Kanye West burst in to declare that ‘Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time’, then stormed off the stage. Again, he calmed down, and issued an apology to minimize the media carnage.

What unites these two events? While it’s true that Obama commented on Kanye’s temper tantrum, calling him a ‘jackass’, I think this video sums it up more eloquently:

And that’s all I have to say.

The 6th of June will stand out in the minds of many (including me) who, due to the remarkably catastrophic failure of a single person to carry out their duties, had to sit a re-scheduled, alternate higher-level English paper 2 for their Leaving Cert in 2009.

At a cost of over one million euro to the already strapped taxpayer, this has to go down as the most Irish thing to happen, ever.

The famous 'Paper three' incident

As part of the investigation into why and how such a basic error could be made, the State Examinations Commission has published this report detailing what the investigation discovered, what actually happened on the day and what may have caused it to happen, what should have happened on the day, and how such a disaster will be prevented in the future.

Some of the more hilarious extracts are

A number of changes were made to the examination timetable in 2009. Arising from these, the SEC
included in the 2009 General Instructions for Superintendents a specific section entitled
‘Significant Changes of Procedures’ on the inside cover of the document. This section made
specific reference to the timetable changes and to the fact that ‘Leaving Certificate examination
paper boxes will contain two green packets of papers for English – Paper 1 for the morning of
Wednesday 3 June and Paper 2 for the morning of Thursday 4 June.’ It was also highlighted, in
bold, that ‘it is essential that the Day to Day Instructions for Leaving Certificate and Junior
Certificate be carefully consulted before each examination session to ensure that you correctly open
and distribute the appropriate examination papers’.

and

Superintendents were also instructed not to proceed with undue haste at the
commencement of an examination session and it was indicated that it was preferable to commence
the examination a few minutes late, ensuring that the candidates are given back this time at the end,
rather than open the wrong packet or distribute the wrong papers under pressure.

As if that wasn’t enough, the day-to-day instructions for the 6th of June specifically stated:

ENGLISH Paper 1

Morning 9.30 – 12.20

Important: The examinations in English Paper 1 and English Paper 2 are morning examination
sessions and both packets therefore are coloured GREEN. Before opening the packet this morning
ensure that you have the packet for Paper 1 and NOT Paper 2

Naturally, the SEC seems to be thoroughly embarrassed. It proposes a number of things that will supposedly stop this from happening again, including putting the papers face-up on desks, so that candidates can immediately spot any mistakes.

In any case, I’m still amazed at how something as basic as reading a label on a packet can have such far-reaching consequences. Thank God John Montague came up!

EDIT: Viddler seems to have taken down its mirror of Jesus Camp. I guess you’ll have to find it elsewhere!

‘MR. PRESIDENT! ONE NATION UNDER GOD!’ cry the children in front of the cardboard cut-out of George W. Bush. Disturbed yet?

Directed by Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing and released in 2006, Jesus Camp is a documentary film about a Charismatic Pentecostal summer camp, which aims to teach children how to ‘take back America for Christ’. A classic example of thought reform at its most deadly, it is a worrying snapshot of the hardline conservative bible-thumpers of 21st century America.

As it dips in and out of the lives of a handful of evangelical christian families, we see that both inside and outside the home, what can only be described as brainwashing is taking place. We meet a sickeningly content boy watching ‘Creation Adventures’, a cartoon which happily tells him that God made the earth 6000 years ago. We meet a jubliant young girl who loves to dance, and would be having a ball if not for her sin of dancing ‘for the flesh’ (everything has to be done for the Lord).

While this certainly infuriated me, I soon found out that it barely tips the iceberg. Keen to save their souls, pastor Becky Fischer scorns children as young as seven and eight who are on their knees, hysterically upset about their supposed ’sins’. She yells that they are ‘phonies’ and ‘hypocrites’, before stepping in with ‘the water of your [God's] word’ to ‘cleanse’ them (it’s really just a bottle of the finest Nestlé spring water. I wonder who settled that sponsorship deal?).

Later on, a ‘pro-life’ activist comes to speak to the campers. Armed with a roll of red duct tape, a box of anatomically-incorrect plastic foetuses (you can buy your very own set here if you’re interested), and the most condescending tone of voice in existence, he explains that ‘God formed you in your mother’s womb. You’re not just a piece of protoplasm’. He then delivers his punch-line: ‘whatever that is!’ His joke certainly is funny, if only because it illustrates perfectly that he clearly has no business discussing matters of biology. ‘You’re not just a piece of tissue in your mother’s womb. You were created intently by God. Isn’t that incredible!’. Yes, it certainly is incredible. Incredible that a grown man has convinced himself that this unsubstantiated religious rhetoric is fact.
The most disturbing part of this episode is the pastor’s bizarre ’symbolic gesture’ of taping the children’s mouths shut with his big strips of red tape. It sums up the aim of the camp: to silence the individual voices of the most impressionable people in society, whilst (quite effectively) convincing them that they’re better for it.

I challenge you to watch this without wanting to cry out in anger. Perhaps the only good to come of this profoundly sad tale is that after the film’s release, the camp’s organizers were so innundated with complaints that they had to shut it down.

Le CyKlop is a French artist who travels around painting the various posts found on the streets of Paris. Little by little these huge, staring eyeballs are taking over the city, it would seem:

Les CyKlop envahissent la ville et scrutent les humains de leur gros œil unique et coloré.

According to his blog, however, the Paris authorities intend to rip them up to make the place more ‘car-friendly’. Hopefully I’ll get over there to have a look at them in the meantime! In case La Mairie gets rid of them too soon, here’s a video, detailing the process:

A new site kicks off with an old video. In 1969, the Post Office Research Station published this 8-minute film, showcasing its bizarre, amusing, yet often surprisingly accurate predictions about what electronic communications would be like in the 1990s. Most troubling is the ultraviolet photocopying mechanism built into the telephone terminal…