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Cox Crow

Asking the Stupid Questions Since 1971
 Thursday, October 31, 2002

Baby Steps

Here's why I'll never make the big bucks. I completely miss some obvious connections.

Verizon and MSN: My cell phone service provider, Verizon is switching its web services to MSN. [kasia in a nutshell]

I knew of the Verizon/MSN alliance. I know the reasons for it. I have a Verizon cellphone. And yet I kept thinking DSL, broadband, competition against AOL, Earthlink, SBC Yahoo/Prodigy — and completely missed an obvious ramification of owning the "customer relationship."

"Do you already have an account? Sign in with your Microsoft Passport."

3:02:05 PM # Google It!
categories: Industry

Responsible Education

Just got our property tax receipt for this semester. Our library is about $90, while the schools are about $4,500. This compares favorably, if I recall correctly, to private school tuitions. Apparently vouchers aren't a hot topic this election season.

Two things brought schooling to the forefront of my scatterbrain: I'm reading Lies My Teacher Told Me, and the schmuck heading Edison Schools has heard about labor practices in the Chinese schools.

Chris Whittle ... recently told a meeting of school principals that he'd thought up an ingenious solution to the company's financial woes: Take advantage of the free supply of child labor, and force each student to work an hour a day, presumably without pay, in the school offices.
— "For-Profit U.S. Schools Sell Off Their Textbooks", Toronto Globe & Mail [emphasis mine]

We'll be thinking about schooling more often as the Big Sister approaches Kindergarten.

12:02:39 PM # Google It!
categories: Family, Learning

The First Lesson

The first thing we learn is how to fail.

The other day I was in the basement, putting something away, carrying the Little One. I turned out the light, turned to walk back to the stairs, and promptly slammed against the edge of the air conditioning unit that waits in the basement for Summer to return. I kept moving forward, towards the floor, but managed to flip and cuddle. I hit my workbench with my back, the air conditioner with my ribs and the floor with my shoulder. But the Little One was safe. Shocked, but safe.

11:09:43 AM # Google It!
categories: Family, Learning

Metaphor is one of the most dangerous tools in use today.
— David Reed

10:39:15 AM #
categories: Language

Summer's End

While AKMA and others discuss the suitability of hallow as a translation of ̔Αγιασθήτω in the Lord's Prayer, we begin the day of Hallowe'en, the Eve of All Hallow's. The syllables of Hallowe'en are most often, in my hearing, broken "hal-lo-ween" rather than "hal-ow-een." And so we miss hearing the missing "v" in "een."

Unfortunately, I can't find the pretty site I liked which covered the various seasonal holidays. This page offers a good textual overview of the holiday. What I find extraordinary are the similarities in this list from The Wheel of the Year [links added]:

  • 10/28 to 11/3: Isia
    Old Egyptian festival recalling Set (God of Destruction) killing God Osiris; Goddess Isis mourning Him, resurrecting Him, and conceiving God Horus with Him; and Osiris becoming Lord of Amenta, land of the dead.
  • 10/31 eve to 11/2 eve: Old Sumerian & Canaanite-Hebrew fast recalling the descent of Inanna/Astarte (Goddess of Life) to the Underworld. Ereshkigal/Sheol (Goddess of Death and Rebirth) held Her until She agreed to have Dumuzi/Baal (God of Life and Death) remain there each Winter.
  • 10/31 eve to 11/2 eve: Samhain
    Old Celtic New Year and feast of Morrigan/Cerridwen (Goddess of Death) and Balor/Beli (the Holly King--God of the Waning Sun).
  • 10/31 eve to 11/2 eve: Old Teutonic fast marking Hod (God of Darkness) unintentionally killing Balder (God of Light), and devoted Nanna (Goddess of Flowers) dying of a broken heart.
  • 10/31 eve to 11/4 eve: Old Greek festival in which Goddess Kore (Queen of the Living) became Persephone (Queen of the Dead). She abandoned Her Mother, Goddess Demeter, and eloped to Elysium for the Winter to be with Her partner, Plouton (God of Death). She was accompanied by Goddess Hekate and spirits of the dead.

See the Encyclopedia Mythica for more details on the deities mentioned.

9:16:19 AM # Google It!
categories: Language