Word Ruminations

One of the many delightful quirks of the Harry Potter series is the naming scheme JK Rowling bestows on her characters. The Black family, for example, are mostly named after stars in different constellations such as the Orion, Canis Major and Leo -- everyone knows that.

Bellatrix is my favorite name from the set, unfortunately given to a vile and evil character. The name comes from the female version of the Latin word for 'warrior.' 

And then, somehow, even though the words are very different in meaning, my mind jumps to the word 'belletrist,' which, according to Oxford Languages, means

a person who writes essays, particularly on literary and artistic criticism, that are composed and read primarily for their aesthetic effect.

Both are pretty words. 

EDIT: An earlier version of the blog suggested -- somewhat embarrassingly given my claim "everyone knows that" -- that all of the Black family members are named after stars in different constellations. My friend and immortal quiz partner, Abhinav Malhotra, pointed out that Narcissa Malfoy is not named after anything in the night sky. Some more research brought out another example in Lycoris Black. Both Narcissa and Lycoris are named after plants. Thanks bhai.

Clarke's Three Laws

In the huge universe of inspirational quotes, books, and movies, Clarke's Three Laws burn bright like an O-type star.

Briefly, they are:

1. When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

The third one has received a lot of attention and fame but I find the first two to be more instructive. And inspiring. 

[From October 24, 2018]

Draft Pick: Guilty?

After a rough week, the best I could do to extract productivity from a languid Friday was to clean up old drafts. I found I was preparing a follow-up draft to my post on The Battle for Grammar about 7 years ago. It has been far too long for me to do justice to my thought process as on June 9, 2013, and so the only sensible step was to retain the hyperlink to this wonderful kinetic typography YouTube video of Stephen Fry expounding on the same topic except with an eloquence not within my current capabilities. I had intended to share the video as ringing validation of my thoughts developed independently of Fry's own exquisite tirade though this video and the text behind it easily predate my blog post.

Notes on COVID Part III

I should've been writing more frequently but PhD pressures made sure I didn't do anything beyond an intransigent proof.

Still, for record keeping purposes, this was my draft from April 22, unedited,

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We'll start this edition by pointing out an erratum in my first post. First, Shakespeare did not write King Lear during the plague, he wrote it during a period of brief respite from it, between 1603 and 1610. He did write a play, Coriolanus, during the plague years. Read more here.

The New Yorker also tries to make an argument that Newton's two year hiatus from Cambridge, and ensuing isolation, was not the reason for his brilliant achievements. He was already thinking deeply about the problems at least a year before, and continued producing outstanding work after re-joining academic life.

I don't buy the argument. That he was a genius and was producing outstanding work all his life is indubitable. Yet, it doesn't mean he couldn't have had an extra spurt of creativity from his isolation. The argument doesn't convince me, but the article is still an inspiring read.

*****

I will be focusing on India in this post. I do so because the country stands at the cusp of exponential explosion. It is a critical time and understanding the data would do some good.

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Yeah, India did see the exponential increase in cases.

And just for completeness sake, right now we seem to be on the cusp of an exponential rise in deaths from COVID here in the US.

Sigh.