This World and Me

Circumlocution — the use of many words to say something that could be said more clearly and directly by using fewer words (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary) The definition above for the word circumlocution  carries a negative connotation. People who use unnecessarily wordy and indirect language to avoid getting to the point. We all know those people who do that. But there is an instance where circumlocution can actually be a valuable skill. Rather than thinking about it as refusing to "get to the point", what if you don't know how  to get to the point? When one learns a foreign language, one of the most useful skills they could utilize is circumlocution. In the context of a learning a foreign language, I define circumlocution as using known words to convey an idea that could have been more simply stated using unknown words. In a way, you are "going around the idea" to try to convey that idea. For example, if you are learning the German language and you wan...

The Star-Spangled Banner is a unique national anthem because it doesn't talk primarily of the country it represents, or of its government, people, or power. Rather, the Star-Spangled Banner talks almost exclusively about the young nation's flag . The current flag of the United States. The lyrics were written under exquisite circumstances: The Americans were fighting the British a second time after the American Revolution in the war called the "War of 1812". The British had captured a number of Americans and were holding them as prisoners. The U.S. dispatched Francis Scott Key and John Stuart Skinner on a boat flying a flag of truce. They then boarded a British ship to attempt to negotiate the exchange of prisoners. The negotiations were eventually successful, and the prisoners were eventually exchanged; however, the U.S. negotiators were told about the British's plan to attack the U.S. at Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland. Consequently, Francis Scott Key...

We've all been in this situation. You accidentally leave your phone (or any other important item you would be saddened if you lost) in an obscure location you can't remember. When you finally remember where you left it, you desperately return to the location only to find that the phone isn't there! You are forced to assume that that wasn't where you had left it in the first place, and you proceed to search aimlessly. Sadly, here's what actually happened: somebody found your phone, realized that someone else had lost it, picked it up and tried to find its owner. Although their cause may have been noble, it was clearly in no way beneficial to you. Here's a funky method for dealing with finding items that other people lost: Don't do anything. Think about the thoughts that go through your mind immediately when you lose something: where was the last place I left it?  To find a lost object, most people will backtrack their day, highlighting possible areas w...

Apple. It's the name of a fruit, and it's also the name of one of the largest information technology companies in the world. It's quite surreal how the phrases "Apple" and "computer company" can be used in the same sentence. The word "Apple" implies simplicity over complexity, a feat that Jony Ive, Apple's president of product design, has made clear is one of Apple's goals. "True simplicity is derived from so much more than the absences of clutter and ornamentation," says Ive. "It's about bringing order to complexity ." "Apple blah blah blah blah blah blah blah" is probably how some people may read the preceding paragraph. Indeed, the tech world has become divided in their views of the company known as Apple Inc. Some consider Apple a religion, while some people are  morally against Apple, doing everything in their power to make sure they never set their eyes on the iconic logo. It's no secret ...

The other day in school, I overheard a conversation that intrigued me. A girl was bragging about how she stuck up her middle finger while walking through the hallway, and the teachers couldn't do anything about it. I didn't barge in to the conversation, but it got me thinking about why the girl thought she could make such a foul sign without consequence. In 1965, three kids wore black armbands to school in protest of the Vietnam War. The school imposed a policy banning the practice and calling for anyone violated the policy to be suspended until they complied. The kids argued that the school violated their First Amendment rights to free speech. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court, which, by a vote of 7-2, ruled in favor of the students. A popular excuse is the claim that she has "the right to free speech" in sticking up the middle finger. Firstly, what kind of "speech" is it trying to convey? To many, the sign is just like cursing. I mentione...

Surfing on the Web one day, you encounter a post on Facebook that is very offensive to you. You report the post to the Facebook team, who take the post down. The person who made the post cries out that Facebook has violated their right to free speech and threatens legal action if the post is not restored. This scenario isn't exclusive to the Internet; you can see it in places like malls, coffee shops, grocery stores, and business workplaces too. The claim that "Facebook violated my free speech" may sound like a threat, but it's actually very cute when I hear it made as it has no legal merit whatsoever. The term "free speech" comes from the First Amendment to the United States Constitution , which also establishes freedom of the press and freedom of religion. The amendment has been very important in the history of this rather young nation. Specifically, the amendment reads: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiti...

We are a speck, a sliver, a grain in this massive universe. No, "massive" would be a huge understatement. The universe is indescribably large. First of all, there are two kinds of perspectives you can take for sizing the universe. There is the universe, and then there is the "observable universe". The universe is the "totality of existence". It's the sum of all matter, energy, and events that exist. The observable universe  only includes the part of the universe which Earth can detect and observe  through the use of tools such as telescopes. Wait. We can only see a part of the universe? That's right. Everyone knows that light travels at a constant speed in space: the speed of light. Everyone also knows that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. Light itself cannot travel faster than the cosmic speed limit. From the point of the Big Bang to now, the universe has expanded quite a lot. It's even created us and the Earth. But lig...