Notebook
Five ways in which the iPhone game Flight Control differs from a real-world job in Approach Control
Sunday 19 April 2009
- In the real world planes can’t do hairpin bends over the end of the runway at which they are about to land.
- In the real world planes can fly at different altitudes with more of a distinction than just ‘on the ground’ vs. ‘in the air’.
- In the real world aircraft don’t just magically disappear less than a second after touching the ground.
- In the real world when two planes collide it wouldn’t sound like someone dropping a tray of cutlery.
- In the real world if your negligence leads to two planes colliding over an airport you wouldn’t expect a polite clap (because you’ve succeeded in landing more planes in one session than ever before) and a salute from a 1960s-era stewardess: instead you’re probably in for months of counselling followed by criminal
Essay: Linguistic commentary on longer late-Latin texts
Monday 9 March 2009 #
“Using Rohlfs’ texts 2 [Petronius’ Cena Trimalchionis], 13 [extracts from the Peregrinatio Egeriae], and 20 [extracts from Caesarius of Arles], compare and contrast the value of these texts for the Romance linguist’s understanding of Latin syntax and/or semantics.”
- Paper:
- Romance Philology
- Due:
12 March 2009Complete!
Essay: Classical Tragedy Comparisons
Monday 2 March 2009 #
“Compare the stagecraft of Racine and Euripides.”
You should examine in detail Racine’s Andromaque and Iphigénie and Euripides’ Andromache and Iphigenia at Aulis, looking out particularly for their use of scenery, exits and entrances, costume, properties, movement and gesture.
- Paper:
- Ancient & French Classical Tragedy
- Due:
10 March 2009Complete!
Essay: Late Latin Glossaries
Wednesday 25 February 2009 #
“Commenting briefly on their linguistic context, and focusing on phonology and morphology, discuss the systematic differences between the alternative forms presented in Rohlfs’ texts 7 [extracts from the Appendix Probi] and 34 [extracts from the Reichenau Glossary, the Hermeneumata Montepessulana, the Hermeneumata Monacensia, the Glossae Vaticanae, the Glossarium Amplonianum, and the Monte Cassino Glossary]. Why were there these differences and what do they tell us?”
- Paper:
- Romance Philology
- Due:
26 February 2009Complete!
Were you ready?
Monday 16 February 2009
YouTube - Cisco Systems - Are You Ready?
Cisco ran a series of these advertisements during the years 1998–2000:1 they all ended with the phrase ‘Are you ready?’ repeated over and over. As far as I am aware, they were never broadcast on terrestrial TV in the UK: the only time I ever saw them was on Qantas in-flight entertainment. Evidently they had such an effect on me that whenever I hear someone say ‘Are you ready?’—even now—I think of Cisco. I searched the other day and found this video, and one other which was less evocative.
It’s interesting to compare the ‘facts’ as stated in the advertisement with the Internet and the Web as they exist today:
The Web has [sic] more users in its first five years | than telephone did in the first
Essay: Racine’s Tragedies
Sunday 15 February 2009 #
“How tragic are Racine’s tragedies? You will need to refer to the following concepts: catharsis, pity and fear, héros moyen, hamartia, recognition, dénouement.”
- Paper:
- Ancient & French Classical Tragedy
- Due:
24 February 2009Complete!
Essay: The drama of Corneille’s plays
Wednesday 28 January 2009 #
‘Corneille showed that a play composed almost entirely of mental conflicts can be just as theatrical as a drama of blood and violence.’ Does the evidence of the prescribed plays support this view?
- Paper:
- Ancient & French Classical Tragedy
- Due:
10 February 2009Complete!
Essay: Romance Creoles
Wednesday 28 January 2009 #
‘A Romance creole cannot be properly viewed as a Romance language.’ Discuss.
- Paper:
- Romance Philology
- Due:
2 February 2009Complete!
Essay: Augustine and the Neoplatonists
Friday 23 January 2009 #
How straightforward an account does Augustine give of his encounter with Neoplatonism? Was authentic Platonism compatible with authentic Christianity? How unusual was Augustine’s philosophical odyssey? How full an appreciation did Augustine have of Neoplatonist thought?
- Paper:
- Conversion of St Augustine
- Due:
30 January 2009Complete!
Essay: Comparative commentary on Seneca’s ‘Phaedra’ and Racine’s ‘Phèdre’
Wednesday 14 January 2009 #
Write a comparative commentary on Seneca, Phaedra 991–1010 and Racine, Phèdre 1488–1510. Make sure that you assess the significance of these moments in each play, compare the way in which the moments are treated in terms of theme, character and speech, and compare and contrast the stylistic resources deployed by each dramatist.
- Paper:
- Ancient & French Classical Tragedy
- Due:
27 January 2009Complete!
