Good riddance !

It's a good thing we now have artificial intelligence for people who want to write manifestos.

"That's what happens when you learn the quadratic equation."

--Anonymous

Minus B plus or minus blah blah blah.

The only D I got in HS was one quarter in Algebra II, because I thought factoring polynomials was a ridiculous waste of time. Instead of memorizing a bunch of arcane rules for special cases, you could just plug in the coefficients into the quadratic formula, which always gave the correct answer, though that was a bit slower than having the special case memorized.

The fact that my dad had dated my math teacher when he was in HS may have got me the D instead of a gentleman’s C.

As for Teddy, that’s what happens when you move to northern Idaho. Yes, I know he was in Montana, but he just missed northern Idaho by a few miles. Culturally, he was basically in northern ID.

> The fact that my dad had dated my math teacher
> when he was in HS may have got me the D instead of
> a gentleman’s C.

Hmm. An alternative explanation suggests itself here, one compatible with your fondness for dark movie theaters.

On your Provo post below, and alas more seriously, I suspect that for someone like Kaczynski Provo may have symbolized an especially materialistic and hence anti-environmental mentality. Alternatively he may have interacted with Mormons at home or during his Berkeley sojourn and have reacted to their strong emphasis on family and community--things that would have threatened an eccentric loner like him.

Alternatively, SLC and Provo may simply have represented the Big City--far enough away from his mountain redoubt to offer some anonymity but still a thriving conurbation.

The man fascinated me. Such a waste of genius and such a lesson in the dangers of intellect distorted by mental illness.

"my dad had dated my math teacher when he was in HS" ... my English teacher would slap you for that sentence.

Your English teacher has something against past pluperfect residual tense?

Who was in high school, your dad or the math teacher ? Was your dad doing gay dating ?

Maybe all of the above.

In other words, BoJ's clause may have been correct--either precisely or with intentional ambiguity.

Oh, it should have been “they.” I’ll fire my editor.

". . . my dad had dated my math teacher when they was in HS?"

Now that's clearer!

I await the day when society finally decides on a mutually respectful but syntactically reasonable solution to the pronoun problem.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/10/2023 06:17PM by Lot's Wife.

As a teacher of the English language -- THIS. We are in desperate need of singular, gender-neutral pronouns. Teaching pronouns to children is difficult enough. We don't need to make it harder.

> We don't need to make it harder.

Not just harder but unpredictably, arbitrarily harder. There's literally no way to get things dependably right personally or politically.

The lack of a plural “you” in English annoys me. (Technically, you is plural, and we lack a singular you). Y’all may have noticed that I use y’all when I refer to y’all. Most of my extended family is from the Deep South, and I always thought that “y’all” was one of the things they got right.

Our new minister is a they. “They was…”. That’s going to take some serious getting used to. “They-one was”?

We of course do have a non-gendered third person singular pronoun - it. And it’s plural is the perfectly acceptable non-gendered “they”. But just dropping he and she altogether, and going with it, that would be too simple.

I took German in HS, and was flabbergasted that there were twelve versions of the, depending on gender and case. English abandoned all that, and seems to have survived ok.

I would be sad to see "they" become a first-person singular pronoun since it is confusing and render English harder to understand.

As for "y'all," BOJ, y'all are crazy if you think it can't be used in the singular as well as the plural.

The plural of "you is like the plural of deer.

>> The lack of a plural “you” in English annoys me.

That, too, and "y'all" is a perfectly good solution. But I've read that y'all is actually singular, and it's "all y'all" or "all y'alls" that is the plural.

I will bow to the superior wisdom of a southerner in that regard, however.

>> We of course do have a non-gendered third person singular pronoun - it.

True, but it sounds rather offensive when applied to a human. I always tell my students that a pet is technically an "it," but that it's perfectly okay to refer to their pet as he or she.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/11/2023 01:26PM by summer.

Is the plural of you actually youns ?

Brother Of Jerry Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The lack of a plural “you” in English annoys
> me.

Youse

summer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> As a teacher of the English language -- THIS. We
> are in desperate need of singular, gender-neutral
> pronouns. Teaching pronouns to children is
> difficult enough. We don't need to make it harder.

I'm enjoying this language discussion. Sorry OP to step all over your unabomber thread (but I don't want to talk about him) and besides these other guys started it!

I agree with summer and y'all :) that pronouns can be difficult. More so now with "they" being used in reference to a single individual. As part of my job I regularly correct English language. I still blink a bit when I come to the new ways to use pronouns - it's a big change from the way singular and plural language rules were taught to us back in the day. I often lose the sense of a sentence I'm reading or a remark I hear with statements such as "Julie is on holiday. They are travelling to Portugal." I used to assume the "they" meant Julie and her family or friends but now quite often it just means Julie.

Grammar was so drilled into us at school that it's difficult to switch, seemingly suddenly. I didn't get the memo when the language started to change and was definitely confused at first.

I definitely will choke if we get to "they is" any time soon. That would have been a big red mark on an English paper at school due to subject/verb "disagreement".

The other day I read something about a recent Jeopardy! champ, Mattea Roach. Someone was saying they wish Mattea could be the co-host with Ken Jennings (seemingly, some people don't care for Mayim). The article indeed says "They [for Mattea] is a better choice" (or some similar sentiment to that). I faltered over the "they is". That's the first time I've seen it and it took me a sec to decipher it.

I know language morphs. It's just a bit of a challenge when it seems to happen at warp speed. And especially when everybody else seems to have received a memo you have missed. I'm always asking how does everybody know that except me?

But you live and learn. Hopefully.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/11/2023 03:10PM by Nightingale.

> I often lose the sense of a sentence
> I'm reading or a remark I hear with statements
> such as "Julie is on holiday. They are travelling
> to Portugal."

Just so.

Reaching back through the cobwebs to my forays into linguistics, Chinese offers a plausible path forward. There is one spoken word for he, she,it, him, her, and it. All are "Ta." There is one suffice to render he, she, him, and her plural: "men," which is pronounced "mun." Thus

He = Ta
She = Ta
It = Ta
Him = Ta
Her = Ta
It = Ta

They = Tamen
Them = Tamen

There is a similar pattern for "you," whether masculine or feminine.

You (singular) = Ni
You (plural) = Nimen

That system works well and does not produce the confusion that arises from "they" serving as singular and plural at the same time. Something like that would be a good destination for English once we get through the present experimental period.

BOJ: He lived outside Lincoln, Montana. It's not even close to Northern Idaho.

Thx. I thought he was between Missoula and Coeur d’Alene, in the Bitterroot range.

Ted mailed one of his bombs from Provo, I believe from the post office at BYU. Makes me wonder if he was considering teaching at the Zoo, but was unwilling to shave off the beard?

Seriously, why would he go to Provo?

Thanks. I was out of Utah for the 1980s, so my memory is weak for what happened in Utah then.

Kaczynski obviously had some sort of bee in his bonnet for Utah. Both Montana and both Idaho state sponsored universities would have been considerably closer than Utah schools.

Did he admire Utah? Was he trying to discredit it? Did he think there was better shopping in SLC? I have no idea what motivated him to tie some of his bombs to Utah.

Ted Kaczynski and Ted Bundy. If Mark Hofmann had been Ted Hofmann, Utah could have had a hat trick of Teds.

The Grim Reaper had a great week: Ted Kaczynski and Pat Robertson.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/10/2023 05:06PM by CrispingPin.

The latter was the bigger threat.

Robert Hanssen too.

Pat needed a cellie.

He won't be missed.

I can't help but think of his brother who realized his own brother was the bomber and turned him in.

What a heartache this news must be for him? Closure? Probably not ever.

[Does anyone else find multiple typos to edit for?]



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 06/10/2023 08:28PM by Twinker.

Twinker: [Does anyone else find multiple typos to edit for?]

Guilty!

I try not to do it more than 3x in any one post though.

I've heard these things happen in threes.

I'm beside myself. I can't wait to see who's next.

How about James "I ♥ Strip Mining" Watt?

Did Ted 'fill the measure of his creation'?

Yes, he did terrible things. However: he was subjected to horrendous treatment by his parents and US government in the MK Ultra program. That, coupled with his mathematical talent, meant that he was never allowed to have a normal life. It is the Trauma of the Gifted Child writ large. I experienced the same thing in a milder form, and I am still paying the price at 70 years old. I have tremendous amounts of sympathy for the tortured soul.

Kaczinsky denied that he was tormented during his participation in the Murray experiments. He might have been lying when he issued his denials--there were many--but I have never seen any hard evidence to that effect.

The other thing to bear in mind is that he was a paranoid schizophrenic, which in conjunction with his brilliance is enough to explain his crimes. Your reference to Alice Miller's work may also offer insight into how his character developed.

In short, I don't believe Occam would find the CIA angle necessary or even credible.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/11/2023 03:27AM by Lot's Wife.

...I am reminded of this song on which John Lennon sings background.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQh7aUjFTW4

And the song is based on an old African folktale.

The reason for the reminder can be found in the song's last verse. After the mongoose kills the cobra, the villagers rush out with cries of joy that the snake has been killed only to find little cobras now hatching everywhere.

So it is with Kazinsky, Robertson, and a lot of other notable destructive people who have now passed on. While they have passed, their followers and others have found their philosophies and vowed to continue what these people were doing.

Don't believe me? Look at what happened after Mormonism's founder, Joseph Smith, died. His followers made him a martyr after his passing which, along with Brigham Young's moving of the Saints to the Salt Lake valley, insured that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints would still be surviving today even after scandal after scandal keeps breaking about it.

Here is another more recent example that has major implications for all of our futures. When Timothy McVeigh was put to death for the bombing of the Murrah Federal building in Oklahoma City, many, including yours truly, thought that would be the end of his influence on current thinking. Man, was I wrong! For much of McVeigh's sentiment that gave him the green light to destroy the federal building in Oklahoma City is now the pervading sentiment among members of one of the U.S. political parties, thanks, at least partially to #45. (I won't name either the Party or person involved, but I think that most of you reading will know who I'm referring to).

So, while it is good that these destructive people have passed on, one should keep a wary eye out for followers and people who wish to both equal and surpass the deeds of these two people in the future.

Excellent analogy - little cobras everywhere.

Interesting points, blindguy. Thought-provoking.

Keep a wary eye out - no kidding.

I used to be so naive - thinking that there was common ground that society would find and we would march forward into a better future that continued to develop along fair and equitable lines for the good of all.

Uh huh.

Not quite.

I know better now. Sad though, eh?

It pains me to say it but a few of the things he said were right. We have already taken roads that we should not have taken and our leaders aeem happy to drive us further down them.

?? Like what?

He took everyone he could down roads of hate and intolerance more than anyone I can think of. Greed and entitlement were results of his religious teachings too.

Crazy Ted didn't have a body count in the millions courtesy of useless Middle East wars.

Well then, I guess domestic terrorism is okay.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/11/unabomber-ted-kaczynski-died-by-suicide-report



Harvard-educated mathematician carried out a 17-year solitary bombing spree that killed three people and injured 23 others

Ted Kaczynski, known as the “Unabomber”, who carried out a 17-year bombing campaign that killed three people and injured 23 others, died by suicide, four people familiar with the matter told the Associated Press.

Kaczynski, who was 81 and suffering from late-stage cancer, was found unresponsive in his cell at the federal medical center in Butner, North Carolina, around 12.30am on Saturday. Emergency responders performed CPR and revived him before he was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead later on Saturday morning, the people told the AP.
Theodore ‘Ted’ Kaczynski is flanked by federal agents as he is led to a car from the federal courthouse in Helena, Montana, on 4 April 1996.
Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, 81, dies in US prison cell
Read more

The people were not authorized to publicly discuss Kaczynski’s death and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

Kaczynski’s death comes as the federal Bureau of Prisons has faced increased scrutiny in the last several years following the death of wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein, who also died by suicide in a federal jail in 2019.

Kaczynski had been held in the federal supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, since May 1998, when he was sentenced to four life sentences plus 30 years for a campaign of terror that set universities nationwide on edge. He admitted committing 16 bombings from 1978 and 1995, permanently maiming several of his victims.

A Harvard-educated mathematician, Kaczynski lived as a recluse in a dingy cabin in rural Montana, where he carried out a solitary bombing spree that changed the way Americans mailed packages and boarded airplanes.

His targets included academics and airlines, the owner of a computer rental store, an advertising executive and a timer industry lobbyist. In 1993, a California geneticist and a Yale University computer expert were maimed by bombs within the span of two days.

Two years later, he used the threat of continued violence to convince the New York Times and the Washington Post to publish his manifesto, a 35,000-word screed against modern life and technology, as well as damages to the environment.

Note: I removed a few remarks that RfM's censers probably found offensive. I believe the following should be acceptable:

"...the death of Ted Kaczynski—the “Unabomber”—at the age of 81, apparently by suicide. (Snip) But there’s one detail included in the New York Times obituary that is worth a special pause:

"At a super-maximum-security prison in Colorado, Mr. Kaczynski struck up friendships with inmates in neighboring cells: Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, who bombed the World Trade Center in 1993, and Timothy J. McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber. Mr. Kaczynski shared books and talked politics with them, and he got to know their birthdays, Yahoo News reported in 2016.

"It is a mordant irony that Kaczynski ended up friends with Timothy McVeigh, because McVeigh was the proximate cause of Kaczynski’s undoing. It was only a few days after McVeigh’s massive bomb attack on the Federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995 that Kaczynski send his next bomb that killed Gilbert Murray in downtown Sacramento (about six blocks from my house at the time, as it happens), and then followed up with his public demand that the media publish his “manifesto,” in exchange for which he promised to stop bombing.

"I thought from the beginning that it was professional jealousy that prompted Kaczynski to send his next bomb and go public with a demand for attention. McVeigh and his co-conspirators had just showed up the Unabomber! It is a strange circumstance that they ended up in prison together. I wonder what those conversations were like.

(Snip)

"P.S. The FBI found another nearly completed bomb in his shack when they raided it the next year. It is unlikely he was going to keep his promise to stop bombing."