Monday, January 29, 2007

Vindication



Did anyone else watch 60 Minutes last night? If you did you would have seen a piece on a man who has synesthesia-- a savant who can remember something like 23,000 numbers in a row. He is the only savant who does not have severe mental deficiencies in other areas, so neuroscientists are hoping to learn a lot from him. I'm going to look for the book he's written. Brain function is everywhere these days.

But what I really want to talk about is Andy Rooney's commentary on the State of the Union Address. His rant was very near and dear to my heart, because if there is one thing I cannot abide, it is mispronounced (easy) words, particularly by the leader of our nation. I've been going on and on about it much to my husband's chagrin. I was cheering with hands in the air to hear AR chastising Bush on national television. Here's a link. It's well worth the five minutes or so.

Andy Rooney

8 comments:

TI said...

I saw the piece on synethesia and was going to recommend the book to you, I think it's called Brain Man. i loved how he said that #289 is ugly but 333 is very beautiful, and he gave his watercolour rendition of Pi. I missed Andy Rooney but will listen later. thanks for the link.

Idiot Cook said...

Ooooh. Thanks for the linkage...I'm going to watch the piece on synethesia...and I'm going to use the Andy Rooney clip in my class today since I had students watch the SOTU speech.

Gili Warsett said...

no, i missed it. sounds really good though. right up your alley.

Repeater said...

Thanks it- I'm going to search for it now. FC- glad I could help. Sounds like you're doing great with your classes!

Writer Bug said...

LOL. THat link is awesome. Though now I'm mixing up in my head the correct pronunciation. Thank you, GW.

TI said...

Andy Rooney is hilarious and, sadly, exactly right. "let us"....who me? Great line!

Sara said...

I haven't watched the Rooney clip, but does he mention the use of "Democrat majority" instead of "Democratic majority?" There's all sorts of theories about that one running around town.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the links - now I'm interested in reading "Born on a Blue Day." I, too, feel vindicated. The Nucular pronunciation has been a pet-peeve (spelling of 'peeve'?) since before Bush started butchering it!