Hersenskim 2.0

I am now blogging over at the new and improved Hersenskim. 

Please follow this link to check it out. 

New article - Pluto, New Horizons, and Awesomness

Better late than never, here's the link to my article about Pluto and New Horizons... and a photo of Pluto.

New Horizons – Pluto Flyby Success!

Pluto (Public Domain Image)

Writing News, Articles, and an Oxford Comma

Guest Posts

The guest posts posted last week is on two very, very different subject matters – the Greek Economic Crisis and the eleventh season of Idols SA! This week I had a chance to choose my own topic – so obviously I chose New Horizons and Pluto. I’m still amazed by the level of detail the flyby was able to capture. And, of course, there’s the giant “heart” on the planet.

Here are the links to the guest posts (the Pluto link will follow next week):

New Austerity Measures for the Greek Economy 

Idols SA: Who Will Be This Year’s Idol? 

Writing News:

I am finished with my Camp NaNoWriMo word count goal! I am waiting to see how much I get written over the weekend before I validate my word count, though. Instead of working on one project, I found myself flitting from one thing to the next. So I can’t say “here’s my finished project”, but I did get quite a lot done. I think it was a good warmup for November.

Photo by Florian Klauer

Flash Fiction: Brothers in Arms

This was written for the 17 July Flash! Friday competition. The prompts for the week can be seen here, and included the photo below.

Brothers in Arms

Books were gathered in the town square. More were added as residents threw down volumes that fell with pages fluttering like dying moths in the flames. Everything had to burn. The choking smoke would wipe the slate clean. The pile grew; stories, poetry, history, science, the word of God. All had to be destroyed. From the ashes a new world would arise. A utopia. A world of peace. So they say.

Riot Police. CC2.0 photo by Thomas Hawk.

A man tried running away with a few volumes clutched in his arms. Guards tackled him and he fell, his head cracking on the flagstones. Books fell to be scooped up and thrown onto the still growing pile. The historian was dragged to his feet and guns with live ammunition pointed at him. He put his hands in the air and surrendered to the inevitable. He saw behind the guards a figure flitting through the shadows. Some volumes would be saved.

The caught man looked at each guard in turn. The face behind one of the rifles was his brother’s. His finger was on the trigger. Doing his job just like the others. Without question, without thought. Without knowing how many times this scene had played itself out through time.

He closed his eyes and waited for the bullet. He did not want to see who fired first.

Afrikaans, tegnologie en nuwe woorde: ’n paar gedagtes

Die mate waartoe ’n taal kan groei en verander – veral kleiner tale – moet nie onderskat word nie, selfs nie in die geglobaliseerde wêreld waarin ons vandag woon nie. Daar moet, byvoorbeeld, nie aangeneem word dat almal Engels magtig is nie. Dit is ook nie nodig om slegs Engels te gebruik nie, veral nie as die nodige terminologie in ander tale beskikbaar is nie. Indien daar nie terminologie beskikbaar is nie (soos die geval is met, byvoorbeeld, tegnologie wat so vinnig verander), kan daar werk van gemaak word om hierdie terminologie te skep. Daar blyk egter die veronderstelling te wees dat sekere terminologie nie in sekere tale kan bestaan nie. Dít is egter onsin.

Foto: Gratisography

Elke dag word nuwe woorde geskep of bestaande woorde aangepas deur die sprekers van die taal. Daar is ’n kans vir kreatiewe, speelse neologismes en om die “gevoel” van die taal in hierdie nuwe woorde oor te dra. Ons twiet, hou van blaaie en luister na ’n potgooi. Ons neem ’n kiekie van die rekenaarskerm en draadloos verwys nie meer net na ’n radio nie. Ons wil Facebook en Google in Afrikaans sien. In plaas daarvan dat die taal stilstaan en stof opgaar, groei en gedy dit elke dag. 

Die vorming van nuwe woorde is eintlik ’n wonderlike manier om die taalgemeenskap in aksie te sien. Deur ook ’n Afrikaanse gebruikerkoppelvlak vir soveel programme as moontlik te skep kan ander tale ook dié voorbeeld volg en hulle eie tale op hierdie manier aanwend en laat groei.

Taal is tog daar om aan sprekers se behoeftes te voldoen – hoekom sal ons dit nou nie ten volle benut nie?