Feb 11

Saturday, February 11

8:00 am

It is -18 °C, with a high forecast of -3 °C. 

From the Environment Canada website:

Today Sunny. Wind becoming southeast 20 km/h this morning. High minus 3. Wind chill minus 25 this morning.

 Tonight Partly cloudy. Becoming clear near midnight. Low minus 11.

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2:00 PM Technology

Wowee! Another first (for me).

About 5 years ago we were in Australia, staying at Lennox Head. I would often walk down, literally, as our unit was right above the news agent shop, to look at the magazines. I discovered a neat one called Dumbo Feather - Pass It On that was unlike anything I had ever seen before. It claimed to be about design, but it was actually more about in-depth interviews with interesting people. It was a fairly thick, (i.e. heavy) magazine so the idea of getting a subscription and having it shipped to Canada was out of the question. But on my next trip to Australia one of my first acts was to visit that same news agency and buy the latest copy of the magazine.

Now for the technology. I just took out a subscription to Dumbo Feather (they have shortened the name) as an e-magazine and within a few seconds I had the first copy on my iPad2. 

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I have already read the first 40 pages and am thoroughly enjoying it! 


6:00 PM Literature

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I read Garber's description of "The Taming of the Shrew" yesterday and read the play today. I definitely am finding her comments useful and make the reading of the actual play much more enjoyable.

Even though I have never seen the movie starring Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, I was always reading the play with images of the two of them in the starring roles. 


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I find that I am reading the play much like I read a poem. The archaic English lends itself to a rhythmic sub-vocalization. I occasionally miss the meaning of a witty reparte but it is not a problem as the overall flow of the language keeps the play moving forward. The ending, particularly Kate's last speech, caught me by surprise. It was much stronger than I was expecting, unless the entire speech was meant as irony. The more I think about it, the more I like the ironic interpretation. Kate, and Elizabeth Taylor, had too much spirit to ever be subservient.

Having read the play I am now eager to see the movie.

I have just done a quick check and the DVD of the movie is available at the public library.

© Dale Burnett 2012