making the matrix

OK, aliale, but I do this meme just because I like you.
I'm not going to tag anyone else :)

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About a year ago I signed up on Livemocha.com, a service for learning languages in a sort of mutual help style, where the service supplies materials and the users are supposed to check the tests done by other users in their respective native languages.
I like the idea but I don't really have time nor will to use it frequently. I signed for intermediate French and beginner's Latin, worked through a few tests, and that's all.

Today I've received a spam from Livemocha, prompting me to use the service more. It was generated automatically and... well, it made my morning :)

"What makes learning Latin on Livemocha so special?
It's the communication with Latin speakers! Whether you're a beginner or an advanced learner, connecting with native speakers will improve your Latin skills. Login to connect with over 4 million people learning a language on Livemocha!"

oh, gods :D

It's like with this joke - "Sir, you haven't been to Rome for a long time, right?" :D

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordonnance_de_Villers-Cotter%C3%AAts

A linguistic curiosity: The French Wikipedia holds an article about a royal ordinance from 1539 for preservation and unification of the French language. So, like, the king wanted the French language to stay the same and have a privileged position among many Romance dialects of France in the XVI century.

The text of the ordinance is quoted in Wikipedia along with translation from its XVI century original to the modern French.

Two miles in 18 minutes and 29.5 seconds. Much better than I thought. Also, I managed to run both miles with the same average speed. And I saw a huntsman on my way back and forced myself not to stop and insult him ;)

55 push-ups and 80+ sit-ups. Still no running. I recovered from that nasty cold, but now the weather sucks big time.

A totally not politically correct depiction of the Polish history during the last few centuries. Just what I needed for November 11.
Fuck yeah :]

Except that I'm not.

But since I left convert_me I don't waste time on endless disputes, learning fancy words and irritating over entries how nice and luvely Islam is - and I can waste it on something else. Like, for example, working out to be able to pass the APFT test for US military recruitment and in the same time motivating syntaxia to do the same. You can check your own APFT requirements here.

My APFT is 68 push-ups, 73 sit-ups and 2 miles in 14:13.

My results as for today, November 8, is 50 push-ups and 80 sit-ups. I didn't run because I'm a bit cold, but my running skills were always very poor. It will be the hardest part for me. I'll let you know when I'll get better.

PS. Although I decided not to participate in LJ disputes, vonheston keeps notify her friends' list about the current drama, so I guess I'm still in touch ;)

Cé qu'è lainô, le Maitre dé bataille, Que se moqué et se ri dé canaille; A bin fai vi, pè on desande nai, Qu'il étivé patron dé Genevoi.	The One above, the Master of the battles, Who is mocked and laughed at by the rabble, Made them see well, on a Saturday night, That He was protector of the Genevese people.
I son vegnu le doze de dessanbro Pè onna nai asse naire que d'ancro; Y étivé l'an mil si san et dou, Qu'i veniron parla ou pou troi tou.	They came on the twelfth of December, On a night as black as ink; It was the year sixteen-hundred-and-two, That they speak of, at the earliest (hour).
Pè onna nai qu'étive la pe naire I veniron; y n'étai pas pè bairè; Y étivé pè pilli nou maison, Et no tüa sans aucuna raison.	On the blackest night They came — it was not for drinking — To plunder our houses, And to kill us without any reason.

This is a part of a poem "Cé qu'è lainô"written in the Franco-Provençal language around 1603. The poem tells the stroy of Catholic-Calvinist wars in Switzerland. Just as Catalan and Occitan are somwhere in between French and Spanish, Franco-Provençal is between French and Italian. In fact it's so similar to French that once I've seen the translation of these three verses into French and the rhymes were conserved.

Anyway, just wanted you to know that ;)

http://helpbatnha.org/2009/09/bat-nha-monastery-completely-destroyed/

I am speechless. In the last months the situation in the monastery was getting worse and worse for the monks, the electricity was cut off and they were threatened several times, but this... Even before that we, Ben Viet, a site about the political situation in Vietnam and issues of the Vietnamese immigration in Poland, were receiving many articles and notes about police reprisals of Catholics and Buddhists in Vietnam. Clearly, the Vietnamese regime is very egalitarian with their treating of religious organizations. Buddhist monks are enemies of the state just as Catholic priests.

(x-posted to buddhists and vietnamese)

So... seriously... Why would I need God?