Ganymeder

My wonderful husband recently introduced me to the joys of the online website called “Hulu.” Basically, you log on and can pick tv shows that you want to watch either by individual episodes or by subscribing to the series. The website is completely free. Currently airing shows might only list the 5 most current, while older shows vary from the first few seasons to the entire series.

This has been an incredible sci fi boon for me, especially since we haven’t had cable in years. I know what you’re thinking, and you’re right. There are a ton of great scifi shows on network channels right now, but the problem is that without cable my tv reception is virtually nil.

Listening to Casta Blasta (almost continuously since the podcast started) only exacerbated my cravings. I mean, they talk about all the great scifi shows airing, and I wait for the videos to be available at the library. How lame is that?

Imagine my esctasy when I realized that there was actually a brand new show by Joss Whedon (of Buffy and Firefly fame) called Dollhouse. When I first heard the name, I thought it sounded like a trashy evening soap. But it’s actually a great new scifi show airing Friday nights.

The show follows the exploits of “Echo” (Eliza Dushku), an active at the Dollhouse – a secret, illegal organization that caters to the ultrawealthy. Their specialty? Programmable people. The “dolls” are people who have had their entire memories wiped. Their old lives, who they were before they came to the dollhouse, are gone.  They exist, while in the dollhouse, in a state of blank personality and complete innocence. However, when they are activated for a particlular job, they are implanted with the required memories and skills… Programmable people, custom tailored to fit the client’s needs.

And no, those needs aren’t always sex.  Honest.  The very first episode, Echo was a hostage negotiator.  Her assignments range from backup singer (bodyguard) to blind hitchhiker (infiltrating and gathering information on a cult).  The dolls have no will of their own.  They are simply programmed.

I just have to say that I’m completely in love with the premise for this show.  It’s one of the things I’ve always loved about scifi… how it can tackle deeper philosophical and political problems and still just be a whole lot of fun.  Are the dolls still people?  Do they have rights or are they just shells?  Did they volunteer or were they coerced and trafficked? Keep watching to find out, and if you haven’t seen it yet – watch it now!

I honestly never gave much thought to Esperanto until a little over two weeks ago. I might have wondered why the signs on Red Dwarf were written in both English and Esperanto, but other than that…nothing. I knew nothing about it. If anything, I thought it might be a dialect of Spanish.

But an online friend asked me to view a short video about Esperanto and consider spending ten minutes a day trying to learn it. I’ll admit – my first thought was, Yeah, right! Why would I want to do that? But by the end of the video I was convinced.

Now, I’m not telling anyone that they NEED to learn Esperanto. No one does, obviously. BUT it is very useful and really a lot of fun! Not only are there tons of free courses, music, puzzles, games, and literature available on the internet, but it seems that whenever you mention that you are learning this amazing language you immediately start communicating with people from different linguistic backgrounds!

That’s not at all surprising. Esperanto was designed to be a supplementary language to foster international communication. That’s why it was created to be intuitive, making it the world’s easiest language. Depending on the person’s native language, Esperanto is four to eight times easier to learn than any other. Students of Esperanto can become relatively fluent in three to four months, whereas comparative proficiency in another language would take years.

So after viewing the video, I thought, What the hell? Why not? I don’t have a terrific track record when it comes to foreign languages. Like many others, I passed one year of High School Spanish – a course that I took mostly because it was supposedly easy and I lived near Miami. I also managed to live in Germany for over three years while never mastering the German language. I knew a few phrases by speaking but was never able to write even those phrases. I also found some of the sounds hard to pronounce.

Esperanto has been the easiest and most enjoyable learning experience that I’ve ever had. Pronunciation is pretty simple – each letter has only one sound and every letter in a word is pronounced. The only slight difficulty for English speakers might be rolling the “r”s, but that is not a hard-and-fast rule so it’s not really a big deal.

Most languages have hundreds or more grammatical rules, exceptions to rules, and redundancies. Esperanto has 16 rules. That’s it. SIXTEEN. Because the language was designed rather than evolving naturally, there are no redundancies or exceptions, which accounts for the difficulty of other languages.

Because Esperanto was designed to be learned easily and quickly, the ordinary Joe (or Jane) on the street can begin conversing with people in Esperanto in a short period of time. My personal experience shows this to be true. Plus Esperantists typically love to share their knowledge of the language and help any newbies (such as myself).

It’s common for people who learn Esperanto to develop the confidence and desire to acquire other languages. Developing an understanding of the basic rules of grammar while becoming proficient fosters the confidence to explore other tongues.

Last, but not least, it’s really fun! In the past two weeks or so, I’ve made a bunch of online friends, downloaded Esperanto rock music and heavy metal, listened to mp3 lessons, and played Esperanto themed games with my eight year old son (We’re learning together). I’ve even started an Esperanto blog to practice writing and show our progress with our lessons. I’m sure it contains grammatical errors, but hey- I’m learning.

I’m not anyone special. If someone like me can pick up that much of a feel and love for the language in just a couple weeks, just imagine what someone who actually has a knack for languages can do!

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If you are interested:

Lernu.net – A huge Esperanto site aimed at promoting the International language. They have free lessons available in many different languages. Members (free) of this site have access to lesson plans, free audio and text lessons, online forums, and more.

Music – This site has downloadable songs in Esperanto from different musical styles from the Blues to Heavy Metal.

Literature and Podcasts – It’s self explanatory. Get free books and podcasts in Esperanto. It’s fun!

Update:

Hubby was kind enough to help me set up a separate blog for my ramblings in broken Esperanto. While my son and I try to learn the International Language, I will be chronicling our daily progress and exploits. If cows have indeed sprouted wings and anyone is interested in this, you can find my new Esperanto blog, Ganymeder-a blogo, by clicking here.

As soon as I am able, I will resume posting here on my regular Monday-ish schedule.

For a little over a week now, my son and I have been learning Esperanto over the Internet. In an attempt to facilitate our learning, I have created a page where I keep an ongoing record of our progress. You may find this page by clicking here or by going to the right hand side of this page beneath the heading Pages and clicking on Ganymeder-a blogo en Esperanto kaj la Angla.

Since I am directing more effort to Esperanto and the Esperanto page on this blog, my usual Monday posts may be less frequent for awhile. If anyone other than my husband follows this blog, I apologize for the reduction in (English) posts. I have several posts partially written, but I have less time to work on them now. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

When I become more comfortable in Esperanto, I will most likely resume my previous Monday (or Monday-ish) schedule for weekly blog posts.  Again, thank you for your patience.

Veganism deals with the concept of ahisma or dynamic harmlessness. This includes avoiding all animal products to the best of your ability. When this is explained, most people understand why vegans do not consume cow’s milk, cheese, meat, and eggs… but silk?

When people think about the rights and welfare of animals, they rarely picture insects. Let’s face it. It’s easier to empathize with a cow than a bee or a caterpillar. In fact, people frequently pay to get rid of insects in their home. They can be a nuisance, getting into food, eating up your garden, and just generally biting and making you miserable. There is a certain “Ick” factor. Why should we care about insects?

Because how we live our lives and treat others reflects the type of people we are. Everyone should try to live their values. And while most people will swat a mosquito that’s biting or spreading a disease, that’s quite a big difference from supporting an entire industry based on killing animals for completely frivolous reasons.

First of all, silk is not simply something the “worms” produce for human use. Humans don’t harvest this particular product without harming the “worms”. The “worm” is actually the caterpillar of the domesticated silkmoth, and silk is taken from the cocoon.

The “worms” are BOILED ALIVE in order for their silk to be “harvested.”

From http://www.galenfrysinger.com/shanghai_china_silk.htmAfter the complete cocoons have been gathered, the initial step in silk manufacture is to kill the insects inside them. Thus, the cocoons are first boiled or treated in ovens, killing the insects by heat. The silk fiber is obtained from the cocoons by a delicate process known as reeling, or filature. The cocoons are first heated in boiling water to dissolve the gummy substance that holds the cocoon filament in place.

Again, why should anyone care?

Apart from the “ew” factor of a product created by boiling insects, it’s completely unnecessary. To use silk because it gives pleasure regardless of the hundreds or thousands of insects killed specifically in its production is the moral equivalent of killing insects with a magnifying glass because it’s fun. There is simply no other reason to do it other than pleasure. And to cause another pain because it gives you pleasure is immoral. At least it is in my book.

Don’t buy silk. Avoiding it causes you no harm and avoids causing harm to others. What better reason could there be?