I’m a little (well, a lot) appalled that challenging the assumption that "language … allows you to do other high order intellectual functions" is considered so shocking. I frequently feel like language gets in the way of my high order thoughts, in an analogous way to how sounding the words in my head slows down my reading. It’s like making the thoughts into words is this bad habit that I can’t figure out how to break.
I’m inclined to believe there’s a spectrum of verbal thought: I can at least imagine thought without words, which I think puts me somewhere in the middle. At one end, there’s Temple Grandin, who helped design the cow-calming slaughter trail and does not think verbally at all (cf. autism); and at the other, someone I know expressed unwillingness to believe that non-verbal thought exists. The punch line? The latter person is a graphic designer.

Another perennial fave here at FP: communist propaganda! This time, from North Korea. I am enjoying my page-a-day Chinese propaganda calendar from Taschen, a gift from Ursula. This week, there was a rather crude poster from a particular technical college class, urging fellow students to be all revolutionary and stuff. So instead of doughnuts in the student lounge to urge them on, they get some guy’s crappy brushwork.

Why the joy in propaganda? Well, aside from the really bold colors and clear-as-mud-unless-you-aren’t-Chinese/Russian/Other symbolism, I am in general a fan of functional art. Need to whip up the masses? Indicate which door is for ladies? Indicate that this canned product is, in fact, delicious? Then I will enjoy your art.

later: their bandwidth was slammed, so the above link is out of comission for a while. In the meantime, enjoy some East German bulletin board propaganda.

Apparently we won’t have to worry about smoke visibility in the near term, as the Pope’s laryngo-tracheitis has been fixed. That was quick. Mine seems to be getting hardly any better at all. Of course, it sounds like his doc(s) gave him treatment instead of a blank stare.

A really cool and yet horrifying dynamic look at the popularity of certain names for babies over time.

Plumbers beware! In Virginia, it may soon be illegal to have one’s pants droop. Though I haven’t read the text of the bill, the focus seems to be on underwear, so maybe skipping the thong entirely will allow the miscreant to escape prosecution. Or maybe a crack show is covered under other legislation.

They Might Be Giants have a new project out, on CD and DVD, called Here Come the ABCs. Since some recent Flash ads caused me to disable Flash again, I haven’t looked at the site.

Tasty looking Southern Cooking weblog (recently linked on BoingBoing, so traffic may be high) with great recipies and tips. Unfortunately, it also looks like it’s been found by spambots posting advertising. Perhaps some kind soul will help Mary Lou out.

A very cool project at an Australian retirement home– knitting an entire 1950s sitting room! Though those teacups look crocheted to me. Seems like another good use for those bright yet scratchy acrylics.

For no real reason that I can figure, I really enjoyed these titles:
Monterey Gourmet Foods Issues a Voluntary Recall of Mislabeled CIBO Naturals “Portabella Mushroom Ravioli” Due to Undeclared Lobster Meat, a press release from the FDA and

Please Don’t Let my Child’s Behavior Disturb You, a wallet card available from an autism support group.

As noted previously, these kids today are not very bright. In further developments in that field of study, USA Today (that bastion of journalistic excellence) cites a study that found more than a third of high school students think newspapers should get government approval before publishing stories (though the wording I see doesn’t say they believe such approval should be mandatory). On the bright side, more than half believed such approval should not be sought.