ETC.: A Review of General Semantics articles from September 1999

ETC.: A Review of General Semantics archives from September 1999

IN THIS ISSUE.
September 22, 1999... In this issue we explore some ways that words and symbols, for better or worse, shape our lives - correction - the way in which we use words and symbols, mindfully or mindlessly, to construct, interpret, enhance, diminish, or otherwise mold our...

A CRISIS FOR EDUCATORS: An Opportunity for Service.
September 22, 1999... If teachers in elementary and high schools wish to help their students meet the standards recently laid down by the New York State Education Department (1996), many may have to go through a paradigm shift of their own. Background The...

ONE PERSON-ONE VOTE.(Statistical Data Included)
September 22, 1999... BEFORE THE READERS OF THIS JOURNAL In the matter of equal representation in the House of Representatives COMPLAINT AND PETITION OF THE MATHSEMANTIC MONITOR Now comes the mathsemantic monitor (1), to publish this Complaint and...

RATIONAL-BEHAVIOR THERAPY AS CORRECTING DEMAMAPS.
September 22, 1999... The irrational beliefs discovered by Ellis bring about bad feelings and unproductive activity because of the role they play in decision making. One of the oldest explanations of human conduct is the theory that we feel, choose, and act...

MILLENDIUM.
September 22, 1999... Dead Digits During an economic slump in the last half of the 23rd Century, M. E. O'Wally, CEO of America and Environs, called a meeting of his advisors, henchpersons, and assorted experts. "We have to pump start the economy," he said...

I AM NOT A GIRAFFE, AND I CAN PROVE IT.(Brief Article)
September 22, 1999... The concept that the burden of proof is on the one making the claim is one of the most powerful arguments in the skeptic's arsenal. It keeps coming back like a bad penny. I have seen it over and over in skeptical writing, and have heard it...

"REMEMBER WHEN..." A Consideration of the Concept of Nostalgia.
September 22, 1999... The special place accorded the "beauteous" past of nostalgia in feeling and action is further attested to by the fact that, in English at least, there exists no antonym for it, no word to describe feelings of rejection or revulsion toward one's...

NETWORKING AMERICA: The Cultural Context of the Privacy v. Publicity Debates.
September 22, 1999... Implicit in the carving out of a private realm is the idea of personhood itself One might imagine that nothing new could be said about privacy beyond the dictionary notion that it is something secluded from the sight, presence, or...

IN MEMORIAM MARY MORAIN (1911-1999).(Obituary)
September 22, 1999... We note with great sadness the passing of Mary Stone Dewing Morain, who died on June 14, 1999. A graduate of Radcliffe College and the University of Chicago, Mary Morain accomplished much during her long life. Upon learning of her death,...

Why General Semanticists Should Distrust Theses Based on False Information.
September 22, 1999... The article "Why General Semanticists Should Distrust Computers" [by Raymond Gozzi, Jr., ETC, Spring 1999] was undoubtedly novel and interesting, albeit rather Luddite in tone. Unfortunately the author seems not to have run his work by someone...

THE THREE STRIKES METAPHOR.
September 22, 1999... "Three strikes and you're out!" This cry has moved from the baseball fields into politics in the Nineties, becoming one of the most potent law-and-order metaphors of the decade. Over 20 states and the federal government now have three strikes...

NEVER SAY "WAR".
September 22, 1999... Hello Crew World Most college athletic departments regard crew as a minor sport, and women's crew as even less important, if not nonexistent. However, in the last few years, the number of colleges offering women's crew has increased to 122...

ON CONSCIOUS ABSTRACTING AND A CONSCIOUSNESS OF ABSTRACTING: Some Abstractions.
September 22, 1999... PART ONE We Learn to "Think" in Certain Ways From the moment of birth we are bombarded with words, and surrounded and influenced by cultural structures and institutions: books, teachers, plays, television and radio broadcasts,...

Humanism as the Next Step.(Review)
September 22, 1999... Lloyd Morain and Mary Morain. Amherst, New York: Humanist Press, 1998. From what I gather in this well-written and highly informative book (by Lloyd and Mary Morain, both former Presidents of ISGS), humanism can be a philosophy, a...

Technostress: Coping with Technology @ Work @ Home @ Play.(Review)
September 22, 1999... Michelle M. Weil and Larry D. Rosen. New York: Wiley, 1997. Psychologist Michelle Weil and educator Larry Rosen set out to explain why technology makes people feel stressed out and what can be done to preserve one's humanity and sanity in...

Now All We Need is a Title: Famous Book Titles and How They Got that way.(Review)
September 22, 1999... Andre Bernard. New York: W.W. Norton, 1996. Andre Bernard has researched the stories behind more than one-hundred of the most famous, as well as some of the less famous, titles in the English language and the result is a fascinating volume...

E-Prime IlI!: A Third Anthology.(Review)
September 22, 1999... D. David Bourland, Jr., and Paul Dennithorne Johnston, eds., Concord, CA: International Society for General Semantics, 1997. This third anthology devoted to E-prime, a subset of the English language minus the verb "to be," contains a...

FIFTY YEARS AGO IN ETC.
September 22, 1999... I have attended meetings galore at which people told each other how valuable this discipline [general semantics] is, and how much the world needs it. Wars may, indeed, start in "the minds of men," but so do the small doings of the day. "Here is...