Identify X and Y. -Jan 29

The term X was originally coined for the antics of the person it is named after. This practice claimed such famous victims as Leonard Bernstein, Charlie Chaplin, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Dorothy Parker, Paul Robeson and Orson Welles.

One of the most influential opponents of X was Y, who in 1954 made the following famous comments:

"We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men."

Identify X and Y. Can you also describe the current use of the word X?

Question for January 28

X is described as following in various languages around the world.

Chinese - 'little mouse',

Danish - 'elephant's trunk',

Dutch - 'monkey's tail',

French, Hebrew, Italian, Korean - 'snail',

Hungarian - 'worm/maggot',

Russian - 'little dog',

Swedish - 'cat's foot',

Arabic, German, Turkish - 'ear'

Swedish - 'cinnamon bun',

Czech/Slovak - 'collared herring/rollmop'

Serbian - crazy "a"

Identify X.

Question for Jan 27 - PS

The term "X effect" originated when X unsuccessfully sued photographer Kenneth Adelman and Pictopia.com for US$50 million.

What followed after X lost the case is what is now popularly known as "X effect".

Some other examples:

- September 2006 - Brazilian television personality Daniela Cicarelli.

- April 2007 - MPAA AACS key - Digg.

- April 2007 - Bhumibol Adulyadej, the King of Thailand.

- January 2008 - The Church of Scientology - Tom Cruise's speech.

- 5 December 2008 - Scorpions album Virgin Killer

- May 2009 - Amanda Bonnen vs. Chicago's Horizon Group Management LLC.

- September 2009 - Polo Ralph Lauren vs. BoingBoing.

- December 2009 - Ted Alvin Klaudt, former South Dakota state legislator.

Name and explain the effect. Be as specific as possible.

Question for Jan 26-GK

A memorial to what and where is it located?

Question for Jan 25

The location shown in the visual has an approximate address: 3050 Fremont Dr (Sonoma Hwy), Sonoma, CA.

What is the claim to fame of this location?

Hint: Everyone (at least 99.99%) of the blog's patrons would have 'visited' this location at some point in their lives.

Question for 22nd Jan, 2010

What's going on the video below?

Anecdotes on X- January 21st

When Ludwig Wittgenstein went to Cambridge in 1929, he was met at the railway station by a crowd of England's greatest intellectuals, among whom was X. In a letter to his wife, Lydia Lopokova, X wrote: "Well, God has arrived. I met him on the 5.15 train."

But X was no commoner himself. X received praise ranging from:

"He was the one really great man I ever knew, and for whom I had unbounded admiration"- Friedrich Hayek

"Every time I argued with X, I felt that I took my life in my hands and I seldom emerged without feeling something of a fool"- Bertrand Russel

"X was in his most lucid and persuasive mood: and the effect was irresistible. At such moments, I often find myself thinking that X must be one of the most remarkable men that have ever lived - the quick logic, the birdlike swoop of intuition, the vivid fancy, the wide vision, above all the incomparable sense of the fitness of words, all combine to make something several degrees beyond the limit of ordinary human achievement"- Lionel Robbins

X's crowning achievement was a conference in July 1944 (bonus points for identifying the name) when his ideas were accepted as the basis for the post-world war II order which still survives.