We have so many insightful and powerful diaries written here at Daily Kos. Our diaries inform, inflame, impassion, and even entertain. We Kossacks have strong voices and an even stronger will to be the change we wish to see in this country.
One of the richest, and perhaps most under-appreciated, areas of thought come in the form of comments attached to these diaries.
Here at Top Comments we strive to recognize and promote the talent of this community by highlighting outstanding comments found throughout the day by the diarist, and through nominations at made at TopComments at gmail dot com by your fellow Kossacks.
These nominations are subjective, and certainly not complete (as no one can read the complete site on a daily basis!). But we hope they will serve to shine a light where deserved, and to give the reader a good starting point in finding conversation on the site.
Please come in and make yourself at home! Join us beneath the fold...
One of the thing I like to do is sing, and as I've mentioned here before, I especially like to sing Renaissance music. This means I've had to get used to pronouncing many common languages of the period, including Italian, French, German, Spanish, and, of course, Latin. Lots of Latin.
Once upon a time, Latin was easy: simple rules and generally pure vowels, not unlike Italian. This is not necessarily true any more. These days, there are attempts to emulate the period pronunciations of Latin from one country or the next (my advice: never program more than two countries in a program if you're doing local pronunciation, and keep the countries separated by an intermission), and this can cause complications. One learns to write notes to oneself in the music; if you don't, you're in real trouble.
Mind, some of the common languages are tricky enough: has the "oi"/"oy" in French changed to the "wa" sound, or is it still pronounced "way"? Does the French rule carry over into Latin, or did the Italianate pronunciation rule for that vowel or that consonant. How is the Latin æ ligature pronounced in German? Once you've been told, you mark your score.
There's a general method for noting vowel and consonant sounds called IPA: it's the International Phonetic Alphabet, and young singers are encouraged to learn it so they can sing any language once they've been given the words transliterated into IPA.
Unfortunately, I never learned IPA. I haven't ever needed to. I've been able to get by with noting equivalents in English or other languages (umlauts can be your friend), since I understand how those common languages listed above are pronounced.
Tonight, I've been attempting to transliterate fifteenth century Flemish, based on a pronunciation mp3 file I've been given, in the vernacular of the time, for 40 measures of polyphony. And as I listen, I realize there are vowel sounds that don't quite have English equivalents, or easy ways to write them in other languages.
So far, I've made it through measure 10, and it's taken close to half an hour of listening, and listening again, and realizing that I haven't gotten quite the right sound written below the Flemish that I'm going to understand when I see it, so my pronunciation won't sound right, or even approximate. Which means more listening. More cudgeling my brain to get a suitable, comprehensible transliteration. More erasing. And not a little frustration. Wish me luck: I have to sing this piece in rehearsal tomorrow.
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There was but a couple of submissions to the Top Comments gmail account today, and they were very Welcome. I thank the two that took time today to transport their top texts to the Top Comments mailbox, and doing so in advance of the 9:30pm Eastern Time deadline. The address of our mailbox for top comments submissions remains:
TopComments AT gmail DOT com
(change " AT " to "@" and " DOT " to ".")
Anyone can send great comments to our address. Be sure to include the direct link to a comment—the URL—which is available from that comment's date/time; we need that to find your choice. Please always include your Daily Kos user name in the body of your message, so we can credit you properly. If you send a writeup with the link, we are able to include that, too, though we reserve the right to edit; if you don't do a writeup, we will (and did tonight).
From smileycreek:
In defiance of all odds, and without blaming Obama for anything, a picturesque Win War broke out in today's Welcome New Users: Get the Picture! diary.
From Ed Tracey:
In this popular diary from the MinistryOfTruth, a standout comment came from DRo, who likened Texas governor Rick Perry to a welfare queen. (And you thought he only had good hair).
From sardonyx (your mid-month Monday diarist):
In xxdr zombiexx's Sighing diary, Roadbed Guy is all for moving to the center, but not for the reason one might expect.
Courtesy of happymisanthropy, a new slogan hitting TSA's invasive body searches.
In webranding's excellent diary about his grandfather who lived the American Dream, What Happened To The American Dream?, Azazello replies with a chart showing current social mobility levels.
In Eclectablog's diary Liberals + conservatives working together grow & donate 2 TONS of food!, Joieau tells of starting a project years ago in rural southern Appalachia.
In today's front-page story about the CNN poll that showed 9% of the electorate disapproving of Obama because he's not liberal enough on top of the 48% who approved of him, Wildthumb pulls the camera back further.
Please add your own comment finds below!
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Finally, we have today's top mojo using my revision of the cskendrick-devised mojo-to-Excel process.
First, Top Mojo excluding Cheers and Jeers, miscellaneous cute animals, search-identifiable tip jars, and first diary comments:
1) Obama has not done everything he can, in fact by divineorder — 151
2) Here's Peter Orzsag's insane column by slinkerwink — 126
3) Yell it Bush's tax cuts led to no jobs! by FishOutofWater — 116
4) Damn right...when did giving the Right what it... by APA Guy — 92
5) meowzzletoff! n/t by ilyana — 76
6) The empire is falling. by aufklaerer — 76
7) Signed by Dallasdoc — 72
8) Gomer Pyle says... by APA Guy — 70
9) I suppose, on second thought, this by xxdr zombiexx — 67
10) If the presdient chooses not to fight by TomP — 65
11) The leadership has to come from us by Dallasdoc — 64
12) Hell, this isn't even triangulation by david mizner — 64
13) That Is Exactly What Needs To Be Said by webranding — 61
14) This isn't new by Kristina40 — 59
15) thanks slink...I cannot believe what is going on by Badabing — 57
16) I Wish I Had An Audio Recording by webranding — 57
17) For those who haven't read it by neroden — 56
18) Am I the only one who thinks this is hideous? by paradox — 56
19) Be Kind, Only Some Are Corporatists by Gooserock — 55
20) Trumka gets it and will fight for it by Great Lakes Gal — 55
21) Loved Greider's column by Dallasdoc — 54
22) HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! by nailbender — 54
23) better headline by DemFromCT — 52
24) Absolutely hilarious. by gchaucer2 — 52
25) The irony is, by northsylvania — 52
26) Oh. my. god. by Aji — 52
27) People keep telling me that we're all being paid by KVoimakas — 50
28) I think I'd be surprised if they ever tried it by Dallasdoc — 49
29) Man, that was refreshing. by nolalily — 49
30) That has been the strategy for by TomP — 49
31) I was a contributor to ADL by gchaucer2 — 49
32) Totally agree. If Obama would strike this tone by Sherri in TX — 49
Top Mojo with No Exclusions:
1) Tips for calling them what they are by MinistryOfTruth — 432
2) Tips for genuine leadership? by xxdr zombiexx — 358
3) Tip Jar by bobswern — 333
4) Tip Jar by clammyc — 327
5) Alms (tips) by Muskegon Critic — 289
6) Tip Jar by TomP — 268
7) Tip Jar by Forrest Brown — 259
8) Tip Jar by Badabing — 255
9) Tip Jar by ThisIsMyTime — 195
10) Tip Jar by Eclectablog — 193
11) Obama has not done everything he can, in fact by divineorder — 151
12) Tip Jar by Democrats Ramshield — 142
13) Here's Peter Orzsag's insane column by slinkerwink — 126
14) Yell it Bush's tax cuts led to no jobs! by FishOutofWater — 116
15) Tip Jar by Ojibwa — 103
16) Tip Jar by VVarfrat — 102
17) Tip Jar by AnnetteK — 94
18) Tip Jar by steve davis — 94
19) Damn right...when did giving the Right what it... by APA Guy — 92
20) Here's what I purchased: by navajo — 84
21) The empire is falling. by aufklaerer — 76
22) meowzzletoff! n/t by ilyana — 76
23) Signed by Dallasdoc — 72
24) Gomer Pyle says... by APA Guy — 70
25) Tip Jar by webranding — 70
26) May all Haiti's people be free from suffering. by davidseth — 69
27) TIPS by Amber6541 — 68
28) I suppose, on second thought, this by xxdr zombiexx — 67
29) Tip Jar by KingofSpades — 66
30) If the presdient chooses not to fight by TomP — 65
© sardonyx; all rights reserved
All quotes are the property of the original authors or the websites that held them