RSCDS

Parsing jumping jacks

What could be common between Computational Linguistics and Aerobics? Quite a lot, as it turns out to be. Dance descriptions, while not really in English do have a regular structure and can be thought of as a sub-language with full set of syntactic, semantic and pragmatic levels. There are basic words of the language (move names), correct ways of putting them in a sentence (a routine) and all the way up to good flowing text (classes that do not hurt the participants).

Pictures from RSCDS ball in Moscow

Scottish Country Dancing is everywhere. Moscow is a fairly recent branch, so they are all bright and eager. I do not dance with them, but do read their online public journal, to see what kind of issues a non-English speaking dancers would run into. There was a dancing event there recently and the photos from that event are now available online (1 and 2). One does not need to understand Russian, to enjoy the photographs of young people dancing and generally showing off.

The podcasts I listen to and how BusinessWeek got it wrong

Is Podcasting revolution over before it began? BusinessWeek seems to think so and quotes Pew Internet & American Life Project’s statistics. The topic is also generating some buzz in the blogosphere, with BusinessWeek’s interpretation being gleefully accepted by some and thoughtfully rejected by others. I believe into podcasting’s future because it is here already for me. I have a 40 minute walk to work each day, so I have over six hours of content a week I can consume.

RSCDS website refresh

The Royal Scottish Country Dance Society has updated their website. It now looks prettier, runs on more modern technological base and promises better up-to-date information. This is the next step after the redesign of the society magazine to move forward in times, while preserving the original goals of the Society. It is good to see the society recognising that internet is worth putting time and effort into, especially with members and branches all over the world.

Scottish Country Dancing in Houston

Scottish Country Dancing is danced everywhere. It is certainly danced in Houston (Texas). The website of the group run by Dianna Shipman looks friendly and inviting. While some links are dead, the explanations of figures are quite interesting and have cute hand-drawn diagrams. Worth a browse.