Wednesday, August 24, 2011

toki pona and ISO 639

It looks like toki pona is going to have another chance to get an ISO 639, which, I admittedly don't quite understand myself.

The topic is on the toki pona forums.

With the relovent message coming from the original poster.

In 2007 an application to the ISO 639 Registration Authority to give a language code to Toki Pona was rejected, for the following reasons:
Registration Authority decision on Change Request no. 2007-011: reject requested creation of new identifier for Toki Pona

In consultation with Anthony Aristar of LinguistList, the ISO 639-3 Registration Authority has determined that the request for this new code element is premature. The propagation of a new constructed language is often a short-lived interest of limited scope; few constructed languages have lasting impact in the world community of languages to become more than mere novelties. Toki Pona seems to fit the novelty category, as an intentionally “minimalist” language. During 2007 there was some media interest in Toki Pona, in which its novel aspects were highlighted. If Toki Pona survives the next few years and continues to develop, both in applications and in user base, then the RA will be open to consider a new request for assignment of a code element for Toki Pona.

It has got back on the table. I'm an advisor to the 639 committee and I recently successfully got a code for Neo. I am supporting a code for Toki Pona.

So, it seems like it probably has a good shot considering that it's been a few years, and toki pona is still alive and all. But, what is ISO 639?

Well, according to Wikipedia:

Use of ISO 639 codes

The language codes defined in the several sections of ISO 639 are used for bibliographic purposes and, in computing and internet environments, as a key element of locale data. The codes also find use in various applications, such as Wikipedia URLs for its different language editions.

Delimiting languages

A multilingual page is contained by the CSS class "multilingual", with text in every language contained within the class "lang-xx", where xx is a lowercase ISO 639 two-letter or three-letter language code and the lang attribute. The lang attribute is contextually more correct, but the CSS required to hook into it is not supported by all browsers. If there is no two-letter code, the lowercase three-letter code is used. For text in an unknown language "und", (undetermined) is used.

So, I take that as meaning it would be a bit more official and be able to be used in code more easily, which are all good things to me. I'm excited to see if it gets accepted this time, and wonder if it will bring a short burst of more active fans.

Whoa!

So, I checked the statistics for my blog just for fun. Apparently someone very popular posted my last post on twitter. 889 page views as of now, which blasts my previous high of about 35 out of the water (and into the next ocean). I am kind of curious who did this, but I guess that's part of the fun of the internet. I guess I struck a chord with someone by mentioning Ramit's blog.



Some news on my struggle against visas might be coming soon, and I might start blogging my dreams, which could be fun.

Also, apparently there were unusual earthquakes on the East Coast today, which I found out through this tweet:

janMato: ma lon ma Mewika li tawa li tawa wawa. tomo suli li tawa li tawa kin.

I guess learning toki pona paid off !

Friday, August 19, 2011

IWTYTBR

I Will Teach You To Be Rich

A blog I've followed for quite some time, rather passively, just turned 7 years old today. With probably the most pretentious names for a blog out there, it takes a while to realise that Ramit is just eccentric and not a scam artist.

He's got a great attitude and teaches some great skills for dealing with money. I recommened anyone who is scared of money or doesn't know how to deal with their money to read the blog a little, or even send him a message. He's very active with it and is likely to send you a personal message back, more than likley, giving you solid advice.

With my drowning in my own current events, largely due to my own mistakes, he's like a good slap in the face to wake up! So, check him out if you happen by this post.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Lou !

J'ai passé beaucoup de temps en pensent à propos de comment améliorer mon français. Récemment, j'ai trouvé une super série pour les enfants français.

Lou!



Pour les anglophones comme moi-même:

I found a French television show for kids that has been quite a fun way to pass the time while continuing to practice my French!

The Schengen Area

So, you want to go to Europe? You have it all planned out and know that you don’t even need a visa or anything.

Do you know about about the Schengen Area?

The Schengen area is a relatively recent agreement, and it’s what lets much of Europe function as the USA does with its states. That is to say, you can travel between the borders without any kind of checkpoint.

Now, there is some confusion about what exactly this zone is, with some warrant to the confusion too.

There are 3 main super-governmental agreements/organizations that are important to know about when going to Europe.

The European Union: the one most people know about, commonly referred to as the EU. It’s strictly a political entity and acts as a forum for Europe to talk about things, much as the UN does on a larger scale.

The Euro Zone: the area inside Europe that uses the Euro as its currency.

The Schengen Area: the one that is the least known about (in my experience) and the most important one to know.

Now, each one of these have different member states. So, just because a country is in the EU doesn’t mean they are in the other two. The same for any combination of the three groups. The first two wont affect a traveler very much, so I wont go into too much detail, the only time I could see someone running into trouble is if they didn’t know Switzerland isn’t a part of it and end up not have the right currency for a moment.

The Schengen Area though, is a not so often talked about area that could and has and probably will continue to affect travelers to Europe. For most short term travel, it will never come up, but if you were thinking about just passing some time going from country to country, it could very easily come up.

This area, that makes the continent of Europe a bit more unified also throws a wrench in for those going to travel. From the moment you step into the area, you have a rolling clock that starts ticking away. For the area, you have 90 days out of 180 days allowed inside. That means, if you were to leave the whole area, the 180 day clock would still be going. So, if you are inside for 50 days, outside for 70 days, you are only allowed 40 days inside the area still. It is there to stop people from leaving the country and coming back quickly, somewhat abusing their visa waiver.

It is also a very large area:



The blue area is the Schengen Area in its current state.

For more, here's the wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Agreement

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

En réalité

So, I'm not all up for the cryptic messaging style that is somewhat my signature before.

I've been incredibly stressed for awhile because of the great mess of an international affaire commonly known as the visa. This little stepping stone into a country seems to be as complicated on purpose to defer those who don't have the patience to deal with it all. That is a bit of an overstatement, but that is truly how it feels for me, and I'm sure others.

I am in the USA right now, but it is the result of several misunderstanding (that I don't want to think about it too much detail just yet). So, this is more of a clarification than a real statement with any clarity.... maybe.

I will write a very detailed post a little later explaining some of the problems I've run into so that, with any hope, a passing googler can find out what the rules actually are!

Reflection

I've had some time to think long and hard about quite a few things.

Times are rough and perhaps I'll write on that later, but I think the more significant point is a strange feeling that is working its way up.

I hope to be able to have a certain clarity not before too long. I think that there ought to be some kind of hope.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Quelques choses

Some big things could be happening soon, and I'll be picking up heavy study loads for French again too.

More later, and if the post for a bit earlier doesn't make the slightest sense, do a quick search for "toki pona"!

toki musi lili

mi pali e toki musi lili kepeken toki pona. tenpo ni la, ona li lili. ken la, ona li ike tawa sina. taso, tenpo kama la, mi wile pali e mute! a a a

toki musi lili nanpa wan

tenpo ni la, mi mute li sona e ijo wan: ali li pona. tenpo pini la, mi mute li sona ala e ni. mi mute li sona ala e ala. sina wile sona e toki musi mi la, mi wile open tan tenpo open mi. tenpo pi mi kama tawa ma ni la, mi jan lili sama jan ali. taso, jan sona li toki e ni tawa mama mi: "jan lili sina li suli mute. tenpo kama la, ona li wile kama jo e mani mute mute mute!" ni li pona mute tawa mama mi. taso, tenpo kama la, ni li lon ala. tenpo kama la, mi jo ala e mani e meli e pali e ala. taso, tenpo suno pini la, ali li ante.

"jan manitu o, toki!" jan pona mi li toki tawa mi.

"jan teloko o, toki!" mi toki tawa ona.

"tenpo ni la, sina jo ala jo e mani?"

"tenpo ni li sama tenpo ali."

"a a a! jan pona mi a! tenpo ali la, sina jo ala e mani a! tenpo ali la, sina sama tenpo ali a!" ni li musi mute tawa jan teloko. taso, ona li sama mi. tenpo ali la, ona li jo ala e mani. "jan manitu o kute e mi a! mi lukin e ijo sin lon ma tomo."

"ijo sin ni li seme?" tenpo ali la, ona li jo e ijo sin tan ni: o kama jo e mani mute. mi pilin e ni: ijo sin ona li ike sama tenpo ali.

"mi ken ala toki tawa sina. taso, mi ken toki e ni: ijo ni li pona mute tawa mi mute. mi mute li kepeken e ona la, o kama jo e pali e mani e meli mute a!" tenpo mute la, mi kute e toki ni.

"pona. tenpo seme la, mi mute li wile tawa ma tomo?" mi ken ala toki ike tawa ona tan ni: mi jo ala e mani.

"tenpo suno kama la, mi mute li wile tawa a! ni li pona ala pona tawa sina?"

"pona." kin la, tenpo lili kama la, mi jo e toki musi. "tenpo suno kama la, mi wile tawa poka sina."

"pona a! jan manitu o jan pona mi a! tenpo ni la, mi tawa. tenpo suno kama la, mi wile lukin e sina. kin la, mi mute li wile tawa!" ken la, tenpo suno kama la, mi ken sona e ijo sin ni. ona li lon. kin la, ali li pona.

"tawa pona!"

Monday, August 1, 2011

Ramadan

It's Ramadan! I'm not a Muslim, but it's nice to wish well those who are.

I've lately been consumed by a curious language: toki pona.

It's the first constructed language I've ever dived into and it's proving to be quite an experience, to say the least. This language in particular is interesting for not being a failed language as so many that are contructed end up being. However, even with it's quasi-active community it prooves to be tasking to find more material to consume.

Before all that, I have to say that it is interesting seeing how I have put myself out there somewhat blindly. I have learned that for some it is purely an academic exercise, which it may well be good to be.

There are plenty of sources already explaining the basics of this language, but I think I may use it in writing here a bit. Or, bring back some of the old ideas of creating strange comics in this new language.

It's early right now, and I'm trying some new things. Back in Florida for a bit and I have to figure out a bigger plan.

For now, it's good to have a reminder of something simple, something pona.

To finish, here are some thoughts kepeken toki pona:

tenpo ni la mi pilin e ni: mi wile e mute. tenpo kama la mi sona ala e ni: mi ken ala ken jo e ijo mute ni? tenpo pini la mi sona e ni: ni li pona ala! a a a! mi wile toki e ni: li wile e ijo mute la mi pilin e ni: tenpo kama la mi lon. tenpo ni la mi lon ala.

taso ni li pona ala. mi wile toki e ijo ante pona.

tenpo ni la mi lukin e ni: lipu musi li nimi e jan lawa lili kepeken toki pona!

tenpo kama la mi wile pali e ni: toki sin pi toki pona. taso mi wile pali e ni: lipu sin li open. tenpo ni la lipu mute pi toki pona kin li lon. mi pali e lipu pi toki pona la ona li wile e ni: ona li ante lili!

pona... tenpo ni la mi tawa.