mitch4 has adopted no words, looked up 0 words, created 0 lists, listed 0 words, written 4 comments, added 0 tags, and loved 1 word.

Comments by mitch4

  • I'm interested in a split of usage pattern, between a traditional sense requiring actually being the subject of a controversy or dispute, and what I take to be a more recent and laxer pattern where the speaker calls something controversial even if they only expect the item is likely to arouse controversy. And in that latter sense, the focus may still not really be on the (potential) dispute but on some perceived inherent quality of the object making it provocative, e.g. if it is sexual in content, or takes an unpopular political stand.

    January 23, 2015

  • I'm most used to the context "deontic logic". (Which is a form of "modal logic", so the citations with "deontic modality" or putting deontic in a list of modalities makes a lot of sense.

    January 8, 2015

  • In observational astronomy, the date or moment when a newly-built telescope first makes a complete observation, with light from the observed object making the complete path through the optics to the photo plate or data-collecting instrument.

    Related: The first end-to-end or complete trial run of a complex technology system, such as a particle collider or a data network.

    January 1, 2015

  • I was researching the construction and "first light" dates for some telescopes and observatories, and came across remarks like "began scientific operations in the Austral summer of 2007-08".

    Apparent meaning: The time of year when the Southern Hemisphere experiences summer weather. Thus, roughly the months of December, January, and February.

    Comment: Since those months overlap two different calendar years, we see contexts like "in the austral summer of 2007-08" analogous to Northern Hemisphere usage with "winter".

    Example: From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BICEP_and_Keck_Array "The first three started observations in the austral summer of 2010–11; another two started observing in 2012."

    From http://antarcticsun.usap.gov/pastIssues/1998-1999/1999_01_17.pdf Display subhead: "Published during the austral summer for the United States Antarctic Program at McMurdo Station, Antarctica."

    January 1, 2015

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