OH, NO, NOT MORE POLITICS!
- DHS contractor threatens woman with arrest for wearing… – I feel much more secure knowing that women who have the web address for a support site for lesbians cannot do so in public without threat of arrest. Don’t you?
- Johann Hari: If You Really Want to Understand What… – Sure, it’s armchair psychology to attribute the search for the father to the son … but it’s still interesting reading.
- Way to Cheapen the Sacrifice, John – McCain is either obsessive about touting his POW past in every context, or he’s transitioned into poking fun at the criticism … but in either case, it’s a mantra that’s getting terribly wearying.
- Scholars and Rogues » The new and improved DNC: now… – More than a bit disheartening in the context of all that grass roots schtick.
AND NOW SOME NON-POLITICAL STUFF …
- Search experiments, large and small – How Google improves their interface. Short answer: lots of subtle variations with zillions of samples to test it within.
- Chinese people discovering fortune cookies – Which, of course, weren’t actually invented in China.
- Train nearly runs over idiots (video) – I would simply encourage such natural selection … except I would never wish that on any railroad engineer.
- Photos from abandoned 1901 hydroelectric power plant – Ooooh, fun.
- DORK TOWER – Do Or Dive – How I feel about the Olympics.
- Comparing airline fees – If only this info could be more easily integrated into online travel sites. I’m waiting either for someone to sell themselves as having a simple single fare (everything else free), or else Congress mandating something in their typical hamfisted fashion.
- 100 things author dies – There is a certain irony that he only got to half his “things” before he died. The less on is … don’t wait, don’t put it off.
- English is a user-modifiable technology – I am, in fact, a stuck-up grammar snob … only because someone has to act as the countervailing force against people who ignore present vocabulary to invent something new, or who treat ignorance as an excuse to break the rules. That said, English is a living language, which means growth and change is inevitable and desirable. Just … grow smart.
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Wordish:
Making up words–depends on the word. Utilize? Bad word made up for bad purposes. Funner? Mmmm, it does have connotations “more fun” doesn’t. Lee’s ‘Smacktard?’ Brilliant.
Words are like recipes. Can’t eat “bubble and squeak” forever, no matter how charming. Or roasted saber-toothed tiger, for that matter. –But then, the Alice books are my favorites evar, so I’m guaranteed to come down on this side of the fence like a lolcat chasing a chzbrger.
As long as correct communication occurs, I have no problem with neologisms — for, for that matter, with evolution of grammar (though some of it sticks in my craw — I fear the less/fewer battle has been lost).