Recently in Random Musings Category
I bathe my cat pretty regularly and she's comfortable with it, but I can see where a machine like this might come in handy....
Warner Todd Huston talks about Roger Ebert's (who?) latest left-wing nonsense but the only thing I find to care about is here (emphasis mine):
Worse he seems to be saying that it was Sarah Palin that invented the name “Ground Zero Mosque.” This is an untruth. Then he calls Palin Hitler by saying she is using tactics from Mein Kampf.That’s alright Rog, we know that you are using tactics invented by Marx, so you have that going for you, which is nice.
The blogosphere is on notice: I demand more Caddyshack references from everyone.
Update:
Ask and ye shall receive! Two Caddyshack references in one day! Presidential golf:
Obama again teed off with Chicago pal Eric Whitaker and aide Marvin Nicholson . Rounding out the foursome was Bill Lewis, a regular Vineyard vacationer who played with Obama and Whitaker last year. Once again, the press corps was kept far, far away from the presidential golf party.Perhaps the Leader of the Free World is a little sensitive about his game. Because our spies report that Barry was hacking away at a ball in the bunker on the 12th hole - a la Judge Elihu Smails - before giving up and throwing it onto the green. Shades of Bill Clinton!
I guess it's a sign that I should add the movie to my Netflix queue....
I don't like it when people split their verb phrases. I don't mean to pick on Tom Blumer, but I just read a sentence he wrote that exemplifies the awkwardness of the split verb phrase.
Though there are far too many glaring exceptions, e.g., Bell, California, it’s still generally the case that the taxpaying public will tend to resist unreasonable attempts at expansion and unreasonable pay scales, and will often vote politicians who have supported or implemented such efforts out of office.
The italicized words split the bolded verb phrase and mentally break the flow of the phrase. It would have scanned more cleanly if it had been written as "and will often vote out of office politicians who have supported or implemented such efforts".
Grammar Girl says that there's no rule against splitting verb phrases. There are some instances in which I would support splitting a verb phrase for stylistic reasons. However, I believe that language can be used much more precisely and accurately when verb phrases are not split, and Chief Justice John Roberts probably agrees with me.
The famous psychologist and linguist Stephen Pinker had an interesting op-ed piece in the New York Times in which he noted that even though it's not against the rules to split a verb phrase, Chief Justice Roberts has shown a tendency in past writings to avoid it (3). I want to stress that it's not a rule (4); it's fine to split verb phrases, but it seems as if Roberts thinks it's a rule, and Pinker speculates that when Roberts was thrown off by the interruption, he rephrased the oath in his head to fit his view of how sentences should be written.
I expect that most of Roberts' writing and speaking is tailored for the legal domain and that he believes that the precise use of language is extremely important. As an engineer, I concur.
Georgian woman claims to be 130 years old.
Authorities in the former Soviet republic of Georgia claim a woman from a remote mountain village turned 130 on Thursday, making her the oldest person on Earth.Antisa Khvichava from western Georgia was born on July 8, 1880, said Georgiy Meurnishvili, spokesman for the civil registry at the Justice Ministry.
The woman, who lives with her 40-year-old grandson in an idyllic vine-covered country house in the mountains, retired from her job as a tea and corn picker in 1965, when she was 85, records say.
Possible, but unlikely in my opinion.
Despite confusion by the media, there is a significant difference between "covert" operations and "clandestine" operations.
Covert operations: operation should be undetected while in progress, but the outcome may be easily observed. Example: special operations team secretly inserted behind enemy lines to destroy a high-value target.
Clandestine operations: operation should be undetected while in progress and after completion. Example: steal copies of enemy intelligence reports.
In both cases the identity/ties of the operators may be kept hidden or disguised after the operation is complete.
As an example of good business writing, here's a great tutorial on leather tanning and quality. Lots of great pictures explain exactly what you're looking at when you pick up a piece of leather, and they even explain the tricks that some companies use to disguise their cheap, low-quality leather.
I've considered many of these paradoxes of creativity before, but never put them into such a nice, concise list.
To create, a person must
- Have knowledge but forget the knowledge;
- See unexpected connections in things but not have a mental disorder;
- Work hard but spend time doing nothing;
- Create many ideas yet most of them are useless;
- Look at the same thing as everyone else, yet see something different;
- Desire success but learn how to fail;
- Be persistent but not stubborn; and,
- Listen to experts but know how to disregard them.
Worthy of contemplation.
(HT: SW and Getting Prepared.)
Taking advantage of your credit card's concierge service.
TEST #1: GIANT TUB OF NACHO CHEESEI made my first call to the Visa Chase Freedom concierge service by calling the toll-free number on the back of my card. I was connected to a concierge named David, who I pictured wearing a little bellboy hat, like a hotel concierge, though I think they just wear a telephone headset nowadays.
David spoke English, which was a nice change from my usual calls to Visa. “I’m traveling to Austin next week, and I want a big tub of nacho cheese. Make that a HUGE tub,” I told him. “Enough to fill a punch bowl.”
“Does it need to be in a tub?” he asked, taking the request with the seriousness of someone who worked for me.
“Can, jar, tub, I don’t care,” I said. “I just want liquid cheese, and a lot of it.”
(HT: LM and Credit Card Chasers.)
Virtual Sistine Chapel. Better than being there!
The Finnish sniper who killed more than 700 Russians in 100 days: The White Death.
Ensconced in the snow, his white camouflage suit rendering him invisible to the invading Soviet soldiers he stalked, Simo Häyhä steadied himself to fire. During the 1939–1940 Winter War, in temperatures as low as –40 °C, the Finnish sniper undertook a killing spree that saw him single-handedly take the lives of at least 700 men in less than 100 days. Over 500 of these he shot using a standard, bolt-action rifle with non-telescopic sights. Is it any wonder he earned the nickname The White Death among his enemies? Meet the man who would take Rambo to the cleaners.
The hardest logic puzzle ever:
Three gods A, B, and C are called, in some order, True, False, and Random. True always speaks truly, False always speaks falsely, but whether Random speaks truly or falsely is a completely random matter. Your task is to determine the identities of A, B, and C by asking three yes-no questions; each question must be put to exactly one god. The gods understand English, but will answer all questions in their own language, in which the words for yes and no are 'da' and 'ja', in some order. You do not know which word means which.
There are clarifications and solutions at the link.
Yes, these are apparently a real product. I can't believe that the creators are unaware of the appearance.
My email address attracts a lot of misdelivered mail intended for participants in the plastics industry. Some of them are quite humorous.
der sir,i have attached my biodata with this mail for the vaccancy for diplomain tool & die engneering.plese trat ths mail seriouse
regards,
s k
I understand that the writer isn't a native English speaker, but at least make an effort.
Maybe you think you learned how to tie your shoes when you were five years old, but your knots still turn out lopsided and loose. Chances are you're tying a "granny knot" instead of a "reef knot". Learn the difference.
