Saturday, May 23, 2009

2405 Bits

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Most people have heard the urban legend of the woman "shot" in the back of her head, and holding her brains in (see Snopes, http://www.snopes.com/crime/safety/biscuit.asp). Well, I discovered that although unlikely, it may have been possible.

It was 84 degrees in my kitchen yesterday. I'd left a tube of refrigerator croissants, garlic flavored, on the counter. I was in the den when I heard a gunshot. Checked outside, nothing (hunters in the woods are not unusual). A little later, attracted to the kitchen by the strong odor of garlic, I found a swelling rope of croissant dough oozing from the end of the tube and hanging halfway down the cabinet. I still haven't found the blown-off end cap.

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Product endorsement: I love Peter Luger Steak House Old Fashioned Sauce! I recommend it highly on steaks and burgers. At home, when there's nobody to see, after I finish the meat I lick the plate. Yummy.

It has to be kept refrigerated even before opening, so you'll find it in a refrigerated case in the store (and you shouldn't find it on a table in a restaurant).

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The Snopes folks, commenting on a political spoof email that some people were forwarding as real news, pointed out that the author (and this cracked me up, as it's one of my guaranteed chain-jerkers) didn't know the difference between "lose" and "loose", and the article was full of misspellings, bad grammar, and poor punctuation, and "this is a major clue" to spoofs, spam, and phishing emails.

Yes. Grammar and spelling are the primary way I decide whether a writing is to be taken seriously or not. And that's one reason why I get very angry when I find sloppy professional writing. I'm afraid it will eventually get to the point where you can't judge how seriously to take anything any more - and this at the same time that there's an explosion of unmoderated and unedited information.

People will end up accepting any information they like and rejecting any information they don't like, because they have no other way to judge. Yeah, stupid people already do that, but we're in major trouble (and primed for manipulation) when even intelligent people start doing it.

(I realize it's not as simple as that. But it's definitely a factor among others.)

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A bit of unexpected humor:
The Maury Show is mainly about paternity DNA tests these days. Lots of drama, couples screaming at each other, confessions of infidelity, accusations of whoredom, women who bring in five men one after another looking in vain for the baby-daddy, "can't be my baby 'cause he don't look like me!", victory dances when the test is negative. Sigh.

Yesterday I clicked "Display" on the tv remote. That gives me a description of the program. The description for The Maury Show -
A cheeringly compassionate journalist helps bring families and friends together by learning [sic] how to set aside their differences to work towards [sic] a common goal.
I cracked up.

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On the 6th day God made man. On the seventh day, man returned the favor.

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An observation from Field, at The Field Negro: "Is it just me, or do you all get the same feeling that [some] republicans are just praying that we get attacked before the reign of O is over?" (The "some" is his, not mine.)

Frankly, I wouldn't put it past Cheney to set something up.

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I found an interesting website, BSAlert.com, which describes itself as "The Critical Thinker's Guide to News, Politics, Religion, and Business". Check it out. They want you to register, but you can ignore that if you don't care about leaving comments.

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The lose/loose confusion is a pet peeve. Another is growing. I am shocked to find the same thing happening to "site" and "sight", in sentences like "He is loosing site of the goal." Shiver...cringe ...bang head on desk.
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3 comments:

Wondering Woman said...

And how about "please except these flowers as a token...."

Anonymous said...

Your and you're and there and their bother me. I think spellchecker helps contribute to those two, since it will accept them instead of except them. (see I agree Wondering Woman). We read a small town newspaper and those two (your and there) are used wrong in multiple lines by a paid writer.
My mother refused to use 'got' as a word and it seems to have made itself into a word all these years later. Which is the heart of your comment, Silk. Will the rules just go away because some people can't (or won't) follow them?

Jammies said...

"Faze" and "phase" get completely and utterly mixed up and misused. That one usually provokes a lecture from me, with (as applicable) links to online dictionary definitions of the two words.