Here are some miscellaneous thoughts for Wednesday:
Yesterday, I spent some time cleaning my desk at work. My keyboard was getting a little to grimey for my liking so I set out to clean it with canned air, a rag, and rubbing alcohol. In the middle of my scrubbing I kept thinking about that one scene in Gattaca where Ethan Hawke has to do that to his computer every day.
**********
Why is the thing that holds all of your movies at Netflix and Blockbuster.com spelled so funny? It sounds like a consonant but spelled with four vowels. I hate the English language.
**********
My protest of ESPN.com is now going on 7 months. The reason for the protest is because they have increased the number of articles that are behind the Insider subscription curtain. One of my favorite baseball writers, Rob Neyer, was the first to go. Then they started placing old Sports Guy's articles behind the curtain. The final straw was when they put Peter Gammons as an Insider. I find it difficult to pay for some information that I read for free one day (Sports Guy) or rumors that can be found elsewhere (Gammons). I also see Insider as a veiled attempt to sell the crappy ESPN the Mag.
**********
I recently bought a 1 lb. bag of Starbursts that had an amazing amount of reds in it. Unfortunately, pinks were at slim pickings. Somehow the ratio of reds and pinks got messed up. Why couldn't that have happened with the yellow? A public poll would find that yellow Starbursts are the least favorite.
**********
I am not a big fan of Joel Stein but here is a great opinion article about Grand Theft Auto and the hypocrisy of the recent bad press that Rockstar has received.
I believe that all the heat given to the GTA series from the media and politicians is proof of the ever growing generational gap. As the Nintendo generation has grown up so has the content of games. The generations above me still see video games as a corrupting waste of time. I think my great grandma summed it up best when she said, "Kids these days have big thumbs and small brains." Of course she has no idea of games like this.
**********
Every time that I go to my parents' house I am always surprised at the amount of growth to Shafter and Bakersfield. This article actually shows some long-term hope for the Central Valley. If Bakersfield, Fresno, etc are considered "Third California" then that must put Sonora as "Fourth California".
4 comments:
Don't hate the English Jimmie. It's the French you have qualms with. Here's what you need to know.
Word History: When the British stand in queues (as they have been doing at least since 1837, when this meaning of the word is first recorded in English), they may not realize they form a tail. The French word queue from which the English word is borrowed is a descendant of Latin coda, meaning “tail.” French queue appeared in 1748 in English, referring to a plait of hair hanging down the back of the neck. By 1802 wearing a queue was a regulation in the British army, but by the mid-19th century queues had disappeared along with cocked hats. Latin coda is also the source of Italian coda, which was adopted into English as a musical term (like so many other English musical terms that come from Italian). A coda is thus literally the “tail end” of a movement or composition.
There you go. I suppose you could hate English for not being original enough and borrowing all kinds of words. Maybe you should push for something like Korean. That language was systematically designed. Now they have to deal with stupid anglo words being introduced into the language.
Ah, I guess you're screwed no matter what.
Jimmie here is my problem with one of your links. First you tell me that you are boycotting ESPN.com and then i see a link that takes me directly to Page 2. How do you plead your case?
Adam- thanks for the lesson. I am still bugged by the fact that it has a 4:1 vowel to consonant ratio. Another problem with the English language is "cue". Sounds the same, but has a different meaning and spelling.
Craig- I was going to defend my link to the Sports Guy in my original post but then I forgot. I have made an exception to my protest because the SG is just so funny. (I know, Homer would have never waivered in his hunger strike against the Springfield Isotopes, but what can I say? Not everyone is Homer.)
thanks for letting me know about your blog, even though luke and i are complete flakes in keeping in touch with you and christina.
reading your random thoughts takes me back to the bookshop and simpler days. thanks!
Post a Comment