quote:

Originally posted by Thalassicuss:
whoa! could you dumb that down for me a bit E?
The weirs are pretty easy to find even now. it is hard for me to imagine that there were not enough fish for everyone back in the day. Pretty hard not to catch one here in the 07.
I am curiousthough,would you be able to forward me the Hayden's dear?

Done. Check your mail.

Actually, the funny thing about it is that, according to Hayden, these social developments arrise from abundance instead of scarcity, as was previously thought. Something to do with the growth rate and regeneration of certain plants and animals, which allowed them to be cultivated without exhausting the resource. It's all in the article.

quote:

Weir pics for Mr Boog

Wow...I wanna play!

Finally got to finish reading spook country today. It goes without saying that I loved the book.

I will most likely wait a week or two and reread it.

As of yesterday I'm on vacation, but the fun never stops. Lots of chores to do today.
Went with the kid to get his car registered in this state, and it blew the whole a.m.

When we got home I managed to verbal judo the computer out of his sticky hands and read the week's worth of "what happened 2u today" that I had mostly missed.

Twilight M, saw the video in it's entirety and enjoyed. But yeah, it is a little disturbing.
Kudos non the less. You've got a strange vision in you. They say that it takes one to know one, so I'll let my moon in scorpio salute you.

quote:

Originally posted by colin:
Also, just because I enjoy living dangerously: There is an argument to be made for using he as the gender-neutral pronoun.

Doubt it.

I have an article coming out in Bitch magazine about GNPs in like a month. Basically 'they' was the widely used GNP until male Latin enthusiasts decided to make new rules to fit English to Latin grammar (this is where 'don't use a preposition at the end of a sentence' came in). Although "neologisms" as you call them (like "thon") existed as early as the 1800s.

Nightmare in Silicon uses "zir" for the whole 2nd half of the novel to refer to a character who is neither female nor male.

quote:

Originally posted by Justy:
Strunk & White is indispensable. Finally picked up a new edition after having lost mine. Forgot how much I missed the security of having it available.

Did you get the new one, with illustrations from Maira Kalman?

(As you may tell, I'm catching up from several entries back)

Happy belated birthday, gr!

Sorry about your head, Kradlum!

And weren't GNPs the excuse for starting this damn war in the first place?

quote:

And weren't GNPs the excuse for starting this damn war in the first place?

SOBs are the reason we are in the war. Rich, dumb, white SOBs.

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I have an article coming out in Bitch magazine about GNPs in like a month.

Ah, I didn't say the argument was bulletproof, just that there was one.

Usages change. I applaud the resurgence of they (while noting that thon, and others, can still be called neologisms, in my book, because they never caught on-- I suppose there's another argument to be made there).

quote:

Nightmare in Silicon uses "zir" for the whole 2nd half of the novel to refer to a character who is neither female nor male.

The question of what pronoun to use to refer to an entity that belongs to neither (or both?) human sexes is different from the question of what pronoun to use in those rare "gender-neutral" situations, in my mind. I'd suggest "it", but this is Science Fiction, so we're allowed to make up as many new words as we like.

Honestly, I think fussing over whether to use he as a gender neutral pronoun is only a short step above worrying about whether we should come up with a new word for manholes. Still, the general shift to using they or allowing either he or she is a good (if minor) one.

Citing Wikipedia, Colin?

I rest my case.

[shrug]

It's convenient, and I think is has a certain lumpen, proletariat charm.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: colin,

I have always liked "they". Just as I have never found any problem with prepositions at the end of a sentence. Latin rules are great for Latin users. English is not Latin.

Kradlum: I have a scar by my left eyebrow where I did the same thing, twenty years ago. Broke my glasses doing it too. My sister witnessed the whole thing and thought I had momentarily been infected by devils. You know.

I "smoked heroin, snorted cocaine, took ecstasy pills and horse tranquilizer ketamine, washed down with whisky and vodka" with Amy Winehouse.

quote:

EoS may not encode a set of rules that everyone agrees on, but it does have the advantage of being very succinct and very clear about those rules, so you can decide, in a well-informed fashion, exactly which ones you want to break.

Like some claim the USA Constitution is. Close enough, I suppose... for government work. [!ouch!]

quote:

I couldn't have sucker punched myself better if I tried.

Slacker. Lookit Boogerhead. Does he give up like that?

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I think is has a certain lumpen, proletariat charm.

Like doughnuts?

Maybe, BJ, maybe like donuts. I like donuts, in moderation.

quote:

Originally posted by Sentinel400:
I have always liked "they". Just as I have never found any problem with prepositions at the end of a sentence. Latin rules are great for Latin users. English is not Latin.

I think the best rules are simply attempts to codify the best, clearest forms of common usage, which is why I like the "singular" they as a gender-neutral pronoun, and don't object on base principles if someone decides a preposition is what they want to end a sentence with.

I hope I didn't give the impression I worship Elements of Style, because I don't, and if I play the grammar Nazi from time to time, it is with tongue firmly in cheek. Viva unconventional usage!

I spend way too much time worrying about gender neutral pronouns, and I've come to pretty much the same conclusion you have, Colin. I use "they" in informal writing, and badly overused "he or she" in formal writing until deciding that I'd just waffle between genders a lot (which, I believe, is actually encouraged in the current APA handbook).

And, since no one else is saying it, I've got to point out that "ze" and "zir" sound pretty silly, and adding them to the English language now is about as graceful as artificially mutating the language to adopt Latin grammar.

Gory. Violent. Dark. Gives you a glimmer of shiny, bright hope and then plunges you into utter despair, then a supposedly blissful death.
A perfect love story, TMinotaur. It's the visualization of the events what counts, the technical polish can come later. An interesting video.
And of course, what else could be expected with such a co-star? : )

About to whine at you for not posting it to the latest 'Video' thread but now I see it's closed. Time to create a new one...

Get well soon, Archie and Krad!