"In a democracy (‘rule by mob’), those who refuse to learn from history will be the majority and will dictate that everyone else suffer for their ignorance."
Five Year Rule? Five years after kids move out, whatever they behind is yours to do with as you will, right?
OK. Just checking. . .
Old, discarded tech; office equipment/supplies; clothing; stuffed toys; bedding; artwork: all on the block, headed for the tip, donated; entering common household use as OURS, now. Whatev’. ‘s’way it goes. . .
It’s a wide open field, and someone has to fill it: Performance artist whose medium is pi$$ed-off a$$hats.
A recent FarceBook discussion included this comment from an acquaintance:
In the world of Leninist-style Socialism, the “secret police” would abduct or “arrest” anyone who they are even remotely suspicious of being “enemies of the state” & interrogate or torture them in Russian Prisons known as Gulags. Lubyanka Square Building is a very large, imposing structure & was the central Russian/Soviet KGB operating facility for interrogating prisoners.
Many people who entered that building never came out of it alive.
Moved me to ponder the possible fate of “secret police” attempting such things here in America’s Third World County™ where the populace is better-armed, per capita, than the local National Guard unit.
I’d want to run the popcorn and beer concession.
. . . that my fav line from Ghost, by John Ringo is,
“Dead bad guys and naked girls. It’s like an op in a titty bar.”
Yeh, there are tons of great lines/scenes in the book, but somehow, that one gets me every time. (And, yes, since confession is good for the soul, I do re-read the first book of the Paladin of Shadows series every now and then. It’s a quick “palate cleanser” *heh*)
[Just a lil stream of consciousness rant. . . ]
One thing the Internet is really good for: revealing the extent of subliteracy1 in society. Small example: folks who misuse as nouns compound words that are adjectives, instead of using the separate adjective/noun phrase that applies, or who misuse adverbs that have been formed as compound words instead of using the adverb/verb phrase that is appropriate. FarceBook yields a good example. It offers “Log in” to, urm, log in but offers the noun, “logout,” for the action of logging out, instead of “log out,” as it ought. Other examples are almost endless, it seems.
“War monger” when the word is “warmonger.”
“Backseat” (adjective) when referring to a “back seat.”
“Nevermind” (*gagamaggot*–an almost sure sign of a 20-something nearly illiterate grup; still useful when writing archaic dialog, though meaning not at all what the aforementioned grups might intend) instead of “never mind.”
“Alot” (which is a “word” only in the nearly non-existant minds of self-made morons) instead of “a lot.”
Misuse of “altogether” (a perfectly useful word meaning “entirely” in place of “all together” (something like “as a group”).
Misuse of “everyday” (adjective: commonplace, quotidian) for “every day” (a regular, daily occurrence).
And, of course, the plethora of examples of verb phrases versus compound nouns that poorly-read people get wrong with fair consistency, because they have never (or have not often enough) read examples used correctly.
When I read things like this in someone’s text, I can be fairly certain that they are lazy thinkers who have not bothered to do their basic homework (that is, bother to become literate) before committing their slop to text.
Of course, these little indicators are just part of the package, and more subliteracy indicators await the conscious reader. Still, these canaries can give a quick tip to careful readers that the oxygen’s being replaced with toxic fumes in whatever text they contain.
Thank you, Internet, for showing the true value of a hyper-democratic society: a rush to the bottom of an ever lower common denominator.
[micro-mini addendum]
A slightly different problem, of course, is dumbass illiterates misusing words they think they know the meanings of, and we’ve probably all seen a bellyfull of this. From the mother country of the English language, published recently in a “professionally edited,” internationally read newsrag, this:
“Each date was captured on camera, with the ‘big reveal’ illiciting [sic] wildly different reactions from the women. While some find it funny, at least two of the women struggle to hide their disappointment at Joe’s conceit [sic].”
THAT got published?!? *gagamaggot* No wonder illiteracy in English is rampant. . . and not just in the US.
1subliteracy: a neologism I have not seen elsewhere, though someone else must certainly use it, intended to convey just what it appears to convey: a condition of poor literacy that does not approach a standard that could be reasonably called “literacy” by any honest person. Subliterates can generally puzzle out the words formed by letters, though they often have only vague ideas–if any at all–what the words they have puzzled out actually mean. And in those cases where subliterates do know words’ meanings, their reading vocabulary is vastly overshadowed by their oral vocabulary, rendering their own attempts to reproduce what they have heard (quite often from those who, like them, are not at all well-read) incorrect.
Gross examples of this are simple misused words such as using “then” for “than” (or vice versa) or any of the plethora of sadly laughable misuses regularly promulgated in social media, blogs, discussion lists and even Mass MEdia Podpeople Hivemind “professionally” written and edited subliterate crap.
But a sure sign of subliteracy–chiefly of being exceedingly poorly read–is this problem of either misuse of compound words or the failure to use a common compound word where it is appropriate. This is a common failing of poorly-read writers.
Remember: Literacy of College Graduates Is on Decline
Cluebat: Things are no better in 2015 than they were in 2005 when that WaPo article was written about the 2003 NAAL. In fact, the 2003 NAAL data (not the Ed Department spin on the data) showed the situation to be worse than the article states, because the “complex text” that “recent college graduates” couldn’t read and comprehend included bus schedules, want ads and med instructions as found on prescription med bottles.
Do note: I do not consider myself as well read as either of my grandfathers, for example. Just saying.
. . . one article at a time.
So some subliterate (backed up by subliterate editor[s?]) has written a “helpful tip” article about cleaning one’s oven in an amazing way that anyone who’s not dumber than a bag of hammers already knows. naturally, it’s peppered with crap like this:
“Let sit over night [sic]. The baking soda will need at least 12 hours to work it`s [sic] magic.”
No, moron. “Overnight”–one word–and “its” is the possessive of “it”.
If the “writer” were literate or at least had a literate editorial staff to back her, this crap wouldn’t be in the article, useless as it is to anyone who is actually an adult.
*sigh* So maybe there’s an adult American somewhere who is so clueless that they’ve never been exposed to baking soda and vinegar for cleaning. Wastes of oxygen.
Recent SPAMmer tried,
How come you dont have your website viewable in mobile format? Can not see anything in my Droid.
And that’s what made submitting a comment on a post the SPAMmer *cough* could not see *cough* so very stupid. And then there’s the simple fact that I access it from ANDROID devices pretty regularly.
SPAMmer? FAIL.
Well, not exactly, but. . .
[You’ll need to channel a memory of “Please pass the jelly” from an old Polaner All Fruit commercial for this one. . . ]
Having a jelly glass full of Irish Red with my plain (onion-seasoned) burger and Larry the Cable Guy’s Bacon-“flavored” Macaroni mix (yeh, yeh, there are veggies, too, but still. . . ). Not half bad for a “fast food” meal. Yes, I should (and usually do) cook real meals, but once in a while. . .
One simply does NOT play (or worse, sing) this song in my Wonder Woman’s presence if one wants to stay alive. . .
Every now and then, someone has said to me, either humorously or not, that I’m full of shit. I always smile at the patent falsehood. I can’t be “full of shit,” because I seem to have three or four large bowel movements each day.
Each one is a moving experience.