“Me and a bunch of my friends had rented. . . ” That magic “and” – once again used to make the monumentally stupid “Ugg. *chimp scratches; chows on louse found in armpit* Me had rented. . . ” into something acceptable to idiots.
Lies, Damned Lies, and “News”
NEVER (as in DO NOT EVER) take “reporting” on ANYTHING about ANY scientific research as anywhere near what the actual research may (or may not) have shown. EVERY Mass MEdia Podpeople Hivemind “report” on science in the last couple of decades, at least, that I have read has either been grossly inaccurate (because of stupidity–willful or otherwise–in the reporting and editorial staff? Quite often) or a deliberate attempt to deceive for scaremongering purposes. If the topic is at al interesting to you, LOOK UP THE ACTUAL RESEARCH and read the actual paper cited, if available. It is the only way to discover whether the Hivemind “report” is lying to you or not. Well, you could ask your friendly neighborhood scientist to review it for you, I suppose. ? If you know one who is honest and can actually do decent research.
Gather up all your hens’ teeth to pay for the consultation, though.
Olde Pharte Stuff. . .
. . .only THIS time Olde Pharte Tomcat stuff. Old guy (going on 19 years) has developed a skin condition. Petting him (while he was in his Demand Position, my lap) resulted in well-urined jeans, so. . . a soothing bath was in order. For him. Yeh, soothed his skin condition (for now; will require followups), but means, shucky darns *heh*, he’s avoiding my lap, now. Yeh, what a burden to bear: having non-cat-blocked access to my lil laptop.
He’s parked right in front of a heater vent, smartycat.
People Just Gonna “Peep”
Yeh, it’s a bit small-minded of me, but what can I say? Those folks who assert that music in a Xian church can ONLY be a cappella–no instruments–like to say that musical instruments featured in worship in the Book of Revelation don’t count because references to musical instruments in Revelation don’t mean what they say. Like, for example, the words in the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven” apparently do not mean what they say, either. *shrugs* Their self-deception is no greater than those who assert that ONLY Psalm-singing is allowed, for some obscure, unscriptural reasons they rationalize with eisegesis and hand-waving.
It’s just the way of folks to lie to themselves to justify their own biases, ya know?
The Joys of Cat “Ownership”
A bit tired of dealing with “cat-bottom” flavored coffee. Wish I could effect a good way of keeping them from waving their, urm, posteriors over my coffee mug. Oh, well. At least my mugs are cleaned frequently. *sigh*
No, It Is Not a “Curse Word.”
“Don’t Care; Won’t Read”
Is “Thanks for sharing” the current, least-dismissive seeming “TL;DR,” or “Does not confirm my bias, so I’m ignoring it” dismissal? It most often assumes the place of “Don’t care; won’t read.”
“Dunning-Krugerand”* Writers FTL**
All kinds of little “gotchas” are traps for Dunning-Krugerand writers. One of my fav gripes is the inability of some to distinguish between uses of “have got” and “have gotten.” If nothing else has emerged in text before “have got,” its typical misuse by Dunning-Krugerand writers in cases where “must” cannot be substituted, for example, is a sure tell.
*Dunning-Krugerand is a term Larry Correia coined to refer to those incompetents who have a massive, undue respect for their own non-existent competence.
**FTL here denotes “For the Loss.”
*shrugs* I think These Things So You Don’t Have To
I kinda snicker a little bit when someone starts talking/writing about “sniper rifles.” My two word internal response is always “Simo Häyhä.” Yes, there are specialty firearms designed for extreme long-range accuracy that are frequently used primarily by snipers, but ANY rifle is a “sniper rifle” when it is in the hands of a sniper. Just say, “rifle.”
Ah! From the File, “Book Blurbs That Make You Say ‘NO!'”
“If you like Hitchhikers guide [sic] to the Galaxy and the Starship Troopers movie, you’ll love this book!”
Firstly, the movie adaptation of Starship Troopers sucked swamp gas. Secondly, The two VERY different stories had almost nothing in common whatsoever, apart from the fact that the books they were based on were a couple of the best works of two very different masters of the science fiction field.
If the execrably written and edited excerpt from a book blurb that went downhill from there is at all representative of the book, then the best thing to do is flip on by with a curt, “No.”
Aside–and having nothing to do with the comment above–I dislike “dramatis personae” lists in the front of a book. Sure, I imagine it might help folks keep characters straight, but I think a writer is better served (and better serves his readers) by organically introducing his characters within the narrative, as different characters meet, and, although if a book is in a series and I have read 1,000-1,100 books–not all fiction, of course–in the six months between episodes (and that’s roughly a six month reading list for me), I still prefer to exercise my lil grey cells and recall the characters that were introduced previously w/o reading down a list of ’em.