Many, many years ago, I became an apprentice in Linotype typesetting. Finished the apprenticeship and went off to work in the magical world of printing. But more importantly, we apprentices were taught how to use punctuation, how to check for spelling errors and how to correct them.We set type for all manner of things (those that had been written, corrected and submitted by editors and agents) and were careful to learn how all those funny little marks were used. It was a man's job demanding accuracy and speed. And we had professional proofreaders
who were tops at their jobs.
And then came the age of phototype setting. And typewriter keyboards. And 18 year old girl typists plunking away at the keys.
So the typographers disappeared, the editors and agents found other things to do and the professional proofreaders all but disappeared.
And the kids thought they could do the job that professionals could do. And so the slow destruction of literate writing began.
These same kids are the reason we find light green type with green backgrounds.
The reason we find 6 or 7 different and clashing typefaces in an 8 or 9 word heading.
The reason we have page after page of reverse type (and, yes, Virginia, the more you are forced to read such trash the harder it becomes on your eyes and brain. And the more you tend to skip some things).
And the reason that we seem to ignore easy to read serif type and use eye straining san serif faces. The youngsters have never read even a paper (let alone a book) on typography. And why serif type is easier on the human brain.
There are many reasons for the lack of capability in English among today's people. I thought you might like to hear my theory on some more of the reasons.
"People learning English as a foreign language get taught proper grammar and only learn the vernacular later."
Oh my, Cedric. I have friends (we also take in stray dogs and cats) who have been entered in ESL courses, graduated and passed the citizenship test (yes, they were all in this country legally).
The horror stories they tell me about the classes are proof of idiocracy being rife and disseminated among all those about to become Americans.
I am told story after story about illegal Mexicans who treat the classes as though they are a joke, do not learn any real English (they do, however, get the "dirty" words, right) and yet when the class ends they receive a passing grade. I can only point out to my friends that they themselves are the real winners. They will be able to order dinner, read newspapers and books, and converse with us snobby collitch graduates. No, I do not know why they continually use the Mexican peon as an example. One told me about a Chinese male who spent all his class time cutting out paper designs.
I've also heard how one teacher of ESL (a graduate of a local high school) was asked by a student for some help in writing to a Senator. The teacher started out by having her write "To Whom It My Concern...." The rest of the letter only got worse and less grammatically correct.
You and I, fellow taxpayer, pay that ESL teacher for all the hard work.
Mr. Rudd is holding out a carrot to you. His "single largest infrastructure decision in Australia's history," is the main step of having the entire grip in the hands of 1984.
I lived in Aussie for a number of years (way back when) and learned to respect and love the Australian way of life. Men were men and the women were glad of it.
Please do NOT let them turn you into sheep baaing to be allowed what you have an innate right to, the right to choose what you will, or will not read for yourself. Government lackies hide behind the shields of bigness and transferring your calls to others who transfer you some more until you give up in frustration. A toe hold is all they need to enslave an entire nation.
The idiocy of "censoring" porn will not stop there. Look at Iraq China and North Korea to see what can happen.
Keep fighting Big Brother, Australia.
"Free?" When more than 13 minutes of a 30 minute show are commercials? And the more than 22 minutes of commercials in a one hour show? And constant ads across the show you are trying to watch?
T'aint free, buddy.
The most amusing part is watching our Congressional Representatives and the White House Watch Dogs in their inability to think beyond the most imminent problemns that could occur. Just imagine, if we applied that type of "thinking" to our war policy, we might get mired in a possible unending war in the middle east.
Um, just one thing you forgot. That $100.00 you mentioned has not been attacked by our care-less Congress. In the future it will be lucky to be worth $10.00. Such is progress under our spendthrifts.
A way out for all you H1-B's.
First, become disabled (almost anything works for that), then apply for SSI. When refused, hire a lawyer (there are lots of them that work at 25% for their labors) and finally sue SS for your "rights". You can use mental problems. Works like a charm. Then you can start collecting SSI (whether or not you ever paid a dime into SS) and keep your job (you'll have to take some remuneration in "hidden" mode).
SS has been altered to do that for the immigrants. Like Topsy, it just grew.
Although I agree with your premise, I am still not in favor of some things liberals believe will create Eden on Earth. Hell's Bells, we can't even get one country to get it right.
We should remember that psychologists need to justify their existence (preferably with your money) in any way they can. Making vague, unimportant pronouncements are de rigor for them. Hey, they gotta eat, too.
Oh, Jlarocco ain't it a blast? Some people just have to spread these rumors about unthinking Congresspeople (politically correct term) as they try to influence us into thinking that Washington and Adams (and all those guys who gambled their lives and fortunes for us) operated on lies, evasion and subterfuge. The way the present day thieves do.
Our leaders, our trusted ensigns, would never make obvious errors in legislation. And certainly not because they aren't smart enough to carry the effects through to the end.
One doesn't have to be a "futurist" to see the results of the weak and inadequate legislation they tack their names onto. And sometimes have to defend later.
I am going to peruse the ballots this year and anyone with an Inc. after their name will not receive my vote. Yep. It will go to the competition.
Comcast is a joke as far as security is concerned. Caught with their fingers in the pie too many times to be trusted anymore.
Trusting them with anything seems to mean you are far too naive to be using the internet.
"...using the inaccurate and
inflated claim of excessive cost as a reason to avoid compliance with the
Presidential Records Act."
This has to be hilarious coming from a branch of government that is spending more than a billion bucks a day on a war in the middle east that will gain us nothing but more enemies. Sigh.
Sure it is. And he probably really wanted to know how many angels could dance on the head of a pin? That's as valid and pointlessly inane as one can get. Does that clarify it for you philosophers?
New Mexico does not have a sales tax. It does, however, have a tax on the business selling merchandise or services. It is up to the business itself to pass the tax on, or eat it. Since businesses make a profit out of screwing one more tax into the consumer, they pass it along to us suckers.
I agree 100% with ChiRaven. Another sad thing extant now is the seemingly total sell out of businesses to big government.
As the man said: "The Iraqis need a Constitution? Why not give them ours...we're not using it."
Japan had also been conquered and surrendered unconditionally. The war crimes trials there didn't try to catch all the criminals. I have no idea why so many miscreants were let go.
Curious here. Apparently you're employed by DoD? You stated that "bad things happen" in your post. Do you know, first hand, of any DoD firings because of this lack of action?
I note Senator Arlen Spector is responsible for this rider. It is attached to a bill to fund the military. The various amendments to the amendment made my head swim so much, I gave it up. It is time we, the American People, force our representatives to consider a bill on its own merits, not tack on riders with no connection to the original bill. "Politics as usual" is the offender and needs to be stopped.
Perhaps we could get a riderless bill that would prevent any politician from doing this by denying them the privilege to accept "donations" for their next campaign for re-election?
Let's hope you're right. Our ecofriendly buddy, China, has been probing (sometimes successfully) varous American government sites for some years. In fact, I can't think of any truly armed nation that isn't trying to probe American Government sites.
I hear you. I've had to teach so many "new" friends who have been on the internet for a fair while that they do not need to use their real names, that they don't want to put their SS numbers on a site, etc., etc. I feel the trouble may be in the lack of education. After all, the computer sellers are not going to take the time to train people in internet security unless there's some profit in it for them. It's easier to send a bunch of "geeks" to the person's home and charge them outrageous prices to clean up and then reinstall the operating system (and sell them security packages at outrageous prices). And there's more profit in it.
I agree. Anytime Comcast does anything good should be big headlines all around the country.
First time I saw a "Comcast Cares" ad, I couldn't stop laughing.
If you'd like to be shocked (as I was) pick up an American History textbook from a teens history class. You'll have to dig through a lot of other facts in records to even understand how the "historians" could get so screwed up. Garbage in, garbage out.
Slashdot Mirror
Many, many years ago, I became an apprentice in Linotype typesetting. Finished the apprenticeship and went off to work in the magical world of printing. But more importantly, we apprentices were taught how to use punctuation, how to check for spelling errors and how to correct them.We set type for all manner of things (those that had been written, corrected and submitted by editors and agents) and were careful to learn how all those funny little marks were used. It was a man's job demanding accuracy and speed. And we had professional proofreaders who were tops at their jobs. And then came the age of phototype setting. And typewriter keyboards. And 18 year old girl typists plunking away at the keys. So the typographers disappeared, the editors and agents found other things to do and the professional proofreaders all but disappeared. And the kids thought they could do the job that professionals could do. And so the slow destruction of literate writing began. These same kids are the reason we find light green type with green backgrounds. The reason we find 6 or 7 different and clashing typefaces in an 8 or 9 word heading. The reason we have page after page of reverse type (and, yes, Virginia, the more you are forced to read such trash the harder it becomes on your eyes and brain. And the more you tend to skip some things). And the reason that we seem to ignore easy to read serif type and use eye straining san serif faces. The youngsters have never read even a paper (let alone a book) on typography. And why serif type is easier on the human brain. There are many reasons for the lack of capability in English among today's people. I thought you might like to hear my theory on some more of the reasons.
Shhhhh. Now everybody'll know.
"People learning English as a foreign language get taught proper grammar and only learn the vernacular later." Oh my, Cedric. I have friends (we also take in stray dogs and cats) who have been entered in ESL courses, graduated and passed the citizenship test (yes, they were all in this country legally). The horror stories they tell me about the classes are proof of idiocracy being rife and disseminated among all those about to become Americans. I am told story after story about illegal Mexicans who treat the classes as though they are a joke, do not learn any real English (they do, however, get the "dirty" words, right) and yet when the class ends they receive a passing grade. I can only point out to my friends that they themselves are the real winners. They will be able to order dinner, read newspapers and books, and converse with us snobby collitch graduates. No, I do not know why they continually use the Mexican peon as an example. One told me about a Chinese male who spent all his class time cutting out paper designs. I've also heard how one teacher of ESL (a graduate of a local high school) was asked by a student for some help in writing to a Senator. The teacher started out by having her write "To Whom It My Concern...." The rest of the letter only got worse and less grammatically correct. You and I, fellow taxpayer, pay that ESL teacher for all the hard work.
Mr. Rudd is holding out a carrot to you. His "single largest infrastructure decision in Australia's history," is the main step of having the entire grip in the hands of 1984. I lived in Aussie for a number of years (way back when) and learned to respect and love the Australian way of life. Men were men and the women were glad of it. Please do NOT let them turn you into sheep baaing to be allowed what you have an innate right to, the right to choose what you will, or will not read for yourself. Government lackies hide behind the shields of bigness and transferring your calls to others who transfer you some more until you give up in frustration. A toe hold is all they need to enslave an entire nation. The idiocy of "censoring" porn will not stop there. Look at Iraq China and North Korea to see what can happen. Keep fighting Big Brother, Australia.
Richard Dawkins Sight? You bet it is. Turns my stomach just opening it. Who the hell buys crap from him?
"Free?" When more than 13 minutes of a 30 minute show are commercials? And the more than 22 minutes of commercials in a one hour show? And constant ads across the show you are trying to watch? T'aint free, buddy. The most amusing part is watching our Congressional Representatives and the White House Watch Dogs in their inability to think beyond the most imminent problemns that could occur. Just imagine, if we applied that type of "thinking" to our war policy, we might get mired in a possible unending war in the middle east.
Um, just one thing you forgot. That $100.00 you mentioned has not been attacked by our care-less Congress. In the future it will be lucky to be worth $10.00. Such is progress under our spendthrifts.
A way out for all you H1-B's. First, become disabled (almost anything works for that), then apply for SSI. When refused, hire a lawyer (there are lots of them that work at 25% for their labors) and finally sue SS for your "rights". You can use mental problems. Works like a charm. Then you can start collecting SSI (whether or not you ever paid a dime into SS) and keep your job (you'll have to take some remuneration in "hidden" mode). SS has been altered to do that for the immigrants. Like Topsy, it just grew.
Although I agree with your premise, I am still not in favor of some things liberals believe will create Eden on Earth. Hell's Bells, we can't even get one country to get it right. We should remember that psychologists need to justify their existence (preferably with your money) in any way they can. Making vague, unimportant pronouncements are de rigor for them. Hey, they gotta eat, too.
Oh, Jlarocco ain't it a blast? Some people just have to spread these rumors about unthinking Congresspeople (politically correct term) as they try to influence us into thinking that Washington and Adams (and all those guys who gambled their lives and fortunes for us) operated on lies, evasion and subterfuge. The way the present day thieves do. Our leaders, our trusted ensigns, would never make obvious errors in legislation. And certainly not because they aren't smart enough to carry the effects through to the end. One doesn't have to be a "futurist" to see the results of the weak and inadequate legislation they tack their names onto. And sometimes have to defend later. I am going to peruse the ballots this year and anyone with an Inc. after their name will not receive my vote. Yep. It will go to the competition.
Comcast is a joke as far as security is concerned. Caught with their fingers in the pie too many times to be trusted anymore. Trusting them with anything seems to mean you are far too naive to be using the internet.
"...using the inaccurate and inflated claim of excessive cost as a reason to avoid compliance with the Presidential Records Act." This has to be hilarious coming from a branch of government that is spending more than a billion bucks a day on a war in the middle east that will gain us nothing but more enemies. Sigh.
Sure it is. And he probably really wanted to know how many angels could dance on the head of a pin?
That's as valid and pointlessly inane as one can get. Does that clarify it for you philosophers?
New Mexico does not have a sales tax. It does, however, have a tax on the business selling merchandise or services. It is up to the business itself to pass the tax on, or eat it. Since businesses make a profit out of screwing one more tax into the consumer, they pass it along to us suckers.
Marvelous humor. Where's your web site link?
I agree 100% with ChiRaven. Another sad thing extant now is the seemingly total sell out of businesses to big government. As the man said: "The Iraqis need a Constitution? Why not give them ours...we're not using it."
Strange. Slashdot's CallingID rates this site: liveleak.com as unsafe. Says the owner hides its idenity.
Japan had also been conquered and surrendered unconditionally. The war crimes trials there didn't try to catch all the criminals. I have no idea why so many miscreants were let go.
Curious here. Apparently you're employed by DoD? You stated that "bad things happen" in your post. Do you know, first hand, of any DoD firings because of this lack of action?
I note Senator Arlen Spector is responsible for this rider. It is attached to a bill to fund the military. The various amendments to the amendment made my head swim so much, I gave it up. It is time we, the American People, force our representatives to consider a bill on its own merits, not tack on riders with no connection to the original bill. "Politics as usual" is the offender and needs to be stopped. Perhaps we could get a riderless bill that would prevent any politician from doing this by denying them the privilege to accept "donations" for their next campaign for re-election?
Let's hope you're right. Our ecofriendly buddy, China, has been probing (sometimes successfully) varous American government sites for some years. In fact, I can't think of any truly armed nation that isn't trying to probe American Government sites.
I hear you. I've had to teach so many "new" friends who have been on the internet for a fair while that they do not need to use their real names, that they don't want to put their SS numbers on a site, etc., etc.
I feel the trouble may be in the lack of education. After all, the computer sellers are not going to take the time to train people in internet security unless there's some profit in it for them. It's easier to send a bunch of "geeks" to the person's home and charge them outrageous prices to clean up and then reinstall the operating system (and sell them security packages at outrageous prices). And there's more profit in it.
An excellent commentary. Thank you, Daftshadow.
I agree. Anytime Comcast does anything good should be big headlines all around the country. First time I saw a "Comcast Cares" ad, I couldn't stop laughing.
If you'd like to be shocked (as I was) pick up an American History textbook from a teens history class. You'll have to dig through a lot of other facts in records to even understand how the "historians" could get so screwed up. Garbage in, garbage out.