It depends on the qigong. Those who teach it as some kind of mystical healing energy promoting exercise are talking nonsense. When viewed as the gentle physical exercise that it is, though, it's extremely effective in maintaining health simply because it's far easier on the body than most western methods, which tend to be more harsher and more destructive, and is therefore ideal for those who can't (or don't want to) participate in higher intensity workouts and can be maintained over a long period. In addition to that, it teaches correct posture, movement, and breathing. It doesn't, however, provide any benefits that can't be gained another way, by, say, a combination of bodyweight resistance exercise and Alexander Technique.
I agree with the typing thing, and was thus very pleased when I acquired my most recent laptop; it has a button placed just above the trackpad that toggles it on and off, just below the spacebar. This is disproportionately useful.
I am, however, delighted to learn that none of my friends would possibly fall for such a scam were my account to be hacked. This is thanks to my past email communications with them; henceforth, I shall cite my ridiculous pedantry as a security measure.
I have to disregard those, as they're written at the edge of the kerb. I don't usually stare at my feet before crossing the road, so the one on the opposite side is closer to my eyeline. As I can read perfectly well upside-down when the print is that large, they appear to be telling me to look in the wrong direction (unless it's a one-way street). Bah, say I. Bah.
They did. Their communicators were pin-on badges, as demonstrated by the way they removed them in some episodes. We can make those now, for goodness' sake.
The upcoming film is based on this comic book series, apparently. I'm more interested in that one, as they're apparently examining the harder science fiction in the concept. I also expect stuff to blow up because Bruce Willis is in it.
I don't think that spelling amongst the populace at large has become any better or worse since the internets made their first appearance; it's just that we're now subjected to so much more of the crap that people produce because they can easily publish it to a wide audience themselves. When everything was in print, it all went through legions of proofing, copy-editing and rewriting to ensure it was saying what the author/commissioner wanted it to say and reflected professionally on the publisher. Now, any idiot can throw something up and correct it later if someone complains (which is, I suppose, the same process in a roundabout way and with more arguments).
I agree with your point with relation to our presumptions about the intelligence of the writer. I know it's shallow, but I often find myself disregarding a perfectly good argument because someone wrote 'they're' instead of 'their' and finished the sentence with 'lol' rather than punctuation.
On a vaguely related note, the number of people who don't know how to use a thesaurus properly is staggering. I spent half an hour, once, trying to explain to someone that just because a word is listed under what you just looked up in the thesaurus doesn't mean you can swap the damned thing out! Gah. I gave up after that and let him get a D (yes, this was a while ago). Did that have anything to do with the topic? No, I just felt like a rant. Gnash, gnash.
My spelling has never been the problem (look out for the *ahem* deliberate mistakes later in this comment!), as I was an irritating little swot at school and learned every word I could get my eyes on. My typing is far more likely to contain errors, however, as I never really learned to do it properly and modern word processing software corrects so much before I've noticed it's wrong that I have little chance to check and correct the errors I'm making. Turning off all of the autocorrect options (half from irritation and half from necessity; it's very annoying when a word processor 'corrects' your capitalisation when you're trying to write out a variable list where M and m mean different things) alerted me to the sheer number of mistakes I was making. I found myself making errors with words I knew and had to look them up to find out why they had a red squiggle underneath them.
I did think that typing in place of writing was causing me to forget how to spell or use correct grammatical constructs, but I've recently started scrawling on a pad with a fountain pen for relaxation purposes and found that as soon as I had a pen in my hand everything on the page was spelled and punctuated correctly. It isn't just a case of my not noticing because errors aren't pointed out to me; they're also fine when I copy-type them later. Doing this has also alerted me to how little I write; my handwriting used to be quite pleasant to look at. Now, it's practically illegible. I broke the thumb on my writing hand about four years ago and have written so little since then that I have yet to relearn the required relaxed dexterity in that hand to write neatly.
Why there should be a link between my method of putting words on the page and my ability to spell is uncertain. As I didn't start typing regularly until I went to university, which was about the same time I started using letters more algebraically than lexically, maybe I just never linked the language skills to typing as efficiently as I did to manual script. Well, that's my theory, anyway. Feel free to tear it to shreds.
Workhorses? Long-distance transportation? High-speed conveyances with a load-bearing capacity greater than that of a human and with an existing infrastructure? Just some thoughts.
I, on the other hand, am the neat one in my relationship. My section of the airing cupboard is full of neat, folded clothing. My girlfriend's is discernible as a mass of fabrics. I have requested that she refrain from 'helping' me with my laundry.
Also, I wash lights and colours together because I wash them at forty degrees and the colours don't generally run at that temperature (new jeans excepted).
It depends on the qigong. Those who teach it as some kind of mystical healing energy promoting exercise are talking nonsense. When viewed as the gentle physical exercise that it is, though, it's extremely effective in maintaining health simply because it's far easier on the body than most western methods, which tend to be more harsher and more destructive, and is therefore ideal for those who can't (or don't want to) participate in higher intensity workouts and can be maintained over a long period. In addition to that, it teaches correct posture, movement, and breathing. It doesn't, however, provide any benefits that can't be gained another way, by, say, a combination of bodyweight resistance exercise and Alexander Technique.
I agree with the typing thing, and was thus very pleased when I acquired my most recent laptop; it has a button placed just above the trackpad that toggles it on and off, just below the spacebar. This is disproportionately useful.
That's true. He was a carpenter; he would have used wood.
Hey, them's the brakes.
He created that post.
That is rather crap
I am, however, delighted to learn that none of my friends would possibly fall for such a scam were my account to be hacked. This is thanks to my past email communications with them; henceforth, I shall cite my ridiculous pedantry as a security measure.
And, of course, "Do I feel lucky?"
Well, do you?
So, if we ever find a real Stargate, and there's an alien scandal of some sort, will that be Stargategate?
I have to disregard those, as they're written at the edge of the kerb. I don't usually stare at my feet before crossing the road, so the one on the opposite side is closer to my eyeline. As I can read perfectly well upside-down when the print is that large, they appear to be telling me to look in the wrong direction (unless it's a one-way street). Bah, say I. Bah.
It fell down the back of the sofa with the punctuation you lost.
They did. Their communicators were pin-on badges, as demonstrated by the way they removed them in some episodes. We can make those now, for goodness' sake.
I believe you have misinterpreted the meaning of the previous post.
I'm sure there are many people who do think it's OK to download TV shows via iplayer without actually owning a TV license.
Like the BBC?
As it transpires, it's not actually a football, but for some twisted reason, it's still called that.
I was operating on the understanding that it's because the ball is a foot long.
Link! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Surrogates
The upcoming film is based on this comic book series, apparently. I'm more interested in that one, as they're apparently examining the harder science fiction in the concept. I also expect stuff to blow up because Bruce Willis is in it.
The other main advantage, of course, is that you don't have the pay the actors as much if you can't see their faces.
I don't think that spelling amongst the populace at large has become any better or worse since the internets made their first appearance; it's just that we're now subjected to so much more of the crap that people produce because they can easily publish it to a wide audience themselves. When everything was in print, it all went through legions of proofing, copy-editing and rewriting to ensure it was saying what the author/commissioner wanted it to say and reflected professionally on the publisher. Now, any idiot can throw something up and correct it later if someone complains (which is, I suppose, the same process in a roundabout way and with more arguments).
I agree with your point with relation to our presumptions about the intelligence of the writer. I know it's shallow, but I often find myself disregarding a perfectly good argument because someone wrote 'they're' instead of 'their' and finished the sentence with 'lol' rather than punctuation.
On a vaguely related note, the number of people who don't know how to use a thesaurus properly is staggering. I spent half an hour, once, trying to explain to someone that just because a word is listed under what you just looked up in the thesaurus doesn't mean you can swap the damned thing out! Gah. I gave up after that and let him get a D (yes, this was a while ago). Did that have anything to do with the topic? No, I just felt like a rant. Gnash, gnash.
My spelling has never been the problem (look out for the *ahem* deliberate mistakes later in this comment!), as I was an irritating little swot at school and learned every word I could get my eyes on. My typing is far more likely to contain errors, however, as I never really learned to do it properly and modern word processing software corrects so much before I've noticed it's wrong that I have little chance to check and correct the errors I'm making. Turning off all of the autocorrect options (half from irritation and half from necessity; it's very annoying when a word processor 'corrects' your capitalisation when you're trying to write out a variable list where M and m mean different things) alerted me to the sheer number of mistakes I was making. I found myself making errors with words I knew and had to look them up to find out why they had a red squiggle underneath them.
I did think that typing in place of writing was causing me to forget how to spell or use correct grammatical constructs, but I've recently started scrawling on a pad with a fountain pen for relaxation purposes and found that as soon as I had a pen in my hand everything on the page was spelled and punctuated correctly. It isn't just a case of my not noticing because errors aren't pointed out to me; they're also fine when I copy-type them later. Doing this has also alerted me to how little I write; my handwriting used to be quite pleasant to look at. Now, it's practically illegible. I broke the thumb on my writing hand about four years ago and have written so little since then that I have yet to relearn the required relaxed dexterity in that hand to write neatly.
Why there should be a link between my method of putting words on the page and my ability to spell is uncertain. As I didn't start typing regularly until I went to university, which was about the same time I started using letters more algebraically than lexically, maybe I just never linked the language skills to typing as efficiently as I did to manual script. Well, that's my theory, anyway. Feel free to tear it to shreds.
Who gives a fuck about an Oxford comma? I've seen those English dramas too. They're cruel.
Yes, I quote Vampire Weekend lyrics in lieu of wit.
He forgot G-Force *flees*
Gerbils? Fleas, surely.
Workhorses? Long-distance transportation? High-speed conveyances with a load-bearing capacity greater than that of a human and with an existing infrastructure? Just some thoughts.
I, on the other hand, am the neat one in my relationship. My section of the airing cupboard is full of neat, folded clothing. My girlfriend's is discernible as a mass of fabrics. I have requested that she refrain from 'helping' me with my laundry.
Also, I wash lights and colours together because I wash them at forty degrees and the colours don't generally run at that temperature (new jeans excepted).
At least until they start getting all uppity about 'organic production methods'. Damn zombie hippies.
I didn't know common sense when it comes to discretionary income was news.
Well, I haven't seen it about a lot recently.
How's your blood pressure?