The serial comma is the comma that comes before the “and” in a list. Its use can drastically change a sentence’s meaning and among writers, the issue is like flag burning in politics. So here’s something to fan the flames:
NPR had a good article on the serial comma in June of 2011, when people mistakenly thought that Oxford was changing its guidelines to drop its namesake comma.
Tony Horton, the P90X guy, has been writing for Ask Men lately. In this week’s column, he talks about calorie counting and takes the same view Churchill took on democracy: it’s pretty bad, but it’s the best we’ve got. The reason it’s bad is because even if done extremely well and diligently, it’s a poor approximation. There is no way for the average person to exactly count how many calories are in an apple or a chicken wing. And there is no way for them to know how many calories they burn throughout the day from various activities and the base metabolic rate.
Photo by John Schilling
Actually, there is a way: hunger. But the problem with hunger is modern Western culture. Hunger is not always true hunger, but a craving for junk food that tastes good, for a reward at the end of the day, or for something to do because Boardwalk Empire is good, but kinda boring. The challenge for most people is to be able to tell the difference between hunger and cravings, to distinguish the true meaning of cravings, and to quench them with healthy choices: banana instead of ice cream, salmon instead of potato chips. And calorie counting is a great way to start on that path: it shows with numbers just how bad unhealthy food is, with its high calorie content and low nutritional value.
And after that information is ingrained into the super-ego, we can consciously make healthy food choices that the id will accept and eventually get our instincts back on a healthy track like they were meant to be, before sugar, preservatives and chemicals hijacked our diet.
From Ask Men
Firstly, it turns out that back in the ’70s, Newt Gingrich used to look exactly like Dwight Schrute.
Rainn Wilson, the actor who plays Dwight, must’ve also thought this was funny because for a while, he changed his Twitter picture to an old one of Newt.
Secondly, The Onion is reporting that a time traveler from the year 1998 has appeared earlier this week, warning people that in his time, Newt Gingrich is a nefarious, adulterous hypocrite:
WASHINGTON—Saying he came bearing an important message from the past, a stranger from the year 1998 appeared on the Capitol steps Thursday and urged voters not to elect Newt Gingrich president in 2012. “In the late 20th century, Newt Gingrich is a complete disgrace!” said the time-traveling man, warning Americans that 14 years in the not-so-distant past, Gingrich becomes the only speaker in the history of the House of Representatives to be found guilty on ethics charges, and is later forced to resign. ”In my time, he shuts down the federal government for 28 days because his feelings get hurt over having to sit at the back of Air Force One. Gingrich gets our president impeached for lying about marital infidelities when, at the same time, Gingrich himself is engaged in his own extramarital affairs. And for God’s sake, he divorced his first wife after she was diagnosed with cancer. Won’t anyone listen to me?!?” When asked about Donald Trump, the time-traveler said he had no information on the man, as no one from 1998 cared about a ”washed-up fake millionaire.”
And finally, someone made a YouTube video called “You’re A Mean One, Newt Gingrinch,” which mostly highlights how much Newt hates kids and his wives, but set to the theme music of How The Grinch Stole Christmas:
Via Happy Place, The Onion, and YouTube
To point out the absurdity of laws that (pointlessly) ban specific driving distractions like texting, The Onion has a short article about a new ban on kaleidoscoping:
TRENTON, NJ— Citing the nearly 1,500 deaths that occurred in the United States last year as a result of kaleidoscoping while driving, New Jersey governor Chris Christie signed legislation Friday banning the practice. “If you need to see complex geometric patterns made by colorful beads and glass shifting in front of your eyes while you rotate a cylinder, pull over to the side of the road first or, better yet, wait until you reach your destination,” Christie said after signing the bill known as Lisa’s Law, named for a teen killed when a kaleidoscoping driver crossed the center line and struck her car in 2009. “Studies have shown that kaleidoscoping while operating a motor vehicle is the equivalent of driving under the influence of four alcoholic beverages and two tabs of LSD. It simply isn’t safe.” Lobbyists for the kaleidoscope industry maintain their product is totally safe for drivers if they use the hands-free option.
A good analogy for bans on driving while texting would be bans on driving while drunk, which would miss all the other forms of intoxication that impair drivers, legal (e.g., Tylenol P.M.) or otherwise (e.g., PCP). The truth is, most of these laws, and many other “tough on <some danger>” laws, are just means for politicians to use to get elected. “Re-elect me, because I passed the texting ban. It’s virtually unenforceable and it didn’t save any lives, but… at least I did something while in office.”
From The Onion
The latest of Ron Paul’s moneybombs has a goal of raising 250k$ as a rally to end the TSA – in the unlikely event that Ron is elected. This comes on the heels of Ron Paul’s son, Senator Rand Paul being detained by the TSA on January 23rd. (Rand is short for Randal and used to go by Randy — he is strangely not named after the libertarian queen, Ayn Rand.) The naked body scanners at the airports, which are notoriously unreliable, picked up an anomaly in his leg, so the TSA wanted to do a pat-down. Rand refused and offered to go through the scanner again, but the TSA wouldn’t have any of that. Eventually, they let him go through security again, but not until he missed his flight.
Ron Paul introduced legislation in Congress in 2010 that would remove immunity for federal employees (like the TSA’s) from actions that regular people can’t take — actions like groping and taking pictures with x-ray glasses. He reintroduced the bill in the current Congress.
Ending the TSA is nothing new, either: thanks to the well-documented theatrics of airport security, a petition to abolish the TSA was the fourth most popular petition on the White House’s website; the head the TSA answered the petition and said he thinks his job matters. The Congressman who created the TSA though, disagrees; as do Congressional Republicans, who called for an overhaul of the mammoth failure of an agency.
If you want to donate to the End The TSA Moneybomb, you can do so at Ron Paul’s 2012 campaign website.
See also:
The Internet’s been grumbling about Google consolidating its various privacy policies into one, and a couple of funny privacy matters shook out of the whole affair.
A search engine called Skipity has the worst (yet funniest) privacy policy ever. It’s a riot to read — so you should do that, — but to summarize: it starts out with legal nonsense, then goes on to say they don’t think you really care about privacy and that they will use whatever information they can get about you, if it can turn them a profit. You also grant them permission to insert a microchip in your body, use your secrets, watch you through your webcam and lie to you. If they get a chance to sell your data, they “will jump at that opportunity like a pitbull on a fresh steak.” Paragraph 8 reiterates that it’s not a joke:
8. We are serious about all of the above. So don’t go trying to sue us later with some nonsense like ‘I thought that was all satire.’ All your privacy are belong to us. We mean it.
They also disclose that they like chocolate chip cookies and bacon. It may be the only honest privacy policy on web, and a brilliant publicity stunt.
An Ars Technica writer tweeted about a Google page she found where you can see in what gender and age-bracket demographic Google thinks you belong. (Apparently Google is trying out for a job at the carnival.) Slate did an informal poll around their office and found it was mostly wrong: it guessed 4 out of 16 people’s demographics completely right, but thought a bunch of women were men, that people in their 30s were twice as old, and had no guess at all for three people. Slate also adds that besides Google’s guess, you can also see what other companies think of you: BlueKai, AOL Advertising, Bizo, Lotame, Yahoo, and Exelate. You may be thinking that you’ve never even heard of most of those, but they have certainly heard of you. The good news is that most of them give you the ability to opt out of from them tracking your every move.
And finally, a couple of years ago, The Onion had a very funny and relevant article called Google Responds To Privacy Concerns With Unsettlingly Specific Apology.
From Skipity, Slate, and The Onion via Slashdot, Forbes and Neatorama
