Tag Archives: grammar
I’m off to a late start (it’s nearly noon) starting this early-in-the-month Friday Notes post. The delay is because I spent several hours this morning updating my Movies page (which lists my favorite movies as well as my rating system).
I’m not done updating it; I want to add some lists of films by favorite directors (Wes Anderson, Christopher Guest, Quentin Tarantino). Wikipedia has those lists, of course, but I like having a reference page with links I most care about.
But enough about movies. On to the Notes!
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13 Comments | tags: AI, Bentley, fantasy BS, FBS, grammar, Lee Smolin, markdown text, Microsoft Windows | posted in Friday Notes
Maybe this is on me; maybe I lack proficiency with English grammar. That’s always possible. I certainly have no pretension of being a grammarian, but I like to believe I have some grasp of it. In any event, lately I’ve found myself bemused by the Microsoft grammarian embedded in Windows™.
It seems to have gotten weirder. That, too, could be on me; maybe I just don’t remember it being this amusing (which is one way to put it). In the past, even though we sometimes disagreed, I seem to remember it as being more useful than distracting.
But recently it seems to have become a lot less helpful.
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8 Comments | tags: AI, grammar, Microsoft Windows | posted in Computers, Writing
Given everything going on these days, blogging seems more pointless than ever. My disgust and ennui have reached new levels, and I can’t help but wonder if I’m witnessing the downfall of democracy and society. We seem in the last stages of a trainwreck I’ve been bystanding for 50 years.
The Dumpster fire rages so hot that it trivializes ordinary pursuits. Add a bushel of minor personal concerns, and my will to write is all but gone.
All but. And of course I have Notes…
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9 Comments | tags: AI, Bruce Sterling, color, Danger Man (TV series), grammar, John Drake, Studio Ghibli | posted in Friday Notes, TV
It has been another slow month here, and I remain conflicted about trying to blog both here on WordPress and now, on Substack. Last May I committed to posting on my WP programming blog (The Hard-Core Coder) every two weeks.
I’d discovered that I didn’t like writing about programming as much as I enjoy doing it, but figured I’d give it one more try (hence the commitment). So far, I’ve been keeping it up, and plan to continue, but it’s one more thing taking time from this blog.
It’s possible (but maybe not yet likely) this is the penultimate Friday Notes.
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8 Comments | tags: blog, blogging, die spammers, Election 2024, grammar, NCIS, Ziva David | posted in Friday Notes
Recent politics makes us, perhaps, overly aware of just how differently from us people can see the world. Recent politics also makes us very aware of how fraught it can be interacting with people who see the world differently. (Although it isn’t the differences that divide us so much as our tribalism.)
Setting politics aside for a moment, I recently stumbled over a difference that I found both bemusing and enlightening. It explains something that’s puzzled me (and caused a degree of headshaking) for quite a while. What’s cool is how it switches my worldview, because now I understand it’s not a mistake or laziness, but a valid choice.
I’m talking about periods and lower case in text messages!
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4 Comments | tags: grammar, lowercase, misspelling, Oxford comma, punctuation, spelling, text messages, texting, UPPERCASE | posted in Opinion, Society
What’s the word for when you receive new information that alters your way of thinking? In particular, for when you thought things were one way, expected them to be that way, but the new information surprises you.
I used to think it was the word frisson, but that word (from the French, “to be cold”) refers to the pleasant thrill shiver you experience at the awards ceremony just before they open the envelope that might contain your name. Or when you watch a horror movie (assuming you like watching horror movies).
That’s not quite what I mean. There is — at least for me — some thrill shiver associated with learning a new and surprising thing, but I need a word that focuses more on the sense of realignment that occurs to your worldview.
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13 Comments | tags: communication, frisson, grammar, Hays Code, linguistics, storytelling | posted in Basics, Life, Philosophy
Funny how people use “quantum leap” to mean a large jump. In reality, a quantum leap — a real one, not a Scott Bakula one — is a tiny thing. A very tiny thing. Think decimal point, 33 bagels and a number. Tiny. Tiny beyond belief (or unbelief, for that matter).
And yet…
It does mean jumping to a new level very different from the old.
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4 Comments | tags: diet mountain dew, grammar, odometer, quantum leap | posted in Brain Bubble
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