Alarming News: I like Morgan Freeberg. A lot.
American Digest: And I like this from "The Blog That Nobody Reads", because it is -- mostly -- about me. What can I say? I'm on an ego trip today. It won't last.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: We were following a trackback and thinking "hmmm... this is a bloody excellent post!", and then we realized that it was just part III of, well, three...Damn. I wish I'd written those.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: ...I just remembered that I found a new blog a short while ago, House of Eratosthenes, that I really like. I like his common sense approach and his curiosity when it comes to why people believe what they believe rather than just what they believe.
Brutally Honest: Morgan Freeberg is brilliant.
Dr. Melissa Clouthier: Morgan Freeberg at House of Eratosthenes (pftthats a mouthful) honors big boned women in skimpy clothing. The picture there is priceless--keep scrolling down.
Exile in Portales: Via Gerard: Morgan Freeberg, a guy with a lot to say. And he speaks The Truth...and it's fascinating stuff. Worth a read, or three. Or six.
Just Muttering: Two nice pieces at House of Eratosthenes, one about a perhaps unintended effect of the Enron mess, and one on the Gore-y environ-movie.
Mein Blogovault: Make "the Blog that No One Reads" one of your daily reads.
The Virginian: I know this post will offend some people, but the author makes some good points.
Poetic Justice: Cletus! Ah gots a laiv one fer yew...
I have been saying for years now, in so many words, that anonymity has a dazzling effect on us. If we hear a commission has decided such-and-such a thing, it’s in our programming to accept this and even elevate it, like to Ten Commandments status, just because we don’t know who is on the commission. This is extremely dangerous because it makes us into a passive-voice society.
What a great time it is to demonstrate the truth of what I’ve been saying.
“The election has been called for Joe Biden!” carries gravitas.
“Such-and-such a thing has called the election for Biden” doesn’t carry as much.
“Bob my next door neighbor has called it for Biden” carries far less…and arguably should. But look what’s going on at the other end of the spectrum. Go passive-voice and lop off the subject of the sentence, conceal the identity of the persons making the call, and you give extra weight to the call. The exact opposite of the way it should work.
There is a word for this fastening of an identity to the content of an idea, to give weight to the content: imprimatur. It’s a word rarely used, and when it’s used it’s usually for sake of criticism: “You have placed this silly idea above your imprimatur.” The symptom of our mental disease is that we have forgotten how to manage imprimaturs. We think the 800-pound gorilla imprimatur that cannot be defeated, or even subjected to challenge, is the one that doesn’t exist. We don’t know who’s saying it? Then we cannot appeal it. And we’d better accept it.
Not good!
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Merriam Webster’s? Really?
- CaptDMO | 11/11/2020 @ 10:25Why yes, I DO happen to have my own “ex libris” embossing press for my library, and “other”.
Ah, the dictionary wars. “Get yourself a real one, like mine! That’s good for pressing flowers!”, etc.
When people run to the dictionary, 90% of the time it’s to settle a Scrabble argument…
- mkfreeberg | 11/15/2020 @ 08:48Dictionaries suck, and I’ll tell you why.
- CaptDMO | 11/17/2020 @ 13:52In my youth I go to “look it up, and end uuntil the recognize the nature looking at the words aroud it….
And if there were any illistrations on either open page……
3 minute quest would turn into 45 minute Epic.
(Family Random House- “Flower pressing” size, on it’s own stand. )
Scrabble? Don’t be silly, I have the Scrabble “approved words” book for THAT!
(Yes, it was a gift, from someone that needed it to be “around” more than I did)
*sigh*
- CaptDMO | 11/17/2020 @ 13:58…and end up looking at all the words AROUND it, root, etymology, language of origin, blah blah blah