\u2022 If you talk to your plants but it still doesn’t help them grow, it is probably because most plants speak Latin.<\/p>\n
\u2022 It is hard to believe how bland Premium Saltines have become in recent years.\u00a0 If salt and shortening are still ingredients, they exist in amounts that can only be detected by trained forensic dogs.\u00a0 Is it just a coincidence that the box in my cupboard says “Made in Canada”?<\/p>\n
\u2022 I am not a big fan of Fresh Air<\/em> on NPR — Terry Gross has gushed over dozens-too-many middling celebrities for my taste.\u00a0 But I learned a lot from a recent show<\/a> when bioethicist Travis Rieder discussed the various dimensions of the U.S. opioid crisis.\u00a0 I was impressed by the logic and clarity of Rieder’s arguments, which were informed by his own experience with opioid withdrawal.\u00a0 I have not read his book but do recommend the NPR interview.<\/p>\n \u2022 My new go-to reference book is Garner’s Modern English Usage<\/em> (2016), a 1056-page colossus that is satisfying to open, whether I find what I’m looking for or not.\u00a0 Still, I would have preferred more entries on usage (should one say impressed by<\/em> or\u00a0impressed with<\/em>?) and less guidance on variants (smolder<\/em> vs smoulder<\/em>) and pronunciation (there is no gone<\/em> in Oregon<\/em>, among other pronouncements).<\/p>\n \u2022 Garner also weighs in on formal words<\/em>, a category that includes commence<\/em>, obtain<\/em> and sufficient <\/em>and phrases such as be of assistance<\/em>.\u00a0 Formal usage has its place but usually just gets in the way, so said Amherst College professor and author Walker Gibson.\u00a0 He believed the use of formalism suggests the writer is scared:\u00a0 “If this is an age of anxiety, one way we react to our anxiety is to withdraw into omniscient and multi-syllabic detachment where nobody can get us.”\u00a0 Gibson could not have essentialized the grandiloquent intonation of this blog more veraciously.<\/p>\n \u2022 Speaking of usage and abusage:\u00a0 Why does our society call it white supremacy<\/em> instead of radical Christian terrorism<\/em>?\u00a0 Why do we say white Christian shooters are indoctrinated<\/em> but brown Muslim shooters have been radicalized<\/em>?\u00a0 Why do people blame social media for spreading our culture of violence, rather than change the culture, that is, ourselves?<\/p>\n \u2022 An informative three-part quiz:\u00a0 Which has the greater population, Pakistan or Russia?\u00a0 Egypt or Germany?\u00a0 Iran or Vietnam?\u00a0 Bonus question:\u00a0 Of those countries, which is the least populous?\u00a0 Answers below.<\/p>\n \u2022 Surely I can’t be the only person who finds it annoying when a concert audience offers up a round of perfunctory applause several bars into a song, as if it suddenly dawns on them that the artist is performing her signature work.\u00a0 I’d like to know, when and where did that custom arise?\u00a0 And more importantly, how do we make it stop?<\/p>\n \u2022 Pakistan has 47% more people than Russia does, Egypt has 23% more than Germany, and Vietnam 17% more than Iran.\u00a0 Of those, Germany has the fewest people, 82.4 million.\u00a0 Free subscription to Wikipedia for everyone who got a perfect score, compliments of me.<\/p>\n \u2022 Skeptics were in full throat years ago when it was reported that many people spend hours (and money) watching other people play video games.\u00a0 Video games!<\/em>\u00a0 But according to\u00a0one e-sports site<\/a>, the video game audience (65 million) now rivals that of the NBA.\u00a0 We should not be surprised — humans are born with season tickets to Vicarious Stadium and we are happy to watch whatever is played there.<\/p>\n \u2022 The speed humps in my neighborhood are minor inconveniences that slow local traffic and protect children.\u00a0 The speed humps in your neighborhood are a pain in the butt.<\/p>\n \u2022 Q<\/em>: Why is Trump like a sleeping dog?\u00a0\u00a0 A<\/em>: Because we let them lie.<\/p>\n \u2022 Bad news for photographers and other creatives: Big Brother can use your copyrighted work without telling you or paying you, so a Texas appeals court declared<\/a>.\u00a0 As originally reported in DPReview<\/em>, photographer Jim Olive discovered that the University of Houston had removed the identifying marks from one of his photos and then republished the photo on its website.\u00a0 He sued for damages.\u00a0 The University initially argued<\/a> that, as a government entity, it was immune from prosecution.\u00a0 That plea was rejected; the University appealed.\u00a0 The Court of Appeals decided that the University’s actions did not constitute a “taking” and so Olive had no case.\u00a0 A similar case<\/a> involving a North Carolina filmmaker is heading to the Supreme Court this fall.\u00a0 And here I thought only China could get away with this.<\/p>\n \u2022 Given enough time, people generally turn the topic of conversation to whatever interests them most.\u00a0 The time required for this is typically short and the topic of most interest is invariably themselves.*<\/p>\n ________<\/p>\n \u2022 If you talk to your plants but it still doesn’t help them grow, it is probably because most plants speak Latin. \u2022 It is hard to believe how bland Premium Saltines have become in recent years.\u00a0 If salt and … Continue reading \u00a0* Fred Rogers was a notable exception and he turned this rule on its head.\u00a0 I often have to remind myself to be more like Mister Rogers.
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