Alright, so I'm sitting at home, fat, dumb, and happy, when a client comes in....
Just kidding. I am sitting at home, but I'm mostly just bored. I'm just writing to congratulate my fanfic friend on the baby and to offer preparatory congratulations to my uber-catholic friend. Good luck, both of you.
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
for all intents and purposes
Alright, time for Grammar Times with Uncle N.J. Today's lesson: "intensive purposes."
Intensive purposes are purposes which are totally freaking intense. At virtually no time should the words "for all" precede "intensive purposes."
On the other hand, "intents and purposes" are two words that mean basically the same thing and which imply, when used in conjunction with "for all," that the succeeding independent clause covers most categories.
Thus, "for all intents and purposes, the man was dead," means that the man was essentially dead or would soon be dead as a practical matter.
"For all intensive purposes, the man was dead," would mean the man was dead for some sort of undefined intense purpose. In other words, except under VERY specific conditions, this phrase doesn't make any sense.
So please remember, for all intents and purposes, you will almost always use the phrase "for all intents and purposes" before "for all intensive purposes."
Intensive purposes are purposes which are totally freaking intense. At virtually no time should the words "for all" precede "intensive purposes."
On the other hand, "intents and purposes" are two words that mean basically the same thing and which imply, when used in conjunction with "for all," that the succeeding independent clause covers most categories.
Thus, "for all intents and purposes, the man was dead," means that the man was essentially dead or would soon be dead as a practical matter.
"For all intensive purposes, the man was dead," would mean the man was dead for some sort of undefined intense purpose. In other words, except under VERY specific conditions, this phrase doesn't make any sense.
So please remember, for all intents and purposes, you will almost always use the phrase "for all intents and purposes" before "for all intensive purposes."
Friday, January 19, 2007
Cliff Yablonski hates me?
So I've recently been informed that a picture of me was on this site.
http://www.somethingawful.com/cliff/ihateyou/page-267.htm
As far as I can tell, this means that some guy named Cliff hates me, and that he thinks I work at a place called the Burger Barn. Also, I am both fat and teenaged. Now, I acknowledge the fat part, but teenaged? Seriously, give me some credit.
Also, that is an AWESOME pic of Rob's old room.
The only question I have is, how did this Cliff fellow get this pic of me? Also, what is in my hand? I didn't actually drink in those days.
Crazy stuff. Anyway, enjoy.
http://www.somethingawful.com/cliff/ihateyou/page-267.htm
As far as I can tell, this means that some guy named Cliff hates me, and that he thinks I work at a place called the Burger Barn. Also, I am both fat and teenaged. Now, I acknowledge the fat part, but teenaged? Seriously, give me some credit.
Also, that is an AWESOME pic of Rob's old room.
The only question I have is, how did this Cliff fellow get this pic of me? Also, what is in my hand? I didn't actually drink in those days.
Crazy stuff. Anyway, enjoy.
Saturday, January 13, 2007
the Iphone and some missed anniversaries
Just thought I'd mention that I'd missed pointing out my 200th post and my one year blog anniversary. Sad. Anyway, back to blogging...
Recently I was reading a thread on how much people want to either kill Steve Jobs or have his Apple babies. More specifically they were discussing this new Iphone dealy. Here is my take:
I've got neither the love, nor the hatred for Apple and the Iphone that everyone else seems to, but I have to give them credit for one MAJOR contribution.
They told Cingular to SUCK IT!!
Honestly, folks, the look, the feel, none of it matters compared to the fact that Cingular had to completely re-do its infrastructure so that people could check their voicemail without going through THE LIST.
I've been a verizon subscriber for almost four years now. In that time, verizon has found 8000 ways to nickle and dime me. I own the vx8100 by LG. It has about 20 times more capabilities than I am actually able to use, because Verizon strong-armed LG. Love or hate Apple, they are the first hardware manufacturer I know of to force the network provider to innovate.
In a year and a half, the Iphone will be old news, simply because Jobs loves cyclical innovation (Ipod v1, v2, v3, mini, nano, photo, video, etc.). But the fact that Cingular changed? That lasts forever.
Recently I was reading a thread on how much people want to either kill Steve Jobs or have his Apple babies. More specifically they were discussing this new Iphone dealy. Here is my take:
I've got neither the love, nor the hatred for Apple and the Iphone that everyone else seems to, but I have to give them credit for one MAJOR contribution.
They told Cingular to SUCK IT!!
Honestly, folks, the look, the feel, none of it matters compared to the fact that Cingular had to completely re-do its infrastructure so that people could check their voicemail without going through THE LIST.
I've been a verizon subscriber for almost four years now. In that time, verizon has found 8000 ways to nickle and dime me. I own the vx8100 by LG. It has about 20 times more capabilities than I am actually able to use, because Verizon strong-armed LG. Love or hate Apple, they are the first hardware manufacturer I know of to force the network provider to innovate.
In a year and a half, the Iphone will be old news, simply because Jobs loves cyclical innovation (Ipod v1, v2, v3, mini, nano, photo, video, etc.). But the fact that Cingular changed? That lasts forever.
Monday, January 08, 2007
The Doldrums and more Mirror Emotion stuff
Alright. I've just about reached that point. I've done everything I can usefully do. I've gotten my grades back. School doesn't start for a while. I'm bored out of my mind. I've hit...
THE DOLDRUMS!
Yes, it is indeed a terrible time when a man has hit his doldrums. The crazy thing is that I don't exactly hate being bored and listless. It's that I remember how awesome it was NOT to be bored and wish I were back in that state.
I need a plan. I need something to do. I need to reinvigorate myself. Tomorrow, it's time to become mr. fix-it. Also, I need to clean my room. Also, I should do my laundry. While I am at my most happy being a doer of deeds, I can probably keep myself occupied as a performer of tasks. Anyone want to take any bets?
Addendum: Oh, in other news. G'luck, Brad, w/ your neighber.
Kay and Kristi:
Both of you make interesting points; however, I choose to respectfully argue back.
First, Kay, seriously, men start wars, do the asking out of the women, fight every chance they get, make the most ridiculous of preachers, etc. etc. I'm reasonably certain that men and women are AT LEAST equally emotional.
Second, Kristi, two different points. First, the maturity level thing is entirely possible. It even helps my belief that being drunk increases the likelihood of emotion reflecting. Second, I don't think it's a question of knowing in your head that a person "likes" you. I think it's a lot more specific and subtle than that.
I think it's a sort of gut reaction. And it's a gut reaction in the moment. It would not work, for example, if you had two weeks to think about it, and it wouldn't work if you found out while the guy (in these cases) was in another state.
Naturally, this is the hypothetical "you."
If you are making a real, honest-to-god decision, then we aren't talking about the same thing. Instead, think of it like a stop sign while driving. After your first week of driving, you don't think to yourself, "Oh, goodness gracious! A stop sign! Should I stop? Why yes! I believe I shall!"
No. You see a stop sign and you stop. In the same way, my theory goes, a person exhibits an emotion at you, and you exhibit the emotion back. Heck, it doesn't even have to be more than a couple seconds.
The trick after that moment is unrelated, at least in a psychological way. After that first moment, when you inexplicably find yourself making out with him, your brain goes into overdrive, thinking "What the hell am I doing? I must have had some reason for making out w/ this guy! I wouldn't ordinarily do this! I guess I like (?) this guy."
That's called cognitive dissonance, btw. Fun stuff.
Anyway, I'm not concerned with cognitive dissonance. I'm more interested in that 5 to 30 second window that starts the ball rolling. That brief period of time in which my theoretical emotional mirror is in full swing.
THE DOLDRUMS!
Yes, it is indeed a terrible time when a man has hit his doldrums. The crazy thing is that I don't exactly hate being bored and listless. It's that I remember how awesome it was NOT to be bored and wish I were back in that state.
I need a plan. I need something to do. I need to reinvigorate myself. Tomorrow, it's time to become mr. fix-it. Also, I need to clean my room. Also, I should do my laundry. While I am at my most happy being a doer of deeds, I can probably keep myself occupied as a performer of tasks. Anyone want to take any bets?
Addendum: Oh, in other news. G'luck, Brad, w/ your neighber.
Kay and Kristi:
Both of you make interesting points; however, I choose to respectfully argue back.
First, Kay, seriously, men start wars, do the asking out of the women, fight every chance they get, make the most ridiculous of preachers, etc. etc. I'm reasonably certain that men and women are AT LEAST equally emotional.
Second, Kristi, two different points. First, the maturity level thing is entirely possible. It even helps my belief that being drunk increases the likelihood of emotion reflecting. Second, I don't think it's a question of knowing in your head that a person "likes" you. I think it's a lot more specific and subtle than that.
I think it's a sort of gut reaction. And it's a gut reaction in the moment. It would not work, for example, if you had two weeks to think about it, and it wouldn't work if you found out while the guy (in these cases) was in another state.
Naturally, this is the hypothetical "you."
If you are making a real, honest-to-god decision, then we aren't talking about the same thing. Instead, think of it like a stop sign while driving. After your first week of driving, you don't think to yourself, "Oh, goodness gracious! A stop sign! Should I stop? Why yes! I believe I shall!"
No. You see a stop sign and you stop. In the same way, my theory goes, a person exhibits an emotion at you, and you exhibit the emotion back. Heck, it doesn't even have to be more than a couple seconds.
The trick after that moment is unrelated, at least in a psychological way. After that first moment, when you inexplicably find yourself making out with him, your brain goes into overdrive, thinking "What the hell am I doing? I must have had some reason for making out w/ this guy! I wouldn't ordinarily do this! I guess I like (?) this guy."
That's called cognitive dissonance, btw. Fun stuff.
Anyway, I'm not concerned with cognitive dissonance. I'm more interested in that 5 to 30 second window that starts the ball rolling. That brief period of time in which my theoretical emotional mirror is in full swing.
Saturday, January 06, 2007
brief in-joke
Hey, everyone, just thought it'd be fun to mention that it's after two. What mischief are YOU causing?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)