Thank God for this blog, where I can dump stuff that no one would be interested in hearing in daily conversation. Item the first: The difference in meaning between “Bound to…” and “Bound for…” Nothing more to say about that. It just made something click in my brain this morning while listening to train announcements. […]
Archive | Language/Lit
How Will You Die
I was just listening to a lecture (from the University Channel podcasts, linked on the right side of weeklyrob) about trends in dying, which is a funny phrase. It’s by the author of “The Living End: The Future of Death, Aging, and Immortality.” [Amazon US seems to think the title is slightly different, and spells […]
Save the Semicolon
I own the domain, savethesemicolon.com. There’s nothing there, so don’t bother looking. Anyway, it’s about to expire (in February) and I can’t figure out whether to keep it or not. I wish I had the energy to really save the semicolon. But I may not.
Two Roads
While walking along a path with a non-American friend of mine, I asked whether he’d heard the Robert Frost poem, “The Road Not Taken”. Of course, any American friend of mine would have already heard of it, but this guy hadn’t. So once I got home, I looked it up and sent it to him. […]
Harlan Ellison is Pissed
And cusses about it. And cusses. My thoughts: Right on! [Link from BookLust.]
Mishmash.
The New York Times has published its 100 Notable Books of 2007, and its 10 Best Books of 2007. Should I be surprised that I’ve read none of them? I don’t read a lot of brand new books, though I do occasionally get some of the newest nonfiction, since nonfiction is often only good when […]
Immaculate
There’s a type of humor in which a person takes a word, like immaculate (meaning spotless, of course), and spins it around by using “maculate” to mean stained or dirty. I was whelmed, rather than overwhelmed, for example. But of course, most of those humorous words actually WERE used for real, back in the day. […]
Ok. Now I've Done That.
Read all about it.
Anonymity
I’m reading Infidel, by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. I’m reading it on my SONY (not Amazon) eBook reader. As you probably already know, she’s kind of an amazing woman, and her life has been an amazing life. And as you probably already know, she made a film defending women’s rights in Islam (Submission) with a guy who was […]
More Kindle
Ok, so I’m thinking about this now. They’re selling a lot of new books at $9.99, which is cheaper than Sony sells theirs for. But with Sony, I download to my computer. This means that I can download lots more than I actually can fit onto my reader. Then, just like with an iPod, I manage […]