It's like: Snoof! Ack! Boing! @Whack!

[rain_gryphon]

Suppose you had a job making internet porn videos, and you were trying to sign up Paris Hilton. All of your business correspondence would disappear into your spam folder.

Truly, the idle brain is the Devil's playground.

*****

And Grammar Nazis everywhere did rejoice! I do have to note, though, that "up to ten items" is an ambiguous construction, leaving it unclear whether that's inclusive or exclusive of ten. Still, progress is being made.

*****

I couldn't find my flaked red pepper. That's how it began. By the time I was done, I had completely cleaned out and reorganized my cabinets. I have all sorts of things I'd forgotten about - two unopened packages of nori, a jar of grape leaves, some canned shiitakes, a variety of dessicated soups... I just got done having a nice fish soup for lunch, based on one of the unearthed envelopes of dessicated Jamaican fish stock, some fresh veggies and frozen flounder. It's kind of like making dinner at someone else's house - you've got a bunch of promising stuff, but it's random found goods, rather than purposefully bought, and you make up something from what you have.

I still can't find my flaked red pepper, though. I wonder if I threw it away by accident or something?

I can imagine some future archeologist digging my half-full bottle of pepper out of the midden, and citing that as evidence of how wasteful 21C Americans were.

*****

Sucks to live in New Orleans. I couldn't deal with having to run away and lose all my stuff every few years. Michael Moore considers having people's homes destroyed a small enough price if it inconveniences Republicans, though. I'm guessing he doesn't live in New Orleans.

And as it turns out, the hurricane gives W an unassailable excuse not to go to the convention. I'm sure everyone's relieved there.

*****

I think I know where Rue Faubourg Ste Denis came from. In 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue', the hero lives on the Rue Faubourg Ste Germaine.

*****

Phil Hill has died. They just announced it during the IRL race :(

Panther Racing is going to send a spare transporter to New Orleans at the request of the National Guard to help with relief efforts. Exactly how a racing transporter is going to be helpful, they didn't say. I'm surprised as well that Panther has a spare transporter. They certainly haven't got a spare of anything else.

And Helio keeps it alive. The championship will be decided in the final race of the year.

Justin Wilson stalls his car trying to do a victory doughnut :P

Comments

[haystack.livejournal.com]

"10 or fewer items" sounds pretty clear to me, too. Moore makes himself less relevant with each passing gaffe that stumbles from his lips.

[xolo.livejournal.com]

It should be "10 or fewer", yes. That's the simplest and best construction.

[loganberrybunny.livejournal.com]

From memory, I believe that Marks & Spencer does have "X items or fewer" signs. I think the X is 6 in M&S, but I'm not sure of that. I don't understand that "debate" comment in the BBC article; "item" is a countable noun, so the correct word is "fewer". Full stop.

Phil Hill has died.

Gah, I saw an obituary in the Guardian yesterday, but completely forgot to blog about it.

[xolo.livejournal.com]

I don't understand that "debate" comment in the BBC article

That's kind of a journalistic reflex, I think. It's easier to just describe all views, and pretend that they're all equal, than it is to work out which ones coincide with reality.

[cathouse-blues.livejournal.com]

We'd lit a candle for Phil earlier in the week. Wonderful interview Dan Gurney gave on Wind Tunnel tonight; nice to know you can still count on Dave Despain.

In other news, we dropped off Roger's original for the Road Atlanta poster today for the framer, and he (Roger) commented that it was already inaccurate thanks to a ceratin very recent firing. Unfortunately the scan's been in the track's hands for a month. Oh, dear....at least it'll make it just that much more of a collectible, one hopes!

[xolo.livejournal.com]

Who got fired? I don't really follow ALMS that much.

[rcoony.livejournal.com]

What really pisses me off is when people multiply by ten in order to get a reduction in quantity. That is, "ten times less." How the hell do you multiply anything by ten and end up with less of it? I guess ten is some sort of magical number that sometimes varies between being more than one and less than one.

[xolo.livejournal.com]

These are the people who see the concept of orders of magnitude lurking dimly through the fog, although they don't fully comprehend it yet.

[xolo.livejournal.com]

"Up to ten items" is not ambiguous

I'd have to differ. "Up to" states a limit. It's unclear whether that limit is inclusive, though.

The best solution is "Ten or fewer", of course. It's concise, and precise.