Entries from February 2008 ↓

Looky here!
Every fourth February
Adds an extra day at its end,
Provided the year is divisible by four.

Yet remember,
Exceptions apply:
Any year also divisible by one hundred, yet not four hundred,
Remains normal.

>> New grip of photos from the Six-Word Launch Party in New York.

“Art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth.”
– Pablo Picasso

=continued=

A mixed-breed dog in Iraq, unthinkably abused by the Iraqis with injuries that included intentionally severed ears and screwdriver puncture wounds, found a most unlikely friend in what was supposed to be his enemy. Back in October, United States Marine Maj. Brian Dennis began noticing a war-torn dog in the desert near the Syria border, following his squadron’s patrol. This continued for weeks. One cold day in December, the dog, sporting fresh wounds and near death, finally made contact with Dennis, who was “dumbfounded” by the savageness displayed in the pup’s injuries. Like any decent dude, Dennis concocted a battlefield dressing of Neosporin, applied it to the mutt’s wounds, and then received orders to shove out. He complied, leaving the dog behind. To his surprise, the dog he dubbed “Nubs” followed him SEVENTY MILES THROUGH THE DESERT IN SUB-FREEZING TEMPERATURES.

What happened next was, well, have a look at the video.

=read full story=

The Early Show on CBS had a segment called Six-Word Memoirs Can Say It All yesterday. It included interviews with Larry and Rachel, along with some special appearances from a few household names.

I recently had the unique pleasure of running into Ozzy, circa 1969.

From ProofreadNOW:

Are you set on question marks with other marks of punctuation?

“Well, are you?” he asked.

The position of question marks is always logical, though sometimes a compromise is necessary to avoid two question marks close together, and sometimes the convention prohibiting its use with the comma ignores logic.

The question mark should never be used with a period, except, of course, when the period is not a true period but merely a point indicating an abbreviation: Is the proper form Ms. or Mrs.? It can be used with points of ellipsis, too–points of ellipsis are not true periods.

The question mark should not be used with the comma. This causes a problem when the question mark ends a quotation and the sentence continues. He asked, “Why me?” which seemed an odd question seems underpunctuated, because if the quotation were not a question, a comma would signal both the end of the quotation and the beginning of the second clause, as in He said, “I suppose I deserve it,” which seemed an odd remark. Nevertheless, He asked, “Why me?,” which seemed an odd question is wrong, and He asked, “Why me?”, which seemed an odd question, with the comma after the closing quotation mark, is doubly wrong. The comma should not be used, even though using it would be quite logical. An exception is sometimes made when the question mark actually has no function in the sentence but is part of a title: His first poem, titled “Why Me?,” was dedicated to his mother. This exception has some merit.* Other exceptions are made in some scholarly, legal, and other special contexts that are beyond the scope of today’s advice.

Combining the question mark with the exclamation point–Why me?! or Why me!?–is usually frowned on as childish.*

*I always appreciate the morsels coming in from the thinking folks at ProofReadNOW, but I must take issue to a couple things here.

First, I question the merit of the sentence: His first poem, titled “Why Me?,” was dedicated to his mother. If the comma is indeed part of the poem’s title, then fine. But if it is instead being used by the author of this sentence, then the comma should be logically outside the quotation marks containing the title: His first poem, titled “Why Me?”, was dedicated to his mother.

Second, who are you calling childish?!

Then again, one could (should!?) probably regard that as a compliment.

Sometimes I think punctuation invokes a passion not unlike religion: it’s just a matter of time before a war breaks out. And I’d probably enlist myself as one of the generals for the good side. Good thing for therapy.

Sixteen perfect circles are hidden in this image of straight lines. They’ll become clear to you if you stare at the white X.

“No, his mind is not for rent to any God or government. Always hopeful, yet discontent, he knows changes aren’t permanent. But change is.”
– Rush, “Tom Sawyer”

Yes. Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova rightfully won Best Original Song at the Oscars last night for “Falling Slowly”, one of the excellent songs in their little gem, Once.

Just as steam became blowing out of my ears when they cut Marketa off before she could say a word, they decently brought her back after the commercial break and gave her the floor. It was my favorite Oscar moment since Cuba Gooding Junior’s speech last decade. Honesty always appears so much brighter when set against a backdrop of plastic.

“Habit is the ballast that chains the dog to his vomit.”
– Samuel Beckett