Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

Fuck that bum, let’s go Joe!

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you don’t.

A consequence of cucumbers

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

If you are in line to indict donald trump, stay in line.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

I really should read my own blog.

Washington Post’s Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

The revolution will be supervised.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

Republicans would impeach Biden if he bit into a whole Kit Kat rather than breaking the sections apart.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

If marriage is the equivalent of selling yourself into slavery, women with self respect should reject the offer.

I’m more Christian than these people and I’m an atheist.

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Sunday Morning Salmagundi Open Thread

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Global sport organizations may *all* be critically broken.

(There will, however — FYWordPress permitting — be a Qatar vs Ecuador Open Thread at 10:45am EST, just before the start of the first game.)



Human ingenuity remains vibrant…

The long maybe-goodbye continues…

Reader Interactions

131Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    The Phrygian cap, the symbol of freedom during the French Revolution has been chosen the mascot of the Paris 2024 Olympics

    When the Olympics comes back to the US, I hope our mascot will be the pussy hat.

  4. 4.

    RepubAnon

    I recall an RPG based on pro wrestling. The one thing that stood out was rolling for the price of beer in the stands. On nickel beer night, things got weird.

  6. 6.

    Steeplejack

    @Baud:

    I will scratch my pedant itch first thing this morning and get it out of the way. This is a thing I have been noticing more and more the last year or so, as copy editors and their craft die out.

    “The Phrygian cap, the symbol of freedom during the French Revolution[,] has been chosen the mascot of the Paris 2024 Olympics.”

    You see it all over now. “Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister said . . .,” etc.

  10. 10.

    Steeplejack

    Here’s the story (gift version) in the universally reviled New York Times about Samuel Alito probably leaking the Hobby Lobby decision to anti-abortion activists, which I referenced downstairs.

    Legal/journo Twitter is aflame about it, including @nycsouthpaw.

  13. 13.

    Ken

    @Steeplejack: I sometimes see people who go the other way, which reminds me of a Red Dwarf episode where Rimmer is dictating his report to the ship’s computer, Holly:

    Rimmer: After intensive investigation, comma, of the markings on the alien pod, comma, it has become clear, comma, to me, comma, that we are dealing, comma, with a species of awesome intellect, colon.

    Holly: Good. Perhaps they might be able to give you a hand with your punctuation.

  19. 19.

    Steeplejack

    I will take this opportunity to say that if Twitter goes down I will be very sad. I have found it to be an invaluable resource for information and a deep well of top-notch humor. Not to mention the animal videos and one-off oddities.

    I don’t have a Twitter account, which may explain why I don’t have the deep dislike for it that others seem to have. My Twitter experience is curated by me. I don’t get notifications, I don’t get spam, I don’t get stuff foisted on me by “the algorithm.” I have a group of accounts that I check in on daily, others that I look at occasionally, and of course I follow interesting links and accounts when they come into view. The singular benefit of Twitter, aside from the fast dissemination of breaking news, is that you can find expert, in-depth discussions of any topic imaginable. Yes, there are bots and trolls, but they can be (mostly) avoided.

    If Twitter can’t be saved, I hope it can be duplicated somewhere else.

    Another angle, which we mostly don’t consider in our parochial view of things, is that Twitter is a crucial resource for people in oppressed countries and the “global South” in general. I don’t know enough to go into detail, but I read last week that Twitter is one of the few resources still compatible with 2G cellular, which is important in regions with less advanced technology.

  20. 20.

    Anne Laurie

    @p.a.:  Did Musk buy gocomics? Been down for 2 days for “overload or maintenance”.

    I miss my daily fix, too!

    And, yes — in before the Helpful People — I could probably find ways to follow most of my favorite cartoonists elsewhere, but I’ve been a happy GoComics subscriber since at least 2004 because I like having those dopamine hits all in one place.

  23. 23.

    Shalimar

    Thanks for the Oliver Darkshire tweets.  I had been meaning to follow him before Twitter dies but forgot his ID.

  24. 24.

    satby

    @Steeplejack: all of what you’ve said about Twitter, though I do have an account and , like GoLikeHellMachine , will be tweeting and retweeting to the end. Twitter really has been a way to let people know what goes on all around the world.

  25. 25.

    Mousebumples

    Book query – my local library is collecting donations of new books for local families for the holidays. I need to figure out what to get and donate (and have in hand) by December 4. They are especially requesting Spanish language books and Young Adult/Teen books.

    I know we have a lot of authors and avid readers around here. Any recommendations? My tastes as of late are more in the baby/toddler sphere, lol. Ideally, would prefer a single book versus a series, if possible. Thanks!

  27. 27.

    SFAW

    Apropos of nothing in particular, looks like I just got myself banned from commenting on WaPo. Not sure why, not going to try to find out.

    Oh well, off to do something productive, for a change.

  28. 28.

    SFAW

    @Steeplejack:

    But I have a strategic punctuation reserve saved from years of editing.

    So you’re saying you have colons comin’ outta yer ass?

    [Sorry, NotMax.]

  32. 32.

    Orange is the New Red

    @Mousebumples: 2 great YA books are Far From The Bamboo Grove and The House on Mango Street. Older, but still relevant and important for discussion.

  33. 33.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    Saw “The Menu” last night. My God, such an artful, fun movie – Fiennes was amazing.

    And it’s worth big screen treatment.

    Tip – see it early enough so that you can go eat a certain signature item afterward. I saw it later, and am still jonesing for one this morning.

  38. 38.

    Mousebumples

    @satby: Found an account on Mastodon that’s asking people to comment if they are a small creator that makes stuff that would make a good holiday present. Thought of you (and others here). Though wouldn’t want to boost your etsy shop since I’m not sure what your availability is like ahead of the holidays (and I know I was slow to get on my own holiday order).

    Here’s the link/content for anyone on Mastodon that has something to promote. (and first time I’m trying to embed a post from Mastodon – so far seems way easier than the BirdSite.)

    @[email protected] 🔗 https://mastodon.me.uk/users/garius/statuses/109365069633050082

    Right. Time to do this a bit early this year for… reasons.

    If you are a small creator who makes things that would be nice christmas presents, REPLY TO THIS TWEET with:

    1) Description of what you make/do

    2) Pics if possible

    3) Link to how people can purchase.

    I WILL BOOST YOU

  40. 40.

    satby

    @Baud: she still pops in once in a while. But, sorry, Twitter is more interesting with wider possible interactions. A lot more freewheeling and fun, as this place used to be.

  41. 41.

    Layer8Problem

    Ok, the Phrygian cap looks totally lame.  It just slouches over at the top there like it just doesn’t give a damn and the only reason it even mustered up that much energy was because someone organized a rousing beheading.  I don’t care how many physically attractive Mariannes are wearing it, the Paris Olympics need to change the symbol to a kepi immediately.  P. S. I am not a crackpot.

  42. 42.

    Geminid

    Antonio Arrelano @AntonioArrelano

    .   Wow! In Arizona, approximately 70% of Latino voters preferred Senator Mark Kelly and Katie Hobbs over their Republican opponents. The media narrative that Latinos broke toward the GOP everywhere is far from the truth.

    Mr. Arrelano identifies himself in his Twitter heading as Vice President of Communications for the young voter mobilization outfit NextGen America.

    Someone replied to Arrelano with a bar graph showing the preference for Democrats by Latino voters in ten or so states. The number for Arizona- 63%- was somewhat lower than Arrelano’s. Except for Florida, numbers ran from Texas, 64% and Nevada, 63% to Colorado, 71% and Michigan, 74%. Florida was the outlier at 44%.

    There were no cites given for these polls, but I expect they are real and credible.

  43. 43.

    Mousebumples

    @satby: technically, yes, but I’m trying to avoid using it since I don’t want to reward Elno’s poor management choices with my activity. I’ll keep that in mind, though. Is the handle @Valdivia? (eta – I see from later comments that it’s @TheCorollary 😊)

    @Orange is the New Red: Appreciate it, thanks! Those sound familiar now that you mention it.

  44. 44.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Steeplejack: Yep. I’ve even had copyeditors incorrectly remove commas. It’s almost like they’re gaslighting me. And don’t get me started on the incorrect us of “I” when “me” is warranted.

  47. 47.

    narya

    @Mousebumples: You might try John Scalzi, either on Twitter or his blog; his reach extends pretty far, and someone there might be able to help.

    @Steeplejack: Come sit by me. I want to turn the extra apostrophes (from people using them unnecessarily to make plurals) into commas. Or semicolons! I love me some semicolons.

  50. 50.

    satby

    @Mousebumples: she also set up a Mastodon, and I suspect she used as close to the same handle there.

    One of my biggest peeves with it is that searching for your friends is hard to impossible; or very user unfriendly. I’m not in IT anymore, and I don’t want to deal with user unfriendly even if I can. Because that’s a design / programming flaw.

  51. 51.

    Steeplejack

    @Chief Oshkosh:

    Another killer! “It was the best possible result for my brother and I.” Pro tip: throw out the other person and ask yourself if you would say, “It was the best possible result for I.” Ugh.

  52. 52.

    Steeplejack

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    You can navigate to Twitter with just your browser, but it’s probably more convenient if you have an account with people you follow set up, etc. Bummer about Musk.

  53. 53.

    satby

    I love Stonekettle’s take:

    Stonekettle @Stonekettle 1m

    If Trump returns to Twitter, I’m not going to leave because I will be goddamned if I’ll let that son of bitch decide what I do But I will NOT follow Trump I will NOT retweet, subtweet, or quote tweet him And if Musk wants me gone, he can throw me out with the rest of Twitter

  55. 55.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Mousebumples: For YA, I suggest Maggie Stiefvater’s THE SCORPIO RACES. Also, you can’t go wrong with anything by Laurie Halse Anderson. My own WIND READER stands alone, but it’s not in the same class as Stiefvater and Anderson. OTOH, the library probably won’t have it, while they will have the other two authors.

    ETA: By “new,” do you mean newly out? Because that answer would be different.

  56. 56.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Steeplejack: It’s such a simple test, yet people fail it all time. I’ve even walked people through it, out loud, made them speak it along with me. They agree momentarily. I ask them to repeat the sentence correctly. Their eyes glaze over; their brain freezes. They just cannot do it.

    Weird.

  57. 57.

    Layer8Problem

    @Steeplejack:  If one can’t properly dress when one is off aux barricades, it just shows lack of commitment if you ask me, but I’m not Mademoiselle Manners.

  58. 58.

    O. Felix Culpa

    Rachel Bitecofer’s recommendations make sense to me (from Twitter, natch). Is there a domestic version of the NAFO fellas? Seems we could use them in just this way.

    My strategic advise [sic] for everyone not interested in spending their next decade in an America First reeducation camp is to mock the House GOP majority mercessly. That is how we stop them.

    If you engage in substantive debates about their crazy allegations, you end up legitimating their argument. See CRT. They must be dismissed and mocked.

    Along with straight up mocking them over their alt reality, every single time those fools say the word corruption, pivot & attack.

    I realize mocking House Republicans rather than rebutting their crazy with facts will be very hard for House Democrats, but I’m here to tell them, that is EXACTLY what the research into gaslighting tells you to do. The ONLY thing to do.

  60. 60.

    Geminid

    @O. Felix Culpa: I was encouraged by something Ms. Bitecofer tweeted the weekend before the election:

       Gotta tell you, I’ve NEVER seen every part of the Left’s coalition, from Yellow Dogs to progressives, rowing in the same direction [before] and it gives me so much hope for 2024.

    @RachelBitecofer Nov. 5 2022.

  62. 62.

    M31

    @Steeplejack: the eccentric American author Timothy Dexter (late 18th C), wrote in a spelling free-for-all remarkable even for the day, and didn’t put any punctuation at all in his book “A Pickle for the Knowing Ones” and after he got complaints he put a whole sheet of commas and periods as the last page for the complainers “to salt and pepper them as they please”

  64. 64.

    Elizabelle

    @O. Felix Culpa:   Thank you.  Good advice from Rachel Bitecofer.

    We can turn into a nation of late night comics.

    And:  do recall:  the most valiant president in the world right now is … a former comedian.

  65. 65.

    M31

    here’s a sample

    “What is a presedent answer A king bonne partey the grate has as much power as A king and ort to have & it is a massey he has for the good of mankind he has as much power as Any king for grat ways back there must be A head sum whare or the peopel is Lost Lik wild gees when thay Lous the gander two Leged want A head if fore Leged both & 2 Leged fouls the Name of presedent is to pleas the peopel at Large the sound souts best Now in the south give way to the North the North give way to the south or by & by you will brake what falers be wise on keep the Links to gether and if you cant A gree Consoalated to A kingly power for you must keep together at the wost hear it Labers ye les see there is so many men wants be the all offesers & Now sogers poor king Every day wants A bone sum more then others the king cant Live without the feald wee have had our turne grat good father Addoms turne & turne About Rest Easey you all will be pleased with the present king give time all did I say Now but the magor part fore fifths at least. “

  67. 67.

    M31

    Dexter made his money as a businessman famous for such stunts as being talked into shipping huge amounts of coal to Newcastle (of all things) but then there was a strike on so he made a ton of money

  68. 68.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Layer8Problem:

    Heh. Posting on Mastodon–and Twitter, for that matter–is something I haven’t done yet. Call me Lurker Culpa. But I might give it a whirl. :)

  71. 71.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @SFAW: They’d always ignored you before as being too small and insignificant to bother with, but then somebody actually read your comment and responded to it so they decided that was the greatest threat to the fabric of society since Karl Marx.

    So, BOOM.

    Or maybe a moderator sneezed and hit the ban button by accident.

    Yeah… Probably the 2nd one.

  74. 74.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @satby:

    mocking both the GQP and media mopes like Haberman is easy.

    Which, I suspect, is why Elmu is trying to kill the platform. Can’t abide the mockery.

    @Geminid:

    I thought about raising the Bitecofer flag for you. :)

    @Elizabelle:

    the most valiant president in the world right now is … a former comedian.

    Good point. Slava Ukraini!

  76. 76.

    Steeplejack

    @Chief Oshkosh:

    There’s a specific term for it, which I can’t remember, but I think a lot of people got corrected as kids for saying “Him and me are gonna—” “No, it’s he and I.” So now “and I” sounds more correct, or classier, in all cases.

  77. 77.

    Matt McIrvin

    Someone here reminded me of mathstodon.xyz. I finally got around to signing up; I’m mattmcirvin there. I’m not currently inclined to go on about politics there. I needed a quieter place to mostly go on about math and science topics.

    The cool thing about that instance is that it supports LaTeX math markup–but I don’t think people looking at the federated feed on other instances will be able to read it, so that’s a limitation.

  78. 78.

    Mousebumples

    @satby: totally get it. I just love giving your stuff as gifts – and I’d much rather support you (or other small/local businesses) vs Amazon/corporate America.

    @narya: I’ll check him out, thanks!

    @satby: I’m hoping that the inability to search effectively between instances is due to the rapid growth. Not techy but they might need to update/add more support for indexing functions? Usually I’ve been able to search and find people with their username & instance (eg, I’m [email protected]) but I know that it took longer for OO’s new account to show up for me. Lots and lots of growing pains, I’d expect.

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: nope – just new versus used. I have a fave used bookstore in town I’d probably be using otherwise. Thanks for the suggestions – including your own self rec. 😊

    @Frankensteinbeck: Thanks! Are they available to order outside of Amazon? I’m hoping to buy these through an area independent bookstore. 😊

  81. 81.

    Another Scott

    FYWP seems cranky on this post.  I had to Left Arrow to go downstairs a few threads, then Right Arrow back here to get the Twitter embeds to populate (very briefly saw the text, then that vanished with an empty white place holder that never filled unless I did the downstairs / upstairs things).  It’s only this thread.

    YMMV.

    Brave on Android.

    Thanks.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  83. 83.

    Kirk Spencer

    @Layer8Problem: Everything you said, yet I think the selection was brilliant in how it trolls the host nation. Liberty and freedom from ancient times, and revolution from the 18th century. Just an ugly cap to most, but those with education and social awareness will see the message.

  84. 84.

    LiminalOwl

    @Mousebumples: Middle-grade more than YA, but you might take a look at SAL AND GABI BREAK THE UNIVERSE, by Carlos Hernandez.  For YA: CLAP WHEN YOU LAND, by Elizabeth Acevedo.

  89. 89.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Steeplejack: I accidentally fell into the job of copyeditor for a college campus magazine in the 1980s, and it was because I was the only person on the staff who knew the standard rules for commas.

    The biggest problem was that other staffers did not feel the need to run photo captions past me, so punctuation errors appeared there in every issue. The most common mistake was putting the comma after, rather than before, a conjunction joining two clauses. “I woke up and, got out of bed.”

    These days I do find myself using comma splices pretty frequently in informal Internet writing because it’s started to look unnatural not to.

  92. 92.

    LiminalOwl

    @narya: And Scalzi’s blog is always worth reading.  (I haven’t enjoyed his fiction as much as I want to, but this past week I read THE KAIJU PRESERVATION SOCIETY with great pleasure.  Recommended to SF fans who like snarky romps; might be too full of in-jokes for those less familiar with the genre.)

  93. 93.

    Mousebumples

    @LiminalOwl: great, thanks for the recs

    Also – off to breakfast with the in laws, but if more people have recs to share on YA/Spanish books, I’ll check back later. 😊

  94. 94.

    Betty

    @Steeplejack: Thanks for mentioning this one. It is my pet peeve. I am seeing it everywhere these days. Even journalists. I checked my grammar expert to make sure I wasn’t somehow mistaken about this.

  95. 95.

    Layer8Problem

    @Matt McIrvin:  Ooo, TeX.  I’m intrigued by the possibility of well-laid-out “toots” (god what a goofy term of art).  But everybody would need a browser extension I expect.

  97. 97.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Layer8Problem: The way Wikipedia/MediaWiki does it is to degrade gracefully from MathML output to SVGs or embedded images as supported by the device, if I recall correctly. The alt text for the images is the LaTeX source which might be suboptimal for some purposes.

  98. 98.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Baud: We’re in a fast-moving “fog of war” situation where fakes and jokes are going to be hard to distinguish from real events, especially given the recent storm of fake bluecheck accounts. I’ve been trying to just avoid passing on the “did you see what he just said?” incidents for that reason.

  103. 103.

    JanieM

    @Chief Oshkosh: @Chief Oshkosh:

    And don’t get me started on the incorrect us of “I” when “me” is warranted.

    …

    It’s such a simple test, yet people fail it all time. I’ve even walked people through it, out loud, made them speak it along with me

    I remember my mother running people through that exercise.

    The one that makes me grind my teeth now, though, is the substitution of “whom/ever” for “who/ever.” I would have thought that if either “who” or “whom” gradually disappeared from common usage it would have been the latter, but it seems to be the former.

    On this very blog, sometimes in comments but almost invariably in one person’s front page posts, you can see constructions like “Whomever made that statement was mistaken.” More forgivable, because the rule (IMHO) is more obscure, is a construction like “I gave it to whomever came first.”

    Thank you for giving me an opening to vent. :-)

    ETA: Edited for clarity LOL. What, you think my copy editor bot works on Sunday mornings?

  106. 106.

    Layer8Problem

    @Kirk Spencer:  I’ll have you know every word is freighted with significance, including ‘and’ and ‘the!’  :-D

    (Ok, as long as we’re all pedantic, punctuation marks inside or outside single-quotes?)

  107. 107.

    Kirk Spencer

    @JanieM: When it gets too heavy, I just keep remembering that English, and in particular American English, is a magpie language constantly rearranging itself. Not only are words stolen and their definitions twisted, but punctuation becomes a matter of personal choice that others decide make more sense.

    As a trivial example, I learned to put two spaces after the period prior to starting the next sentence. Now, of course, the rule is one space; entering two on some devices will generate a period and a space.

    Let us not forget the more classic example — Oxford comma or not?

    eta: @Layer8Problem:  and that.

  108. 108.

    Steeplejack

    @satby:

    I am a big fan of Bot Sentinel and have contributed money. I have my doubts about whether anyone (including Mastodon) can recreate Twitter beyond a basic messaging app. But we’ll see what happens.

  111. 111.

    Anyway

    “Salmagundi” is not a word in my regular vocab and I have to look it up every time Anne Laurie uses it … hopefully this time it stuck in the ole craw.

  112. 112.

    Eolirin

    @Kirk Spencer: It’s almost like languages are organic and the result of collective usage, updated to the minute, and that the rules are a post hoc rationalization for why usage is what it is instead of a necessary organizing principle for how to communicate. :p

  113. 113.

    Steeplejack

    @Layer8Problem:

    I don’t know why you’re using single quotes instead of regular quotes. And the exclamation mark should be outside the quotes, because it’s not part of what you’re quoting. Similar to: Did you mean to use “who” instead of “whom”? You wouldn’t put the question mark inside the quotes.

  116. 116.

    JanieM

    @Kirk Spencer: Oxford comma: yes, for all eternity.

    Two spaces after a period: I did that until fairly well past the advent of computer software doing proportional spacing. The other day I had reason to dig out some very old writing and the spacing looked very odd.

    And yes, English is a magpie language. Intellectually I can take that into account. Some things bug me more than others, though, at a very gut level. My sisters and I sometimes share pet peeves and find that we have very different subsets. One of them, for instance, hates the use of “invite” for “invitation,” while that doesn’t bother me at all. But she frequently uses (what I consider to be the execrable business-ese usage of) “as the below chart shows.” And I start grinding my teeth…..

    ETA: corrected for typos. Time for caffeine.

  121. 121.

    Layer8Problem

    @Steeplejack:  Gotcha on the inside/outside issue.  At least I always put the punctuation outside when quoting computer command line stuff at the job because errant periods, question marks, and exclamation points would of course wreak havoc.

  122. 122.

    ian

    @Geminid: I have been told that Miami’s Spanish media market is a mess of right wing conspiracy theories and lunatic ramblings.  I suspect that combined with the lingering anti-Castro sentiments plays a major role in why Florida and Miami Latinos voted Republican.

    Liberal media orgs need to get on the ball in terms of countering disinformation, regardless of the language it is spewed in.  When I was in Colorado a few months back, I saw some pretty Q-anon adjacent media ads in Spanish.  It is refreshing to see that these adds did not work in many places outside Florida.

  123. 123.

    Anonymous At Work

    If I erect any monument to my death (donating body to science), I have found the inscription:

    “I will ask the fuckin boatman for the goddamned wifi password”

  125. 125.

    Geminid

    @ian: One thing I read about the 2020 election was that the Trump team started pushing propaganda on Spanish language social media in November, 2019. Democrats did not make a concerted effort to counter this until late in the game.

    I think the need was recognized, but I keep in mind that the Biden campaign was underfinanced through the summer and only achieved parity with the Trump campaign in the last ten weeks before the election. They had to play catch up, which was harder because the Republicans had dominated in this area for so long.

    I’m not sure how we are doing with social media outreach now, but I saw a Halloween picture of the White House social media unit that showed a dozen or so bright looking people.

  126. 126.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Steeplejack: As long as we’re doing grammatical protips, here is a handy zeroth-order guide to the uses of affect and effect:​

    1. Ask yourself if you need a noun or a verb.
    2. If you need a noun, you almost always want “effect.” (“Affect” as noun [“a subjective feeling experienced in response to a thought or other stimulus; mood, emotion, especially as demonstrated in external physical signs”] is a fairly rare and obscure usage usually found in academic psychological tracts.)
    3. If you need a verb, you almost always want “affect.” (“Effect ” as verb [” to cause (something) to happen; bring about”] is a fairly rare and obscure usage usually found in bureacratic boilerplate and babble.)

    This gives you about a 95% chance of making the grammatically proper choice. Enjoy!

  129. 129.

    StringOnAStick

    @ian: I seen to remember reading that the right wing Spanish language media in FL had been sold to a neutral to liberal group but the transfer wouldn’t happen until after the recent election.  I’m pretty sure I read that here.

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