The Truth, The Whole Truth, and . . .

     

Tucson Weather Today

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I ran across an item that I found to be a bit strange:

Sycamore Row, the new novel by John Grisham is being offered directly from Random House in a hardcover edition for $28.95 and in a Large Print Trade Paperback for $29.00. On down farther it lists a special Hardcover edition, leather-bound, signed and numbered, with printed endpapers, gold stamping, a slipcase, and a ribbon marker, selling for $250.00.

No, I am not kidding you.

See for yourself

Amazon lists a hardcover price of $16.36 and paperback is $17.40. Kindle edition is $11.99.

John Ray Grisham, Jr. is an American author of legal thrillers

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Re: Richard Dawkins

The Richard Dawkins Foundation For Reason And Science has a remarkably frank and lucid home page on their website.For example, one of the headings reads: "Only 1 in 10 UK Christians seeks moral guidance from religion." This single page is quite enlightening for those who will take the brief time needed to read it.

Mission Statement:

The mission of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science is to support scientific education, critical thinking and evidence-based understanding of the natural world in the quest to overcome religious fundamentalism, superstition, intolerance and suffering.

A worthy goal, don't you think?

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Poetry:

I really do not know what a poem is anymore. It seems that the definition for poetry is nothing more than a piece of writing that is not prose. It seems to me that the Literary Authority (if there is such a thing) could, and would, come up with a proper appellation for each of the various divisions of what is now all lumped together under the broad designation, Poetry. At this time there seems to be only the distinction between 'Rhyme' and 'Free Verse.'

Seems like there's should be a better way of categorizing it.

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Did You Know . . .?

Clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of their unwanted people without killing them would burn their houses down - hence the expression "to get fired."

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HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day, October 24 in 1861, workers of the Western Union Telegraph Company link the eastern and western telegraph networks of the nation at Salt Lake City, Utah, completing a transcontinental line that for the first time allows instantaneous communication between Washington, D.C., and San Francisco. Stephen J. Field, chief justice of California, sent the first transcontinental telegram to President Abraham Lincoln, predicting that the new communication link would help ensure the loyalty of the western states to the Union during the Civil War.

The push to create a transcontinental telegraph line had begun only a little more than year before when Congress authorized a subsidy of $40,000 a year to any company building a telegraph line that would join the eastern and western networks. The Western Union Telegraph Company, as its name suggests, took up the challenge, and the company immediately began work on the critical link that would span the territory between the western edge of Missouri and Salt Lake City.

The Western Union was able to connect the East and West Coasts of the nation much earlier than anyone had expected and a full eight years before the transcontinental railroad would be completed.

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WORD FOR TODAY

feign [fayn]
verb
-  to give a false appearance of : feign death
-  to assert as if true :  pretend

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Bradley Darryl "BD" Wong

(born October 24, 1960)

BD Wong is an American actor, best known for his roles as Dr. George Huang on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, as Father Ray Mukada on Oz, as Dr. John Lee on Awake, Henry Wu in the movie Jurassic Park, his portrayal of Ngawang Jigme in the movie Seven Years in Tibet, as well as voice-over and stage acting.

Amy Allen

(born October 24, 1976)

Amy Allen is an American actress and film crew member who portrayed the character Aayla Secura in Star Wars films released in 2002 and 2005. She worked behind the scenes on many different movies, including A.I. Artificial Intelligence, before she acted in Star Wars.

Kevin Delaney Kline

(born October 24, 1947)

Kevin Kline is an American stage and film actor. Kline is an Academy Award winner for his supporting role in the comedy hit A Fish Called Wanda. In Alan J. Pakula's Sophie's Choice he won the coveted role of the tormented and mercurial Nathan opposite Meryl Streep. He made several films with director Lawrence Kasdan, including The Big Chill, Silverado, Grand Canyon, I Love You to Death, and French Kiss.

Katie Elizabeth McGrath

(born October 24, 1983)

Katie McGrath is an Irish actress and model from Ashford, County Wicklow, Ireland, best known for playing Morgana in the BBC One TV series Merlin.

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People say satire is dead. It's not dead; it's alive and living in the White House.
--Robin Williams

NASA TV

This Is Who I Am

Is English Grammar Doomed?

Tucson Weather Today

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Every time I hear someone say "...comprised of..." it brings me closer to becoming hysterical. A few minutes ago Garret Lewis, on Tucson Radio Station KNST, spoke of brownies being "comprised of" something or other. Using correct grammar, he should have said either "composed of" or "...comprises..." because the word "of" is never correctly used with the word "comprised."

Dr. Grammar writes:

Comprise?

"Nothing is ever 'comprised of' something. To comprise means 'to contain or to embrace': The jury comprises seven women and five men.

All of the following mean the same thing:
The jury is composed of seven women and five men.
The jury is made up of seven women and five men.
Seven women and five men constitute the jury.
Seven women and five men make up the jury.

Even when used correctly, in my humble opinion, comprise and constitute tend to sound stilted. Some form of is made up of sounds better in most cases."

Why is this important? Because using a word incorrectly (as so many public speakers do these days) changes its meaning in the minds of the hearers who themselves repeat the mistake, which helps destroy the effectiveness of the English language, word by word by word.

There are, of course, times when incorrect grammar is excusable and even preferable, such as when words are purposely used incorrectly in a fiction story's character dialogue, or when consciously used incorrectly in a poem to make a point in an artistic manner.


Robert Brault once wrote: "Do not be surprised when those who ignore the rules of grammar also ignore the law. After all, the law is just so much grammar."

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Happy Birthday

John Grisham

Born February 8, 1955

(When I was 16)

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Ignorant people think it is the noise which fighting cats make that is so aggravating, but it ain't so; it is the sickening grammar that they use.
--Mark Twain