Comments the wendigo has made

  • why bother

    Newt Gingrich's entire career has been one of slander, hyperbole, lies, spin, and above all, obeisance to rank and rigid ideology.

    Why legitimize the views of such a rank liar?  Newt Gingrich is without a conscience; his public record alone demonstrates as much, and who knows how much worse his private life would reveal itself to be.  We know that he was sleeping with another woman while pretending to be faithful to his dying wife, and then he presented the dying wife with divorce papers while she was in her last days of living.  His previous writings have been droning versions of his soundbite public politician's utterings.

    With all the time and space available to exposing your readers to quality discussion in the form of other books, why choose this one?On A review of Gingrich's new book on the environment posted 1 year, 12 months ago 3 Responses

  • re cass sunstein

    I wouldn't trust cass sunstein to tell anyone what's up.  His is a slanting view, a spin deftly placed with a good lawyer's clever subterfuge.  Sunstein and the others at Eugene Volokh's weblog are the sorts of lawyers and political / cultural analysts who are following Alan Dershowitz's model of seeking celebrity rather than the truth.  "Celebrity" in that case may also include "wealth beyond what even a HARVARD law professor typically can amass" and therefore it may include some nice trinkets offered to the good Professor by an affected business or two.On A review of a new doomer cult classic posted 1 year, 12 months ago 55 Responses

  • perhaps

    Perhaps the author wants you to pause where he/she wants the flow of information paused.

    If that is the case, is it the editor's place to "correct" this supposedly wrongly placed comma?

    or must everyone try to imitate Gaddis and McCarthy and Faulkner and Joyce and never use any punctuation because it needs to be left to the reader I mean the question of whether and when to pause for any reason that is what needs to be left to the reader because in the end its the readers view that matters most and not the authors intent because really who is the author anyway he is just some monkey at the keyboard the real brains of the operation is the editor so make sure the author knows that when you put in the punctuation that you find correct you should always highlight it for the author in a draft preview copy so that your point gets driven home with righteous anger and derogation of the lowly author okayOn OK, so it's Saturday now -- still time for a tune about punctuation posted 1 year, 12 months ago 29 Responses

  • a little late

    I think the simplest rule for the use of a serial comma is to ask, how clear is the message being conveyed?  If adding the comma clarifies then add the comma.  If adding the comma confuses then do not add it.

    1, 2 and 3

    1, 2, and 3

    The former tells me that 2 and 3 are united and separate from 1... in other words it's (1) and (2 and 3)

    The latter tells me that each of the 3 is separate from the other 2... in other words it's (1) and (2) and (3)

    That's the convention that I understand and it's the one I communicate.On OK, so it's Saturday now -- still time for a tune about punctuation posted 1 year, 12 months ago 29 Responses