Five things make a post

[redbird]

In the last few days, I have filled out two different "Parliamentary consultancy" questionnaires on same-sex marriage, both of which included questions about the role of religious celebrants. I'm not a citizen or resident of either Australia nor the United Kingdom, but neither form asked for an address or about citizenship, and they both wanted input from all "interested parties."

We saw a mourning cloak butterfly in the park yesterday. They tend to be one of the earliest kinds of butterfly, if not the earliest, but this seems early even for mourning cloaks. (I got close enough to get some pictures, while it was sunning itself on a dead branch.)

I finally installed the necessary software on our (moderately) new printer/scanner/fax machine, and configured it for wireless use, and cattitude has printed to it from his computer. (The device ships knowing how to make black-and-white photocopies.) Once I check them over, we can file our taxes. And then I made myself some hot chocolate, because dealing with printer software is like that.

I continue to be annoyed by people who have been warned not to say "like" instead of "as" so often that they now write "as" where they should write "like." And I probably couldn't code in Lisp to save my life, but I will be counting parentheses as long as I live. I get paid to fix both of these, but only one of them irritates me if I see it in print.

Having left my all-purpose cardigan at the gym on Friday, and lost an earring from one of my favorite pairs yesterday, I will probably be a bit cautious about carrying valuable things (valuable either in dollars or for sentimental or practical reasons) for a few days. I have earrings I like but am not strongly attached to, and they will do for the moment.

Comments

[amaebi]

Sorry about the losses-- may they yet be restored! I did find my missing ski glove....

I'm sure you know that mourning cloaks hibernate....

[mcwetboy.livejournal.com]

I have my own bone to pick with "as" that dates from my days in the government correspondence mines, where "as" was also used for "since" and "because." To say nothing of the extremely overused "as well as." My edits suggesting synonyms were not always well received, but then this was government work, where I was paid not to fix such things.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

I like that in the 50s there was a big stink about Winston cigarette commercials. Not because the Flintstones were the spokespeople for cigarettes; that was totally cool. No, people were pissed because the slogan was "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should" and people thought it should have been "as a cigarette should." THESE ARE THE IMPORTANT THINGS.

[necturus.livejournal.com]

I remember it well, so it must have been in the mid to late 1960's. The retort was "what do you want, good grammar or good taste?"

In a Mad Magazine parody, a gravestone replies: "I wanted to live a lot longer than this."

[necturus.livejournal.com]

I saw this butterfly:

http://interpring.com/butterfly.jpg

...while walking in Cutler Park, about a mile from my house, last Sunday.