In honor of Independence Day, show us something patriotic.
Dana Torres, a 41 year old woman, has come out of retirement (again) to try to qualify for her 5th Olympics. I'm not American but if she makes it to Beijing, she's the one I'm rooting for.
The first time she went to the Olympics, she was 16 and I was 6, just a 10 year age difference, not so much really, but a huge difference in mind set. I read bits about her and I am amazed. But my favourite part?
Ask Torres why she has returned to high-level competition, and the simple answer is because she can. Her coach, Lohberg, added: “And let’s not forget this. She’s nuts.”
Awesome. To bastardize a quote from Another Thin Man, "I wish *I* was nuts that way!"
GO DANA GO!
** and yes, this isn't so much patriotism as it is personal determination but hell, root for her anyway.
In honor of Independence Day, show us something patriotic.
You can't get much more Canadian than this
Thanks so very much for the feedback on the previous Netiquette post, as well as the cell phone etiquette post. I remembered, however, that there were additional points that I did not touch upon yet. Quite a few are just general rules of writing, especially when communicating to international audiences. Some more observations I have made in various communications on the Internet are as follows:
Textspeak, Chatspeak, 1337-speak, etc.
- While these may be appropriate for texting, instant messaging, and other various forms of chat, they do not fit well for e-mails, forums, and written offline communication. While it may be considered cool or trendy, most of the time, using them likely make you appear like a kidiot ("kid idiot"). It looks exceptionally unlearned and unprofessional on e-mails to present or potential employers, and academic papers (term papers, homework, and so on).
- It may be difficult for non-native speakers to understand such. Trust me, this is NOT limited to the English-speaking world! The Spanish-speaking folks I chat with from time to time use odd abbreviations (oye hispanohablantes, asi que me entienden, cuando no usan "que" sino
k" a veces me pone confundido y es dificil a entenderles)
and
I am told that French speakers have their own chatspeak, too. - Some abbreviations are abused to the point that they lose their meaning. Most teens and adults I talk to that use "lol" a lot will freely admit they really aren't Laughing Out Loud. Often times, they aren't even chuckling. How is that communication? "Heh" or "hehe" aren't that much longer. But... as if laziness was contagious, the kids have started using "L." now. More often than not, it looks incredibly superfluous after a while. One forum community I'm with uses "tbh" (to be honest) to the point that it would look unnecessary spelled out. This is true of some other abbreviations, such as IMO (in my opinion) and IMHO (in my honest opinion). Your mileage may vary.
Speaking of language barriers...
Spelling and grammar really ARE important.
- Punctuation really does clarify your thoughts. Now I know Spanish-speakers will roll their eyes on this one, because lack of punctuation is perfectly acceptable in informal communication. But I'll tell you, sentences that run on for a paragraph or more make it rather difficult for non-native Spanish speakers like myself to understand. And how would that be any different the other way around, when non-native English speakers are trying to read a sentence that runs on and on in English? Oh, and read aloud those sorts of sentences. Punctuation dictates pauses, and the type of punctuation dictates the length of the pause. You may claim that you are prone to rambling, but can you read that run-on sentence in one breath, because there are no punctuation marks to dictate otherwise? No... you DO have to pause to take a break every now and then! Put in punctuation marks where you have to take a breath AND where it makes sense. Even if you don't get it quite correct, it should be easier to read and understand.
- Not everyone understands the lingo, local slang, etc. I remember an interesting conversation with a Brit where I was asking what "take the piss" meant. Imagine my surprise when she explained it with another slang-- "take the mick" and "take the mickey". Okay, so we have Wikipedia and Urban Dictionary for online references, and I eventually had to consult them to get the meaning. But you can't always expect everyone to understand your local vernacular; be prepared to explain in way they can understand too.
- Sometimes typos and misspellings really CAN lead to a misunderstanding. Those who are fluent in the language may be able to figure out your meaning regardless, but sometimes they will misunderstand, too. You can't always assume that people will understand your mistakes! When you can get some help, such as with a spellchecker, I think it's a good idea to use it.
Oh, and don't abuse exclamation points.
Crossposted to LJ, itemid = 916, security = public, mask = 0.
How are you celebrating the 4th of July?
Holy crap its friday! My, the week goes by fast.
First I am going to get a coffee, if it ever stops dripping.... need coffee.... ugh... not very coherent without it. Next I am going to try to get some work done. I have decided to stay on at the company I work for just long enough to draw income. I'm not staying for any long term that is for sure. The 2 guys out of Barbados who are 'managing' the company and leading the development department (the one I am in) are going to slowly push us backwards in quality and productivity.
They don't know whats going on, and even if we kept them informed, they usually only read what they want to out of emails. The ceo (my father in law) even answers emails from clients directed at the development team, offering his suggestions to a solution, which are not even close! Not even a little. He just makes himself and us look stupid. It's almost sad and fun to watch at the same time.
I'm glad I can witness all this from home, and not have to be in the office with some of the schmucks that are left.
What's your favorite song with "America" or "USA" in the title? Bonus points if you share it with us.
Short, sweet, and really, really funny.
How are you celebrating the 4th of July?
Being shellshocked. We drove home at 7 this morning. I'm sitting here looking at the clock all, "It's not even 11. I should be getting up right now!"
Plus I will be catching up with all my online buds. :-)
Seriously Reduced fat banana muffins with tea.
I used the Post Punk Kitchen's recipe (for banana bread) with some changes, replacing all the oil with apple sauce and halving the sugar. I also replaced half of the all purpose flour with fine-ground durum flour (the chapati flour available in Indian stores.) The muffins turned out very moist, sweet, and all around Delicious.
Dry Ingredients:
1 cup all purpose flour + 1 cup durum flour (or use 2 cups all purpose flour)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp chai masala ( a combo of cloves and cardamom)
Wet Ingredients:
1/2 cup applesauce (This is in lieu of fat, you can replace some or all with butter/margarine)
2 tbsp molasses
1/4 cup sugar
3 well mashed medium bananas (or two large ones)
What to do:
- Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Grease a 9 x 4 bread pan or a 12 cup regular sized muffin pan.
- Whisk all the wet ingredients together in a large bowl.
- Sift all the dry ingredients together and add them to the wet.
- Mix with a wooden spoon until just combined. Pour into the greased pan.
- For the muffins, bake for 23-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the muffin comes out clean.
- For bread, bake for 50-60 minutes, until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Cool for ten minutes.
These are so good..they get all caramelized on the outside, and soft on the inside. The recipe is very play-able. Chocolate chips, nuts, dried fruit, raisins..these are all fair additions. What would I do without vegan baking Goddesses?
* Makes 10 muffins- per muffin, 160 cals, 0.3 gm fat, 36.6 gm carbs, 4 gm protein, 1.8 gm fiber.
Happy Fireworks, folks!!!
I sing for you
Cuz that's what I do...
(Thanks to ICHC, of course. From the voting page for your viewing enjoyment.)
You might find it odd that a Canadian Cabbage knows so many American patriotic songs (hey, I know way more than this, just be glad I didn't record them all! I coulda sung "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy", except I'm not, acktually.) Anyway, I like 'em, and I like to sing 'em, and that's how it is.
My favorite of all is "America the Beautiful"...
Kate Smith, I'm not -- but here's her signature song...
You guys stole our tune! Well, ackshally it's teh Britisher's tune...
In 1965, just after Grade Three, my parents and I went on our first major Summer Road Trip, to Yellowstone National Park. I was very excited about crossing the border and going to a whole 'nother country. As we approached the border, I sang this (yes, the little 8 year old Canadian girl had memorized your national anthem in honor of the occasion). I have to admit that I was disappointed that you couldn't even see the border (there's a line on the map, where was it on the ground???) and the countryside looked exactly the same on the Montana side as it did on our side. Oh well, it was still an Adventure into Another Country. Yay! And I experienced my first (and only, so far) 4th of July on the American side of the border. From our motel room, we watched people setting off fireworks. I was delighted.
Let's sing...
HAVE A GLORIOUS FOURTH!!!!!
Happy 4th of July to my US peeps!
Enjoy your hot dogs and apple pie and fireworks, and most especially, the day off work.
And thank you for my favorite US export.
