grammar pet peeve

"It's" driving me nuts. I see it wrong in writing from everyone, from the lowly public school student to the creative director to the star tech bloggers. I'm talking about the difference between "it's" and "its".

it's: a contraction of "it is"
its: the possessive form (things belonging to it)

It's very simple, just follow this single rule for its proper use:
When writing "it's", mentally insert the word "is" in place of the apostrophe. If that doesn't express your meaning, TAKE OUT THE APOSTROPHE.

Examples:

It's driving me nuts: It is driving me nuts.
Correct meaning, keep the apostrophe.

The pan lid lost it's handle: The pan lid lost it is handle.
Incorrect meaning, TAKE OUT THE APOSTROPHE, use "its handle".

That's it. Nothing else to remember. Learn it. Love it. Live it.

what is happening to the bees?

NYTimes: "More than a quarter of the country’s 2.4 million bee colonies have been lost — tens of billions of bees, according to an estimate from the Apiary Inspectors of America, a national group that tracks beekeeping. So far, no one can say what is causing the bees to become disoriented and fail to return to their hives."


Maybe they're finally escaping their horrible lives of slavery, being carted around in boxes inside trucks to pollinate the plants of anyone who can pay their master. Maybe it's a brave and heartbreaking story of freedom, racial identity, and the search for the bee homeland. I'm seeing an animated film here...

paths to happiness

There are four doctrines found in all happiness theory from wisdom literature, philosophy, psychology, and self-help. They are:
Know yourself.
Control your desires.
Take what's yours.
Remember death.

-The Happiness Myth: Why What We Think Is Right Is Wrong,
Jennifer Michael Hecht

[I just started reading, I'll fill you in on why these are wrong later]

the hobgoblin of little minds

And don't think I don't notice a certain inconsistency between my last two posts... I'm a complicated girl.

the lies we tell ourselves

Veal to Love, Without the Guilt - New York Times: "In 2003 people were horrified at the idea I would sell veal," Mr. White said. "It took several years with customers seeing calves running free with moms to come around to the idea it’s O.K. to eat them, that they have actually had a life. By 2004 they were encouraging me to sell them."

Isn't it actually crueller to snatch a living creature from a happy life, kill it, and eat it? BTW, I do eat veal and other animals, and if it were necessary for me to kill them myself I would do it. And I'm all for letting the animals run free and be normal as long as they can. I just don't like the mental contortions people go through to make it ok to eat what we eat. Humans are omnivores. Deal with it.

humans are disgusting

Russia Tries to Save Polar Bears With Legal Hunt - New York Times: "For the first time since the Soviet Union banned the practice more than five decades ago, the government is preparing to allow hunters here to kill the bears. The animals are descending with greater regularity on coastal villages in this part of Russia’s far north as a result of shrinking sea ice generally attributed to a warming planet."

Of course; we're destroying the ice they walk on, it only makes sense that we would shoot them when they come ashore to keep from drowning or starving.

bless you Mr. Vonnegut

from Kurt Vonnegut's last book, 2005 (times article)

Requiem

When the last living thing
has died on account of us,
how poetical it would be
if Earth could say,
in a voice floating up
perhaps
from the floor
of the Grand Canyon,
“It is done.”
People did not like it here.



If I ever had any such thing as a role model, he was it, and my life will be poorer knowing there are no more words coming from him. Goodbye Mr. Vonnegut; say hello to Douglas Adams for us, will you?

manhole explosion, east village

Inquisitive teen: What happened?
Firefighter: The blob. Came out of the sewer. Went up some girl's cooch.
-also from Overheard in New York

tourist season

"Welcome to New York. Slow walking idiots prone to stopping for no reason stay to the fucking right of busy sidewalks, and don't get in the way of the non-mentally impaired locals. Now fuck off."
-from Overheard in New York