Gadget irony

I was reading this article about iPhones and other tech gadgets in classes, distracting students. While I am sitting in class. Surfing the internet on my laptop with wireless internet. Then, the irony of it struck me but also the inevitability.

Professors, it's inevitable. We cannot pay attention for more than 5 minutes, and if you're just gonna ramble on up there (for three and a half hours, in the case of this class), yes, we are going to take advantage of all that Steve Jobs and his cronies have given us.

I am a grammar nerd

Two grammar stories are circulating out there, and since I am a serious grammar enthusiast, I feel obligated to share them.

The first one, from the New York Times, is outstanding. It's about the decline of the semicolon in American usage. I happen to love the semicolon, and use it liberally [as liberally as proper grammar will allow, perhaps even more so].

The second one is not as good, probably because it's from CNN, but it still has some grammatical relevance. It's about computers and grammar, particularly apostrophes and how they make computers go bonkers because of poor programming. I post it because it points to declining use of proper grammar in the technological age, shown here in how programmers failed to take account of grammatical constructions in last names when creating online forms in which one enters a last name.

An uncontrollable consumer need.

I NEED THIS. Desperately. I hate my PC, want to go back to Mac, and this makes my lust ever stronger. Droooool. I need the whole Mac to go with it, and maybe an iPhone too. Oh how I love Apple.