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period. space.
Every modern typographer agrees on the one-space rule. It’s one of the canonical rules of the profession, in the same way that waiters know that the salad fork goes to the left of the dinner fork and fashion designers know to put men’s shirt buttons on the right and women’s on the left. Every major style guide—including the Modern Language Association Style Manual and theChicago Manual of Style—prescribes a single space after a period. (The Publications Manual of the American Psychological Association, used widely in the social sciences, allows for two spaces in draft manuscripts but recommends one space in published work.) Most ordinary people would know the one-space rule, too, if it weren’t for a quirk of history. In the middle of the last century, a now-outmoded technology—the manual typewriter—invaded the American workplace. To accommodate that machine’s shortcomings, everyone began to type wrong. And even though we no longer use typewriters, we all still type like we do. —Manjoo
Vs.
I love you guys, but you’re crazy. On questions of aesthetic preference there’s no particular reason that normal people should listen to a bunch of geeky obsessives who spend orders of magnitude more time on these issues than average. It’s like how you probably shouldn’t listen to me when I tell you not to use .doc files or that you might want to consider a digital audio player with Ogg Vorbis support. I strongly believe those things, but even I know they’re pointless and arbitrary for everyone who doesn’t consider “Save As…” an opportunity for political action.
Nor should we assume that just because typographers believe earnestly in the single space that their belief is held entirely in good faith. They’re drunk on the awesome power of their proportional fonts, and sure of the cosmic import of the minuscule kerning decisions that it is their lonely duty to make. Of course they don’t want lowly typists exercising their opinions about letter spacing. Those people aren’t qualified to have opinions! —Lee
dang. might start saving those avocado and mango seeds now.
Chart: America’s Gardens Are Warmer in 2012
One way to tell that the world (or at this country) is warming is to take a look at the map the USDA puts on the back of seed packets, which shows that winter temperatures have risen pretty much everywhere in the U.S. The Department of Agriculture released an update to the 1990 version of its “Plant Hardiness Zone Map,” which reveals much milder winters than in the past. Read more.
[Image: USDA]
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Watch this mayor’s soul leave his body. Fine questioning by a TV reporter. via ImmigrationProf.
tarmac
Jan Brewer vs. Obama: An airport meeting turns into an epic battle
She wrote some things in her book he didn’t like: The tough-on-immigration Arizona governor, who was not particularly happy with the way the president treated her in a much-talked-about-at-the-time 2010 meeting, wrote about it in her new book ”Scorpions for Breakfast,” and Obama didn’t like what she said. So, last night, when Obama got into Phoenix, this happened. ”I will say that a picture is what it is,” she said. “I must say, I was not hostile. I was trying to be very, very gracious. I respect the office of the president, and I would never be disrespectful in that manner.” What we would give to hear that conversation up close. (AP Photo) source
3 weeks to read the book.
Category Archives: Features
Press-Tribune layoffs not in newsroom
The Idaho Press-Tribune announced 16 layoffs Wednesday, but publisher Rick Weaver said editorial staff has not been cut.
“Business is just bad,” Weaver said. “If the economy was better we wouldn’t be doing it.”
The Canyon County paper posted a story Wednesday afternoon announcing the layoffs.
Continue reading
Unda’ column inspires fundy quiz
A recent scan of the Gem State Voter Guide–a guide for Christian fundamentalist voters who like guns and nuclear power and home schooling and big business–revealed an interesting test for Primary Election candidates: “Protect right of legislative chaplains to pray according to their convictions including “in Jesus’ name.” Continue reading
Secret Service Said So
The city and the Governor’s Office are in the midst of a parking spat, with city parking officials irked that Otter’s security Suburban regularly parks on the sidewalk outside of the Borah Building. Continue reading
WSJ loves Idaho Democrats
Why is the Wall Street Journal spilling so much ink on Idaho Democrats? In the past month, two WSJ stories have touched on the chances of Democrats Larry LaRocco and Walt Minnick to upset the Republican stranglehold on Idaho politics. Continue reading
Plutonium waste headed for New Mexico
Idaho reached a deal with the Federal Government to remove some of the “transuranic” waste buried at the National Lab after 35 years. Continue reading
VA. company got 70% of IVA funds
A Times-News investigation showed that lots of charter, virtual school money is going to out-of-state corporations, which have an increasing influence on the Idaho State Department of Education… Continue reading
Obama’s hopeful, changeling vocab
Says John Rember, who knows of what he speaks: Barack Obama really does offer hope. It’s because of the way he uses the language. Obama uses English the same way George Orwell used English, as a tool to expose possibility rather than obscure it… Continue reading
What ever happened to Rodolfo?
I was the first foreign journalist to talk with Rodolfo Montiel Flores who, in March of 1998, was engaged in intense confrontations with loggers in his home area of Petatlán in Mexico’s Guerrero State. Flores was jailed and then became an environmental icon for his work. I’d like to hear from him again… Continue reading
Secret out-of-state corporate tax breaks revealed
An Idaho tax commission auditor revealed a long-standing practice of secret tax settlements with out of state corporations that cost millions. Auditor Stan Howland, near retirment: “This allows these companies to avoid paying millions of dollars of income tax that are properly due the state of Idaho, and to do so in complete secrecy…” Continue reading
Results of PaleoMedia.org races to watch
Initial analysis of last night’s primary shows some mixed results. Hot races in the unsettled territory between West Boise and Oregon, or at least from Boise to Caldwell, ended up all over the map. Moyle drew out his rural base in north Boise Valley but Boise businessman Chuck Winder also landed the Senate seat there. In Meridian proper, McKague held on, but west of there, in Wilder country, former bureaucrat Takasugi managed to defeat the red-baiting rhetoric of Otter appointee Bowers.
Eight Idaho counties to use new voting system
Eight Idaho counties will use new balloting systems on Tuesday, including Idaho’s most populous county.
Elections offices in Ada, Blaine, Cassia, Latah, Lemhi, Madison and Teton counties are using brand new bubble (think SAT) or “arrow” ballots and optical scan vote counters in Tuesday’s Primary Election… Continue reading
Farm Bill gives me nada for my corn
A couple of years ago I called Idaho potato magnate J. R. Simplot to ask him about farm subsidies. There was an Associated Press story coming across the wire that listed billionaire-farmer Simplot as one of the largest recipients of government farm subsidies in the country, and since Simplot is a major player in southwest Idaho, my editor wanted his side of the story. Continue reading
