KEY POINTS:
We get the idea ... a muddled ad for a therapeutic riding school in the American state of Washington has its heart, if not its words, in the right place.
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Now might be a good time to sit down with your dictionary and quiz yourself on the 100 Words Almost Everyone Confuses and Misuses, compiled by editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. There are definitely a few curly ones in there:
adverse/averse; affect/effect; aggravate; alleged; all right; altogether; among/between; assure/ensure/insure; auger/augur; average/median; blatant/flagrant; capital/capitol; complement/compliment; comprise; consul/council/counsel; convince/persuade; discreet/discrete; disinterested/uninterested; enervate; enormity/enormousness; factoid; fewer/less; flammable/inflammable; flaunt/flout; forte; gender/sex; hopefully; impact; impeach; imply/infer; incredible/incredulous; irony; irregardless; its/it's; kudos; lay/lie; leave/let; literally; mass/weight; mean ; mischievous; nuclear; parameter; penultimate; peruse; phenomenon; plus; precipitate/precipitous; prescribe/proscribe; presently; principal/principle; renown; reticent; sacrilegious; seasonable/seasonal; sensual/sensuous; set/sit; that/which; unexceptionable/unexceptional; unique; utilise/use; wherefore; wreak/wreck; zoology. (Source: www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com)
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Elton John, pictured, wants the internet shut down because he believes it is destroying music. He told Britain's Sun newspaper: "The internet has stopped people from going out and being with each other and creating stuff. Instead people sit at home and make their own records, which doesn't bode well for long-term artistic vision. Hopefully the next movement in music will tear down the internet. It would be great to see the internet shut down for five years and see what sort of art is produced over that span. I'm sure, as far as music goes, it would be much more interesting than it is today." But hang on, Elton. Didn't you stream your 60th birthday concert at New York's Madison Square Garden live over the web? And haven't you made your back catalogue available to buy online?
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When Ruth Ball's 4-year-old daughter, Leigha, threw a tantrum in a shop, she reprimanded her, then took her out and put her in the car to calm down. After her daughter quietened down, she drove off. The following day, a police officer came to Ball's home in Luton, England, and advised her that she should not shout at her daughter and take her away. The officer said such behaviour was inappropriate in light of the disappearance of a 3-year-old British girl during a family holiday in Portugal in May. "We received a call from a member of the public concerned for the safety of a young girl she had seen being put into a car," said a spokesman for the Bedfordshire police. (Source: Reason.com)
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An Israeli group has made a projectile-launcher which lobs eggs and vegetables toward Gaza in the name of peace. "The idea was to draw attention to what's going on with a little bit of humour, because we thought it could relieve the pressure a little," said one member of the group. "Some of the vegetables flew whole over to the Strip, we spotted the eggs flying into Beit Hanoun and the thought even crossed my mind that some day, we may be able to make Arabic salad here, a salad of peace."
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A "sense of humour" programme has been devised by scientists as a first step towards building robots that laugh at human jokes. What the programme, or "bot", finds funny is admittedly limited, being based on obvious puns. But its designers at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio believe similar "cyber wits" could add a welcome human touch to future robots acting as companions or helpers. Robots that giggle or guffaw at human jokes are more likely to be accepted than deadpan machines devoid of humour.
