cables
There's a stylistic convention in newspaper headlines that I never got the hang of: paraphrasing something someone said, then a colon, then an indication of whoever it was that said...
SIPDIS and NOFORN
Just came across a couple of terms I hadn't encountered before in an article about leaked US diplomatic memos: SIPDIS (applied to items for DIStribution on SIPRNet, the Secret Internet...
When spambots go awry
Spambots that post comment spam in blogs apparently have a synonym system: they take a piece of text, and they substitute in synonyms for a bunch of the words and...
Handling
Unintentionally funny bit from an article today. The article discusses the lack of delays today from passengers requesting a “pat-down” instead of going through backscatter machines. Then it switches topics...
The arguable fact
I have some sympathy for this kind of construction, 'cause I've done it too: There's no way to two-step around the fact that season 11 of Dancing with the Stars...
Literally
Several years ago, I took a sideswipe at “literally” in an entry about something else. John S and Shmuel both gently pointed out that I was wrong to be fussy...
Headlines to confuse time travelers
Just saw this headline: 77 Percent of Android Devices Running Eclair, Froyo And I wondered: if a time traveler from fifty or a hundred years ago saw that headline, what...
The future of pot is hazy. Get it? Get it? I made a joke!
Nearly every major-news-venue article I've seen about California's Proposition 19 (the one to legalize marijuana) has used the word “hazy” and/or some other pun about marijuana smoke or getting high....
Spammer names
Still clearing out old comment spam, but close to done. Most of the time, spambots either enter non-name phrases into the Name box or use pretty ordinary names. But I...
metumpsychosis (sic)
The other day, while doing some editing, I came across the word “psychopomp,” which obliquely reminded me of an incident from high school. Possibly earlier, but I think it was...