Pass the Olives

Ayn Rand and God, Joined in Parenthood

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From the dedication of a book by Nathaniel Brandon, Ayn Rand’s famous disciple: “To my parents, Ayn Rand and God” Apocryphal but easy to remember, and if I don’t include it as one of the great classic serial need for a comma gaffs, I’ll get mail.

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Merle Haggard, Kris Kristofferson, and Robert Duvall in Marital Triangle

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In a caption to a picture of Merle Haggard in the Los Angeles Times of 21 July 2010 that referred to a documentary about him, the lack of a serial comma simultaneously changes the sexual orientation of three men and claims dubious legal status for their relationships: “Among those interviewed were his two ex-wives, Kris Kristofferson and [...]

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Cars Improve Our Quality of Life?

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The incalculable costs of cars are in medical care, road building and maintenance, traffic control (though there seems to be little of that), dead car and rubber tire disposition, emergency vehicles for accidents, building and maintaining parking, etc. The air pollution is not just from driving but from manufacturing and processing the raw materials.

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Walter Reed (Army Hospital) Development

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The need is for an entrance on the west side of the Takoma Metro Station, one that looks like an entrance — open, light, with a sign. Not just for Walter Reed but for everyone else on the DC side. Since this is not likely to happen now that Cedar Crossing, the Gables, and the soon to be built Metro-Village are all big buildings blocking the possible development of a visible entrance, perhaps some other solution could be found. A trolley is planned to go from Georgia Avenue across Butternut Street up Fourth Street to the Takoma station. Maybe before they get the trolley, they could put a big sign on the overpass. Something attractive and old-time trolley-friendly, like the one that would have been there before the Metro was built and a trolley served the area.

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Academic Technology

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Typists had to type the body of the document in the computer, print it on the form, then put it in the typewriter to fill in the data at the top. This was so time consuming that it was easier to just type the whole document, ignoring the computer. The Academic VP who commanded the design of academic forms, had no understanding of typing or printing and her Assistant VP had no understanding of filling out forms so nothing happened, neither believing it was a problem. This situation went on for years, more than doubling the requirement for clerical staff.

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Just One Pronoun

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A Quote Worth Quoting: “Misplacing just one pronoun can totally confuse a listener. And when you communicate in writing, as more and more of us do in this age of e-mails and texting, you may not even know whether the recipient misunderstands. When you’re an adult, you may not remember the difference between transitive and [...]

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Color Schemer

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I’m a colorist. “Colorist” has been appropriated by those who adjust color in films or add color to graphic novels (translation: comic books). But it fundamentally refers to anyone who uses color to achieve an effect. Or in most cases just loves color. I had a student who painted super-realist paintings, usually in a series and [...]

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Is Michelle Rhee Out of Control?

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I’m not defending Rhee’s rude to the point of self-defeating behavior, like refusing to meet with the City Council for the first part of her tenure, but I’ve learned that for women being a real bitch is often the only way you can effect enormous change — or any change at all. High hopes take [...]

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Learning to Draw & System Dynamics

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Some students need an intuitive sense of the whole before they can focus on details. Others need the details in order to understand the whole. Something that is known and tested by those who study personality and learning styles. There are two ways that figure drawing has been taught, for example. One stresses gesture drawing, [...]

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Practical Knowledge

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Q. If I read your comment correctly, it seems to suggest that conventional subjects actually seldom try to assess their transfer of learning to students’ everyday life for longer period of time. A. At the college level, the professors often consider this mundane. Their job is to raise standards and teach pure knowledge. If they [...]

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