The most recent 20 comments posted to Making Light by Clifton:

So Teresa's brilliant coinage has hit the big time. I confidently expect to see it in a GIF on Facebook any day now, attributed to Mark Twain.

I think "may" is a special case of a subjunctive modal form in the forms you're considering. These are tricky forms.

Normally one thinks of hypotheticals as counter-factual; however, in these cases what's being proposed is a *factual* hypothetical case and I have a gut sense that in this case "may" is more correct than "might".

Compare the following constructions:
"I may have a good job, but it is still important that I manage my money carefully."
vs.
"I might have a billion dollars, but it would still be important that I manage my money carefully."

Both assert that the second clause is true *even* if the first clauses is true, but the former implies that I do have a good job (without specifically affirming it) while the second implies that I do not have a billion dollars (again, without absolutely disclaiming it.)

Good wishes to both your partner and you, Lee.

Of course that's what you said.

Anybody got an Indian head penny?

Dave Bell @ 510 and related: Ooh, a topic I know something about.

Caller-ID has never actually been authoritative for anything other than calls from a single personal line.

It has always had the weakness that if you were using a T1 or better digital connection to the phone network - basically 23 lines or more - the calling ID was effectively supplied by the calling system (PBX or whatever). The digital signalling was designed on the assumption that it was all basically coming from the phone network talking to itself, or at least from trustworthy systems connected to it. That broke down as soon as the situation arose where the customers were crooks, but the phone company didn't want to give up the revenue, so that's been a problem for a long time.

Nowadays any kind of high-volume calls normally originate from VOIP over the Internet, meaning they could actually be anywhere in the world, regardless of where the gateway is that they enter the phone network through, and the caller ID would be supplied by the VoIP protocol setup, so the caller ID info is even less trustworthy than before. Caller ID is now just about as reliable as the "From" line on an email - not in the slightest unless it's from someone you already know, and maybe not even then as it could be someone targeting you with a spoof.

Sorcha Rei @ 785:
Yes. Exactly that. I used to love a lot of MZB's books. After reading that deposition, and the post from her daughter on Deirdre Moen's blog, now I can barely stand to think about looking at the Darkover books I've got on the bookshelf long enough to sort them out and throw them away.

The other bizarre thing about the latest Hoyt/Torgerson bullshit is that once again they are taking such an incredibly Stalinist tack in tone and style of argument. After all, this line of discussion basically amounts to "Down with the sneering educated of the bourgeoisie! Long live the proletariat!" Next they'll be calling you class traitors. This is what they claim to be conservatism?

I shall not be there, but I shall be there in spirit, wishing you all well.

I had the biggest trouble with that middle one, too.

I feel required here to shrug, gaze bashfully downward, kick at the ground, and say "Aw shucks, 'tweren't nothin'!" (But seriously, glad I could help.)

Witnessing, Murmuration. You're taking care of your daughter, on all levels, and placing her well-being first, as is right. I grieve that it wasn't so for you.

Alex R. - David Gerrold announced 'A Method for Madness' on FB this morning. Apparently it's done, though I have no idea exactly when it's going to hit print.

Annoying URL spam

Rikibeth @ 848: Arrrrgh! Much sympathies! So frustrating! I hope you and Milo can get it all sorted out in time.

Heather Rose Jones: Nothing helpful to say here, but if virtual hugs are OK, I offer them. In my book you are *not* being annoyingly mopey - I hear you as thoughtfully looking into and sharing a situation that's caused you some real pain, and I appreciate the trust you show us in sharing it here.

For what it's worth, I too have a lot of problems with not feeling that I'm part of any physical-space community. Even with my Zen group, which I appear to be visibly part of, I don't really feel part of the community around it, if that makes any sense.

Ginger: Thanks for sharing your observations also.

Good wishes for Patrick and sincere sympathy. (A friend who was both shot and hit with shrapnel in Vietnam said his kidney stone was more painful than either.)

Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! (That's as coherent as I can be right now.)

Sam @ 55:
I've felt fervently for a long time that marriage should include same-sex marriage. (It might have been as early as the late '70s, when I had a lot of gay friends; certainly by the late '80s when my college roommate, by then a lawyer and law professor, started publishing papers making the explicit comparison to anti-miscegenation laws and Loving.) However, I have sometimes tilted back towards feeling that it would be better if it got there via popular or legislative vote as a consequence of people becoming more enlightened, as you apparently are feeling.

This graph on xkcd finally settled for me why I was wrong to feel that way:

https://xkcd.com/1431/

Note the mouse-over: "People often say that same-sex marriage now is like interracial marriage in the 60s. But in terms of public opinion, same-sex marriage now is like interracial marriage in the 90s, when it had already been legal nationwide for 30 years."

Joy joy joy

OK, a little more on 'Lava' now that I'm no longer trying to finish my post and hurry off to dinner. (Home-made black bean hummus with veggies, yum.)

First, non-spoiler - I did not find it at all responsive to Polynesian culture, apart from having ukulele music. Maybe this is an overly particular reaction to ersatz Hawaiiana, but my immediate reaction to the opening was "Why is that volcano male!?" Volcanoes are Pele's domain, and they are not normally gendered themselves, but are very much the domain of a female goddess and at one time of female priestesses. You don't spend *any* amount of time in Hawai'i without learning that, and learning that a lot of people today take Pele very seriously and carefully avoid offending her.

Second, orlbaq gur bar (urgreb-) fbhyzngr gebcr juvpu Ryyvbgg pbzzragrq ba, V gubhtug gur cnvevat nf gehr fbhyzngrf orgjrra n abgvbanyyl byq-zna-ba-oevax-bs-qrngu ibypnab naq n abgvbanyyl ornhgvshy-arjyl-zngherq-lbhat-jbzna ibypnab jnf npghnyyl cerggl perrcl. Eryngvbafuvcf jurer gurer vf n fvtavsvpnag ntr qvssrerapr nera'g vaureragyl onq, V jnf va bar sbe znal lrnef, ohg V fgvyy guvax guvf bar jnf n qvfgheovat qrsnhyg gb chyy bhg.

That was a disappointment, though a very pretty one, but go anyway for the main movie.

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