Internet Trollings
No, I am not a "troll". Trolling is a type of fishing, which involves dangling a line behind you as you drive your boat slowly through the water. This means that I was strolling across the internet, and as I moved slowly, I got a few bites. Actually, in this case I was through a long list of feeds, but it amounts to the same thing. A couple of my catches I kept, because they were interesting enough that I was allowed by Law to keep them. I'll be doleing them out to you folks in a careful manner.
First of all, an interesting commentary by Jim Winter, one of John Scalzi's guest bloggers: Time for a Change in the Language
He takes a look at the problem in English grammar of having no singular genderless pronoun. A common way of getting around that is using "they", but many people complain that using a plural form is even worse than using a gender-specific form such as "he" (the accepted method). Something you may or may not have realized, he reminds us, is that "you" is actually a plural form. If it's acceptible to use "you", then why wouldn't it be acceptible to use "they"?
Second, on a completely different subject, there's an article on the New York Times about hybrid cars. It seems that the trend isn't going towards more efficient cars, but rather towards more power. The extra efficiency given by a hybrid system is going to faster acceleration rather than towards consuming less fuel. Luckily, there are still options that get in the vicinity of 70 miles per gallon, but they don't have the impressive 0 to 60 numbers.
Finally, BBC news presents an article that shows us a glimpse of what might come in the future of cities. We all know that urbanization is a huge trend, but did you realize that 70 million people every year move to the city from the country? The last section of the article, "Waste as Energy", is by far the most fascinating. Imagine a city with parks layed out so people can go from place to place without crossing traffic. Imagine a city that uses it's own waste (energy waste, organic waste, etc.) to power other things. Methane from sewage used for cooking. Lighting will be carefully planned so that artificial lights aren't necessary during the day. As a final touch, "the soil will be moved onto the roofs. The city will be inhabited by species and the top of the city will be green." Talk about coexisting with nature! This is a beautiful dream, and if it comes off as planned, I look forward to visiting it someday.
Hope you enjoy this issue of Smurf's Random Internet Extravaganza, With Complimentary Thought and Consideration