Nov. 11th, 2002
The Man in the Iron Mask
Nov. 11th, 2002 06:40 pmI still have nothing to say.
I don't know why. It's not writers' block, or anything else ridiculous... it's just when I try to write something inside my head begins to hurt. I'm typing this very very slowly because I can't force any words to spill out in my usual verbal-diarrheoa style...
I was just on the Straight Dope and found out they've answered my question. I was very pleased. I lurk on
sdmb but I am a member.
Right. I don't think I should write any more.
I don't know why. It's not writers' block, or anything else ridiculous... it's just when I try to write something inside my head begins to hurt. I'm typing this very very slowly because I can't force any words to spill out in my usual verbal-diarrheoa style...
I was just on the Straight Dope and found out they've answered my question. I was very pleased. I lurk on
Right. I don't think I should write any more.
I just worked out my Fog Index (thanks to
lady_of_asheru).
I used a sample of writing from my livejournal.... part of yesterday's rant about Armistice Day, actually - and used it to work out that on average, I put 14 words in a sentence, and the percentage of words that are three syllables or more is 16 percent. Add these together, multiply by 0.4 and it appears I have a Fog Index of 12. This means that on average, a person needs twelve years of schooling to understand what I've written - which doesn't quite make sense, as I've only had eleven years of schooling myself. Anyway, my writing is more difficult to understand than the Wall Street Journal or Time, and double the difficulty of the Bible or the TV Guide.
I don't know if this is a good or a bad thing.
I used a sample of writing from my livejournal.... part of yesterday's rant about Armistice Day, actually - and used it to work out that on average, I put 14 words in a sentence, and the percentage of words that are three syllables or more is 16 percent. Add these together, multiply by 0.4 and it appears I have a Fog Index of 12. This means that on average, a person needs twelve years of schooling to understand what I've written - which doesn't quite make sense, as I've only had eleven years of schooling myself. Anyway, my writing is more difficult to understand than the Wall Street Journal or Time, and double the difficulty of the Bible or the TV Guide.
I don't know if this is a good or a bad thing.
Shipping and handling
Nov. 11th, 2002 10:38 pmThe problem with the $30 Amazon.com gift certificate is the fact that half of it will undoubtably go on postage and packing, or as the Americans call it, shipping and handling.
If I keep in mind books are usually more expensive when counting in dollars, that leaves me with two books, max. Slightly irritating, but I went to the American website to find out whether they carried both of the ones I wanted. Yes for both, which I was pleased about, and there's another nifty little feature on the American site that amazon.co.uk has yet to adopt, and that's sample pages. Tales of Earthsea didn't have any samples, but the M*A*S*H book did (its actual title is so long I'm not going to bother typing it all out). So, I read the pages, keeping in mind the weirdness of the book being written by a Republican, and was pleasantly surprised. The sample pages go on long enough for a few characters to be introduced, and Hawkeye's first piece of dialogue, apart from his name, is, "Jesus, I need a drink."
It was about then I decided I was going to like this book.
If I keep in mind books are usually more expensive when counting in dollars, that leaves me with two books, max. Slightly irritating, but I went to the American website to find out whether they carried both of the ones I wanted. Yes for both, which I was pleased about, and there's another nifty little feature on the American site that amazon.co.uk has yet to adopt, and that's sample pages. Tales of Earthsea didn't have any samples, but the M*A*S*H book did (its actual title is so long I'm not going to bother typing it all out). So, I read the pages, keeping in mind the weirdness of the book being written by a Republican, and was pleasantly surprised. The sample pages go on long enough for a few characters to be introduced, and Hawkeye's first piece of dialogue, apart from his name, is, "Jesus, I need a drink."
It was about then I decided I was going to like this book.