June 2011
21 posts
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Oxford Comma Dropped by a University of Oxford... →
When Elisha announced this to our house, Eric and I were both aghast. We both really like the Oxford comma!
“Oxford, you can’t do that,” said I. “It’s like… a child. You’ve already birthed it; you can’t take it back!”
I then asked Elisha how he felt about the Oxford comma. He said he likes it too.
So yes, dear Oxford Comma: we’re sorry...
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Housemates: On temperamental appliances
Limmy: Our toaster is crazy.
Eric: Yeah, I used it once, and it toasted my bread, but it did it begrudgingly. I think I should've thanked it.
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World's Greatest City: 50 Reasons Why Singapore is... →
How much I agree with this post - let me count the ways… Oh wait, all 50 points are pretty true. Pinch of salt, of course, but for the most part, right on the mark. Not sure if I’d consider all of them reasons why we’re awesome, but hey, to each his/her own opinion - some excerpts:
6. Water technology so good, we drink our own pee
Time magazine called Singapore the global...
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"Have a five-star day. Don't let anything get you...
Heard on the T in Boston, over the announcement system, at about 7.20am in the morning, as I was making my way to South Station to catch the bus to NYC on Thursday.
Recently, I was unfortunately reminded that human relationships aren’t transactions - that you can put a lot into a friendship that you don’t get back; one mistake you make can negate hours of effort spent on talking,...
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Singing Joni Mitchell’s “River”...
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Syrian men promise to marry women who were raped -... →
nprfreshair:
To reclaim their “honor,” families in Syria have been known to kill raped female members. Even if families allow such women to live, they are not eligible to marry.
“We sat and discussed that we want to change this. We don’t want to change just the regime in Syria, but also this kind of stuff. So we will marry them in front of everyone,” said Ibrahim Kayyis, a 32-year-old baker...
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“One of the guys would randomly shout “SHIRTLESS O’CLOCK!” and...”
– Elaine, on her high school male buddies.
Anisha/Kai’s (?) response: “I bet whichever guy shouts ‘shirtless o’clock’ is the one that just worked out the day before and wanted to show off…”
I’m really tempted to draw a link between this phenomenon and...
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The Quintessential Summer Saturday in Boston
Today, Elaine, Anisha, Kai and I had the perfect summer Saturday in Boston. A day of wandering, completely spontaneous activity, for the most part drenched in sunshine and warmth that is so precious for Bostonian residents. Definitely a day worth recording.
We started out the day with brunch at the Clear Conscience Cafe, then took a nice long walk down from Central Square towards the Charles...
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“I have to get up at silly o’clock.”
– Tom Waters, on having to be up early the next day.
Needless to say, as a fellow non-morning person/morning-person-in-training novice, I sympathize. Tom and I have had multiple conversations about this…
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Housemates - The Musical
(Anisha is over at our house for lunch, and I'm introducing her to my housemates, Elisha and Eric.)
Me: (unsure) Hey, Anisha and Elisha sort of rhyme...
Elisha: (deadpan, looking right at me) They do. They end the same way.
Me: ... (cowering from the English major)
Eric: (singing) You say Anisha, I say Elisha...
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Biblical Humour
(On the possibility of a volcano erupting when Tom flies over to New York City, and stops over at Reykjavik)
Ellen: "No one knows the time or the hour."
(laughs at her own joke)
Ellen: I'm funny.
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“I know you’re a safe driver - you’re very good at it and all - but...”
– Ashley, commenting on Sam’s driving, on the way to Blenheim Palace.
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Relationship Chat with a PPEist
Ellen: It'd be nice to be with someone in the same city - a foreign concept.
Tom: It'd be quite hard to be in love with a foreign concept. I'm dating a German idea: Bravery. Last week, I broke up with Liberty of the Individual
(How Tom comes up with these things, I will never know.)
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Birthday Wit
(A bunch of us are hanging out at Will's house, after a very filling Italian pizza dinner in Cowley, in honour of Solomon's birthday. By some miracle, most of us manage to get down some cake as well. When Will is asked if he'd like seconds, he declines, unsurprisingly.)
Solomon: Do you abdi-cake?
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U.S. Underwrites Internet Detour Around Censors... →
The Obama administration is leading a global effort to deploy “shadow” Internet and mobile phone systems that dissidents can use to undermine repressive governments that seek to silence them by censoring or shutting down telecommunications networks.
Flashback to my Digital Democracy of the 21st Century course in sophomore year.
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Romance of the United Kingdom
Cheesy as it sounds, my relationship with Oxford - and perhaps England, or the British Isles (to include Ireland here) more generally - really is best characterized as a romance. Yes, I lived there in the flesh for a good nine months, “suffering” through the most work-intensive period of my life up till that point, so I should have no illusions of its idyllic-ness, should be...
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