Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Don't Touch That Pretty Little Thing OR 'Tis The Season
Human-wildlife conflicts often occur from late spring into mid summer because that’s typically when animals have their young. Alligators, bears, moose, raccoons, and many other species will attack in defense of their families. Some do so without warning, which can be particularly frightening, and,...
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Saturday, May 27, 2006
There Are Better Ways To Write--- An Encore Presentation
Here’s a simple tip to significantly improve your writing: When possible, avoid using “There are” and “There is” to begin sentences. Such sentences just lie there, like a teen-ager bloated on pizza. Your writing will be much more dynamic--- and readable--- if you use subjects (nouns) followed by...
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Thursday, May 25, 2006
Go Ahead And Have A Drink. You Need It OR Keep Wet To Be Wild
I learned my lesson about 15 years ago, while fishing with friends in Florida. The day was sunny, but pleasantly cool, so we didn’t sweat, and, in fact, wore long sleeves all day. About 2 p.m., sudden sharp pain seemed about to split my head in half. One of my friends handed me a couple of...
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Tuesday, May 23, 2006
What's A Bayou? Here's A Photo OR Nice Knees!
Bayou: A sluggish, marshy tributary of a river or lake. This particular bayou is in the massive Atchafalaya Basin of southern Louisiana. Those are cypress "knees" in the foreground and that's Spanish moss hanging just above them. By the way, cypress knees are woody projections from the roots....
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Monday, May 22, 2006
Crawfish, Crabs, And Government Waste OR A Gator-Size Headache
Here are some random thoughts and observations from my recent trip to southwestern Louisiana. (This is NOT an example of a properly structured essay or magazine article, but rather a perfect example of taking advantage of this new, informal medium.) 1) Boiled crawfish are easier to open and eat than...
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Monday, May 15, 2006
Kind Of Write This Way--- An Encore Presentation
“I kind of like John.” “I sort of would like to go to the dance with Beulah.” Fearing disapproval, disagreement, or, in this case, rejection, we protect ourselves by “qualifying” what we say. That way, if John doesn’t like us in return or if Beulah doesn’t want to go to the dance with us, we’re not...
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Friday, May 12, 2006
Could Of, Would Of, Should Of--- A Repost By Necessity
“I should of gone with you.” What’s wrong with that? What’s wrong is that “of” is a preposition, not a helping verb. What you should write is, “I should have gone with you.” Or, “I should’ve gone with you.” Notice anything? “Should of” and “should’ve” sound the same when spoken, which is why the...
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Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Me Hate This! Me Hate This!--- A Repost By Necessity
I hate this grammatical error more than any another, probably because mostly it is perpetrated by people who should know better. In fact, in an interview that I heard on PBS, a linguist said that this is the most common error made by educated people, as well as people who want to “sound” educated....
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Saturday, May 6, 2006
Now Showing On Blogit: Big Fish! The Photo--- An Exclusive Presentation
My buddy Jesse (on right) didn't catch this monster grass carp (28 pounds, 2 ounces) at the Wiggle and Giggle Fishing Derby. But he certainly enjoyed getting all slimed by it as he posed for a photo. My car never will be the same. What Jesse did catch, however, was the rim off a bicycle wheel, which...
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Friday, May 5, 2006
Fun With Numbers OR I'm Just Lookin' For A Topic
Probably this story is about nothing more than coincidence. Then again, maybe it’s about more than that. After you’ve read it, please share your thoughts. I filled three containers with little clumps of ground-cover plants from a friend’s yard. I didn’t count the plants. It never occurred to me to...
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