English teachers, rejoice! The Oxford Comma is still with us!

Yesterday, there was a bit of a kerfuffle over the apparent decision by the University of Oxford to eliminate the Oxford comma (the one used at the end of a series) for good. Relax, keepers of the Queen's English. It's still part of their official style guide. Why is the Oxford comma so important? Here's an explanation from NPR's Monkey See blog, where a bachelorette is making a tough choice:

Without the serial comma, she might say: "The best available men are the two tall guys, George and Pete." There, you really don't know whether George and Pete are the tall guys, or whether there are two tall guys in addition to George and Pete. You literally don't know how many men you're talking about, and while that level of confusion as to elementary facts seems like something that might actuallyhappen on The Bachelorette, it is unfortunate in other settings. If, on the other hand, you use the serial comma, then you would write that sentence only if you meant that George and Pete were the tall guys, and if you didn't, you'd say, "I met two tall guys, George, and Pete."

Today in Irony: NBC's Chris Hansen

According to the National Enquirer (hey, they were right about John Edwards), To Catch A Predator's Chris Hansen got caught cheating on his wife - on camera, no less. No word if Hansen was just "trying to talk her out of making a bad decision," or if wine coolers were involved.

Next year's Pixar flick: Brave

Took the kids to see Cars 2 today. Not the best Pixar movie ever (I'm torn between Ratatouille and TS3), but it's filled with luscious landscapes, incredible attention to detail, and enough Larry the Cable Guy to last the rest of my life. We saw plenty of trailers beforehand, including The Smurfs (oy), another Alvin and the Chipmunks (why?), and The Muppets (hooray!).

What we didn't get to see, however, was the trailer for next year's Pixar film, Brave, the first to feature a female protagonist. Here it is.

New Wilco, September 27!

The Whole Love drops in less than three months, Wilco's first CD on their own label. Listen to a taste of what's to come below.

Wilco - I Might by weallwantsome1

Springsteen's Eulogy for The Big Man

There couldn't have been a dry eye in the house for this. What a loss. What a friendship.

Why U.S. Teachers Work the Most But U.S. Students Stay Average - Business - The Atlantic Wire

Teachers work ONLY nine months a year?!? Not! Here are the numbers to prove it.

Good news: My first book blurb!

Goofy news: Bedford/St. Martin's goofed up my location. I will be letting them know about this.

Clarence Clemons suffers stroke

Prayers for the Big Man.

RIP: Jim Northrup

Detroit Tiger Jim Northrup has died at age 71. Somewhere in my archives, there's an autographed 8 x 10 of the 1968 World Series hero. A class act.

Thanks, Mainstream Media!

Lessee. . . unrest in Syria, Yemen, and Libya; five U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq, the most in one attack in two years; the most powerful nation's debt is perilously close to its ceiling, yet what are we seeing in the headlines?

Palin's Revolutionary War history ineptitude, and Weiner's, well, you know. One headline on MSNBC.com reads "Why do guys take crotch shots, anyway?" Not exactly Pulitzer material.