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Deterioration of language in our society
I've been noticing more and more how the English language is deteriorating into slang, misused words, improper abbreviations, and mistakes ranging from television to print media, to the web and most disturbing, everyday language. It has become so bad, that the English language has changed to "accept" this. For instance, anyways is often used for anyway. This really disturbs me as it just doesn't sound right and makes people who use it seem uneducated to me. I hear this used on television and in everyday conversations all the time. The problem is that no one corrects the mistakes. Is this a breakdown of our educational system or does no one care anymore?Related to vocabulary issues and slang, the use of email, instant messaging, and text messaging has caused people to become very sloppy in their writing and many people just don't care what they write. I find myself trying to proofread everything I write as it is a reflection on me and every communication can affect my work. I wish this was imparted on kids and teenagers as the more they neglect their writing, the bigger problem society will have later.It really only takes a few good influences to change someone's language skills. It starts in the classroom, but extends beyond that. My wife is a science teacher and for the last few years, she's been hanging out with English teachers. A few weeks ago, I commented to her that her vocabulary has increased just by being around people that use more sophisticated words. My wife is very smart, but has said that she was never good at the SAT words. Well, I think that has changed just by her friends' use of new words.When is society going to start caring?(I'm sure someone will find grammatical errors with this entry, but at least I tried to get everything right.)
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Sound isolation - the final chapter
Well, all my sound isolation stuff worked pretty poorly and I was a bit annoyed at the noise. I decided to take another stab at it and read reviews that the Antec cases were pretty good and quiet. I bought a Sonata II from NewEgg that arrived yesterday. I removed my computer from the old case this morning and put it in the Antec. I powered it up and was amazed at how much quieter my server is. The new case cost $99 + tax and shipping; the old one was about $60; the $40 difference is quite remarkable. When I got the server in the first place, I said I wanted a quiet case, not knowing a whole lot about build your own computers, I let Chip Merchant pick a case. That sure was a mistake and I won't repeat that one. The Antec case is well built and everything fits together well. The cheap case I had before came with no instructions and was extremely bare bones. Too bad I had to go through the process of swapping cases and hearing my machine for a month.
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eBay Feedback sucks
As I mentioned in a previous entry, I got a PlayStation 2 network adapter off eBay. It took forever to arrive and the seller wasn't responsive. Once I received it, I left neutral feedback saying that shipping was slow and seller was unresponsive. Well, today I checked my feedback and found that I got neutral feedback from the seller with the comment that she had computer problems. A few problems with this: 1) I sent payment immediately which should make for positive feedback and 2) the seller had been posting feedback for others during the time when she was unresponsive indicating she had computer access, but didn't respond to me. Lesson learned...eBay feedback means nothing...always pay with a credit card so that charges can be disputed in case of a problem. If I actually sold anything on eBay, this feedback would look bad for me.
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Online gaming
I decided to try out online gaming, so I got a network adapter for my PlayStation 2 off eBay. Yesterday I also picked up a USB headset for it (it was $16 at Circuit City if you bought it online and picked it up at the store). So far the experience of playing against others is a bit frustrating as I really stink. The voice quality also has much to be desired, but I need to make sure it isn't my firewall causing the issue. I'm going to try use the handle "scrubbbby", so if you see me, join me for a game. (Scrubby comes from sgruby as that was my login name in college and due to how much I used a computer, my friends started calling me that.) I had to add a few b's to get a unique account name.