Cole Parker

I love the quibbling! I told you it was a difficult quiz! Cole

Oh, is there something wrong with that? Cole

Okay, I clicked on the underlined 'here' and took the quiz. I'm a sucker for a quiz. This one was HARD! And I thought I knew something of the English language! Humbling, that's what it was! All right, I admit I got an A. But if I say that, I also have to admit I guessed at a few. Evidently, I'm a better guesser than abecedarian. Cole

What a wonderful clip! Those writers should get an Emmy for that. Great, great stuff. Cole

I've noticed it before, and it follows here, too. People tend to be loyal, sometimes fanatically so (are you listinging, Wibby?) to whatever computer they have and have learned. As for what you said, Graeme, it's a load of crap--and I mean that in the nicest possible way! Bill Gates has more money than God. He can afford to hire someone to make the programs easier to use, more logical, more intuitive. He doesn't need to pinch pennies, for crying out loud. What would it cost him to have a department whose function is to clean up the programs before they hit the streets? Maybe $10 a sold unit, when all is said and done? That culd easily be passed on to you and me, but they should foot the bill themselves. You're right, of course. They're not going to waste their money on making the consumer happy. What's the point in having a monopoly if they're going to act that way? Cole

Swearing certainly helps. At least helps relieve the stress using a computer generates. What I'll never understand is, why do these things have to be so infernally counter-intuitive? Why can't the software engineers make their programs respond the way humans would expect them to? Everything has to be learned, and nothing works as one might expect it to. Are they all out there laughing at us? Cole

From the Heart is an exceptional story. It's difficult to read when your eyes are full of tears, but this story makes it all worthwhile. Cole

Thanks, Blue. That was beautiful. Cole

Thanks. I'm blushing! Cole

Just as long as it needed to be<g> C

Trab: I absolutely wasn't getting on your case about this. You have nothing to apologize for. You were trying to help! We need more people like you. And it did sound plausible, till I started to ask myself, why in the world would they do that? I must get ten cautionary pseudo-info-craps a day with this kind of shit in them, and so I am automatically suspicious. That's the only reason I responded like I did. Thanks for passing on what seemed a good warning to us, Trab. Cole

Trab: This has the feel and taste of an urban legend to me. I don't see any reason a hotel would program all that information onto a key card. What would be the point? They already have the info in their computer where it's needed. They'd never have the need to recover that info from a card. It seems to be something there would be no rational reason to do, and would also seem to put the hotel into a position where they could at the very least share liability if someone used one of their cards fraudulently. Thinking this, I asked a friend of mine who works for a major hotel chain if indeed they coded all that info into their cards. He told me absolutely not. And he said he never heard of any other chain doing it either. I think your idea of running a magnet over the card is fine. I personally don't carry a magent with me, and if I did, I'd worry it might accidently invalidate all my other credit cards. I wonder if anyone else here knows anything about this. Cole

I read it. Good final chapter. I recommend the story to anyone who hasn't read it. Eliot Moore has some talent. Cole

Thanks, Ubik. That must mean there's another, although final, chapter up. I'll go read it. And hope it's less confusing this time around. Cole

Or it could easily be put into passive voice with: "The grieveance should be presented by the tennant or the owner, or both." I often rewrite tricky sentences to imporve clarity and get myself off the hook. Cole

I don't think "declaring" things to be so works with English. I'm not sure just how the language evolves, but it certainly does. It grows constantly; words also fall out of usage. The mechanism that make this work doesn't seem to be declaration as just a popular shift in mood. I was taught in school that "all right" was two words. Back then, it was not listed in the dictionary as one word. "Already" was one work, "all right" was two. Now, many dictionaries list "alright" as an alternative and acceptable spelling. It's only a matter of time before it becomes entirely legitimate. The purists among up of course rue the changes. I applaud them and think they keep the language vital. So you have my encouragement to declare what you will. It's rather like Don Quixote tlliting at windmills and seems a picaresque venture, but is an amusing and fanciful one. Good luck. Cole

Right on WBMS. I agree. C

Trab: Sorry if the explanation was confusing. While that system might not work for others, it works well for I. Cole

Sorry. It was very clear to me. You do recognize the difference between "us" and "we," don't you?<g> Cole?

Hah! We're not alone. Des feels the same. If we keep adding people to our pile, some day we'll be in the majority. And, as we were the first, we're the ones having fun on the bottom. Cole

Except there's a major difference. You know the book is done whether there is a final The End or not. There aren't any more words to read. You know a movie is over. The lights come on. But with an Internet story, without a The End, you just have to keep checking back to see if another chapter comes up. I think that's rude and unnecessary. But that's just me. Cole

Des, It's really sad it happened. You seem to have developed a sensitivy that they didn't have. It's wonderful you did that. Moving on the Recovery, with the latest chapter now up, my question is, is the story finished? I remember the recent rule we read, that there is no need to write "The End" when we're done; it'll be apparent. I thought that silly at the time, and this simply is another of abundant examples of why. The story could end here, or not. I like it when an author is respectful enough of his audience to let these good people know. Does anyone have a guess whether this was the last chapter or not? Cole

A cautionary note: don't leap on the Wibby bandwagon too eagerly. Raccoons can turn rabid and bite. Wait till you have him edit your work! There is an easier way to parse that sentence to find the correct pronoun form, if I can enter the fray. I like things as simple as possible. You don't need to say it three ways to know what is correct. You can subsititiue just one word. Instad of He gave a copy to blank, then to blank, then to me, think of it as, he gave a copy to we, or he gave a copy to us. "Us" is obviously the correct word. As "us" is objective rather than nomiinative, "me" would be the correct work rather than the nominative "I". Clear? Cole

I agree that plausibility is a vital ingredient in a story if the story is going to hold a reader's interest. Without that, anything goes, and drama is reduced as any conflict can be resolved without resorting to a need for reality. Cole

I can't let that pass without a Bravo! "I'd bet your house on it." Well done! Cole