Snapped this on my tablet while watching NASA TV

I know someone who's going to be indignant over this

It's official: Twitter kills the Queen's English

The Queen's English Society, which has caviled at writers', politicians' and entertainers' "misuse" of the language for 40 years, is disbanding at the end of the month, its chairwoman, Rhea Williams, announced in a message to members, The Independent reported Monday.

(Befitting the organization's traditionalist bent, Williams insists on being called "chairman.")

It's basically an issue of too few participants.

On the other hand, there's this:

Diamond Jubilee Weekend: Be as a Queen in the World of Tech and Texts, Mobile App Texts with Queen’s English

Apparently the application is structured using aspects of the Queen's English. Therefore, if the user writes "it's", the programme changes it to "it is". In addition, since the Queen has a tendency to maintain a positive tone in communications, words echoing the same sentiment are used. Finally, there is also the opportunity to learn the Queen's English, from historical texts and also from emails, texts and/or social media data.

"The Queen's language reveals that she has a generally optimistic frame of mind and so the words 'confident', 'delighted', 'glad' and 'please' were uttered 125 times more than her famous 'annus horribilis,' which was the phrase that she used in the 1992 Windsor Castle fire," said Medlock, who has a PhD in natural language processing from the University of Cambridge.

They analysed speeches and various documents from the Queen. I use another application, Swype, so won't be downloading the module, but it is rather interesting. People could use some better grammar in their texting. :) I wonder if it changes 'app' to 'application'?

Sorry to hear this

University of Kentucky begins laying off 'significant' number of employees

The University of Kentucky has begun laying off a "significant" number of its roughly 14,000 employees, a process that is expected to continue this week and next, according to university officials.

"It is a painful exercise to implement significant reductions in our workforce," UK President Eli Capilouto said in a campus-wide email sent at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday. "But there simply is no way to patch over the holes in our budget with temporary measures or one-time sources of funds any longer."

UK, Lexington's largest employer, employs about 2,500 faculty and 9,000 staff. An additional 3,000 employees work for UK Healthcare.

Speaking with one of the library administrators for one of the campus libraries the other day, I know she'd lost several positions, and she indicated that the job I applied for would probably either not be filled or be filled by the tech already working in the consumer health library. But I guess it is better than I wasn't hired and then, due to lack of seniority, let go. I may have two and a half years to find a job, but at least I have one now. My condolences for the UK employees who are losing or reducing theirs.

Clouds keep passing in front of the sun here

and it's heading towards sunset, so I'm watching the transit of Venus online thanks to NASA. Here is a beautiful picture as it nears transit taken by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (you can see more sizes of it on their Flickr page).

Yay!!!

I originally missed the Masterpiece Mystery programme that showed the first instalment of the second season/series of the British show 'Sherlock', called 'A Scandal in Belgravia', but I found out that it was on PBS.org in its entirety, along with 'The Hounds of Baskerville' (which I have on DVR) and 'The Reichenbach Fall', which I did see with my friends. So, I finally got to see Irene Adler in action.

The programme (both series 1 and 2) is really quite excellent, with good acting and extremely good writing, which is perhaps not surprising, as Steven Moffat (who does 'Doctor Who') is the main writer. Anyway, I'm glad I finally got to see it. I'll try to watch the second instalment tomorrow.

Good night

Despite waking up at 5:30...
Despite cleaning a house for hours...
Despite a Kroger run...
Despite a good Cthulhu game that lasted several hours...
Despite quite a bit of blogging afterwards...
I am just now getting sleepy. Maybe it's a sign that I'm finally managing to stay up to a normal hour rather than packing it in at 8 or 9 pm. We'll see. I've put away the groceries, put away my medicine, watered the plants, and done all the aforementioned things. It's been a long but satisfying day. But now I'm ready to turn in for the night. Hope you had a good weekend, and good night.

PS I'm hoping I can see at least a bit of the lunar eclipse tomorrow morning before the sun comes up. For those of you in more opportune areas, be sure to catch it.

Listening to haunting songs

Loreena McKennitt's 'Tango to Evora', from The Visit



And then there's 'The Old Ways'

Congratulations to Her Majesty for a long (and hopefully longer) reign

Monarch of the seas: Britain marks the Queen’s reign with rain, and pageantry

Perhaps, as she looked out over the hundreds of rain-lashed boats sailing down the Thames to celebrate her Diamond Jubilee, the Queen was thinking of another cold, wet, miserable spring day: June 2, 1953, the day of her coronation. She is, after all, the monarch of a windswept island kingdom in the north Atlantic, where the only sport more popular than complaining about the weather is proudly enduring it.

:) I do love the British.

Good for them!

300 Mormons march in Utah Gay Pride Parade

SALT LAKE CITY - More than 300 Mormon church members who are not gay drew shouts of approval and tears from spectators while marching in the Utah Gay Pride Parade in downtown Salt Lake City.

The Mormons say they sought to send a message of love to Utah's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community by joining the annual parade Sunday. Their participation marked the first time such a large group of Mormons took part in the parade, organizers said.

A man who knew how to make you laugh

Richard Dawson, who made ’em laugh on ‘Family Feud,’ dies at 79

Richard Dawson brought a saucy, unabashedly touchy-feely style to TV game shows as host of “Family Feud.”

The British-born entertainer, who died Saturday at age 79 from complications related to esophageal cancer at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, earlier had made his mark in the unlikely 1960s sitcom hit “Hogan’s Heroes,” which mined laughs from a Nazi POW camp whose prisoners hoodwink their captors and run the place themselves.

But it is as the kissing, wisecracking quizmaster of “Feud” that he will be remembered.

I loved "Hogan's Heroes", watching re-runs late into the night in junior high school when I should have been asleep, and Dawson was charming and personable in "Family Feud". YKWIA told me of his death earlier today, and although it makes me a little sad, it brought the laughs he inspired to mind, which I guess is the best way of remembering someone.