I tried Grammarly yesterday and I like it a lot
I published two posts here yesterday and noticed copyediting errors after publication. This troubled me partly because I had a whitepaper due later that day, and I was concerned about sloppy mistakes in paying copy.
So I decided, “I’ve heard good things about Grammarly. I’ll give that a try.”
Holy cow! It’s fantastic!
Also, humbling.
Grammarly flagged 95 suggestions in a 2,200-word whitepaper. It suggested replacing the first three words of the whitepaper with a single word. Most of the changes it recommended were along those lines; tightening up the text by eliminating unnecessary words.
However, some of Grammarly’s recommended changes would have introduced errors in my work, and I had to dismiss those. Grammarly doesn’t run on autopilot.
Overall, I’m delighted with Grammarly, and I’m signing up for a one-year subscription now.
And yes, Grammarly reviewed this post. It recommended seven changes. I accepted most of them.
Shower thought: What’s the deal with Velcro, anyway? How long has it been around?
The hook-and-loop fastener Velcro was conceived in 1951 by Swiss engineer George de Mestral. Ten years later, he founded the Velcro company in 1951.
Wikipedia: Hook-and-loop fastener:
Columnist Sylvia Porter made the first mention of the product in her column Your Money’s Worth of August 25, 1958, writing, “It is with understandable enthusiasm that I give you today an exclusive report on this news: A ‘zipperless zipper’ has been invented – finally. The new fastening device is in many ways potentially more revolutionary than was the zipper a quarter-century ago.”
…
A number of Velcro Corporation products were displayed at a fashion show at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York in 1959, and the fabric got its first break when it was used in the aerospace industry to help astronauts maneuver in and out of bulky space suits. However, this reinforced the view among the populace that hook-and-loop was something with very limited utilitarian uses. The next major use hook-and-loop saw was with skiers, who saw the similarities between their outerwear and that of the astronauts, and thus saw the advantages of a suit that was easier to don and doff. Scuba and marine gear followed soon after. Having seen astronauts storing food pouches on walls, children’s clothing makers came on board. As hook-and-loop fasteners only became widely used after NASA’s adoption of it, NASA is popularly – and incorrectly – credited with its invention.
The patent expired in 1978, which is why we have hook-and-loop fasteners from many companies today.
Each Space Shuttle flew equipped with ten thousand inches of a special fastener made of Teflon loops, polyester hooks, and glass backing. Hook-and-loop fasteners are widely used, from the astronauts' suits, to anchoring equipment. In the near weightless conditions in orbit, hook-and-loop fasteners are used to temporarily hold objects and keep them from floating away. A patch is used inside astronauts' helmets where it serves as a nose scratcher. During mealtimes astronauts use trays that attach to their thighs using springs and fasteners. Hook-and-loop fasteners are also used aboard the International Space Station.
Also:
Velcro jumping is a game where people wearing hook-covered suits take a running jump and hurl themselves as high as possible at a loop-covered wall.
David Letterman popularized the game in 1984, and it’s still widely played where alcohol is served.
Pop culture references to Velcro are amusing.
The zipper was patented in 1892.
The zipper gets its name from a brand of rubber boots (or galoshes) it was used on in 1923. The galoshes could be fastened with a single zip of the hand, and soon the hookless fasteners came to be called “Zippers”.
It would be funny if this was a 3,400-year-old rickroll. Hear the Oldest Song in the World: A Sumerian Hymn Written 3,400 Years Ago
Logseq vs. Obsidian: First impressions
I played with Logseq a bit as an alternative to Obsidian, or complement for it.
Logseq seems like a simplified version of Obsidian that does less. For many people that will be a plus. Fewer options equals fewer things to fiddle with and potentially break.
Logseq is an extreme outliner. It wants everything you do to be an outline. Obsidian supports outlining, but Logseq is more opinionated and more powerful as an outliner. That’s a minus for me; I do use outlines but mainly I just write prose.
Logseq wants you to limit yourself to store everything in just four folders, and organize all your data using links instead. My brain doesn’t work that way. I make heavy use of folders.
Logseq is open source, which makes it—possibly—more futureproof and secure than Obsidian.
I don’t think I’m going to stay with Logseq. It doesn’t seem to be different enough from Obsidian to be worth the hassle of switching.
Still, Logseq seems to be a great app for people who are looking for an extremely powerful outliner. And I may come back to it.
And playing with Logseq gave me some ideas for doing a better job of organizing and using my Obsidian vault. I need to use the Daily Note more, and move blocks of text between notes using the Text Transporter plugin
I just pledged $53 to the Kickstarter for Cory Doctorow’s upcoming novel, “Red Team Blues.” In pledging, I’m supporting the excellent work Cory (who is on Mastodon as @pluralistic@mamot.fr) does on his blog and podcast, which are free.
The $53 pledge gets me a nice hardcover, which I might donate to the local library, because I’m an ebook guy. Backers at that level also get an audiobook, and an ebook too. The audiobook and ebook are DRM-free, which will surprise nobody who follows Cory.
A pledge of $1,000 or more lets you name a character in the sequel, and $3,000 or more gets you—check this out!—a deluxe hardcover with a secret compartment.
More info from Cory: Kickstarting the Red Team Blues audiobook, which Amazon won’t sell
I’ve read an advance copy of the novel. It’s terrific. Very suspenseful!
What does a Mandalorian like to eat with curds? This is the whey.
How do Jewish Mandalorians expresses dismay? They say “Oy vey.”
How do Spanish Mandalorians express strong approval: “¡Olé! ¡olé!”
How does a Mandalorian respond to being kicked off social media for telling too many bad jokes? “I could do this all day.”
Good negotiating advice from @lex Friedman: Negotiation is a conversation.
Eliot Higgins, who founded Bellingcat, an investigative journalism organization, said he intended the sequence of 50 images as satire. The sequence included a chain of images that showed Trump breaking out of prison and going to McDonald’s, writes Chris Stokel-Walker for Buzzfeed News
Seems to me to be a bad idea for a journalist to do anything to jeopardize their credibility. Journalists shouldn’t intentionally create deepfakes–not even as a joke, which this seems to have been–or do April Fool’s Day practical jokes, or appear in fictional movies as themselves.