"officials there have evidence of highly malicious activity, the officials said, but did not elaborate." politico.com/news/2020/12/1… Can anyone translate that? If you're hacking the US nuclear weapons stockpile, it's clearly not a benign pastime. What does "highly malicious" mean?
Would "mildly malicious" have a meaning in this context? Is the maliciousness tied to the effect of the hacking or to its intent?
About a matter of such obvious importance--just once--might a US official--just once!--issue one single comprehensible and grammatical English sentence? Just one?
@john_sipher, can you guess what this means? Is this like "buzzing our airspace to test how quickly we can intercept" or is it more like "artillery striking West Berlin?"
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Thank you, @edwardlucas. I'm not sure it's brilliant, per se, but do think the problem I'm describing is important. It's not just a grammarian's lament, though it's that. Within my lifetime, "being educated" meant you could write minimally literate, clear, workmanlike prose--
--not "brilliant" prose, a separate issue altogether. But everyone qualified for a high-level job in government or industry was, until pretty recently, able to write simply and clearly. You'd have the occasional mishap, a dangling participle or something. But nothing like this.
Overall, educated people understood that in business and government, you had to write a certain way: Especially during an emergency, the writing should be clear, and no sentence should have three errors in grammar and six plausible and distinct interpretations.
Primates have a few phobias in common: We're all creeped out by snakes and spiders, to varying degrees.
Most phobias give rise to a fight-or-flight reflex:Elevated heart rate, heightened blood pressure; your body gets ready to *scram* from that snake.
But BII's different: It's the only phobia in which the fight-or-flight chemicals dump only to be *immediately* followed by a massive dip in heart rate and blood pressure--a vasovagal response. Hence the faint.
Bonjour à tous. Le #CosmopolitanGlobalist - qui sera bientôt lancé d'ailleurs - travaille désormais sur la question des agriculteurs. Plus précisément, nous nous demandons si les agriculteurs, les marchés libres et la démocratie peuvent coexister.
Étant donné que notre perspective est *mondiale,* nous souhaiterions qu’au moins une partie de cet article soit rédigée par des personnes intimement familiarisées avec ce problème en Afrique et en Amérique latine. Est-ce que c'est vous?
Good morning, world. The #CosmopolitanGlobalist--which will launch soon, by the way--is working on a story about farmers. Specifically, we're working on a story about farmers, free markets, and democracy. Can they coexist? Since our perspective is *global,*
we would like for at least part of this story to be written by people intimately familiar with this issue in Africa and Latin America. Are you such a person? You wouldn't have to write the whole article; in fact, we can just interview you, if you prefer--
I wonder if I'm a fool for treating this like a joke. I mean, what are the odds it's true? Small, admittedly. But if it's true, how much would I *love* to meet the emissaries of the Galactic Federation? SO MUCH. Would it hurt me to be diplomatic?
To the Ambassador of the Galactic Federation
Tuesday, December 8, 2020
Your Excellency,
I am pleased to welcome you and eager to accept Letters accrediting you as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Galactic Federation.
I am grateful for the greetings which you bring from retired Israeli general Haim Eshed and I ask you to convey my good wishes for your leader's health and prosperity. I am also pleased to send my cordial greetings to your Federation and all the Federation's subjects.
I suspect though that some aren't understanding the herd immunity concept. They seem to be thinking, "Well, so what if his supporters die." It doesn't work like that. The vaccines results are so far extraordinary--better than ever imagined--but they don't offer 100% protection.
To get to the point where we just never think about Covid-19 again--where it's some ancient historic horror, like the Black Death--we need massive vaccine uptake. Otherwise, even though your risk will be much lower, you'll still be at some risk. From the other half of America.