Bennett's Five Links #072

Kryptonite Chords; Double spaced time blocked voice notes

Photo by Ashim D’Silva on Unsplash

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Bang ..

I’m glad they used the correct ‘meteorite’ terminology, and not meteor, asteroid, comet etc. I wonder what one of these would be worth. Sure it looks like a boring rock but isn’t this how superheroes get made?

Possible Meteorite Crashes Through Roof of New Jersey Home

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Thinking out loud ..

It’s interesting to see Mr Sheeran successfully running the ‘all songs are built on four chords’ defence.

First made famous by Australian comedy group ‘Axis of Awesome’ 13 years ago.

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Is everybody sending voice notes without me ..

Remember back in B5L #020, when I spoke about how people were apparently sending ‘voice texts’ instead of calling or texting. And I invited readers to send me some interesting voice texts?

Well - apart from one very kind reader that did send me a voice text the next day - I’ve not received any since then.

So is this not a thing? Is it me? Is it my face? What’s going on here.

Why all your friends are sending you voice notes

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Sentence structure ..

I started out as a purist.

I taught myself to type at in my early teenage years. Chunks of my day sitting on IRC chatrooms and text-only MUDs typing things one sentence at a time. There was never any need for two spaces after a full stop.

My self-taught habits took me through university without too much trouble. If I struggled it was because of my intellect; it wasn’t my full-stop-single-space-new-sentence habits.

But then I started my first job at a big law firm and the partner I worked under was militant about the need for two spaces after the end of a sentence. I didn’t need to ask her why - my existence was conditional on the whims of her mood and so I complied.

A few years into my legal career I started to read articles about why two spaces after a full stop weren’t required. I reminisced about my earlier single space days.

It’s a hangover from when we used to use typewriters, they would say. Microsoft Word does all the spacing for you. It breaks the printer. Clippy is very upset.

I heard it all.

But, despite this being a learned behaviour and not something that came to me instinctively - now I mostly stick with it. Now I like the two spaces. I think they add a useful rhythm to the writing. I think the reader’s peripheral vision can see the double spaces coming, which allows them to adjust the tone of their reading to account for the sentence coming to an end. I think it helps people read at a glance. I think it looks better.

Sure - maybe it’s Stockholm Syndrome from my time in the glass prisons. From when others would question my work and my ability and my worth as a human.

But I like it. I’m going to keep doing it.

And I’m glad there is now work being done to support my miscreant behaviour.

The Scientific Case for Two Spaces After a Period

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Timeblocking ..

I’m not sure how he recorded his data, but this guy posted a graphic showing how he spent every hour of every day for a year. And then produced this amazing graphic breaking it all down.

It’s also interesting to pick out the few days where, strangely, just before drifting off to sleep he decides to do some exercise. I can’t imagine having the discipline to strap on the running shoes just before drifting off - well done to him!

Also a bit depressing to see how much of our life is spent asleep and at work.

How I spent every hour of an entire year.

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Bennett

bennettgreen.com