Do We Really Need to Shorten the Word 'The'?

Do you ever find yourself impatiently typing out all three letters in the word the, over and over again? Or maybe you're just tired of and and its ampersand hogging all of the typographical shorthand. Well, surprisingly ? shockingly, even ? you are not the only one.

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Australian restauranteur and the?activist Paul Mathis has just introduced ?, a combination of a capital T and lowercase h.?Pronounced th, the new symbol would stand in for the, elevating the word to the level of its haughty, &-flaunting cousin and.?In addition to designing and promoting the symbol Mathis has introduced several new keyboard apps?featuring??, available in the Google Play store.

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??

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This may very well be the first time someone has decided to advocate on behalf of the. Linguist and language columnist Ben Zimmer told The Atlantic Wire that, while he could think of similar campaigns to popularize ? (aka?the interbang, that very unpopular combination of question mark and exclamation point) as well as marks to denote sarcasm, no one has ever tried to shorten th before. And?probably for good reason. "I'm not sure that this is something that people are crying out for," Zimmer told us in a phone interview Friday. "People seem to be just fine using the word the."

RELATED: Twitter Is Not the Enemy of the English Language

Mathis, and the $65,000 he invested into the development of his new symbol, would argue otherwise. Using the ? symbol will save you time, energy and, most appealingly, Twitter real estate. When you only get 140 characters, those extra two count. The is also the most commonly used word in the English language. Meanwhile and, possibly the most pretentious word in the English language, is only the fifth most common word after be, to, and of. Yet the has been neglected for centuries, apparently, and the ampersand has been around for centuries as a monument to the word's usefulness. As the ? promotional video below asks, "What has and ever done to deserve that?"

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As the video makes clear, despite being present in over 80 percent of all written paragraphs, "The hasn't got a special symbol, the remains three letters long, and the has never been recognized for its impressive usage." The has long been the ugly stepchild of the articles-and-prepositions family; it might always be.

"The ampersand developed organically over centuries," Zimmer said. "It wasn't suddenly introduced one day." With the exclusion of tech-era symbols like @, the natural development of symbols increases their staying power. Even Mathis, the ??inventor, knows this. In an interview with Australia's The Age, he dates the origins of the ampersand back to over half a millennium ago:

The Benedictine monks developed the modern version of the ampersand in the Middle Ages, when they were hand-copying religious texts. I'm not putting myself in the same league, but who knows ? maybe in 500 years' time people will be amazed that there was a time when we didn't use 'th'.

? has some serious hurdles to overcome before becoming the next big thing in typography. Besides being unnecessary and ridiculous, the combination of T and?h as a substitute for the only makes sense in the English language. As Zimmer notes, a large part of the ampersand's popularity is its universal appeal. Symbols such as @, %, and parentheses also have that "it factor" that lead to international appeal. ? may have to wait a while for its big break.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/really-shorten-word-170853356.html

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B.C. Supreme Court has final say on poisoning settlement after ...

Here at Maclean's, we appreciate the written word. And we appreciate you, the reader. We are always looking for ways to create a better user experience for you and wanted to try out a new functionality that provides you with a reading experience in which the words and fonts take centre stage. We believe you'll appreciate the clean, white layout as you read our feature articles. But we don't want to force it on you and it's completely optional. Click "View in Clean Reading Mode" on any article if you want to try it out. Once there, you can click "Go back to regular view" at the top or bottom of the article to return to the regular layout.

VERNON, B.C. ? B.C. Supreme Court has confirmed a $440,000-settlement for the family of an Alberta mother of four who was accidentally poisoned at a B.C. hospital.

Forty-year-old Brenda Gaida died in 2007 when she was given excessive doses of methotrexate ? a drug that can be used to treat cancer patients ? at Vernon?s Jubilee Hospital for a pre-existing skin condition while on vacation with her family.

According to court documents, Gaida was mistakenly given the medication daily rather than weekly.

After spending 16 days at the hospital, her family arranged for her to be flown to a hospital near her home in Edmonton, where she died two months later.

The Vernon hospital and the Interior Health Authority, admitted that Gaida died from poisoning, and that four doctors were at fault for negligent care and treatment.

Court documents say the parties sought a settlement in 2011, and while the hospital said both sides had agreed to $440,000, Gaida?s husband Brian Gaida said no binding settlement had ever been concluded.

Gaida, who had wanted a settlement of more than $1 million, said his former lawyer urged him to accept the $440,000 because it was likely the most he could get.

The a high school teacher said he ?just gave in,? and said yes. But he told the lawyer immediately after that he was concerned, and that the $440,000 would only be acceptable if certain conditions, such as a breakdown of the offer, were met.

?I sincerely felt and believe that I was unreasonably pressured and rushed into accepting the defendants? proposal of $440,000 without the benefit of information that was important to me and the time to thoroughly consider my position,? he said in an affidavit.

According to Gaida, the lawyer defied his instructions and accepted the offer, leaving him to feel like his concerns were ignored.

?It must be emphasized that when Brenda was dying in the Vernon Hospital, all of my efforts to voice my concerns about her plight to hospital and medical staff were simply not heard or understood. The ?experts? all knew what was appropriate for her care. I was just a husband,? he said in the affidavit.

?Sadly, my experience with the settlement negotiations was rather similar. I felt my concerns were simply not heard or understood. I was just a claimant unsophisticated in the complexities of the law.?

But B.C. Supreme Court Justice Paul Pearlman found that there was no misapprehension or defiance on the lawyer?s part, and has ruled that the settlement agreement is enforceable.

Gaida?s current lawyer, Rosanna Saccomani, said the woman?s death six years ago has been devastating for her four kids, who range in age from 13 to 22.

?When Brenda Gaida died, she was 40 years of age and she left a very young family,? said Saccomani. ?To grow up without the love and care and guidance of your mother, it?s very difficult to quantify what kind of loss that means for these children.?

Court documents say the woman had developed a non-life threatening condition in 2001 that caused open sores to form on her skin. The family was on holiday in the Okanagan in 2007 when her skin became inflamed and she went to the hospital.

Gaida said in his affidavit that hospital staff appeared not to take his wife?s condition seriously, and ignored his concerns about the quality of care.

?Contrary to their assertions, Brenda?s condition continued to deteriorate at an alarming rate,? the affidavit said.

?She soon could no longer eat or speak due to the many large open sores in her mouth and throat,? he said. ?Never in my life have I felt so helpless.?

When Gaida was transported to the Edmonton hospital, the chief of the intensive care unit told Brian that Gaida had been given a significant overdose of methotrexate during her time in the Vernon hospital, and that it may not have been detected because staff did not do adequate blood work.

The daily dosage caused ?irreparable harm to Brenda?s immune system,? and destroyed her white blood cell count. Soon after, Gaida suffered from multi-organ failure and a heart attack, leaving her in a comatose state.

?I maintained a bed side vigil and have never prayed so hard and for so long in my life pleading with God for a miracle,? he said in the affidavit.

No one from the Interior Health Authority was available for comment.

? By Vivian Luk in Vancouver

Source: http://www2.macleans.ca/2013/07/04/b-c-supreme-court-has-final-say-on-poisoning-settlement-after-woman-dies/

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Snowden's stealthy exit: How WikiLeaks and maybe Russia helped

The NSA leaker is traveling to Moscow en route to a third country. Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman told journalists Sunday that he knows nothing of Snowden's travel plans.

By Fred Weir,?Correspondent / June 23, 2013

A giant screen at a Hong Kong shopping mall shows Edward Snowden, the former contractor accused of leaking information about NSA surveillance programs. He left Hong Kong on Sunday.

Vincent Yu/AP

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The fugitive National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden has sprung yet another surprise. He's on the move, and reportedly traveling to Cuba, and then perhaps on to Venezuela or Ecuador, via Moscow.

Skip to next paragraph Fred Weir

Correspondent

Fred Weir has been the Monitor's Moscow correspondent, covering Russia and the former Soviet Union, since 1998.?

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Mr. Snowden left his temporary refuge in Hong Kong?Sunday?morning, just one day after the US government charged him with espionage and launched an urgent effort to extradite him from the former British colony. He boarded an Aeroflot flight to Moscow, and news reports say he has an onward ticket with the Russian national airline to fly to Cuba?on Monday.

In addition to the clear suggestion of official Russian aid with the fleeing whistleblower's logistics, Snowden appears to have received help from a more kindred source. WikiLeaks tweeted?Sunday?that it had "assisted Mr. Snowden's political asylum in a democratic country, travel papers and safe exit from Hong Kong."

Kremlin authorities earlier hinted that Russia might be willing to grant asylum to Snowden. But President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told journalists?Sunday?that he knows nothing about the NSA leaker's travel plans.

Authorities in Hong Kong announced Snowden's departure?Sunday?in an official statement?that noted he had left "on his own accord for a third country through a lawful and normal channel," and added that US authorities had already been informed.

The statement said the urgent US warrant to arrest Snowden could not be carried out "since the documents provided by the US Government did not fully comply with the legal requirements under Hong Kong law.... ?As the HKSAR [Hong Kong] Government has yet to have sufficient information to process the request for provisional warrant of arrest, there is no legal basis to restrict Mr Snowden from leaving Hong Kong."

The statement included an extraordinary passage that may go far toward explaining why Hong Kong, which does have an extradition treaty and good relations with the US, appears to have turned so uncooperative in Snowden's case: "Meanwhile, the HKSAR Government has formally written to the US Government requesting clarification on earlier reports about the hacking of computer systems in Hong Kong by US government agencies. The HKSAR Government will continue to follow up on the matter so as to protect the legal rights of the people of Hong Kong."

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange said in a statement?Sunday?that his organization was providing legal and logistical help to move Snowden to a safe haven in a "democratic country."

"Mr. Snowden is flying in an Aeroflot aircraft over Russian airspace, accompanied by WikiLeaks legal advisers," Mr. Assange said.

Upon arrival in Moscow he will be "met by diplomats from the country that will be his ultimate destination. Diplomats from that country will accompany him on a further flight to his destination," he added. The third country is still not named, but experts say it's most likely to be Venezuela or Ecuador.

"Owing to WikiLeaks' own circumstances, we have developed significant expertise in international asylum and extradition law, associated diplomacy and the practicalities in these matters," Assange said.?"I have great personal sympathy for Ed Snowden's position. WikiLeaks absolutely supports his decision to blow the whistle on the mass surveillance of the world's population by the US government."

Snowden's latest revelations, published in Hong Kong's South China Morning Post?on Sunday, indicate that US intelligence agencies have been hacking Chinese mobile phone companies to steal millions of text messages.

Russian security expert Andrei Soldatov, who edits Agentura.ru, an online journal that focuses on the secret services, says that in addition to granting Snowden safe passage to Cuba on an Aeroflot jetliner, Russia may have played a deeper role in helping to arrange his flight.

He suggests that the Kremlin's English-language satellite news network, RT, which enjoys very close relations with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, could have used its offices to help Wikileaks hook up with Snowden in Hong Kong,?

"There are reports that Assange's assistant, Sarah Harrison, is flying on the same plane with Snowden," says Mr. Soldatov.?"Involvement of RT would make sense, since RT has close cooperation with Assange, and he did a series of programs for them last year [Russia gives WikiLeaks' Julian Assange a TV platform]. The involvement of WikiLeaks requires no explanation. It wants to maintain itself as the key center for all disclosures of the kind that Snowden brought to the world," he adds.?

Soldatov says Russian assistance is also logical, for wider reasons than just an opportunity to stick it to Uncle Sam.

"Russia and China have been involved in a so-far unsuccessful struggle to change the rules of the Internet, by taking control of it away from the US-based Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and giving its functions to a wider, non-US-based entity," he says.

"The Russians and Chinese have been posing, for these purposes, as big defenders of Internet freedom. This political context helps to explain RT's close relations with WikiLeaks as well.... So, it makes sense for them to help Snowden too. Russian authorities see an opportunity to present themselves as the new center of refuge for whistleblowers against US dominance in Cyberspace. It's a coup for them," he adds.??

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/iTa4yt3JIhE/Snowden-s-stealthy-exit-How-WikiLeaks-and-maybe-Russia-helped

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'Despicable Me 2': The Reviews Are In!

Critics say the sequel is not as strong, but still very entertaining.
By Todd Gilchrist

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1709977/despicable-me-2-movie-reviews.jhtml

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Broken promise: Double Fine's 'Broken Age' Kickstarter mess

"The world of video game design is a mysterious one," Double Fine's Kickstarter pitch reads. "What really happens behind the closed doors of a development studio is often unknown, unappreciated or misunderstood."

Those words were written around February 2012, ahead of the longtime adventure game developer's Kickstarter campaign launch in order to introduce its latest effort to the world. The project required $400,000, Double Fine's Tim Schafer said -- a goal eventually shattered by more than $3 million in pledges -- and would unfold "over a six-to-eight-month period." A "small team" led by Schafer promised to create a point-and-click adventure game in the vein of Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion. That game, first known as Double Fine Adventure, is now Broken Age -- a fitting title considering what came next.

Last evening, Schafer took to the Kickstarter backer page to explain what's going on with Broken Age (now well beyond the "six-to-eight-month period" originally promised): "I designed too much game," he said. That means it's not ready, in case that isn't clear. Moreover, a half-done version of the game -- pared down from its original scope -- will launch on Steam's "Early Access" section long before the full game's planned launch, and long before Kickstarter backers will play what they paid for, in order to fund the final half.

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Outerwall (Formerly Coinstar) Buys ecoATM For $350M In Cash To Expand Into Device Recycling Kiosks

A few big changes underway in the automated retail space: Coinstar, the operator of coin-counting kiosks that has now rebranded as Outerwall, is acquiring ecoATM for $350 million in cash. EcoATM operates its own kiosk network focused on taking used mobile phones, tablets and MP3 players for cash and has positioned itself, coincidentally, as the "Coinstar for used devices." Outerwall was already an investor in ecoATM, which had raised $31.4 million in VC financing, plus another $40 million in debt. Because of the 23% stake that it already owns, that will be deducted from that $350 million pricetag.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/e7MC0vx0qqc/

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