Comments for JustinLL

Comment on Getting Hitched, Become Obese by Jim Gaudet

Jim Gaudet — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:18:48 +0000

I knew there was another reason I am not married. I am 6′2″ and 195 pounds, that’s how I want to stay..

Comment on Yogurtagogo — 19th and L, Midtown Sacramento by JustinLL

JustinLL — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:42:13 +0000

@Bernadette,

Just say when.

Comment on Yogurtagogo — 19th and L, Midtown Sacramento by Bernadette

Bernadette — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:02:15 +0000

I am all over this!! Let’s go.

Comment on Don’t Stand For Being Seated by Josh

Josh — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 21:50:23 +0000

I’ve never thought of that, but it’s true. You have to stand to get any sort of attention when speaking. It weird to explain oneself while on your ass. The only experience I have with this is arguing in an arguing sort of class. It seems some what less frank than Frank

Comment on Say Goodbye, Say Hello by JustinLL

JustinLL — Fri, 29 May 2009 06:26:25 +0000

@Thompology, I wanted the all black model but that shop only carried a similar-looking 3-speed. So I went for the rat rod con flames. (not my first choice.)
Any other plain color would have been better, but the closest they had was a chick bike in the Phat Cycle line — that didn’t make any sense.

Comment on Say Goodbye, Say Hello by My Amazing Weight Loss Story

My Amazing Weight Loss Story — Fri, 29 May 2009 03:25:51 +0000

Thanks for writing, I truly enjoyed reading your newest post. I think you should post more often, you clearly have talent for blogging!

Comment on Say Goodbye, Say Hello by Thompology

Thompology — Thu, 28 May 2009 08:14:06 +0000

Nice purchase, and at least we wont have to match when we ride! I do think, however, that the flames may draw attention to a locked and lonely bike as well as draw unwanted attention in the more purple areas of our city.

Comment on Don’t Write These Words by Angus Gordon

Angus Gordon — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 02:10:11 +0000

Oh dear, didn’t even notice that…

Comment on Don’t Write These Words by JustinLL

JustinLL — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 00:12:54 +0000

I think that is the problem, ordinary speech doesn’t have a word for exclusive disjunction the way logic and math have “XOR”. So the use of “OR” in grammar does create an ambiguity, as you pointed out, because, while it’s meant to express inclusive disjunction, in ordinary speech it can take on the role of exclusive disjunction as well. Since most people don’t know about “XOR”, they use the “and/or” notation, which is why I think the professor in question made such a stink about it.

I was only having some fun with “very” when I wrote “It can be very difficult to prove.”

Comment on Don’t Write These Words by Angus Gordon

Angus Gordon — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 05:46:33 +0000

Thanks Justin. I’m sure you’re right that “and/or” is a bad idea in technical documentation. What I was getting at is this: in ordinary speech, “x or y” conjunctions are often ambiguous because they can be interpreted as either including or not including the intersection of x and y. The ambiguity can usually be resolved by context, but not always. If you see “All desserts are served with cream or ice cream” on a menu, you don’t know whether you can have both. “Cream and/or ice cream” makes it clear that you can. (And “either cream or ice cream” makes it clear that you can’t.) So at least in ordinary speech, “and/or”, far from being vague, is more precise than the alternative. (Personally, I’d probably write “cream, ice cream, or both”, but that’s just a stylistic preference.)

Also, the fact that something is difficult to prove doesn’t mean it’s not meaningful! “The meat of this strange animal tastes rather like chicken” is unprovable *and* imprecise, but it’s still a meaningful and useful statement (you know not to eat the stuff if you don’t like chicken). I guess restaurant critics wouldn’t make good software engineers, and vice versa

(Not sure why all my examples come from food btw…)