Of course lately we also got the most hardcore Republicans and so many real estate developers that Tom Wolfe came to town to study their excesses. It is still better than the deal Birmingham got, but just because big money monkeys care about your town doesn’t mean they have much sense or judgement.

And I have the same deal with links on my Mac, too.

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/affect.html

(Note: the damn tilde is causing it not to work. Cut and paste it into the address bar manually)

There are five distinct words here. When “affect” is accented on the final syllable (a-FECT), it is usually a verb meaning “have an influence on”: “The million-dollar donation from the industrialist did not affect my vote against the Clean Air Act.” […]

I’m really waiting for a follow-on post about Canada. But then I suppose everyone is waiting for another shoe to drop there now that Mean Jean has sided with Harper.

Now for the answer, though it might seem JUST A TAD extreme. Make everything free – but with a caveat – don’t work (with some obvious exceptions) and you don’t get it for free. In fact you don’t get anything but the very basics, if you decide not to work.

The problems you solve are too numerous to list, but an easy way to image it, is only to recall how many times you hear that the way to solve the “problem” what ever that might be, is to have the money. Be it a hugh stimulus package, or your kids education, or your health care.

I know, this sounds pretty silly. But staying the course, which right now in the midst of a global recession, would probably include every horror story you can imagine, is not only silly (in the most perverted sense of humor), but by all definitions, is insane.

They say movies are nothing more than a reflection of life. Or in the case of Star Trek, a reflection of the future, and they did not use money any more. How or when that happens is never really told, but who’s to say that the time isn’t now, and the way, well, I think we can come up with a way, don’t you. Food for thought.

PS: In seriousness, while this is not be seen as a realistic approach by most, if not all thinking “adults”, maybe starting a dialog will bring an interesting set of possibilities. The screenwriters of Star Trek thought it was a good idea when thinking up a possible futuristic world. What is to stop us from that considering that idea as a reality. Remember money is not a natural occurrence, it is man made, and therefore, man is capable of changing it or eliminating it altogether.

And welcome.

Google: “are not effected by” 37,000 – “are not affected by” 3 million.

Your easiest solution is to always use “affected” since it is 5 times as common as “effected”.

Yeah, that’s the ticket. Never again use “effected” and you’ll decrease your mistakes by a factor of five!

Unfortunately “effect” is four times as common as “affect.” And since you have a usage block with the word, and now that you know to switch usage, you are going to not be able to remember which one to switch.

Oh brother, I don’t know why I bother.

Solution: eliminate elites through massively progressive taxation. If they want to stay, they’ll pay and everyone including them will be better off. If not, they’ll leave and not come back: good riddens.