jarrodwhaley.com

Behold the kooky tale of the zany Australian guy who decided he’d just unilaterally change the way our language is written–which will totally work, because he’s the God of the English Language:

Famous Australian restauranteur Paul Mathis has invented a new symbol that he hopes will replace the word “the” in everyday communications. Written much like the cyrillic [sic] letter “Ћ” and pronounced “th,” it’s a typographic ligature of an uppercase T and a lowercase h.

And here’s my favorite part:

Mathis has invested around $75,000AUD (around $68,000) into developing the symbol…

Oh, really? It costs that much money to lay an “h” on top of a “T”? I would have assumed it’d never cost more than $30,000.

I wonder what he’d say if he knew enough about the history of the language–the one he alone can advance with his brilliant and original innovations, mind you–to know that we already have not one but two symbols for the dental fricative: þ and ð. And they’re free!

Sam Davies on his vasectomy:

Most long-term birth control involves regularly putting chemicals into a woman’s body. Kat was wary of the side effects that come with different types of female contraception. If there was a pill that I could have taken I would have taken it, but the patriarchy is a bitch. Since we were D-O-N-E done, there was an option that made sense for our family: a vasectomy.

I’ve always thought there was something a little nightmarish about birth control pills–all those uninvited hormones can do weird things to a person. If a couple is sure they don’t want a(nother) baby, there are a lot of ways, other than weird chemicals, to get there. I applaud Sam for taking the ballsy choice.

I’m not sure about that photo of the scissors, though.

There are a few things to unpack in this article from The New York Times :

A strike that shut down the commuter train service in the San Francisco Bay Area will end Friday after management and the transit workers’ unions agreed Thursday night to extend the current labor contract for 30 days and resume service in the meantime.

In other words, management understands that some arrangement has to be made. From any practical perspective, a BART shutdown has major effects upon the Bay Area’s economy. The workers are acknowledged to have some power.

Seth Stevens exhorts us, via Slate, to eschew saying good-bye in social situations:

We all agree it’s fun to say hello. A hello has the bright promise of a beginning. It’s the perfect occasion to express your genuine pleasure at a friend’s arrival. But who among us enjoys saying goodbye? None among us! Not those leaving, and not those left behind.

Imagine not having to stand around waiting for someone to look at you so that you can say you’re leaving, only to get wrapped up in a conversation which prevents you from leaving. Conversely, imagine hosting a function without having to drop a stink bomb in order to get people to leave.

If we all hate both sides of the equation, why do we put ourselves through it? I’m taking this to heart. No more lame goodbyes.