Yes, I am fully aware that I haven't updated this nascent blog in - what? 63 years? Something like that. It's just that I've been really busy with work, maintaining domestic bliss, trying to get/stay in shape, and many many other things.
Fear not - I am working on a post about wild food, which is one of my many interests. I may have to mooch some time off my girlfriend's computer at home while the paper-mache for my DragonCon costume dries.
In the meantime, just wanted to weight in with one of my favorite mind-bending things from modern life that cropped up again today. You may have seen it, especially if you've worked for the government: there'll be a page in a document that contains only words to the effect of, "This page intentionally left blank". The irony, of course, being that the page is not blank - it has the words "This page intentionally left blank" printed on it.
I love a good paradox, and this one is classic. It's a perfect example of bureaucratic overthinking resulting in a waste of time and energy. It's reasonable to think a reader would see a blank page and wonder if an error had been made... but if that's the worry, why include the "blank" page at all? It seemed to serve no purpose in the publication I saw today, other than to divide a title page from the Table of Contents, and really, the nature of such pages would seem to be enough to do that pretty clearly. In bringing the reader's attention to the problem, the publisher negates the reality that led to the statement.
Think of all the ink used to print that sentence in document after document. You're all probably aware how expensive modern printer ink - I think it's made from unicorn blood, or something. Think of all the pieces of paper included just as a blank page which isn't. Now imagine what we could do with those resources if we just didn't put the dang page in. Just... IMAGINE...
Or don't. I promise, I will post a proper blog entry soon. In the meantime, in a story seemingly calculated to bring shame to an early middle-aged man who can't even update a blog with regularity, a 17-year old girl has just won a prize for creating a computer algorithm to improve breast cancer protection.
Later.
