28 January 2009

thirty-nine theses (27)

Strong Opinion #27:

This is one of the worst constructed sentences I've ever read (from A Secular Age by Charels Taylor).

"Thus among some peoples, agents fall into trance-like conditions which are understood as possession; among others (sometimes the same ones), powerful portentous dreams occur to certain people, among others, shamans feel themselves to have been transported to a higher world, with others again, surprising cures are effected in certain conditions; and so on."

The rest of the paragragh doesn't improve things.

26 January 2009

thirty-nine theses (26)

One strong opinion about a basketball rule that need to be changed:

#26 You should not be able to call timeout while the ball is in play. Timeouts should only be allowed after a made basket or on a dead ball.

thirty-nine theses (26)

A borrowed opinion:

#26 "Cut out all these exclamation points. An exclamation point is like laughing at your own joke." (F. Scott Fitzerald)

Right on, F. Scott!