Miscellany

Gentle readers, I missed a major holiday two days ago: National Punctuation Day. My gravest of apologies! Tom Neven over at Boundless says of this auspicious day:

I know, it sounds like a crashing bore to a lot of people. But I've spent a large part of my 20-plus years in journalism as a copy editor. The copy editor is a nitpicker, a language curmudgeon. His motto: Go ahead and call me anal-retentive — just make sure you hyphenate it.

You can read more of his comments here.

And while we are on the general topic of words, how about a list of the top 50 greatest villains in literature? Well, the UK Telegraph has put together their list, if you are interested.

Meanwhile, back in the financial crisis, Wesley Priden over at the Washington Times had a clever take on the banking scandal, and reading it was rather cathartic for me. He said in part:

Now we see what Bonnie and Clyde could have made of themselves if only they had gone to Harvard Business School. Machine guns and fast getaway cars are not nearly as efficient as computers, lawyers and imaginative accounting...

But capitalism, with its winners and losers, risks and rewards, is only for the poor. The rich - the investment bankers, the high rollers and the croupiers at the Wall Street casino - get socialism, with never a worry about getting "shaken out" by the free market. So this is what George W.'s "compassionate conservatism" was all about. Who knew?

You can read the whole thing here. If you want a more Biblical, less cynical perspective, I have appreciated Al Mohler's article here.

And lastly, I ran across an interesting piece in the Wall Street Journal today that talked about the female culture on college campuses. Among the discouraging reality, there were some rays of hope shared:

Upon arriving with my sister at Hillsdale, a school known for attracting conservative and religious students, I noticed a contrast immediately. I began chatting with a rising senior, and she and I quickly discovered an acquaintance in common. Referring to this woman, the Hillsdale student said: "She is such an amazing woman. I just have so much respect for her." I was speechless. I was simply not used to hearing college women speak about their peers with such esteem.

A walk around the Hillsdale freshman girls' dorm confirmed my suspicion that young women at the Michigan college had more respect for one another and lived in a happier and healthier environment than what I had experienced at Tufts. The posters on the walls in my all-female freshman dorm at Tufts offered information about eating disorders, what to do if you think you have been sexually assaulted, and suicide and depression hotlines. The Hillsdale walls that I saw were covered with advertisements for quilting clubs, charity opportunities and a listing of local churches.

You can read the entire article here. And I admit, I am a bit biased about the type of fine young women that Hillsdale turns out, since my own dear dil is a grad!