Yeah, I still have to post about Sakuracon.  I know.  I'm still in shock from it.

However, I was browsing the webs and came upon the following NYT article: "Is Justin Timberlake a Product of Cumulative Advantage?"

The article's punctuation is atrocious.  Any stickler -- especially one that has read Lynne Truss's "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" -- would share my annoyance at:

Thus, if history were to be somehow rerun many times, seemingly identical universes with the same set of competitors and the same overall market tastes would quickly generate different winners: Madonna would have been popular in this world, but in some other version of history, she would be a nobody, and someone we have never heard of would be in her place.
(re: NYT link above)

That sentence is painful.  It's like a comma-pocalypse!  The primary problem is in the bit that follows the colon.  "but in some other version of history, she would be a nobody, and someone we have never heard of would be in her place."  The problem is that "she would be a nobody" isn't an aside.  If it was, then "but in some other version of history and someone we have never heard of would be in her place" would make sense.  The aside is the "we have never heard of".  Although, the "in some other version of history" could be removed with a different choice of words.

I spent over a minute rereading this sentence.  In fact, I haven't even finished reading the article at the time I write this.  The aforementioned sentence isn't why I'm writing this article, though.  I'll get to that... stay tuned, dear reader.  First, here is the 'corrected' sentence fragment:

but in some other version of history she would be a nobody and someone, we have never heard of, would be in her place.
(punctuation changed from NYT link above)

And, no, I'm not even interested in discussing grammar.  Grammar is stupid and useless and too difficult for me to comprehend.  Grammar always smells funny and keeps asking me if I want to pose in photos with other men.  I don't do that kind of thing [ed: anymore] and keep trying to rebuff its advances -- even if the pay is pretty good.  Let's just say that grammar can be awfully persistent, but punctuation is really cool.  Punctuation lets people be themselves rather than try to take advantage of confused, impressionable youths in an effort to fulfill its own hedonistic desires.  Punctuation is the best!!!!!!!* [ed: punctuation also pays better]

Anyway, I continued reading the piece.  I tried to avoid looking at the punctuation -- poor use of punctuation dots the road to insanity!  Then my mind was blown.  And not like glass which forms pretty shapes, but like a bag, in the wind, on a nice, autumn day.

In such a world, in fact, the question “Why did X succeed?” may not have any better answer than the one given by the publisher of Lynne Truss’s surprise best seller, “Eats, Shoots & Leaves,” who, when asked to explain its success, replied that “it sold well because lots of people bought it.”
(re: NYT link above)

The article's author makes reference to a book about punctuation.  WTF?!?!?!?

It was at this point that I had to open up Windows Live Writer and write this.  Was I seeking a cathartic release?  No, it was just for the money [ed: there is no money, this was actually a blatant lie -- sorry about that].  Yes, I'm having an inability to form concrete thoughts.  Or even recycled lumber thoughts.  I wonder what strawberry mousse thoughts would taste like?  Could you even imagine what a strawberry with antlers would look like?

I guess I'll go and finish reading about how awesome JT is.  Wish me luck.

* Writers, at least those who understand punctuation, are free to employ multiple exclamation marks when they want to show greater emphasis: it lets them show that they are an idiot.**

** You'd have to truly appreciate the colon to understand the joke.  Let me explain:  Thanks for reading lordpi.com!!!!!!