So, I started it on blogger because that is really easy to make a private blog on, I already have an account, and I’ve imported two blogs from blogger to wordpress with no problems (both She’s Right and All Things Hold Together started on blogger).

But, this morning as I was posting, I started thinking about all of the wordpress features I am not using, like categories.  My other blogs imported as “uncategorized” which made it clunky to try and use a cloud tag, unless I wanted to go back and categorize years of posts.

Plus, now that wordpress 3.0 is out, I am dying to use it!  Starting a new blog with it will allow me to utilize all of its features from the get go.

What I am wondering is whether or not I should just start the blog on wordpress and how I want to go about doing that.  The two biggest issues are how to make it private and where to put it.  When I finally make my blog public, it will be under my own domain name, which I do not have yet.  I want to be sure I love the title.  As it is, I just decided that I don’t like my working title.  In the meantime, I am not sure where to put the site.  I mean, obviously, I will put it on my server where I have all of my blogs.

I feel like I didn’t really think this through before I started writing, but I only have a handful of posts done, so I want to figure this out now.

Any suggestions?

Any list that has the original 2D side-scrolling Super Mario Bros. is great, in my book.  But even better is the fact that it has the original Legend of Zelda for NES.  I used to love that game when I was a kid.  I have a working SNES console with Super Mario, but Zelda is a game that I do not have.

I have a feeling I am about to waste a lot of time today.

Your result for The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test…

Pure Nerd

74 % Nerd, 30% Geek, 22% Dork

Take The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test at OkCupid

It’s true.  I like geeky stuff and I like to think that I am a bit of a geek, but in reality, I am way more of a nerd.  I don’t have the intense knowledge in one area needed to be a geek.  I am fascinated by geeks, though.  That’s why I read sites like GeekDad every day.  But, I am a true nerd.  Yeah, I said it.

March forth on March 4 to speak well, write well, and help others do the same!

The other day, I saw a comment on facebook that read, “It’s my girlfriend and I’s anniversary soon.”  What the heck is that?  I’s isn’t even a word.

It might not have been such a big deal if not for the fact that I heard that same error earlier in the week.

People misuse “me” and “I” all of the time, and it drives me nuts!

I get why people confuse “me” and “I.”  It comes from being corrected as children when they used “me” in a compound subject, such as, “Billy and me are going to the park.”

That is wrong, and it’s great that you say “Billy and I” now, except when you say something like, “Johnny is going to the park with Billy and I.”  No, No, No!  It’s “Billy and me”!

Knowing whether to use “I” or “me” is simple.  Just remove the other person from the sentence.  Would you say, “Me is going to the park” or “Johnny is going to the park with I”?  No, so you don’t use those when Billy is with you, either.

Would you say “Next week is I’s anniversary”?  No, you would say “my.”  So it’s “Next week is Bob’s and my anniversary,” not [shudder] “Bob’s and I’s anniversary.”

While we’re at it, let’s talk about “myself.”  It’s very common for people to use “myself” when they should use “me.”  For example, “The report was prepared by Marcy and myself.”  It does seem to have a more polished sound to it, but it is wrong.  Myself is only to be used reflexively, meaning when you are talking about something you did to yourself.  Like, I exposed myself as an idiot when I misused grammar too often.  Any other time, it’s all about me.  So, “The report was prepared by Marcy and me.”

The next time you have something to say about yourself and someone else, stop and think about how you would say it if you were only talking about yourself.  Would you use “I” or “me”?

Try to make the right choice, and never let the I’s have it.

I was asked recently what the Large Hadron Collider, the giant particle accelerator outside Geneva, is good for. After $10 billion and 15 years, the machine is ready to begin operations early next year, banging together protons in an effort to recreate the conditions of the Big Bang. Sure, there are new particles and abstract symmetries in the offing for those few who speak the language of quantum field theory. But what about the rest of us?

If you are not familiar with what exactly the LHC is, this presentation at TED, in 2008, by physicist Brian Cox gives a nice overview, followed by a fascinating brief summary of the formation of the universe.  Who says you need religion to have an awe-inspiring creation story?

Over the past few years, I have come to terms with my geekiness.  Yeah, I know, it’s easy now that (1) I have no peer pressure to act otherwise and (2) our technological times have made geek more acceptable.

2009 was my year to move beyond my geek acceptance and actually work on increasing my geek cred.  A math degree and a love of puns can only carry me so far.

As I read geeky best of 2009 lists and geeky resolutions for 2010, I found myself looking back on my own Year in Geek.  In 2009, I added to my geekiness in the following ways.  (This is not a complete list and only includes things I started doing this year.)

• Started watching Star Trek: TNG
• Read xkcd regularly
• Started reading at least 2 geek blogs daily (I ♥ GeekDad)
• Read 2 books on logic
• Built a science unit (for homeschool) based on a MythBusters epsode
• Bought an electric circuit kit and used it with one of my geeklings
• Started a blog that was an anagram of my name!

I know there’s more.  Those are just the ones that stand out in my mind right now.  I also watched more sci-fi than I ever have and I finally got the whole time travel thing, but I think that happened last year when I was watching Terminator: TSCC.

I don’t have any geek-related goals for 2010.  Actually, my goals this year are more related to my artsy side.  But I do want to continue to embrace the geek and encourage my children to do the same.  My 6th grader already gets flack on the playground for being a word nerd.  I never want them to eschew their geekiness in an effort to try and fit in.  I figure the best protection against that is to make being a geek way more fun than being normal.

I have a certain sentimentality about the internet, as some of you know, because it was there for me during what would otherwise have been a very isolating time in my life, when I left Christianity.

But, and there always is a but, the internet is killing our language.

Yes, yes, I know that language always evolves over time, but the internet allows that to happen at such a rapid pace, the bad changes, ie the mistakes and misuses, do not have time to get filtered out of the emerging lexicon.

I have a long and ever-growing list of internet language pet peeves, not the least of which is “yay,” but today I am going to focus on begging the question.

In my post the other day about Afghanistan, I closed with:

That raises an obvious question.  Why are we still there, if our actions are not leading to a more peaceful Afghanistan?

The train of thought that I was following raises that question; it does not beg the question.

Why not?

Begging the question is the name of a logical fallacy.  It does not mean to raise a question, or to beg for it to be raised, yet it is often used in that context.

This frequent and unrelenting misuse raises the ire of certain circles, so much so that there is even a website called, Beg the Question: Get It Right.

Is it really such a big deal for language to evolve in this way?  I am of the same school of thought as Grammar Girl on this particular language faux pas.

In fact, that wrong usage is so common some people will argue it’s not an error anymore (7). But I’m firmly in the camp that believes it’s worthwhile to stick to the formal definition. There are plenty of phrases writers can use when they mean “makes me wonder” or “raises the question.” There’s no hole in the English language that needs to be filled, so there’s no reason to use begs the question improperly.

So, what does “beg the question” actually mean?

From The Skeptic’s Dictionary,

Begging the question is what one does in an argument when one assumes what one claims to be proving.

There are several examples, if you follow that link. Here’s one.

The following argument begs the question.

We know God exists because we can see the perfect order of His Creation, an order which demonstrates supernatural intelligence in its design.

The conclusion of this argument is that God exists. The premise assumes a Creator and Designer of the universe exists, i.e., that God exists. In this argument, the arguer should not be granted the assumption that the universe exhibits intelligent design, but should be made to provide support for that claim.

There’s plenty of useful information and examples at all of the above links to help you stop begging the question – or at least stop misusing the phrase.