[Info-vax] Long uptime cut short by Hurricane Sandy

[Paul Sture]

In article <kekvip$mc9$3 at online.de>,
 helbig at astro.multiCLOTHESvax.de (Phillip Helbig---undress to reply) 
 wrote:

> In article
> <84225a72-5d5a-44b6-8076-2d2f954a6490 at 5g2000yqz.googlegroups.com>, AEF
> <spamsink2001 at yahoo.com> writes: 
> 
> > Execute, not liberate.
> > 
> > Execute not, liberate.
> > 
> > The comma makes all the difference in the world.
> 
> Indeed.  In general, I adhere to the rule that, in a list, there should 
> be no comma before the "and" (since there isn't when there are just two 
> items connected by "and"), but there are exceptions needed for clarity.  
> There was the student who wrote:
> 
>    I dedicate this thesis to my parents, God and L. Ron Hubbard.

Classy!

Have you read the book "Eats, Shoots and Leaves"?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eats,_Shoots_%26_Leaves

'Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation is a 
non-fiction book written by Lynne Truss, the former host of BBC Radio 
4's Cutting a Dash programme. In the book, published in 2003, Truss 
bemoans the state of punctuation in the United Kingdom and the United 
States and describes how rules are being relaxed in today's society. Her 
goal is to remind readers of the importance of punctuation in the 
English language by mixing humour and instruction.'

The next paragraph also deserves a quote:

'Truss dedicates the book "to the memory of the striking Bolshevik 
printers of St. Petersburg who, in 1905, demanded to be paid the same 
rate for punctuation marks as for letters, and thereby directly 
precipitated the first Russian Revolution"; she added this dedication as 
an afterthought after finding the factoid in a speech from a librarian.'

-- 
Paul Sture