{"id":6612,"date":"2011-07-01T11:16:32","date_gmt":"2011-07-01T18:16:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/?p=6612"},"modified":"2011-07-01T11:16:32","modified_gmt":"2011-07-01T18:16:32","slug":"friday-grab-bag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/?p=6612","title":{"rendered":"Friday Grab Bag"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Our son Gregory arrived late Wednesday evening.\u00a0 He’ll stay here with our grandson Quentin until Wednesday, when they drive home to Las Vegas.\u00a0 We had a great few days with Quentin, but now we can turn the keep-the-eight-year-old-entertained duties to Greg.\u00a0 Later today we three lads will visit Hooters for the traditional photo op; tonight I’m grilling peppers, Italian sausage, and polenta.\u00a0 Between the photo op and dinner Greg is taking Quentin to see the latest Pixar 3D movie.\u00a0 Tomorrow morning we’re riding bicycles in the hood; later Greg, Polly, and Quentin are going to a water park.\u00a0 Sunday is bicycle decoration day; Monday is the neighborhood 4th of July parade and brunch.<\/p>\n

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The other day I wrote about extreme drought and the frightening possibility of a major wildfire in Tucson and surrounding areas, mentioning our city fathers’ conflicted approach to 4th of July fireworks<\/a>: banning them while at the same time allowing vendors to set up fireworks tents all around town.\u00a0 Since then, Big Firecracker has sued Tucson<\/a> over the fireworks ban.\u00a0 Of course!<\/p>\n

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Summer doldrums at the Pima Air & Space Museum<\/a>: two Wednesdays ago just two people took my 10:30 tour and no one showed for my 11:30; this Wednesday there were a few more for the first tour but once again none for the second.\u00a0 Now that monsoon season is here it’s hot and<\/em> humid, and the giant swamp coolers make the hangars only slightly less miserable than the outdoors.\u00a0 I was dripping with sweat while talking to my first tour group Wednesday; they were too.<\/p>\n

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On the word front, I was amazed and deeply disappointed to see this: Oxford comma dropped by a University of Oxford Style Guide<\/a>.\u00a0 The Oxford comma, also known as the serial comma, is the one you insert (and that I will continue to insert, damn them) before the “and” at the end of a list.<\/p>\n

Let me tell you what happens when you start omitting the Oxford comma:<\/p>\n