The Crowhill Journal

“Uh,” “um,” “er” and such are filler words. In Chinese, the filler word is “that,” which sounds like “nega.”

See USC Suspended a Communications Professor for Saying a Chinese Word That Sounds Like a Racial Slur.

This story jumped out at me because I used to give lectures to Chinese businessmen on how the American publishing industry works. I don’t know a bit of Chinese, but I kept hearing them saying this word that sounded like the dreaded “n-word.” I asked a friend who speaks Chinese about it, and he didn’t give me a very satisfying explanation. This “uh, uh” explanation makes more sense.

The larger issue, of course, is how incredibly insane universities have become with all this speech policing nonsense. And this is the important point.

There is nothing for the university to investigate: Patton should be restored to his teaching position immediately. If anything, the offended students should apologize to him for causing the inconvenience.

Right. And not just an apology. There should be consequences for being that stupid — like getting points off their final grade.

I will probably wait to get it.

I’ve never had a flu shot, and I haven’t had the flu since I was a kid, so I’m not particularly worried about the virus.

Yes, I know this virus is different, and yes, I know that getting the vaccine is not only for me. It’s for protecting other people. So if the thing turns out to be safe, I’ll get it — for other peoples’ sake. But I won’t be an early adopter.

P&C review Double Duckpin from Union Brewing, then talk about grammar mistakes that even smart people make. Plus a few others.

“I could care less” vs. “I couldn’t care less.” That vs. which. Irregardless. Who and whom. Shoo in. Sleight of hand. Home in vs. hone in. Affect vs. effect. Misuse of apostrophes and quote marks. Bated breath. Accept vs. except. Insure, assure, ensure. Whet your appetite. Must’ve, should’ve, would’ve, could’ve. Plus many more.

I’ve been reluctant to share this publicly, but … here goes.

I got canceled at work.

One of my co-workers found a couple Pigweed and Crowhill videos that he didn’t agree with. He completely misrepresented what we said and accused us of displaying “white privilege” and being racists, bigots and homophobes. He sent his accusations in an email to the entire office, and caused quite a stir. The mob formed against me, and the company fired me — despite the fact that they didn’t believe the accusations.

There’s more to it than that, of course, but it’s quite a mess and … I shouldn’t say too much.

I’ve decided to post this because, honestly, I could use some help. I need to find some work.

This site has a description of my professional experience and what I’m good at. If you know of any opportunities — contract work or full-time — please let me know.

Pigweed and Crowhill review Georgia Avenue Sour, a tart peach ale from Dennizen’s Brewery, then discuss labor, Labor Day and unions.

Labor day started with a one-day strike in New York in 1882, and became an official day to celebrate workers under Grover Cleveland. P&C evaluate the development and idea of labor unions.

Unions often take credit for weekends and the 5-day work week, but that might have come from Henry Ford and the competition for scarce labor.

P&C are generally on the politically conservative side of things, but still like the idea of labor unions, which fit well with P&Cs standard political principles — especially the idea that when one party has power, somebody else has to have a countervailing power. P&C like unions for several reasons: (1) as a counter-balance to management, (2) to set standards for the profession, (3) to train the next generation of skilled workers.