I merely think that if members took their time to READ what they post, check it for grammatical and contextual correctness, and proof read it to check what COULD be read into their statements, we'd get a LOT less crossed wires on this forum.

But hey! Who the heck has time to even WRITE English correctly any more? So many spellcheckers, so little time!

Most posts on this forum would make our English teachers cringe, and get an 'F' across the board, and then we act surprised when others DON'T get our point, or even completely misconstrue it

I can only hope we pay more attention to communicating with music than we do with English! OTOH, I've heard SOME demos here that lead me to believe not...

I think that ANYONE who gives to charity at ANYTIME of the year is doing a very good thing and it will surely be appreciated.

Having been orphaned at three years old, and then losing the people who adopted me when I was 15 as the result of a car accident on Christmas Eve, I do have more than a little experience with poverty and doing without.

It was because of charitable people very similar to Russell (and Chas, too) that I was able to get some much needed help and be allowed to do something with my life.

It's too bad that assumptions about a poster's intentions are so easily made, but the written word sometimes fails to convey meanings that would be much better understood if we were all speaking in person.

Peace to all.

Ian

Ian ... I was replying to YOUR post, in which it seemed that YOU were saying it's better to keep it to ourselves "I find it is most rewarding when I can keep it to myself and share what I've done with no one."

I MOST CERTAINLY KNOW that chas and Russ do it with only the most honorable intentions, and as I said, have even inspired me to be more generous.

Please read my post again... and if I misread yours, I apologize ...
MERRY CHRISTMAS,

t.

ABSOLUTELY RIGHT ... and perhaps we BOTH were guilty this time ... no harm intended ...
t.



[This message has been edited by tony mads usa (edited 12-20-2008).]

Ian, Tony, and everyone else, I'm not all that honorable (ask my wife).......BUT, I want my grandkids to be. This was just about trying to teach them that life is not always about being on the receiving end (something I felt that their parents hadn't properly conveyed). Looking back, if I had to grade them, the 5yr.old would have gotten a 'D', the 3yr.old, a flat-out 'F'. Oh well, I'll keep trying, despite their lousy parents .

chas

Folks, I just looked back at all the posts I have made about this little project, and I don't like what I see. It absolutely looks like I'm trying to toot my own horn, and for that, I'm sorry. I was so excited to get friends I don't get to physically see to work on something meaningful together, and to include as many as possible, that I went way beyond the irritation factor, and that certainly wasn't the intent.

I now have the names of 12 worthy causes submitted by my friends here. What I'm going to do is send a check every month to one of these causes. That means each will get one a year, which will be much larger than the original $100.00 one. I'll keep it up for the forseeable future. With each check, I'll think kindly of the member here who took the time to identify the charity and feel good about our joint effort. It's just time for all my "rants ansd raves" to stop.

All the best to all my good friends here.

You are important to me.


Russ

Russ... there is ABSOLUTELY NO NEED for you to apologize for anything, and I hope it wasn't my post that made any one think that ...
Actually, while quiet giving is always wonderful, I think it is important for people to be reminded that most of us could be doing something more, and if hearing about other people's actions inspires that, then I think it's wonderful ...
I personally like to hear especially about celebs who donate money and time and effort to worthwhile causes ...

Merry Christmas,
t.

Well, we might get FEWER crossed wires, and the English teachers wouldn't get the F's.

But I do agree completely. Our forum members are probably far better than the U.S. population in general. Sports announcers and newscasters are my pet peeves. How many times have we heard "whether or not" or "the reason why" and other such redundancies? It's one thing to hurriedly post on a forum, but far more important to speak to millions of t.v. viewers, including many children, and constantly abuse the language.

DonM, Journalism major from a former century

Don...you hit on one of my "hot" buttons. The one that really gets me is the use of personifications...."This factory makes...", "He was killed by a gun"...or "car"...similar English structure "no-no's". Factories don't make anything. Guns can't kill anybody. Neither do cars. Some of the worst violators of proper structure rules are staff writers at PBS. Local news is often a joke. Sports "journalists" are a national embarrasment.

So sad, and really bothers another "dinosaur" journalist.

"It just ain't good writin'"!

R.

Chas, how can you not give some toys to the 3 and 5 year old.......they may learn the wrong lesson

They learned it was nice to give to other kids....but not at their expense....they are too little for that lesson....

BTW:. I could use a 33 pound dual manual organ for New Years eve gig...and maybe the Jam coming up...I will promise to send it back to you after the jam......now there is a lesson to learn here..