If you dream it,,,do it!!!!

**stipes** · July-17-10, 01:38 PM

I dont know if anyone seen the movie Oct. Sky....The story of Homer Hickam and his life living in West Virginia...To me that was a powerfull movie,,and the story it told..
In spring of 2007,,,It came on again and I said to myself,,I'm gonna go see that place,,,damnit,,I'm gonna go there ...I searched and called people and finally someone in Williamson WV gave me the # to call Mr. Red Carrol ,, he is Jimmy ODells father from the book,,movie,,and I called,,and sure enough it was Mr. Carrol...I asked him if he didnt care if I could come down there in Sept. when I had a weekend off to talk with him,,and tell me about his life and about the story of the rocket boys....He said,,call me when you get down here...I was thinkin to myself,,he prob. wont think I'll come,,but I did,,and called....We meet at the Corner Store in Coalwood,,his wife drove him there to meet me....I talked with his wife for awhile and she was comfortable with him going with me for a day so we took off......And the story as the history of Coalwood comes..
He took me to the place where Homer and his friends launched their rockets...He told me how the people was so proud of him..He was a kid with big dreams,,and they come true.....
This one pic. of him,,,,with his books of Coalwood,,and the picture album of him in the days.....Told me they had a baseball team that played against the Cinncy Reds so many years ago back in the 1940's...But Mr. Carrol......this old wonderfull man............He said something I'll never forget............
He said his wife was worried about meeting people and might get robbed,,,and he said,,,Jess,,,I wasnt worried about you as soon as I heard your voice,,but he said if someone was to meet me,,and knock me in the head to die,,I'll write I Love You God in the dirt before I die.....
Sept. 1 of 2007....What a wonderfull day to spend with a man,,,a living history...To hear the stories,,,the words of how life was back then......I'll never forget it.............

**gibran** · July-17-10, 01:47 PM

great story...wonderful ...you made my day

**stipes** · July-17-10, 01:48 PM

P.S. If you notice on Mr. Carrol"s hat...It said not for sell...I asked him what that ment,,he said it was his soul...I will always love that old man..........

**Pam** · July-18-10, 08:09 AM

Hey guys, there is a thing called a period. Check it out. Makes posts easier to read.

http://www.lousywriter.com/punctuation_period.php

**jcole** · July-18-10, 08:22 AM

Thank you, Pam. I can never follow what he is saying.

Bearinabox · July-18-10, 08:22 AM

Originally Posted by Pam

Hey guys, there is a thing called a period. Check it out. Makes posts easier to read.

http://www.lousywriter.com/punctuation_period.php

The funny thing is that typing ellipses instead of periods actually requires more keystrokes. Why put in the extra energy to make one's posts less legible?

**jcole** · July-18-10, 08:43 AM

I get the feeling that there is a school of writing being taught in some places that uses ellipses as a form of expression and the students figure that if a few are good, a lot are better. There is too much usage for it to be a coincidence.

**Blueidone** · July-18-10, 10:15 AM

Originally Posted by Bearinabox

The funny thing is that typing ellipses instead of periods actually requires more keystrokes. Why put in the extra energy to make one's posts less legible?

Not really. Ellipses is 3 keystrokes. Proper sentence punctuation would be a period, two spaces, shift key and key. That's five keystrokes.

But I do agree that ellipses are sometimes very hard to follow.

Stosh · July-18-10, 10:22 AM

Originally Posted by Blueidone

Not really. Ellipses is 3 keystrokes. Proper sentence punctuation would be a period, two spaces, shift key and key. That's five keystrokes.

But I do agree that ellipses are sometimes very hard to follow.

Of course that also assumes that the writer is using proper sentence structure in the first place. Unlike above. It's almost like it was written in the sentence structure of William Shatner. I.... must... stop.... this.... now.....

Ravine · July-18-10, 10:23 AM

Originally Posted by jcole

I get the feeling that there is a school of writing being taught in some places that uses ellipses as a form of expression and the students figure that if a few are good, a lot are better. There is too much usage for it to be a coincidence.

If this [["...") is what you ladies are calling an "ellipse," thanks for delivering a well-deserved scolding.
I acknowledge that my writing features numerous idiosyncracies & quirks, and I figger [[!!) that it's only fair to assume that some of them may be annoying to some readers, but I want to back up the two of you, on this one.
I, in my judgmental imperiousness, see the over-usage of those as a sign of laziness. They cause one's writing to look like a bunch of beads casually slipped onto a string.
Hey, Gibran, please don't be too insulted. It ain't personal, and it speaks to style, not content.

Bearinabox · July-18-10, 10:30 AM

Originally Posted by Blueidone

Not really. Ellipses is 3 keystrokes. Proper sentence punctuation would be a period, two spaces, shift key and key. That's five keystrokes.

But I do agree that ellipses are sometimes very hard to follow.

The funny thing is that this forum does not allow putting two spaces after a period, so if that's what you're doing you're wasting a keystroke.

Stosh · July-18-10, 11:17 AM

Originally Posted by Blueidone

Not really. Ellipses is 3 keystrokes. Proper sentence punctuation would be a period, two spaces, shift key and key. That's five keystrokes.

But I do agree that ellipses are sometimes very hard to follow.

Why two spaces for a period? Why not for a, comma?

The proper use of a period.
http://www.libraryonline.com/default.asp?pID=39

**Blueidone** · July-18-10, 12:18 PM

"Simply put, the "two space" rule is a typesetter's convention. It was developed for use with monospacefonts, so that your eye could easily pick up the start of a new sentence. With modern proportional fonts the double space is largely irrelevant. Further, modern typesetting software uses interword spacing to make the display of text more pleasing. Thus double spacing can make the layout less pleasing.
So my suggestion is: use two spaces if you're banging away on your Mom's old Underwood, but use a single space in any electronic format, unless you're deliberately using Courier for some ungodly reason. "

Found this on a blog. I guess I stand corrected. I am one of those "old-timers" who learned on a typewriter with monospace characters, and it is indeed just habit with me. I don't even think about it when I type.

I see now that in this modern day the second space is no longer required. However, I'm sure my fingers will put it there whether I want them to or not. :-)

**Jimaz** · July-18-10, 01:02 PM

Originally Posted by Ravine

If this [["...") is what you ladies are calling an "ellipse," thanks for delivering a well-deserved scolding.

That's an ellipsis. It's used to indicate that something was omitted from a quotation. An ellipse is an oval-shaped conic section.

Thanks for the thread, stipes. I did enjoy October Sky. I've been interested in rocketry nearly all my life. I've been designing a guidance control system for a missile. It's surprisingly simple, just arcsine and sine functions and some fudge factors but I think I will have to add some moment of inertia tensor code to make it useful for more general payloads.

[[There. That ought to kill this thread.)

**jcole** · July-18-10, 01:58 PM

I stand corrected on the ellipsis issue. Thanks, Jimaz

**Jimaz** · July-18-10, 02:39 PM

Originally Posted by jcole

I stand corrected on the ellipsis issue. Thanks, Jimaz

No, no. You used the correct plural of ellipsis although maybe it should have said "forms" instead of "a form." I dunno.

**Pam** · July-18-10, 06:06 PM

Hey, Gibran, please don't be too insulted. It ain't personal

No, it wasn't personal and I wasn't just talking to Gibran. Did you notice the first post in the topic? Same problem.

**oldredfordette** · July-18-10, 06:56 PM

ellipses is option [[alt) colon.

**gazhekwe** · July-18-10, 07:10 PM

I enjoyed the story and the pix, had to look up the movie to see what it was about. Is the mine in Coalwood closed now? The place looks pretty quiet.

Ah, well, I answered my own question:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coalwood,_West_Virginia

Stosh · July-18-10, 07:42 PM

Originally Posted by Blueidone

"Simply put, the "two space" rule is a typesetter's convention. It was developed for use with monospacefonts, so that your eye could easily pick up the start of a new sentence. With modern proportional fonts the double space is largely irrelevant. Further, modern typesetting software uses interword spacing to make the display of text more pleasing. Thus double spacing can make the layout less pleasing.
So my suggestion is: use two spaces if you're banging away on your Mom's old Underwood, but use a single space in any electronic format, unless you're deliberately using Courier for some ungodly reason. "

Found this on a blog. I guess I stand corrected. I am one of those "old-timers" who learned on a typewriter with monospace characters, and it is indeed just habit with me. I don't even think about it when I type.

I see now that in this modern day the second space is no longer required. However, I'm sure my fingers will put it there whether I want them to or not. :-)

I do remember that from early typefaces on computers years ago. when true type was invented, that went out the window. Kind of like this font, actually. Spaces are single in this example.
just. monospace.

Ravine · July-19-10, 12:18 PM

Originally Posted by Pam

No, it wasn't personal and I wasn't just talking to Gibran. Did you notice the first post in the topic? Same problem.

I know, Pam. It's just that the dot dot dot thing is sort of a signature style, of Gibran's, so I wanted to issue a pointed nod to him/her.
In any case, your passion for making yourself excruciatingly clear is sort of a signature style of yours, and I very much enjoy your deft maneuvering to that end... and, there is no such thing as being too clear.
Certainly not in this forum, where folks are just busting to leap down each other's throats.

**Roq** · July-19-10, 01:47 PM

I have to admit to being a charter member of the ellipses abuse group...

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2215290508

**jcole** · July-19-10, 01:54 PM

Originally Posted by Roq

I have to admit to being a charter member of the ellipses abuse group...

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2215290508

I use them too, but I do realize that there are other punctuation marks, too.

**Roq** · July-19-10, 02:00 PM

Originally Posted by jcole

I use them too, but I do realize that there are other punctuation marks, too.

I have been forcing myself lately to revise my writing with an eye towards replacing ellipses with different punctuation marks.

I hope to beat this addiction to the dots soon, wish me luck.

**Pam** · July-19-10, 02:02 PM

Originally Posted by Roq

I have been forcing myself lately to revise my writing with an eye towards replacing ellipses with different punctuation marks.

I hope to beat this addiction to the dots soon, wish me luck.

Admitting you have a problem is the first step on the road to recovery.