The Ag eDispatch

Apostrophic advisories

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:42:49 -0500

• Apostrophes do belong all by themselves at the end of plural nouns ending in s. ("The applicants' test scores reveal very little about the incoming class of freshmen.")

• Apostrophes do belong all by themselves at the end of most possessive nouns ending with s, z or x. ("Dr. Franz' laboratory.")

• Apostrophes do not belong between the last digit in a decade referred to by the numbers and s. ("The 1990s were a time of transition for American agriculture.")

• Apostrophes do belong before the first digit if you shorten a reference to a decade to two digits. ("The '90s were also a time of transition for America's rural communities.)

• Apostrophes do not belong on both nouns when there is joint possession. ("Jack and Jill's bucket was used to tap into the aquifer.")

• Apostrophes do belong on both nouns if they independently possess the same thing. ("The dean's and the department chair's laptops will both be used in the presentations at Webb Hall.")

• If something is referred to in an all-capital acronym, or abbreviation, apostrophes do not belong before the s when pluralizing. ("The daycare center has three Macintosh G5s that children are using to learn their ABCs.")

• Apostrophes do belong between lower-case letters and the s that pluralizes them in some expressions. ("Department chairs are asking faculty to cross all the t's and dot all the i's on their reports, and to watch their p's and q's when the accreditation team visits.")

• Apostrophes do belong at the very end when plural nouns are formed by adding "es" to singular nouns ending in s, z, ch, sh, and x. ("The downtown area has nine churches more than a century old, and the landscape architect's design for the new park frames several of the old churches' steeples with evergreens.")

• Although grammarians (and style manuals) aren't in universal agreement on this one, possessive nouns that are buildings, furniture or other objects do not need the ''s construction.

• It's easy to see the logic behind that dictum when it s a "table leg." However, if it's the "Webb Hall auditorium," then it's tempting, and not necessarily incorrect, to make that "Webb Hall's Auditorium." Similarly, when a noun is more adjectival than possessive, the apostrophe is often unnecessary. ("The graduate student manual has an appendix with property removal forms.")

• The most common apostrophe-related tragedy is the difference between "its" and "it's." The former is a possessive pronoun. ("The llama stuck its head in the car window as soon as it saw the food on the dash.") The latter is a contraction for "it is." (It's about time we put up a sign warning visitors to roll up their car windows when llamas approach.")

Homecoming perils

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:05:36 -0500

A&T's homecoming is on the horizon: Oct. 11. This is a time of year when letters, e-mail, fliers, invitations and agendas for meetings involve some easily confused words:

accept is a verb that means "receive"

except is a preposition that means "apart from"

(Invitations are accepted; except when a scheduling conflict makes it impossible for you to attend.)

alumna is singular for a reference to a female graduate

alumnus is singular for male graduate.

alumni is plural for references to male graduates, and groups that are composed of both males and female

alumnae: Plural when referring to only female graduates.

alum is an informal abbreviation for alumnus or alumna

all together means in a group (The dean wants his associate deans and department heads all together for a photo.)

altogether means "in total" (There was an increase of $4.3 million in donations altogether.)

compliment is a "remark of praise"

complement is "something that completes"

(The banquet was a perfect complement for informal gatherings earlier in day, and the organizers were showered with compliments on the gala.)

continuously means "without interruption"

continually means "repeatedly"

(Dean Thompson has continuously kicked off the academic year with a faculty staff meeting, and at the meetings he and the associate deans have continually stressed the importance of student retention.)

emeritus is an honorary title for retired male professors

emerita is an honorary title for retired female professors

historic means "an event of importance"

historical describes something that merely happened in the past

off campus is correct when referring to a meeting or event that is not going to be on campus

off-campus is correct when you are make an adjective to describe something like "off-campus activities" or "an off-campus" reception

stationary means "not moving"

stationery refers to writing paper

Ag. economists association taps Mafuyai-Ekanem for membership committee

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:00:28 -0500

Mary Mafuyai-Ekanem of The Cooperative Extension Program at A&T has been invited to serve on the American Agricultural & Applied Economics Association’s (AAAEA) membership committee for the 2008-09 academic year. The AAEA membership committee serves to assess trends in the organization’s membership and to suggest strategies for adding to the group’s membership. Mafuyai-Ekanem is also serving as the 1890s Institutions director for the AAAEA’s Extension Section, a post she was elected to in 2007 for a three-year term.

The AAAEA’s work to promote agricultural economics includes publication of two journals,The American Journal of Agricultural Economics and The Review of Agricultural Economics. The AAEA’s commitment to furthering knowledge about the economics of agriculture also includes the Chester O. McCorkle Jr. Student Scholarship, which was established to support a graduate student working on applied research on economic issues relating to agriculture. The scholarship, which is expected to be approximately $2,000, has an Oct. 6 application deadline. Applicants should submit a five-page description of the proposed research, a letter of support from their major advisor, and a transcript of graduate work.

Latin grammar in translation

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 16:46:19 -0500

Latin grammar in translation

• The abbreviation “etc.” is short for “et cetera,” which translates to English as “and other things.” That means it’s redundant to precede “etc.” with “and.” And because the literal translation of “etc.” is “and other things,” the abbreviation shouldn’t be used to refer to people (NOT “John, Paul, Ringo, etc.”).

• The Latin expression meaning “Ante meridiem” is usually abbreviated in English as “a.m.” and the Latin for "after noon," post meridiem is usually abbreviated “p.m.” Some style manuals go along with “AM” and “PM.” But the “AM” and “PM” should be small capitals, and small capitals are special characters, not just capitals a couple point sizes smaller than the font size used elsewhere as body text. That makes “a.m.” and “p.m.” the best choice (unless you’re going to go to the trouble to make “AM” and “PM” as small capitals). Regardless which abbreviation you use, there is always a space between the Arabic number indicating the time and the abbreviation that follows (never “8a.m. or “8PM”).

• The Latin expression “et alii” translates to English as “and others,” and is abbreviated “et al.” Because “et” is not abbreviated, there is no period after the word, but there is a period after the abbreviation for alii, “al.”

• The abbreviations for the Latin expressions “id est” (“i.e.”) and “exempli gratia” (“e.g.”) are often confused. “Id est” (and the abbreviated translation, “i.e.”) means “in other words.” “Exempli gratia” (and the abbreviated expression “e.g.”) means “for example.” The abbreviation “i.e.” should be used when a statement clarifies or restates one that has preceded it: “Faculty members all have copies of the SAES Strategic Plan, i.e., the booklet that was distributed.....” The abbreviation “e.g.” should be used when introducing a list that is not intended to be comprehensive, just some examples: “Faculty and staff must pay attention to the Internal Control Guidelines when they take possession of any electronic device, e.g., cell phones or laptop computers....” When using “i.e.” and “e.g.,” set the abbreviations off with commas both before the clause they append and the clause they introduce.

• Do not italicize “et al.,” “i.e.” or “e.g.” One Latin word that appears frequently that is usually italicized is “sic.” “Sic,” which translates literally as “thus so,” is used when there is an error (grammatical or otherwise) in a quoted passage and writers borrowing material want to indicate that they are aware of the mistake. In a direct quotation, “sic” should be inserted immediately following the faux pas in brackets (not parenthesis) and italicized. For example: John Doe is another newspaper reporter who writes, “The North Carolina Agricultural Extension Service [sic] has specialists at A&T and N.C. State.”

• When writing genus and species — the Latin names — of plants and animals, capitalize the genus name but not the species name, i.e., Escherichia coli, Galax urceolata and Canis lupus familiaris. After using the full name once, most style manuals approve of abbreviating genus down to one letter, i.e., E. Coli (but retain italics).

Copyright reminders

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 17:02:38 -0500

• Whenever copyrighted text or a graphic from a website is transferred to another website, a word processing document or any other medium, it’s an infringement of copyright unless you have written permission from the copyright holder to use the text or graphic. How can you know for certain if text or a graphic you want to borrow is copyrighted? You can’t. It may be copyrighted material even if there’s not a symbol or statement to that effect. There’s no federal clearinghouse for copyright information, so there’s only one way to avoid possible infringement when copying material from a website and that’s to request written permission from the individual whose web work you want to borrow. (If someone wrongly states that he or she holds a copyright and grants permission to reproduce material that isn’t theirs to grant, then the infringement issue will be between the grantee and the actual copyright holder, if the copyright holder files an objection.)

• What is called the "fair use" provision in copyright law is a small loophole that allows for quoting passages from another author’s work for reviews, commentaries or other instances where another author’s exact wording is necessary for discourse. There is no exact word or sentence length that determines what is fair use and what isn’t. If you are using another author’s words to illustrate or support a point of contention in your own work, that is probably covered by the fair use provision. If you are using several sentences from another author’s to make a point instead of building a case yourself, then that isn’t fair use, but instead a copyright infringement. Whenever another author’s work is used in accordance with the fair use provision, the work from which wording is borrowed must always be cited.

• While it’s OK to put a link to someone else’s website in your own work, permission is required if you want to use a trademarked logo or icon as a hyperlink instead of just hypertext.

• It’s a violation of University policies as well as copyright law for any University-owned computer to be used to make copies of CDs or DVDs that have software, videos or other copyrighted content. This applies to videos and software purchased legally, when terms of the purchasing agreement were only one licensed copy. (In other words, even when a nice price was paid for a single copy, without a licensing agreement for additional copies, it’s illegal to make a few clones.)

• Before you add a favorite melody to a personal Web page or a PowerPoint presentation — assuming that you're too little a fish to fry and don't have to worry about the organizations that collect royalties coming after you - consider some of the small fish the largest licensing organization, the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) has taken the time to fry:
° If you've ever been in a restaurant where the staff paid recognition to a patron's birthday by singing, but not by singing the most familiar of all birthday songs, "Happy Birthday," that's because the song has been copyrighted since 1934 and ASCAP considers waiters and waitress singing the song a public performance, and wants a royalty payment.
° In the mid-1990s, ASCAP sent word to summer camps that many songs sung around campfires — "This Land Is Your Land," "Blowin' in the Wind," and even "God Bless America"- were copyrighted and royalty payments were expected. Although ASCAP eventually dropped the demand because it was generating too much negative publicity, the organization initially asked camps for blanket fees ranging from $257 to $1,500.

Anti deathly sentences Web links

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 16:10:51 -0500

The University of Chicago Writing program has a “Sentence of the Week” link that will take you to an embarrassingly faulty sentence at the website of a major news organization or another source that should know better. The website also has some concise tips for avoiding “top-heavy” sentence constructions that slow down or lose readers.

Have you ever written a sentence, knew something was wrong, but didn’t know exactly where to start repair work? Try to the four tips at http://www.sas-pm.com/WFCEng/effedi40.html.

The expressions “There are” and “It is” are frequently the launching pads for weak sentences in academic writing. The Writer’s Workshop has a Web page with work-arounds for choppy sentences and missing transitional phrases.

The South Dakota State University Writing Center has a Web page that analyzes the four most common sentence mishaps: fragments, run-ons, fused sentences and comma splices.

The Internet community Everything2 has a page “Seventeen Ways to kill a sentence.” that has 17 examples of sentence construction techniques to avoid at all costs.

URLs for keeping recruitment and retention on the move

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:02:20 -0500

High school students are now feeling added pressure to get their college planning under way in their junior and sophomore years, and that pressure often translates into a spike in inquiries from prospective students in late summer. SAES faculty and staff should have the "Cultivating Potential" portal bookmarked so the URL is loaded and ready to go when inquiries from prospective Aggies come their way. The "Cultivating Potential" website also has links to University admission requirements and financial aid programs, as well as links to SAES programs and career opportunities that SAES degrees can lead to.

Another recruiting URL to keep handy right now is the Amtrak Campus Visit Discount promotion, which will continue through Dec. 8. Parents and guardians of high school juniors and seniors can get a ticket for half-off when traveling to prospective college campuses on Amtrak routes.

And here are five URLs to have handy as students start returning to campus in August, and assistance that will further SAES student retention needs to be loaded and ready to go:

The U.S. Department of Education has a budget calculator to help students determine expenses and weigh them against estimated available income.
There's a transportation cost calculator available when a car deal is under consideration.

One of A&T's sister schools in the UNC system, Appalachian State, has a GPA calculator for quick answers to questions about the potential impact of course grades on overall GPAs.

There's an online calculator for comparing the apartment and home rental rates in Greensboro with surrounding cities.

The online exchange portal for used books, abebooks.com has gone into the textbook business. A starting point for five other online sources for used textbooks is Snagabook.com.

And MSN has a website with an interactive map that will be of keen interest to every student with a car. Go to the website, enter a zip code, et voilà: gas stations that currently have the cheapest prices per gallon in that locale.

Trusted ally

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:27:20 -0500

The deadline for proposal applications for the next funding cycle for grants from the Tobacco Trust Fund Commission is Aug. 1. The Commission’s priorities for the upcoming funding cycle include community economic development, farm profitability, natural resource management, farmland preservation, and other projects that will support the state’s agricultural economy. Proposals that address areas affected by changes in the tobacco industries, and to projects with broad geographic and demographic impact potential will be given special attention. The commission will be announcing grant recipients by the end of October.

The N. C. General Assembly established the Tobacco Trust Fund Commission eight years ago to direct lawsuit settlement funds from cigarette manufacturers (the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement) to farmers and tobacco-related businesses.

Be selfish

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:19:47 -0500

Two N.C. Central employees and another from N.C. State lost their jobs recently for using state-owned computers and networks for downloading pirated software and pornography. Although the episode serves as an explicit reminder about the consequences for misuse of state property, it also serves as an implicit reminder about the perils of sharing login credentials. The N.C. State employee who has been terminated gave out log-in credentials that were used to download audio files from a website that wasn’t adhering to copyright law, and the account holder was left holding the bag after the misuse of state property was discovered.
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SAES faculty and staff are reminded that they should under NO circumstances lend their log-in credentials—not to students who’ve forgotten their passwords, not to visitors who want a few minutes on an SAES computer to check email, nor to new employees who haven’t gotten around to contacting Ag. Communications and Technology (ACT) for activating an account.

If you have unwittingly violated University policies and loaned out your login credentials, you can atone for the violation right now by changing your password. (This is something you should do every 60 days, even if you’ve been vigilant about keeping your password to yourself.) To change your password:
A. Press the Control, Alt and Delete keys
B. Select “Change Password”
C. Enter Old Password, New Password, and Confirm New Password in the designated fields
D. Press OK button

ACT computer support personnel recommend that when setting a new password, you choose one that’s:
A. Got a least eight characters
B. Has at least one number
C. Has at least one capital letter

PC Magazine has put out a list of the “10 most commonly used online passwords http://www.threadwatch.org/node/14095]”. (The top 10 to avoid unless you want to make it especially convenient for a hacker or good-guesser to get into your account.)
The bad choices are:
1. passwordgt
2. 123456
3. qwerty
4. abc123
5. letmein
6. monkey
7. myspace1
8. password1
9. blink182
10. (your first name)

If you ever receive an e-mail requesting your account information and password—from anyone under any pretense—don’t fall for it. There's a "phishing" scam that begins with email presenting itself as a request from the university computer center's help desk, and dozens of other traps that can lead to viruses and identify theft if individuals naively give out passwords in response to email requests. Legitimate technical support personnel never request account information or passwords via email.

Another oversight that can lead to a computer account falling into the hands of an unauthorized user is failure to log off after using one of the computers in a lab or colleague’s office. When you’ve finished your work on a computer that hasn’t been assigned to you alone, be sure to log off.

Seven tips for crisp scientific and technical writing:

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:17:33 -0500

1. Start each paragraph with a sentence that summarizes the top priority information in the paragraph. Other sentences in the paragraph should complement the topic sentence with definitions, examples and explanations of the idea contained in the topic sentence.
2. Hold your average sentence length to around 21 words.
3. A good rule of thumb for paragraph size in scientific and technical writing is four or five sentences. (Paragraphs that are double that size or larger will often contain sentences that repeat information that's already been covered, or the two key topics, and should be separated into two paragraphs.)
4. Avoid technical jargon as much as possible, even when writing for professional journals.
5. Be careful about vague pronouns, with unclear antecedents. (When "this" or "it" refers to a concept or idea, readers can lose the train of thought.)
6. Use single words instead of phrases (especially prepositional phrases) wherever you can. (For example, “the project summary indicates considerable progress” rather than, “the summary of the project from the co-directors indicates….”)
7. Once a report or article is complete, let it set for a few days and then read through it looking solely for major points of emphasis that are repeated almost verbatim. (It’s okay to refer back to a major point of contention after you’ve made it. But if you are repeating a major point over and over, you are boring readers with the findings or conclusions you are trying to impress upon them.)

SAES spelling bee vocabulary

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 16:10:07 -0500

Anyone who watched the Scripps National Spelling Bee on television in late May undoubtedly noticed the large number of words tied to agricultural, family and life sciences. Here are some of the words (and definitions from Webster's Online Dictionary) that contestants were asked to spell that are rare elsewhere but everyday language at the SAES:

agrostologist (“one who studies the branch of botany concerned with grass”)
Appaloosa (“a horse breed in which the adult has one of several distinct patterns of spots”)
beignet (“a pastry made from fried dough and sprinkled with confectioners' sugar ... associated with New Orleans”)
bockwurst (“a German sausage”)
coniferous (“relating to trees or shrubs bearing cones and evergreen leaves”)
cygnet (“a young swan”)
demitasse (“small cup of coffee”)
emulsify (“combining two liquids together which don't mix easily ... usually oil or a fat and water or another liquid”)
floscular (“small flower, tubular in form”)
flummery (“a bland custard or pudding especially of oatmeal”)
gelato (“Italian ice cream made from milk and sugar”)
geriatrician (“a specialist in gerontology”)
gosling (“young goose”)
Guernsey (“breed of dairy cattle from the island of Guernsey”)
hepatic (“pertaining to the liver”)
hibernaculum (“winter home”)
homeostasis (“balance or equilibrium”)
hydrotropism (“a tendency towards moisture”)
indumentum (“covering of hairs on an animal or plant”)
julienne (“cut into long thin strips ... ‘julienne the potatoes’")
juvenescence (“process of growing into a youth”)
monticule (“small mountain, knoll or hill”)
nidicolous (“hatched or born in an undeveloped state requiring feeding by parents”)
oniomania (“obsessive or uncontrollable urge to buy things”)
osoberry (“plant from the rose family”)
pathogenicity (“ability of an organism to produce an infectious disease in another organism”)
photosynthesis (“process operating in green plants in which carbohydrates are formed under the influence of light”)
quadrif (“species of colorful Australian parrots”)
roux (“mixture of fat and flour heated and used for sauces”)
slumgullion (“thin stew of meat and vegetables”)
sultana (“pale yellow seedless grape used for raisins and wine”)
tetrapteran (“insect having four wings”)
tubulifloral, ("belonging to the division Tubuliflorae of plants”)
umbrageous (“filled with shade”)
wainwright (“wagon builder”)
wassail (“sweetened ale or wine heated with spices and roasted apples”)
zoolatry (“worship of animals”)

Comma mnemonics

Wed, 28 May 2008 16:14:03 -0500

Why is it correct to write that “Webb Hall is a large brick building” (without a comma between the adjectives large and brick), but then “Webb Hall is a smartboard, WiFi building” (with a comma between the two adjectives)?

The second pair of adjectives are coordinate adjectives that should be separated by a comma, and there are two quick tests for determining whether a pair of adjectives is coordinate or not:

I. Does the sentence still make sense if “and” is inserted between the adjectives? If so, then the adjectives are coordinate and there should be a comma between them. (While “large and brick building” doesn’t make sense, “smartboard and WiFi” does.)

II. Invert the adjectives and if the result sounds like something only Master Yoda would say, then you don’t have coordinate adjectives and don’t need a comma between them. (While “WiFi and smartboard building” sounds okay, “brick large building” doesn’t.)

Another mnemonic to remember when it comes to commas is “FANBOYS.” When the coordinating conjunctions for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so are used to connect two complete thoughts in a sentence—independent clauses, both with subjects and verbs—then there should be a comma before the conjunction:
• Webb Hall is a landmark, for it has been the first building on the eastern edge of the campus for decades.
• Carver Hall is a research and teaching facility, and it also has offices and meeting rooms.
• SAES students aren’t necessarily from small towns, nor are the majority of these students particularly interested in avoiding big cities once they have their degrees.
• Carver Hall is now equipped with computer labs, but the building continues to provide traditional classrooms also.
• SAES research projects address hot-button issues, or they serve as further underpinning for the basics of applied research.
• Coltrane Hall is usually one of the quietest SAES buildings, yet its potential to accommodate a noisy crowd is unmistakable.
• C. H. Moore is the closest SAES Building to downtown Greensboro, so it’s not surprising that the Agricultural Research Program is well known to the people who work in the city’s tallest buildings.

And why is it correct to write that “Because Webb Hall is a brick building, there is no need for annual painting,” but incorrect to turn the clauses around and still separate them with a comma? (Incorrect: “There is no need to paint Webb Hall annually, because it is a brick building.) A subordinate clause is one that doesn’t express a complete thought (“because it is a brick building), and when subordinating conjunctions (e.g., after, although, because, how, if, less, since, while) introduce a subordinate clause, most of the time they should not be preceded by a comma.

How to keep the laptop running without recharging so often

Wed, 14 May 2008 16:47:47 -0500

• If you're still operating under the assumption that it optimizes performance to periodically run the laptop's battery completely down, discard that old saw. It was true for NiCad or NiMH batteries in older laptops, but running the battery down often reduces the capacity of the lithium ion (LiIon) batteries in most laptops these days.
• Shut down software programs that aren't in use. (Most of the software on your laptop is configured to check websites for updates on a regular basis. So if you’ve got software running that you’re not using, it may be adding to the power drain on your laptop by checking for upgrades.)
• Don't leave the laptop in direct sunlight, or in car trunks or other hot places. (The temperature ceiling for laptops is 113 degrees F. Anything above that and you may be damaging the battery in addition to reducing its power.)
• If you leave a CD or DVD you're not using in the computer drive, you're wasting power. Store the CD or DVD you aren't using somewhere other than the laptop's drive.
• When you are connected to the Internet via Wi-Fi, your laptop is sending power to a hardware device, a card. If you're not using a wireless connection, shut down the Wi-Fi. (In Windows XP, left-click on the wireless network icon in the system tray and choose "Disable" to shut down Wi-Fi. To open the Wi-Fi back up, open the Network, then double-click on your wireless connection.)
• Setting the brightness on you laptop's display a little lower will push up battery life as much as an additional hour of runtime. For instructions on how to tone it down, go to http://laptopmag.com/Features/Five-Tips-For-Better-Notebook-Battery-Life.htm?Page=2. (Some laptops have brightness control on a function key. If your laptop has function key with a brightness icon, give it a try.)
• Laptops can be set to hibernate quickly when they aren't in use, and this extends battery life. For instructions, visit this site .

New online calculators with SAES relevance

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 16:33:28 -0500

• The Discovery Channel’s health and fitness website now has an Activity Calorie Burn Rate calculator that has an extremely extensive list of physical activities in the database. Among the physical activities for which there are burn rate coefficients are 23 child care activities (i.e. carrying infants, bathing children and pushing strollers); every farm and gardening activity from chasing livestock to shoveling grain; and even such scholarly activities as teaching classes, filing and attending meetings.

• Several organizations working to heighten environmental impact awareness (including the Nature Conservancy) have installed calculators on their websites that allow visitors to calculate the carbon footprint (greenhouse gas produced by transportation, electric energy use and diet, etc.) that their lifestyle decisions are leaving.

• Researchers with the World Health Organization have developed some important new algorithms for predicting an individual’s likelihood of hip fractures and major osteoporotic fractures that have been the subject of considerable interest in view of the breakthroughs’ potential to assist physicians in preventive care for one of the primary perils of aging. A taste of the variables that are involved is available at a calculator, the One-Minute Osteoporosis Risk Test, now up and running on the International Osteoporosis Foundations website.

• Many members of the SAES faculty and staff will be among the 130 million Americans receiving tax rebates of $300 to $1,200 from the IRS by mid-July. Anticipating the understandable curiosity of those yet to receive their rebate checks who are nonetheless curious as to exactly how much they will be getting, the IRS now has an “Economic Stimulus Payment Calculator” on its website. You’ll need to have a copy of your 2007 Form 1040, Form 1040EZ, or Form 1040A to refer to for the needed information for the calculator to produce an estimate.

• With fears of inflation pushing up mortgage interest rates at the same time that a sharp drop in real estate prices is tempting prospective home buyers, MLCalc.com has launched a website with mortgage and loan calculators that also comes equipped with straightforward instructions and easy-to-comprehend, color-coded outputs.

• Don’t forget that google.com is itself a calculator, and you can use that same field where you insert key words to ask google.com to do some quick calculations. For example, query “convert 5 U.S. dollars to Canadian money” and your first hit will be “5 U.S. dollars = 5.06150231 Canadian dollars.” Ask google to convert the driving distance from Greensboro to Memphis from miles to kilometers by querying “675.62 miles in kilometers,” and the yield is “ 6675.62 miles = 1,087.30499 kilometers.”

When to raise your little finger these days

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 16:26:44 -0500

SAES faculty and staff old enough to remember typewriters may recall that because that piece of equipment did not have a key for a dash (—), it was okay to instead use two hyphens (--). Now that computers and printers are the more common pieces of equipment, the grace period has expired. If the punctuation mark you need is a dash—do not use two hyphens (--) instead.

Unless you’ve gone into the preferences menu and set up an override, Microsoft Word automatically converts two hyphens to a dash. If you’re using software other than Microsoft Word, you may have to look at the alternate character set to see what the code is for a dash. Please do, especially if there’s a chance someone else will be working with the text you are composing on down the line. (A pair of hyphens can cease to look anything like a dash when the combo falls so close to the end of a line that one hyphen stays on one line while the other drops down to the start of the next line.)

The standard dash—a mark of punctuation that often sets off a clause from the rest of a sentence more emphatically than a pair of commas does—is technically an em dash. It gets that name because it’s the same length as an “m” in most fonts. A shorter dash, the n dash (the length of an “n”) is the correct character for several circumstances, but the most frequent need of an en dash is a range of three- or four-digit numbers. Here too, Microsoft Word is set up to do the job for you if you haven’t changed the software’s preferences. If you key in “enrollment has ranged from 257 – 366 students” Microsoft Word will automatically make an en dash. En dashes are also proper punctuation for a range of dates; 2001 – 2007, for example.

On the other hand, do use your hyphen key when you’ve got two or more adjectives before a noun that will have a combined meaning different than what the meaning might be if the modifying words aren’t tied together. For example, a “first-class meeting” is one that’s well organized, while a “first class meeting” could be either a well organized meeting or (more literally) the first time a class meets.

There’s one exception to the general rule-of-thumb for compound modifiers, and that’s adverbs ending in “ly” directly before an adjective they modify. Adverbs ending in “ly” are never hyphenated to form compounds with a paired adjective; a “nearly complete series of meetings” is never “nearly-complete....”

Leave the hyphen key untouched if you’ve got a phrasal verb such as “cut off,” “kick off” or “set up.” On the other hand, if the same pair of words functions as a noun elsewhere, then they often do become hyphenated, and it’s correct to write that “after the conference room has been set up, the set-up should get a final inspection.” (Just as frequently, verbal phrases that shouldn’t be hyphenated or fused into a single word are fused into a single word when they function as nouns: a keynote address can kick off a conference that always has a stimulating speaker for its kickoff.)

Most of the time, words created with the prefixes anti, bi, co, de, dis, hyper, in, port, pre, non, and un do not get prefixes. On the other hand, the prefixes cross, ex and self are usually set off from the root word with a hyphen. But whenever you’re unsure whether or not a hyphen is needed, don’t presume the spelling is self-evident. Check the dictionary.