Care with women and punctuation.

I received this item from my friend Javi Nava and I thought it might be a good warning as well as a lesson in about misplacing the comma in Spanish that I can share with my fellow students.

In Spanish, the personal pronoun is often omitted because it is carried by the verb ending and the gender is derived from the context. However, a problem can arise with the placement of a simple coma that will drastically change the meaning of the sentence.

Note the difference in the meaning of the following two sentences that are written identically except for the placement of the coma:

Si el hombre supiera realmente el valor que tiene la mujer, andaría en cuatro patas pidiéndole perdón.
If the man really knew the value of the woman, he would crawl on hands and knees asking her forgiveness.

(Translation note: "en cuatro patas"...literally "on four paws")

Now remove the coma from behind the word "mujer" and place it behind the word "tiene".

Si el hombre supiera realmente el valor que tiene, la mujer andaría en cuatro patas pidiéndole perdón.
If the man really knew his value, the woman would crawl on hands and knees asking her forgiveness.

Be careful. It's a jungle out there!

How to make ORT

Dr. Jan Gurley has been going to Haiti since the earthquake and is there now combating the disease, cholera, and the resulting severe dehydration that accompanies it. She and her friends have produced a short video that shows how to make Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORT) using salt, sugar, and bottle caps for measuring (4 caps sugar, 1 cap salt, and 500 ml clean water). Doctor Gurley hopes the video will go viral. Aid workers have smart phones that can show videos and many Haitians have video-enabled cell phones. Read more at Doctor Gurley's blog. Click here.

Via the BB Submitterator

I just knew it!

I have found another proof of the existence of a just and merciful God. It is called the Twinkie diet. Just as I was about to lose all hope the truth has been revealed by a guy named Professor Mark Haub, who teaches nutrition at Kansas State University. He has let it be known that you can lose weight by eating nothing but Twinkies. Dr. Haub's working theory is that moderation, not the specific foods you eat, is the key to weight loss. After eight weeks of eating 1800 calories worth of Twinkies per day, he dropped almost 30 pounds. According to my calculations that is 11.25 twinkies per day. Ahhh, life is good!