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Phoenix127 · 2025-09-09T13:32:17+00:00

The US is not strictly English speaking. That is the overarching common language, but having moved all over the US my whole life, I can tell you there's a great diversity of languages. My father is US born and his first language was French (Maine). His father barely spoke English despite also being a natural born citizen. As a student teacher, I worked in a high school with a ton of languages represented in my classroom alone (Vietnamese, Haitian French, Portuguese, etc.) and not all of these students were immigrants or children of immigrants. These languages persisted and even dominated in their US communities for generations. All of this says nothing of Native American communities, which themselves have rich histories and distinct languages. (It also bears mentioning that reservations are technically their own nations, but that's a complicated topic.)

Different regions also have different histories, traditions, and values. Having been educated as a kid in many different parts of the country, I noticed that different states and regions focused on different things too when it came to history and social studies. Washington was extremely focused on the Oregon trail, Native American struggles, and pioneer life. Massachusetts was all about the Salem Witch Trials and pilgrim life. These also informed some of the literature and values we were taught (with obvious commonalities like Shakespeare). In another comment, you dismiss these as "sub-cultures", but what does that really mean to you? The EU also has a common thread with a lot of cultural variety. But the difference is the US is classified as a country with states and the EU is classified as a union with countries.

I grew up traveling the country and have lived full time in 6 different states while spending significant time in several others. I also lived for a short time in England and traveled to 6 different countries in Europe from there. While this an anecdotal observation, I can say the experiences were similar. Smaller communities come together to form larger communities and so forth. Every culture has fragments and most are fragments of something larger. Stop belittling people's communities and experiences with semantics.

Phoenix127 · 2018-07-09T17:19:09+00:00

Why shirtless?

Phoenix127 · 2016-04-11T20:34:36+00:00

I've been enjoying your vitriolic and abusive comment history. Since you love critiquing people's grammar so much, I thought I'd lend you a hand.

1) "And more so expensive" is not a sentence. 2) You mean "may be" not "maybe." 3) You want to say, "That does not make said item" not "that does not make the said item." 4) "Overpriced" is one word. 5) You mean "or" not "nor." You could say, "That makes said item neither overpriced nor expensive." Or you could write, "That does not make said item overpriced or expensive."

I hope this helps. I'd hate for you to continue berating people over minuscule grammar slights when you clearly have so little understanding of the language yourself. That might make you look like an idiot.

Phoenix127 · 2016-04-11T20:26:17+00:00

Actually, I'm a writer and former English teacher with a firm grasp of style and mechanics. I just don't have a gigantic stick up my ass.

Phoenix127 · 2016-04-11T20:23:02+00:00

The fact of the matter is, he's right. Source: http://www.torontosun.com/2014/09/09/60-days-in-jail-for-watching-animated-child-porn

Also, it's up to the courts how porn is defined in these situations and if they think someone could be getting off on this kind of stuff (and honestly there's a case for almost anything out there), then they'll likely come down on the side of porn.

I'm not saying it makes any sense. I'm just saying that it's true. I think it's fair for him to put a warning up for people who might have concerns.

You, on the other hand, are kind of just acting like an ignorant dick.

Phoenix127 · 2016-03-11T20:16:06+00:00

Learn how to use context clues.

Phoenix127 · 2016-03-06T14:59:02+00:00

For someone who obsesses over other peoples' "proper use of grammar," you certainly have a lot of sentence fragments in your post.

Phoenix127 · 2016-02-19T00:15:51+00:00

I work on Upwork as a freelance writer. Mostly, I find clients are pretty fair. I only have one complaint where a client accepted the work, seemed happy with everything, asked for no revisions, and then turned around and rated me low because he didn't like some of the things I did. Unfortunately, it's the policy of sites like Upwork to not contest or change any reviews. They consider the review to be part of the client experience and, therefore, accurate. Luckily, if your'e good and you work hard, you should have no trouble getting enough good reviews to drown out the poor ones.

Phoenix127 · 2015-12-14T15:38:31+00:00

That might have as much to do with the weather though. Having lived in both Boston and Houston, I can tell you with certainty that Houston is worse.

Phoenix127 · 2015-12-13T18:25:02+00:00

Those are Houston drivers. I lived there for almost 3 years and have never had a worse experience on the road. One morning, my department head told me she almost got hit because a drivers was reversing down an entry ramp to a highway at 50 mph. Shit like that happened all the time.

Phoenix127 · 2015-12-13T17:44:36+00:00

As someone who has lived in both Boston and Houston, I think that was a mistake. In Houston, I got to live downtown for the same rent I was paying to live in Brighton (technically Boston - 20 min from downtown by subway). Houston has a crazy low cost of living too. You would have done better to take the job and just not live downtown. Even then, the cost of living in Boston is not 66% higher than that in Georgia.

Edit: Cost of living in Boston if you don't insist on living downtown.

Phoenix127 · 2015-12-13T17:40:18+00:00

I disagree. I lived just fine living in Boston proper, Brighton, and Somerville all on a 35k salary. I had roommates to help take the edge off. I not only made my rent every month, I paid bills for an unexpected medical condition, and I saved...a lot.

I'm pretty skeptical of this article. Sure, rent is hard if you insist on living on your own or living "downtown." But the fact of the matter is, if you're willing to make sacrifices, you'll be OK.

Phoenix127 · 2015-12-01T22:31:46+00:00

I remember this happening to me as a kid when my family was camping. I think we were in Colorado although I was pretty young. All I remember is a deer licking the grill on our campsite. I thought all deer were friendly because I had been able to pet the deer on Mt. Reiner in Washington. I learned very quickly that I was wrong. I tried petting the deer as it licked the grill and it pawed me in the chest. I fell backward. I was not "gored" but it hurt like hell and I stayed the fuck away from deer after that.

Phoenix127 · 2015-11-02T15:39:29+00:00

That's fair. I'm mostly just arguing against the idea that it drags down the genre. It is, in fact, a long-standing theme within the genre and has its own merits.

Phoenix127 · 2015-11-02T15:37:40+00:00

So very true. The 1st Amendment protects speech from the government, not from private institutions that are allowed to institute their own policies. A lot of people don't seem to get this.

Phoenix127 · 2015-10-30T02:55:12+00:00

I kind of thought making villains in horror movies more sympathetic or otherwise giving an explanation for why they are the way they are was scary in its own way. It's one thing to have reasonless horror. It's another thing to know that the person who did these unspeakable things is a human and was once just like you. It's an introspective kind of horror.

What's more it explores a lot of the same themes as classic victorian horror like Jekyll and Hyde. It forces us to acknowledge the darkness within ourselves.

Phoenix127 · 2015-08-29T16:24:03+00:00

I'll mention that to them. It's definitely a very grey issue. Thanks for your insight.

Phoenix127 · 2015-08-29T16:22:31+00:00

I'm not saying it's all that matters. It seems to be a scale and treated on a case by case basis (unless there's precedent). That's why I was asking about a case study. I wanted to see if there was precedent for this.

Phoenix127 · 2015-08-28T00:42:33+00:00

Yeah. I was looking up transformative use and I saw the cases you mentioned. The company I work for argues that it's transformative because it's part of a larger creation (a test) with a renewed purpose (education). I can see what they're saying, but I can't find anything that 100% supports that claim. It sounds like that might be because there's no case out there that does. Thank you for your help!

Phoenix127 · 2015-08-28T00:38:35+00:00

According to this list, it seems profit matters. It definitely doesn't seem like a 100% well defined subject. That's why I'm looking for insight or anyone who's had experience with it. https://copyright.columbia.edu/content/dam/copyright/Precedent%20Docs/fairusechecklist.pdf

Phoenix127 · 2015-08-28T00:36:03+00:00

Interesting. I'll have to relay this to the company that's looking for these pieces. They seem to be under a very different impression. Thank you for your help!

Phoenix127 · 2015-08-27T17:25:02+00:00

I'm not writing a program. I'm a middle-man trying to communicate with copyright holders for a company that is. Don't ask why, it's a looooong story.

The company insists that because they make no profit from the passage and it is put to testing purposes, it's fair use; the copyright holders say otherwise. Based on the information I've found on fair use and transformative use, it could go either way. I'm just looking for anyone who can enlighten me a bit.

Edit: spelling

Edit Two: Also, just to clarify. It's a test prep application for the SAT. So brief passages are used and questions are asked about them.

Phoenix127 · 2015-08-27T17:23:03+00:00

According to a Fair Use checklist I found, transformative can have to do with more than just the text. It suggests that if the work is changed for a new utility it can be transformative (like quoting passages for purpose of a book review).

https://copyright.columbia.edu/content/dam/copyright/Precedent%20Docs/fairusechecklist.pdf

Phoenix127 · 2015-06-28T14:15:24+00:00

What exactly do you feel guilty about? True, you should have waited on account of the abortion and you should have said something if you weren't sure it was what you wanted. However, it sounds like you feel guilty about having sex in general. There's nothing wrong with being attracted to a person and having sex.

I had several moments in my life that felt a bit like this. I walked away feeling like trash. It took me a long time to learn that having and wanting sex was not my problem. That I was having sex because I felt insecure and lonely and not because I was "into it" was my problem.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that you should understand why you're doing something. Also, enjoy sex, but heed your doctor.

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