Confessions of a Graphic Designer: Miss Manners : When it comes to navigating the social maze, it helps to know someone who is omniscient. After college, I had a roommate we affect... @FiorenzaMella

Fiorenza Mella @FiorenzaMella

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” — Steve Jobs @FiorenzaMella

The OED says that the relevant senses of mate come from "Middle Low German māt comrade", and suggests that we "Compare early modern Dutch maat (1546), maet (1573) friend, partner". The OED traces the English sense "A companion, fellow, comrade, friend; a fellow worker or business partner" back to 1380, and notes that this is "Freq. as the second element in compounds, as bed-, flat-mate, etc. (in which it is generally less colloq. than when standing alone)". @FiorenzaMella

Interesting read. Psychologist James Pennebaker reveals the hidden meaning of pronouns @FiorenzaMella

"The Earth would not be the way it is if humankind didn't have the ability to communicate, to organize itself, to pass knowledge down from generation to generation," says Jeff Elman, a professor of cognitive science at the University of California, San Diego. "We'd be living in troops of very smart baboons," he says. Instead, language has allowed us to cooperate in groups of millions instead of dozens, he says. It also lets us share the complex ideas produced by our brains, and it's flexible in ways you don't find in the communication systems of other species. @FiorenzaMella

....During one of my presentations I was explaining the benefits of a network-based approach to remote access vs. a premise-based approach. That is when it happened! The customer asked me, “Don’t you mean premises?” I forgot the rule about the customer always being right and said “No, I mean premise.” He was not happy and further explained that a premise is a basis of an argument and that equipment is kept on premises. Following the demo I looked it up and he was right!!! OMG, how many times did I make this mistake and why didn’t anyone tell me before? Now I can’t help but notice when premises is used correctly or incorrectly. I noticed my local diner got it right when they hung a sign that read “Baking done on premises.” Yet the cloud industry can’t seem to make up their mind. @FiorenzaMella