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Now that I have made this catalogue of swindles and perversions, let me give another example of the kind of writing that they lead to. This time it must of its nature be an imaginary one. I am going to translate a passage of good English into modern English of the worst sort. Here is a well-known verse from Ecclesiastes:

I returned and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.

Here it is in modern English:

Objective considerations of contemporary phenomena compel the conclusion that success or failure in competitive activities exhibits no tendency to be commensurate with innate capacity, but that a considerable element of the unpredictable must invariably be taken into account.

This is a parody, but not a very gross one. Exhibit (3) above, for instance, contains several patches of the same kind of English. It will be seen that I have not made a full translation. The beginning and ending of the sentence follow the original meaning fairly closely, but in the middle the concrete illustrations -- race, battle, bread -- dissolve into the vague phrases "success or failure in competitive activities." This had to be so, because no modern writer of the kind I am discussing -- no one capable of using phrases like "objective considerations of contemporary phenomena" -- would ever tabulate his thoughts in that precise and detailed way. The whole tendency of modern prose is away from concreteness. Now analyze these two sentences a little more closely. The first contains forty-nine words but only sixty syllables, and all its words are those of everyday life. The second contains thirty-eight words of ninety syllables: eighteen of those words are from Latin roots, and one from Greek. The first sentence contains six vivid images, and only one phrase ("time and chance") that could be called vague. The second contains not a single fresh, arresting phrase, and in spite of its ninety syllables it gives only a shortened version of the meaning contained in the first. Yet without a doubt it is the second kind of sentence that is gaining ground in modern English. I do not want to exaggerate. This kind of writing is not yet universal, and outcrops of simplicity will occur here and there in the worst-written page. Still, if you or I were told to write a few lines on the uncertainty of human fortunes, we should probably come much nearer to my imaginary sentence than to the one from Ecclesiastes.

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Originally posted by Grey

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Why not just have some kind of "License to have sex" when a teenager reaches, say, puberty or somesuch? It'd be pretty simple; If the child is mature enough to take responsibility for their actions, then they have to pass the test to prove their maturity. If they can't, then they're subject to the legalities of the situation.

Much like Driver's Ed, there would be Sex Ed classes as well, teaching proper forms of contraception, the importance of abstinence, protection, STDs, and all of that stuff. It could be performed in a small-group session as opposed to a large classroom to prevent students from not paying attention to the lessons, and a discussion of the social issues and implications of the matter would be present as well. If a student couldn't provide the proper feedback or demonstrate a standardized (really high standards, mind you) understanding of the concepts and ideas shown in class and in the discussions, they wouldn't make the grade, and they would not have legal permission to engage in sexual activities. The law would be every bit as ruthless to people without a license as it is to everyone right now, but people with licenses to have sex would be considered able to consent, since they've demonstrated a proper level of maturity to understand the implications of what they're doing.

In that sense, we'd have couples who are licensed take responsibility for their own actions, while still maintaining the protection of the innocent. It's simply a matter of willingly giving up that protection, instead of automatically giving it up when you reach a certain age of consent.

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Originally posted by Rom Manic

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Oil is the only reliable fuel source we have. Ethanol producing in mass quantities is a joke, because the amount of grain it takes to make one gallon is ridiculously huge. To mass produce for every working vehicle to refuel daily is enormous, and the fields of corn and barley would definitely cover most of the surface of the earth (If it were put into action).

Our other option is to harvest natural resources from outer space and use them.

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