Shetland Space Centre

[Roachmill]

I do find grammar to be important whilst calling people idiots and morons [*]; to do so with poor grammar and punctuation just makes you look like a pot having a go at a kettle.

Edited December 11, 2020 by Roachmill

[Claadehol]

It might be an idea if Tarsus learnt how to spell "grammar" before making comment on it.

[tarsus]

I do nort care aboot grammmmar or speelling stop 

[tkstewart]

Shetland Space Centre is being developed in partnership with Lockhead Martin - the biggest arms company in the world.They will be coming here partly because they anticipate little resistance from the local community.

 

Did anybody else find it queer the prize for the recent SSC kids drawing competition was a family trip to Florida? Seemed way OTT to me. I have been wondering why?      

 

Then the billionaire who was seeking a judicial review to challenge the building of a space centre near his land in the Highlands pumps almosts £1.5million into the Shetland project. He was concerned about the environmental impact. Surely he couldn't be supporting the SSC in the hope it prevents the Sutherland project from taking off?

 

It'd be naive to believe the puff in the press about Lockheed Martin not using the SSC for military purposes. A new Cold War space race dawns, as the US Space Force attempts to counter growing threats from Russia and China. Lockheed will be at the front of this war, potentially making Shetland a bigger target for adversaries.

 

Jobs are very, very important and likely to become even more so in the days ahead. It's reasonable to argue economic considerations should trump all else when it comes to this project but we should at least be asking ourselves long and hard if this is a rocket ride we want to be taking.

[Colin]

Grammar is important.

 

Capital letters are the difference between, "Helping your Uncle Jack off a horse", and, "helping your uncle jack off a horse."

It's just as well that we have the technology to do that now, but I guess the principle remains the same. 

 

Does it really matter that all but the most basic elements of grammar are ignored.  I always though that the object was to get your point across in a manner that is understandable to the 'average joe'.

Nitpicking your way through someone else's posts is always going to be a waste of time and effort.  Understanding what was written is much more important.  Just my opinion.

 

I guess that written English might have evolved somewhat as well

 

FWIW, I have an old fashioned 'A Level' in English Language, and I'm damned if I can remember anything about it... 

[tarsus]

weel sed colin / documents rittin oou by solisitors is nae doot gramaticaly corect but ye canna unerstand it / i bet that you can unerstand this

[Claadehol]

Spelling IS important though George, call it nitpicking if you wish, but unless we uphold standards we will all be at the mercy of modern textspik. Dear God! The very idea is horrifying, and reading as a pleasure would become a nightmare.

Spelling of the English language is sadly under serious threat, the threat is real.

Too many of our citizens are happy to dismiss it as of no importance.

Mainly because they can't be bothered.

[Colin]

I think that correct spelling is more important than correct grammar, and I 'hate' txt spk. 

 

The demise of both are probably a result of the general dumbing down of the education system..

 

Anyway, this isn't going to put any rockets on the moon. 

[Colin]

tkstewart has raised some interesting points

 

"Shetland Space Centre is being developed in partnership with Lockhead Martin - the biggest arms company in the world.They will be coming here partly because they anticipate little resistance from the local community."

 

Is it not normal practice for business interests to perform some kind of 'impact assesment' on local communities.  ie; 'what can we get away with ?'

 

"Did anybody else find it queer the prize for the recent SSC kids drawing competition was a family trip to Florida? Seemed way OTT to me. I have been wondering why?"

 

A trip to Disney World perhaps, or what about Cape Canaveral ?

 

"Then the billionaire who was seeking a judicial review to challenge the building of a space centre near his land in the Highlands pumps almosts £1.5million into the Shetland project. He was concerned about the environmental impact. Surely he couldn't be supporting the SSC in the hope it prevents the Sutherland project from taking off?"

 

Ah, a conspiracy theory.  You might be right though...  Follow the money..

 

"It'd be naive to believe the puff in the press about Lockheed Martin not using the SSC for military purposes. A new Cold War space race dawns, as the US Space Force attempts to counter growing threats from Russia and China. Lockheed will be at the front of this war, potentially making Shetland a bigger target for adversaries."

 

It's called 'mission creep', and in some form or other, is to be expected.   The same 'target' status existed when we had the RAF radar base at Saxa Vord or the US Loran facility at Sullom Voe.

 

"Jobs are very, very important and likely to become even more so in the days ahead. It's reasonable to argue economic considerations should trump all else when it comes to this project but we should at least be asking ourselves long and hard if this is a rocket ride we want to be taking."

 

Jobs are important, if you want one, but I would guess that a lot of jobs created would be quite specialised and require imported talent.  As for 'we should be asking...', the 'we' part is just us 'little people', and we never get asked anything.  Whatever decisions are made will just be dumped on us to get on with.

Edited December 12, 2020 by Colin

[George.]

Spelling IS important though George, call it nitpicking if you wish, but unless we uphold standards we will all be at the mercy of modern textspik. Dear God! The very idea is horrifying, and reading as a pleasure would become a nightmare.

Spelling of the English language is sadly under serious threat, the threat is real.

Too many of our citizens are happy to dismiss it as of no importance.

Mainly because they can't be bothered.

I doubt very much that I have ever suggested that spelling is not important, Claadehol. As I'm sure you will know only too well, if an error is made in the spelling of a word, it is only too easy to tell another story.

 

Yes, spelling of the English language is under serious threat and yes, it's mainly the fault of those that can't be bothered. Both Norn and Gaelic have their worth and it becomes clearer and clearer just which language I would prefer to see the back of, and which I would prefer to see being brought back.

 

However, I suspect that I know only too well which group of people would disagree.

[George.]

I think that correct spelling is more important than correct grammar, and I 'hate' txt spk. 

 

I would suggest that both spelling and grammar have their place. Without one, the other is irrelevant. Having said that, an unnecessary pair of apostrophes comes over as just that, unnecessary. Each to their own, though.

 

And yes, txt spk makes one thing very clear.......

Edited December 12, 2020 by George.

[tarsus]

spel it as it sownds

[Claadehol]

Well George Gaelic certainly has its place, and I would like it to thrive but only in the areas where it belongs. Shetland isn't one of them, Norn is, and though some words survive it is pretty well lost, sadly!

We don't need gaelic road signs in Shetland, there's more people speaking Chinese here, and Chinese has as much historical significance.

The English language is used universally and many people seeking sanctuary choose to come here for exactly that reason.

It's a wonderful language and spoken by more people on this planet than any other.

[George.]

^I'm not 100% sure of what you say regarding Gaelic, Claadehol. I would bet that when the Picts that worked on Mousa Broch turned up there is a good chance that they will have spoken Gaelic, as quite possibly Neolithic man may have done, if it was around when he arrived. That may well not have lasted with them, possibly Norn taking over but until approx 8000 B.C.E you could walk from Stornoway to Unst, therefore people with that tongue would have been about.

 

However, I do agree with what you say about Gaelic road signs. Gaelic is not relevant to modern day Shetland, and if Norn was used then how much use would that be now? Would it be anymore relevant?

[Claadehol]

That's fair comment George re both Gaelic and Norn, if we wish to go that far back.

 

Apart from that I have to commend you on your analysis of good grammar and the excellent example you gave, re "helping uncle Jack off his horse." or other amended grammatical version.

 

Hilarious! Thankyou for that!