It's amazing how much a single group can influence English grammar. MLA is SUPPOSED to be the deciders of grammar the way that the OED is the decider for vocabulary. The English language, both spoken and written, is constantly evolving. An extra space at the end of a sentence is meaningless as long as it doesn't interfere with comprehension. What bothers me is when the meaning is unclear or changed by poor use of grammar.
Example: "Last night for dinner I had salad, steak, and chocolate ice cream." In the above example, there is a distinct difference between the three items, as there was during the meal. According to the grammar books, though, the correct way to write the above sentence is: "Last night for dinner I had salad, steak and chocolate ice cream." I don't know about anyone else, but the structure of that sentence implies to me that after salad, I had a steak with a big scoop of chocolate ice cream on top. Go back 50 years and the first example is grammatically correct; today the second one is. Why? The AP dropped the final comma in order to save one character when printing newspapers.
You may have also noticed that I use two spaces after every period. In the days of dead tree media where space mattered, which Slate appears to be supporting, it made sense to drop the extra space or the final comma. With digital media, though, space is not a concern, and with the increased prevalence of the period being used outside of its traditional role as sentence ender, I find it helpful to have an extra space to indicate the end of a sentence rather than some other use of the period.
If the author is so concerned about ending that particular grammatical quirk, I suggest they look into employment in dead tree media what it actually matters.
This will be Microsoft's third store. There are over 300 Apple Retail Stores worldwide including four more just in the Twin Cities area. I don't think Steve feels threatened. As for a name of the Microsoft technicians, how about "Poor Bastards." At least Apple Geniuses can rely on a much more limited range of products they are expected to be able to repair. Can you imagine having to be an expert on EVERY possible configuration of a PC that walks through the door from Grandma's 10 year old Windows 2000 PC to übernerd's totally tricked out, self built gaming machine?
Oh, please! The exact same thing can be said about any popular thing. I don't see anything here about Star Wars or Star Trek, which tend to brainwash people in a much more extreme way than any technology company. Or how about the cult of cars? Ever walk in on a discussion between a Ford fan and a Chevy fan? Last time I checked there weren't window decals of Calvin urinating on the Microsoft or Apple logos. I'm pretty disappointed that Neatorama would stoop to Apple bashing just to drive eyes to it's site. Leave that crap to the trolls at the technology sites like Gizmodo.
Example: "Last night for dinner I had salad, steak, and chocolate ice cream." In the above example, there is a distinct difference between the three items, as there was during the meal. According to the grammar books, though, the correct way to write the above sentence is: "Last night for dinner I had salad, steak and chocolate ice cream." I don't know about anyone else, but the structure of that sentence implies to me that after salad, I had a steak with a big scoop of chocolate ice cream on top. Go back 50 years and the first example is grammatically correct; today the second one is. Why? The AP dropped the final comma in order to save one character when printing newspapers.
You may have also noticed that I use two spaces after every period. In the days of dead tree media where space mattered, which Slate appears to be supporting, it made sense to drop the extra space or the final comma. With digital media, though, space is not a concern, and with the increased prevalence of the period being used outside of its traditional role as sentence ender, I find it helpful to have an extra space to indicate the end of a sentence rather than some other use of the period.
If the author is so concerned about ending that particular grammatical quirk, I suggest they look into employment in dead tree media what it actually matters.