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Oxford Comma Dispute Is Settled as Maine Drivers Get $5M

nytimes.com

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Re: Oxford Comma Dispute Is Settled as Maine Drivers Get $5M

#41

Post by mathgladiator »

Theodores wrote: post #34
ivoras wrote: post #15

Uhmh, can anyone elaborate on exactly why someone driving perishable food should be exempt from overtime pay ? Isn't it a bit ass-backwards: exactly those who need to work overtime so the food doesn't spoil are the ones who cannot get overtime? Am I reading that correctly?

I can see the law is there to protect property owners from being fleeced by the working class come harvest time, what's wrong with that? Maybe you don't own enough farmland to be able to relate to those who need to make lots of money from the misery of others, whether bovine or human! But here is a thing - Right now I am eating a dairy snack item that someone drove in a massive lorry across the Alps with, risking lif…

Now I want a cow, thanks.

Seriously, I can't help but wonder if we have made some comically bad mistakes in letting food become so centralized.

Re: Oxford Comma Dispute Is Settled as Maine Drivers Get $5M

#42

Post by contravariant »

cperciva wrote: post #2

I'm as big a fan of the Oxford comma as anyone, but the court ruling here was ridiculous. External evidence, including the state legislature's style guide, made it perfectly clear what the law meant.

Style guides don't resolve the ambiguity, they just tell you it exists.

Re: Oxford Comma Dispute Is Settled as Maine Drivers Get $5M

#43

Post by freehunter »

wvenable wrote: post #18
ivoras wrote: post #15

Uhmh, can anyone elaborate on exactly why someone driving perishable food should be exempt from overtime pay ? Isn't it a bit ass-backwards: exactly those who need to work overtime so the food doesn't spoil are the ones who cannot get overtime? Am I reading that correctly?

If you are an IT worker you're probably exempt from overtime pay as well. Does nobody bat an eye at this? How is this even justified?

Personally the reason I don't complain about not getting overtime pay is because just as often as I'm working 12 hour days, I'm sitting at work playing games on my phone. Working in a more operational side of the IT spectrum, unless I have a major project I'm working on, my job is dependent on there actually being work to do.

Might not be the typical case for IT workers, but if I started complaining about overtime pay and wanting to get paid for hours I'm actually working, I might just find myself taking a pay cut.

Re: Oxford Comma Dispute Is Settled as Maine Drivers Get $5M

#44

Post by wvenable »

freehunter wrote: post #43
wvenable wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are an IT worker you're probably exempt from overtime pay as well. Does nobody bat an eye at this? How is this even justified?

Personally the reason I don't complain about not getting overtime pay is because just as often as I'm working 12 hour days, I'm sitting at work playing games on my phone. Working in a more operational side of the IT spectrum, unless I have a major project I'm working on, my job is dependent on there actually being work to do. Might not be the typical case for IT workers, but if I started complaining about overtime pa…

If you had said for as often as your working 12 hour days you're spending time away from the office, you might actually convince someone. But sitting at work playing games on your phone is not really a job perk that most people would trade for.

I'm lucky that at my current job, despite legally being exempt, we actually get overtime. If I want to work more hours one night and go in late the next day I will do that. But if the company needs me to work after hours or on weekends, then they should pay overtime.

Re: Oxford Comma Dispute Is Settled as Maine Drivers Get $5M

#45

Post by ggm »

bihnkim wrote: post #32
paulcole wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wasn't implying that, just giving him credit for a great quote. > In an interview for the Huffington Post, Vincent Connare, designer of Comic Sans, said, “if you love Comic Sans, you don’t know anything about typography. But if you hate Comic Sans, then you don’t know anything about typography either…and you should get another hobby”.

In that case you didn't paraphrase the quote so much as repurpose it.

its neither a paraphrase nor a repurpose, because its not the quote, and its boolean logic doesn't equate to the quote either, comma or not. The original quote only appends "get a new hobby" to one side of the decision logic. This quote has it on both.

Obey De-Morgans law, or not. Yoda doesn't care.

Re: Oxford Comma Dispute Is Settled as Maine Drivers Get $5M

#46

Post by kspiteri »

tzs wrote: post #33

Question: the Wikipedia article on this subject [1] gives this example as a case where including the comma would create ambiguity: To my mother, Ayn Rand, and God The ambiguity is that dedication could be read as a dedication to two entities: To , and or to three entities: To , , and I agree with that. However, isn't it also ambiguous WITHOUT the Oxford comma? It can be to three entities, same as with the comma: To ,…

"To my mother, Ayn Rand and my daughter" is not ambiguous without the Oxford comma, but would be with it.

Re: Oxford Comma Dispute Is Settled as Maine Drivers Get $5M

#47

Post by userbinator »

Things like this are why I really think people should learn boolean expressions --- they are unambiguous:

    (canning ||
     processing ||
     preserving ||
     freezing ||
     drying ||
     marketing ||
     storing ||
     packing for shipment ||
     distribution)
    of
    (Agricultural produce &&
     Meat and fish products &&
     Perishable foods)
(Curiously enough, the list of items is combined with AND and not OR --- so presumably, something which does not satisfy one of those conditions is not exempt?)

Incidentally, this also explains the content of the LSAT, as discussed previously at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15683658

Re: Oxford Comma Dispute Is Settled as Maine Drivers Get $5M

#48

Post by eridius »

wvenable wrote: post #18
ivoras wrote: post #15

Uhmh, can anyone elaborate on exactly why someone driving perishable food should be exempt from overtime pay ? Isn't it a bit ass-backwards: exactly those who need to work overtime so the food doesn't spoil are the ones who cannot get overtime? Am I reading that correctly?

If you are an IT worker you're probably exempt from overtime pay as well. Does nobody bat an eye at this? How is this even justified?

Because you're not an hourly worker. Your job doesn't involve punching in a time clock, so there is no such thing as overtime.

The flip side of this is there's no such thing as undertime either. If you go home early one day, you still get paid for the full day.

Re: Oxford Comma Dispute Is Settled as Maine Drivers Get $5M

#49

Post by drblast »

kspiteri wrote: post #46
tzs wrote: post #33

Question: the Wikipedia article on this subject [1] gives this example as a case where including the comma would create ambiguity: To my mother, Ayn Rand, and God The ambiguity is that dedication could be read as a dedication to two entities: To , and or to three entities: To , , and I agree with that. However, isn't it also ambiguous WITHOUT the Oxford comma? It can be to three entities, same as with the comma: To ,…

"To my mother, Ayn Rand and my daughter" is not ambiguous without the Oxford comma, but would be with it.

That seems ambiguous to me. Is the mother Ayn Rand or not?

The presence of the Oxford comma, or lack thereof doesn't seem to affect the ambiguity.

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