Matters of focus

So I'm reading an article about garden hoses: Which are the best for my needs? and all that. And the first part is really interesting: They "review the features to consider" when buying a hose. But then we get past that part and come to Types of Garden Hoses. Here's the first type they consider:

Lightweight / Light Duty Hoses

These hoses are generally made from vinyl (sometimes with a reinforcing mesh or multiple plies (layers)) so can kink more easily, often have plastic fittings, and tend to come in thinner diameters but prices are in the lower range.

If you’re gardening on a budget, won’t be using it often, don’t need a long hose (over 50 feet), and have lower water pressure or don’t use a sprinkler or hose nozzle, then a lightweight hose will probably meet your needs.

While you can find light duty hoses online, your best bet is to visit your local home improvement store or garden center. You’ll find some of the heavier duty hoses there as well, but many of them are perfect for light duty use.

Skip over that first paragraph. Get to the second. We have four deciding conditions... Five, really:

1. budget,
2. usage,
3. length,
4. water pressure, and
5. what you have on the end of the hose

Yeah, all that. And whether you use "Quick Connect" fittings on your hoses. If you do use these "Cuke" fittings, you don't really need anything better than plastic fittings on the hoses. Because your Cuke fittings will be permanently attached to the hose, so you're not threatening to damage the plastic fittings on a regular basis.

Yeah, this comes up because my wife found a bargain on Amazon, and asked if I'd rather have four fifty-foot shrinkys with plastic end fittings, or one with brass.

Brass, I said without any hesitation. But then there was a second thought, and the second thought was that I always put brass QCs on both ends of those hoses, so who gives a shit if the GHT ends are plastic? Really. But it was too late. She pressed one button and the thing was bought.

I mean, I coulda had four fifties. But I got one instead, just so I could have some brass ass that I'll never connect to a second time. Dumn motherfuhhhhhh...

Oh, well. If it comes around on the guitar again I'll be ready.

//

So, okay. That's all well and good, but their third parag says

While you can find light duty hoses online, your best bet is to visit your local home improvement store or garden center. You’ll find some of the heavier duty hoses there as well, but many of them are perfect for light duty use.

So... after all that... it seems that some of the "heavier duty hoses" are just as good as the light duties for some applications...

Carefully worded

"At Lowes," the commercial says, "we've got more appliances than anyone else."

Well yeah, I bet they do. And at Home Depot, Home Depot has more appliances than anyone else. And at my house, I have more appliances than anyone else.

It's all in the wording.

I wrote one the other day for my econ blog. The topic was "demand deposits". Reviewing it the next day, I paused to double-check the definition of the term. Google says

a deposit of money that can be withdrawn without prior notice.

You know, like your checking account.

Among the results, I found a link to What is the difference between a checking account, a demand deposit account, and a NOW (negotiable order of withdrawal) account? Sounded interesting ((to me)) so I clicked.

It is a page from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. First time I ever ended up there. Wikipedia says

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), also known as the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (BCFP), is an agency of the United States government responsible for consumer protection in the financial sector...

The CFPB's creation was authorized by the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, whose passage in 2010 was a legislative response to the financial crisis of 2007–08 and the subsequent Great Recession.

Looking around the site, down at the bottom of the page I noticed a "plain writing" link. Plain writing? This I had to see! But I went first to Orange Crate Art to see if Michael Leddy has anything on the Plain Writing Act. Nope. But Google turned up a link to Beware of the saurus¹, and that sounded interesting. Michael's advice was

What student-writers need to realize is that it's not ornate vocabulary or word-substitution that makes good writing. Clarity, concision, and organization are far more important in engaging and persuading a reader to find merit in what you're saying.

Sounds good to me.

At the CFPB's Plain Writing page I find

Plain writing

The CFPB has adopted plain language as a core principle for all consumer-facing content.

The next sentence repeats that thought:

That means we apply plain language principles in all of our consumer materials.

Then they go into depth:

We follow plain language guidelines...

On the left they present a couple links, including Plain Writing Act. This, too, I had to see.

Plain Writing Act

The Plain Writing Act of 2010 promotes “clear Government communication that the public can understand and use.”

On October 13, 2010, President Obama signed the Plain Writing Act into law...

Trying to see what they think "clear communication" is, I clicked the link to see the Act. Here are some excerpts:

An Act to enhance citizen access to Government information and services by establishing that Government documents issued to the public must be written clearly, and for other purposes.

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Plain Writing Act of 2010’’.

The term ‘‘plain writing’’ means writing that is clear, concise, well-organized, and follows other best practices appropriate to the subject or field and intended audience.

There ya go. Clear, concise, and well-organized.

Looking for something a little more explicit, I got to OMB Final Guidance on Implementing the Plain Writing Act of 2010 (M 11-15). It says

The Plain Writing Act of 2010 (the Act) (Public Law 111-274), which the President signed into law on October 13, 2010, calls for writing that is clear, concise, and well-organized.

And it provides a link to View Guidance on Implementing the Plain Writing Act. That brings up a six-page PDF where we find this:

As defined in the Act, plain writing is writing that is clear, concise, well-organized, and consistent with other best practices appropriate to the subject or field and intended audience. Such writing avoids jargon, redundancy, ambiguity, and obscurity.

But most of the PDF was about "Implementing the Plain Writing Act of 2010", which I didn't need.

The PDF does also say

When drafting covered documents, your agency should follow the Federal Plain Language Guidelines available at http://www.plainlanguage.gov/howto/guidelines/bigdoc/TOC.cfm.

I clicked that link and it redirected me to Federal plain language guidelines:

These are the official guidelines for the Plain Writing Act of 2010. We developed these guidelines to help you and your agency write clearly...

Now we're getting there. But it's a short page: only four paragraphs. Where are the guidelines? Oh! You can download a PDF. So I did.

118 pages.

"Infinite" versus "Endless"

"Infinite" is a practical impossibility.
"Endless" happens all the time.

Almost 70 years old before I figured out the difference.

Sometimes you just don't need a "for instance"

From MarketWatch: Computers are getting more expensive and here’s why, July 2017:

“Vendors raise the price for both new and existing models,” she said. “For instance, a model A used to be $500, but the same model A with same configuration is now $550.”

How to make writing more interesting

I have no idea.

Quick! What's this sentence about?

From How inequalities of wealth matter for consumption by Nick Bunker:

A person would only change his or her consumption patterns if his or her lifetime income changed, but wouldn’t change his or her spending much if he or she experienced a temporary increase or decrease in spending.

First reaction: The sentence seems to be about gender politeness.
Second reaction: I'm not reading any more of that.