Any question answered...

Probably someone inexperienced who wanted to comment on a post of yours regarding a Holdsworth?

Given how new people sometimes find fairly random stuff, it could be from a while back.

Why does my purring contented cat suddenly spaz out and try to claw me to ribbons when I'm stroking her?

Because cats are evil.

Vittoria Open Corsa Evo CX or Conti GP 4000?

did it rain this week?
i have been in the grim north most of the week (actually near chester, it's not that bad apart from the permatanned slags and middle aged potbellied men in teenage clothes using 't' too often. as in on 't' telly or douwn 't' poob foor a bevveh like.)

and was wondering if it's been raining much down here?
was thinking of going mtb'ing tomorrow but not if it's a muddy shitfest.

A few showers, not enough to waterlog anywhere.

thanks.
if it's been clear and windy then this helps water evaporate from the soil too.
mtb it is then.

Why do the 4 bike shops here, not have any shock pumps?

Thanks chainreaction.

Vittoria Open Corsa Evo CX or Conti GP 4000?

Open Corsa every time, a proper race tyre.

Done. Ta

will derby win today?

Yes.

Who are they playing?

Will I be able to edit my, now, 10,352 word paper down to 5,000 words? And if not, wtf do I do? Argh.

I'm thinking these are the answers:

1) No
2) Get drunk

barnsley.

horatio: not a fucking chance. that's half .

try to get it down by 1000 at a time.

don't get drunk but have a drink.

It was 12,000 when I started this morning.

10,228 now.

wtf is this thread?

Looks like the story of someone who survived a nearly deadly accident.

Will I be able to edit my, now, 10,352 word paper down to 5,000 words? And if not, wtf do I do? Argh.

I'm thinking these are the answers:

1) No
2) Get drunk

Concentrate not on content but on simplifying grammar, e.g. complicated formulations that can be contracted. Cut out repetition. (There'll be plenty.) Don't delete any lengthy passages outright--stick them in a separate document so you don't agonise over whether you can delete them. Chances are that together they'll form a separate paper. ;) Anyway, not worrying about letting go greatly speeds up the editing process. You can also initially put things into footnotes just to separate them. Don't do too much today. As damo says, if you manage to edit 1,000 words out, that's a success. Tackle it again tomorrow morning (don't get drunk tonight) with a clearer head. You'll easily be able to decide whether you need the previously separated-out footnotes or not. Good luck.

(Techniques developed from wrestling with chronic verbosity all my life.)

first off Im confused why its on a bicycle forum, and even more confused how the person involved seems to have joined just to pot "I'm ok guys."

^ cheers, Oliver. That's pretty much nail-on-the-head what I do (and am doing) anyway (except the not getting drunk part).

Although this won't be leading to another paper. It's already another paper form another paper. What it will be, hopefully, is a chapter of my dissertation with that other paper. But I need to get this paper read before I can add it to the other. Blah.

I need to edit my 15000 word dissertation into 12000 so not that hard, but i find i spend a lot of words being vague or timid, such as writing 'x has a tendancy to' rather than 'x does'. Being more assertive once i've finished the essay (because i've proved my point by then) usually saves my 1000 words alone!

And makes it read a lot better. I do this as well, and it is one of the ways I strengthen and shorten my papers.

I need to edit my 15000 word dissertation into 12000 so not that hard, but i find i spend a lot of words being vague or timid, such as writing 'x has a tendancy to' rather than 'x does'. Being more assertive once i've finished the essay (because i've proved my point by then) usually saves my 1000 words alone!

George Orwell would tell you off for using "has a tendency to" instead of the more concise "tends to" anyway - not so much for weakness of voice (non-specific terms are necessary in some circumstances - think statistics or ambiguous experimental results), but for padding the sentence with unnecessary prepositions and articles ;)

Conciseness is a tricky skill because the more formal the writing you're producing is, the greater the temptation to fill it with terribly grand-sounding phrases. It's easy to look at something that's accurate but terse and think "oh, it doesn't really look academic enough, better tart it up a bit". I think most of us do that unconsciously, it's not even a deliberate decision.

10,160 - and I'm being kicked out of the cafe. Meh.