Silliness

Here's an odd project that several blogs are promoting today:

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 23.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.

1. The nearest book is The Chicago Manual of Style. Sorry it's such a boring tome. What can I say? I'm an editor.

2. Page 23 discusses how illustrations should be listed in the front matter of a book.

3. "A diagrammatic representation of two hypothetical simple acts of communication"

That is not a complete sentence, but the page only includes four complete sentences, at the bottom.

4. Done.

I'd be interested to know what "hypothetical simple acts of communication" are and how they would be diagrammed. The manual provides no clue, as it's referring to a hypothetical illustration. I picture two kids with tin cans and a string.

(via things)