Allow the Deep to Speak 280 (this page is intentionally blank)

Hidden for now.

That was all I wrote originally. Later, I changed the 'pending' status of this post to 'published' and allow you to see what is effectively nothing.

Wait. Now it's not nothing. This brief post was intentionally empty, somewhat like the number zero -- when it is a placeholder, not a value -- although I must say as a writer trained in page layout and design this is the first -- and hopefully last -- time I've ever used that "this page is intentionally empty" phrase, which is such an absurd paradox. How can you write "this page is intentionally empty" on a page, expecting people to ... what, ignore that the page is no longer empty?

WRITING "THIS PAGE IS INTENTIONALLY BLANK" MEANS THE PAGE IS NO LONGER BLANK, folks

Why does this need to be in all caps? And bold? Bertrand Russell would faint from the clumsy implementation of Russell's Paradox.

Makes no sense. I grimace every time I see someone muddying up perfectly good white space with perfectly useless words aimed at ignorant (with ignorant not meant as an insult, but as a fact) people who do not know the value of turning over an entirely empty page amid a sequence of carefully laid out and printed pages. Anyway, I've said far more than I need to say for a nothing post, so you may happily ignore you ever saw these words now.

You know, thinking about this more than it deserves, I think a better version would be to say: "This page is intentionally no longer blank." That would be better than the standard logical paradox. Let's see how it fits:

This page is intentionally no longer blank. It's an intentional nothing, impending a something. Think of it like a drum roll, preparing you for the awesome content which is coming on the next printed page.

Works for me. Problem solved. Carry on.

 

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