Spacing between Sentences

[John Renish <John_F_Renish -at- NOTES -dot- SEAGATE -dot- COM>]

Mark Halpern wrote:

<snip>
Since I am in disgrace, I hesitate -- for fear of giving it the kiss of
death -- to champion any notion, but I am going to take a chance this time,
and second Mark Levinson on the subject of inter-sentence spacing. He has
quixotically defended the double space; allow me to add Sancho's two
pesetas.
<snip>
[an argument against is that] ... a double space at the end of a sentence
... could, if you're not careful, result in unsightly "rivers" of space
running down the page. The answer, as my master the Don has hinted, is to
be careful.  Given that, the only reason for opposing the double space
disappears
</snip>

While I bow to nobody in my respect for Mark (who is a sterling character
and companionable bon vivant to those of us privileged to know him), he's
wrong. The best reason not to use two spaces is that some of the more
sophisticated software requires you to stand on your head while gargling
peanut butter and whistling Dixie to put more space following punctuation
than it deems appropriate. The next best reason is that proportional fonts
make extra spaces unnecessary; i.e., that single spaces are more elegant in
the engineering sense. And a third good reason is that single spaces save
labor and therefore increase productivity. Finally, why take the trouble to
"be careful" to avoid rivers when single-spacing prevents their
occurrence?--an ounce of prevention, as it were.

John_F_Renish -at- notes -dot- seagate -dot- com, San Jose, California, USA
My remarks do not represent any other person or entity
"A collision at sea can ruin your entire day."
--Thucydides