Turabian Trouble

As I integrate the bibliography of my Master's thesis with those of recent term papers and grant proposals to create the dissertation Ur-bibliography, I'm questioning the benefits of the new seventh edition of Turabian. Although I'm impressed at the extended entries on online citations and the color-coordinated examples, it completely frustrates the avid sixth-edition user. The sixth edition tells us to use formal abbr. for US states (e.g., Mass., Ill.); however, the seventh edition insists on US postal abbr. (e.g., MA, NY). I understand that writing habits are becoming more informal--the seventh edition now discourages Latin phrases like "et al." when you can simply type "and others"--but it sure makes for some tedious cross-referencing.

I laughed at the thought of some OCD editors having to relearn 3.88 as 21.4: a colon (instead of a semicolon) should separate two independent clauses when the second independent clause expands on, clarifies or exemplifies the meaning or understanding of the first independent clause. Indeed, after working through the new edition, I'm becoming the subject of my own ridicule. Inclusive pagination was simply stated by providing only the altered digit 173-9; however, now there are rules based on how high the initial number is--173-79, yet 1007-9. And I gladly type hyphen for a range of numbers since the en-dash rule seems to have disappeared. The insanity!