Thursday, August 24, 2017

Write No Matter What: I Want Pages to Turn

“When you see an owl … you feel that you’ve seen something special, almost secret.”
~ Bathroom quote

Berliners frustrated over restaurants where no German is spoken

Pew – “The most liberal and conservative members of the 115th Congress have attracted more Facebook followers than moderates, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis. In both legislative chambers, members’ ideology is a strong predictor of the number of people who follow them on Facebook.

Kirkus says the “fast-paced blend of Gossip GirlPretty Little Liars, and classic John Hughes will leave readers racing to the finish as they try to unravel the mystery on their own.

Variety says it “was one of the highest prices paid for movie rights in recent memory.”
“The Latitude plots set the stage for a Shakespearean conflict, for it’s a story of tax secrets, love, loyalty and creativity that is filled with everything we all struggle with as humans.”


NEWS YOU CAN USE: Hippos, Anthrax And Hunger Make A Deadly Mix


How writers write. For Kingsley Amis, it was simply about applying the seat of his pants to the seat of his chair... Amis Stories 

NEWS YOU CAN USE: What to do if you’re attacked by a dog.

Dear patient readers,

Some of you have been e-mailing me to make comments on specific posts. While I know most of you mean well, and some of these messages have been to praise particular articles or just provide general input and don’t seem to be looking for a reply, others have been to try to engage in a discussion or even argue with me personally, and a couple included personal attacks.

The reason for turning off comments was to stop the time and emotional cost of engaging with readers who use dishonest argumentation strategies, most of all personal attacks. Trying to get around that by writing me is not on. This is precisely the reason I turned off comments. It’s just as easy to blacklist offending parties by filtering their messages to trash as it was to blacklist them in the comments section. So if you test me on this, you will not come out the winner.

More generally: If you don’t like what we write, you should have the maturity to read other sites. The Internet is a big place.

I am making this point because I really would like to spend my time on readers who deserve it, but I already get over 700 e-mails a day. Management guru Michael Schrage wrote an article about how businesses need to fire 15% to 20% of their customers because they either have unrealistic service expectations, or want the enterprise to do things in a way it never said it would and doesn’t intend to. So getting pointed with the readers who really would be happier elsewhere is to allow us to better serve the ones who deserve our attention.

via Flaming Wars

The Internet Knows All about Our Seeches - Search Always as if Whole World was Watching You


NARA Blog – “The following are best practices for file naming...




From oligarchs to Soviets—and back again Real World Economics Review (MT).



Federal authorities are investigating whether sensitive data was stolen from congressional offices by several Pakistani-American tech staffers and sold to Pakistani or Russian intelligence, knowledgeable sources say.
What started out 16 months ago as a scandal involving the alleged theft of computer equipment from Congress has turned into a national-security investigation involving FBI surveillance of the suspects.
Investigators now suspect that sensitive US government data — possibly including classified information — could have been compromised and may have been sold to hostile foreign governments that could use it to blackmail members of Congress or even put their lives at risk.
“This is a massive, massive scandal,” a senior US official familiar with the widening probe told The Post.



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My Hungarian-Czech grandmother, an otherwise goodhearted and generous woman, had a notoriously lax attitude toward property rules: bank pens, ashtrays, and hospital slippers all were fair for the taking. One minute, she’d be giving a bus driver brooches “for his vife”; the next, she’d be stomping down a stranger’s front path to help herself to an enormous bough of blossom while my sister and I, technically her accomplices, hid behind parked cars, pretending not to know her.

Report to Congress: DATA Act Pilot Program, Office of Management and Budget, August 10, 2017


Senate inquiry to investigate the 'future of journalism' in Australia



Future of Public Interest Journalism – Parliament of Australia

Books are using more swear words, with graphs further down in the link
Technique Tuesday - Clear Acrylic Stamps - Favorite Memories by Ali Edwards



Joli Jensen (Tulsa), Write No Matter What: Advice for Academics (University of Chicago Press 2017):
With growing academic responsibilities, family commitments, and inboxes, scholars are struggling to fulfill their writing goals. A finished book — or even steady journal articles — may seem like an impossible dream. But, as Joli Jensen proves, it really is possible to write happily and productively in academe.




A very modern honey trap: Mia is 30, alluring and looking for love. No wonder middle-aged executives fell for her. There’s just one HUGE problem…


How the Mafia and organised crime work corruption in the public sector.