: bumf I learned a new word: bumf, meaning “reading materials (documents, written information) that …
: Is Physics out of ideas? The Nobel Committee just gave a Physics award to a COMPUTER SCIENTIST! What …
: Listening to: Madly, Deeply: The Diaries of Alan Rickman by Alan Rickman 📚 Starting from a few years …
: Finished listening: Sense of Wonder by Bill Schelly 📚 Mainly for comics enthusiasts, a memoir of …
: The PhD Paradox Daniel Lemire on how the current system of producing PhDs is backward and unsustainable. As he says, …
: Most of what I write about here is minutia about me. So … me-nutia?
: Across these differences, their food and service are so dependable that the Federal Emergency …
: “It is a most wonderful comfort…”
: Found by Liz: Lake Street Dive Plays “I Want You Back” On a Boston Sidewalk
: The unchosen thing is what causes the trouble …
: "It wasn't much of a game plan..." I had no job. I was about to have no house, I still hadn’t found a boat. I had jumped into all …
: Currently reading: My Father, the Pornographer by Chris Offutt 📚. Well-told, great details, and he …
: These are not serious people, and their proud and weaponized indifference is another reflection of …
: Finished audiobook: I Must Say by Martin Short 📚 We’d started listening to this last year and …
: A local online news service staffed by Duke journalism students recently started using AI to …
: Good Lord… Local exposure to poor individuals reduces support for redistribution among the …
: When does vacation start? For my wife, the vacation starts when we’re on the way to the airport. For me, vacation starts …
: The Paris Review - Inscrutable, But Beautiful—Walter Russell’s New Age Diagrams
: THE SECRET OF CREATION LIES IN THE WAVE
: My Nova Scotia Books 7 📚 Purchased in Annapolis Royal, NS From Joann’s Chocolate Shop & Cafe: A charming little …
: If grapes are nature’s candy, then dates are nature’s chocolate caramels.
: To the dentist early on a dark, cold, rainy morning for a crown. They did a great job but lots of …
: Running the Light by Sam Tallent Finished audiobook of Running the Light by Sam Tallent 📚 Really enjoyed this story focused on a week …
: “Think of your bookcase as a wine cellar. You collect books to be read at the right time, the …
: Our local Little Waves Coffee Roasters used ChatGPT to help them brainstorm names for their new …
: Currently listening via Audible to Running the Light by Sam Tallent 📚 I like the way we’re in …
: My Nova Scotia Books 6 📚 Purchased from the Strange Adventures Comics & Curiosities shop in beautiful downtown Halifax, …
: Where does the phrase ‘cold turkey’ come from? | Merriam-Webster It may be that the …
: Signed up with a dietician to try to lose that last stubborn 20-30lbs. Spent a week keeping a food …
: 3 Places to Discover North Carolina’s Moonshining Past | Our State - As housing estates and …
: My Nova Scotia Books 5 📚 Purchased from a gift/souvenir shop in Chester, N.S. Sadly, I cannot recall the name and cannot …
: My Nova Scotia Books 4 📚 Purchased from the Grand-Pré National Historic Site Visitors Center. The Center has lots of CDs of …
: Finished reading: Growing Pains by Emily Carr 📚 The bedtime book I read to Liz before lights out. We …
: Magic Eight Ball Answers | All About Responses of The Magic 8 Ball - Magic 8 Ball - Plus, …
: FInished: "The Cursed Hermit" Finished reading: The Cursed Hermit by Kris Bertin (Writer), Alexander Forbes (Artist) 📚 A sequel to …
: Tarot Reading, January 19, 2024 I did a three-card reading using the World Spirit Tarot deck (1st edition). Instead of the usual …
: Spent all day turning the apartment and yesterday’s clothes inside out looking for my airpods …
: Focus is my natural state I had a productivity insight recently. Namely, that if my natural state is peace, and I’m the one …
: Clearing out my "-later" pages With the turnover of a new year, I did not want to carry the burden of imaginary work into 2024. I …
: Finished reading: Old Christmas by Washington Irving 📚 Finished reading: Old Christmas by Washington Irving 📚 A classic set of stories that invigorated the …
: My Nova Scotia Books 3 📚 Purchased from Block Shop Books on a day-trip to Lunenberg, whose picture-postcard downtown area …
: The Brown M&Ms Found myself today repeating the “brown M&Ms” story about Van Halen and thought to …
: In praise of NaNoWriMo I participated in NaNoWriMo three times in the past, all before 2006, I think. I “won” …
: My Nova Scotia Books 2 Purchased from The Odd Book, a really terrific used bookstore two streets back off the main drag of …
: Not a flurry of emails … a drama of emails.
: Review: Al Jaffee's Mad Life Finished reading: Al Jaffee’s Mad Life by Mary-Lou Weisman 📚 One of the first Kindle books I …
: My Nova Scotia Books 1 We spent a wonderful June in Nova Scotia and my new favorite hometown, Wolfville. One of the things …
: Finished reading: The Para Method by Tiago Forte 📚 I have used this mostly for several years now; …
: Finished reading: The Book of Forgotten Authors by Christopher Fowler 📚 Fantastic collection of …
: Now reading: Al Jaffee’s Mad Life 📚
: “To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan, and not enough time.” Leonard …
: Finished reading: Early Autumn - A Story of a Lady (Read & Co. Classics Edition) by Louis …
: Finished reading: The Courage to Be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi 📚 on Derek Sivers recommendation. …
: More than a guidebook for aspiring wizards, Magic is also a veiled theory of religion. According to …
: Gelatin as a "power flex" Another important part of the Candlelight story line is the culinary tradition. Servants worked …
: One of my favorite Kliban drawings: Barf Bold, a Decorative Typeface
: The Daily Heller: The Newly Inflated Career of Tony Sarg – PRINT Magazine
: Before humans stored memories as zeroes and ones, we turned to digital devices of another kind — …
: From today’s Pome poetry mailing list – “short modern poems for your inbox” …
: Big data in the age of the telegraph | McKinsey - from the age of the Big Railroads, the first …
: When Connie Converse, the ‘Female Bob Dylan,’ Lived in N.Y.C. - The New York Times: an archeological …
: Using ChatGPT to refactor a web site's manu structure I used ChatGPT last weekend to help us revise the menu structures on our coho’s internal web …
: Drool over the personal bookplates of 18 famous writers. ‹ Literary Hub
: Abigail Pogrebin was one of the young adults who performed in the first production of Stephen …
: Saying good-bye to my five-lines-a-day diaries I recently skimmed two five-line-a-day diaries I kept; one spanned the years 2002-2012 and the other …
: A quote that arose during my daily Evernote weeding routing, and relating directly to my previous …
: Oliver Burkeman: How to choose sanity now Today’s email from Oliver Burkeman was on a topic that walloped me upside the head: How to …
: "The Only Five Email Folders Your Inbox Will Ever Need" Rediscovered this article in Evernote during my daily notes-weeding practice. I’m sure I must …
: The Power of Five Minutes: The Condensed Version | Samurai Mind Online
: Elephants Can Remember was cited in a study done in 2009 using computer science to compare …
: 🎵 Current listening: ▶︎ Ver Sacrum | Bruno Sanfilippo
: What Is It That Makes Used Bookstores So Wonderful? ‹ CrimeReads
: Ostentatio genitalium Ostentatio genitalium (the display of the genitals) refers to disparate traditions in Renaissance …
: A tip I picked up from an INTJ forum on Facebook: Find 3 hobbies: one to make some money one to keep …
: Poirot 3 In what has unexpectedly turned into a quest, I’m watching the David Suchet Poirot series via …
: I love these concise summaries of recent research by Montreal Computer Scientist/Professor Daniel …
: Inbox: 37 Today: BCC Plenary meeting Atmospherics: cold and rainy and grey all day, so huddling …
: Durham artist V. Cullum Roger’s web site supporting research for his book on 225 Years of …
: Fewer podcasts, more quiet I remember way back in the ’90s, meeting with a great nutritionist who was also a great …
: While following up on a movie about the Mercury Theatre’s “voodoo Macbeth” …
: Poirot 2 Follow-up to my 2023-01-29 diary post on Hercule Poirot. From reading Poirot’s Wikipedia page, …
: Diary Inbox: 19. I have hopes to dispose of them today Resting and icing the ankle, giving it all the care …
: In addition to small errands, today’s main event is picking our green burial plot at Bluestem …
: Now reading Poirot Investigates by Agatha Christie 📚 I felt the need for some light and easy short …
: Stopped reading The Gigging Life: Lessons Learned on the Literary Road by Matt Love 📚 Some …
: The only commitment today is a Chili Cook-off in the Common Dining Room. We just put the white …
: Julia Wertz on Instagram: “Thanks to Meg Lemke for this Publisher’s Weekly profile about my new book …
: A great hypertext novel from the early days of the web: Geoff Ryman’s 253. It exists as a …
: Adults don’t want to be caught listening to lullabies. Source: 10 Observations on Lullabies - by Ted …
: Booknotes: Christmas Stories by Lucy Maud Montgomery Finished reading Christmas Stories by Lucy Maud Montgomery 📚 A light-hearted book of stories from …
: Booknotes: Life Admin by Elizabeth Emens Finished reading: Life Admin: How I Learned to Do Less, Do Better, and Live More by Elizabeth Emens …
: Now reading: The Gigging Life: Lessons Learned on the Literary Road by Matt Love 📚
: Alan Jacobs writes a bit about his read-it-later strategy, one I also subscribe to. I throw things …
: Last night we saw “The Man Who Invented Christmas”, which was a pleasant fantasy of how …
: Finished reading Aya: Love in Yop City 📚
: Lessons Learned on Maintaining our Cohousing Community’s Newsletter We got several compliments on the Dec 2022 newsletter I did for our Bull City Commons Cohousing …
: Timecube When I’m actively working heads-down on a project, such as writing a newsletter or doing some …
: Autocorrect hates you - The Oatmeal Today’s autocorrect failure: “confirming …
: Other miscellaneous reading this holiday season includes 📚: Via Serial Reader’s Christmas …
: Skimming: Life Admin by Elizabeth Emens 📚
: Todays definition of bliss: cold and overcast rainy day, drinking coffee while reading my Sunday …
: Against all odds, a really interesting profile of the poet whose books I always saw in used …
: Now reading: Aya: Love in Yop City 📚
: Lessons Learned: Creating a slideshow in iMovie Background Our community held an appreciation evening for our architects and Durham Central Park …
: Finished reading Early Autumn 📚
: William Preston's The Old Man stories I spent most of the pandemic reading comics. For whatever reasons, my mind and mood preferred the …
: From Launchbar to Alfred I had a long and happy partnership with Launchbar on my iMac. But when I started using my MacBook …
: Digital declutter In searching the web for tips and clues on how others organize their digital files, I ran across …
: Poetry gives us the news we did not know we needed The world’s first known author is widely considered to be Enheduanna, a woman who lived in the 23rd …
: How I’m reading books these days 6 Breathtaking Libraries Library Extension for Firefox/Chrome/Edge Firefox remains my browser of …
: Merge All Windows – Get this Extension for 🦊 Firefox (en-US) This is one of those extensions I use …
: New Project An unusual project: compile, sift, and present several years of photos taken over the course of our …
: Ciders North Carolina Cideries Are Seeing a Gentle New Craft Cider Renaissance - INDY Week I’ve never …
: Is there a German word for being surrounded by stacks of once-feted, now forgotten novels piled in a …
: Lovely, lovely illustrations: Maira Kalman’s Illustrations of Women Holding Things ‹ Literary Hub
: Currently reading: The Complete Works: The Journal of a Disappointed Man; A Last Diary; Enjoying …
: Currently reading: Early Autumn - A Story of a Lady (Read & Co. Classics Edition) by Louis …
: Zine Machine Fest, Durham NC, 2022-10-16 One of my favorite happy-making, …
: (Relatively) Recent reading Arnold Bennett: Lost Icon by Patrick Donovan. 📚 An excellent biography of the phenomenally famous …
: Of interest to postcard fans: The mystery of the 'same sky' postcards
: Notes from a lecture given by Walter Derby Bannard at UNC-CH on November 14, 1984 There should be an …
: Stoppard on fiddling At a Tom Stoppard Q&A session at Duke University, a professor noted that Stoppard has said he …
: Japanese Advice for the Elderly Japanese Advice for the Elderly Aging Hints from Hinohara Shigeaki Born 1911 in Yamaguchi …
: New Words voluntold – Directed by others to do work that needs doing but that no one else wants to do …
: King of Country? Queen of Soul? Empress of the Danzonete? Honorific nicknames in popular music - …
: "A sort of lovely tension" “It’s fantastically exciting to discover something that’s been lost all this time, but I do think it …
: Is plain text best? CJ Chilvers gently disputes the claim of text files as the best future-proof archival medium. …
: Ostentatio genitalium Ostentatio genitalium (the display of the genitals) refers to disparate traditions in Renaissance …
: Rediscovered a great Evernote keyboard combo that v10 recently added back in: press Ctrl+Alt+v to …
: Whenever I read a sentence that begins “Don’t get me wrong…” I want to scream and …
: Oscar Levant Good overview of Oscar Levant, one of those minor performers of a Time Gone By who appealed to what …
: The Strange Things I’ve Found Inside Books i.e., [Confessions of a Basement Book Cleaner] …
: I remember seeing these “Fear of God” cards now and then growing up in a Southern …
: A fun article: We Almost Forgot About the Moon Trees - The Atlantic via today’s Recomendo …
: Some days, my banjo lesson feels like I’m playing music. Other days (like this morning), it …
: Doomsday for 2022 is ... MONDAY (Ain’t dat da truth?) Related posts: DOOMSDAY IS … Friday (for 2014) Doomsday Algorithm …
: Weird Old Book Finder From today’s Recomendo newsletter: Weird Old Book Finder Clive Thompson created this search …
: Vampire Noir The Night Stalker movies and TV series aired during my junior high school years. Not ashamed to say …
: Today’s Pome was too good not to share: Pattern Your dress waving in the wind. This is the …
: Career Advice to My Younger Self Imaginative experiment 1: Think back to when you were 7 or 8 years old. You’re at a dinner …
: Etaoin Shrdlu Etaoin Shrdlu is a somewhat infamous phrase among language enthusiasts. It is pronounced …
: North Carolina’s Health and Human Services + LabCorp have “launched a pilot program to …
: "All hoping to become swans" We are all outcasts; that is what drives advertising. All hoping to become swans, not knowing that …
: "We have so little time for the mending we must do" My heart was broken recently and I keep the pieces on the back step in a bucket. A heart can mend …
: Airbnb outsourced a shoddy background check on my account using only two pieces of data – my …
: Sunday is for Introverting Friday was spent running errands, Friday night was caroling in Mary Fran and Stefan’s …
: Creating a PDF with clickable hyperlinks from a Word 365 file We’re having trouble creating a PDF with clickable hyperlinks from a Word 365 file. We want to …
: "And they cannot stay" In downsizing my paper files, I’ve run across pages I’ve saved from various writing …
: Haunted art From an old notebook I found, from a News & Observer article on a portrait that had slipped out …
: Secrets of a professional ghostwriter Secrets of a professional ghostwriter, from a 1997 editors forum post. I can’t imagine the …
: Puttering on the blog Spent a couple of hours using MarsEdit to do a long-overdue cleaning up of old posts from the …
: "How I Experience the Web Today" - an interactive example Click the first link to be taken on a journey of the modern web.
: Culling and ripping stacks of old CDs is turning out to be – along with reacquainting myself …
: Alan Moore on who will never be elected I understand that it may not be considered good form to suggest that class issues are as important …
: The clever folds that kept letters secret - BBC Future The clever folds that kept letters secret - BBC Future: How do you keep snoops from reading your …
: The Symphonies of the Planets | Daniel Karo The Symphonies of the Planets | Daniel Karo: While on their missions Voyager 1 and 2 recorded the …
: Doug's AppleScripts: Preserve a Genius Shuffle Playlist My Apple Music app 1 has 12,000+ tracks, many of which I’ll bet I’ve not heard in a long …
: “Hell is where time has stopped”
: "Probably not for the last time" She opened her eyes. She was on her knees in a sea of weeds: in love with every drop and twig of the …
: Update on my Libib.com graphic novels library I have been using Libib.com intensively the last several weeks to scan in my graphic novels. I have …
: "They kill you with encouragement"
: Replacing Otter transcription with Word 365 Online When I was a reporter, one of the most tedious jobs I had was transcribing my interviews from a …
: Rethinking Your Personal Library: An Introduction To Quantum And Antilibrary A fun post by Mumbai-based writer Phorum Dalal. The Quantum library holds the books you love …
: Using DVD Player to play ripped .dvdmedia contents I use RipIt to rip DVDs to my hard drive. Depending on the DVD, I will tell RipIt to create an MP4 …
: Update Microsoft apps using the Mac App Store I have been using Microsoft Word since the early ’90s when it was a DOS-based application. …
: Johnny Decimal For you file management and organization nerds, a decimal-based categorization system for projects …
: I just added my name to Duke Health’s COVID-19 vaccination distribution waiting list. Hurry up …
: Two minutes of delight from Ariel Avissar: The Typewriter (supercut). via Sameer Vasta’s newsletter …
: On downsizing our DVD collection In our house, we have embraced streaming video. It’s convenient and mostly reliable. So, as …
: My latest post to the Bull City Commons blog: What Can You Do with a Durham County Library Card? …
: Libib for cataloging books, DVDs, and CDs As part of my downsizing, I’ve looked at the shelves of graphic novels and wondered how I …
: Puzzle Montage Art by Tim Klein Puzzle Montage Art by Tim Klein A typical jigsaw puzzle manufacturer uses the same die-cut pattern …
: Extraterrestrial Abductions Day I just discovered this morning that there is an Extraterrestrial Abductions Day on March 20. When I …
: INTJ catchphrase I remember once reading through descriptions of MBTI personality types. For each type, they included …
: Sherlock Holmes: observations and deductions I have been listening to the Sherlock Holmes stories read by Stephen Fry. As one would expect, Fry …
: "Hope is like honey" A passage from the actor Terence Stamp’s memoir, Rare Stamps. There are the usual ups and …
: "Patient disappointment" The Grasmere and Alfoxden Journals Dorothy Wordsworth and Pamela Woof &c—The old woman was very …
: On hearing "Carmina Burana" this afternoon Many years ago, we had a work friend who was a member of a community chorus; they usually performed …
: Mongols For Orange Crate Art’s pencils tag: Discoveries made in the back of an old filing cabinet. Ten …
: Loose verse Loose verse written sitting in an outdoor chair, under an awning of the car repair place, during a …
: On today's agenda Liz just finished weeding a section of the front yard; we’ll see if Home Depot has mulch …
: Plausible Reality Liz just came in to tell me today’s Cryptoquote (she does the crypto and Jumble puzzles …
: At 59, do you start counting up or start counting down?
: Mark Evanier’s perhaps never-to-be-quite-exhaustive “List of Things I’ve Learned …
: Sunday's Readwise quotes The Relationship Handbook by George Pransky Emotions are never a statement about the world around …
: Today's Readwise quotes The Relationship Handbook by George Pransky Michael. We wouldn’t have lasted ten years if our …
: Today's quotes from my Kindle These are the highlighted Kindle passages sent to me today by Readwise. How to Find Fulfilling Work …
: I compile the monthly newsletter for our cohousing project, Bull City Commons Cohousing in Durham, …
: An animated graph showing causes of death since March 2020; note COVID-19’s rise from the …
: Today's Readwise quotes Cobalt Blue by Peggy Payne To make two paintings, this much of a plan had come to her quickly, her …
: Latest issue of newsletter I send to friends and fam: update on stay-at-home, donating blood, jigsaw …
: Ghost town photos of normally bustling public places in Durham, Raleigh, and Chapel Hill
: Discovered a most oddball Windows 10 feature through finger fumbling on the keyboard. I cannot …
: Flyer posted at our co-op’s community bulletin board.
: Sent the second of my bimonthly letters last weekend. In this installment: snowflakes, Lenten …
: Because since when has liking Doctor Who been a prerequisite of being a Doctor Who fan?
: Quick-elets? (No) Used the new silicone muffin pan Liz bought me for Xmas to make some quiche muffins (although …
: My latest newsletter to friends and family went out this past Monday. This particular issue I …
: Clone wars While spending a few evenings this week diagnosing the problem with Disk Utility not erasing my …
: Fixing Disk Utility error -69877 Carbon Copy Cloner’s weekly backup task broke after my iMac’s upgrade to Catalina …
: A good question to ask to start off the New Year.
: Syncing third-party calendars from Google to iOS I center my email and calendar activities around Gmail and Google Calendar. They feed the Mail and …
: WEIRD - An acronym used in academic literature to identify possibly biased results: Western, …
: Evernote "dashboard" gallery A boggling collection of different startup ‘dashboards’ for Evernote users on …
: John Simon, R.I.P. John Simon was a critic I read voraciously for many years, mainly in my 20s when I reviewed movies …
: I needed a keyboard shortcut in Evernote to duplicate a note. I was about to load Keyboard Maestro …
: Forbes's "Should You Upgrade iOS" column If one lesson can be learnt by all this it is to stop blindly leaping to every new iOS release. …
: Dr. Drang tells us about a triffic iPhone setting to Silence Unknown Callers. New in iOS 13. …
: Bull Moon Rising festival in Durham tonight.
: Best fun Halloween movie for all ages has to be Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein: a great …
: CriticalMAS: “The lesson I want to share here is that the tape measure is a super powerful …
: Overcast’s File Uploads came back online, all of a sudden. The file I’d been in the …
: One advantage of getting a new credit card: getting reminders of all the services I subscribe to …
: "Art is what gets away with you" Art isn’t what you can get away with … Art is what gets away with you. Every encounter with a …
: "Individually tailored care" The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, Hendrik Groen, Hester Velmans (Translator) After a while, the …
: From Overcast to Castro Overcast’s Upload Files function was removed with the most recent update to iOS 13, I think; …
: A software engineer posted all the Google searches she made during a week of work: What I’m trying …
: From smallest to largest Orange Crate Art: So from small to large: nonpareil, minion, brevier, bourgeois, long primer, small …
: The latest in midway fun foods at the NC State Fair. My stomach hurts just looking at the pictures. …
: Currently reading: Outside the Gates of Eden by Lewis Shiner 📚
: A stupid text message I got today from a stupid spammer.
: Birthday breakfast at Hope Valley Diner
: Uncle Terrance | Eruditorum Press There are countless figures who made Doctor Who what it is. …
: And the latest update. I have Downlink set to update my desktop every 20 minutes today. Not sure of …
: Working at home today, awaiting the rains from Hurricane Dorian here in central NC. The coast has …
: Where supper and the toasted butter coconut pie cannot be improved on.
: Removed the On This Day page since it was not updating in the two themes I tried. I may try again …
: I copied @cleverdevil On This Day script to produce any entries on my page at …
: Samuel Butler on life Life is the art of drawing sufficient conclusions from insufficient premises. Samuel Butler
: I will often fight drowsiness or boredom or even needing to pee if I’m committed to what …
: Currently reading: Observatory Mansions by Edward Carey 📚
: Settling into Micro.blog Over the weekend, I imported 1,902 blog posts written since 2005 in Bloggr, Tumblr, Wordpress, and …
: "It goes s-l-o-w-l-y" So I left non-duality and left Facebook and that left me a good deal of free time. Time does not …
: Currently reading: Aug 9 - Fog by Kathryn Scanlan 📚
: Kill Sticky bookmarklet A bookmarklet that always finds its way to all of my browser toolbars is [Alisdair McDiarmid’s Kill …
: RIP, Leon Redbone Variety published a wonderful, respectful, and damn interesting obituary on the mystery man of 20th …
: Is Mercury in Retrograde? I was swimming upstream most of the day, having trouble with all my tech (software, phone) and …
: Recent Enjoyments An acquaintance asked for recent books or movies I liked. This is what I wrote. We enjoyed watching …
: Shopper's Dilemma: Technology Daniel Lemire ponders whether to take advantage of today’s technology or wait till the technology …
: "Nasty character traits need an outlet" Time passes slowly at the old folks home in Amsterdam. If you don’t have anything special to do all …
: Hunger or Craving? Michael Graziano rather persuasively argues that the body’s mechanisms for managing hunger work just …
: The Magic of Utility, the Utility of Magic Wonderful summing-up final paragraph from Stefany Anne Golberg’s essay on The Long Lost Friend …
: "A colossal self-satisfaction" Walt Whitman: It does a man good to turn himself inside out once in a while: to sort of turn the …
: "Dream-child" Walt Whitman tells a story: A woman I knew once asked a man to give her a child: she was greatly in …
: My Overcast Settings & Smart Playlists Back in the ‘90s and early 2000s, I used to listen to Audible.com pre-podcast-era “podcasts” …
: Wound-Up Opera In sorting through the old vinyl, I run across several “what was I thinking??” purchases. Curiosity, …
: The Ubiquity of Smartphones, as Captured by Photographers The first image in this collection of pictures of smartphone users around the world reminds me of …
: Reminding You Who's In Charge From ProPublica: the number of IRS audits of a poor county in Mississippi makes it the most heavily …
: Who is our Community? Brilliant, tough, compassionate story from Buzzfeed’s Joe Bernstein on the Baraboo photo: The …
: My paper on Anton Chekhov's story, "On Official Business" During the last semester of my master’s program, I was crunching the numbers on my survey and …
: Because They're There From Robin Sloan’s latest newsletter: Beware, anytime you hear anybody talking about reading novels …
: 78Prof's YouTube Channel For the last few decades, I’ve loved listening to popular music of the 1910s, ‘20s, and ‘30s. They …
: Critical MAS: Tips on Quitting Facebook Michael Allen Smith’s nine tips for getting out of Facebook (see his post for details): Define the …
: Dracula as Hero of His Own Story The latest production from Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss is a revamping of Bram Stoker's venerable …
: Ambling Through the Ambience A great find, via the ever-essential Open Culture: For those who think 50 minutes is too short and …
: iPad Pro Observations I subscribe to Daniel Lemire’s blog. He is a computer science professor at the University of Quebec. …
: "Dearest Liz" Here, I am shamelessly aping Michael Leddy’s post, which should come as no surprise as I shamelessly …
: Jeanette Winterson on broken hearts and time Jeanette Winterson: My heart was broken recently and I keep the pieces on the back step in a bucket. …
: Do I Need to Digitize This Album? Or Can I Download it Instead? I could take the time to record both sides of an album, edit those recordings, create metadata, find …
: Is This an Album Worth Keeping? After I finish digitizing a record and putting it in the Donate box, I pluck the next one from the …
: Lovers of Art? From The Decatur Review, February 24, 1961: Art lovers are purging the nudes from the Decatur Public …
: Fasting February Search this blog for "diet" and you'll find many posts on various strategies I've tried. After many …
: Art is What Gets Away With You Jeanette Winterson, one of my favorite writers on the meaning, experience, and vitalness of art: Art …
: The Tomb and the Telephone Box From The Public Domain Review: Though Nikolaus Pevsner wrote that the nineteenth century “forgot …
: R.I.P., Super Dave Osborn The passing of Bob Einstein also brought the passing of his alter-ego, the heroically ill-fated …
: Listening to Records via iMac Speakers So far, the only way I’ve been able to listen to these records has been when recording them via …
: Everyone Except Me From Oliver Burkeman’s latest column, “Sexist? Bigoted? Aren’t we all?”: The safest working …
: The Power of Now CJ Chilvers’ latest newsletter featured a blog post he wrote on creating a Now page. (Here’s CJ’s …
: Lady Posing Naked Behind a Guitar The Guardian justifiably criticizes Avril Lavigne’s promo shot for her new album (while linking out …
: Dangerous Songs? Pete Seeger wrote the liner notes to his 1966 release Dangerous Songs?, a collection rather loosely …
: The Vinyl Digitizing Project: The First Cull As part of my winter project to cull/digitize our combined vinyl collection, I’m now handling …
: Learning from Flawed Teachers Austin Kleon remembers great advice from Jeffrey Tambor (“Worrying is not preparation”) and wonders …
: Lawns Are an Ecological Disaster I’ve always hated cutting grass, from my teenage years when it was my only source of income to being …
: Reading for Information vs Transformation vs ...? Steve Edwards reads a lot into his bookstore visits: In my twenties the question was never “What do …
: And Yet It Fools Everybody Callow American reporter — and skeptic — Jack Walser ponders “half-woman, half-swan” Sophie Fevvers’ …
: Tech Ailments in America ImagineMD: Just what tech-induced ailments do we suffer from, and how do we describe them? To answer …
: Batched Delivery of Gmails to my Inbox I am always and forever tweaking how I use Gmail. I wrote about a script to send an email on a …
: macOS: Ignore Ownership on an External Drive I bought a 4TB external drive last year. I created two partitions: one to hold a Carbon Copy Cloner …
: Clearing Automatic Album Ratings in iTunes I tend to rate songs or tracks in iTunes or iOS Music with stars, as I’ve written about before. As …
: On Throwing Out My Old Memorabilia Tonight, as part of our attic cleanup, I processed a box that I’ve probably not seen since I put it …
: "Funemployment" During a Government Shutdown As of this writing, we are in Day 19 of Dunning K. Trump’s shutdown of the government. I’ve worked …
: Clearing Out Those "Someday" Projects We’re downsizing in preparation for moving house in a couple of years. To that end, all those boxes …
: Burkeman's New Year's Resolution I love Oliver Burkeman’s weekly look at what’s trending in the self-help world. His New Year’s …
: The Dumbest Publishing Platform on the Web txt.fyi: Write something, hit publish, and it's live. There's no tracking, ad-tech, webfonts, …
: Fill Every Single Empty Moment Nielsen-Norman Group UX study conclusion: This compulsion to fill the silence is related to …
: Final Thoughts on Montaigne From the final pages of Michael Perry’s Montaigne in Barn Boots: An Amateur Ambles Through …
: Amateurs Amble Through Philosophy The only thing more fun than reading Montaigne, it seems, is reading what others say about …
: More of, Less of My typical New Year’s Day tool for many years has been selecting a Word of the Year, most often …
: "Vulnerability is the key to longevity" Eddie Smith, from 2016: Modern survival is antithetical to everything evolution programmed us for. …
: On keeping a one-line-a-day diary Sophie McBain: There is no space for unnecessary detail. It also takes only a few minutes to …
: Graveyard vs Cemetery Driving down backroads from the Jordan Lake Christmas Tree Farm, we passed a white clapboard church …
: What I believe, for now I believe in going to the funeral. I believe in going to the wedding. I believe some occasions, …
: Audiobook: Mrs. Dalloway My only experience with Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway is the exquisite 1997 movie. I'd tried …
: Mom's Day Memory At breakfast yesterday with my parents, my brother and his family, I asked about the first home we …
: Photo: Lone Peony Taken by Liz with her iPhone 7, Sunday afternoon, on the kitchen counter. The only peony this year. …
: In So Many Words Richard Dalloway leaves his pompous colleague Hugh as they exit a jewelry store. Richard is struck …
: 5 Updates and 1 Swivel The UpdatesBackups UpdateThe Time Machine backups to the Time Capsule are running flawlessly. I …
: David L. Ulin on Tristram Shandy, Zadie Smith, and the Fiction of Apocalypse | Book Marks They [Tristram Shandy and The Anatomy of Melancholy] are reminders that weirdness, …
: In Praise of the Small Town Library | Literary Hub If you don’t happen to live near a college or a bookstore, if your relatives aren’t bookish, the …
: This headless robotic cat pillow will wag its way into your heart - The Verge Susan Weinschenk's talk at TriUXPA the other night on the future of human-technology interaction …
: A short new movie of a comet’s surface is pretty incredible | Ars Technica Ars Technica displays an animated GIF composed of still images collected from the Rosetta's orbit …
: Photo: Cafeteria Menu Board On my way to tonight's TriUXPA event, I grabbed an early supper at my favorite place to eat in …
: Backups update With the network problems seemingly taken care, we were still plagued with occasional, maddening …
: If you move a meeting forward, what does that really mean? | Oliver Burkeman | The Guardian All of which is a reminder of how odd it is that we think of time using spatial metaphors at all – …
: Emergency funds The Two Cents column on emergency funds has the good, standard advice offered by financial planners …
: "I need to figure that out..." Over the years, I have set a few mental triggers for myself that let me know my thinking is revved …
: Can a Male Artist Still Paint a Female Nude? | The Cut While feminist art critics have for decades pointed out the shortcomings of the “male gaze,” the …
: The Guiding Greene Light of Harry Crews “Graham Greene—you’ve probably heard me quote before, because god knows, it’s true—'The writer is …
: Sometimes the Best Way to Read is to Mark Up the Book | Literary Hub In order to understand writing, I have to annotate it. I started with Hopkins. I bought a used …
: Nancy for a new age Orange Crate Art's ongoing coverage of the Nancy comic strip -- from the acclaimed Fantagraphics …
: Soviet film posters of the '50s and '60s The Guardian web site runs an online gallery of pictures or images on a theme. The movie posters …
: More on passwords CriticalMAS read my post on creating Diceware passwords and in response posted a very cool Mad Libs …
: Don't fight the system -- create a new one “You never change anything by fighting the existing. To change something, build a new model …
: DSL woes v -- The End (...for now?...) I made a few changes a week ago when the connectivity was poor. I basically reset everything to zero …
: Alan Ayckbourn: Advice from Harold Pinter I think Norman's background is deliberately sketchy - I'm less interested in his genesis than his …
: How to Clean Your Gmail Autocomplete List • Productivity Portfolio When I was at UNC for a couple years I sent and received emails from my Gmail account to lots and …
: Today’s goodies Liz gifted us with flourless peanut butter cookies, with fresh ground peanut butter from the co-op. …
: Creating random passphrases for stronger passwords At home on my iMac, when I need to create a strong password, I use 1Password's generator, …
: Windows: My startup.bat file Situation I use a Windows 10 system at work. I have a set of programs I'd like loaded all at the …
: Surviving the Ordinary: Why We Need Memoirs of Regular Lives | Literary Hub So why do we need this book?Mary Laura Philpott's article looks at books of the ordinary lives that …
: DSL woes iv Still getting frequent, brief DNS outages. The speed is noticeably slower for long periods, but with …
: How To Access The WiFi Scanner In macOS Sierra - Let's Talk Tech I was looking for a wifi scanner to check whether there were less cluttered wifi channels in our …
: Self-Improvement's ultimate goal? Creating James Bond villains Credit:filmonic.com/top-10-ep… One of my first coaches observed that the end result of …
: DSL woes iii Every couple of years something goes wonky with our DSL connection and it requires major …
: Jessica Hische on procrastination The work you do while you procrastinate is probably the work you should be doing for the rest of …
: For further reading In praise of William James. I need to read more of his work; his letters are wonderful.North …
: I ended up being nothing that I can currently identify I decided at one point in my life that I never wanted to be anything that would not allow me to be …
: DSL woes ii Last night, I purchased and installed from the Mac App Store the program Network Logger Pro …
: Lenten learnings and Eastertide challenge For Lent, I gave up listening to podcasts and adopted Mark Forster's Fast FVP at work. Fast …
: DSL woes We've had very patchy Frontier DSL connectivity for over a week now. It's uncanny that the DSL …
: Pervasive language We saw a trailer for an R-rated movie, and one of the rating justifications was for "pervasive …
: Two demotivational quotes Build a man a fire, he stays warm for an hour. Set a man on fire, he stays warm for the rest of his …
: Creating a recurring email message in Windows Outlook 2016 The Situation At my day job, there's an email I need to send every week. Same subject, same …
: Avoid The "Just One More Thing" Impulse I have been posting a business/productivity/mastermindish type article every Sunday on LinkedIn for …
: Jimmy Dean on luck A great reminder to stay a little bit awake as I move through the day. “You gotta try your …
: Outage breaks posting streak! (The March 27 post) Frontier DSL experienced a mass outage in Durham, NC, last night, before I was able to make …
: Jacques Barzun on True Work I cannot remember where I got this quote, but it impressed itself on me so much that I had it posted …
: AI's intelligence and stupidity in one photo stitch fail | Engadget My friend Bob told me about Google Photos’ capability to automatically stitch together a …
: Shook | Austin Kleon A bomb exploded in my neighborhood last night on a sidewalk I walk every morning with my wife and …
: What Exactly Does a Librarian Do? Everything. | Literary Hub Lots of different types of library work happens everywhere—new jobs crop up daily, thanks to …
: The Portlandia Effect: How Did the Show Change Portland? After hundreds of voters weighed in, the results came back. Old Portland died on January 21, 2011 — …
: Hold On to the Badge This is a rather silly little hack but when I do it, it solves lots of little problems. The …
: Teaching the New Testament – A Jewish Professor Looks Back By 1992, as I approached my 20th year of university teaching, I’d evolved the philosophy that we who …
: Productivity Update I have noticed an interesting change in my attitude about Inbox Zero -- basically, I've stopped …
: Boiling Ourselves to Death These panels are talking to me about politics, the workplace, life, lots of things. Laugh or get out …
: For Further Reading Stuff I wanted to read but didn't get to. Maybe this weekend...? Maeve Brennan: On the Life of …
: Search for: "The Untold Story of *" In writing yesterday's post, I did one of my cheeky searches in the Audible catalog for "The Untold …
: Do Audio Books Count As Reading? | Literary Hub James Tate Hill's essay is a fascinating memoir of how he went from sighted, sporadic reader to …
: Tom Hardy on The Sanity of Actors “A performer is asked to do two things,” [the actor Tom Hardy] tells me. “To be disciplined and …
: International Eye Test Chart (1907) Another wonderful discovery from the Public Domain Review: an eye test chart from a 1907 San …
: Lower your voice to calm down This is a useful tip I've handed out since it was given to me years ago. At the time, in my 20s, I …
: Notes to Myself I stand 6'3" (1.91 meters) and wear size 15 shoes. At the movies today, as I stood to move into the …
: Eight Books, Audiobooks, Comics Encounters With an Enlightened Man by Linda Quiring. Of the three books written by Quiring …
: David Halperin on God and Mystery “It’s within mystery—real or invented—that the human spirit thrives. (“I don’t believe in …
: For Further Reading Stuff I wanted to read but didn't get to. Maybe this weekend...? For Two Months, I Got My News …
: Show Your Work Inspired by Austin Kleon's book Show Your Work, and my wholesome need to generate a new blog post …
: Software: Leech, Amphetamine Leech and Amphetamine are specialized Mac utilities that, when I need them, perform so dependably I …
: An Empty Cup What I have found in the last few years of reading and soaking in The Three Principles -- and it's …
: Diet Update I have described the type of weight tracking chart I'm using. Here's my chart with measurements that …
: Civilian Tech Support Two incidents yesterday consumed lots of investigation and research time. Then, with the right …
: Emptying My Cup I have been posting lots of stuff since December 25, 2017. Not as much as Seth Godin, of course, but …
: Zero Grief Policy I evaluated lots of Windows help authoring tools for one of my early freelancing jobs. As I searched …
: The Malpass Brothers We spent last evening at Blue Note Grill to watch The Malpass Brothers, a home-grown band from …
: Diarizing Update Of the three diarizing methods I have been experimenting with: I only occasionally take a 1-Second …
: I Got Through Today I got very little sleep, about 5 hours. My fourth or fifth night of poor sleep. This usually puts me …
: App: Plants vs. Zombies 2 I experienced the original PopCap Plants vs Zombies game on my MacBook in 2009, coinciding with my …
: Software: Fluid for macOS Fluid is an app to (kind of) create apps: Fluid lets you create a Real Mac App (or "Fluid …
: The Most Important Thing I've Ever Written? - Blog - Get Everything Done Mark Forster's ideas, as I've said elsewhere on this blog, have been very influential on my thinking …
: Maybe, instead..."Crosswalk"? The local arts council holds "progressive" dinners, where you start in one location for appetizers, …
: Five Pots I am working with a wonderful Three Principles coach, with a specific focus of starting a side …
: Carolina Parakeet, RIP From today's Public Domain Review newsletter: 100 years ago today, the very last Carolina …
: Fat Loss Cheatsheet: What Works and What Doesn't (for me) - Critical MAS There are many health and fitness blogs and sites out there, but I enjoy most the blog of a serious …
: Research: Removing Yahoo Search Malware from Chrome Browser on Mac Problem: On my iMac, I'd type search keywords into the Chrome browser's address bar. Google is my …
: Who Will You Be The Day After Achieving Your Goal? As my first coach told us, you can have anything you want as long as you're willing to pay the …
: Five TV Shows Cinderella (1965). The color version of the Rodgers & Hammerstein piece, with Lesley Ann Warren. …
: Kate Bowler on Her Cancer Diagnosis and Her Faith | Time How did you change as a parent?I became less invested in milestones and also those lovely …
: Getting Things Done For Lent If you search this blog, you'll find UK time management coach and author Mark Forster's name pop up …
: Brad Pilon: Getting Shredded Brad Pilon writes about the goal some men have of being "shredded": getting their body fat to such a …
: Pinkcast 2.14. This is the best time of day to exercise | Daniel H. Pink For a few years, I used to do a dumbbell routine in the mornings, rising at about 530 or 6am to do …
: Maxims and Mottoes Indecision causes suffering. A line my first coach used a lot and that explains a lot of suffering I …
: Dream Liz and I are sitting in a church, in the front row of the wooden pews. There is a brick wall about …
: Fortunes Two fortunes from last night's Neo-China takeout: “Storms make oaks take deeper root. …
: Austin Kleon: Feeling blocked? Play with blocks! One of my Friday joys is writer and artist Austin Kleon's newsletter of 10 items he thinks worth …
: Leon Redbone I first became acquainted with Mr. Redbone, not through his Saturday Night Live appearance, but when …
: Fast Company: "This Is What It’s Like To Not Own A Smartphone In 2018" Kathleen Davis' "think piece" -- you can read it in under four minutes -- briskly surveys the …
: Six Movies Darkest Hour (2017). Gary Oldman, unrecognizable as usual, as Churchill. I’m unclear, in these …
: Gmail Delay Send An advantage of some desktop or third-party email clients is their ability to schedule sending an …
: Digital Sabbath I spend my working days at a computer and sometimes whole evenings too. And bits of the weekend. For …
: Three Use Cases I am debating what I want in a protective case for my iPad Pro. A luxury problem, to be sure. There …
: Leaving My Email Alone The @SaneLater folder in my Gmail account bulges with links to pages, or the text of pages saved via …
: Diet Update & Fasting I weighed 211.0 lbs. a couple days ago, way over the control line. So I did a 22-hour or so fast. I …
: GOOGLE SITE SEARCH BOOKMARKLET I install a consistent set of bookmarklets across all the browsers I use at work and home. (Except …
: INSTANT WATCHER, FIXABLE Flixable is a search engine for Netflix-specific streaming video. It features a more open design …
: BACKUPS UPDATE Well, blow me down. I ran a manual Time Machine backup on Sunday – about 16GB – and it ran without a …
: TECH OVERLOAD What began last year as “modernizing” has turned into a bit of a tech tsunami at our house: Got my …
: TOUCH ID TIP: ADD YOUR PINKY FINGERS Liz bought her first smartphone today, an iPhone 7. The Apple customer support person we spoke to …
: Diet update Yesterday, I weighed 210.2, about a pound under my control line. This morning, I weighed 211.8, …
: BLOGTROTTR Ever since the death of Google Reader, I have avoided finding another RSS reader. I already have …
: Ursula K. Le Guin “Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone, it has to be made, like bread; remade all the …
: LIBRARY SCIENCE She'd gone to school for years to study library science. He didn't see how it could be so …
: BACKUPS (CONT’D) Well, that was interesting. I logged in to Liz’s account to back up her home directory to my Lacie …
: LOGITECH K811 KEYBOARD I had a full-sized wired aluminum Mac keyboard for years. I used it with the MacBook and later with …
: BACKUPS (cont'd) So, backups. On my Time Capsule (ca. 2015) I get the same bland unhelpful error message described on …
: EVERYTHING IS A MESS AND ALL IS WELL At the start of Awareness, Anthony deMello shares the secret divulged by all mystics of all faiths, …
: Snowscapes -- day and night Durham NC got about 8-11 inches of snow today. Here’s a shot from our backyard (taken by Liz) …
: FROM CRASHPLAN TO BACKBLAZE After I renewed my Crashplan subscription last August, they announced, bless their hearts, they were …
: COFFEENOMICS Liz and I have an informal tradition of going to a local bakery/deli place for breakfast when …
: Restarting my diet, such as it is - 2 The key tool for me will be a weight-tracking chart made with pen and graph paper. The chart format …
: Graham Linehan on Sitcom Geek podcast James Cary, writer of numerous UK radio and TV sitcoms and of the excellent Sitcom Geek blog and of …
: RESTARTING MY DIET, SUCH AS IT IS - 1 I have paid for Herbalife, Diet Center (where I had to weigh in weekly and eat at least one large …
: RESTARTING MY EXERCISE PROGRAM, SUCH AS IT IS I went to the Y and aerobics classes in the ’80s, used the weight machines with my gym memberships …
: From Safari Back to Chrome On my iMac, I’ve used the Chrome browser for many many years. This was an artifact of my using a …
: On Making the “Teacher” Video The course was titled “Make A 5-Minute Documentary in 7 Weeks” but it was almost seven months before …
: TEECCINO I did not start drinking coffee till my mid to late 20s at my first job. My bad nightowl habits, …
: Diarizing my life Sorry for the horrible "diarizing" in the title, but the word fits for now. In addition to …
: Four-Quadrant Movies In the world's neverending quest to quantify, there is the concept of the "four-quadrant movie." I'm …
: Sofia Bonati's Amazing Ladies Quietly beautiful portraits of women against a backdrop of mazes, flowers, and William …
: Sleepytime I have tried various technological or mental gizmos over the years to help me fall and stay asleep: …
: The Potato Hack I just finished boiling about 5 lbs. of red potatoes, eyes and blemishes removed but much of the …
: Doomsday for 2018 is ... Wednesday See my previous post on the Doomsday Calendar to comprehend all.
: Word of the Year: TRUST I quit adopting New Year's Resolutions some years ago. But I liked the idea of an official "fresh …
: Reformatting Time Capsule Backups via Time Machine to our 2TB Time Capsule have not gone smoothly the last several months, …
: Amazon Live Chat Support = Refund Liz wanted to return one of the gifts I'd purchased for her from her Amazon wishlist. She tries to …
: Two Very Different Travel Days Instead of driving 13 or more hours from Durham, NC, to Lakeland, FL, for Christmas, we decided this …
: What Did Jesus Look Like? The 2015 BBC News article What Did Jesus Really Look Like? is still interesting, even in the …
: Traveling with my iPad Pro 10.5 One of my reasons for purchasing the iPad Pro was to replace my Chromebook as a travel computing …
: Six More Little Words The same coach I mentioned in the previous post asked me in a later session to sum up a motto or …
: Three Little Words I worked with a coach one time who asked me a question that I regret I can't recall. Something about …
: Still running Sierra and iOS 10.3 Computers -- or playing with them -- has been a hobby, pastime, and necessity for the last couple of …
: How I'm Learning Now My day job for the last two or so decades has been as a software technical writer. Basically, I …
: My New iPad New and first iPad ever, actually, only a few weeks old. It's the 10.5-inch iPad Pro and it is a …
: "Teacher" -A Short Documentary In the spring of 2017, I was searching for a new creative project to take my mind off of work …
: The purpose of being a serious writer is not to express oneself, and it is not to make something …
: And Yet - Los Angeles Review of Books And Yet - Los Angeles Review of Books
: (via In Praise of Boredom | Literary Review of Canada) Source: reviewcanada.ca
: Domestic Comedy Liz: "Thank you for doing the dishes and bringing home all these library books! This is an …
: Some Lesser-Known Truths About Academe One thing my professors told me early in graduate school: You absolutely must condition yourself to …
: (via Why Information Matters - The New Atlantis) Source: thenewatlantis.com
: Why Information Matters Why Information Matters
: The very beginnings of both technologies, however, could be found at an institution that had been …
: James Baldwin’s FBI file contains 1,884 pages of documents, collected from 1960 until the early …
: If you could give a piece of advice to a young person starting out, what would you say? I would …
: (via jla67.jpg (400×601)) Source: openlettersmonthly.com
: The skin of some of the men developed a coarse, rough appearance, as a result of the hardening of …
: thenearsightedmonkey: Sometimes we are so confused and sad that all we can do is glue one thing to …
: Another thought comes quickly, particularly when I think about all these people here searching for …
: austinkleon: P.T. Barnum, The Art Of Money Getting (1880) “Golden rules for making money.” The table …
: My haul from the April '16 Zine Machine Printed Matter Festival [caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“2500.0”] My zine …
: Tales from The White Box In my office, under a table, has been sitting a white cardboard banker's box for several years. It …
: "Presto!" by Penn Jillette Having been swayed by Critical Mas's post on the potato hack and read the (e)book on the subject, I …
: (via aquaman66.jpg (564×842)) Source: openlettersmonthly.com
: (via The Strange Art of the Posthumous Portrait | New Republic) Source: newrepublic.com
: To start with, the Second Law implies that misfortune may be no one’s fault. The biggest …
: The tipoff for me is somatic. Whenever a project comes to me, one that is right, that is genuine, I …
: In a 2004 New Yorker feature on the Farrelly Brothers’s attempt to write a script for a new …
: 11 favorite Christmas albums We have a strict rule: no playing of Christmas music until we're driving back from my Aunt Carolyn's …
: (via What can people do better than machines? The view from 1951 – Clive Thompson) Source: …
: There is only one way to read, which is to browse in libraries and bookshops, picking up books that …
: My quixotic smart Christmas playlist In iTunes, I have assigned the genre “Christmas” to all my Yuletide music, albums and …
: The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty: not knowing what …
: No compromises. No accommodation. No surrender. Be everything that Donald Trump and his supporters …
: Wearing a bolo tie and his trademark fedora, Mr. Cohen dryly made light in his acceptance speech of …
: It’s so hard to forget pain, but it’s even harder to remember sweetness. We have no scar …
: Globe Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" We saw the theatrical streaming of the Globe Theatre's The Merchant of Venice recently, as that's …
: She once said Picasso gave her the “best lesson in composition” she ever received when he told her …
: "More Fool Me" by Stephen Fry (audiobook) <img src=“https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/10307/2019/298848f4bd.jpg" alt=“Cover …
:
Denver, October 2016
Liz presented at the AMWA conference, so I tagged along and cavorted at will. From the mental …
: Who's Working for Who? I traveled with Liz to Denver CO for a few days while she attended a conference while I cavorted. …
: Google Me This: "The Lost Art of *" I was cleaning out my Evernote inbox and saw two topics side by side: "The Lost Art of Memorizing …
: From the NC State Fair Food Labs From a AAA.com GO magazine article on what to expect at this year's state fairs in the Carolinas: …
: Two people with languages unknown to each other met, and tried to communicate. One said, “I …
: In 1911, Delafield was accepted as a postulant by a French religious order established in Belgium. …
: I grow old ever learning many things. Solon - Wikiquote Source: en.wikiquote.org
: Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is …
: Another Another death. Another killing. Another explosion. Another shooting. Another outrage perpetrated by …
:
"Priory of Sion" in Portland OR
In Portland OR, I saw the following chalked on sidewalks in different parts of the city:
In …
: (via PowerPoint Makes Us Stupid | The Smart Set) Source: thesmartset.com
: (via Wonder Woman’s Wintry Foe: The Blue Snowman - The Devil’s Tale) Source: blogs.library.duke.edu
: fuckyeahquangle: Things to live by.
: (via Know Thyself | Michael Neill) Source: michaelneill.org
: Penny dreadfuls: the Victorian equivalent of video games Penny dreadfuls: the Victorian equivalent of video games
: The Case of the Two-Headed Author | The Smart Set The feuding duo behind one of America’s greatest (fictional) detectives Source: The Case of the …
: Non Finito | The Smart Set The Metropolitan Museum Breuer on 75th Street and Madison Avenue (the former site of the Whitney …
: (via My hero: WNP Barbellion by William Atkins | Books | The Guardian) Source: theguardian.com
: (via il_570xN.474524880_hzd3.jpg (570×570)) Source: img0.etsystatic.com
: (via Jewish Review of Books » Jews on the Loose) Source: jewishreviewofbooks.com
: Maintaining the Technical Status Quo (For Now) I spent the last week doing some intensive research on two potential tech purchases: an iPhone for …
: If I had a really concrete professional fear, it would be that I would wake up in the morning and …
: (via Raunchy, Raucous Coney Island by J. Hoberman | NYR Daily | The New York Review of Books) …
: (via MFA vs. CIA | Lapham’s Quarterly)
: (via One-Touch to Inbox Zero — Forte Labs — Medium) Source: medium.com
: Real empowerment and respect is to see our fellow citizens—victims and privileged, religious and …
: (via Living an Invisible Life – Supercoach 365) Source: supercoach365.com
: What We've Been Watching - January '16 Youth (Dir: Paolo Sorrentino, 2015) I like a slow, meandering, plotless movie more than the next guy …
: (via Adam Gopnik — Practicing Doubt, Redrawing Faith | On Being) Source: onbeing.org
: (via Hope Rekindled for ABC Proof | Quanta Magazine) Source: quantamagazine.org
: I am never worried about my kids lacking intelligence, but I am often concerned when I see that they …
: Playmakers Rep's "Three Sisters" In their ads read during the local morning NPR news, Playmakers Rep touted its “new take” on …
: Mark Forster's Book Challenge UK time management coach and author Mark Forster has set himself the challenge to read only one book …
: (via Leslie Stein’s Comic Book School for Little Girls | VICE | United States) Source: Vice Magazine …
: As Rocky got back to his feet, Ali broke the spell. “The most scary moment in a …
: Rather than demanding authenticity, which is inherently paradoxical–trying to be real is …
: Jon Benjamin Tries Jazz Best known as the lead voice on Bob's Burgers and Archer, Benjamin has no expertise in jazz music. …
: Inbox by Google I switched from Yahoo Mail to Gmail back in 2006 or 2007; it took awhile to come to grips with it, …
: He was always around, and for most of the time, putting out material, appearing in movies, being …
: I once heard a philosopher tell a story about a student who asked him what he ought to do with his …
: My vision of retirement has always been to move someplace hot, and sit out on a patio reading (or …
: The two saddest words in the English language: “What party?” “Rash Decisions” · Modern …
: A good life is not a life without problems. A good life is a life with good problems. Shut Up and Be …
: Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss Tom has finally made his peace with this book, but it took a while. …
: Friday Links The Best Book on American Poetry Ever From the Public Domain Review, a quaint and curious trip down …
: What their return to health will look like: As the INTJ returns to health, they will shift their …
: (via The Dialectic of Love and Authority - The Baffler) Source: thebaffler.com
: There’s this book club phenomenon — my mother-in-law is in a book club and now my wife is in a book …
: What appears at first to be an absence of emotion then appears to be a need to control overwhelming …
: “Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone, it has to be made, like bread; remade all the …
: Thursday Links Man binge-watches The Simpsons for over two days while taking LSD Lizzie Borden, Girl Detective The …
: (via A Penny for Your Books - The New York Times) Source: The New York Times
: 'Don't Be a Moron' I was having lunch with a friend who’d survived a heart attack a couple of years ago. When I …
: (via May 30 Memorial Day Event at Fitzgerald Family Cemetery | Pauli Murray Project) Source: …
: (via We Have a Copy of Patricia Highsmith’s Unpublished Essay on Green-Wood Cemetery | Atlas …
: The next time you meet some person who is utterly captivated by some undertaking that completely …
: I noticed that touring — which is wonderful in some ways — is absolutely confining in other ways. …
: Monday Assorted Links When Procrastination doesn't keep me from doing what I should be doing, I fall back on creating a …
: 1. You are already perfect, whole, and mentally healthy exactly as you are. 2. You are always …
:
Pre-Med: Preparing the Instruments
It’s worth stopping to consider what the Doc Martin creators did next. One thing we know they did …
: A Facelift for Shakespeare A new translation effort aims to make all of Shakespeare’s plays comprehensible to today’s audiences …
: The Price We Pay for Sitting Too Much For every half-hour working in an office, people should sit for 20 minutes, stand for eight minutes …
:
Pre-Med: The Doc Martin Movies
Telling the story of Doc Martin is a complicated business from the start: do we begin with the first …
: Entitled From Elisa Gabbert's Title TK: Another quality I dislike in titles: a rhythmic sing-songiness, as in …
: Another quality I dislike in titles: a rhythmic sing-songiness, as in Then We Came to the End. All …
: (via Writing in Cafés: A Personal History - The Los Angeles Review of Books) Source: …
: (via The ‘Product of Its Time’ Defense: No Excuse for Sexism and Racism - The Atlantic) Source: The …
: Weasel syntax Uncertain Terms | The Smart Set The British technology journalist Ian Betteridge is credited with …
: Around the time of QUANTULUMCUMQUE, he summed it up to me thus: ‘Francis Bacon the painter said, …
: What we've been watching (and reading) In response to Michael's post of recommended films, here's my list of the various media we've been …
: (via (no title)) Source: flipbookshow.wordpress.com
: (via Book review of Jon Morris’s The League of Regrettable Superheroes | Open Letters Monthly - an …
: (via No regrets? Why not? | Life and style | The Guardian) Source: theguardian.com
: Once you grasp this, the modern mantra of “no regrets” begins to look not courageous but fear-based: …
: The conclusion of the book provides advice on avoiding blunders. …make a realistic effort to slow …
: As children, we harbor ideals for how the world and our lives could be; as adults, we gain bitter …
:
Links: Standing Desks
We had a discussion at work recently about how much we sit, standing desks, treadmill desks, etc. So …
: I’m a writer but I’m also a teacher and having been successful at both I can tell you that people …
: Here’s a polite person’s trick, one that has never failed me. I will share it with you because I …
: Institutions – from national newspapers to governments and political parties – invest an enormous …
: “We live by slowing down and saying with our lives that the world will not be saved by frantic …
: austinkleon: Edward Tufte on how to have better mornings, from his next book, The Thinking Eye
:
Documentaries: "Dreams of a Life", "Finding Vivian Maier"
We had an unintended, somewhat depressing, Netflix theme going recently: documentaries of forgotten …
: I have been increasingly conscious, for the last 10 years or so, of deaths among my contemporaries. …
: Source: openlettersmonthly.com
: Source: openlettersmonthly.com
: Source: openlettersmonthly.com
: "When you lie down with the National Review" Rosen says the book is written with “scholarly care and memoirist’s flair,” and that it’s “a brisk, …
: If you want to learn to use implementation intentions, I recommend you set this goal intention and …
: Goodbyes: Irish and Serbian This is something I used to do more in my 20s but never knew there was a name for: the "Irish …
:
Movie: "Wild"
I've not read Cheryl Strayed's memoir Wild, on which the movie is based. And I've seen only a few …
: For now, I’ve limited my storage to a 16GB SD card. The small amount of space forces me to dump …
: Anyways, if you make a New Year’s resolution, make it this: something small, every day. Something …
: Most questions can be boiled down Most questions can be boiled down
: A woman in Sri Lanka once told me a story. She said that the rate of malaria among the British in …
: I think the only reason I’ve had the career life that I’ve had is that someone told me some secrets …
: In Impro, Keith Johnstone writes that when improvisers try to be original, they fail. “Don’t be …
: 33 thoughts on reading 33 thoughts on reading
: “Maybe the human condition is best summarized as the constant and spectacular battle to veto …
: The whole process of getting old—it could have been better arranged. But you do learn some things …
: (via Alan Moore: I am in charge of this universe – Tim Martin – Aeon) Source: aeon.co
: "I’ve always thought most book reviews are too long,” he says, explaining his truncated reviews. …
: (via Selfies by Lavie Tidhar | Tor.com) Source: tor.com
: How Valuable Were Your Last 40 Minutes? : The Art of Non-Conformity Regarding my personal time management, I also try to live by the philosophy that focuses on: ‘What …
: (via BBC News - The myth of the eight-hour sleep) Source: bbc.com
: We hear “do what you love” so often from those few people who it did work for, for whom the stars …
: (via Seven lessons I learned from the failure of my first startup, Dinnr — Medium) Source: …
: Mixed [martial] artist Ronda Rousey was overseeing a group of fighters during a training session. …
: A physical book is difficult. If you haven’t made one, it’s tough to imagine just how difficult it …
: A book with proper margins says a number of things. It says, we care about the page. It says, we …
: (via How To Bulletproof Yourself from McDonalds & The Fast-Food Temptation) Source: …
: (via The woman who went to the library and read every book on the shelf | Books | The Observer) …
: (via Thinking Inside the Box) Source: marginalrevolution.com
: (via How to Be Polite — The Message — Medium) Source: medium.com
: “Among the creative professions, it’s very, very common,” says comedy producer and …
: And for me, at this point, I think it much more interesting for me to look at something and know …
: “I once read about a scientific institute which had studied the male erection,” Davies …
: The novelist Robin Sloan offers a wise middle way, borrowing a concept from share trading, which he …
: The biggest mistake we make is trying to square the way we feel about something today with the way …
: The famous basketball coach John Wooden used to always say: “Be quick but don’t hurry.” Which is …
: Kindle links: Kindle Unlimited, reading experience The new Kindle Unlimited campaign is smoking out new opinions on Amazon's strategy [1]. I liked this …
: Once upon a time, 12 years ago to be precise, David Bowie said something very perceptive. …
: I’ve begun reading Kenny Moore’s biography Bowerman and the Men of Oregon and have …
:
Miss Marple
Before we left on our England trip, I loaded up the Kindle with a few hundredweight of e-books …
: I once made a TV show about an installation by the artist Spencer Tunick, who makes his work out of …
: Reading Proust in prison austinkleon: Daniel Genis spent ten years in prison and read over one thousand books: He read “In …
: (via Fantagraphics Books | Comics and Graphic Novels - Eleanor Davis and Esther Pearl Watson Book …
: (via New Submission from Eric Knisley | Durham Comics Project) Source: durhamcomicsproject.org
: (via New Submission from Eric Knisley | Durham Comics Project) Source: durhamcomicsproject.org
: On a good day, you look at yourself like, I’m preserving American history: I’m an archeologist. But …
: (via Book review of Amanda Petrusich’s Do Not Sell At Any Price | Open Letters Monthly - an Arts and …
: Any of the better anthologies of 78s – Revenant’s “American Primitive” volumes, Old Hat Records’ …
: After initially breaking my ssh-agent because I copy/pasted commands that I didn’t really …
: (via Keeping calm | Leading Technical Communication) Source: larrykunz.wordpress.com
: “One thing I came to realize after college was that the search for purpose is really a search for a …
: It is still the place where risks can be taken. When on Earth did the West End ever do a new play …
: (via Paper Pushers - The Chronicle Review - The Chronicle of Higher Education) Source: chronicle.com …
: Stevereads on BookTube Steve Donoghue at Stevereads writes about BookTube, a YouTube community devoted to booklovers. It's …
: (via This column will change your life: stop being busy | Life and style | The Guardian) Source: …
: (via This column will change your life: the case against hope | Life and style | The Guardian) …
:
Blogs I Like: Sitcom Geek
As Stephen Fry said once upon a time: when I was young, comedy albums were my rock albums.
The first …
: (via Odd Job Man and Language! by Jonathon Green, review - Telegraph) Source: telegraph.co.uk
: (via Turkey Problem | Nassim Taleb) Source: nassimtaleb.org
: “We cannot think if we have no time to read, nor feel if we are emotionally exhausted, nor out …
: One of my favorite quotes of all time, probably my very favorite, is this one from Stanley Kubrick: …
:
Review: "In Our Time" podcast and newsletter
One of my long-term listening pleasures is BBC4's In Our Time podcast. The show is hosted by Melvyn …
: What would the 50-something you say to the 20-something you? You’re going to need reserves of …
: And then I realize: The way for me to be better than my parents isn’t to do my taxes on time. That …
: Those are my principles, and if you don’t like them … well, I have others. —Groucho Marx Time …
: Review: Elf, a reminder service to avoid overdue library fees The Durham Country Library -- which is a great organization I support with patronage and donations …
: (via Suman’s ad #5 - Painting By David Terry Art) Source: davidterryart.com
: (via Suman’s ad #3 - Painting By David Terry Art) Source: davidterryart.com
: (via Suman’s ad #1 (featuring the actual Suman Bhatia) - Painting By David Terry Art) Source: …
:
The Conet Project
I must have heard about the shortwave numbers stations years ago on this Lost and Found Sound …
: Domestic Comedy Exchange between me and Liz as we drove past Ravenscroft school. ME. That's where Matthew did his …
:
Software: Audiobook Builder
In 2001, I …
Back in the days of iron men and wooden computers, I listened to audiobooks on cassette.
: Current reading The Relationship Handbook -- George Pransky. The focus is primarily spousal relationships, …
: True Work is that which occupies the mind and the heart, as well as the hands. It has a beginning …
: Serious reading, after all, should be active, focused, engaged—and Cooper suggested some ways to …
:
A word fraught with meaning
I like embroidering my plainspoken, earthy, everyday, quotidian speech with particularly …
:
Clifton StrengthsFinder
In December, following up on an offer by coach Dave Kaiser, I took the Clifton StrengthsFinder …
:
In life, as in technical writing: you have to choose
One of the chief rules of tech writing -- or at least one of my chief rules -- is to not dump into …
:
DOOMSDAY IS ... Friday (for 2014)
Which means that Friday falls on:
: Secret from PostSecret.com Source: postsecret.com
: (via Happiness and Its Discontents - The Chronicle Review - The Chronicle of Higher Education) …
: (via Ingredients of an All-Natural Banana | James’ reading list) Source: …
: As with all truly stupid things, there’s no responding to it, no engaging with it. Stupidity exists …
:
Let the calendar decide
Oliver Burkeman writes the weekly This Column Will Change Your Life for the UK Guardian. The column …
: If you have concluded that “Ignorance is bliss” and prefer to cater to your perverted appetite with …
: (via This column will change your life: must a year last 52 weeks? | Life and style | The Guardian) …
: The great haiku artist Kobayashi Issa wrote this: New Year’s Day– everything is in blossom! I feel …
: Two or three things I know for sure, kinda sorta In all the year-end roundups on the various blogs, I enjoyed David Cain's 16 things I know are true …
: I also find it sad that because his book is filled with a whole bunch of nonsense, that’s why it’s a …
: Unforeseen things will occur and you will inevitably deviate from your plan, this is organic, and it …
: [audio http://tempblogfood.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/tumblr_lxb1uvnmyj1qz6f4bo1.mp3] austinkleon: …
: I once heard a writer say that the only punctuation mark that we ever need is a period. Another …
: When to give up on a book you're reading austinkleon: From Nancy Pearl’s Book Lust, the Rule of 50 will change your life: Nobody is going to …
: It’s a cycle. You start a story, and it’s stupid. You don’t have any ideas. You’re washed up. …
: One of the things I learned about the world of art,” Teller says, “is there are people who really …
: Do not mistake coincidence for fate. Also, never ignore a coincidence. Unless you’re busy, in …
: “Our whole life is an attempt to discover when our spontaneity is whimsical, sentimental …
: If I step back from it, then of course it’s complete nonsense. But I always think that …
: They say be careful what you wish for: no. Don’t be careful what you wish for. Absolutely wish …
: Star Trek – The Art of Juan Ortiz
: All of these conspiracy theories depend on the perpetrators being endlessly clever. I think you’ll …
: David Suchet likes to think of life as a spider’s web. The spider, you see, spins his web from …
: Is This God's Will? … I learned a very simple way of keeping myself on the right path. That was to ask myself …
: I have no good advice, but here’s some I gleaned from a letter Benjamin Haydon, who rarely gave him …
: What we call progress is just screwing up in new and inventive ways. Philip Sandifer: Writer: A …
: (via Halloween was so much WEIRDer back then: Creepy and disturbing vintage Halloween photos) …
: (via Halloween was so much WEIRDer back then: Creepy and disturbing vintage Halloween photos) …
: dickbalzer: Phenakistoscope England, 1833
: (via These Proto-GIFs of the 19th Century Put Today’s GIFs to Shame - Megan Garber - The Atlantic) …
: (via These Proto-GIFs of the 19th Century Put Today’s GIFs to Shame - Megan Garber - The Atlantic) …
: (via These Proto-GIFs of the 19th Century Put Today’s GIFs to Shame - Megan Garber - The Atlantic) …
: (via These Proto-GIFs of the 19th Century Put Today’s GIFs to Shame - Megan Garber - The Atlantic) …
: (via These Proto-GIFs of the 19th Century Put Today’s GIFs to Shame - Megan Garber - The Atlantic) …
: Wisdom is for statues. Humor uncaps our inhibitions, unleashes our energies, seals friendships, …
:
Furlough Diary - Day 10
I work for a government contractor, and we were sent home at 11:30am on Tuesday, Oct. 1. The company …
: Movie: "Enough Said" Warning - Mild spoiler alert. I don’t reveal plot points, but if you read this post, …
: Ebooks—What We Gain, What We Lose Link: Ebooks—What We Gain, What We Lose | doug toft Writer Doug Toft finished reading a big book on …
: Each of us has a different capacity to give to others without losing ourselves. Some of us can give …
: jellobiafrasays: the psychopathology of everyday life (1951 ed.)
: pickyourheadup: The Nightmare.
: Dimon keeps track of his bank’s business by scribbling on a sheet of paper in his coat’s …
: On one of my last visits, even as my father was in severe pain, he asked me the same question he …
: More and more I feel that, just as all art aspires to the condition of music, all humour should …
:
WordPress or SquareSpace?
I've been contemplating a new blog project to keep myself busy and out of mischief. Instead of just …
: (via Philip Sandifer: Writer: There’s Another Way: Throw Away Your Guns (The Family of Blood)) …
: (via ‘How Dare It Make Me Feel So Much’: The Spell of F. Scott Fitzgerald - Joe Fassler - The …
: (via All LinkedIn with Nowhere to Go | Ann Friedman | The Baffler) Source: thebaffler.com
: (via Facebook Feminism, Like It or Not | Susan Faludi | The Baffler) Source: thebaffler.com
: (via Famous Authors’ Handwritten Outlines for Great Works of Literature – Flavorwire) Source: …
: (via World’s Largest Cave, Son Doong, Prepping For First Public Tours) Source: The Huffington Post
: (via World’s Largest Cave, Son Doong, Prepping For First Public Tours) Source: The Huffington Post
: (via World’s Largest Cave, Son Doong, Prepping For First Public Tours) Source: The Huffington Post
: You can easily go too far with all this talk of meaningfulness: that way lies acres of self-help …
:
Movie: "Blue Jasmine"
To get this out of the way as quickly as possible: Cate Blanchett clocks an amazing performance as …
: “Fuckin’ endings, man,” Get Shorty concludes. “They weren’t as easy as …
: Have less to do A quote from the Mark Forster forum: My goal is no longer to get more done, but rather to have less …
: The first book ends where I’m like, this fucking sucks. And I wanted – it’s like, for …
: (via The Tyee – The East Van Artist Behind a Cult Cartoon Milkman) Source: thetyee.ca
: (via The Tyee – The East Van Artist Behind a Cult Cartoon Milkman) Source: thetyee.ca
: Krishnamurti went on to give countless talks at which he frequently implied that his audience …
:
Movie: "20 Feet From Stardom"
When Tom Waits was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he said, "We all love music and we …
: When teaching a class and opening it up for discussion: mothsfly: What the instructor hopes will happen: What actually happens:
: darksilenceinsuburbia: Irene Hardwicke Olivieri. Website
: (via The History and Psychology of Clowns Being Scary | Arts & Culture | Smithsonian Magazine) …
: (via Flight Paths of Fireflies Are Made Visible in Beautiful Long Exposure Photo Series) Source: …
: (via Flight Paths of Fireflies Are Made Visible in Beautiful Long Exposure Photo Series) Source: …
: Good writing is clear. Talented writing is energetic. Good writing avoids errors. Talented writing …
: The moral: You gain more by not being stupid than you do by being smart. Smart gets neutralized by …
: Tonight, for whatever reason, a little Laurel & Hardy was indicated... Because, some nights, I just need an earworm that will put a smile on my face.... ...and then …
:
Book: "Slowing Down to the Speed of Life"
I picked up this book in Kenosha on my vacation, and it jibes well with Michael Neill's The Inside …
: Movie: "The Way Way Back" Jim Rash, Charlotte NC-native and UNC-CH alum -- best known to the world as Dean Pelton on Community …
: From J. L. Carr’s 1980 novella “A Month in the Country" : We can ask and ask but we can’t …
: “One, don’t wait for inspiration, just start the damned thing. Two, once you begin, keep on until …
: So why do it? The answer is that it’s a drug – and once it gets in your system, it’s …
: Her gentle chiding curbed any chance that Mr. Seeger’s ego would balloon. “I hate it when people …
: Don’t expect too much from human life—a sorry business at the best. Letters of Note: Live as …
: Hence my official position: it’s fine to abandon books or other projects – but you’ve …
: Tumblr reminds me that Commonplace turned 6 today! Source: assets
: The Rise and Fall of Mr. Zip Informative and fun little article on the US Postal Service's push to get Americans to add a 5-digit …
: (via The Smart Set: Happy 50th Mr. Zip - June 12, 2013) Source: thesmartset.com
: Your reading style needs to go from “reading with some skipping” to “skipping with some reading”. …
: From the Postsecret blog site
: (via INCIDENTAL COMICS: Day Jobs of the Poets) Source: incidentalcomics.com
: Before Sunrise” imagined romantic love as yours for the taking. “Before Sunset” …
: (via Dürer’s Devil Within by Andrew Butterfield | NYRblog | The New York Review of Books) Source: …
: (via Dürer’s Devil Within by Andrew Butterfield | NYRblog | The New York Review of Books) Source: …
: (via Dürer’s Devil Within by Andrew Butterfield | NYRblog | The New York Review of Books) Source: …
: “It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do little. Do what you can.” …
: Occasionally, just writing without a plan is a worthwhile exercise, especially early in the …
:
Pretty much a perfick day
Up early and walked down to Patti's house, where we carpooled to the Creative Entrepreneur Expo 2013 …
: And this is basically the viewpoint underlying Miles’s criticism: it doesn’t matter what Gatiss …
: The best advice I ever got about reading came from the critic and scholar Louis Menand. Back in …
: There’s a character in the film who, in passing, mentions that “talent plus persistence …
: The writ of this collection of letters runs from about 1950 until 2007, the year of Vonnegut’s …
: Tom Waits on habits “It’s very hard to stop doing things you’re used to doing. You almost have to dismantle …
: Wipe the slate clean every day. You don’t need to worry about your reading lists. Mark them all as …
: Here’s what I’ve learned from not writing about my life because I was scared you wouldn’t like it: …
: After attending the Green Vale School in Old Brookville, N.Y., where her classmates included Gloria …
: Information is weird like that. It is its own ailment, its own deficiency, its own excess, its own …
: (via The Smart Set: Is Superman Jewish? - February 1, 2013) Source: thesmartset.com
: (via PostSecret) Source: postsecret.com
: We never see how the Doctor began his journey, we will probably never see how he ends it, we’ll …
: (via The ‘70s Were Awkward for Superman - Glen Weldon - The Atlantic) Source: The Atlantic
: tselentis-arch: Metropolis, Fritz Lang 1927 via coxno Metropolis
: (via The Meme Hustler | Evgeny Morozov | The Baffler) Source: thebaffler.com
: What a great poster. (via The First Annual Carrboro Block Party)
: (via Pisces Rising) Source: piscesrising.bandcamp.com
: What is the most important lesson life has taught you? You are never first choice. Q&A: Zoë …
: (via Jon Crispin: Suitcases from the Willard Asylum for the Insane (PHOTOS).) Source: Slate
: overidealism: Ghost in the Machine by *linnsetane
: explore-blog: Beautiful patent drawing for R. J. Spalding’s Flying Machine, 1889. Complement with …
: "My whole life is a coping strategy." While seeing my physical therapist the other night, he asked if I liked my eating habits (an odd way …
: Social behavior boils down to the “Morris Theorem”: “Change is caused by lazy, …
: I recently said to a director, ‘Audiences are like furtive strangers standing outside school …
: I see time as sailors see wind, or photographers see light, as something to use, manage, and shape, …
: (via Great Expectations - Blog - Get Everything Done) Source: markforster.squarespace.com
: (via Yin and Yang: Man Feeding Swans and Ducks in Krakow | Bored Panda) Source: boredpanda.com
: Annie Dillard observed that “Every book has an intrinsic impossibility, which its writer discovers …
: Few writers have managed more fully than Stacton to bear out Gore Vidal’s maxim that writers …
: (via Los Angeles Review of Books - The Voice Of The Sea: Hurricanes In Life & Literature) …
: IN THE SUMMER OF 1999, the Holy Spirit directed Rick Karr, a 51-year-old Texan, to answer the calls …
: (via Study Hacks » Blog Archive » “Write Every Day” is Bad Advice: Hacking the Psychology of Big …
: (via Jazz Age Club | The cult of sunbathing) Source: jazzageclub.com
: (via PostSecret) Source: postsecret.com
: No one can accuse me of pandering or writing purely in the hopes of having a commercial hit. I doubt …
: But the hallmark of a good writer is not avoiding script calamities. They are unavoidable. …
: Story-surgery is required at a number of stages - and is more easily done early on in the process. …
:
On realizing when my vacation started
December has been an unusually stressful month this year, what with jury duty, a rather punishing …
: How would you like to be remembered? I would like to be forgotten. What’s so good about being …
: “A little out of date” “A little out of date”
:
"Merry Christmas from the Kensingtons"
My friend, the novelist Lewis Shiner, has a new Christmas short story up on the Subterranean Press …
: Artists don’t talk about art. Artists talk about work. If I have anything to say to young …
: Shadows of things that Will be, or shadows of things that May be? (via The Smart Set: Marley and Me …
: Then Scrooge has some bad gravy, a nightmare about three ghosts, and he spends Christmas Day in a …
: Later in life [Anthony Burgess] asked an American conductor to explain what makes English music …
: (via Brian Dettmer: Book Autopsies) Source: centripetalnotion.com
: We Humans Can Never be Satisfied - Art De Vany on Line We humans can never be satisfied. Nor could satisfaction rest on a specific accomplishment or …
: Source: http://sharpsuits.net/Home
: (via John Craig -) Source: johncraigprints.com
: One of the great strengths of the English language is the number of ways it provides to describe …
: I think an awful lot of what passes for political discourse in this country these days works off …
: Pedagogy When Julia was in 2nd grade, I taught poetry to her class, using Kenneth Koch’s Wishes, Lies, …
: franksantoro: FRANK SANTORO CORRESPONDENCE COURSE for COMIC BOOK MAKERS. NEW COURSE STARTS JANUARY …
: 5 Open Supersecrets About Bloggers The “five open supersecrets” about bloggers, as Lee Siegel says in Against the Machine (quoted in …
: The search for meaning is not man’s search. The real question is how to do any good, or as Etty …
: Or, as some wag once said, “in the most carefully constructed experiment under the most …
: Yoga is not about doing…it is about being. The most important thing to remember is that you have …
: Everything you need to know about the connections between humans and demi-gods is down there in the …
: In a recent email newsletter, David Byrne summed it up well: I also have a funny feeling that, like …
: We know the past from literature only the way astronomers know distant galaxies: not directly, but …
: (via How does the human mind handle conflicts of interest? | Barking Up The Wrong Tree) Source: …
: Restored Radios exhibit Durham is growing its own crop of local businesses -- not just local artists and boutique eateries, …
: Forty years after Alvin Toffler popularised the term “information overload”, we might as …
: (via Video Game Review of Slender: The Eight Pages | Open Letters Monthly - an Arts and Literature …
: classic-hollywood-glam: vampira Source: weheartit.com
: You can’t change anything by fighting or resisting it. You change something by making it obsolete …
: From Orange Crate Art: Brach’s Halloween Candies
: Unpacking my library - FT.com James Wood: “I deface nearly all my books, with both annotations in ink, and lots of …
: Plus, the more I talk to animators the better I realize that each movie is like a whole new software …
: When my grandmother—whose reading was limited to the Bible and Guideposts, and whose life was …
: (via http://ehdom.com/flowchart/) Source: ehdom.com
: You don’t get to be a good screenwriter unless you do 20, 30 drafts: fact. I know this because …
: If you’re going to invent the car, then you’ve got to invent the traffic jam. Larry Niven on writing …
: Do you accept the love people have for you? Do you celebrate your successes and see yourself in your …
:
On hitting 50 (blog posts, that is)
Inspired by Shannon's example, I decided to forge ahead and write M-F blog posts for 10 weeks. And …
: Remembering Harvey Pekar on his birthday Hat tip to Southern Folklife Collection’s Facebook feed See also these Orange Crate Art posts: …
: Ten years ago, people kept their mobile phone in their pockets. Now, they hold them permanently in …
:
Remembering to remember (practice)
The previous post talked about prospective memory (PM) research. Today's post is about learning to …
: thenearsightedmonkey: What role will our hands play in the future? Will we still write by hand? via …
: timeimmemorial: Thomas Cooper Gotch (English, 1854–1931), The Lantern Parade, c. 1918. Oil on …
:
Remembering to remember (theory)
One of the sweet ironies of my time at SILS was that I entered with a long-term interest in personal …
: Science must leave beauty at the margins of experience as it pursues truth. Art must leave truth at …
:
Review: "The Writer's Tale: The Final Chapter"
Over the 2010 Christmas vac, I took six books with me but read only one: the 700-page The Writer's …
: This is why my favorite quote on writing comes not from a book about writing but from a book about …
:
Panhandlers
On my old blog, I devoted a long post to thinking about moral and ethical responses to panhandling. …
:
Review: Doctor Who, S7, Eps. 1-5
I have thoroughly enjoyed showrunner/head writer Steven Moffat's fresh take on Doctor Who, and I've …
:
Having fun with Wikipedia
Wikipedia has become such a daily part of my online life (like email -- remember life before email? …
: A shortcut for Googling the current web site I use a lot of bookmarklets to make my browsing faster and more convenient. I use them to stop …
: Assorted links Will tablets kill PCs? Daniel Lemire thinks tablets more than satisfy the mainstream (non-techie) …
: If you were born on this day... From today's News & Observer's Horoscopes by Jeradine Saunders: LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): You …
: Pay the writer A glorious rant from one of the keystone authors of my first couple of decades on this spinning …
: In moments of great emotional stress, we revert to our worst habits: we dig in and fight harder. The …
: makingabetterme: Murray The Nut » Blog Archive » The creative process 2 Source: murraythenut.com
: 8 Inspirational Screensavers for your Kindle makingabetterme: After discovering the world of custom screensavers I couldn’t find anything …
: Someone famous (Samuel Johnson? Aristotle?) said that in writing (and here I paraphrase because …
:
On unfriending or unfollowing people
Oliver Burkeman writes about a woman who actually visits all of her Facebook friends to see if …
: Dear Ones, it’s beautifully simple. Surrender. Go with the flow. Spend time doing what brings you …
:
Progress Report: But is it fun?
At a recent mastermind meeting, my fellow blogger Mike Uhl asked what I felt about having crossed …
:
52 Killer Tricks for Your Kindle
Of the 52 Killer Tricks for Your Kindle, some are useful only for the first 3 series (#'s 2, 3, 5, …
: Temptatious articles to read This is why the potential is always there for me to get nothing done. Here are some of the top links …
:
Sad necessities and the comfort zone
For many years, I've taken shameful (or shameless) advantage of Top Shelf's annual $3 web sale of …
: Map of Rain Hitting Water by Mara Gibson Treat your ears right. Listen to this hypnotic piece from …
:
Mara Gibson: Map of Rain Hitting Water
In the late '90s, I decided I wanted to take piano lessons. By chance, a flyer at the Regulator …
: [O Fortune, changing and unstable, your tribunal and judges are also unstable. You prepare huge …
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Progress Report: Content and Themes
Without the topic of school to provide a throughline or readymade theme for the blog – which was the …
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Progress Report: Routines
I started out writing my blog posts every morning for about 15-30 minutes, but now I may write …
: gulliver-arkham: Sweeney Todd on Flickr.
: Mallarme: “My dear Degas, poems are not made out of ideas. They’re made out of …
: (via The Bead Game by Ishu Patel, 1977)
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Progress report: Epic or epigrammatic?
I started the Monday-Friday blogging cycle on July 30 and am surprised to find myself still here and …
: Real creativity is the dull and failure-fraught art of giving people things they never asked for. …
: Soft animal You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the …
: Many people wait, wanting to be certain before they step into the flow, not realizing the flow is …
: Assorted links The History of Outlining The "Victorian laptop" (hat tip to Taking Note) Straining the soup ever …
: Claude Shannon, father of information theory, separated information from meaning. His central dogma, …
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Inspire yourself
In my PhD methods class, our professor asked us to pick something that inspired us -- it could be a …
: This, then, may be the one great secret that keeps the uninitiated out of the “inner …
: My first year in graduate school, I took a course in structural mechanics taught by Bob Eubanks, a …
: (via Free Will Astrology : Libra Horoscope) Source: freewillastrology.com
: Try this meditation: Imagine that you are the wood and the fire that consumes the wood. First, focus …
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How I rate songs in iTunes
I never fiddled with iTunes before I bought my iPod 5G in 2010 as my birthday present to myself. I …
: “Complexity is a chronic infection. Once you’ve got it you spend lots of time managing it. It almost …
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"Asylum of the Daleks"
Oh dear, my carefully crafted image as a man of the book and too clever by half will now fall to the …
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Moffat, Davies, and the New Who
Ross Ruediger had a rather sour take on season 6 of Doctor Who. He had problems with Matt Smith's …
: Assorted links One of my favorite writing sites is by England-based sitcom writer James Cary and called, …
: Dear Ones, the ego self, that part of you that wishes to keep you small and separate in order to …
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Yet another password creation rule
I ran across the following rule many years ago in what looks like a student paper (PDF link) by a …
: (via Visual Complexity: Mapping Patterns for the Information Age | Brain Pickings) Source: …
: Drought on the Mississippi After several years of drought in North Carolina, we've enjoyed a relatively mild and wet summer …
: One definition of stress is not accepting that things are the way they are. In other words, wishing …
: The Old Adventures of Superman Apart from Stevereads and the Ihnatko Alamanac have to say on the matter, I have paid no attention …
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Pop Songs are Sad Songs
My key pop music memories primarily imprinted themselves on my trembling consciousness at after-show …
: How to unwrap a CD When I first saw an Asheville CD store saleskid flip open the hinges of a CD case to remove that …
: If we really want to understand our fellow human beings accurately, we must allow them to surprise …
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Jailbreaking my Kindle Touch
To get screensaver images of my choice onto the Kindle Touch (the one without the special offers) …
: Kindle Touch screensavers The Kindle Touch (non-ad supported) comes with 20 attractive gray-scale screensaver/wallpaper …
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Muleteer, Occultist, Whitesmith
The Bureau of Labor's Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system maintains a set of job and …
: “Time” is related to how much information you are taking in – information stretches time. A child’s …
: Many people understand movement is required to get them where they wish to be, yet they hesitate to …
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Memotome.com
I've mentioned Memotome.com in previous posts and it's an essential part of my productivity toolkit. …
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The Splurge List
I don't remember where I got this idea, but it's one I've been using more lately.
The idea uses …
: Procrastination pjeby: “the problem in procrastination is we resist concrete [thoughts] while engaging in …
: Robert Hughes (1938-2012) Like many other Americans, I became aware of Hughes through his "Shock of the New" documentary and …
: pjeby: If you aren't at least a little grateful for what you have *now*, what makes you think you'll be any *more* grateful when you have more? pjeby: If you aren’t at least a little grateful for what you have now, what makes you think …
: Bradbury was right: "We are the Martians." This graphic has been making the rounds this week.
: If everything seems under control,” said auto racer Mario Andretti, “you’re …
: Libra Horoscope for week of August 16, 2012 The Hubble Space Telescope has taken 700,000 photos of …
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My event planning template
In 2009, I was recruited by The Ineluctable Cassidy to be an event planner for the local …
: On being an information packrat -- Part IV One of the great things about a good productivity system is that it contains decision points where …
: Depression frequently occurs as resistance to the flow. Anxiety can come from focusing too much on …
: Robertson Davies on Useful Knowledge On my 1998 "sabbatical," I read about 25 or so books. Among them were the collected works of the …
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On being an information packrat - Part III
The first post in this series looked at information hoarding, and the second looked at mindsets …
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An improv principle and event planning
In the winter of aught-six, I took a beginning improv class at DSI Comedy Theatre and learned a …
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National Night Out
I am taking a break from blog posts of ghastly length and inordinate self-absorption because today …
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On being an information packrat - Part II
Knowing that I have a tendency to hoard information, what can I do to help myself? This post will …
: Many of you are doing a splendid job getting clear on what you wish to create. You are stepping into …
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On being an information packrat
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Gore Vidal (1925-2012)
Steve Donoghue wrote what I thought was the best tribute to Vidal; it was graceful, heartfelt, …
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Mr. Vidal himself never had much use for religion, Christianity especially, which he once called …
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On starting before you're ready
When I first got the idea to restart the blogging, my first thought was: "No, don't start this …
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Do not mold yourself to fit any idea I put forward. Mold the idea to fit you.
This is a blog, not a …
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On using timers and timeboxing
Mark Forster recommended the use of timers in his book Get Everything Done and Still Have Time to …
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Reboot at the OK Plateau
I have been inspired to restart blogging by, as usual, several seemingly random prompts that …
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Libra Horoscope for week of July 26, 2012 Philosopher William Irwin Thompson says that we humans are …
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pjeby: RT @guy_finley: No intention, regardless of how high, how noble, can be any stronger for you than your ability to remember it. #fb
pjeby: RT @guy_finley: No intention, regardless of how high, how noble, can be any stronger for you …
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(via Let It Kill You | Submitted For Your Perusal)
Source: submittedforyourperusal.com
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pjeby: We learn more from our mistakes than our successes: that's why they don't call it "trial-and-succeed" learning.
pjeby: We learn more from our mistakes than our successes: that’s why they don’t call it …
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Libra Horoscope for week of July 5, 2012 Goldfish that are confined in small aquariums stay small. …
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I heard someone say once that “I guess I’m just not one of those job people you hear so much about,” …
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Stop stopping Stop stopping. Stopping is the worst thing. Stopping breaks your momentum. Stopping is …
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Basic things to keep in mind What I’m setting up for myself to successfully train for the marathon …
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Be honest with yourself about how hard you’re willing to work. One thing I noticed as a trainer and …
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Kato Lomb explained that your micro-environment (the bubble in which you live) is more important …
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Consultant vs. contractor
Alan Weiss, of whom I am a groupie, just published a quote that rocks my world. The full article is …
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Don’t read a book once carefully. Read it 10 times, 100 times, sloppily. AJATT Twitter Tweets …
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What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
There is always another game on Saturday. …
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Lawrence Pearsall Jacks, a Unitarian minister, summed it up decades ago: The master in the art of …
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Fritz on happiness
What is more important than happiness is involvement. We want to be involved with our lives, other …
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Many pro authors say you should try a dumb trick if your writing is moving frustratingly slowly: …
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Nietzsche on the dangers of waiting
In nooks all over the earth sit men who are waiting, scarcely knowing in what way they are waiting, …
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Writing Is a Business
“Writing is a business and should be practiced as such. On days when you think you can’t possibly …
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Self-Denial
“A character who needs the accoutrements of worldly success will never be seen by the audience as …
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All stories, no matter how fanciful, consist of information, and it behooves a serious young writer …
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Actually, I’m pretty much of an independent, thinking that the chief error of Republicans is the …
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His advice to would-be scriptwriters is “just write. The big break is easy if you’re good enough. I …
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If the sad truth be known, writers, being the misfits we are, probably ought not to belong to …
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The world of orderly decency, harmless ceremonies and modest expectations, i.e., family life, is not …
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Computer programmer Garry Hamilton articulated the following “Game Rules.” Give examples …
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So my point is that you can learn about yourself by seeing what you focus on day to day. That’s what …
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It’s no accident that election races and and military battles are both called campaigns. …
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I asked if there were any photographs of my father as a boy because I’ve never seen one, but …
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Deprived of Ground
Deprived of Ground
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It’s important to feel I’m running my work instead of letting it run me; so I’ve …
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Mastery is Well-Informed Improvisation Rands In Repose: Two Universes Source: randsinrepose.com
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A cleareyed Malcolm Gladwell discusses the American penchant for reducing all activity to a moral …
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It is so hard to change behavior and to face oneself honestly. This author has my total admiration. …
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Plato could have warned me. In “The Republic,” he advises “temperance” in physical training, …
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Hospital managers at Gloucestershire NHS Trust (in 2001) and the catering staff at Flintshire County …
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Doris Betts cut to the chase. To those of us engaged in writing the Great American Novel, she would …
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n an excerpted interview published in The News & Observer in 1994, Betts talked about her book …
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Annie-Proulx/Paris-Review/Intv
“There is difficulty involved in going from the basic sentence that’s headed in the right direction …
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We think in generalities, but we...
“We think in generalities, but we live in detail.”
— Alfred North Whitehead, …
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Find Your True Subject
Any writer who has difficulty in writing is probably not onto his true subject, but wasting time …
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There’d Better Be Trouble Brewing Somewhere
Whether a story is told on the page or on the screen, the same elements are required. You’ve got to …
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In the overworld, the elements are: Talk to people, wander around, try new things, listen, and …
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Sometimes you have to stop worrying, wondering, and doubting. Have faith that things will work out, maybe not how you planned, but just how it’s meant to be.
Sometimes you have to stop worrying, wondering, and doubting. Have faith that things will work out, …
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The hardest part about growing is letting go of what you were used to, and moving on with something you're not.
The hardest part about growing is letting go of what you were used to, and moving on with something …
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You don’t really need to worry about concentrating per se. As long as you put in the time, you …
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The most useful advice on writing I’ve ever received comes from Gil Rogin, who told me that he …
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You most likely need a thesaurus, a rudimentary grammar book, and a grip on reality. This latter …
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Two things
About a third of the self-help books that cross my desk could be distilled to two things: first, if …
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Christine Kane, Upleveling, and an updated seminar
In July 2010, I’d made the big decision to leave the PhD program. I was back working part-time at my …
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"It's no good having one without the other"
In September of 1968, in what he jokingly termed “E. Gorey’s Great Simple Theory About Art,” Gorey …
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The Shadow - 4CP | Four Color Process
The Shadow - 4CP | Four Color Process
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When I teach literature I always tell them, these would-be writers (we don’t do workshops, we just …
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You most likely need a thesaurus, a rudimentary grammar book, and a grip on reality. This latter …
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Character is the very life of fiction. Setting exists so that the character has someplace to stand. …
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You can’t wait to write until you’re in the mood. My God, if you waited until you were in the mood, …
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richardsala:
PANIQUE Board Game - Black & White Line Art
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Read voraciously, many books at a time. Only then will you hear the conversation taking place among …
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richardsala:
From the RIP card set of strange phenomena ~ (1) Rain of fish (2) Psychic detective (3) …
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Something Should Remain Unsaid
Narrative art must be clear, but it must also be mysterious. Something should remain unsaid, …
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Red carpets, interviews and social networking are all alien to him. When a friend told him that he …
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If you use willpower only to deny yourself pleasures, it becomes a grim, thankless form of defense. …
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In order to move up the scale of emotions and become more
attractive to the things you want in life, …
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The second secret, what they never tell you, is that yes, anyone can become a writer. Merely …
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“Everyone thinks that Beethoven had his string quartets completely in his head—they somehow formed …
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Be Daring
Be daring, take on anything. Don’t labor over little cameo works in which every word is to be …
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Shirley is a frequent political commentator of the conservative Republican stripe (a biographer of …
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After suggesting [that young writers] look into The Writer’s Chapbook I recommend they keep a …
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"Books I could get along without"
“We moved today to 415 Central Park West. Enormous business of packing and unpacking my books, which …
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Most people quit. If you don’t quit, if you rewrite, if you keep publishing in fancier places, you …
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The problem with trying to escape from decision-making is that that’s a decision, too. Or as …
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Winterson on the importance of books
I heard today that one in three kids in the UK does not own a book. I would be dead if I had never …
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The Guardian: Why do you think you inspire enmity? Bernard-Henri Lévy: Number one, I don’t know. …
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How hard you’re working is a good indicator of whether you’re doing the right or wrong …
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Every comedian is Marmite. You have that reflex action whereby you laugh or you don’t. You …
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It’s wonderful to get an award, but as John Gielgud once said, the next day you’ve got …
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I didn’t have any vices before the internet. There are a lot of cracks in the day, moments …
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My advice is to do what you can this second. Big plans that rely on other people, new equipment, …
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Do dialogue-let’s say-between a hobo and a high-class hooker, then between an ambulance …
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richardsala:
~ Originally published by Drawn & Quarterly in 1990(!) in their self-titled …
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richardsala:
Need relief from all Christmassy stuff? Need some extra chills (and thrills) this …
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Grammar is a piano I play by ear, since I seem to have been out of school the year the rules were …
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From today’s Postsecret blog
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Other parts of Again to Carthage offer a bit of marathon training advice: focus on building …
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In an essay written last year for the SMiLE tour booklet, Van Dyke professes still not to know what …
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“Your complete literary man writes all the time. It wakes him in the morning to write, it exercises …
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“For years, far too many years, I fell into the dangerous trap of being determined to finish a book …
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A quote from Josh Kaufman’s new book “The Personal MBA”: To keep yourself from feeling overwhelmed, …
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“The need for success and the fear of failure are two aspects of the same inner attitude. For it …
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Kahneman never grapples philosophically with the nature of rationality. He does, however, supply a …
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People who fracture their time putting out fires seem more productive, or at least more responsive, …
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It is helpful to write always at the same time of day. Scheduled obligations often raise problems, …
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From James Webb Young, The Diary of an Ad Man: The War Years, June 1, 1942-December 31, 1943 …
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"No birdsong in the hedgerow"
Coleridge demurred only partly because he was afraid of the enormous outlay of energy it takes to …
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"Boots and hats and pocketknives"
“How do you and your wife split songwriting chores?“ It’s an adventure. You’ve got a …
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richardsala:
Some more EVIL EYE covers
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Seth Godin: "A great way to give thanks"
A great way to give thanks… for the privileges we’ve got is to do important work. Your …
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Richard Sala: "Thirteen O'clock"
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"Elephant time"
“What you newspaper and magazine writers, who work in rabbit time, don’t understand is that the …
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A good magazine article doesn’t need an introduction, so don’t begin with the background …
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"Balance is boring"
Before the crisis years of the AIDS epidemic I had that sense that one does of a long, expansive …
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7 Rules for Dialogue
1. Dialogue should be brief.
2. It should add to the reader’s present knowledge.
3. It should …
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Libra Horoscope for week of November 10, 2011 During the reign of President George W. Bush, many …
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Lyanda Lynn Haupt / Crow Planet / household spiders
“Claire knows our household spiders freakishly well. She names them all: currently we have Abigail …
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Richard Sala: Colleen's Dream
richardsala:
“Colleen’s Dream” (An outtake from my book THE HIDDEN). To read the story behind it, …
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Carve Out Time for What’s Important
This is one of the rules that has served me well, as a Program Manager at Microsoft: Carve out time …
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Variations on "Give a person a fish..."
Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day. Teach a person to use the Internet and they won’t …
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Go Where Your Characters Lead You
Trollope said, “On the last day of each month recorded, every person in a work of fiction should be …
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Three physical words for mental health
If you acknowledge all this resistance and act on your plan anyway, you will make one of the most …
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(via Day In and Day Out)
Source: submittedforyourperusal.com
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Sometimes we do find the words to express an idea, and only then realize what a stupid idea it is. …
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Working from home means you can work any 18 hours of the day that you choose. Do You Want to Blog …
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Using Keyboard Maestro to fix Safari 5.1 keyboard dumbnesses
The MikeBook has been receiving tons of app upgrades due to Lion (haven't upgraded yet; waiting a …
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Vivian Maier
In 2007, John Maloof ran across a storage locker at a thrift auction house that contained over …
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Everything You Want, You Already Have « Books for Behavior Change
Hoffman explains the nature of his work by offering an extended analogy. In the process, he deftly …
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Wednesday Workout: Testing your assumptions | I Will Teach You To Be Rich
Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face. — Mike Tyson
Wednesday Workout: Testing …
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A Flapper's Dictionary
Ran across this delightful post from a used bookseller in Pennsylvania. He acquired the July 1922 …
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Why goal setting doesn't work | Psychology Today
L.A. King and C.M. Burton in an article entitled, The Hazards of Goal Pursuit, for the American …
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Sitcom Geek: Script Competitions
If you can write - and you also write a superb script (not the same thing) - producers will want to …
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Fibonacci sonnets
I have lately been enjoying a blog by Austin, TX artist/writer Austin Kleon, and have been happily …
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My favorite instructional books acknowledge our psychic complexity. Rather than offering a …
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Compulsively, we compare ourselves with those around us and find our lives wanting: other people …
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A student or a scholar
One of the things I discovered about myself during the past year is that I'm a student, not a …
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The end is nigh...
Of my master's degree progress, that is.
I took my comprehensive exam on Friday. At SILS, that is …
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I hate fish.
Source: andkatie
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Libra Horoscope for week of February 24, 2011 An interviewer asked me, “What is the most …
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Don't overthink it (Installment #247)
I volunteered to do a tedious job at work -- copy/paste about maybe 200-400 parameters scattered …
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The New Yorker has suffocated at times beneath a mask of wry gentility. For all its glossy …
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I went to a “mindfulness” group at the psychological clinic here. I don’t know …
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Writing in the library
I had an excellent ~6 hours of solid writing/wrestling with my master's paper one day last week. At …
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Little steps
In trying to implement some new behaviors, I'm finally listening to advice and looking at how to …
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This may seem ironic, given that last point, but one of my favorite articles I’ve read this year: 10 …
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I happened to like Paul Houser’s work in Abigail Norris and Jerry Rothwell’s The …
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Libra Horoscope for week of December 30, 2010 In 2011, I believe you will have the chance to weave …
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I think of negative thoughts and emotions, rather, as signals telling you to make adjustments to …
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2010 leaving, 2011 rushing forward
2011 begins much better, in many ways, than did 2010. At this time last year, I was involved in …
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Two views of boredom
The first, from an emotional, Buddhist perspective, and the second, from the productive academic's …
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>> Later on the same shoot, Blake and I were sitting on the beach at his estate in Malibu (for …
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So what does work? Here are some techniques Professor Wiseman has found in his study that are …
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Not that quasi-friends are entirely bad. Sociologists have shown that “weak ties” are as …
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That’s the most beautiful thing that I like about boxing: you can take a punch. The biggest thing …
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Writing lessons learned (yet again)
I'm currently writing a final paper for my Chekhov class (which has been WONDERFUL). My teacher and …
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Examining the unlived life
Alex has a wonderful essay up this week on the unexamined life vs the unlived life. I recognized so …
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The Best Article Every day - Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte
Source: bspcn.com
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The real trick isn’t to solve the problem, it’s to find out what problem you’re …
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“We see evidence for mind-wandering causing unhappiness, but no evidence for unhappiness causing …
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Whatever people were doing, whether it was having sex or reading or shopping, they tended to be …
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"The enemy"
Here’s a quote from Stephen Fry’s novel Making History, one of the few passages that …
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When actresses like Hathaway (and, to a lesser degree, actors like Gyllenhaal) decide to bare all, …
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Career Fare
Attended a career fair for master's and PhD students yesterday. I haven't been to such a thing in a …
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More on panic and discomfort
Mark Z at ZhurnalyWiki paid me the great honor of referring to my panic post. He ended with this …
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In fact, study after study has shown that simply monitoring your behavior is a powerful intervention …
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I remember some years ago someone (unfortunately I can’t remember who) wrote to me to describe …
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Last month, husband was in a grumpy mood. We have a rule for those moods: Accomplish something! Pick …
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You are young, and have not met the big disasters of life yet, like a divorce with children, the …
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Brooks applies chaos theory in an interesting way, too, by boiling its lessons down to three …
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Atheists Don't Have No Songs
A Steve Martin song, performed with the Steep Canyon Rangers
[youtube …
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Two experiments revealed that (i) people can more accurately predict their affective reactions to a …
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The “I am doing” mind hack: Being present is important, but I find it hard to be mindful …
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[R]eminiscent of John Cleese’s sharp observation (cf. Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind): …
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Before the fact, wise people often look like fools. In contrast, experts often look like fools …
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Toecovers
The latest memoir we've been reading is Betty MacDonald's "The Plague and I," the 1948 follow-up to …
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Panic
Alex Lickerman is a physician and practices Nichiren Buddhism, and he writes a weekly blog titled …
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The Suck Fairy
From Jo Walton at Tor.com comes the idea of The Suck Fairy, that scourge of re-reading that somehow …
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My nephew's philosophy
My brother's oldest son, Stuart, was asked by his teacher what he liked about school. He answered, …
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If you were born on this day...
Here's what the local newspaper's horoscope had to say for those lucky enough to be born today, …
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Stevereads
Stevereads tackles the history of the first Star Trek books, which were collections of stories from …
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Assorted links
Steve reviews Robert Graves' The Anger of Achilles, and finds more ways to say that Graves is one …
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Lewis Shiner and the Fiction Liberation Front
Friend and colleague Lewis Shiner is a writer and novelist who has been releasing his fiction on the …
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Summarizing the past year
Sorry to disappoint my skeptically inquiring readers, but I love reading my weekly Freewill …
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David Markson
I can't remember how I ran across Markson's novel This Is Not A Novel, but I found it so fascinating …
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Assorted links
"The truth is dancers and musicians live in two different worlds." For academic writers, the Rule of …
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From dr to mr
Over the July 4 weekend, I faced the fact that I was not enjoying the PhD experience. I discovered …
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Science is boring!
Interesting confluence of views from today's feeds: Let's face it, science is boring - …
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Fall 2009 chicken
Taking a leaf from Havi’s Friday Chicken, this post will review the semester just past, but with a …
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“Our whole life is an attempt to discover when our spontaneity is whimsical, sentimental …
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Terry Teachout on the Mystery of Music and Great Art
It won’t surprise me if neuroscientists eventually succeed in unlocking the mystery of music. …
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Today in History
Image via Wikipedia Wikipedia about today. Here's what the BBC and NY Times have to say. A certain …
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The bones beneath the skin
A few months ago, I was struck by this tweet from HiroBoga. For whatever reason, a circuit snapped …
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Downstream, Upstream
One of the ways to make sure a change in your life sticks is to make what you want to do so easy to …
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Links harvest
Why bother learning stuff? Social Media Venn diagram As he turns in his dissertation, Cal Newport …
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This wonderful but cruel game never stops testing or teaching you. “The only comment I can make,” …
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Dahl on travel and civilization
In this excerpt from Roald Dahl's Boy, his mother asks if he wants to go to Oxford or Cambridge. …
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Dahl on the life of businessmen and writers
In the following excerpt from Roald Dahl's Boy, he's left public school at 18 to take a job with …
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Roald Dahl's "Boy"
A very nice habit we picked up from Liz's parents was her dad reading to her mom. We've adapted that …
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"Dreams with Sharp Teeth"
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj5IV23g-fE&hl=en&fs=1&w=300&h=242]
Thanks …
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Link harvest
James Fallows on the China Xinjiang / Uighur controversy: "The point about separate fact-universes …
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Harlan Ellison:
There are times when I am terribly presumptuous, to visit my personal feelings on …
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"Keep working"
Work inspires inspiration. Keep working. If you succeed, keep working. If you fail, keep working. If …
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I do know what the deal on the comic is: It’s $2.99 for 23 pages of story and art (the first …
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Genuine self-confidence exists in a vacuum, requiring no one of lesser worth to be near it to …
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Old-world skillz
Image via Wikipedia I do not know how Michael Leddy finds so many great items for his Orange Crate …
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Like baby rats
stevereads: The Queen Victoria Series!
Jean Plaidy wasn’t the only pen-name she used, far from …
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Momentum, Inertia
My loyal fanbase (Rani and Cassidy) have asked when I would start posting again, after a pause of …
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Good fiction
stevereads: the New Yorker Fiction Issue in the Penny Press!
I have a dear friend who sometimes …
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“To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to …
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“The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). …
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Sleep, tossing of mind, attachment to objects, subtle desires and cravings, laziness, lack of …
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If I hear one more person pontificate on how diabetes is TOTALLY avoidable, I will rip their living …
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Who needs alcohol and drugs when you have Tom Waits? Books of The Times - ‘Lowside of the Road’ - A …
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"Act normal"
act+normal.jpg (image)
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30 Rock: 1933 | Shorpy Photo Archive
Source: shorpy.com
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Mind Hacks: Sixty miniature heads used in phrenology
Source: mindhacks.com
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"What is the world's story about?"
In East of Eden, John Steinbeck writes: ‘A child may ask, “What is the world’s …
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"Informal set of rules"
By then, the veterans had developed an informal set of rules for themselves: Take the craft …
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Assorted links
"A comparison of the 2008 population — using data from a variety of sources — with the first census …
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Writing the Lit Review for Research Methods
I recently finished a pretty big, for me, literature review that totaled about 17 pages, including …
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We tend to think of the task of regulation as one of making systems hard to break. An alternative to …
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“The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind …
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You will need to divide your current possessions into four major categories. 1. Beautiful things. 2. …
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Typology of New Yorker cartoons
Given the diversity of talents who over the years contributed cartoons to The New Yorker, it may be …
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Two projects, two fuzzy ideas, two lit review processes
The 696 independent study is starting out as a literature review of risk in institutional …
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It always amazes me how few people go to graduate school, who actually enjoy studying. Marginal …
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The day I got no research done
I unpack my stuff in the SILS liberry [1] and start researching. The Maternalistical Cassidy wheels …
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Assorted links
Why I don't use "lol" in emails. Example 2 is the killer.
Have you ever wondered what would happen …
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Lavers on The Simple Life
My previous post Fred Stutzman and Facebook reminded me of an essay from the May/August 2000 issue …
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Unit Structures
Image by Getty Images via Daylife Fred Stutzman is a PhD student at SILS and the creator of numerous …
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Annie Dillard:
How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.
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Is grad school a good idea?
Penelope Trunk trots out one of her regularly visited themes: why grad school is a bad idea. It …
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Financiers tell their not-for-attribution account of the mortgage crisis like this: Americans …
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Research Journal for my 780 class
Cover of 7 Up Since our 780 Research Methods class doesn’t have a Blackboard site for the class, …
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Those whom history has judged as great often came from less and strived for more than wealth. High …
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Owl and Cat calligraphy (via peacay)
Source: Flickr / bibliodyssey
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But forced idleness is a good thing, especially for a workaholic like I, and while I feel as if the …
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Annoying Firefox problem fixed
For the last couple of months, I've had an incredibly annoying problem in Firefox, when entering …
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And yet even though this Christian nonviolence is in many ways the most mainstream aspect of this …
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Craft is something you can do until you fall into senility, but art is what you cannot do. —Robert …
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Assorted links
Image via Wikipedia Doomsday for 2009 is ... Saturday. Mary Ellen Bates says goodbye to several …
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Dying is a matter of slapstick and pratfalls,” he wrote in “The Summer of a Dormouse: A Year of …
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Lecturing in 26-100, she said, she could only look out at the sea of faces and hope the students …
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What I learned when working in the White House decades ago is that blunder, misunderstanding, or …
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What's ahead for ol' Mikey?
Inspired by Rani’s post about her upcoming work (hope that’s going well for you, Rani), it’s …
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While browsing around the site, I found that the Milk and Cheese vinyl toy set has been knocked down …
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Good taste is really just a kind of aesthetic vegetarianism.
-Robertson Davies
The New York Times: …
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Paul Graham:
I think the way to “solve” the problem of procrastination is to let delight …
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On specifying your terms
One of the books I read over the Christmas vacation was Writing the Mind Alive, which one Amazon …
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What I'm doing on my Christmas vacation
Packed about 15 books (about half of them small cartooning or graphic novel-type books), of which I …
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Spring 2009 - Independent Study
I was not terribly interested in the spring courses being offered, and The Ineluctable Cassidy …
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Status of the Ph.D.
I interviewed with two prospective references at SILS, who agreed to write letters of reference …
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2008 Fall Semester Wrap-up
Follow-up to my fall break posting.
I spent the last two days deleting 1000+ emails from my Gmail …
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Moyra Davey on Random Reading
Moyra Davey on Random Reading
“So how are we to draw up those reading lists finally? I have …
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Lindsay Marshall on serendipity: We are not, I believe, looking for tools to record our thoughts or …
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"We are an exceptional model of the human race"
From Charles Bowden in Blood Orchid:
“We are an exceptional model of the human race. We no …
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"The result is the same after all"
The New Adventures of Mr Stephen Fry:
A strange obsession, mine. But better to be addicted to …
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Think like a man of action, act like a man of thoughts
Think like a man of action, act like a man of thoughts
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So which is it: job or calling? You can answer the question directly, or allow time to answer it for …
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via www.creativereview.co.uk (404)
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Jeffrey Zeldman Presents Client begins first meeting by making a big show of telling you that you …
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fantasticfourannual_01_kirby.jpg (image)
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Daniel Lemire:
Highly productive people do not have more time, but they may have more energy, more …
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"&"
via i197.photobucket.com
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Who do you see?
via i156.photobucket.com
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National Sarcasm Society
via a1259.g.akamai.net
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Jack Cheng:
That’s what most people do. They keep waiting and waiting until they have enough saved …
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jackcheng.com The phrase “especially in this economy” is the new black.
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Jupiter_and_Semele.jpg (image)
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Maeda’s SIMPLICITY (404):
It’s not for others to recognize the fruits of your work; …
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Casting the Runes
via nyrb.typepad.com
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"A reasonable first step"
Scott Aaronson:
I see a world that really did change dramatically over the last century, but where …
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"The most important reward of all"
Judson Jerome:
Like virtue, poetry is its own reward. … The immortality game, like that of …
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"A really simple question"
Jeanette Winterson: We all know the one about the Emperor walking around with nothing on, while …
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"The foxes, the badgers and the stars"
Jeanette Winterson: Then, the best thing of all – coming home in the dead of night to this beautiful …
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Seduction of the Innocent Index - Seduction of the Innocent
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"And what happened then?"
It isn’t an inquisition; it’s an exploration, usually an exploration into the past,” he once said, …
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God's Trombones
James Weldon Johnson, 1871-1938, Aaron Douglas, Illustrated by, and C. B. Falls (Charles Buckles), …
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"Structures that are human-shaped, not idea-shaped"
The New Adventures of Mr Stephen Fry:
In the end I like structures that are human-shaped, not …
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"As barmy as the rest"
The New Adventures of Mr Stephen Fry:
I forebear telling him that the reason I do not find Mormonism …
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Late night thoughts on getting a Ph.D.
Anthonio. In sooth I know not why I am so sad, It wearies me: you say it wearies you; But how I …
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No Heroic Efforts
I meant to add this time management rule to my previous Fall Review post. I can't remember whether …
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"Buffer zones"
I’ve never been able to grow a thicker skin, so instead I create buffer zones. The Unfinished …
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Fall Review
During 2007's fall break, I took a breather and penned (odd word for a blog post, but I'll use it) …
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"Reminding him with a tap"
Anton Chekhov:
There ought to be behind the door of every happy, contented man some one standing …
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Writing research papers
First in a (no doubt about it) ongoing series. When I had to do my first literature review, and my …
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"The Midnight Disease" by Alice W. Flaherty
A few years ago, I read and enjoyed Alice W. Flaherty's memoir, The Midnight Disease. Suffering from …
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"The price of being a visionary"
The Watchmen Film Trailer Creates Buzz For Movie | Top 50 WTF Moments In Comics | UGO.com When it …
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"Lost is okay"
From "5 Reasons why you don’t need to write a book" by Penelope Trunk People use books like …
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Birthday horoscope for Sept. 24
Here's the regular daily 'scope:
People are more impressed by your efficiency than by your eagerness …
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Nirvana, or something like it
My friend Rani left me the following intriguing comment: Mike - would love to know how the …
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On being a professional
I don't take many notes in my 500 class, but I wanted to get this down from the professor, Dr. …
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Storing Nuggets of Information
The following are comments I left on the high-fun personal blog PigPog. Back in 2005, Michael wrote …
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"Giant hammer"
Merlin Mann: Four Years | 43 Folders By improbably (and I’ve often thought, mistakenly) landing a …
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"Rickety towers of ad hoc solutions to unforeseen problems"
ZhurnalyWiki: Illusion of Perfectibility In a recent critical essay about economist-philosopher …
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And when the interchangeable young man says, after the cricket game on the lawn, “Ripping …
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Advice to a 40-odder on re-entering school
When I let it be known around the office back in 2006 that I was interested in going back to school, …
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Hallway conversations
Rachael in the elevator: "So, Mike, are you going to do a doctorate?" Dr. Tibbo as she was leaving …
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Digital History Hacks
William Turkel, an assistant professor of history at the University of Western Ontario, runs a great …
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You will have to understand that the logic of success is radically different from the logic of …
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You will be told also – ignoring our permanent dependence on food, clothing, and shelter – that you …
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OK - message received
Thanks for showing you gave the matter some thought by starting your email with "hmm."
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Notes - The Book, The Internet, Literature
First heard of the "Is Google Making Us Stupid/Killing Literature" foomfahrah via this Mark Hurst …
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The only thing you get to do in this world is choose what a good life is and then aim for it. But …
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“There is nothing funny about a clown in the moonlight.” -Lon Chaney Clowns
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Got that? They’ll be a quiz. Originally from Little Pet’s Picture Alphabet, 1850’s. (via Nonist …
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Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death …
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Here’s some advice for successfully reading a book: You need to stay focused, so try to avoid …
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Declining books sales have led some publishers into thinking that the way to revive books is to make …
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Stephen Fry on arguments between cousins
My previous post on winning arguments unfairly reminded me of a blog posting by the actor, writer, …
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Don’t pack for the worst scenario. Pack for the best scenario and simply buy yourself out of …
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Look for kindred souls. They are few and far between, and nothing is more precious. All I Really …
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Studying for the GRE
I've stopped updating my previous blog, Oddments of High Unimportance, after Google's Blogger-bots …
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Winning Arguments (Unfairly)
The following notes are from a 1982 book by Daniel Cohen called "Re:thinking: How to Succeed by …
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Sometimes I get emails that are more than two pages long, attempting to explain a problem. I’m going …
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Write what you feel
Advice for the creative writer, yes. But the student? My manager is taking a summer class and his …
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Links 18-Jul-08
Convenience and impermanence. But look at the size of that keyboard! And her happy smile! This is …
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The bottom line is that you should never spend more than $1500 on art unless you know at least …
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Mark Hurst's "Bit Literacy"
Mark Hurst’s book Bit Literacy: Productivity in the Age of Information and E-mail Overload attacks a …
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Nowadays, instead of saying, “He’s a prick,” I’ll say, “He’s …
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"Why you should throw books out"
That's the title of today's post from Tyler Cowen both at his blog and as a guest blogger at …
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Do you read a lot of contemporary fiction these days? Like everyone else, no, I don’t. Questions for …
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There is a kind of heroic pessimism running through this work, and one is inclined to appropriate …
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Links 25-May-2008
Penelope Trunk has an excellent post on how she got her current favorite mentor, to complement her …
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Links 22-May-08
This paper studies the CVs of assistant professors of economics at several American universities and …
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As within, so without
When my mind and life get cluttered, so do my physical environments. When I lived on my own, it was …
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Too soon old, too late shmart...
...goes the old Yiddish proverb. And it works for the spring semester as well as for real life. …
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Running...out...of...gas...
Is it me, or should the spring semester have ended a week ago? Why are we dragging it out for …
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From MFA to MSIS
In talking to a friend, he remembered that this graduate school adventure started in early 2005, …
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Halving, doubling, and Virginia Woolf
When I am asked, "Why did you decide to go back to school?" or "How in the world can you work a …
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Speed Networking
The SILS Alumni Association held a speed networking event earlier this week. It's the second one I …
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Prototyping; GUIdebook
Found some interesting or otherwise time-passable things on the web related to prototyping and our …
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Links: file-naming conventions
I remember reading a columnist in one of the Ziff-Davis mags, back in the mid-90s, lamenting the …
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Jumping the gun on a MacBook?
Although UNC requires incoming freshmen to buy a laptop computer, and although some SILS classes …
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Drafting scenarios and stories
This post discusses the following readings:
Gruen, D., Rauch, T., Redpath, S., & Ruettinger, S. …
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Article critiques: scenarios, stories
This post discusses the following readings: Go, K., & Carroll, J.M. (2004). The blind men and …
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Keeping Found Things Found
A web site focused on collecting and managing personal information, from the U of Washington …
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How is it possible? More on email
The readings that prompted these postings were: Lehikoinen, Juha, Antti Aaltonen, Pertti Huuskonen, …
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Systemantics
I'm starting my third official semester as a graduate student but there are still a few nuts I …
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More on email overload
Yet more reaction to this article: Whittaker, Steve, and Candace Sidner. "Email Overload: Exploring …
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Email overload, content management
As verbose as I am in class, you should read my postings on the Blackboard discussion boards. Oh …
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Early in my writing career, I had an assignment to follow around a mohel–the guy who does …
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"No Links Please" drains HREFs, discourages web fiddling
James Clarke – No Links Please!
Here’s a fun one. Our old pal (and the coiner of “life hacks”), …
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Emails as a Game of Life?
Academic Productivity has another great post, this time on the work of Carolin Horn at the Dynamic …
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Building models (info or economic) in your spare time
I enjoyed reading Hal Varian's paper How to Build an Economic Model in Your Spare Time. It …
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"More regrettable incidents in a life filled with bitter remorse"
A Flickr set of scans of artist David Fullarton’s wonderfully odd sketchbook.
More regrettable …
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Doomsday is Friday
For 2008, that is. Here's Wikipedia on the Doomsday rule: The Doomsday rule or Doomsday algorithm is …
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Tales of the Unexpected #93
Tales of the Unexpected #93
Tales of the Unexpected #93
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End o' the semester cleanup
After the Spring 2007 semester, I asked Marilyn what she did with all of her notes, drafts of papers …
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Done, done, and done
For the last month, just as I thought I was nearing the finish line or reaching a milestone where I …
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Harry, I’m going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a …
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Mike Shea:
Audiobooks are my e-books. ... Audiobooks take the content from a novel and turn it into …
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Generalisstimo
Rebecca at ProtoScholar has been on a tear of great posts lately. Her musings on being a generalist …
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"As always in the movies"
But in the movie, as always in the movies, writing flows easily and life is hard, when in reality …
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On actual Halloween night I didn’t even dress up, me and a group of friends just went to Keagan’s …
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"I pretended I did"
What I found out on set on other films is, what makes a crew really roll is when the director makes …
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My big fat learning experience
I started the fall semester a younger and more idealistic man than I am here at the halfway point …
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Charcoal Drawing from Rushlight Literary Magazine (Wheaton College) via dspace.nitle.org
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Charles Schultz on Peanuts
All the loves in the strip are unrequited; all the baseball games are lost; all the test scores are …
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Superman #203
Superman #203
Superman #203
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Overreactions and decisions
The SILS MSIS curriculum requires a master's paper or project and the professors of even the core …
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“I was like: Get me out of here.”
As a child, Mr. Newman decided to pursue a career in bio-technology. This vision lasted until he …
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So now listen up. We need to get these boxes the hell out of the warehouse. Meaning, if you are …
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Dreaming #27
Dreaming #27
Dreaming #27
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Girls' Love Stories #148
Girls’ Love Stories #148
Girls’ Love Stories #148
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Advice for a Forty-Odder from a Twenty-Something
At the Kilgour lectures, OCLC President Robert Jordan said some rather challenging things to the …
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Die Spinne #78
Die Spinne #78
Die Spinne #78
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"Yes. I am a sucker."
I give money to beggars. Am I a sucker? Probably. Yes. I am a sucker. I’m proud to think that …
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Batman #23
Batman #23
Batman #23
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Bestselling Comics (2006) #1205
Bestselling Comics (2006) #1205
Bestselling Comics (2006) #1205
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A Vegan/Aerobicizer Hits the Wall
From Art de Vany’s web site, ca. 2007:
I ran into a guy at the gym whom I had not seen for a …
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Bestselling Comics (2006) #3696
Bestselling Comics (2006) #3696
Bestselling Comics (2006) #3696
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Information Architect
Web Worker Daily posts a mini-profile of Dayna Bateman, an information architect for Fry Inc. …
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Conan the Barbarian #10
Conan the Barbarian #10
Conan the Barbarian #10
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Ontology Links
I recently had to make a presentation at work on ontologies--the basics, really, of what they are, …
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"Every poem"
From Ralph Waldo Emerson’s journal, dated October 1848:
Every poem must be made up of lines …
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Incidentally, it’s always seemed a bit curious to me that given what the Americans say they owe to …
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Girls' Love Stories #99
Girls’ Love Stories #99
Girls’ Love Stories #99
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Die Spinne #119
Die Spinne #119
Die Spinne #119
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Advice for economics grad students
Because, for whatever reason, I'm nervous about entering a world that plays according to different …
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"Did Jesus complain? Did Jesus complain?"
Overheard at the bagel store, when the sassy counter gal was teasing her male co-worker
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Liz-icism
“I don’t need an A-plus. I’m happy with an A.”
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"Callous Complacence"
Melvyn Bragg’s In Our Time newsletter reproduced this fascinating document from WWI war hero …
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The Bandwidth of Books
This Design Observer post about who is reading all those books went over some familiar ground …
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The Sociology of Suicide Notes
From the newsletter that accompanies BBC4 Radio’s Thinking Allowed program, hosted by the …
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The Hands of an Artist
The Illustration Art blog has two wonderful posts on the great Mort Drucker. This one focuses on how …
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Artists in Love
David Apatoff has a lovely, heartbreaking post on his Illustration Art blog about a Polish student …
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Godamighty, but can Winterson write!
The British novelist Jeanette Winterson has maintained a web presence for many years. (She even went …
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Don't Fear The Creeper
Datajunkie runs a great series of scans on Steve Ditko’s “Beware the Creeper!” …
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Organizing my books
We’re studying classification in my Organization of Information class. One of my classmates …
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Jeanette Winterson - We Need Poetry
From one of Jeanette Winterson’s latest columns, this one on why we need poetry:
And in the …
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NaNoWriMo '06 - Lessons Learned
The blog went quiet in November because I decided to once again compete in the National Novel …
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"Monday-morning lines"
John Sutherland’s Guardian article on the contention that some of Shakespeare’s worst …
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Liz cracks me up
We were driving through the miles ’n’ miles of shopping center near the 70 and 540 …
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Al & Mel's "Lost Girls"
For a man widely described as a recluse and rarely given to interviews, Alan Moore is all over the …
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Phillips on death
The world without the people who matter to us is not the same world and so not the world at all. …
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Doppelganger
I blogged about my new Honda Fit earlier this summer. Given that I’ve seen so few Fits in the …
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Rating my GRE study materials
Part I dealt with how I prepared for the GRE. This is Part II. Flash cards. The best thing I did was …
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V:800 Q:640
Tremble before my mighty godlike intellect, puny humans….
Atlastatlastatlastatlastatlast …
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Rules for Computer Use
Mike Shea’s latest essay in another in the trend of many of us who are sticking our heads up …
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Stephen Colbert Commencement Address
Stephen Colbert’s 2006 Commencement Address at Knox College
In addition to very good advice I …
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Links 2006-05-30
Core Dump
“At first glance, technical writing and Disney don’t seem to have much of a …
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In Our TIme - Faeries
From Melvyn Bragg’s In Our Time newsletter on the Mythology of Faeries:
Two of the things we …
:
Links 2006-05-27
Tricks of the Trade: Dishwasher
Microsoft W3rd. Gangsta version of Microsoft Word
Spelling poems. …
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Preach it, sister
First Draft - If You Are Looking For A Way To Be Against Gay Marriage: “Because while I love …
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Don't believe in God? To hell with ye
Atheists identified as America’s most distrusted minority
From a telephone sampling of more than …
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'Shorthand' tips for handwritten notes - 43 Folders Board
A fantastic collection of shorthand codes for handwritten notes. Although my primary notetaking …
:
Fit
Since 1994 when I bought it used, I’ve driven a 1992 Chevy Lumina. I got it with about 78,000 …
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Best paragraph I've read today
At the end of Sam Jardison's list of Top 10 books on cults and religious extremists comes this …
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Superman
Full-page scans of Superman’s first appearance in th 1938 Action Comics
via Robot Wisdom
:
Poetry Daily: From "Epitaphs"
I like reading Poetry Daily (wish it had a proper RSS feed). I’ll sometimes print out poems I …
:
Links - 28 Apr 2006
…accumulated since Easter…
…compiled over the last few weeks, as you can tell …
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Le Petomane
Wikipedia’s entry on Le Petomane includes this wonderful paragraph:
In the following decade …
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Alan Moore interviews
For a man described in many articles about him as a recluse, Uncle Alan sure granted lots of …
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Goethe
From the In Our Time newsletter on the Goethe discussion:
The talk in the Green Room went on for …
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Orson Welles on art & remembrance
Courtesy Netflix, I saw Orson Welles’ F for Fake, a fascinating document. I saw it, listened …
:
Where do your taxes go?
Enter the amount of tax you paid into the National Priorities Project’s interactive tax chart …
:
Links: Power and cyborgs
Caterina.net: Power reveals
“Power reveals. When a leader gets enough power, when he …
:
tinfoil.com - Early Recorded Sounds & Wax Cylinders
tinfoil.com: Dedicated to the preservation of early recorded sounds:
You are about to enter the …
:
Don Quixote
Another In Our Time newsletter, this one on Don Quixote (a book I’ve tried reading a couple of …
:
Charlemagne and writing
Some of the scholarly chat programs on BBC4 radio have their own newsletters, as most media do …
:
Linksalot
Damn Interesting » Tin Foil Hats Proven Ineffective
Shakespearean Insult Generator
Creating Feeds …
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Creating Feeds from Feedless Web Pages
Here’s my first Backpack page that I created for a SIG meeting today. It describes how to …
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Advertising and its Discontented
Danny Gregory is running a great series on his site called Advertising and its Discontents. This …
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"A common destination with room for all"
Scott’s friend Chrystal has a nicearticle on religious choices. My family is a perfect example …
:
Modest Change 3: Exercise
For the past decade or more, I’ve fumbled around for an exercise program I could stick with. …
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Modest Change 2: Keeping time
I was, for some reason, totally taken by Thomas Limoncelli’s book Time Management for System …
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Modest Change 1: Early to Rise
Earlier this year, Merlin suggested that, instead of resolutions and big efforts, people implement …
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Wikipedia:Unusual articles
This page has been making the rounds of the blogosphere. I like the made-up Simpsons words and many …
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Best Desktop Pictures Ever
In my humble opinion, of course. These are from Zeldman’s old site, courtesy the Wayback …
:
The Religious Affiliation of Comic Book Characters
Perhaps a case of the web answering a question that no one had asked, still, that’s a lot of …
:
"The most painful coincidence in recorded history"
From NY Times’ William Grimes review of the book Beyond Coincidence:
The award for the most …
:
Panhandling
Walking along Ninth Street in Durham, or Queen Street in Toronto, or anywhere, we’ve been …
:
Yet a further reason to join the ACLU
This has convinced me it’s time to join the ACLU. The security paranoia has to stop.
via …
:
Back in the Nanowrimo game
Well, sort of. I wrote earlier about retiring from the field when I found the story I was working on …
:
Retiring from the Nanowrimo field
I was looking forward to it this year, but hit the sand early and never recovered. I started out as …
:
The Revenge of the Novelist
From the NY Times obit of John Fowles.
As much as it frustrated some of his readers, Mr. Fowles …
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"Due to..."
From Melvyn Bragg’s latest In Our Time newsletter:
Monica Grady’s other mission seems to …
:
NaNoWriMo: The Adventure Begins
Yes, I’m one of the hairpins doing the NaNoWriMo challenge, though I will only use lowercase …
:
10+ year old files
During the New PC Blues upgrade process, I ran across a 5.25" floppy disk Liz had used to store …
:
Links: Writing tips for academic papers
I compiled the following quickie list of paper-writing tips for a co-worker who is taking online …
:
True Work
I had this on my office wall many many years ago, and can’t find the source again. But I think …
:
Phrases and misspellings to expunge forever
Mike Shea has a nice list of phrases to be avoided (as well as writing rules from Orwell and Struck …
:
Nice phrases
These are some phrases that have passed my way that have struck me, for whatever reason. …
:
Personal Inventories and Piggy Banks
Whilst reading through some collections of old David Allen essays I’ve culled from his …
:
In case you needed another reason to join the ACLU
The Transportation Security Administration maintains “no-fly lists” of people whose …
:
The Dalai Lama Shower
I saw the following originally in Thirty Thousand Days, the newsletter for The To Do Institute. …
:
Doomsday Algorithm
I’ve loved this little trick for years: the Doomsday Algorithm, a creation of Dr. John Conway, …
:
Checklist for fiction writing
Back in the days of iron men and wooden computers, I was a denizen of Compuserve.
I remember in the …
:
"Those were softer days"
I read to Liz before she goes to bed, and lately, we’ve settled on memoirs. The first was a …
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"Making commodes and dining tables"
From Essays in Love by Alain de Botton:
It is hard to imagine Christianity having achieved such …
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Arnold Bennett quotes
Quotes from Journal Of Things New and Old by Arnold Bennett (about 1923)
All political parties in …
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Moleskine harvesting
I recently finished off one of my little squared Moleskine buddies. I don’t number the pages, …
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Stoicism
I was just listening to a BBC Radio4 discussion on Stoicism and thinking how that and the Tao te …
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The Lester Dent Pulp Paper Master Fiction Plot
This post has been making the rounds of late, but it’s especially interesting to me now as 1) …
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The Limits of Reading
Anthony Lane, in an excellent appraisal of PG Wodehouse in The New Yorker (April 19 & 26, 2004 - …
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The Warden and Barchester Towers
After listening to Trollope’s Autobiography via Audible.com, I got a Bantam paperback edition …
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Monthly splurge list
I copied this tip from some money-management page online:
Impulse purchases are always the things …
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New Vocabulary
Some of the words Liz and I have invented because there was a need:
“flustrated” - of …
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On Arnold Bennett
This blog’s subtitle, “Oddments of High Unimportance,” comes from Arnold …
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I fell into a brown study
From “The Resident Patient” by Arthur Conan Doyle:
Finding that Holmes was too absorbed …
