Jun

30

“Writing shouldn’t be a contest between writer and reader”

I was reading an article by Ben Bova from naplesnews.com and was struck by the advice he received from one of his editors from the time he worked at a newspaper.

“See them?” the old editor asked me. “If you’re going to write for newspapers, you’ve got to be able to take the most complicated things happening in the world and write about them clearly enough so that they can understand ’em.” Clarity. That’s a vital ingredient in any kind of writing. When you write, you’re taking ideas in your mind and trying to transfer them into the minds of people you’ll never meet, through the medium of making marks on paper. Clarity is important. Writing shouldn’t be a contest between writer and reader. The writer’s job is to make the reader understand what he’s writing about. [From Ben Bova: Writers must write, every day : Columns : Naples Daily News]

What struck me was how true this is when working on copy for clients websites. I don’t know how many times I have read the copy that I receive, or the copy that is on a small business website, and I don’t understand. If I don’t understand it, how does anyone expect a casual visitor to your site to understand it? They won’t.

In this age of instant gratification, what you write must be clear and understandable. Whether it’s a short story, memoir, novel, or even web copy for your internet site. As the editor states: “Writing shouldn’t be a contest between writer and reader”.

Jun

29

SPAM in my inbox

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As part of what I do, I have my own server where I hosts internet sites. One of my tasks is to make my custoerms email as spam free as possible. On any given day, my servers block from 3000 to 4000 spam messages. Every once in a while, a few get through to my account. One today just made me laugh…

Subject: Upgrade the bazooka in your pants.
Message: Take 2 pills a day to get a much bigger organ then before (website edited out)

Now my question is. What are the requirements you must have for making up this shit?

Jun

29

Why do Gorillas have big nostrils?

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Because they have big fingers.

Jun

28

Go with your gut.

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Now we actually have scientific proof for what your Dad always told you. Go with your gut.

“We think our decisions are conscious,” said neuroscientist John-Dylan Haynes at the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience in Berlin, who is pioneering this research. “But these data show that consciousness is just the tip of the iceberg. This doesn’t rule out free will, but it does make it implausible.”
[From Science Journal - WSJ.com]

You should read the full article. Makes you wander who actually rules. You? Well maybe. Your brain makes up its mind up to 10 seconds before you are aware of the actually decision.

Something to ponder. Maybe now the meaning of life is not 42

Jun

27

Drug Reverses Mental Retardation in Mice???

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WTF? My first question is how would you know that a mouse was retarded? Is there some kind of test or something. And if you could find out if a mouse was retarded, why would you want to?

[From Existing Drug Reverses a Form of Mental Retardation in Mice: Scientific American]

Jun

24

My Love

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Marilyn and I celebrated our 19′th wedding anniversary on June 17′th. 19 years. Since 1989.

It only seemed like yesterday that I was pressing my face up against the window in my dining room to get a glimps of her watering her flowers across the street. You see, most normal people would water flowers by either setting up a sprinkler, or if they were to do it with the hose, to turn the hose on the flowers. Point is to get the job done as fast as possible.

Marilyn on the other-hand would turn on the water so that it would just be a trickle. She would then go to a flower and water only that one. Then the next. So on and so forth. Now me being the guy I am, I thought she was doing this so that I would notice her. It always seemed to me that she would go out and water soon after I would get home from work. My thinking was that she wanted me.

23

RIP: George Carlin

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George Carlin died yesterday. I did not read about it till this morning when I was catching up on my news. When I was a junior in highschool, I took my girlfriend at the time, Michelle, to see him at the old Embassy theater in downtown Fort Wayne.

George was the only comedian that truly made me laugh. His routines were so truthful to life’s situations. His bit about “Stuff” was so spot on. I had a small house, then got a bigger house to fit more stuff. I look in my pool barn and wonder where the hell did I get so much stuff. Can’t get rid of the stuff, since I’ll only end up getting twice as much stuff as I had before.

If anyone asks you what the meaning of life is, George Carlin said it perfectly “The whole meaning if life is just trying to find a place for your stuff”.

Jun

13

Every Sunday Morning

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I had an appointment with Tim Russert and Meet the Press. Tim Russert died today. He will be missed, and I my Sunday mornings will not be the same.

Jun

7

I now present…

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The Graduate. After 13 long grueling years, he has finally made it. The graduation ceremony was supposed to be held outside at Falon Field, however Mother Nature had other things on her mind. It rained. And it was windy. And it was hot. So, the powers that be decided to move the ceremony to the Performing Arts Center, where it was nice and air conditioned. After graduation, all the graduates went to Grad Bash. I’ll have Russell expand on that later.

Jun

3

Proud of that boy

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Last night was Senior Awards night at Paw Paw High School. Russell was presented with a Four Year Academic Honor Award. In order to get that award, you needed to be on the Honor Roll (3.5 GPA or above) for 7 consecutive semesters. That’s Freshman year, Sophomore year, Junior year and Senior year. What an accomplishment.

Russell’s had a wonderful and accomplished High School career. He lettered in Cross Country 3 years in a row. He was Captain of the Cross Country team his Junior and Senior year. Although to be fair, he was only in Cross Country for 3 years. Russell received the “Most Valuable Runner” his senior year in Cross Country. Russell also lettered 3 years in track, and became the first person in 7 years to get below 11 minutes (a 10:56) in the 3200 meters in track this year.

I know Russell is going to succeed in what ever career path he chooses, because that is just the way he is. I’m very proud of him.