tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73591022024-03-12T18:23:39.601-05:00Eclectica by William J ReynoldsObservations, ramblings, and miscellany from William J Reynolds. Politics, religion, computers, society--all are fair game.William J Reynoldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03902278111823548626noreply@blogger.comBlogger603125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7359102.post-45037508668294765362014-04-05T16:26:00.000-05:002014-04-05T16:26:17.662-05:00Pro formaHaving created a fair number of forms, surveys, applications, etc., over the years, I know full well how easy it is to think that something is perfectly clear, obvious, and easy...and to be quite wrong.<br />
<br />
This past week I had the interesting experience of filling out a form whose designers needed to do some additional thinking before they put it online. (Hint: Ask someone who is not involved in the project have a go at filling out the application. Other hint: One size does not fit all.) Some of the more blatant problems: <br />
<br />
<blockquote>
• It asks me for employment information. No problem. Except this is the 21st Century, and I know for a fact that I am not the only person in these United States who has more than one employer. I’m scheduled for 20 hours at each, so one is not “job ” and the other one “other job. ” The application’s designers clearly never planned for the possibility. Fields for, say, First Employer and Second Employer (if Applicable)—and maybe even a third employer, given the current state of the economy—would not be out of line.
<br />
<br />
• It asks for present landlord/mortgage holder. I am happy to report that there isn’t one, so I put down None, and the same thing in the box asking for the rent amount. But upon my sending the form, it bounced back and insisted I had to enter a telephone number for the nonexistent mortgage holder. Fail.<br />
<br />
• It asks for the same mortgage information for my <i>previous</i> domicile. Sorry, I have almost no recollection about a mortgage that we paid off <i>20 years ago</i>. Including the mortgage holder’s telephone number.<br />
<br />
• It asks if I’ve ever been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor. Fair enough. Except the question is followed by a checkbox, a single checkbox <i><b>with no label next to it!</b></i> (See below.) Is it a Yes box, or is it a No box? It kinda makes a difference, guys! Having no use for pigs in pokes, I left the box unchecked and, in the text field below it, which was there to explain a Yes vote, said that I had never been convicted of anything but, since there was no label next to the single checkbox, I wasn’t going to check it. Helpful Hint: If you’re asking a yes-or-no question, provide a means for people to indicate yes or no.<br />
<br /></blockquote>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7aRgCjQVr0MBqzdPy3nPHKtekL1VA-APrkxCOM2XTUdbugJrfy6wCcKJoKOPQjVN-v2EXkARzaIRcK6c8CPm5WmufeaVIAi6-izl0P_6dhVA9q9O2P9_pbbANOcR3Ve1p3EajmQ/s1600/form01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7aRgCjQVr0MBqzdPy3nPHKtekL1VA-APrkxCOM2XTUdbugJrfy6wCcKJoKOPQjVN-v2EXkARzaIRcK6c8CPm5WmufeaVIAi6-izl0P_6dhVA9q9O2P9_pbbANOcR3Ve1p3EajmQ/s1600/form01.jpg" height="51" width="640" /></a></div>
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<blockquote>
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• Above the Submit button, it says “I hereby sign and accept these conditions. ” I maintain that the statement implies that pressing the Submit button indicates that I am, you know, signing and accepting the specified conditions. But no. An error box comes up to inform me that I must accept the conditions. Um, isn’t that what I just did? Well, no...for, as you can see below, there is a small, faint, unlabeled checkbox waaaaay off to the right of the statement (and, for that matter, the Submit button), which, apparently, must be checked. And the existence of which makes the “I hereby sign... ” statement inaccurate. There should be an “accept ” statement, with the checkbox <i> right next to it</i>, and then a statement above the button to the effect of, “Click the Submit button to electronically sign and submit the application. ”<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMyUOq0HjwGsPot1Uf4AQ7XW3MReP78jtcxBvKdAVbMoMK7eFG0CRVtI7i_FQu6AVjv9LGTz8z2FTM79teMJR1dfT1MwAcNy2Wb6dTC_VZ9405gObKdGREIf7_H0mUegpqcqxwJQ/s1600/form02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMyUOq0HjwGsPot1Uf4AQ7XW3MReP78jtcxBvKdAVbMoMK7eFG0CRVtI7i_FQu6AVjv9LGTz8z2FTM79teMJR1dfT1MwAcNy2Wb6dTC_VZ9405gObKdGREIf7_H0mUegpqcqxwJQ/s1600/form02.jpg" height="60" style="cursor: move;" width="640" /></a></div>
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<blockquote>
• Having finally divined everything the form’s designers were <i>trying</i> to communicate, I was rewarded with a screen that included a button that said, “Click Here to download a copy of your application. ” Nice. Only it didn’t. It opened a PDF copy in a new tab, which is fine, but it didn’t “download ” it. Which also is fine—I’ve been on the scene long enough to know that I need only save the PDF from my browser...but I’ve also been on the scene long enough to know that there are <i>plenty</i> of people on this planet who would <i>not</i> know that. They would accept the button’s label at its word—“Click Here to download a copy of your application ”—and somehow think that by clicking here they were downloading a copy of their application. Clear instructions would be helpful: “Click here for a copy of your application, which you can save to your computer. ” Too long for the button, but placed above the button, it would be helpful to a fair number of people.</blockquote>
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<span style="padding-left: 0px; text-align: left;">In that spirit of helpfulness, I plan to pass along these observations and suggestions to the company in question. After the application’s been improved, that is.</span>
<span style="padding-left: 30px; text-align: left;"><span style="padding-left: 30px; text-align: left;">
</span></span>William J Reynoldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03902278111823548626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7359102.post-4017715393939749272014-03-06T11:46:00.002-06:002014-03-06T11:46:37.189-06:00A Pain in the S<span style="color: #990000;">For the life of me, I cannot figure out why this is such a problem for so many people…including the nice folks at Publishers Clearing House, who this morning sent me this e-mail (but, to date, none of the money that they insist someone in my ZIP Code and/or with my initials is guaranteed to win):</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;"><br /></span>
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<span style="color: #990000;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggKvdPZkreWkXfHSFb-2KJhRpQr-pUL9MwmIqAL1UIbMfkfmOuJyXnYHa_wV-eWszkKs0ApOGVpm1y6WQaU_DxGjmESgrxrP6_QQ3WsnuUqIau7h1bG-VXdPvey7LKhz_PyxxBdg/s1600/plural.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggKvdPZkreWkXfHSFb-2KJhRpQr-pUL9MwmIqAL1UIbMfkfmOuJyXnYHa_wV-eWszkKs0ApOGVpm1y6WQaU_DxGjmESgrxrP6_QQ3WsnuUqIau7h1bG-VXdPvey7LKhz_PyxxBdg/s1600/plural.jpg" height="176" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="color: #990000;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #990000;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #990000;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #990000;">You would not believe (or perhaps you would; how on earth should I know?) how often the plural of my last name – indeed, any word ending in <i>s</i> – is mangled. Sometimes it’s rendered as PCH did (just slam another s on it!), sometimes the plural formation is ignored entirely (and my wife and I receive invitations addressed to <i>The Reynolds</i>), and sometimes – most of the time – the good ol’ apostrophe-s is brought in (forming a possessive, not a plural).</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #990000;">And yet it’s so easy:</span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="color: #990000;">One Reynolds.</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;">Two Reynoldses.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="color: #990000;">One Jones.</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;">Two Joneses. </span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="color: #990000;">One Hopkins.</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;">Two Hopkinses.</span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #990000;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #990000;">(When my children were little, we had a picture book called <i>Too Many Hopkins</i>. About a family of rabbits named Hopkins. I cringed every time I looked at the title. Alarmingly, it was published by a Major New York Publishing House. Indeed, a Major New York Publishing House that published a couple of my own books.)</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #990000;">I am equally perplexed by the difficulty people have in forming possessives of nouns ending in <i>s</i>. Again, it’s all so simple.</span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="color: #990000;">The ball belongs to Jones.</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;">It’s Jones’s ball.</span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #990000;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #990000;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #990000;">I am willing to accept <i>Jones’ </i>in the above example, partly because we’ve (many of us) bee brought up on newspapers that use that style, primarily to save space, and partly because some style and usage guides do propose bizarre gyrations for forming the possessive of monosyllabic proper nouns; I worked with an editor, back in the day, who insisted that the possessive of a one-syllable name gets only the apostrophe – <i>Jones’</i> – but a multi-syllable name gets apostrophe-s – <i>Reynolds’s</i>. That never made any sense to me, and the style manual that our office used recommended apostrophe-s in all case…except biblical and Hellenic names. Thus, <i>Moses’ staff, Zeus’ head, Jesus’ disciples</i>, and so on.</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #990000;">So some confusion is understandable.</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #990000;">But I will never understand the bizarre impulse to stick an apostrophe in front of every end-of-word <i>s</i>. <i>The Reynold’s House</i> is just plain wrong. If the family living there is named Reynolds, it would be <i>The Reynoldses’ House </i>(plural possessive). If the family living there is named <i>Reynold </i>(which I’ve only ever seen as a given name, not a surname, but who knows), it would be <i>The Reynolds’ House (Reynolds </i>being the plural, <i>Reynolds’ </i>being the plural possessive). Under no circumstances would it be <i>The Reynold’s House</i>.</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #990000;">(If it was the house of my real-life friend whose first name is Reynold, it would be <i>Reynold’s House</i>.) </span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #990000;">Yes, it requires a moment’s thought. But it’s not at all tricky – certainly not tricky enough to justify the idiotic response given by a fellow member of a panel I was on at a writers conference some years ago: In response to a stupid question about forming plurals and possessives of names ending in <i>s</i>, the fellow panelist stupidly answered that she always avoided giving characters names that end in <i>s</i>, so as to, you know, not have to think too much.</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #990000;">And, yes, I know – there’s no such thing as a stupid question. Just stupid people.</span><br />
<hr />
William J Reynoldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03902278111823548626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7359102.post-78000931273268370282014-03-06T11:46:00.000-06:002014-03-06T11:46:53.261-06:00Lenten Thoughts<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #351c75;">Ash Wednesday invariably pulls me back to that childhood
meme of “giving _____ up for Lent,” which blank was almost invariably filled by
a type of candy or other small treat. Why God should care whether or not I’m
eating Baby Ruth bars during the next 40 days is something that was never
explained, or explained well. The best we ever got fell along the lines of,
“Jesus suffered and died for you on the cross. The least you can do is give up
Baby Ruths till Easter.” When, of course, a sugar coma would ensue, courtesy of
the Easter Bunny.</span></div>
<span style="color: #351c75;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="color: #351c75;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #351c75;">In my college days, the Campus Ministry folks proffered an
interesting notion: Take something on for Lent, rather than give something up.
I learned that this was rooted in Catholic social-justice theology and was a
positive, progressive outcome of Second Vatican Council reforms. (Which, even
then, forces were working to undo, but that’s another story for another day.)
That was, to me, a more meaningful attitude. A common suggestion on campus was
to forgo (or reduce) lunch, and donate the money that would otherwise have been
spent to hunger-fighting causes. That had the satisfying effect of both
fulfilling the “giving up” tradition and giving one the sense that by so doing
he was actually doing something positive for the good of someone else. Jesus,
after all, exhorted his followers to feed the hungry; he did not insist they
forswear M&Ms for six weeks.</span></div>
<span style="color: #351c75;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="color: #351c75;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #351c75;">Over the decades since then, I sometimes take on something
for Lent (in more recent years, a spiritual activity or exercise); I sometimes
give up something (one falls back on these dietary angles at such times); and,
more often, I do not much of anything at all.</span></div>
<span style="color: #351c75;">
</span><br />
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<br /></div>
<span style="color: #351c75;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #351c75;">Except, apparently, to give some thought to the matter.</span></div>
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</span><br />
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<br /></div>
<span style="color: #351c75;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #351c75;">Some years ago, working in the office of a religious
organization, I had determined to give up between-meal eating for the duration.
Certainly I did not announce that practice, nor in any way call attention to
it. But when a co-worker inquired on my passing on a plate of cookies that was
passed around at coffee break, I ’fessed up. It was Lent, after all –
confessing seemed <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">de rigueur</i>.</span></div>
<span style="color: #351c75;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="color: #351c75;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #351c75;">And I was mocked.</span></div>
<span style="color: #351c75;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="color: #351c75;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #351c75;">My co-worker, a pastor, smugly informed me that Jesus’ dying
on the cross was the ultimate sacrifice, and that my activity was therefore
meaningless. (One notes how frequently “religious” people’s knee-jerk response
to other people’s ideas or beliefs is ridicule. One wonders about the solidity
of a “believer” who must armor him- or herself with snarkiness. Further, one
wonders how many converts are won by sarcasm. Again, questions for another day.)
I pointed out that my “sacrifice” was nothing at all, rather the practice was
designed to focus my attention on what, after all, I’m told the season is all
about, viz., the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus…the same reason, I
assume, that my co-worker was given to wear a rather noticeable cross at all
times. </span></div>
<span style="color: #351c75;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="color: #351c75;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #351c75;">The response, of course, was more snark, at which I dropped
it. “Never try to teach a pig to sing,” my father often advised me. “It wastes
your time, and it annoys the pig.”</span></div>
<span style="color: #351c75;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="color: #351c75;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #351c75;">At about that same time, a time in which I still practiced
Catholicism, I was at mass on the first Sunday in Lent, during which, to my
disgust, the celebrant decided it would be a good idea to mock those who choose
to “take on” during Lent, rather than “give up” something – food, of course.
“And if you’re like me,” he pronounced, patting his well-rounded abdomen, “you
could stand to lose a couple of pounds.” No argument…but a good job of missing
the point. To “give up” in order to derive a benefit – I’m going to give up
chocolates for Lent so I’ll look good in my new duds on Easter Sunday – trashes
any notion of sacrifice (which is the point the priest thought he was making:
you <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">have </i>to give something up,
because Lent is about sacrifice); trashes any notion of focusing the attention
on that which Lent purports to commemorate; and pretty much makes a mockery of
the season entirely. I came away thinking that, for that gentleman, it was
merely the practice for its own sake, without any kind of spiritual or
theological underpinning. And what, then, is the point?</span></div>
<span style="color: #351c75;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="color: #351c75;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #351c75;">These days, as indicated, I am less inclined to “do”
anything for Lent, except for some introspection and other thought exercises.
But I do value the season (agnostic though I may be) for the reasons touched on
above – the opportunity to place oneself in the context of the mythos and
speculate on the meaning of it, to focus on something beyond oneself, even to –
yes – <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">take on</i> something that might
prove to be of benefit to someone else, however small that benefit may be.</span></div>
<span style="color: #351c75;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="color: #351c75;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #351c75;">And I think we can do without the snarkiness and mockery.
That’s always been one of the less-endearing traits of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“religious” people.</span></div>
<span style="color: #351c75;">
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;">And so much for Salon.com.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;">For some time now I have enjoyed reading and, sometimes,
sharing article at Salon, but that now comes to a screeching halt.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;">The reason? Intrusive, obnoxious advertising.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;">Look, I get it: Advertising pays the bills. I get to read
Salon’s stuff for free because of their advertisers. I understand the model
(heck, I used to work in an ad agency), and I support it. What I don’t support,
can’t support, will not support are in-your-face ads that insist <b>YOU MUST
LISTEN TO THEM</b>, at peak volume…never mind the fact that you, if you’re at all
like me, are already listening to music, at a comfortable level, on your
computer.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;">The big breakup occurred just a few minutes ago, when I clicked an article link in Salon’s
daily e-mail to me. The window hadn’t even loaded when a box popped up and,
immediately, <b>AT MAXIMUM VOLUME</b>, began to scream an ad for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Homeland</i> Season 2 on Blu-Ray.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;">In a friendlier age, one was given the option to “click for sound.” No more, apparently. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;">Why the hell would any advertiser think anyone would want to
be assaulted in such a fashion? Okay, an advertiser selling AEDs might want to
take such an approach, but why would anyone else? Basically, that kind of
auditory rudeness only sours me on the advertiser and the advertising medium.
After this experience there is no way in hell will I buy <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Homeland</i>
Season 2 on Blu-Ray (not that I’ve ever been interested in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Homeland</i> at all, on Blu-Ray or anything
else, but that’s another subject). And, as indicated, I’ve now had it with
Salon, too.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;">Good job, everybody. Unless the goal was <i>not</i> to alienate readers/customers.
In which case, bad job, everybody.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;">I’ve been looking at Salon with a jaundiced eye of late
anyhow, ever since I began to notice that their e-mail announcements include a “sponsored
post” (aka “ad”) that is meant to look like one of the article links. (Today’s
ad is for, you guessed it, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Homeland</i>
Season 2 on Blu-Ray.) I come from a background in which editorial and
advertising are clearly delineated, and I resent attempts to disguise the
latter as the former in the hope that someone will be fooled into clicking on
it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;">But I don’t resent that as much as <b>BEING SCREAMED AT THROUGH
MY ALTEC LANSING SPEAKERS</b>, and that in the end is what did Salon in for me. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;">I’m not saying that I will never read a link to Salon that
someone might send me – that smacks of slicing off one’s own nose – but I have
unsubscribed from the daily e-mail and will in general consign Salon to the
scrap heap of Sites That Used to Be Good. </span></div>
<hr />
William J Reynoldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03902278111823548626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7359102.post-85317800710874185922013-06-17T16:03:00.000-05:002013-06-17T16:03:14.368-05:00Gosh, I Wonder if this Is Legit<span style="color: #38761d;">This shows up today in my Yahoo Mail:</span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #38761d;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil3G92ALj9FjKwrAiDJzXOW9z66YWMJpOQg_nGZ1zZSq9u6N9NP9wQrcEOagnXjJeMrmZo0kIJjHsJl09YrNZ5cIyFF5utVsXpbjYL6mvBFQDlaDZ-xBrA1wJhLGnvnNS2n7auVQ/s1600/scam.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil3G92ALj9FjKwrAiDJzXOW9z66YWMJpOQg_nGZ1zZSq9u6N9NP9wQrcEOagnXjJeMrmZo0kIJjHsJl09YrNZ5cIyFF5utVsXpbjYL6mvBFQDlaDZ-xBrA1wJhLGnvnNS2n7auVQ/s400/scam.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<span style="color: #38761d;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #38761d;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #38761d;">It so happens that I do know, slightly a Jerry Caliendo. But it also so happens that, except for one or two social-media exchanges in which I attempted to determine if we're related, I’ve had no traffic with him. He’s not in any of my address books—certainly not my Yahoo address book—nor is it terribly likely he has my Yahoo address either. So the genesis of this pretty unimaginative bit of phishing (for, cynic that I am, I believe it to be Not Entirely on the Up-and-Up) is a mystery. Could be one of those viruses that gets into an address book, then sends to everyone in the address book but makes it look like it’s coming from a different address in the same book. Had that happen at a workplace some years ago. Not fun. Everyone is mad at you because “you” have a virus, and why aren't “you” doing anything about it? Of course, in that job, someone was always mad about something. Or, often, nothing at all. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">But I digress. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">One has to assume that if an acquaintance was in fact sending a link to 60+ addresses, he or she might preface it with some kind of introduction. Especially since the link purports to belong to a French entity. And for heaven’s sake, why can’t the phisher be bothered to come up with some imaginative bogus supposed address? As I have complained before, it’s like these guys aren’t even trying anymore. It may well be, as I keep reading, that these scammers are growing more and more sophisticated, but they seem to be growing less and less creative. And if they can’t be bothered to come up with something interesting, then I can’t be bothered to put my computer at risk by clicking on their link. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">Come <i>on</i>, people—it’s a two-way street!
</span><br />
<hr />
William J Reynoldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03902278111823548626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7359102.post-51418587549258488162013-06-14T16:35:00.004-05:002013-06-14T16:37:22.908-05:00Men of Steel<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">Here is a photo of the actor Kirk Alyn as Superman in the 1948 Columbia serial <i>Superman</i>; Alyn also appeared in its 1950 sequel, <i>Atom Man vs. Superman</i>.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZOUg68uGtOPM7tZiLU7OP7YgmVERc-N2h422xKdXPKCafgVphB28xPfP40IXGSkpNBMPopjHkIKkD3e_wKLVWe59iyBrTAGH0ZuOg2tDTD3jQW7kEfzl8Nnt6XmuXICGBro-7eQ/s1600/kirk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZOUg68uGtOPM7tZiLU7OP7YgmVERc-N2h422xKdXPKCafgVphB28xPfP40IXGSkpNBMPopjHkIKkD3e_wKLVWe59iyBrTAGH0ZuOg2tDTD3jQW7kEfzl8Nnt6XmuXICGBro-7eQ/s1600/kirk.jpg" /></a></span></div>
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">I mention this because, in all of the hullabaloo about <i>Man of Steel</i>, which had its premiere today, one keeps reading references to George Reeves as the “original” screen Superman. Not just in fanboy blogs, either: a Salon article about the “curse” of Superman movies leads off by calling Reeves “the first actor to portray the beloved superhero on the screen”, and my childhood chum and fellow comic-book aficionado tells me that <i>Entertainment Weekly </i>commits the same sin.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">If only there was some way to, I dunno, <i>check facts </i>before publishing articles. If only there was some resource to which one might turn to look up such information, perhaps some kind of movie database on the internet. If only the writers of such articles had sense enough to pause for a moment and ask themselves if what they “know” is in fact at all accurate. If only editors would examine articles with jaundiced eye. If only publishers would view fact-checkers as essential to their business, not extravagent frills that fall to the axe during the first round of budget cuts.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">If only...</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">I am very fond of George Reeves; for me and most of my peer group of the so-called Silver Age of Comics, Reeves <i>is</i> Superman, even more than Christopher Reeve, and likely always will be. But to carelessly claim he was the first filmic Superman is just plain wrong, and does a disservice to Kirk Alyn. Reeves did not step into the cape until the 1951 feature film, <i>Superman and the Mole Men, </i>which served as a kind of pilot film to the TV series <i>Adventures of Superman, </i>which aired the following year.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">Were one of such a mind (as I shared with my aforementioned childhood chum yesterday), one could in fact make the case that radio actor and announcer Bud Collyer was in fact the screen’s first Superman: Having voiced the character and his alter ego on the radio series <i>The Adventures of Superman</i>, beginning in 1940, Collyer provided the voice of Superman and Clark Kent in a series of cartoons that began in 1941. (Collyer reprised the dual roles in 1960s Saturday morning cartoons.) Although of course never seen in the Superman role, one might claim that Collyer was the first to portray the character.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">However, I am content to give the credit to Kirk Alyn. It is, after all, where the credit is due.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">Meanwhile, I perceive that I am sounding a little like someone from <i>The Big Bang Theory</i>. Sorry about that. My point here is more about getting facts straight that showing off my comic-book geekiness. But whatever works.
</span><br />
<hr />
William J Reynoldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03902278111823548626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7359102.post-21593669048042816672013-04-21T12:27:00.000-05:002013-04-21T16:10:28.286-05:00Apostrophe Catastrophe, pt. 2Words are insufficient to express how much I detest this sort of thing:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj6Zz1tvpp2Mn0KSvAQRRY3-qrvY0mrmMo12Wfy8pJ1cXqKjhF77q7PRFzihR-CKP4tz3bEv-ohIlMhgaHuZ0clcTd1Wjy5DXNnvnYWwPKjz5rOq5Va1mZ-TLkrGS9JK07ZGvDqA/s1600/70s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="372" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj6Zz1tvpp2Mn0KSvAQRRY3-qrvY0mrmMo12Wfy8pJ1cXqKjhF77q7PRFzihR-CKP4tz3bEv-ohIlMhgaHuZ0clcTd1Wjy5DXNnvnYWwPKjz5rOq5Va1mZ-TLkrGS9JK07ZGvDqA/s400/70s.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Not the ’70s <i>per se</i>, but rather the typographical dumbness and/or inexcusable laziness inherent in having the apostrophe in such instances <i>going the wrong way</i>.<br />
<br />
For once, uncomfortably, I have to put myself among the Blame the Computer crowd. Specifically, I blame “helpful” applications that insert legitimate quotation marks and apostrophes into our sentences. That and dumbness and laziness (see above).<br />
<br />
For the most part, I appreciate having " and " turned into “ and ”, but the problem arises when the program gets to ' and ’. See, Word, PhotoShop, InDesign, etc., don't know an apostrophe from a single quote mark. So it looks for cues from the structure of a sentence. If it guesses that the user wants single quotes around a sentence, or a word or words within a sentence, it will correctly produce something like this:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
“The quick brown fox jumps over the ‘lazy’ dog.”</div>
<br />
Good enough. Likewise, when the program detects a single quote mark within a word, it correctly deduces an apostrophe is the order of the day:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
“The quick brown fox’s kits jump over the ‘lazy’ dog.”</div>
<br />
But things go entirely off the rails when those sentence cues don’t hold. For instance, a couple of paragraphs ago, when I wrote <i>“ and ”</i> ? I had to go back and make sure the second quotation mark curved the right direction. Good ol’ Microsoft Word wanted to give me <i>“ and “</i> … because the space after and made the program thing it was the beginning of a sentence, phrase, or word. It gave me the right quotation mark, but in the wrong context.<br />
<br />
And when I wrote <i>good ol’ Microsoft Word</i> back there? Word correctly determined that I needed an apostrophe in <i>ol’</i>, since it indicates a missing letter, and delivered the goods. But it—and nearly any other program you’d care to name—gives out entirely when it comes to something like <i>Welcome to the ’70s</i>. It’s the space in front of <i>’70s</i> that throws it, making it think that a single quote mark is needed rather than an apostrophe. And it delivers the wrong goods.<br />
<br />
The fix is really very easy: You type
<i>
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, and then go back and delete the
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<i><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">‘</span></i>. Alas, computers have convinced a great many people that anyone who can use turn one on is a writer, editor, designer, typographer, you name it, and so a great many people who don’t know the difference between ‘ and ’ – and are too ignorant to <i>know</i> they don’t know – are misusing left-hand single quote marks as apostrophes. Luckily, it’s almost certain that a majority of their readers or viewers don’t know the difference either. But for those of us who do…nails on a blackboard.<br />
<br />
That said: Kudos to the designer of the image above, or a semi-astute editor or art director, for not sticking an apostrophe before the <i>s</i> in <i>’70s</i>. If <i>‘70s</i> is like nails on a blackboard, <i>‘70’s</i> would be like an icepick in the ear.<br />
<br />
<hr />
William J Reynoldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03902278111823548626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7359102.post-17827058690480012082013-03-06T10:05:00.002-06:002013-03-06T10:05:32.780-06:00Hint: It's 100%<span style="color: #274e13;">This from today’s edition of the local rag. I’m no doctor, but...</span><br />
<span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #274e13;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirro2viUL4xQC8L-xYN4yFoFymSESYbzn4sRafgjy9ZGYjSViELQ8igq5IlDqpmiCtanbUamaPyrviissQGwf0_EKcVcNRJtas8dv2qNT9aR3YhoMroHVAQ25mTfXJivfwk6d8kQ/s1600/dying.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirro2viUL4xQC8L-xYN4yFoFymSESYbzn4sRafgjy9ZGYjSViELQ8igq5IlDqpmiCtanbUamaPyrviissQGwf0_EKcVcNRJtas8dv2qNT9aR3YhoMroHVAQ25mTfXJivfwk6d8kQ/s400/dying.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span>William J Reynoldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03902278111823548626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7359102.post-29558424619290609312013-02-10T11:03:00.001-06:002013-02-10T11:03:28.726-06:00Perhaps a Very Distant RelativeThis is not the first time I’ve noticed that Salon’s “related stories” link is almost always entirely <i>unrelated</i> to the article I’ve just read; its just the most recent.<br />
<br />
The article in question (this time) is <a href="http://www.salon.com/2013/02/09/scientists_release_most_precise_date_of_dinosaur_extinction_partner/" target="_blank">Scientists release most precise date of dinosaur extinction</a>. And it’s an interesting read. Interesting enough that one might, in fact, be inclined to read more on the subject--which, presumably, is what a “related stories” link would be for.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhORDkUzie6svsD3KKEU0Ph1FET5d5dM7hTsxqtQp22KY0CRzGhv4HDudHjpgArg7UB0d2FdkaCM6cpRL_Q0FEuz7QeAxdZwEzBYqoQ5H4vUAWuJg5RsXH_dGFppz_BmOomsL7dQg/s1600/related.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhORDkUzie6svsD3KKEU0Ph1FET5d5dM7hTsxqtQp22KY0CRzGhv4HDudHjpgArg7UB0d2FdkaCM6cpRL_Q0FEuz7QeAxdZwEzBYqoQ5H4vUAWuJg5RsXH_dGFppz_BmOomsL7dQg/s320/related.jpg" width="249" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
But not in Salon’s world, where, apparently “related stories” really means “other, completely unrelated stories.” Behold the three items it initially displays:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.salon.com/2013/02/09/brooklyn_muralist_immortalizes_internet_iconoclasts_partner/" target="_blank">Brooklyn muralist immortalizes Internet martyrs</a>; </li>
<li><a href="http://www.salon.com/2013/02/08/when_facebook_broke_the_web/" target="_blank">When Facebook broke the Web</a>;</li>
<li><a href="http://www.salon.com/2013/02/08/the_car_that_cost_1_4_million_to_repair/" target="_blank">The car that cost $1.4 million to repair</a>.</li>
</ul>
<br />
Not a dinosaur among ’em.
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William J Reynoldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03902278111823548626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7359102.post-70566496986788831392012-12-29T12:51:00.000-06:002012-12-29T12:51:04.049-06:00The Fine Print<ul><span style="color: #990000;">
NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.
</span></ul>
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #134f5c;">Ah, yes. What balderdash. I observe that an increasing number of e-mail messages—including those that come from individuals, not institutions—carry some variant of the above twaddle. I rather suspect that such disclaimers carry no weight whatsoever, in a legal sense. If they do, then shame on us, since the little paragraph above has no meaning whatsoever. Consider:</span><br />
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #134f5c;">The message is “…for the sole use of the intended recipient(s)”…. And how, pray, is one to know who the Intended Recipient(s) is or are? The above sample is one that I copied from a message received this past week (with the exciting subject line “CONFIDENTIAL”). It was sent from an individual to a short list of individuals that, obviously, included me. My name, my Mac address. May I not safely conclude from that that I am an Intended Recipient? I mean, my <i>address</i> and everything!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="color: #134f5c;">“</span>Have I reached the party to whom I am speaking?</span><span style="color: #134f5c;">”</span><br />
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #134f5c;">But soft! “Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited.” Clearly this means that if I am not an Intended Recipient I may not “review” (i.e., read) the message, yes? How, then, am I to determine that I am not an Intended Recipient? The fact that it’s addressed to me would seem to indicate so. But how can I be certain without a “review” of the item in question?</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4ttJRMufQzPMfyCnI8IPT89brwMQTISvUZMRvja_GuG7Ad2X2zf9WrKYhzKvRhs1DguCThvQreaJdrHuthlRMgoz4s2i94nPAnyoRSULR9LiNc9KcdZfUDzQNC4w3wYjsWxzatg/s1600/Fine+print.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4ttJRMufQzPMfyCnI8IPT89brwMQTISvUZMRvja_GuG7Ad2X2zf9WrKYhzKvRhs1DguCThvQreaJdrHuthlRMgoz4s2i94nPAnyoRSULR9LiNc9KcdZfUDzQNC4w3wYjsWxzatg/s400/Fine+print.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #134f5c;">So, throwing all caution to the wind, I plunge into the body of the message. Which begins with the salutation “Brethren.”</span><br />
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #134f5c;">Ugh.</span><br />
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #134f5c;">I have encountered this before. Somewhere in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, my e-mail address has become attached to an Elder who shares a name with me. In bygone times I would respond to such misaddressed missives (I imagine I’ve written about that in the past, but I’ve no time to go through the archives at the moment), but I discovered that people not only could not be bothered to acknowledge their error, they could not be bothered to correct it. I know I have written about the woman who habitually gives people my address instead of hers (she seems to have left out a letter), and how I one replied to all of the misdirected messages from her friends, encouraging them to update their address books—only to receive no reply…except for more misaddressed notes! (Oddly the only exception to this rudeness/stupidity has come from businesses to which the woman in question has sloppily given the wrong address.)</span><br />
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #134f5c;">Along those lines, I responded, in the early days, to e-mail from various LDS persons, politely encouraging them to correct their address books. No reply, ever. So I quit replying. Not my fault if their message fails to reach one of their Intended Recipient(s).</span><br />
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #134f5c;">And speaking of: So now I am into the “Brethren” message (which contains, following a brief greeting, the peculiar line, “I think that I have spoken live with each of you.” Spoken live. Still deciphering that one), and must conclude that I am not one of the Intended Recipient(s). For one thing, the sender has not Spoken Live to me, nor Spoken Unlive to me, nor Spoken Any Other Way to me. For another, he says, “I continue to look to raise a lot of money,” which immediately tells me he isn’t talking to me—although he goes on to say that this lot of money must not come from “members of the Church,” which is intriguing and suspicious enough that I was momentarily inclined to reply. (“You know, I speak live to a lot of people, so refresh my memory about what we spoke live about before…”)</span><br />
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #134f5c;">So now I am in clear violation of the disclaimer, for I would seem not to be an Intended Recipient, and yet I have “reviewed” the message, unauthorizedly, which the disclaimer says I can’t do. Or maybe that was on the mattress tag. I’m losing track.</span><br />
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #134f5c;">What am I to do? Clearly I can’t unread what I have already read. I know this bloke is eager to raise “a lot of money” from “those who share the passion and who are NOT members of the Church”; I am unlikely to forget that any time soon. The disclaimer says I am to report my transgression to the sender. But I’m pretty sure that violates my Fifth Amendment rights, so I’m not going there. Also, I’m tired of trying to do the right thing by people who are too fucking rude to acknowledge the effort or change their behavior, so that’s out.</span><br />
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #134f5c;">The instructions go on to say that I must now “destroy all copies of the original message.” Exactly how I am supposed to do that? For one thing, the “original message” by definition resides with the sender. Am I to break into his house and destroy his computer? Maybe the “original” isn’t even on his computer—maybe it’s on a server somewhere. Am I to hack into the system and determine the location of the host, then travel to wherever it may be and destroy its server farm? And even then I am left with the quandary inherent in the command to “destroy all copies of the original message.” In my world, there can be only one “original”—everything else, by definition, is a copy, not an original. So which am I to destroy? The original? Or copies of the original? If the latter, we have a big problem, since there are apt to be dozens, if not more, floating around in cyberspace. Maybe they’re hanging around various servers that handled the message en route to its Intended Recipient(s). Finding and destroying all traces could take decades.</span><br />
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #134f5c;">And what of those Intended Recipient(s)? <i>They</i> have copies! I presume I must break into their homes and offices and destroy their machines as well! And their ISPs’ servers!</span><br />
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #134f5c;">And what about “disclosure,” which the disclaimer also prohibits? How am I to know whether they disclosed the e-mail’s contents? How am I to know whether any such disclosure was “authorized”? And if they did disclose, what is the penalty? And who is to undertake it? The disclaimer implies that it is my responsibility…but I’m not supposed to have read the message in the first place!</span><br />
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #134f5c;">Which obviously means…I shouldn’t have read the <i>disclaimer</i> either.</span>
<br />
<hr />
William J Reynoldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03902278111823548626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7359102.post-49123395451958140342012-11-29T11:29:00.001-06:002012-11-29T11:29:56.260-06:00What's This Doing in My Spam Folder?<span style="color: purple;">Why in the world does Yahoo Mail think that great stuff like this is spam?</span><br />
<span style="color: purple;"><br /></span>
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<span style="color: purple;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgUVmkzjlKd1JtFIwwUCR2Az6l4eUjRJzd2wjLwEoUaKAciJF_8bIm6dE_7a9utOVaPGXOKNpDJtWvu9VComxONVppy-zeBA4sleR8A48Q7n2jbJh2NH7ETzubQ5e_FORuiVuHwQ/s1600/barrister.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgUVmkzjlKd1JtFIwwUCR2Az6l4eUjRJzd2wjLwEoUaKAciJF_8bIm6dE_7a9utOVaPGXOKNpDJtWvu9VComxONVppy-zeBA4sleR8A48Q7n2jbJh2NH7ETzubQ5e_FORuiVuHwQ/s320/barrister.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="color: purple;">Who knows how many other important opportunities I’ve been missing out on?
</span><br />
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William J Reynoldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03902278111823548626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7359102.post-29853904328030841142012-11-22T10:02:00.000-06:002012-11-22T10:02:22.720-06:00Gratitude<span style="color: #990000;">This past Tuesday was my turn to provide devotions—and, perhaps more important, food—for the weekly staff meeting at the church where I</span><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #990000;">’</span>ve worked these past couple of years. Naturally, with the holiday mere days away, my thoughts turned to the subject of giving thanks, of feeling—and expressing—gratitude for what is and, quite often, what is not.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #990000;"> Such expression does not always come easily for me. Too often, I see the glass</span><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #990000;">’</span>s half-emptiness. It takes a deliberate, conscious effort to pull out of <i>I-want</i> mode and enter the <i>I-have</i> state of mind. As I have put it to my colleagues, I am much better at making to-do lists for the Ground of All Being than I am in simply expressing my appreciation for what is.</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #990000;">Usually, when my turn for devotions rolls around, I turn to a couple of trusted sources for inspiration. Henri Nouwen in particular never disappoints, and his words have an eerie way of fitting precisely what I wish to express. Here</span><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #990000;">’</span>s what I shared with my colleagues the other day. It</span><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #990000;">’</span>s from Nouwen’s book <i>The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming</i> (1992).</span><br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #0b5394;">In the past I always thought of gratitude as a spontaneous response to the awareness of gifts received, but now I realise that gratitude can also be lived as a discipline. The discipline of gratitude is the explicit effort to acknowledge that all I am and have is given to me as a gift of love, a gift to be celebrated with joy.</span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394;">Gratitude as a discipline involves a conscious choice. I can choose to be grateful even when my emotions and feelings are still steeped in hurt and resentment. It is amazing how many occasions present themselves in which I can choose gratitude instead of a complaint. I can choose to be grateful when I am criticised, even when my heart still responds in bitterness. I can choose to speak about goodness and beauty, even when my inner eye still looks for someone to accuse or something to call ugly. I can choose to listen to the voices that forgive and to look at the faces that smile, even while I still hear words of revenge and see grimaces of hatred.</span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394;">There is always the choice between resentment and gratitude because God has appeared in my darkness, urged me to come home, and declared in a voice filled with affection: “You are with Me always, and all I have is yours.” Indeed, I can choose to dwell in the darkness in which I stand, point to those who are seemingly better off than I, lament about the many misfortunes that have plagued me in the past, and thereby wrap myself up in my resentment. But I don’t have to do this. There is the option to look into the eyes of the One who came out to search for me and see therein that all I am and all I have is pure gift calling for gratitude.</span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394;">The choice for gratitude rarely comes without some real effort. But each time I make it, the next choice is a little easier, a little freer, a little less self-conscious. Because every gift I acknowledge reveals another and another until finally, even the most normal, obvious, and seemingly mundane event or encounter proves to be filled with grace. There is an Estonian proverb that says: “Who does not thank for little will not thank for much.” Acts of gratitude make one grateful because, step by step, they reveal that all is grace.</span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #990000;">Well put, and well worth remembering, on this day especially—although, as Ebeneezer Scrooge discovered in regard to the Christmas spirit, it is good to keep Thanksgiving in our hearts all year ’round.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #990000;">My late mother was possessed of what I came to dub the Habit of Complaint. That glass I mentioned earlier? Always half-empty. Always. As I look back, I can see that habit developing in her even when she was a young woman; as the habit became more established in her later years, complaint simply became part of the fabric of her life. Conversation, small talk, was little more than a string of petty complaints</span><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #990000;">—</span>about the weather, about people at church, about the news, about the infrequency with which she saw her children and grandchildren, about this neighbor</span><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #990000;">’</span>s tree or that neighbor</span><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #990000;">’</span>s dog. It was all inconsequential and probably unconscious on her part</span><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #990000;">—</span>it was, after all, a <i>habit</i>, and a habit, I find, that is all too easy to slip into. As mentioned above, I find I must make an almost constant effort to avoid sliding into that vein myself.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #990000;">And so one works to be grateful for what is and what isn</span><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #990000;">’</span>t. This may take on a spiritual aspect, if one is</span><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #990000;">—</span>as Father Nouwen</span><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #990000;">—</span>so inclined. But I would argue that it needn</span><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #990000;">’</span>t necessarily hinge on any particular belief system. Regular readers of these irregularly produced pages know that I tilt toward what I think of as healthy agnosticism on most days of the week, but that in no way interferes with my fitful attempts to be grateful for what I have (and for what I have not had to deal with). Thank God, thank the Fates, thank good luck, thank the universe</span><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #990000;">—</span>but thank.</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #990000;">That said, if I hear the expression “An Attitude of Gratitude” one more time, I will not be responsible for my actions.</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #990000;">Happy Thanksgiving!</span><br />
<br />
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William J Reynoldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03902278111823548626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7359102.post-5789507728375596462012-10-15T08:54:00.000-05:002012-10-15T08:54:06.806-05:00A Slow Day for News?Here’s a screen grab of this morning’s Daily Briefing from USATODAY.com. Yes, all four of those “Polls: Obama, Romney in tight race” headlines link to <a href="http://click.e.usatoday.com/?qs=3f54ebba3ec20113b9440e67f1b5b9e4683fb0523ec72f3653abe9b65079624704cacbce659288d5" target="_blank">the same article</a>. Guess they wanted to make sure I didn’t miss it.<br />
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William J Reynoldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03902278111823548626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7359102.post-89519333178847143102012-09-01T20:44:00.000-05:002012-09-01T20:44:10.589-05:00And Good Luck with That!<span style="color: #0c343d;">A couple of recent items that gave me pause, then gave me a laugh.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #0c343d;">First up, a little bit of a challenge signing up for a newsletter. I dislike these Captcha things anyhow, because it always seems I need to try three of them before I correctly guess at the distorted letters and numbers. But <i>this</i> time I <i>know</i> it wasn't my fault!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #0c343d;">And, yeah, it took three attempts before I finally got a screen that displayed letters that actually could be read. Hope the bots had better luck.
Meanwhile, here was a fun offer from Lone Star Steakhouse, good for One Week Only. A "week," in this case, apparently being only five days. Beginning on Wednesday.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #0c343d;">It could always be worse, of course. More than once I have come in from the (physical) mailbox holding ad fliers that have already expired. And I am reminded of a certain fulfillment house, many years ago now, whose aim in life seemed to be to make sure <i>not</i> to fulfill whatever rebate, "free gift," or other come-on accompanied one's purchase of a given product. Invariably, one would receive a form letter indicating that one had someone not <i>quite</i> met all of the requirements--even when one clearly had done so--but encouraging one to try again. Even though the expiration date had <i>just passed</i>, darn it anyway. After awhile, one simply gave up if one saw that the proof-of-purchase was to be sent to that particular address. Which, I strongly suspect, was the point. But then it's been years since I've seen that outfit's address on any kind of mail-in form, so it's possible that they--and the companies that hired them--outsmarted themselves.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #0c343d;">It's a pleasant thought.</span><br />
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William J Reynoldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03902278111823548626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7359102.post-79040041613407102942012-08-21T20:53:00.001-05:002012-08-21T20:53:54.722-05:00A Tattoo on the TongueAnd here we have another bunch of quotations, which I semi-compulsively collect from here and there across the vast wasteland of the internet. Several are from the wonderful newsletter <a href="http://wordsmith.org/awad/" target="_blank">A Word a Day</a>; many are not.<br />
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The title of this post, as you will discern momentarily, comes from the first quotation in the current batch, which struck my fancy.
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“A quote is just a tattoo on the tongue.” —Attributed to William F. DeVault
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“Writing is torture. Not writing is torture. The only thing that feels good is having written.” —C. B. Mosher</div>
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“Not far from the invention of fire must rank the invention of doubt.” —Thomas Henry Huxley, biologist (1825-1895)</div>
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“The hardest part is starting to write.” —Michael Crichton (1942–2008)</div>
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“To succeed in life, you need two things: ignorance and confidence.” —Mark Twain (1835-1910)</div>
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“No writer is really part of a group sensibility. When you’re writing, you’re on your own.” —A. S. Byatt</div>
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“It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.” —Confucius</div>
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“Four basic premises of writing: clarity, brevity, simplicity, and humanity.” —William Zinsser</div>
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“The real index of civilization is when people are kinder than they need to be.” —Louis de Berniere, novelist (b. 1954)</div>
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“The religion of one age is the literary entertainment of the next.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson</div>
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“If you hold a cat by the tail you learn things you cannot learn any other way.” —Mark Twain</div>
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“Faith is the unflagging determination to remain ignorant in the face
of any and all evidence that you’re ignorant.” —Shaun Mason</div>
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“Habit with him was all the test of truth / It must be right: I’ve done it from my youth.” —George Crabbe, poet and naturalist (1754-1832)</div>
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“They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security.” —Benjamin Franklin</div>
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“An army of sheep led by a lion would defeat an army of lions led by a sheep.” —Arab Proverb</div>
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“An interesting thing about writing is that you might write quite a lot before you realize what you’re doing.” —Alexander McCall-Smith</div>
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“God shouldn’t be put in charge of everything until we get to know Him a little better.” —Kurt Vonnegut</div>
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“Patriot: The person who can holler the loudest without knowing what he is hollering about.” —Mark Twain</div>
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“The term ‘family reunion’ kind of implies you normally don’t have to keep in touch with these people, right?” —Jim Gaffigan<br />
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“To be natural is such a very difficult pose to keep up.” —Oscar Wilde</div>
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“And if there were a God, I think it very unlikely that He would have such an uneasy vanity as to be offended by those who doubt His existence.” —Bertrand Russell, philosopher, mathematician, author, Nobel laureate (1872-1970)</div>
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“Man: A creature made at the end of the week’s work when God was tired.” —Mark Twain</div>
William J Reynoldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03902278111823548626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7359102.post-18502616607568095622012-07-20T22:59:00.000-05:002012-07-20T22:59:05.222-05:00Apostrophe Catastrophe<div style="color: #38761d;">
But of course! When “its” actually needs the apostrophe, that’s the <i>one time</i> it gets written without one! Shee-it.</div>
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<hr style="color: #38761d;" />William J Reynoldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03902278111823548626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7359102.post-75374794641224163042012-07-08T14:21:00.000-05:002012-07-08T14:21:31.235-05:00It Makes a Difference<div style="color: #38761d;">
From time to time I will encounter the bizarre attitude that, somehow, spelling, punctuation, usage, word choice—you know, all that technical, grammar-Nazi stuff—“doesn’t matter.” Translation: “I don’t understand such things, so the armor I put on is to say it doesn’t matter.” </div>
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In fact, it does. </div>
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As I have expressed to more than one client—and, once, to an alleged editor!—such supposed trivia may well go unnoticed by 98.6% of readers, but the flip side is that it will be noticed by 1.4% of readers. And simple mathematics tells us that the bigger the total number of readers, the greater that 1.4% will be in actual numbers of readers. That 1.4% could be 100,000 readers. (We should be so lucky.) </div>
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More disturbing: You have no way of knowing who those 1.4% are. Nobody does. You have no way of knowing their personalities, their threshold of tolerance of sloppy (or nonexistent) editing. For every one who might just shake his or her head and plunge on ahead, you could have one or two who give up, close the book (real or virtual) or web page, and never come back. </div>
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Simply because, as the meme has it, you don’t know the difference between knowing your shit and knowing you’re shit. And you don’t like “grammar Nazis,” so you shut down the person who could help you. </div>
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I pause to reflect on these things because a few minutes ago I started to read an article that I had bookmarked earlier. The topic sounded interesting—writing a sales page for book promotion—and maybe the article contained some useful information; I’ll never know, because when I came to the second error in as many paragraphs, I stopped reading. Sure, I could simply have <i>tut-tutted</i> and kept going. Heaven knows I’ve done that more often than I’d care to count. But today I didn’t feel like it. The obvious sloppiness of the article caused me to doubt that its author really had anything worth saying. If she had, she would have taken a few minutes to proof the article, see that here she had used <i>it’s</i> when she wanted <i>its</i>, there she wanted the word’s noun and not the verb form, and so on. </div>
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I would have been more forgiving had the article been a blog post about, I dunno, politics, or food, or movies, or any number of other things. But when your article purports to be educating about the finer points of writing and publishing, you had bloody well better proofread the damn thing before you publish it. </div>
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Or find a grammar Nazi to do it for you. </div>
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<hr style="color: #38761d;" />William J Reynoldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03902278111823548626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7359102.post-45237218154042005892012-07-03T21:16:00.000-05:002012-07-03T21:16:12.266-05:00Peter Palmer, the Amazing Spiderman<div style="color: #4c1130;">
So yesterday I posted <a href="http://williamjreynolds.blogspot.com/2012/07/this-should-not-be-difficult.html" target="_blank"> my little gripe </a>about The Professional Media’s laxness when it comes to correctly rendering such things as proper nouns—using as an example the frequent references to <i>Spiderman</i> one sees in print and online, rather than the correct trademark, <i>Spider-Man</i>—and what that may say about the media’s inattention to other details they place before us.</div>
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Today’s e-mail, coincidentally, brings an offer to read—for free, even—a digital copy of the inaugural issue of <i>Spider-Man</i>, from March 1963. I’ve got it somewhere in the archives, on paper, as a reprint in a later <i>Spider-Man</i> “annual” (as mentioned yesterday, I didn’t come on board till <i>Spider-Man</i> number 16, which I mark as the genesis of my comic-book meekness), but having not looked at it in many years I thought it’d be worth a nostalgic peek. Did I mention it was free?</div>
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Worth the download it was indeed…but I was amused to discover that, in those early—and, I suspect, hurried—days, not even Stan Lee himself seemed to have a firm grasp on the character’s name. Here’s the cover:</div>
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Plainly, the intent seems to be to call the character <i>Spider-Man</i>, hyphenated. The name appears three times on the cover, each time punctuated the same. Very good.</div>
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Oh, but look:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_dDhG0GKZUy4w8_xF3fMr6km1quomaWGKf5VdYjY1-e8-ShoNP0SV_HYLqa1MyEI-mGh3lQYomf-GIFWh5Lr8CdcMBD9WRM8VxhzWtqOnWf_JkWredejvqDFScFDQ7grSY26hEQ/s1600/002.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_dDhG0GKZUy4w8_xF3fMr6km1quomaWGKf5VdYjY1-e8-ShoNP0SV_HYLqa1MyEI-mGh3lQYomf-GIFWh5Lr8CdcMBD9WRM8VxhzWtqOnWf_JkWredejvqDFScFDQ7grSY26hEQ/s1600/002.png" /></a></div>
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There on page one, the name appears another three times…twice as <i>Spider-Man</i>, but then as <i>Spiderman</i>. This is getting slippery. </div>
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Skipping on to page nine, we have Spidey’s name presented <i>yet another three times</i> (coincidence? I think not), and I’m going to say it’s given as <i>Spiderman</i> each time. (Bit of a coin-toss there in the second panel, but I’m guessing the hyphen is there to break <i>Spiderman</i> at the end of the line, not to indicate the letterer—or whoever ultimately made the decision—meant to have it <i>Spider-Man</i>.) </div>
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By page two of the second Great Feature-Length Spider-Man Thriller, “Spider-Man vs. The Chameleon,” which includes a completely pointless fight with the Fantastic Four, whose presence here, I imagine, was to boost sales and nothing more, things seem to have settled down a bit: Peter Parker’s alter ego is being consistently rendered as <i>Spider-Man</i>. Alas, young Peter Parker himself is not faring so well, in that twice on the same page his creators seem to think his name is Peter <i>Palmer</i>. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI-D-_GaaQ8jxb9UNAWrwY02LjZs5k5HRqoW19y288NT-fDusi38r7uayv2IG4GavpvWefUX8BOclNf-ACxzftnsobT4TYI5zDsuJpE6nHQu-w75X4tDthZaO0HdbTQJcUJrMT1A/s1600/004.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI-D-_GaaQ8jxb9UNAWrwY02LjZs5k5HRqoW19y288NT-fDusi38r7uayv2IG4GavpvWefUX8BOclNf-ACxzftnsobT4TYI5zDsuJpE6nHQu-w75X4tDthZaO0HdbTQJcUJrMT1A/s1600/004.png" /></a> </div>
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Alas. Even 50 years ago Spider-Man was being victimized by sloppy, hurried editing. And so was Spiderman. </div>
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<hr style="color: #4c1130;" />William J Reynoldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03902278111823548626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7359102.post-20841902884346546552012-07-02T20:34:00.000-05:002012-07-02T20:34:21.259-05:00If You Don’t Have a Phone, Call This Number<div style="color: #660000;">
I occasionally lend my name to petitions on subjects that are of interest to me, and much of the time those that are directed to my congressional trio produce this result: </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRoeXzNt2y24px_Dao8hO4QKWWDXZdASwrMp9iwpdm_afLSnwpzszTY_sX0nlM0_EO8RCWLgxDAxVXCar-vkMKvTGP2BRQYl4u5BB32Dw_i76zMCcK6NCdrCvEofI6JTI5jOW8UA/s1600/image1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRoeXzNt2y24px_Dao8hO4QKWWDXZdASwrMp9iwpdm_afLSnwpzszTY_sX0nlM0_EO8RCWLgxDAxVXCar-vkMKvTGP2BRQYl4u5BB32Dw_i76zMCcK6NCdrCvEofI6JTI5jOW8UA/s400/image1.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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I can think of no legitimate reason for my state’s junior senator to “require” me to supply a phone number “in order to communicate <i>via email</i>” (emphasis mine). To communicate via <i>telephone</i>, yes, that would make sense, but via e-mail? What do you need besides my, you know, e-mail address…which, along with my name and street address, have already been provided. </div>
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The other two members of my congressional team seem to be able to function without asking me for my phone number. Maybe they realize that e-mail communication goes by, you know, e-mail. </div>
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Because of the way things are in this country, and in this state, I can’t help but wonder if there’s an intimidation angle at work here. I express my opinion, but before Sen. Thune will accept it, I have to give him my telephone number. <i>Geez, </i>my telephone number<i>! What the hell is he gonna do with my telephone number?? Better click cancel…</i> </div>
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I suppose I could call one of the numbers he provides in case I have “difficulty providing this information,” and ask why he needs me to provide said information. </div>
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But what if he has Caller ID? </div>
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Can I borrow your phone?
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<hr style="color: #660000;" />William J Reynoldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03902278111823548626noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7359102.post-91313075534918252702012-07-02T20:02:00.000-05:002012-07-02T20:02:37.113-05:00Well, "Forever" Is a Pretty Long Time<div style="color: #351c75;">
Rule of thumb: If they put quotation marks around it, it’s the same as putting “not” in front of it.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbKSHrF2Ctba976QoETcyvkOY1mKjKxdb2_WIdFhJOdFsVQL87bYjpFS3gqcck3mGJkXgw6GYOEdZzJYJTP__ovMjZ7-M7T3lxKZlhjrNLEdOte8x9S6bnkRSTqYT7A2iK4lDyCQ/s1600/Forever.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbKSHrF2Ctba976QoETcyvkOY1mKjKxdb2_WIdFhJOdFsVQL87bYjpFS3gqcck3mGJkXgw6GYOEdZzJYJTP__ovMjZ7-M7T3lxKZlhjrNLEdOte8x9S6bnkRSTqYT7A2iK4lDyCQ/s400/Forever.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<hr />William J Reynoldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03902278111823548626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7359102.post-27574565409121013952012-07-02T19:51:00.000-05:002012-07-02T19:51:45.615-05:00This Should Not Be Difficult<div style="color: #38761d;">
Full disclosure: I was a comic-book geek in my youth, and, I suppose, once a comic-book geek always a comic book geek. (I am a child of the so-called Silver Age, and trace my “active” years from 1964—<i>The Amazing Spider-Man</i> #16, “Duel With Daredevil!”—to 1975, when I hied off to college.) But I don’t think it’s simple geekery—nor the fact that I have spent my entire working career as an editor, a writer, a creative director, etc.—to be continually torqued off when The Media can’t be bothered to spell things correctly. </div>
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Like this, from today’s <i>HuffPost Daily Brief</i>: </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoSbcbv4K6WWaU7x1T-G8imTRYy4sZD_xVc_iw4Bds-2PwkBsnzgOpzrpqy-dpswIAfWiL8A0M3LLhk-UGAU6pFIjImPTzendTmAe-bo2U_LmPH-YgozGe9mi_XV5ANUrxu_ofKw/s1600/huffpo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoSbcbv4K6WWaU7x1T-G8imTRYy4sZD_xVc_iw4Bds-2PwkBsnzgOpzrpqy-dpswIAfWiL8A0M3LLhk-UGAU6pFIjImPTzendTmAe-bo2U_LmPH-YgozGe9mi_XV5ANUrxu_ofKw/s400/huffpo.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Let us pause for a moment an consider the irony inherent in the fact that James Franco, who co-starred in the original three <i>Spider-Man</i> films, seems not to know how to correctly render the proper noun (and trademark). Or that his editor seems not to know how. Or that Huffington Post’s proofreaders seem not to. </div>
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Assuming there are in fact editors and proofreaders there, which more than once I have had cause to doubt. </div>
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I have long since become inured to such monstrosities as mailboxes bearing the legend <i>The Anderson’s</i>, or copy handed to me replete with “quotation” marks to “highlight” words the “author” considers “important” (though possibly the “author” is being “facetious,” as possibly I am here), or “infer” instead of “imply,” “whom” instead of “who,” and so on. These generally are the product of nonprofessionals, which entitles them to a significant amount of slack. </div>
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But it’s disheartening to realize that even in the “professional” realm—and at a time when advertising for the upcoming movie series reboot, <i>The Amazing Spider-Man</i>, is relentless—nobody can be bothered to <i>check it out,</i> to look at a movie poster, a comic book, the internet, and say, “Oh, it’s not <i>Spiderman</i>; it’s <i>Spider-Man</i>. Well, that’s an easy fix!” </div>
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Nope, no time for any of that sort of nonsense! </div>
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Yes, you’re right: It’s just a comic-book character. And the majority of the world doesn’t know and doesn’t care one way or the other. </div>
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However. </div>
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It has been pointed out that God is in the details. And it seems unlikely that a media organization (and Huffington is far from alone in botching “Spider-Man”: As soon as the box-office figures start rolling in on Wednesday, we will see the name mangled in all sorts of print and electronic communiquÈs—will be sloppy only with the “little stuff.” </div>
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If you can’t be bothered to check to make sure you’re getting the “little stuff” right, what would make me think you’re bothering to check to make sure you’re getting the “big stuff” right? </div>
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Truth is, you’re in a business in which there’s no such thing as “little stuff” and “big stuff.” Not if you’re the least bit interested in credibility. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRti3PanWTbNV5pXqeZszl73Le9nSTqwO-d-doxoXtUShYZ3m_pF96psp-juG-07AVEucbiQW8quH9wTLvCs_2sTzg24Ntyk8sKvOLF2M2ftcuUHmiukekLy1voUnkkm0iVLbk-g/s1600/spidey.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="136" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRti3PanWTbNV5pXqeZszl73Le9nSTqwO-d-doxoXtUShYZ3m_pF96psp-juG-07AVEucbiQW8quH9wTLvCs_2sTzg24Ntyk8sKvOLF2M2ftcuUHmiukekLy1voUnkkm0iVLbk-g/s320/spidey.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
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<hr style="color: #38761d;" />William J Reynoldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03902278111823548626noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7359102.post-61487204380585273742012-07-02T12:05:00.001-05:002012-07-02T12:05:43.657-05:00For Lovers of Irony<div style="color: #38761d;">
I know it’s not funny. And yet...Victoria’s Secret?</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGcf2Hot8SlYlN_3fKp0J37BnAf4QdiKG6HAnB_TsTK1uNgiBM1eYrnFQOzUdCr-HbkX78zjHOdneYfzbgcz_wfmvyJCV-33ChKGDlMxAPDXIB9HhkyqlBtPCCAhUUxjPIUgXX6A/s1600/irony.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="93" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGcf2Hot8SlYlN_3fKp0J37BnAf4QdiKG6HAnB_TsTK1uNgiBM1eYrnFQOzUdCr-HbkX78zjHOdneYfzbgcz_wfmvyJCV-33ChKGDlMxAPDXIB9HhkyqlBtPCCAhUUxjPIUgXX6A/s400/irony.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<hr />William J Reynoldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03902278111823548626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7359102.post-81629858242291741502012-06-30T15:49:00.003-05:002012-06-30T15:49:58.369-05:00Part of the Problem<div style="color: #073763;">
Our letter carrier left this slip at our house the other day. Evidently someone had sent us a letter that required an additional 20 cents’ worth of postage.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT7aELouhOfDWwgRltMYtnel6RYvTp-DRBsxeY96eo3vkvHFeXUaSFKXL2NIHao7m6MrtKN21W307n8Z4xr0Z5sxdx0diuNRuzryzwRqVxTcFWFq0qmtfN3bEBhfAS0YRK1FUBUw/s1600/IMG00219-20120629-0943.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT7aELouhOfDWwgRltMYtnel6RYvTp-DRBsxeY96eo3vkvHFeXUaSFKXL2NIHao7m6MrtKN21W307n8Z4xr0Z5sxdx0diuNRuzryzwRqVxTcFWFq0qmtfN3bEBhfAS0YRK1FUBUw/s400/IMG00219-20120629-0943.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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It’s a good thing we know where the post office is, since, evidently, the post office does not. You could spend the rest of your days driving the streets of our fair city, you could comb through maps, atlases, and gazeteers, you could MapQuest, Google Map, and Google Earth until overcome by hunger, thirst, and sleeplessness, and you would never find 320 S WND AVE. Indeed, you would never find WND AVE at all. There is no such thing.</div>
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You might, however, with a certain amount of detective work, stumble upon 320 S <u><b>2</b></u>ND AVE, which is where the downtown post office (Downtown Station, in current parlance) resides. And where, 20 cents later, our daughter claimed our undelivered envelope.</div>
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It’s true that 2 and W sit awfully close together on the keyboard. And it’s true that in this era of budget cuts and over-reliance on electronic backstops, proofreading by actual breathing, thinking human beings is one of the first fatalities (at the hands of breathing but not thinking human beings, usually). But it is both true and deliciously ironic that mail sent to the address provided by the post office itself would be returned as undeliverable by, yep, the post office.</div>
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<hr />William J Reynoldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03902278111823548626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7359102.post-78440185912374996762012-06-28T19:59:00.000-05:002012-06-28T19:59:52.883-05:00Choose One<div style="color: #660000;">
Call it self-serving, but I do believe that even in our technological age, editors—of the human variety—still matter. Why? Well, here’s yesterday’s Daily Briefing from <i>USA Today</i>:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0OhNVNTGp6vcAof4NTWAgpFYaDIGPzpX7UZ2SmgC4vCEMMoCc3V8ZnnZ9iKucqqZ5-3VdBlUk6ymxu40Hq_zFCLg7g-CNaCHIcIB7fdKx4cPZz3_EVR-ijrc2duO9vfLvzA2yyw/s1600/choose-one-a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0OhNVNTGp6vcAof4NTWAgpFYaDIGPzpX7UZ2SmgC4vCEMMoCc3V8ZnnZ9iKucqqZ5-3VdBlUk6ymxu40Hq_zFCLg7g-CNaCHIcIB7fdKx4cPZz3_EVR-ijrc2duO9vfLvzA2yyw/s400/choose-one-a.jpg" width="377" /></a></div>
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I presume that any editor worth his or her salt would have paused at those last two headlines, and determined that one of them must go. But maybe not. There’s a lot of low-salt editors out there.
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<hr style="color: #660000;" />William J Reynoldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03902278111823548626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7359102.post-38096498962859771372012-05-30T15:19:00.000-05:002012-05-30T15:19:12.895-05:00Dear Groupon: What??!My dad was a great guy, and he did a lot for me...but he most certainly did <i>not </i>“give birth” to me.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHm8zP9d9nc5Mkc3pUlXp9YJH2mFiB5CVzMDS-JvLkwEyrIV6jGdAuka09EBb-CuCRIGMxI4sik_kz32PwmbVL1UA8fscuSeH-lXtzy5TjxZPHdgpOpENoC7ycr1lAv76FafO57Q/s1600/groupon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHm8zP9d9nc5Mkc3pUlXp9YJH2mFiB5CVzMDS-JvLkwEyrIV6jGdAuka09EBb-CuCRIGMxI4sik_kz32PwmbVL1UA8fscuSeH-lXtzy5TjxZPHdgpOpENoC7ycr1lAv76FafO57Q/s400/groupon.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Appears somebody needs a Human Reproduction refresher course.William J Reynoldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03902278111823548626noreply@blogger.com0