Author Archives: tblradmin
William Safire’s rules for good writing:
No sentence fragments. Avoid run-on sentences they are hard to read. A writer must not shift your point of view. Reserve the apostrophe for it’s proper use and omit it when its not needed. Write all adverbial forms correct. In their writing, everyone should make sure that their pronouns agree with its antecedent. Use the semicolon properly, use it between complete but related thoughts; and not between an independent clause and a mere phrase. Don’t use no double negatives. Also, avoid awkward or affected alliteration. If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times: Resist hyperbole. If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is. Avoid commas, that are not necessary. Verbs has to agree with their subjects. Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky. And don’t start a sentence with a conjunction. The passive voice should never be used. Writing carefully, dangling participles should be avoided. Unless you are quoting other people’s exclamations, kill a ll exclamation points!!! Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do. Proofread carefully to see if you any words out. Use parallel structure when you write and in speaking. You should just avoid confusing readers with misplaced modifiers. Place pronouns as close as possible, especially in long sentences-such as those of ten or more words-to their antecedents. Eschew dialect, irregardless. Remember to never split an infinitive. Take the bull by the hand and don’t mix metaphors. Don’t verb nouns. Always pick on the correct idiom. Never, ever use repetitive redundancies. “Avoid overuse of ‘quotation “marks.”’” Never use prepositions to end a sentence with. Last but not least, avoid clichés like the plague.
Re: Books that taught me about love
Dear perpetualthoughts.
I was reading your post “Books that taught me about love”, and though I felt it too long to reblog, I wanted to respond to some of your thoughts, though I’ll admit I’ve only heard of three of the 8 books, and only two of which I’ve read.
Stargirl is quite easily one of my favourite books. To be honest, when I first re-met you, you reminded me of her, so your belief that she was a major role model for you is extremely accurate. 🙂
The Lioness Quartet is definitely something that I read, but it is so long ago that I get mixed between it and Tamora Pierces other two related series. I remember that I loved the stories and the backstories, and I must say that, odd as it may seem, I was always very fond of the “strong girl” archetype.
I’ve (obviously) heard of Anne and the French Kiss, but I have yet to read it. I love how you threw in the Maureen Johnson quote there 😀
Lastly, and the main reason I replied in this way, in your description of Boy Proof (which I haven’t read) you said something that really struck me. You said “It’s unmistakable that Egg changes in this book, but she doesn’t change for Max, she changes because Max has inspired her to look at the world from a different perspective, and that makes her want to try harder, be kinder and contribute more to the world.” This struck me because… this is what happened to me. Between you and Tipi Camp, I became a very different person from what I might have otherwise been… So, thank you 🙂
I hope to hear from you soon.
Lovely post James! Nice to hear your thoughts.
Would anyone like to get me this tshirt for my birthday? I know its a ways off but planning ahead is good. It’s my favourite nerdfighter shirt.
Things I learned at CUTC
- Just do it.
- To succeed you must fail.
- The internet allows start-ups to get going without much capitol.
- Incubators are where it’s at.
- Persistence is crucial.
- The businesses on top made it there at night and on weekends.
- Luck is all about perspective.
- If you don’t do it, someone else will, and they will beat you.
- You learn best when surrounded by people smarter than you.
- Networking is most effective when you’re genuine and look for common ground.
- “Tell me more” will save you when you’re lost in a conversation.
- The start-up lifestyle is a lot less glamorous then you may think.
- Reach out to people you want to connect with, regardless of their title.
- New technology may enable old ideas to become plausible.
- Small companies are the bomb.
- Look for a career where you’re not only making money and good at what you do, but you’re passionate about what you do, and you’re changing the world.
- CTFW – Change The Fucking World
- We must place are bets on the crazy people, the unreasonable people, the mad people. The incremental steps that are being taken towards the big issues such as poverty, green energy, population growth, scarcity of resources and global warming don’t have enough impact to fix problems of this magnitude. We need to take chances on brilliant, revolutionary ideas, regardless of how impossible they seem, because that will give us the best chance and progress.
- The way we think about failure can be extraordinarily disabling – give yourself incentives to fail and embrace failure on the path to success.
- Start now, what’s the point of waiting?
- If you aren’t maximizing your productivity, you’re being lazy. Busy work is a form of laziness.
- 9-5 jobs and flex hours are becoming a thing of the past, the new model is results based only – work when you need to work, where you want to work, and only spend time on things that relate to your result.
- Cell phone banking is starting to have a huge positive effect on Africa.
- Incremental product development produces the most value for your time and money.
- Predictions based on trends of the past can be interesting, but are still usually wrong.
- Multitasking is a myth.
The story of Schroedinger’s cat (an epic poem)
Dear Cecil:
Cecil, you’re my final hope
Of finding out the true Straight Dope
For I have been reading of Schroedinger’s cat
But none of my cats are at all like that.
This unusual animal (so it is said)
Is simultaneously live and dead!
What I don’t understand is just why he
Can’t be one or other, unquestionably.
My future now hangs in between eigenstates.
In one I’m enlightened, the other I ain’t.
If you understand, Cecil, then show me the way
And rescue my psyche from quantum decay.
But if this queer thing has perplexed even you,
Then I will and won’t see you in Schroedinger’s zoo.
Cecil replies:
Schroedinger, Erwin! Professor of physics!
Wrote daring equations! Confounded his critics!
(Not bad, eh? Don’t worry. This part of the verse
Starts off pretty good, but it gets a lot worse.)
Win saw that the theory that Newton’d invented
By Einstein’s discov’ries had been badly dented.
What now? wailed his colleagues. Said Erwin, “Don’t panic,
No grease monkey I, but a quantum mechanic.
Consider electrons. Now, these teeny articles
Are sometimes like waves, and then sometimes like particles.
If that’s not confusing, the nuclear dance
Of electrons and suchlike is governed by chance!
No sweat, though — my theory permits us to judge
Where some of ‘em is and the rest of ‘em was.”
Not everyone bought this. It threatened to wreck
The comforting linkage of cause and effect.
E’en Einstein had doubts, and so Schroedinger tried
To tell him what quantum mechanics implied.
Said Win to Al, “Brother, suppose we’ve a cat,
And inside a tube we have put that cat at —
Along with a solitaire deck and some Fritos,
A bottle of Night Train, a couple mosquitoes
(Or something else rhyming) and, oh, if you got ‘em,
One vial prussic acid, one decaying ottom
Or atom — whatever — but when it emits,
A trigger device blasts the vial into bits
Which snuffs our poor kitty. The odds of this crime
Are 50 to 50 per hour each time.
The cylinder’s sealed. The hour’s passed away. Is
Our pussy still purring — or pushing up daisies?
Now, you’d say the cat either lives or it don’t
But quantum mechanics is stubborn and won’t.
Statistically speaking, the cat (goes the joke),
Is half a cat breathing and half a cat croaked.
To some this may seem a ridiculous split,
But quantum mechanics must answer, “Tough shit.
We may not know much, but one thing’s fo’ sho’:
There’s things in the cosmos that we cannot know.
Shine light on electrons — you’ll cause them to swerve.
The act of observing disturbs the observed —
Which ruins your test. But then if there’s no testing
To see if a particle’s moving or resting
Why try to conjecture? Pure useless endeavor!
We know probability — certainty, never.’
The effect of this notion? I very much fear
‘Twill make doubtful all things that were formerly clear.
Till soon the cat doctors will say in reports,
“We’ve just flipped a coin and we’ve learned he’s a corpse.”’
So saith Herr Erwin. Quoth Albert, “You’re nuts.
God doesn’t play dice with the universe, putz.
I’ll prove it!” he said, and the Lord knows he tried —
In vain — until fin’ly he more or less died.
Win spoke at the funeral: “Listen, dear friends,
Sweet Al was my buddy. I must make amends.
Though he doubted my theory, I’ll say of this saint:
Ten-to-one he’s in heaven — but five bucks says he ain’t.”
Books that taught me about Love
It’s late, and I can’t sleep, and it’s now officially my six month (or half year) anniversary of my first serious relationship. So for the last few days I’ve been wanting to write this book list of stories that taught me about love. It is in no way complete, but includes some of the tiles that really shaped my opinions of young romantic love.
Looking at the Moon by Kit Pearson
Kit Pearson was one of my favourite authors when I was younger, and this is the first book I remember reading that focuses on a love interest. The protagonist is a young girl from England, who has been sent, with her brother, to live with a Canadian family in order to escape the danger of World War II. She “falls in love” with the family’s charismatic older cousin while vacationing at the family’s summer island cottage. I remember reading this book over and over again to hear about the boy. Nothing happens between the two of them, romantically speaking, but the young girl, Norah, reads further in to their friendly conversations than realistic. It’s the classic story of a young girl mooning over an unattainable older boy, which is probably why I related to it, and liked it. However, Norah and her crush make a strong connection several times throughout the book. This was interesting for me because it seems, so often, that we interpret actions and words from people we admire to mean more than they do. In Norah’s case, she actually became very important to this person because of the way she sought his company, the meaningful conversations they had, and the connection they made.
The Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce
I was a big fan of girl power stories as a child, I still am, and Tamora Pierce’s girl knight stories were a great example. I liked this story because the knight saved the prince. This is also the first novel I remember reading which contained any sexuality, tame as it was. I guess what I learned from this one was how important equality is in relationships. The romantic pair, Alanna and Jon, are both very strong characters who can be very stubborn, which causes a fair amount of conflict in their relationship. I admired Alanna’s bravery and determination when it came to standing up for her opinions and what she thought was right. She wasn’t going to back down for anyone, even a charming prince. Even a charming prince she had strong feelings for.
Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
I think the first time I read this book I was in grade 6 or 7, and I convinced my teacher to read it to the entire class once I’d finished since I loved it so much. Stargirl was a great role model for me. She’s one of the characters who lives on in my heart, whether or not she, or someone like her, ever existed in four dimensional space. I think I wanted someone to feel about me the way Leo felt about Stargirl ever since I read this book in elementary school. This book also taught me how easy it is to mess things up, even when two people care about each other, and how hurtful people can be unintentionally. I still like to think that Stargirl and Leo made amends in the end and came back to each other, as they were still somewhat young and foolish during the span of the story. The sequel, “Love, Stargirl”, leads me to believe Jerry Spinelli thought so too.
How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
For quite a while this was one of the books that came to mind whenever I was asked for my favourite. I read and reviewed it for a contest Chapters held, and made it in to something like the top 20 out of 1000, which made me ridiculously proud of myself. It’s about a girl who gets sent to live with a ragtag bunch of her quirky cousins in rural england by her evil stepmother. She falls madly in love with her cousin right before war strikes, pulling the family apart. The love portrayed in this story is some of the strongest I’ve ever read about, regardless of the fact that it’s shared by cousins, by teenagers, by those who have no right to love that strongly. The thing I took from this book was the power of love, how one person could truly become the purpose in your life for better or worse, simply because you couldn’t bare to live any other way.
Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen
A couple years ago I read 5 or 6 of Sarah Dessen’s books in about the space of a month. I’m a big fan of her writing, and her sweet but down to earth love stories. However, months, maybe even years, before that reading spree, I got my hands on Someone Like You, and that book has a special place in my heart. It’s a story about teen pregnancy, loss, and at its core, friendship. There’s also a boy, a bad boy. Before I’d had my first kiss, and after the kisses I’ve had, I’ve often thought of a scene from this book. Halley has just been in an argument with her mother (about getting home late, or sneaking out or her new found attitude) and looks in the mirror with her lips still red from kissing, wondering how much she’s changed since she started going out with this guy. What I took away from this one was that it’s really hard to critically evaluate anything when you’re in love. It’s hard to see someone’s faults when you care about them, but, painful as it is to acknowledge, they might not be as great as you think at the time. Also, it is possible to get over the pain of heartbreak.
Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta
This extraordinarily witty and genuine book is about depression, moving forward, and the odd way friendships develop. The people we think we should be with aren’t always the people we need, or who need us. It is one of the loveliest books about friendship I’ve read, because the characters are quirky and gross and nerdy and kind and passionate and annoying and conflicted, and immature, and wise, just like real people, real teenagerss. The love story within this story is honest and rough. Francesca and Will have fallen for one another in such a straightforward and genuine sense that it’s simply heartwarming. However, even when it seems like everything should work out, things may be more complicated then they seem. The road to love is often rocky, but it can be travelled.
Boy Proof by Cecil Castellucci
This is my favourite prince charming story. Both Egg and Max are such extraordinarily talented and intelligent characters, that I, like, am jealous. They do a ton of cool things like participating in frankenfood protests, reporting on political issues for the school newspapers and creating wicked cartons and monster masks. They both think deeply about things. I called this a prince charming story because Max saves Egg from her way of thinking, her negativity and self pity. I guess in the end she really saves herself, but he’s the one who shows her there’s another way to be. This book also really nails down the whole beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and beauty is more than skin deep thing. Their connection is so much deeper than looks. It’s unmistakable that Egg changes in this book, but she doesn’t change for Max, she changes because Max has inspired her to look at the world from a different perspective, and that makes her want to try harder, be kinder and contribute more to the world.
Anne and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
The link to Anne and the French Kiss is the only one that doesn’t go to amazon.ca, because, for one, I couldn’t find it on amazon, and two, the author, Stephanie Perkins, website is adorable. This is one of the most genuinely funny and romantic stories I’ve ever read. It was recommended to me via youtube and John Green (whose books I also love.) The author is a nerdfighter with blue hair (like me!) This book has so much going for it, it’s set in Paris and the boy has an accent, charisma and messy hair for starters. What I find refreshing about the characters in this story is their imperfections. In the vampire era of teen fiction it seems like we are surrounded by books about angst and chiselled abs. Here is a story where the things that are unique about someone, crooked smiles, poor french, paralyzing fears of heights, are endearing and special and treated gently. This is a story about real people falling in love. Becoming best friends and falling in love at the same time, which really, when you think about it, no trivial feat, and something to be admired.
“Very sly. Very funny. Very romantic. You should date this book.”
— Maureen Johnson
I hope I have managed to convey, at least to some degree, the things I loved about these stories. I hope you get a chance to read some of them, and would love to hear your opinions if you did. I’m also always up for giving more book recommendations, as this is only the smallest sampling of the books I’ve learned from and been inspired by. Happy Reading!
I just watched the first year of the vlog brothers… only took, what, 3… 4 months?
btw… this song is simultaneously sad and happy… or as one of my friends would say, its bittersweet 🙂
I listen to hank’s songs on repeat during work and homework sometimes and this is one of my favourites. In fact I rather like all his goodbye songs. This usually makes me tear up a little bit, that may just be because I’m an emotional sap, but I like things that way.
(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)