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Monthly Archives: June 2011
A bracelet I made for a friend of mine <3
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.”
