Saturday, August 25, 2007

Press: Serial murder is a good thing for author - HC

Serial murder is a good thing for author - Houston Chronicle: "'I don't know if it's possible to be a writer and be normal. It's not a normal occupation,' Lindsay said. 'I know I'm deeply neurotic, and I'm comfortable with that.'"

Quotes: "Give me the grace to change myself" (de Mello)

"I was a revolutionary when I was young and all my prayer to God was, 'Lord, give me the energy to change the world.' As I approached middle age and realized that half my life was gone without my changing a single soul, I changed my prayer to 'Lord, give me the grace to change all those who come in contact with me. Just my family and friends, and I shall be satisfied.' Now that I am old and my days are numbered, my one prayer is, 'God, give me the grace to change myself.' If I had prayed this right from the start I should not have wasted my life." -- Rev. Anthony de Mello

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Email: Tech support twits [EH]

[Today's Peerflix technical support] correspondence can be summarized:

Q. Please add this movie (link).
A. Please send movie information.
Q. Maybe you didn't notice the link I sent.
A. Maybe you didn't notice we said: Please send movie information to (email address).
Q. I am now sending the link to the email address as you suggested.

(Why couldn't the twits just have sent the information themselves and saved me two extra email rounds? Tech support twits always require two redundant email rounds.)

Neologisms: bookify

A single verb that describes the many complex tasks required to turn a word processing document into a book -- that is, adding typography, graphic design, layout, page headers, page footers, illustrations, pagination, chapter structure, table of contents, front matter, etc.

Email: Minnesota men [EH]

Minnesota men can be mysterious, it's all that northwoods living. Here are two Minnesotan men talking about their feelings while ice fishing:

1: Cold enough for ya?
2: Yup.
1: Fish biting?
2: Uh-huh. Got a strike an hour ago.
1: Slow day then.
2: Yep.

[Note: To apply this dialog to Texas, change the first word from "Cold" to "Hot."]

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Goofs: Cayenne dust in the wind

Here is a new category to offer the sage (or in this case, caye-ring) advice of experience -- after intelligence fails.

Do not, when vigorously shaking cayenne powder into a frying pan while standing under a fast-blowing AC vent and then leaning forward to examine the clean stovetop to see whether any powder missed the pan and needs to be wiped up, breathe.

That's it.