Aug
8
Writing Prose
Tagged writing | Leave a Comment
From the New York Times Manual of Style and Usage, on writing style.
Verbs work hardest, and adjectives little: the welfare worker checked; the gunfire snapped; the pitcher was ready to fire a ball. Sentences are nearly all short; exceptions are rare, purposeful and easily navigated. And what is missing? Not one example speaks of implementing anything, or funding an ongoing program. Nothing is prior to something else, or hitherto. No sentence creaks under the tread of bureaucracy or recycles prefabricated originality: no one gets a wake-up call or puts anything on hold. No one is in-your-face. The word choices break ground: who ever heard of a funky fish?
May
15
I love New York
Tagged links | new york | Leave a Comment
There’s no bones about it. New York is the greatest city on Earth. If you’ve never been, you have to visit. But be sure to follow these tips so you can have the best experience. Really, it’s not a scary place.
DO NOT DO THE FOLLOWING: Walk four abreast holding hands; Congregate around busy street corners, hang around stairways or active doorways; Do not clutter up Grand Central Station during rush-hour (8-9 and 5-6) — its much nicer around 11am;
Don’t forget the rules of the subway, either.
And while you’re there, go see the 7:30 show of ASSSSCAT 3000 Sunday nights at the Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theater. It’s a great improv show done by many Saturday Night Live-related people, like Amy Poehler, Horatio Sanz and Jack McBrayer (Kenneth from 30 Rock). Tickets are $8 for the 7:30 show. They can be reserved ahead, and there is a standby line. There is a 9:30 show which is free, but tickets can’t be reserved. It’s really one of the best hours you can spend in New York. If you’re not going to be in town on Sunday, they have shows every night of the week.
May
10
I don’t intend to keep posting BBC articles, but they’ve got some good articles this week.
A Russian man trying to sleep off a night of after-work drinking failed to notice a six-inch (15-cm) knife in his back - until his wife woke him up. ‘We were drinking’
May
9
The article is slightly less interesting.
At least one of Britain’s birds appears to be coping well as climate change alters the availability of a key food.
Researchers found that great tits are laying eggs earlier in the spring than they used to, keeping step with the earlier emergence of caterpillars.
But “yay” for evolution!
Apr
28
The Bro Code
Tagged How I Met Your Mother | TV | 1 Comment
Some thoughts on tonight’s How I Met Your Mother after the break. Watch out for the goat turd.