Linkee-poo is thinking of lamb stew

Since there was an advertising link the other day, I thought I'd point out this NPR story on the Power of Habit and how the most successful advertising affects your habits.

Hal Duncan on how to write a sentence of narrative. Rewriting a line from the Eye of Argon. It's a fairly detailed dissection of how to write effectively, clearly and purposefully. Food for thought (I'll need to go back and reread this one). (Grokked from Elizabeth Shack)

Freakonomics with bad news for people with hard-to-pronounce names. At one of my first conventions I was having a conversation that included David Hartwell. The part of that event that remains with me is his oblique reference to, "some authors should use pseudonyms." To quote Bender, "We're boned." (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Follow your bliss. I need to keep remembering that. (Grokked from Joe Hill)

"7. If you are given a choice, you believe you have acted freely. This is one of the darkest of all psychological secrets." Teller, of Penn and Teller, shares some of his secrets. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Sure, you can trust the government. Just ask the closest Indian. (And the joke relates to Native Americans, not people from the Indian Sub-continent)

The rich are different. Or, at least, they're more unethical. At least that's what socio-economic research shows. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

"'People who don’t have money don’t understand the stress,' said Alan Dlugash, a partner at (an) accounting firm… who specializes in financial planning for the wealthy. 'Could you imagine what it’s like to say I got three kids in private school, I have to think about pulling them out? How do you do that?'" That's right, people who don't have money can't relate to the loss of privilege and "status markers" because their too busy trying to figure out how they'll feed those kids next week. And let's be honest, it's not like you're going to send your kids to public school, they just won't be going to the most prestigious private school. Aw, bonuses are "down" (for certain values of "down") and the privileged just are sure how they're going to keep it in caviar and champaign. Well, as I put on a funny poster for work, "Brighten up, Sunshine. At least you've got a job." Oh yes, brother, we're all feeling the pinch. (Also note the recurring line of, "I'm not rich because other people have more money than I do," I've been hearing that a lot lately) How much have bonuses shrunk? About 14%, taking them to "almost pre-2008 levels." My heart bleeds, man. (Grokked from Jason Sanford)

In regards to that story, this week Marketplace has been running stories about the lower class mobility, where exactly is the "middle class" (since everyone, from those making $20k to $500k say they're middle class), they're new wealth and poverty news tracker, and they've also had some radio diaries of people grouped into those categories (working poor, middle class, better than most). It's always interesting to see how people view themselves in relation to society at large.

Tweet of my heart:
@msagara: @pnh Almost no one works in any aspect of publishing because they want to get rich. It starts from what books mean to them…