Lots of studying to do before big test tomorrow, so I haven't been on the internets too much this weekend (the length of this post not withstanding).
Shawn Powers has a great send up of the Google "we can't monetize this" decisions of late. Hahahahaha.
So you're a writer who is getting to the point that you're ready for some graphic design help. Jeanne Kisacky has some tips for you. As a professional graphic designer, yes, this. Another tip (and this varies by designer), if you have samples of design you really love and think would work good for you, bringing those samples with you doesn't bother me in the least given one small rule. Don't say, "I want exactly that." These samples just give me an idea of what turns your crank. I'll ask you questions about the samples and I may or may not want to take them with me (at the end you'll get them back) for reference. I like to have hard copy because 1) I may not be familiar with your reference, and 2) I can point to things and we can have a discussion right then. Also I'll point out that a graphic designer can help you with more things than just "graphics" (cover, logo, single illustration). Also, not every designer is also an illustrator just like not all illustrators can do graphic design.
Chuck Wendig with 25 twists and pivots to make your story like a bad case of volvulus.
The ancient rock cut tombs of Myras. Cool.
One of the most noted complaints about using an iPad for writing is the keyboard function. Of course, the easy way out of that it to use a bluetooth keyboard to do the actual typing. Then comes the discussion of which keyboard you should get. How about if you have a Mac already, you can use the keyboard you have with the Mac. And with Type2Phone you can use the keyboard with the Mac and your iOS device all at the same time. Okay, well, you're switching back and forth. But still, one keyboard on the desk can type into the iPad or the Mac. I think that could be useful. (Pointed to by Dan)
"For farmers… pumping groundwater to keep the crops alive is the only option. But it’s not a very good one… In the Hatch Valley… groundwater has dropped an average of 3 feet in the past three extreme drought years… (the) problem is not so much the dropping aquifer as the quality of the groundwater. It is laden with salt. To keep his family’s 1,000 acres alive during the drought means to slowly suffocate the land." And this isn't just happening in Texas, there's also problems in California and most of the breadbasket. And what we're doing is pretty much mortgaging the future of the soil to keep us today. (Grokked from Paolo Bacigalupi)
Want to know why some of us really hate Nixon? You know, for something besides his sabotaging the democratic process in 1972? How about his sabotaging the democratic process in 1968? Yea, that'll do. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
One nation under the gun. The Huffington Post article on the thousands of gun deaths since Newtown. Within a year we should surpass the death toll of over 10 years in Afghanistan. There's a pretty good infographic in there.
You may have wondered what I meant by my comment about our warped thoughts surrounding firearms. "It is hardly news that the US is politically divided, but the empirical evidence of escalating stockpiling of semi-automatic weapons also suggests that the US is less socially stable. It is hard to see how this frenzy of fear that is driving a spike of emotional intensity over gun ownership will dissipate any time soon." Maybe that article will help define it a little more. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Ever wanted to know just how insane Europe under the Church was? How about the case of the nuns of Loudun. Also good resource material if you want to write about possession. (Grokked from Matt Staggs)
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