Friday, November 12, 2010

Citizenship is complicated in other places, too.

If your people moved from what is now Finland to a part of what was then Finland but is now part of Russia and which was controlled by Sweden then, you can't settle in what is now Finland unless you join the Finnish army.
via Ingrians to lose returning migrant status

Not everything true needs to be said

I found a link, The glory years | The Ideas Economy, that indicated that the over-60 crowd still has some usefulness. When I log in to the site, the truth is revealed.

Cassius Clay and Cat Stevens

Our brief encounter with the restoration of sanity is fading away like so many other tokens of our youth, such as birds, clean air, tuna, Taiwan. We still meet a few people and get to describe what we saw and heard. When I mention that Yusuf Islam performed his song Peace Train, my listener usually offers a blank expression.
"Oh," says the other, "Cat Stevens."
The singer, born Steven Giorgiou, embraced Islam and changed his name in 1978.
Thirty-two years is a long time, about 10 times as long as it took for the public to accept Cassius Clay's profession of faith.
"Cassius Clay is a slave name. I didn't choose it, and I didn't want it. I am Muhammad Ali, a free name. It means beloved of God, and I insist people use it when speaking to me and of me."
Sound and Fury: Two Powerful Lives, One Fateful FriendshipPublic acceptance of Ali's new identity wouldn't have happened as quickly, if at all, without Howard Cosell.
I don't remember exactly how long it took, but it seemed that within a small number of months that Cosell started addressing the boxer as Muhammad in interviews. Now, it was all virtue and inclusion that led the sportscaster to embrace Ali. Cosell knew that his fame was tied to the fighter's career. Ali knew it, too. It wasn't all self-promotion, either. As Dave Kindred notes in Sound and Fury: Two Powerful Lives, One Fateful Friendship, Cosell, a lawyer, may not have agreed with all or any of Ali's positions, but he was wiling to defend Ali's right to hold those positions.[1].
For all kinds of reasons, no one has championed Islam's case in the same way.  For all kinds of reasons, we don't remember the guy's name.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

In the company of TV strangers

At least we don't watch Glenn Beck.
via The Reign of Right-Wing Primetime - Live Feed
According the Hollywood Reporter,  a study by Experian Simmons shows that a surprising number of the favorite TV shows in Chez Roasterboy are also favorites among those who don't vote as we do. Is that we don't understand them? Or that they don't understand what they're watching? Or that we don't understand ourselves?

On the eleventh hour ...

Armistice Signed, End Of The War! Berlin Seized By Revolutionists; New Chancellor Begs For Order
via New York Times On This Day.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Wait. What did they do to our money?

The G20 is meeting in South Korea. One of the really contentious topics will be international currency exchange rates. It looks as though Alan Greenspan (or Matt Drudge) has already exchanged our American dollar for something new and not all that welcome.

Save money on your auto insurance

Pay for the accident with weed.
SPENCER —  Police last night were searching for a man who slammed a truck into the ice cooler at the Hess station on Route 9, then offered the clerk a bag of marijuana to pay for the damage.
via Police seeking man who offered marijuana
So, instead of having the station owner put in a claim for the accident and spending the insurance company's hard-earned money, this guy offers to settle out of court. Almost a good idea.

Save money on your auto insurance

Pay for the accident with weed.
SPENCER —  Police last night were searching for a man who slammed a truck into the ice cooler at the Hess station on Route 9, then offered the clerk a bag of marijuana to pay for the damage.
via Police seeking man who offered marijuana
So, instead of having the station owner put in a claim for the accident and spending the insurance company's hard-earned money, this guy offers to settle out of court. Almost a good idea.

No help for me

So, I'm working on a Microsoft Word document that has a bunch of fields in it. In this case, the document is a journal that shows how much work I've done on a project. The fields represent the number of hours I've worked on each task. Word has some features that let you do basic arithmetic such as add a column of numbers.
The newer version of Word have moved their option settings into places that I don't remember. I needed help finding how to have Word automatically update those fields and recalculate the number of hours I've worked. I knew it was one of the options, but couldn't remember where those options were set.
So, being a good technical writer and faithful to my profession, I looked the online help that's included with Word.



Oh, well, let's see if there's some help out there on the Intertubes.


I've known people who were technical writers and help system architects at Microsoft. They were smart people, dedicated to their work, eager to ensure that users received good online help in a timely fashion. I've been away from that business for a while. A check of LinkedIn shows that none of the people I knew are still working at Microsoft. More's the pity.

No help for me

So, I'm working on a Microsoft Word document that has a bunch of fields in it. In this case, the document is a journal that shows how much work I've done on a project. The fields represent the number of hours I've worked on each task. Word has some features that let you do basic arithmetic such as add a column of numbers.
The newer version of Word have moved their option settings into places that I don't remember. I needed help finding how to have Word automatically update those fields and recalculate the number of hours I've worked. I knew it was one of the options, but couldn't remember where those options were set.
So, being a good technical writer and faithful to my profession, I looked the online help that's included with Word.



Oh, well, let's see if there's some help out there on the Intertubes.


I've known people who were technical writers and help system architects at Microsoft. They were smart people, dedicated to their work, eager to ensure that users received good online help in a timely fashion. I've been away from that business for a while. A check of LinkedIn shows that none of the people I knew are still working at Microsoft. More's the pity.

Tuesday, November 09, 2010

The Patch is getting closer

On a related note regarding local news, the Patch placed an ad on Craiglist, looking for  reporters and writers in Northborough. This is the latest in a series of job listings for general assignment and sports reporters.
The Patch, aka Patch.com, is an AOL project to establish local web-based news outlets. They currently have forty sites in Massachusetts with another couple dozen in the queue. The closest is the Shrewsbury, MA Patch.
A few weeks ago, I had a conversation with an editor with one of the Patch sites in eastern Massachusetts. It's a tough place to work. The daily quota for output is hefty, both for stories and tweets. Dan Kennedy, writing for WGBH's Beat the Press site, provides more detail on the working conditions at Patch - Hard times working the Patch.
The Patch wants to be the next big thing in news, as the Atlantic's news and commentary site reported - Will AOL's 'Patch' Kill Your Local Newspaper?
Al Franken predicted this way back when on Saturday Night Live.

The Patch is getting closer

On a related note regarding local news, the Patch placed an ad on Craiglist, looking for  reporters and writers in Northborough. This is the latest in a series of job listings for general assignment and sports reporters.
The Patch, aka Patch.com, is an AOL project to establish local web-based news outlets. They currently have forty sites in Massachusetts with another couple dozen in the queue. The closest is the Shrewsbury, MA Patch.
A few weeks ago, I had a conversation with an editor with one of the Patch sites in eastern Massachusetts. It's a tough place to work. The daily quota for output is hefty, both for stories and tweets. Dan Kennedy, writing for WGBH's Beat the Press site, provides more detail on the working conditions at Patch - Hard times working the Patch.
The Patch wants to be the next big thing in news, as the Atlantic's news and commentary site reported - Will AOL's 'Patch' Kill Your Local Newspaper?
Al Franken predicted this way back when on Saturday Night Live.

Where to find Holden news

Last night, Holden held a special town meeting to discuss, among other things, plans to renovate the Mountview middle school. While the Telegram had a set-up story about the meeting yesterday morning, Holden news in this morning's paper was limited to Dianne's response to a Holden residents complain about audience attire at Spamalot.
Upstart TheDailyHolden.com had the story and pictures.
Kudos to the new kids.

Where to find Holden news

Last night, Holden held a special town meeting to discuss, among other things, plans to renovate the Mountview middle school. While the Telegram had a set-up story about the meeting yesterday morning, Holden news in this morning's paper was limited to Dianne's response to a Holden residents complain about audience attire at Spamalot.
Upstart TheDailyHolden.com had the story and pictures.
Kudos to the new kids.

Sunday, November 07, 2010

Just like I remembered it

Huck used to warn me each fall that wet leaves were slipperier than snow. There is, however, as any parent knows, a big difference between being heard and being heeded. I made it a point, whenever I could, to test his theory. I'd get on an old road covered with wet leaves and give the accelerator a kick to make the wheels spin. I'd do the same on snow. And on ice, just because.

Seeing Worcester

In the spirit of the Wormtown Fleet, where area bloggers try to bring Jeff's way of finding fresh views of the city, James Hunt brings us Hadwen Arboretum. James is a superb photographer and a rare talent who writes well about his craft.
Enjoy.
Hadwen Arboretum « Jameshuntphotography's Blog

Seeing Worcester

In the spirit of the Wormtown Fleet, where area bloggers try to bring Jeff's way of finding fresh views of the city, James Hunt brings us Hadwen Arboretum. James is a superb photographer and a rare talent who writes well about his craft.
Enjoy.
Hadwen Arboretum « Jameshuntphotography's Blog

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