Thursday, October 26, 2006
Never Eat Anything Which Was Alive During Teddy Roosevelt's Administration
I've always avoided turtle soup.
But I've been avoiding it for the lesser of two reasons. Up until a few minutes ago, when I sat bolt upright with realization, I'd always avoided eating turtle soup for the simple reason that it's probably really gross, with brown gelatinous packing, if it comes from a can, which, probably, even in restaurants, it does.
But they recently announced the death of a turtle which had been around since before the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Now, granted, the average infant is fed food either grown or born before he himself came into existence, and, if the average cow is about eleven at the time of slaughter, a lot of kids are eating their elders.
But a middle-aged man (and I won't be middle-aged too much longer) shouldn't be eating something his own great-great-grandfather might have thrown a stick at before the Empire State Building was built.
That's just wrong.
It's baby carrots for me from now on.
But I've been avoiding it for the lesser of two reasons. Up until a few minutes ago, when I sat bolt upright with realization, I'd always avoided eating turtle soup for the simple reason that it's probably really gross, with brown gelatinous packing, if it comes from a can, which, probably, even in restaurants, it does.
But they recently announced the death of a turtle which had been around since before the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Now, granted, the average infant is fed food either grown or born before he himself came into existence, and, if the average cow is about eleven at the time of slaughter, a lot of kids are eating their elders.
But a middle-aged man (and I won't be middle-aged too much longer) shouldn't be eating something his own great-great-grandfather might have thrown a stick at before the Empire State Building was built.
That's just wrong.
It's baby carrots for me from now on.
Thursday, October 12, 2006
http://www.NanoWrimo.org
Hey, if you want to write a novel, there's a dynamite way to do it. Go to http://www.NanoWrimo.org, and you'll see a site devoted to the writing of a 50,000 word novel.
Each Novemeber is National Novel Writing Month, as declared by these guys who founded NanoWrimo.org about four years ago. This will be the third year (I think, so, I guess the first year was a year of mere planning.) Before there was a website, there was a group of people out in San Francisco (or, if you're out west, IN in San Francisco) who challenged one another each to write a 50,000 word novel in the space of a month. They picked a month and did it. Now there's a website facilitating any effort to write a 50,000 word novel in November.
There is a winner, but there are no prizes, and none of the novels winds up being displayed after the contest is over. You can display your novel on the site as you make your progress, but that is an option. Even the NanoWrimo staff can't read it unless you post it for the public. The words are counted by the computer but the words are scrambled so that the writing cannot be read.
The idea is that quantity does, indeed, count. A word-count measures quantity, up to a point. Hemingway's words were usually shorter than other writers' words, so he'd have reached 50,000 quicker than, say, Melville.) Anyway, I tried it last year and only got to about 13,000 words, but it certainly caused me to plow ahead. I like some of what I wrote last time. That's enough to make me try again this year.
The winner is, simply, the person who gets to 50,000 words first. Check out the site. It's less of a gimmick than you might think. There are other writers with whom you may communicate through Nanowrimo, or you may choose, as did I, to simply write, or, as I, boldly split an infinitive.
Nanowrimo also allows you to give ten dollars or more to libraries NanoWrimo helps build in Southeast Asia. The donation is voluntary.
This is one of the best uses of the internet.
Each Novemeber is National Novel Writing Month, as declared by these guys who founded NanoWrimo.org about four years ago. This will be the third year (I think, so, I guess the first year was a year of mere planning.) Before there was a website, there was a group of people out in San Francisco (or, if you're out west, IN in San Francisco) who challenged one another each to write a 50,000 word novel in the space of a month. They picked a month and did it. Now there's a website facilitating any effort to write a 50,000 word novel in November.
There is a winner, but there are no prizes, and none of the novels winds up being displayed after the contest is over. You can display your novel on the site as you make your progress, but that is an option. Even the NanoWrimo staff can't read it unless you post it for the public. The words are counted by the computer but the words are scrambled so that the writing cannot be read.
The idea is that quantity does, indeed, count. A word-count measures quantity, up to a point. Hemingway's words were usually shorter than other writers' words, so he'd have reached 50,000 quicker than, say, Melville.) Anyway, I tried it last year and only got to about 13,000 words, but it certainly caused me to plow ahead. I like some of what I wrote last time. That's enough to make me try again this year.
The winner is, simply, the person who gets to 50,000 words first. Check out the site. It's less of a gimmick than you might think. There are other writers with whom you may communicate through Nanowrimo, or you may choose, as did I, to simply write, or, as I, boldly split an infinitive.
Nanowrimo also allows you to give ten dollars or more to libraries NanoWrimo helps build in Southeast Asia. The donation is voluntary.
This is one of the best uses of the internet.
