Month: August 2006

bookmark_borderNat’l Punctuation Day

Posted on by PaulaO

National Punctuation Day is Sept. 24, 2006. I love finding out about stuff like this in advance. (I hate it when it is, say, the 20th and I just find out it was Save the Mutt month or whatever)

They even list ways to celebrate the holiday. And I’d love one of their t-shirts!

Go on! Go have fun at their site. Be sure to check out their resource list.

(stolen borrowed from Georganna over at Writer’s Edge)

Oh, and while you are playing with punctuation, go check out The Apostrophe Protection Society.

bookmark_borderGood Judge!

Posted on by PaulaO

From BBCNews:

US judge rules wiretaps illegal

A US programme to tap some phones without warrants is unconstitutional, and must be halted at once, a federal judge in Detroit has ruled.

The scheme, approved by President George W Bush in 2001, involves tapping conversations between some callers in the US and people in other countries.

Civil liberties campaigners brought the case against the programme, which was uncovered by the US media.

(snipped)

Mr Bush authorised the Terrorist Surveillance Programme, as the secret interception scheme is known, after the 11 September 2001 attacks on Washington and New York and insists that it is a vital tool in the US war on terror.

Bush setback

But after the programme was uncovered by the media a year ago, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit arguing that the secret interception of US phone calls was unconstitutional.

In her 43-page ruling on the case, Judge Anna Diggs Taylor said that the surveillance programme violated protections on free speech and privacy.

“Plaintiffs have prevailed, and the public interest is clear, in this matter. It is the upholding of our constitution,” Judge Taylor wrote.

Ann Beeson, the ACLU’s associate legal director and the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, said that “by holding that even the president is not above the law, the court has done its duty”.

Correspondents say the ruling is another setback for the president’s self-proclaimed wartime powers.

He has already been rebuked by the US Supreme Court over his plans to try suspects being held in Guantanamo Bay. The Supreme Court stated that the president did not have a blank cheque.

full article

So what does this tell Bush? That he is losing his footing as “The Decider”? Nah, he’d have to get his head out of Daddy’s ass first.

Saw a bumper sticker at Waffle House the other day. One end of it is a photo of Shrub Jr. Then the words say: Intelligent Design or Random Mutation?

bookmark_borderDeadline Met!

Posted on by PaulaO

I met my deadline! I did I did!

By 9 minutes but, heck, it’s done! Jane has it now. She’s got other business to do today and tomorrow then will get started on the last section. So I have a few days off. Whatever shall I do?

  1. Play a game?
  2. Read a book?
  3. Get back to writing?

Would you believe I am leaning toward option #3? Just plum shocking, ain’t it?

bookmark_borderDebate Continues

Posted on by PaulaO

The debate about ‘eighty-five vs ’85 rages on.

The Chicago Manual of Style says this about numbers in general:

9.3 Chicago’s General Rule. In non technical contexts, the following are spelled out: whole numbers, from one through one hundred, round numbers, and any number beginning with a sentence. For other numbers, numerals are used.

The examples they give are:

    Thirty-two children from eleven families were packed into three vans.
    The property is held on a ninety-nine-year lease.
    The building is three hundred years old.
    The three new parking lots will provide space for 540 more cars.
    The population of our village now stands at 5,893.

Then later, 9.34 says:

The year abbreviated. In informal contexts the first two digits of a particular year are often replaced by an apostrophe (not an opening single quotation mark).

The examples given then are:

    the spirit of ’76
    the class of ’06

One famous writer responded that she would spell the two number year out, using it sparingly in the beginning to get the reader used to it, then using it more further into the book. The reader will then not get thrown out of the book.

Another says that the two number year spelled out just is too awkward for the reader.

Georganna and Sophia shared their thoughts in the comments of my earlier post.

Anyone else want to jump into this discussion?

PS: I just sent the question to what I thought was the Q&A of the CMOS website but realized, just as I hit send, that it was going to the webmaster. Sigh.

bookmark_borderDeadlines

Posted on by PaulaO

My personal deadline of getting BGCFA done (edit wise) is today. I only have about 50 pages to go. Then I send this last section to Jane and I sit back and breathe. For a few hours anyway. Then she will send it back to me with suggestions/corrections. Sigh.

Dead Like Me is on right now and later will be Eureka. After that, Lorna will go to bed and I’ll be able to get to work.

bookmark_borderAble-Bodied

Posted on by PaulaO

We folk in the crip realm have our own language too. Such as, if you are not disabled, you are considered an AB or a TAB (temporarily able-bodied). Personally, I prefer the acronym TAB.

At any rate, got today’s CripHumor. It is titled “Ten Things Not to Say to the Able-Bodied”. There were several I didn’t get the joke of, but it’s from OUCH!, a UK thing, so perhaps something was lost in the translation.

Here at Ouch! we know there are plenty of questions you’re just dying to ask non-disabled people in order to understand their lives and their limited perspective . But we suggest you hold back in order that you don’t just mess with their minds or make them avoid disabled people forever more. And sometimes, you know, you’ve just got to be kind, think about their feelings. Here’s our helpful top ten list of things you should avoid saying to the Able Bodied:

“Would you say you’re ‘shoe dependent’?”

“The temptation to just keep on running must be almost too hard to resist sometimes?

“When you get ill, how do you know whether to call the doctor or not?”

“So, your pain goes away?”

“Come again? You’re depressed about what????”

“When you stare at people with disabilities, what connections are you trying to make in your head?”

“Does not having to pre-book transport make you feel free or nervous?”

“I guess you aren’t filled with jealous rage when you see the artistry and magnificence of Wayne Rooney on a soccer ball pitch because deep down you know you could be him if you wanted?

“When you illegally park in a disabled parking spot, is it because you think disabled people don’t exist or that you don’t exist?”

“If you mention walking, seeing, hearing, socializing, sports or anything to do with the 21st century near a disabled person, do you think they’re more likely to cry or sue?”

Got any disability themed top tens for us? Email your suggestions to
[email protected] and we’ll display the best ones!

I LOVE the first one. Shoe dependent, shoe-bound, shoe-confined. heh heh

**

It’s been a crazy few days here. I was supposed to go visit Elena in Charlotte Friday but we had a series of horrific thunderstorms here and since both the storms and myself would be heading east, I decided to go Saturday. Then, Friday night into Saturday morning, it rained here. Okay, perhaps poured would be a better word. We got so much rain, we were mentioned on the Weather Channel most of Saturday morning. The weather station just north of me recorded 3.98 inches of rain from midnight to two a.m. And, when I got up at 7 to get going, it was still raining. And again, the storms were heading toward Charlotte.

So now it is around 7:30 and we are getting ready to head out for real today. Current temp is a brisk 61F and no rain in sight.

Elena is loaning me her HF rig again as well as giving me some of her old QST magazines. I’ve been drooling. I’m taking her my old powerchair so that she can find it a home. She works closely with the local MS chapter and does things like this a lot.

Monday and Tuesday will be Edit Madness. I have to get close to 200 pages edited and turned over to Jane. We don’t want to delay this book any. Panic? Me? Heck yeah!

bookmark_border’85 or Eighty-five?

Posted on by PaulaO

You’re reading a book. The characters have a dialogue.

“You owe me twenty bucks.”

“Do not. I only owe you fifteen.”

“I charge interest, ya know.”

“I don’t have it. Just sunk a not-so-small fortune into my car.”

“You what? How much?”

“Two hundred for a set of gaskets and a tune-up.”

“Ouch. What is that thing? A ’65?”

“No, ’63.”

Now, see the various references to numbers? Then see the reference to the year of the car?

Which should it be? The above example or:

“Ouch. What is that thing? A sixty-five?”

“No, sixty-three.”

I need opinions. The rules say the numbers should be spelled out, including the car years. What do you think?

bookmark_borderAuthor Interview

Posted on by PaulaO

Over at L-Word Literature there’s an interview of Karin Kallmaker by Lynne Jamneck.

How long did it take you to write your first novel-length book?

Two years-IBM Selectric with a changeable font ball (the cutting edge!). Then I retyped it on my Mac Plus. PCs came along at exactly the right time for me. I can barely type fast enough to keep up with my brain—there was no way I could write fast enough and still read it. Even when I’m trying to be neat I can’t read my own handwriting. I also edit on the fly most of the time, and I found handwritten and typewritten editing to be incredibly frustrating. Likely, I could use the discipline that process would enforce but I’m grateful I don’t have to. I can easily say that most of my work has been intensely edited by me 80-100 times before it goes to the editor.

full article

bookmark_borderPlans to Fly Soon?

Posted on by PaulaO

From The Emergency Email and Wireless Network:

United States Department of Homeland Security raises airline threat level to Orange High

NewsEmergency.com
Aug 10, 2006

Raised to ORANGE (High) for All U. S. airline flights
Raised to RED (Critical) UK to U. S. airline flights

INCREASE SECURITY MAY CAUSE AIRPORT DELAYS

The U.S. government has raised its security threat level in response to a reported terrorist plot in Britain. British officials said Thursday they have arrested more than 18 people planning to blow up planes flying from Britain to the United States.

The U.S. government raised its threat level early Thursday to “severe or red,” the highest level for commercial flights from Britain to the United States. It also stepped up the general level of security for all flights within the United States to Orange.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said arrests made in London have significantly disrupted the terrorist threat, but that it is as yet uncertain that the threat has been entirely eliminated.

The statement said there is no indication of a plot within the United States.

The U.S. measure came after British officials said they had thwarted a plot to blow up passenger aircraft in flight, using explosives hidden in hand luggage.

British Home Secretary John Reid said those involved in the terror plot intended to bring down several aircraft bound for the United States.

full article

bookmark_borderAOL Security?

Posted on by PaulaO

From WiredNews:

AOL ‘s $658 Million Privacy Breach?

In a possible massive violation of federal privacy law, America Online released the logs of nearly 20 million web searches documenting three months of activity by 650,000 AOL users on Sunday ten days ago in an effort to share data with the search research community.

Electronic Frontier Foundation attorney Kevin Bankston considers the publication of the pseudonymized search logs to be a violation of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, arguing that the search terms are content under federal law and that the law doesn’t distinguish between identifiable and non-identifiable communications.

That law carries a minimum statutory damages of $1000 per person, which, if Bankston is right, would put AOL on the hook for $658 million minimum, even if it didn’t violate its own privacy policy.

“I think this is a massive violation of federal law and shows a shocking disregard for AOL users’ privacy,” Bankston said.

The story continues:

Queries in the logs range from the mundane “amy grant” to the possibly incriminating “buy ecstasy” or “free lolita pics” that could grab the attention of the police.

“This is also an incredible boon to law enforcement, who can, if it chooses use this as a basis for subpoenas,” Bankston said. “But we would argue that this is content and that if this is less than 180 days old it would require a search warrant.

This sort of data trove is exactly what Google fought the Justice Department in court over last year. Google largely won that case, and turned over only a small amount of data to the government. Other companies, including AOL, did not fight their subpoenas and turned over larger amounts of search data.

The writer gives advice on how to avoid search tracking:

So, once again, follow the advice of Adam Shostack: if there is something you want to search on or a site you want to visit which you wouldn’t want to have emblazoned on your T-shirt, take some steps to anonymize your web usage.

For some tips on how to do so, check out this Wired News How To Foil Search Engine Snoops story from last fall.

full article