Island Passage

You walked to school in the snow? Well, not so much... My 4 GB SanDisk MP3 player took a high-dive from my shirt pocket to swim in the toilet last week. So, I am back to my 256 MB Creative MuVo. Kinda sad, but with the economy the way it is, I don't think I'll be upgrading for a while. These are the stories that I'll tell my great-grandkids when they ask how hard things were in the Great Crash of 2009.

Which phrase sounds slightly pretentious. It's not that I have so many words bubbling up inside me that I need two blogs to capture them all. It's that I wanted a blog dedicated to the technical writing business that I can frankly use to promote myself. So occasional politics- and social commentary-free postings can be found on:   http://berylwrites.blogspot.com/

"hypovehiculation" From the political phrase that describes abandoning a former ally as, "throwing them under a bus." First cite: Best of the Web for March 17, 2009

Charles Krauthammer zeroes in to what is so troubling (to me) about the Obama Administration. Not that I disagree with Obama's conclusions (which I do), but that he pretends that his conclusions are neutral and without agenda . All the while condemning the Bush administration for its "lack of integrity." He says that his decisions are grounded in "science." But "science" can only tell us what we can do, not what we ought to do. He is outsourcing his moral judgements to a method that by definition precludes moral judgements. All this posturing was foreshadowed during the " Saddleback Debate" when Rick Warren asked the carefully worded question: "...Forty million abortions, at what point does a baby get human rights, in your view?" Obama's reply: "Well, you know, I think that whether you’re looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity, you know, is...

I recently participated in a survey of independent Technical Writers. The survey was for an article (to be published in the STC organ ) focusing on responses to the recent economic downturn. The author, Elizabeth (Bette) Frick, Ph.D. , was kind enough to send along a draft copy of the article from which I will now shamelessly copy (emphasis mine): I have two quotes over my desk: 1) “The best way to predict the future is to invent it .” (Alan Kay) 2) “Try again. Fail again. Fail better. ” (Samuel Beckett) ...An anonymous responder summed up this discussion: “The essential law of economics as well as nature is that we must adapt to conditions as opposed to standing still and hoping that conditions change to make our present situation relevant....”

Jonah Goldberg voices our mutual impatience with the current Democratic bashing of Rush Limbaugh. Regardless, the war on Limbaugh from the left is a tired rehash. In 1995, Bill Clinton tried to blame the Oklahoma City bombing on Rush. In 2002, then-senator Tom Daschle, the leader of the Democratic opposition, claimed that Limbaugh’s listeners weren’t “satisfied just to listen.” They were a violent threat to decent public servants like him. In just the last month, Obama suggested that Republicans were in thrall to Rush. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has anointed him the GOP’s leader. Rep. Barney Frank complained that Republicans didn’t give Obama enough standing ovations during his address to Congress because they are afraid of Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. Does anyone think that Republicans, absent fear of Limbaugh’s lash, would be throwing flower petals at Obama’s feet as he sells the Great Society II? If that’s true, I say thank goodness for Limbaugh’s lash. More than just com...

Here was news to send a shiver up my spine :  Columbia Pictures has entered into an agreement with CBS Films to create a new motion picture of the Lerner and Loewe classic musical "My Fair Lady," to be produced by Duncan Kenworthy and Cameron Mackintosh, it was announced today by Doug Belgrad and Matt Tolmach, presidents of Columbia Pictures. CBS Films will be actively involved in the development of the new film. Keira Knightley is reportedly in talks to star. I really enjoy My Fair Lady . So what will distinguish this remake. (In other words, "For the love of God, WHY?") The new film will use the original songs of the much-loved Broadway show, and will not alter its 1912 setting, but Kenworthy and Mackintosh intend where possible to shoot the film on location in the original London settings of Covent Garden, Drury Lane, Tottenham Court Road, Wimpole Street, and Ascot racecourse. The filmmaking team will also look to adapt Alan Jay Lerner's book more fully for t...