The Lobotomized Weasel School of Writing

Grok Headline matches for The Lobotomized Weasel School of Writing

Dean, Lobotomized - He shouldn't take
that abuse from Diane Sawyer. By Timothy
Noah

Dean, Lobotomized - He shouldn't take
that abuse from Diane Sawyer. By Timothy
Noah 01/24/2004 07:07 AM
Timothy Noah at Slate .. Dean, Lobotomized .. Slate

slate.msn.com/id/2094290
track this site | 7 links

Cheese Weasel Day

Cheese Weasel Day 04/09/2004 04:12 PM
Apparently, April 3 has been Cheese Weasel Day since at least 1992. According to Big Wide Logic, the custom is to leave a piece of cheese under the keyboard of techies. Ironically, because Cheese Weasel Day this year occurred on the first Saturday in April, it coincided with Vermin Attraction Day . [Thanks to Mike O'Dell for the link.]...

El Reg pledges to name BSA
antipiracy weasel

El Reg pledges to name BSA
antipiracy weasel 08/13/2004 10:53 AM
Competition Get those suggestions in

Vote now to name BSA's antipiracy weasel

Vote now to name BSA's antipiracy weasel 08/17/2004 07:40 AM
Poll The Mother of all Mustelid polls

Reg readers warm to BSA
antipiracy weasel

Reg readers warm to BSA
antipiracy weasel 08/13/2004 07:11 AM
Letters Awwww, ain't he cute?

Name that antipiracy weasel, BSA asks
kids

Name that antipiracy weasel, BSA asks
kids 08/12/2004 08:08 AM
Blackbeard the Ferret? Maybe not

BSA Asks Kids to Name Copyright Weasel

BSA Asks Kids to Name Copyright Weasel 08/11/2004 06:51 PM

Bad Writing = Good Writing?

Bad Writing = Good Writing? 10/30/2003 11:56 PM
Bad Writing = Good Writing? The academic journal Philosophy and Literature used to hold a "Bad Writing Contest" to ridicule dense, unreadable academic prose... but a new book argues headache inducing sentences are necessary to express subtle theoretical points.

"A high school student in Las Vegas was
transferred to a new school because of
an online journal in which he wrote,
"Kill Alaina." "

"A high school student in Las Vegas was
transferred to a new school because of
an online journal in which he wrote,
"Kill Alaina." " 11/12/2003 02:57 PM

Wharton School Team Wins University of
San Francisco 2004 International
Business Plan Competition - MicroMRI of
the Wharton School Takes Home Pacific
Specialty Insurance $10,000 Grand Prize.
See Complete Results of the USF
Entrepreneur Contest at
http://www.BusinessPlanCompetition.org

Wharton School Team Wins University of
San Francisco 2004 International
Business Plan Competition - MicroMRI of
the Wharton School Takes Home Pacific
Specialty Insurance $10,000 Grand Prize.
See Complete Results of the USF
Entrepreneur Contest at
http://www.BusinessPlanCompetition.org 05/31/2004 01:47 PM
The University of San Francisco 2004 International Business Plan Competition is one of the most competitive events of its kind, with over 150 graduate student entrepreneur team applications from 100 universities in 18 countries around the world. A Wharton School Team, MicroMRI, took first place, with a team from the Univ. of Georgia, ThruSkin Technologies, coming in second. Please find complete results at http://www.BusinessPlanCompetition.org. [PRWEB May 14, 2004]

Advice On A New-School Old-School BBS

Advice On A New-School Old-School BBS 06/14/2004 09:31 PM

Writing RSS 1.0

Writing RSS 1.0 01/09/2004 09:54 PM

Writing for the Web

Writing for the Web 03/13/2003 10:15 AM
One of the things that traditional journalists find unsettling about the weblog medium is the notion that you're "working without a net" -- i.e., without an editor. In fact, everybody edits your stuff, albeit after the fact. The other day I wrote a column in which I asked:

How do we tune networks to deliver the right information to the right people at the right times?

The triteness warning bell sounded in my head, but not loudly enough to force me to find a better way to express that thought. And sure enough, somebody calle d me on it. (How do I know? I found that URL in my referral log.) I really enjoy this kind of thing. Writing is infinitely improvable, and too often mine goes unchallenged. Partly, that's because of my brain wiring. I have an unusually strong built-in editor, watching everything I do as I write, and complaining loudly. As a result, what I write for print publication is very close to what you see in those publications. If you added up the diffs, over the many hundreds of articles I've written over the years, they wouldn't amount to much. ...

More On Writing for the Web

More On Writing for the Web 03/19/2003 10:28 PM

Not writing about war

Not writing about war 03/19/2003 10:44 PM
My guess is that now and in the coming days some people will be looking for more news and opinion about the war in Iraq—and other people will be looking for less, they’ll be looking for other things to read about.

So, just so you know, I don’t intend to write about the war either here or on ranchero.com.

On Writing XML

On Writing XML 01/18/2004 12:24 AM
In a recent essay I offered, given demand, to author some XML-writing software. There’s been quite a bit of feedback, and the consensus seems to be that the Java community is fairly well-served with XML writing software, but that this would be real useful at the C level. So that’ll be my coding fun for the month of February. The rest of this essay lists some of the Java options that people told me about, and introduces some issues around the C implementation...

Writing

Writing 03/13/2003 10:23 AM
My writing leaves much to be desired. I've been thinking about it lately and I have to say that I didn't start blogging to become a writer as such, let alone a good one. It just helps if you can string together some sentences with a semblance of meaning. Technically speaking, there's much room for improvement. Vocabulary wise I'm circumscribed (like it?) by a short attention span that causes me to spend too little time searching for suitable, uncommon words.

But beyond possessing a good technical ability when it comes to writing well, I suppose that being a good writer all-round must surely mean writing about things that also interest people. There has to be a middle ground, a balancing act between mono-syllabic grunting about albeit very interesting subject matter and writing exquisitely well about excruciatingly boring things.

I can't help but think that it would be a hell of a lot easier to maintain this blog if I wasn't confined by the limited range of source material I choose to be confined by. Perhaps I need a specialism? I can't talk about my work, well I could but it wouldn't be very interesting and I chose not to talk about it early on. Perhaps one day. I envy those that can and do. Nothing wrong with professionals blogging. Speaking of which, the bag lady's new blog design is the best I've seen. Seriously, it looks the cat's pyjamas.

On a different note, World of Ends (World Offends?) strikes me as not only a very cool and necessary thing to do but it inspired me to think about what else we, the people of the Web, should be doing to help outsiders understand, integrate and take part in it more effectively. Surely this honourable responsibility doesn't only lie at the feet of the likes of Doc Searls and David Weinberger, however qualified and bang-on about it they happen to be? Who are the new thought leaders on the Web? Where can I find them?

Writing XML

Writing XML 09/03/2002 04:40 PM
This article shows you how to create XML documents using manual writing, DOM and SAX. It provides you with some excellent learning material, but using either DOM or SAX for creating XML still looks like overkill to me.

"zeldman.ming"

Writing for Google

Writing for Google 05/11/2004 04:33 PM

Tips for writing articles that answer questions posed to search engines.

[VBB] Manifesto writing

[VBB] Manifesto writing 12/17/2004 06:31 PM
Joi Ito and Jim Moore are leading a discussion of what could be in a "manifesto for a better global conversation." The first comment is that generally we care about our families and towns before we get to worrying about the world. Alex Steffen from WorldChanging says that our goal should be to expand our notion of family. Ethan says that we should start from the common ground: All of us are trying to reach out beyond where we are. The conversation meanders a bit into more abstract topics. (I am guilty of contributing to it.) Ethan slaps it upside...

Writing Genx

Writing Genx 02/15/2004 08:58 PM
In between beach time and rainforest time, I’ve been coding away on genx; herewith some impressions with one important lesson and an interesting bit of history...

Writing an end to the bio of BIOS

Writing an end to the bio of BIOS 12/30/2003 07:21 AM
Intel and Microsoft are set to start pitching "EFI" as an improved way of starting up a PC's hardware before its operating system begins loading--a task that's been handled by the BIOS for a quarter century.

Useful Writing Tools

Useful Writing Tools 04/10/2004 02:29 AM
Let's face it, we all get stuck for words from time to time. I'd like to take a moment to recommend a couple of tools that can help you create more diverting dispatches. By Christopher Breen, Macworld (via MyAppleMenu)

Writing For the Web (Sales)

Writing For the Web (Sales) 03/19/2003 10:28 PM

Writing about your friends

Writing about your friends 08/09/2004 10:24 PM

Over the years I've become quite friendly with many professional journalists. It's interesting that two of my best friends are journalists and they both have told me, "the only bad thing about becoming your friend is that I can't write about you any more." As a blogger, I don't think I have any trouble writing about my friends if I explain my relationship. The issue of professionalism aside, I think the first person tone of blogging makes it easier to write about your friends in the context of providing information. It's probably much harder or impossible to write about your friends objectively in third person.

Comment - TrackBack

so i have this cool new writing gig . .
.

so i have this cool new writing gig . .
. 02/01/2005 09:52 PM

Do you ever have something really exciting that you want to share with the world, but you're not allowed to talk about it? It drives you nuts that you have to keep it to yourself, so you quietly mention it to Janet, but Chrissy overhears you from the kitchen, and thinks you're dying, so she tells Larry, and pretty soon you're attending your own wake down at the Regal Beagle. You think this could be a chance to get Mr. Roper to give you a break on the rent, and maybe get a little something-something from that Kaylnn girl who passes out skates at the roller rink, but Mrs. Roper finds out the truth, and somehow you're learning an embarassing lesson in front of all your friends, rather than getting lucky on the waterbed in your cousin's van conversion.

In other words, I've been sitting on this big news for weeks, and I just got the green light to announce it. So pay attention, Chrissy:

I am writing a weekly column for The Onion A/V Club! Yeah, that's right! The Onion A/V Club! Wooo!

Check out the spiffy announcement:

The Onion A.V. Club also extends a hearty welcome to a new contributor who comes to us from Hollywood via the Internet. Each week, actor/author/gaming enthusiast/icon/renaissance man Wil Wheaton, who maintains an online presence at wilwheaton.net, will take a look back to games past with his Games Of Our Lives column, reaching beyond Pac-Man and Donkey Kong to find the dusty arcade games and worn-out cartridges that paved the way for the games of today.

(When I read that, I told my editor, "I love it. Can I just tell you how happy I am that it's not all 'Star Trek Star Trek Star Trek Star Trek (tiny font: writes some stuff too.)'?"

He said, "Well, the original draft referred to you as 'the spunky lad who saved the universe' and then went on to say 'Star Trek, Star Trek, Star Trek.' Then I had second thoughts.")

Can you freakin' believe that I get to write for them?! Holy shit! Writing this column is as much fun as doing Love Machine at ACME each week. I get a chance to be funny, add something pretty prestigious to my resume, and I finally have an excuse for playing so many classic video games. I mean, how many people do you know who could deduct an X-arcade Controller? :)

I did an interview with The Onion A/V Club in 2002. If you haven't seen it, you can read it here.

My first Games of Our Lives appears tomorrow. Check it out, and let me know what you think!

Writing an End to the Bio of BIOS?

Writing an End to the Bio of BIOS? 12/30/2003 10:55 AM
An anonymous reader writes "Intel and Microsoft are gearing up to move toward the first major overhaul of the innermost workings of the personal computer. The ...

Collaborative Novel Writing

Collaborative Novel Writing 05/09/2004 12:45 PM
The Great Mahakali Write-A-Thon.

Web writing a whole new experience

Web writing a whole new experience 10/31/2003 01:56 PM
Canadian Press via Canada.com Oct 31 2003 12:22PM ET

Writing in the Margins

Writing in the Margins 02/11/2004 07:35 AM
Our new monthly roundup of indie publishing: Junko Mizuno's deranged manga, Disney's war against the underground, Flann O'Brien on life during wartime, lefty theorist Mike Davis' children's book (set in Greenland), and William Upski Wimsatt bombs the 2004 election.

Writing, Briefly

Writing, Briefly 03/29/2005 04:35 PM
Writing, Briefly:

paulgraham.com/writing44.html
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The Writing Fields

The Writing Fields 01/11/2004 11:16 AM

People of a certain age — mine — will remember Prince Norodom Sihanouk as the incumbent leader of a neutral and relatively peaceful Cambodia, before the war in Vietnam spilled over Cambodia's borders, leading to the rise of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, the fall of the Cambodian government, and the killing fields.

Now Sihanouk is an expat king in his eighties, writing a blog by hand with his queen, from France. Sources: Stuart Hughes, The Guardian, Yahoo News.

Writing a Mailbot in PHP

Writing a Mailbot in PHP 11/08/2002 11:10 AM
Interesting article on writing a mailbot in PHP. It's surprising to me that the author avoided using PHP's IMAP classes and just focused on parsing mail as sendmail files. [ Go ]

Help keep the Bird writing

Help keep the Bird writing 09/14/2004 03:51 AM
Shelley of BurningBird is broke and needs a little help paying the hosting bills to keep BurningBird going. Shelley is one of the earliest weblog writers, and she has a distinctive, original and beautiful writing voice. She catches a lot of flack because she is often the one to turn over the rock that everyone would rather leave lying there, revealing a truth that people don't want to see. Truth be told, she probably also catches flack because she can be a bit cranky at times, but she only turns her rhetorical guns against powerful people, and she is incredibly generous with her time and expertise. The web would be a much poorer place without her presence and that of BurningBird, and if you can spare a bit of change, drop some in her Pay Pal jar. If you can't spare a bit, at least help get the word out....

Tom on Community Writing

Tom on Community Writing 03/16/2003 09:52 AM
Tom gets at something true in his blogging about writing that creates a sense of community. It's the sort of thing you think you must have always known even though you didn't until you read it....

Writing letters for Dean

Writing letters for Dean 11/16/2003 10:28 AM
Halley wonders if the letter-writing event I'm hosting is still on for this Tuesday. And how! It's at 7pm and if you're in the Boston area and feel like coming by to write letters to undecided voters in Iowa about why you're supporting Dean, you're invited. Send me an email for the details....

The 10 Commandments of Internet Writing

The 10 Commandments of Internet Writing 08/13/2004 04:00 PM
WebProNews Aug 13 2004 7:59PM GMT

Dialog vs. Exposition and Saying vs.
Writing

Dialog vs. Exposition and Saying vs.
Writing 12/16/2003 02:06 AM
I realized something the other day. When it comes to explaining things, I really need a good mix of dialog (2 way communication) and exposition (1 way communication) to really get it right. The problem is that I tend to be quite bad at balancing the two. The same appears to be true for the acts of saying something and writing it down. I need to do both. For the last 6 months or so, I've been attempting (off and...

"the movie?s bl0g that he?s writing
himself"

"the movie?s bl0g that he?s writing
himself" 08/01/2004 03:22 AM

Grok Description matches for The Lobotomized Weasel School of Writing
GrokA matches for The Lobotomized Weasel School of Writing

The Lobotomized Weasel School of Writing

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