Blogger dinner in Chicago

Looming forward to this next week. I did see AKMA this past weekend and, unfortunately, he won’t be able to make it.

Blogger dinner in Chicago.

Care to join a group of smart, attractive, witty, well-connected bloggers for dinner in Chicago? (I m not saying those traits apply to all of us. We each get to pick two.)

Details: Wednesday, March 24. So far, confirmed to attend: me, Ernie, Buzz, Jenny, Jim, Dennis, AKMA, and Jeff. I spoke with Buzz today and I think others are coming but I lost track of the others he named.

So if you re going to be in the Chicago area on March 24 and would like to join us (Buzz counted close to 20), use the comments to RSVP. Look forward to seeing you! (We ll pick a spot soon.)

By rick@rklau.com (Rick Klau). [tins ::: Rick Klau’s weblog]

The Friday Five

  1. What was the last song you heard?The Blue Train – “Trio II” – Dolly Parton/Emmylou Harris/Linda Ronstadt

    I’m riding the blue train
    Over the miles yet to cover
    A ghost in a hurry to fade
    I’m taking it one way to nowhere
    Afraid you might be there
    To find me inside this blue train

  2. What were the last two movies you saw?
    • “Starsky and Hutch” with my 10-year old son
    • “The Sure Thing” while working out
  3. What were the last three things you purchased?
  4. What four things do you need to do this weekend?
    • Finish the first draft of a report on technology commercialization for a client
    • Mail a copy of my Ph.D. thesis to a doctoral student in Singapore
    • Replace the windows shades in my 15-year old’s bedroom
    • Serve as the vestry usher at the 11:15 service at Christ Church on Sunday morning.
  5. Who are the last five people you talked to?
    • Morry Fiddler
    • Michael Krauss
    • My wife
    • My two boys

Strange Harmonic Convergence

Although I only took a handful of classes at MIT while I was in graduate school up the Charles river a bit, I did get this one since I frequently walked across the Harvard Bridge and was naturally curious about the markings along the way. Strange harmonic convergence indeed.

Strange Harmonic Convergence. This is a bit of MIT arcana that I expect only some of you will get, but it is something that I did not know that gave me pause today: Unit of measurement elected head of standards board [Via Everything Burns] Oliver Smoot is one of the quintessential pieces of … By furd (mailto:furd@mit.edu). [Furdlog]

Product warning labels for physicists

Product warning labels for physicists.

Via Tin Man: Product warning labels for physicists. My favorite: Some Quantum Physics Theories Suggest That When the Consumer Is Not Directly Observing This Product, It May Cease to Exist or Will Exist Only in a Vague and Undetermined State.

[Jarrett House North]

I’m partial to

PUBLIC NOTICE AS REQUIRED BY LAW: Any Use of This Product, In Any Manner Whatsoever, Will Increase the Amount of Disorder in the Universe. Although No Liability is Implied Herein, the Consumer Is Warned That This Process Will Ultimately Lead to the Heat Death of the Universe.

although all are good.

Understanding slush, a primer on rejection.

Understanding slush, a primer on rejection. Teresa Nielsen Hayden, an editor at Tor who’s been in publishing for enough time to have developed some very advanced theories on the inner workings of the industry, has published a detailed account of the action on RejectionCollection.com, a site where writers post and complain about the rejection slips they’ve garnered from publishers.

Teresa invites us into the world of the “slushreader” — the editor who goes through the unsolicited manuscripts, deciding which will to have a chance at publication and which will go back to their creators, and then analyses the mental model of this process implicit in the RejectionCollection.com commentary. The disconnect is profound and highly thought-provoking. At the very least, this should be required reading for anyone who aspires to a career in the arts (where the stiff competition from your fellow would-bes gives decision-makers the ultimate buyer’s market).

But even if you don’t want to write or paint or sing for a living, this is important stuff, illustrating the core principles of life in a world where we strive to get busy people to recognize the merit of our contributions.

Herewith, the rough breakdown of manuscript characteristics, from most to least obvious rejections:

1. Author is functionally illiterate.

2. Author has submitted some variety of literature we don’t publish: poetry, religious revelation, political rant, illustrated fanfic, etc.

3. Author has a serious neurochemical disorder, puts all important words into capital letters, and would type out to the margins if MSWord would let him.

4. Author is on bad terms with the Muse of Language. Parts of speech are not what they should be. Confusion-of-motion problems inadvertently generate hideous images. Words are supplanted by their similar-sounding cousins: towed the line, deep-seeded, incentiary, reeking havoc, nearly penultimate, dire straights, viscous/vicious.

5. Author can write basic sentences, but not string them together in any way that adds up to paragraphs.

6. Author has a moderate neurochemical disorder and can’t tell when he or she has changed the subject. This greatly facilitates composition, but is hard on comprehension.

7. Author can write passable paragraphs, and has a sufficiently functional plot that readers would notice if you shuffled the chapters into a different order. However, the story and the manner of its telling are alike hackneyed, dull, and pointless.

(At this point, you have eliminated 60-75% of your submissions. Almost all the reading-and-thinking time will be spent on the remaining fraction.)

Link [Boing Boing Blog]

I suppose the notion of a website to whine about rejection letters is inevitable in a culture that has managed to separate the notion of self-esteem from the notion of actual performance. Teresa’s post offers great insight into why “it isn’t personal, it’s just business.”

Pun du jour

Pun du jour….. I found myself sitting early this morning chatting with my friends from the B.C., affectionately know as the Breakfast Club. I had gotten in the habit of working out every morning, and then around 8 A.M. would drift by a… [buzzmodo]

Buzz provides the best summary of the Janet Jackson incident I’ve seen. Thanks for brightening up my morning.