HIDE: The NSA are Mentioning Us!
Yesterday, flush in the wilds of our article on the NSA, I received this odd email alert on my App.net @boles account that stopped me for a moment. The NSA were replying to us concerning the article we published:
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The Haunting of the Russian MV Lyubov Orlova Ghost Ship
I’m shamelessly addicted to all stories creepy, surreal, or unexplained. I especially love when they span over long periods of time, and that is exactly the case with the resurgence in the news about the Russian “ghost ship” MV Lyubov Orlova.
Continue reading → The Haunting of the Russian MV Lyubov Orlova Ghost Ship
The Pancake Rules: Crowdsourcing Edition
In the delicious spirit of How to Make Toast and Where Frosting Belongs and The Great American Brownies Debate, I bring you: The Pancake Rules — where we will properly crowdsource the rules of how to properly create, serve, cut and eat the ordinary pancake.
Sitting on a Script Professor Domain Squatter
On February 6, 2012 I wrote — David W. Boles is THE Script Professor — because some unsavory person in another country created a new domain based on my ScriptProfessor.com domain by merely adding a “the” before “ScriptProfessor.com” to create “TheScriptProfessor.com” and I was outraged:
Let there be NO DOUBT on the Internets that I, David W. Boles, am, are, and forever shall be, THE Script Professor! I have been THE Script Professor since November 28, 2005, so let there be no question to my authenticity as pale imitators and purposeful thieves step forward and try to wrangle in private and modify in public my mark to serve their selfish ends by fogging reality and futzing legal authority.
This week, I was able to reclaim that illegally registered domain and “TheScriptProfessor.com” now rightly redirects to “ScriptProfessor.com” and the world is right and good again as you can see in this partial screenshot of some of the domains I own and operate:
Continue reading → Sitting on a Script Professor Domain Squatter
Be Blunt and Cruel, it Saves Time
As a proud, but inveterate, INTJ — I have a philosophy of life that few people understand: “Be Blunt and Cruel, it Saves Time!” I never use that philosophy with others without permission. That philosophy is fully how I prefer to be treated, but few people are willing to abide the terms of what they perceive to be “rough language.”
The Curious Case of the Missing “C” and Why David Has to Edit My Punctuation
For economic reasons, I decided I was not going to ship my once state of the art gaming computer to Portugal when I moved. “The Beast,” as she was known, would have almost doubled my shipping costs by the time all the relevant insurances had been applied. It was simply not worth it.
She was sold to friend with whom I hear she is very happy.
This meant that when I got here I shared a computer with Mr P. As anyone knows, sharing a computer is a delicate affair at the best of times and although we did not come to blows or even utter a cross word it soon became apparent that we needed another computer.
Continue reading → The Curious Case of the Missing “C” and Why David Has to Edit My Punctuation
Writer’s Bloc: From a Piece of Mail
As a part of the writer’s group I work with, aptly titled “Writer’s Bloc” — the “k” omitted on purpose — I set out to put something down out of a long distant memory. The subject of the assignment was “a piece of mail.” The memory I eventually picked was not entirely accurate or truthful perhaps, but in spirit one of my favorites. The time I chose was WWII. The experiences are still vivid to me and it was a period of history I was curiously fond of, in spite of the “seriousness” of it all.
The Written, Rising, Art: On Writing Writing Prompts
A great joy of teaching is when your students surprise you with something unexpected. One good way to find out what students are thinking is to ask them to respond to a writing prompt. My favorite writing prompt for Playwriting students is to ask them to write a dramatic scene that begins with this line: “I’m going to kill you!” 30% of students will immediately write, as a second line, “Just kidding!” — but for those students who believe in the threat first line, the rest of the story tears off.
Continue reading → The Written, Rising, Art: On Writing Writing Prompts
Hoping to Find Answers in the Silence of My Growing Dementia
I have reached a moment in my life when my various mental functions seem to have gone south, or at least are heading in that direction. At going on seventy-seven years old, many of my old abilities of past celebration have indeed deserted me. As a member of a small writers group, I am faced once a month, with an “assignment” to fulfill. It has become something of a difficult task of late. It is, however nothing I find discouraging in any way. And so last December I decided to tempt fate and go where what remaining creativity would take me. The subject of the assignment was something like “Humphrey Bogart revisited.”
Continue reading → Hoping to Find Answers in the Silence of My Growing Dementia
Self-Publish and Prosper or Mainstream Publish and Perish?
Getting your writing published in book form has long been the penultimate goal of authors across the world. I’ve made my fair share of money in the publishing marketplace and one thing I can confirm is how much the industry has changed over the last 20 years.
Fifteen years or so ago, you could easily get a $15,000.00USD book royalty advance from a major computer book publisher. You knew going into the job that, at the end of 90 days, you’d be fifteen large richer. It was a great way to earn a quick living. Once you had a book or two, the major computer magazine publishers would come calling, and you could write a 10,000 word essay and make $5,000.00USD for that weekend effort. It was a rich and rewarding life, but then the chain came off the sprocket with the rise of the interwebs, the internets, the web. Many book publishers were consolidated with other houses, or entirely demolished in bankruptcy, and all the great computer magazines are as dead now as the tree pulp they were printed on.
Continue reading → Self-Publish and Prosper or Mainstream Publish and Perish?
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