What book did you pull off that shelf? Which one are you reading? What are you learning?
Where do you read?
Do you and a friend share a book, discussing it as you read?
Do you read out loud to yourself, just to hear the language spoken?
How about some poetry? Have you gone to a poetry slam? Have you written a poem?
Well, do it. The days are getting a bit shorter, school is approaching for students and families. Books are great additions to the family. You can discuss a book at dinner. At breakfast.
Just read.
I'm in the middle of some editing. It is like seeing a beautiful creation emerge, slowly from the page to my mind's eye.
I'll be putting up a reading list, so if you can't decide on a book, check back. There may be something that suits your fancy.
And in the meantime, grab a book and read.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
What's Wrong With This Picture?
The Atlantic published an article on the subject of Genetically Modified Organisms that become the very food on your table, and the labeling requirements of the FDA.
People understandably want to know lots of information about their food. Information such as Organic or Conventionally Produced. People also want to know if there are pesticides in the food, and some want to know if the food they eat is from GMO sources. Those GMO sources include genetically modified foods that have incorporated animal, fish or bacterial genes, the ability to make pesticides and herbicides within the very cells of the food, including the food that you put into your stomach. Some people just want to know if the corn on the cob they are eating at the Labor Day Picnic will be cranking out Monsanto Roundup (Reg. TMs of Monsanto), or not.
But this is what the Atlantic wrote.
So, full labeling is misleading to people that want full labeling.
Alice, step aside. We've fallen totally into that rabbit hole.
People understandably want to know lots of information about their food. Information such as Organic or Conventionally Produced. People also want to know if there are pesticides in the food, and some want to know if the food they eat is from GMO sources. Those GMO sources include genetically modified foods that have incorporated animal, fish or bacterial genes, the ability to make pesticides and herbicides within the very cells of the food, including the food that you put into your stomach. Some people just want to know if the corn on the cob they are eating at the Labor Day Picnic will be cranking out Monsanto Roundup (Reg. TMs of Monsanto), or not.
But this is what the Atlantic wrote.
Last month there was the appointment of big-time GM/GE advocate (and former Monsanto lobbyist) Islam Siddiqui to Office of the United States Trade Representative as the country's chief agricultural negotiator . Now comes a position paper from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that opposes labeling for genetically modified food. The U.S. claims that letting consumers know whether or not food contains GM/GE products is "false, misleading, or deceptive."
You read that correctly. In Obama Newspeak, telling the public the truth is false, misleading, or deceptive, while concealing facts is not. Incidentally, the language is identical to that used by previous administrations. How's that for change? Atlantic
So, full labeling is misleading to people that want full labeling.
Alice, step aside. We've fallen totally into that rabbit hole.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
About that summer reading list...
Add to it!
Get together with a friend, each of you with a favorite book, head to the beach, and read.
Go to a coffee house, or coffee shop, with your book. Grab a latte, a cookie, the book, and sit with a friend, or make a new one...and read. Discuss what you are reading.
Make a point to ask someone around you, if they are reading a book, what they are reading.
Just read. And read some more.
I know, I keep going on and on about reading. But, reading is good for your brain, and as you turn the last page, you know somethings that you didn't know before you started on your reading. Knowledge is power. It helps at work, no matter what your job might be. It makes you smarter.
Plus, the smarter you are, if you happen to be in school, the better you will do in all your subjects, just from reading anything at all. The old phrase, use it or lose it, applies to the gray matter.
Read!
Get together with a friend, each of you with a favorite book, head to the beach, and read.
Go to a coffee house, or coffee shop, with your book. Grab a latte, a cookie, the book, and sit with a friend, or make a new one...and read. Discuss what you are reading.
Make a point to ask someone around you, if they are reading a book, what they are reading.
Just read. And read some more.
I know, I keep going on and on about reading. But, reading is good for your brain, and as you turn the last page, you know somethings that you didn't know before you started on your reading. Knowledge is power. It helps at work, no matter what your job might be. It makes you smarter.
Plus, the smarter you are, if you happen to be in school, the better you will do in all your subjects, just from reading anything at all. The old phrase, use it or lose it, applies to the gray matter.
Read!
Thursday, August 19, 2010
A Most Underappreciated Skell
Oops! What is "skell" doing in the title?
Could it be this post concerns those criminal elements referred to as skells by New York's Finest?
Absolutely...maybe.
The most underappreciated skill is the ability to know when a word is, for example, skell or skill.
Yes, I know skel has only one 'l' in it. Really I do.
Yet I read, too often for my now irritated eyes and brain, the use of words that are close in sound, but distant in meaning, applied to various issues.
Examples such as "ensure" being substituted for "insure." One means making sure something happens, the other indemnifying against some loss.
How about "loose" and "lose," being substituted, one for another. One is not too tightly fastened or affixed, the other means something's gone missing and might be at the Lost and Found by the time the loss is noticed.
Sometimes there is no spell checker involved. There is just error from being careless.
Spell checkers are a wondrous invention. They can suss out what word you might be trying to type and give you options. However, the check system doesn't always get the meaning right when one word with a certain meaning gets substituted for another, with a very different meaning, yet both are phonetically pretty much the same.
Call in Strunk and White. Call in Captain Grammar.
If you are relying on your spell checker, you'd better read what you are writing closely, because those errors introduced by misapplied spellings to meaning-inappropriate words, can have bad consequences.
An interviewer was discussing errors on resumes. One error and the resume is tossed out, and often the errors are simple typos made by spell checkers. The Human Resources people know this. And they still toss out those resumes. That means, if a job applicant is the very best person for the job, yet is not careful enough to make sure the copy is precise, with word meanings exactly what they ought to be, or where a resume contains an entirely wrong word for the place the word is put, that job seeker is still unemployed.
Job seekers of any age must remember one thing about the job market. When you are at work, there is only one passing grade, and that is make everything you do as close to perfect as humanly possible.
If you are unsure about your cover letter and/or resume, do one good favor for yourself. Hire someone or ask someone with good English skills, to read your resume and other communications, and make sure that the copy is perfect.
Something else to remember. If what you give to your proofreader is not clear as to meaning, you may still have errors on that page even after the editing is done. Don't let careless or moronic happen to you.
Help yourself out. Get help when you need it. If you are the least bit unsure, get help. Learn proper grammar, spelling and word usage. The skills come with reading books, with writing on a daily basis, and with paying attention to what you read and what you and others say, evaluating everything for form and content.
Now, I've also committed errors in this post. I have left them in, just to challenge you, my Musing readers. And, in other posts, there are sentence fragments and other grammatical sins committed by me regularly. Those fragments and made up words are used for style, because this is a blog. This is not a cover letter for a job application.
Know your audience, and if you need proofreading, editing or other assistance, get it. The Muse is here to help.
Could it be this post concerns those criminal elements referred to as skells by New York's Finest?
Absolutely...maybe.
The most underappreciated skill is the ability to know when a word is, for example, skell or skill.
Yes, I know skel has only one 'l' in it. Really I do.
Yet I read, too often for my now irritated eyes and brain, the use of words that are close in sound, but distant in meaning, applied to various issues.
Examples such as "ensure" being substituted for "insure." One means making sure something happens, the other indemnifying against some loss.
How about "loose" and "lose," being substituted, one for another. One is not too tightly fastened or affixed, the other means something's gone missing and might be at the Lost and Found by the time the loss is noticed.
Sometimes there is no spell checker involved. There is just error from being careless.
Spell checkers are a wondrous invention. They can suss out what word you might be trying to type and give you options. However, the check system doesn't always get the meaning right when one word with a certain meaning gets substituted for another, with a very different meaning, yet both are phonetically pretty much the same.
Call in Strunk and White. Call in Captain Grammar.
If you are relying on your spell checker, you'd better read what you are writing closely, because those errors introduced by misapplied spellings to meaning-inappropriate words, can have bad consequences.
An interviewer was discussing errors on resumes. One error and the resume is tossed out, and often the errors are simple typos made by spell checkers. The Human Resources people know this. And they still toss out those resumes. That means, if a job applicant is the very best person for the job, yet is not careful enough to make sure the copy is precise, with word meanings exactly what they ought to be, or where a resume contains an entirely wrong word for the place the word is put, that job seeker is still unemployed.
Job seekers of any age must remember one thing about the job market. When you are at work, there is only one passing grade, and that is make everything you do as close to perfect as humanly possible.
If you are unsure about your cover letter and/or resume, do one good favor for yourself. Hire someone or ask someone with good English skills, to read your resume and other communications, and make sure that the copy is perfect.
Something else to remember. If what you give to your proofreader is not clear as to meaning, you may still have errors on that page even after the editing is done. Don't let careless or moronic happen to you.
 |
| Photos courtesy of stuff-about.com |
Help yourself out. Get help when you need it. If you are the least bit unsure, get help. Learn proper grammar, spelling and word usage. The skills come with reading books, with writing on a daily basis, and with paying attention to what you read and what you and others say, evaluating everything for form and content.
Now, I've also committed errors in this post. I have left them in, just to challenge you, my Musing readers. And, in other posts, there are sentence fragments and other grammatical sins committed by me regularly. Those fragments and made up words are used for style, because this is a blog. This is not a cover letter for a job application.
Know your audience, and if you need proofreading, editing or other assistance, get it. The Muse is here to help.
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