Comments for Analog by Night

Comment on Melanie by Kate

Kate — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 02:15:28 +0000

I think my favorite part of this quote is the ambiguity. (Does he mean “if she had” or “if she would”?)

Comment on Irritating website load times by rickspencer

rickspencer — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 19:34:39 +0000

I think what may be unique in my case is that I’m visiting reputable sites that I expect to have something. Vs. something less well-known or without brand-capital to burn. Do those same stats hold for very-well-known properties? Like NyTimes, reuters, msn, yahoo?

Comment on Irritating website load times by Ophir Prusak

Ophir Prusak — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 18:46:45 +0000

10-20 seconds?

You’re being VERY generous.

Most sites need to convince you to stay within two to three seconds

Comment on Is Your Life Is Being Written For You By Marketers? by Kate

Kate — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 21:14:58 +0000

Everyone needs encouragement! Writing is a social task, no matter how many people fantasize about their writing being hidden in a drawer until they’re discovered posthumously. And, as far as I’m concerned, teaching the Schaffer paragraph is crap. I get the idea—it’s supposed to be a general scaffolding for the most basic way to “prove a point”, but it’s used as paint by number, which is nauseating to read and even more frustrating to contend with when you’re actually trying to help students think about their writing.

Comment on Is Your Life Is Being Written For You By Marketers? by rickspencer

rickspencer — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 15:57:11 +0000

I did not, but I’m pretty positive that I was not taught the Schaffer paragraph. Makes me realize I might need to pick up some basic writing technique books, and just write more. I need encouragement too.

Comment on Is Your Life Is Being Written For You By Marketers? by Kate

Kate — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 07:54:01 +0000

Thanks for this. I had a nice talk with one of my students about it today. Personally, I love Strunk & White, but I can't stand the idea that all we're doing is giving our students dogmatic prescriptions for writing (which, far as I can tell, is all we're doing—have you looked at this stuff?). p.s. your link gave me an error—I had to cut and paste. If such things bother you...

Comment on 12 13 Dream by Angie

Angie — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 20:21:37 +0000

Hadn’t thought of dreams as being easily (if you remember them) accessible sources of inspiration for writing. I’m afraid to write mine down.

Particularly like this phrase: “In looking for something of value in today’s society I had thrust myself into a museum, whose story was more powerful for me than the narrative I was in.”

I think in our rapid, information-suffocating modern lives, it’s calming to consider the meaning of the past. Or maybe just appreciate its simplicity for a moment.

Comment on Writing Exercise Part 1: What is the writing impulse in me about? by Kathy Howard

Kathy Howard — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 15:02:40 +0000

Rick: I think I understand a bit of what you’re trying to do. It’s my opinion that once the basic necessities of life are taken care of people who are not afraid of looking inside themselves have a strong need to create – something. It manifests itself differently with each person – writing, singing, painting, building fantasy altars out of aluminum foil. The creative process is so intertwined with who an individual is that to NOT do it is harmful, like making a naturally left-handed person write only with their right hand.

Here’s an excerpt from a short story by Molly Peacock titled State of Grace that illustrates how I think about any creative pursuit – in this instance it relates to gardening:

“. . . I had two selves, really: a robot self to dispense my obligations, and a true self that was dangerously buried or, as gardeners say “caught in the bulb.” But in that garden, where I was able to act dreamy, my true self was released.

A Buddhist might call it mindfulness. A Quaker might call it connecting with the light inside you. To be able to look an orange poppy in its chartreuse eye and simply be doing nothing other than looking at the blowsy-headed flower, feeling only one experience without competing subsidiary ones, is my idea of grace. To be fully inside the looking moment is to be fully in your true self, not the one you have created for others’ demands. This grace is a kind of blooming.

You can stand in front of flowers and look them in their many eyes and see just them, and for a moment you are doing only one thing fully, being in the presence of their tart soil and tender personalities, and connecting with the tart and tender within yourself.”

So right now I think of you as preparing the soil – adding the compost, digging, aerating. You will find the seeds for planting soon enough and with the right amount of nurturing, your writing will sprout and grow. Like a garden you will have a harvest, a dormancy (gathering strength), then a new planting season. Your cycle of creativity will continue as long as you keep at it. We gardeners have lots of patience. And humor – sometimes things grow that you don’t want, and sometimes what you want to grow doesn’t.

Comment on The hot chick at the J.P.L. discovered volcanoes on Io. by Sami G.

Sami G. — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 14:45:17 +0000

If I worked at the JPL at the time, I’d have handed over my findings to her for a date. And if there were more chicks like that in astrophysics, I’d have pursued a career in it.

Comment on Anna Darling by Dawn

Dawn — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 16:56:31 +0000

Where’s the like button? j/k