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A co-worker recently sent me a link to Life's list of 30 Dumb Inventions. I'd say there are probably more than 30, but this list is pretty good. I will admit, though, that I'm a big fan of the flying platform. I could use one of these as a substitute for city driving!
I plan to attend the 2009 edition of the Baltimore Book Festival ... as a customer, though, not as a vendor. But I still feel as if I should be more a part of the action. So, for the rest of September, I decided to give away a few copies of my workplace humor novel, "The Developers," in conjunction with raising money for Southwest Baltimore Charter School.
As a knockoff of my literary agent list, I have decided to supply you with the short list of publishers I have contacted for my latest book venture. After querying agencies for a few months, I started contacting more mid-range publishers with the hopes of avoiding agencies altogether. This is not to say that bypassing an agent is beneficial to everyone; I think it's worthwhile in my case for a few reasons:
There are numerous ways to get people's attention in an email, although, let's face it, people would rather watch YouTube videos than read emails. But if you work at the New Zealand firm ProCare, you may want to avoid anything other than basic black text. Two years ago, the company fired Vicki Walker for sending an email that highlighted a specific date and time in red, as well as an important message in all caps.
I meant to do this a long time ago, but I wanted to determine how many states I've covered with "The Developers" reviews. By this count, it looks like 18 plus Washington D.C. It would be pretty cool to hear from someone in every state, but let's face it, how many copies of my book are lying around in South Dakota?
I recently found out that a friend of mine, Fred Miller, used "The Developers" as a topic of discussion at the March 17, 2006, meeting of the Investigators Club of Owensboro, Ky. According to Miller, it is a literary club (the oldest in Kentucky as far as he can tell) that has been meeting once a month since 1892. Every two years each of its 24 members is responsible for presenting an "Original Topic" paper, a "Scientific Topic" paper, a book report and host the meeting. He thought it would be a neat idea to review a book written by a local author.
Sometimes we take for granted our ability to type in domain names in our native language. It's true that the most of civilization accepts English as the way of the Internet, but researchers agree that it doesn't necessarily have to stay like that.
Of course, this means that in the near future, you might be able to type accented letters, Chinese characters and even cave paintings into your web browser.
Usually, I prefer to put the news in my own words, but MoveOn.Org does a pretty good job of explaining Congress' latest attempt to try to rearrange the Internet.
From MoveOn.Org:
Do you buy books online, use Google, or download to an Ipod? These activities, plus MoveOn's online organizing ability, will be hurt if Congress passes a radical law that gives giant corporations more control over the Internet.
This year, 2024, marks the 42nd year (should be 43 years in a row since the tournament was canceled in 2020 due to COVID) that I have picked at least one NCAA men’s basketball bracket. I have copies of many of them, including the one from 1981, when I picked my Louisville Cardinals to win the championship. That was the year they lost their first game on a halfcourt shot. Some people might be deterred after that jarring experience, but not me! Then again, I was only 5 when it happened.
If you haven't already visited Google Earth, you're really missing out. Sure, you can actually visit places in person, but this is one of the best alternatives. That is, assuming you don't want visit random places in the middle of nowhere, which can't be seen anyway in the program.