Short is Sweet

If there's one thing I know about writing--and there's at least that many--two are:

a) I don't know nearly enough, and

b) Due to a hyperextension of my Dickens in childhood, I have an overweening propensity for prolixity; incorporating both a sufferant surfeit of formality and a Victorian tendency toward overwrought verbiage.

Like I said . . .

But Lincoln's Gettysburg Address is only 271 words, only 20 of which are more than two syllables: six iterations of "dedicate/d;" two each of "consecrate/d" and "devotion" leaving, among the other ten, "Liberty," "government," "continent," "unfinished," and "remember."

Guy before him talked for two hours. 13,607 words worth.

You remember him, "Ol' What's-His-Name?"

Point is, one thing I do know about effective writing: The truer the thought, the fewer words needed.

Blog Action Day '09

My first job out of college was with Clean Water Action Project, canvassing door-to-door to raise public awareness--and funds--to protect the eco-balance.

From Clean Water Action, I moved on to the League of Conservation Voters, working hard to elect members of local legislatures, Congress and even the President of the United States--who sometimes must have to stand naked--based on their record when confronted with environmental legislation and stewardship.

In his NY Times column last Monday, Paul Krugman re-made the same points we at Clean Water and League of Conservation Voters were making all those years ago: Mother Earth spins round, but her needs can't be spun, anglesd, twisted, or re-framed. When it comes to earth, it's all about the science: it's only biology, chemistry, and physics that determine what kind of world we live and will live in, 'cause Mother Earth can't be lobbied.

Well, in re-reading Krugman's essays of 9/28/09 and the above-cited, from 10/5/09, I'm finding no such quotes vis-a-vis the biochemiphysical reality of our planet.

No matter. All energy.

Point is, Krugman is saying--again--things my colleagues and I were saying, as were Al Gore's professor in '76, and then Gore himself:

Climate change is real, and it's happening now. It won't get really bad till the end of this century, but that doesn't mean it isn't bad now.

It also doesn't mean we can't do a lot now to avert worse. And that it doesn't have to wreak economic chaos.

As Krugman explains, "First, the evidence suggests that we’re wasting a lot of energy right now. That is, we’re burning large amounts of coal, oil and gas in ways that don’t actually enhance our standard of living — a phenomenon known in the research literature as the “energy-efficiency gap.” The existence of this gap suggests that policies promoting energy conservation could, up to a point, actually make consumers richer.

Second, the best available economic analyses suggest that even deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions would impose only modest costs on the average family. Earlier this month, the Congressional Budget Office released an analysis of the effects of Waxman-Markey, concluding that in 2020 the bill would cost the average family only $160 a year, or 0.2 percent of income. That’s roughly the cost of a postage stamp a day. "

What's holding us back, boys and girls, is that, according to Krugman--and I agree--" the campaign against saving the planet rests mainly on lies."

The right, and some who claim the "centrist" mantle, are so focused on "Waterloo-ing" President Obama, that they're willing to sit idly by while the Becks and the Limbaughs, the Heritage Foundation, "and the rest," ditch intellectual honesty in favor of perverting President Obama's--and America's--forward progress.

Just a reminder:

"Just say, 'No!'"

Monthly Goals for October '09

Today begins a new chapter in The Pragmatic Alternative: A very public monthly goal setting, in conjunction with Brazen Careerist's Monthly Goal Meet-Up Group.

1. Learn how to write faster! Seems I spend more time contemplating what I'm going to write, rather than writing it. Whether it's due to slow keyboards, uncomfortable desks and chairs, or merely my dyslexic typing, seems always to take minutes of contemplation, often with the best thoughts lost down the thoughtplex path.

Need to get the work done, and worry about the results later.

Better to tap, tap, tap, and dance on the keyboard, than to think about what to say.

Hopefully, I don't press publish too soon.

2. Overhaul Pragmatic Alternative. As some of my facebook friends may have noticed, I'm going to be taking Andy Wibbels's Build a Better Blog course. No, wait, that's Darren Rowse's course.

Dag! Not that Andy didn't teach Darren a thing or two, but not the point.

Andy's class is called: Using Blogs and Social Media for Instant Global Impact.

3. Build a HepCat Industries blog analagous to Wibbels's Andymatic. Develop the HepCat Industries brand through snappy funny phrasing, quippy insights, and the dry irony people have come to expect from HepCat Industries. Or will come to expect from HepCat Industries.

Remember, at HepCat Industries: If it's not funny--Don't believe it!

4. Build my Let's Play SAT! brand and blog, by regularly updating with real tips for SAT success. Not that that's the only success you'll want or need. Rather, that a little bit of practice, and a little bit of knowledge about the test and its administration go a long way toward assuaging SAT anxiety.

Treat the test like the game it is, then play to win!

5. Before I set the goal of clearing my plate of too many competing interests, I need to note the goal of regular work on my novel, Autobiography of a Young Adult. I'm lucky enough to have been paired up with a coach who I believe will get what I'm talking about, and knowing he's out there ready to encourage, critique, consider, then encourage some more is invaluable.

6. Keep these goals in the forefront each month. There may be new paths and offshoots, as plants are wont to sprout while growing, but these constants need to be reconnected with, connections made across, daily.

Why Laughter Matters

Why'd the turtle cross the road?

So he could tortoise how.

"We called him "tortoise" because he taught us. . . ."

And, scene . . . .

* * * * * * * * * * *

In a recent discussion on Facebook. a friend of mine commented on my disappointment with digital TV:



"Sorry dude, it's still a whole lot of channels of nothing to watch."

Now, my anti-TV cred is pretty high.

From November of 9th Grade through November of sophomore year of college, the only TV I watched was selected old movies, Washington Redskins football games, Alfred Hitchcock Presents repeats, and Lily Tomlin specials.

The latter were noteworthy for a couple reasons:

1) They were the only NEW TV I was watching during that time period, and

2) They were produced by Lorne Michaels, who also produces the show that made me a TV watcher again for once and for all, Saturday Night Live.

3) Then I started reading Tom Shales, and the rest is history . . .

In the meantime, I defy you not to laugh at these men dressed as women:

http://www.latenightwithjimmyfallon.com/

Whaddaya know! Another Lorne Michaels production.

Laughter = Joy, and Joy is that force you feel when for some ineffable reason--and a few effable ones, lemme tell ya--you just plain feel GREAT to be alive, "For the good and the love and the thing and the do," as Martin Short channeling Jerry Lewis might put it.

'Cause it's GREAT to be alive!

Where there's joy, there's laughter.

And you know that can't be bad.

Free Blogging Course

Free blogging course

Wait, the course isn't free, but the intro call is.

I've known Wibbels since I started blogging, back in '06.

My copy of BlogWild! is on the bookshelf next to me, easy to get to.

I've decided to go for a little help in my blogging career, and am turning to Andy to provide it, 'cause Andy really is all that. And a bag of chips: your choice. Here's mine:



Advantages of the course are many:

Content is available for download to your 'puter or 'Pod or Zuma, or whatevah!

Also, course is repeatable for free.

There's even a money back Guar-ON-tee, so you can't go wrong.

Wibbels is your ground floor guru. He knows his stuff. Here, I'll let him tell you:



Hi, I'm Andy Wibbels (that's me showin' off the guns at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco). I'm an award-winning blogger and author of the book Blogwild! A Guide for Small Business Blogging. I've been featured in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Entrepreneur, Wired, Business Week, Forbes and other national and international media as a recognized expert in blogging and social media. I am also a contributing author to Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars and Business: The Ultimate Resource. For nine years I've been blogging and have taught companies all over the world how to use blogs to save time, make money and increase visibility. I'm currently head of blogger training for Six Apart, one of the global leaders in blogging.

Life is relationships, the best, strongest businesses are dedicated to building the best strongest relationships, turning customers into clients, and clients into friends.

I'm really looking forward to getting started with Andy, and really dedicating myself to studying SEO and Google Analytics to bring The Pragmatic Alternative more of the kinds of insights you've come to expect.

Won't you join us?

http://andywibbels.com/screwed/buy/

Be Remarkable

This is Seth's advice. Pretty good rule of thumb for success in anything. Don't settle for "good enough." Think like an entrepreneur, not an employee. Be heart and soul all the time. Never take a play off.

When people used to read this blog, it was because it was remarkable.

Time to get back to business.

Everyday.

Healthy, Prosperous, Joyous 5770 to you.

May G-d Inscribe and Seal you in the Book of Life.

One Thing I Do Well . . .

. . . is find new sources of inspiration, talent, ideas, kindred spirit, then share them.

Of course, Barbara J. Winter is often behind them ; ^ )

Or maybe Seth, or Penelope. Keith Ferrazzi is my latest go-to guru. And let's not forget Wibbels and SFB, etc...

But my latest find from Barbara is Ken Robert's Mildly Creative blog.

Authentic, and all about it.

Oh, Yeah!