All the way back in October, Motorola announced it would begin working on development of modular cellphones. Having just performed surgery on my “older” iPhone to remove the cameras, I’m a big fan of the idea that I could design my own phone that doesn’t have a camera, or at least a camera that is easily removable. As far as consumers go, I am not alone. Retailers and phone developers however are not quite so hot on this idea. They are very dependent on the majority of the population who stare at the calendar, waiting for that day they can ditch their old phone in order to get the latest and greatest. In order for these phones to catch on, retailers and manufactures will need to change their models a bit and we all know how much they love change.
Like this, just more versatile.
I’m very proud of my phone surgery… I only lost one screw.
Did you know that NASA estimates there to be 500,000 pieces of garbage in Earth orbit? 17,000 of those pieces are trackable (coffee cup size and larger). Over fifty years of manned space flight and satellites has resulted in considerable amounts of space junk that is beginning to cause problems. There have been several instances in recent memory in which the International Space Station has been required to adjust its orbit due to this debris. There are, however, several competing plans to help alleviate this problem, including a new European spacecraft which will attempt capture the offending debris. There are still several technical hurdles to overcome, such as fuel and how to deal with the debris that is tumbling.
Like this, only with space helmets.
This seems like the interstellar version of a guy using a stick with a nail on the end.
That protein rich diet might not be so good for you after all. According to a new study, a diet high in animal proteins (meat, dairy, etc) may significantly increase the risk of cancer in persons 50-65. The study followed people for 18 years and found a significant increase of cancer in those middle aged persons who had ate larger amounts of animal proteins. They also noticed a 75% increase in deaths from any cause in that group. Those who got their protein from other sources however did not have this increased risk. More astounding was that people who ate more animal protein after age 65 actually lived longer.
Note to self, put down the steaks at 50, pick back up at 65.
Those of us who support continuing space exploration got a bit of a boost in the President’s new budget. In the budget submitted by the President’s NASA administrator there is funding for a fly-by mission to Jupiter’s moon Europa. Scientists are excited by this prospect since Europa is thought to be made of ice with a vast ocean of liquid water beneath. This of course would make it an ideal place to send manned missions to, once we get to that stage. For now though, we will have to settle for more probes.
Bad things happen when you screw with the Monoliths.
Personally though, I’ve seen 2001, I already know what’s out there.
The human brain has two writing modes, creating and editing. It cannot switch back and forth between the two efficiently or easily. Because of this, I always advise writers—especially new writers—to stick to one mode or the other. The very first thing to do is to get a draft on paper, even if it is terrible. Then, the writer should go back to any areas he knows to be awkward or to phrases that he could not get right on the first try and attempt to smooth over them. At this point, it is always best to have a pair of fresh eyes take a look at the draft. This is where the copy editor comes in.
Some writers labor under the misapprehension that copy editors are only good for the final grammar and spelling check. This is not the case at all! Most word processing software will run a basic spell check, and most can find the common grammatical errors as well. Copy editors do much more than that.
As a copy editor, the first thing that I do when I get a new article or essay is to read over the entire thing and look for glaring mistakes in context or inconsistencies in the layout. I will also make sure that the progression of the topic makes sense and flows along an outline from beginning to end. Anything that I miss in this editing stage gets caught in stage three.
The second read is for grammatical, spelling, and obvious syntax errors. Some editors will leave this for last, but I usually cannot stand leaving them longer than this. The mistakes that I most commonly find in this edit are homonym issues (e.g. they’re, there, their), verb conjugation—especially using past tense instead of subjunctive tense, and minor spelling errors, which usually occur because the author was writing in a hurry.
The next read through is to make sure that the overall story that the writer is conveying makes sense. This is also the time that I take to cross out unnecessary details that obscure the author’s intention, and sometimes combine or separate sentences to flow more easily.
Depending on how well I know the writer’s style, I may also make suggestions for clarifying phrases or sentences. Of course, while doing this, I have to be careful to not step on the author’s toes. I always leave the original wording in the draft, with the strikethrough sign, and type my suggestions in a comment or another color font to make it clear that they are not a part of the original draft.
At this point in the editing process, I will return the draft with the first round of edits to the writer. He or she can choose to take my suggestions, or may ask me why I have suggested certain clarifications.
Once his changes have been made, the writer sends me a second draft. At this point, it is much like receiving a brand new manuscript, so I read through it three times in the order that I did the first time. A lot of time and care goes into making sure that the author not only gets across his intended point, but also that he does it in a way that does not undermine his credibility, such as using vocabulary incorrectly, or having glaring grammar errors.
The draft goes back to the writer, and is checked over. By the second draft, most edits are very minor, and are usually accepted. I always insist on reading the final draft one more time before publishing, just to make sure everything is exactly right, and I have not missed a comma, or the double space after a period. Then the “publish” button is hit, and the post is live!
Copy editing is time intensive and takes a lot of effort. One of my favorite quotes is sometimes attributed to Justice Louis D. Brandeis, “There is no great writing, only great rewriting.” This is true. Behind every great author is a great copy editor.
A little over a month ago, Andrew and I got together to talk through the Oscar nominees and do a small contest to see which of us could pick the most Academy Award winners. This was especially hard because neither of us had seen most of the movies that had been nominated. Last night was the 86th Academy Awards show. Here, today, is our recap of our previous picks, and some minor frustration at just how many we got wrong!
A: So, American Hustle got creamed.
American Hustle was probably snubbed because the actors were not billed in the same order as pictured!
T: Hahaha apparently.
A: Best actor: neither of us got it.
T: I see that haha
A: I’ve developed more respect for McConaughey after watching True Detective, but Dallas Buyers Club just had no appeal for me… You got supporting actor because I don’t like Jared Leto.
T: I got supporting actor completely by accident. I just pulled that out of thin air.
A: He’s one of those actors that I just don’t enjoy, no matter what they’re doing… We both struck out for best actress and I have no idea what Blue Jasmine is about. We also both missed out on supporting actress, mostly because we both picked Jennifer Lawrence.
T: Well I mean how were we supposed to know?? We thought she was Hollywood’s golden girl. I didn’t realize we had cause to think otherwise.
A: Before this conversation I was enjoying pictures of Jennifer Lawrence. LOL
T: I’m sure that you were hahahahaha
A: Animated feature…apparently Frozen is a huge deal and I completely missed that one. It looked really dumb to me.
T: It looked dumb to me too, but I keep hearing about adults that went and saw it three and four times in the theaters and memorized that dumb song at the end of it. What was it called? “Let It Be?”
A: IDK. People start talking about it and I stop listening.
A: On we go. Cinematography: we both nailed Gravity. Not a hard call.
T: Hahaha, yeah, I feel like that movie was made JUST ON PURPOSE to win that particular Oscar.
A: Costume design goes to you in a tough decision category.
T: I DID call Costume Design!!! (BTW the site I’m looking at has the films in the wrong order and it’s annoying.)
A: I’m telling them to you in the order that we had them. Of the three major awards 12 Years a Slave got, directing was not one of them. Given that, I’m wondering why they’re making quite as big a deal about it being directed by a black director. I get that it’s the first film by a black director to get best picture, but they obviously didn’t think enough of his work to also give him best director
T: Odd. That’s… not what either of us expected.
A: Yeah. There are times the academy only goes so far… Documentary feature goes to yours truly for Blind Luck.
T: Haha fine, I’ll give you that one
A: I’m also glad to see they figured out who to nominate.
T: Hahahahaha yeah
A: Documentary short was a miss for both of us.
T: Lame
A: The magic eight ball lied to me. Ggggrrrrrrrrr… We both got film editing, again for Gravity, a no brainer
T: I’m still trying to figure out how this order goes. The way they have the winners highlighted is confusing.
A: You won foreign language film.
T: Always go with the southern European film. It’s a sure thing.
A: I think they’ve actually be going with Asian films lately.
T: Also, The Lone Ranger was ROBBED on makeup.
Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
A: I don’t know about that, but it was a terrible category. They deserve an award from making Jared Leto look like a bad queen? I know people who could do a better job for $50.
T: Yeah, that was a poor pick. And Gravity winning for the best original score is dumb.
A: We both missed original score and original song. I think Frozen won this because Idina Menzel performed it. I can’t really judge Gravity’s score without having heard it. It might be awesome.
T: It might… /in a tone that is heavily doubtful/
A: Scifi movies often have killer scores…. Anyways, best picture we both nailed. Kind of saw that one coming.
T: Production Design!! Yeah, we got that one right.
A: Also not a hard one. Especially given the other choices.
T: Out of the park, baby!!
A: Gatsby was betting on its look.
T: Well it certainly paid off!
A: Ok, now to short films; and yes, we both suck at animated short film guessing.
T: Apparently. Although, to be fair, our reasoning wasn’t very solid to begin with in this category haha.
A: Not at all. BTW, they took the easy way out so nobody had to try and pronounce those names.
T: Bahaha! That was probably on purpose… I got the live action category right, though!
A: Sound editing and sound mixing… I still don’t know what the difference is and we got both wrong.
T: Dammit! I was so sure I had a solid pick there–I was hoping at least one of those two would be right.
A: We suck from here on out. Just to let you know. Visual effects, writing adapted screenplay and original screenplay all were misses.
T: Gravity cleaned up the Oscars overall!! I’m not convinced that it deserved all of those…
A: I don’t know about that. They’re all technical awards, and I’ve heard pretty amazing things about the technical aspects. Also, Her won original screenplay? The movie just looks creepy!
T: Ok, so what are our final scores?
I would like my very own one of these, please.
A: You win 8 to 5.
T: WOAH! Really?? I rock at this game
A: I got let down by American Hustle. I’m just impressed that they didn’t get any of the ten awards they were nominated for.
T: Yeah, that’s pretty bad. It looks like Martin Scorsese has been snubbed again.
A: He’s already got his token award.
T: LOL.
Sadly, I realized after my sweeping victory that Andrew and I had neglected to establish the prize for the winner of our Oscars pick game. I will remember to get that settled up front for future games!!
Did you watch the 86th Academy Awards last night? Were you impressed with the decisions or were there undeserving winners or perhaps deserving losers who were snubbed? Let us know your opinions in the comments! Also, all of the nominees and winners for each category can be found here.