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Godwin's Law: ""As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches"
~ Mike Godwin, creator of Godwin's Rule of Nazi Analogies, fearing glib use of the term will dilute the meaning of "Never Again"

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Donating for Haiti? Give to an established charity

January 29, 2010

Tags: charities, nonprofits

Want to donate to relief for survivors of Haiti's earthquake? Do so by March 1 and you can deduct the gift on your 2009 taxes. Charity Navigator provides a list of 3- and 4-star charities working in Haiti. CNN's list of charities (more…)

Nominate your candidates for best and worst use of plain language

January 22, 2010

The Center for Plain English is inviting nominations for its ClearMark Awards (for best) and its WonderMark Awards (for worst) documents and websites in plain English. Deadline February 15.

In 2010, the Center for Plain Language is launching its
* ClearMark awards to the (more…)

The Paris Review Interviews

January 19, 2010

Tags: author interviews

Asked in his Paris Review interview if the young writer today works at a greater disadvantage than writers in an earlier generation, William Styron responded, "Hell no, I don't. Writers ever since writing began have had problems, and the main problem narrows down to just one word— (more…)

Predictions about the future of book publishing ( a roundup)

January 8, 2010

Tags: book publishing

"[T]his whole notion that trashy books subsidized quality books is, if it were ever true, certainly not true now," says Michael Nash in a Galley Cat interview. "In fact, publishers typically overbid for big trashy books, because they need volume, they need hits. In fact, the quality backlist is subsidizing the frontlist. And while they are still (more…)

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