In The I'm Not The Only One File

Washington Post

The ousted chairwoman of Hewlett-Packard Co.told a House subcommittee today that some of the tactics used by the computer giant in its surveillance scandal are employed by other American companies.

"I believe that these methods may, in fact, be quite common, not just at Hewlett-Packard but at companies around the country," said Patricia Dunn, who was fired by the company on Friday. "Every company has a security department. Every company of consequences has people who do detective-type work in order to ferret out the forces of nefarious activities."

If the spying done for an HP executive is business as usual this is definitely something that is worth investigating.

Because tactics often trickle down to people who have no legitimate reason for needing data, the sooner deceptive practices are made illegal, the better.

Re-thinking: Obsessive Knitting

Watch the Last Knit

Re-thinking: Getting Out The Vote

MSNBC

CINCINNATI - There is no sexier topic in politics these days than "microtargeting." That's the new science (some say dark art) by which candidates use the latest data-mining technology to vacuum every last scrap of information about voters, then churn out custom-tailored messages designed to herd their supporters to the polls.

This is the art of telling you what you want to hear and omitting everything the candidate will do that you either won't like or would be appalled by if you knew about it.

To keep from being treated like sheep, we are going to need to have a non-partisan group compiling all of the messages being given by all of the candidates.

The good news in this type of strategy is it tells us that every vote and every voter makes a difference. Voting matters even if you are sure your candidate will lose because the margin of winning impacts how much a candidate caters to his or her base and how much that elected official will keep those outside the base in mind during the next term in office.

Control your voting don't let those who specialize in herding voters control it for you.

Re-thinking: White and Nerdy

Watch White & Nerdy "Weird Al" Yankovic's new music video. It's rap like you've never seen it before.



Here's the video by Chamillionaire of the rap song titled Riding Dirty.

Carnival For Book Writers #7

Welcome to the September 21, 2006 edition of carnival for book writers.

editors

In CARRIE FERON ANSWERS YOUR COMMENT QUESTIONS! posted at Squawk Radio, we get insight from Avon editorial director, Carrie Feron.

literary agents

In An Interview with Literary Agent Tina Wexler posted at Riding With The Top Down, an International Creative Management (ICM) agent answers questions about herself and the business.

In Victoria Strauss -- There's No Such Thing as a Bargain Agent posted at Writer Beware, we get a discussion about what it means when an agent's commission rate is lower than expected.

At Bookends LLC:

In Why Requested Material Never Shows, we get a discussion of possible reasons requested material is never sent to the requesting agent.

In Pulling from Consideration, we get a discussion of authors who pull their submissions from agents who take too long to respond even though they are still looking for an agent.

In Published with Multiple Houses and Multiple Houses Continued, we get a discussion of how publishing books with multiple houses can impact a publisher's contract offer.

At Pub Rants:

In How To Make An Agent Angry, we get a discussion about the importance of reading an agent's web site before querying.

In A Conference Suggestion, we get a discussion about agent appointments where the author's work is good, but not what the agent represents.

In a series of posts beginning with Agent Has Lost That Loving Feeling (part 2), (part 3), (part 4), we get a discussion of how an agent responds when a project doesn't sell immediately.

In I'm Back from Denver! A Report from the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers' Conference posted at The Knight Agency Blog, we get insight on what makes a conference successful for an agent and advice on what makes a successful pitch.

In getting back to The Call posted at Et in Arcaedia, we get a discussion about the logistics of being offered literary representation

In A Little Bit of Irony posted at Wylie Merrick Literary Agency, we get a discussion about avoidable mistakes authors make when querying agents.

marketing fiction

In Submitting Before Completion posted at Bookends LLC, we get a discussion on common advice and on successful authors who ignored that advice.

In Escapism or Hope? posted at Murder She Writes, we get a discussion about how fiction has changed since the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

craft

In Sunday Word Economist: Blogging & My Career posted at Frugal Duchess, we get a discussion about how blogging dramatically altered one writer's career.

In STELLA CAMERON STRUGGLES WITH THE QUESTION: TO DATE OR NOT TO DATE? posted at Running With Quills, we get a discussion on setting the time of the action including how specific elements can date an undated contemporary novel.

In Writing Hot…or Not posted at Murder She Writes, we get a discussion on what a writer can accomplish other than showing sex by writing an explicit scene.

In A.C. Crispin - 60 - Some Writing Problems to Avoid posted at Writer Beware, we get a discussion of common mistakes writers make.

That concludes this edition.

Submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival for book writers using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: carnival for book writers blog carnival blogging writing literary agents books publishing

Re-thinking: Surveying Head of Households

A friend of mine (female) got called by the survey company, Issues and Answers and the caller asked, "May I speak to the male head of household?"

Her response was short and not so sweet, "No."

Before she disconnected the call, she wasn't asked if she were the head of the household or if she were willing to be surveyed. I don't know if the survey was only for male heads of households (her tone could have made it clear that she wouldn't be participating), but I do know this household survey bias toward men isn't an isolated incident.

Several years ago I got a call from someone conducting a survey for a national weekly news magazine (can't remember whether it was Time or Newsweek) and the caller asked to talk to the oldest male in the household who was at least 18. Only when I said there were no males in the household was the caller willing to ask to speak to the oldest female in the household.

In that survey, a male high school senior's opinion would be given more weight than the opinion of his mother on major national issues.

I doubt skewed survey results are identified as being skewed in favor of men's beliefs. So unless I find information that proves to me that women aren't under represented, I can't trust the randomness in all so-called random surveys.

If this methodology is used because spouses would give similar answers then there would be no need to include gender in the selection of which household member will be asked to participate. If a man can speak for his wife, a wife can speak for her husband.

Carnival For Book Writers #7 Deadline Approaching - Get Your Nomination In

The deadline for submissions to the 7th edition is tonight at 11 pm. Don't miss it.

If you have written or read a blog post that is useful to book writers, please nominate it.

The categories for submissions are: literary agents, editors, craft, marketing fiction, marketing non-fiction, and whatever. Some of the past editions have included interviews with literary agents, editors and cover artists. Posts that provide insight into the process of writing a book and/or getting it published and sold are welcome.

The process is simple. All you have to do is go our carnival submission form and provide the permalink and fill in the rest of the form.

If you want to get a sense of what I'm looking for go to http://carnivalforbookwriters.blogspot.com and read previous editions, but please don't limit yourself to the subtopics and approaches that have been included in the past.

The 7th edition will be posted here on Sept. 21th.

Technorati tags: carnival for book writers blog carnival blogging writing literary agents books publishing

Re-thinking: A Few US Detainees Off Shore

AP

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- In the few short years since the first shackled Afghan shuffled off to Guantanamo, the U.S. military has created a global network of overseas prisons, its islands of high security keeping 14,000 detainees beyond the reach of established law.

Disclosures of torture and long-term arbitrary detentions have won rebuke from leading voices including the U.N. secretary-general and the U.S. Supreme Court. But the bitterest words come from inside the system, the size of several major U.S. penitentiaries.

"It was hard to believe I'd get out," Baghdad shopkeeper Amjad Qassim al-Aliyawi told The Associated Press after his release - without charge - last month. "I lived with the Americans for one year and eight months as if I was living in hell."

We cannot afford to ignore this problem or allow politicians to sweep thousands of detainees out of sight.

Out of sight should never equal out of rights.

To make that equation is to abandon liberty and justice for all and to say that due process is only for some. If we protect our country at the expense of what values our country stands for, we destroy the very thing we are trying to protect.

Re-thinking: Much Ado About Nothing

(or two nothings) that women get at puberty.

I read about the response to the picture included in Ann Althouse's and Dr. Helen's blogs and was expecting exposed cleavage (ala the Hollywood worst-dressed list) or something equally outrageous, but if this were a picture of a group of bloggers meeting with anyone except former president Bill Clinton I doubt (or at least hope) this topic would have been a non-starter.

Frankly, if you have a problem with Bill Clinton's past sexual behavior, don't go leaping at the first opportunity to turn someone who was invited to meet with a former president into nothing more than a sex object.

For those who attack a woman for meeting with Bill Clinton simply because of reports (not criminal prosecutions) that he stepped over the line into sexual violence, then you better not be supporting anyone accused of doing the same or worse. And you'd better not be using phrases such as "innocent until proven guilty." You'd also better not support the idea that people can change and stop bad behavior. And you'd better never utter anything like, "Boys will be boys" or "Some girls are just asking for trouble."

Here's a post from the woman in question Jessica at Feministing that responds to all the nonsense.

Re-thinking: Healthy Raw Vegetables

Time

When the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning to consumers on Thursday about E. coli contamination in bagged spinach, it didn't come as a surprise to Michael Doyle. So far, about 100 people have fallen ill and one death has been connected to the dangerous E. coli 0157:H7 bacterial infection, and the director of food safety at the University of Georgia says that outbreaks like this one will only continue if produce manufacturers don't change their practices.

For a long time, food safety was only an issue we thought about when handling raw meat and when traveling some place where you aren't supposed to drink the water. Because cows tolerate this bacteria much better than humans, it can taint cow manure used as fertilizer and that contamination can extend to irrigation water.
So the problems were not caused by the raw spinach, they were caused by the way the raw spinach was grown or processed.

This is definitely not an area where market forces alone will be able to provide a reliable answer so those of us who enjoy munching on raw spinach can do so again without feeling like we're playing spinach roulette.

Re-thinking: Will Power

In so many areas, we've decided that those who can't quit bad habits simply lack will power, but often it isn't that simple.

Washington Post

The study, reported by the Boston Globe, found that 92 of 116 brands tested had higher nicotine yields in 2004 than in 1998, and 52 had increases of more than 10 percent. Boxes of Doral lights, a low-tar brand made by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., had the biggest increase in yield, 36 percent.

The official explanation for this change might be that the brands have to compete over a shrinking pool of customers. And to an extent that might be true. But where does the theory of letting market forces control all decisions cross the line into intentional and negligent harm?

Technorati tags:
Life, Self-Improvement, Success Strategies

Re-thinking: Open Water

WCCO

(AP) Traverse City, Mich. Peter Annin recalls staring in fascinated horror at what had been the coast of the Aral Sea in Uzbekistan, now a desolate wasteland strewn with scrub brush and corroded hulls of abandoned fishing boats.

Once the world's fourth-largest inland water body, the Aral has shrunk to a quarter of its previous surface area in less than half a century -- the result of a Soviet-era decision to divert rivers feeding the sea to promote farming in that arid section of central Asia.Annin visited the region while researching his book, "The Great Lakes Water Wars," published by Island Press and scheduled for release Sept. 14. The former Newsweek magazine correspondent says he'd heard ominous references to the Aral disaster while studying the debate over Great Lakes water diversion and wanted to see it for himself.

This story reminds me how easily what I take for granted can be compromised or even lost when we don't think about the broader consequences of our actions or our use or misuse of resources that seem as unlimited as water.

Re-thinking: Life Expectancy

Washington Post

A black man living in a high-crime American city can expect to live 21 fewer years than a woman of Asian descent in the United States. The man's life expectancy, in fact, is closer to that of people living in West Africa than it is to the average white American.

Inhabitants of what a new report calls "Black Middle America" -- African Americans who live outside inner cities and the rural South -- also have a life expectancy five years shorter than those in "Middle America," which encompasses the vast majority of urban and suburban whites.

Even between groups that appear quite similar there are wide differences in the risk of early death. A farmer from a Great Plains state such as North Dakota is likely to live four years longer than a farmer living in Appalachia or the Mississippi Valley.

It's easy to take what's close to us for granted, but this study shows that there are differences which we need to think about and address. That means vesting in other people's personal safety and their personal health opportunities.

Generic advice to get exercise doesn't do much good if people feel they are risking a bullet every time they walk around the block.

Re-thinking: Survey Says

Washington Post

You get a phone call from someone who says they're taking a survey for a reputable sounding research firm. They ask you a few questions that seem relatively harmless -- what's private anymore, anyway, right? -- such as the name of your phone company or investment firm or even the name of your pet.

You may have just been pretexted.

A pretext is a false motive put forth to hide a real one. "Pretexting," pretending you are someone else to obtain information, is at the center of an unspooling boardroom scandal at the Silicon Valley computer company Hewlett-Packard. The company has admitted that it hired a private investigator who obtained the phone records of HP board members by using a contractor who posed as the board member. The contractor also used pretexting methods to obtain the phone records of nine reporters who cover the company.

I had already stopped answering surveys before learning about this new scam because some so-called legitimate surveys seemed determined to slant their questions toward a given result, but this combined with the ability of callers to list false information in their caller id makes me stop feeling guilty for being uncooperative.

What this also reminds me of is the need to extend fraud laws to include telephone calls like these and fraudulent emails and web sites. If the only protection is skeptism and mistrust, nobody will tell anybody even the slightest detail without worrying that they'll be blamed for subsequent criminal activity.

Re-thinking: Hero Status

Today I was watching a variety of coverage of the events of 9/11 and several interesting details emerged which were new to me. The first was that a runway delay for Flight 93 allowed the passengers on that plane to know what they were dealing with. If the flight had taken off on time, the passengers wouldn't have known they'd been hijacked on a suicide mission.

This reminded me that knowledge is an important component of power and heroism. I can't remember how many times I've said that if something terrible were about to happen I wouldn't want to know. But in this case, the end result did change and many lives were saved by those who knew they weren't likely to survive to see the next sunrise.

Even if we can't change our own circumstances, we may be able to help others.

The second detail was about the boat captains who responded on 9/11. After the twin towers collapsed there was no water pressure in the fire hydrants and therefore no way to fight the fires in building surrounding the twin towers. One of the boats that responded was the John J. Harvey a 1931 fireboat that was retired by the NYFD in 1994. The Harvey pumped desperately needed water into fire hoses. Many other boats helped in the rescue effort delivering survivors across the Hudson River to New Jersey where they could be treated for their injuries or just escape the choking dust.

Even small, non-death-defying actions can be heroic. We don't have to wait for another horrific act of terrorism to help others.

Re-thinking: Wedding Benefits

AP

VERGENNES, Vt. (AP) -- A woman who learned six weeks before her wedding that her fiance was cheating on her is turning her would-be reception into a charity benefit. "I'm really just trying to turn it around and make something positive out of it," said Kyle Paxman. Paxman, 29, had planned to celebrate her nuptials at the Basin Harbor Club on Lake Champlain on Saturday. When she found out about her fiance, she called off the 180-guest wedding and the four-year relationship.

She and her mother canceled the band, photographer and florist, but learned they would not be reimbursed for the reception and block of rooms they had reserved. So they turned the reception into a benefit for the Vermont Children's Aid Society and CARE USA, an international relief organization that aims to combat poverty by empowering women.

This story reminds me that while bad things all on their own don't cause people to be stronger, we can look for ways to respond to the bad things that happen to us by doing what we can to help others. We can help those who don't have the resources to bounce back from the bad things that happen to them.

In this case the helping response came sooner because of the paid-for reception, but even for people like me who took decades before turning the trauma of my rape into helping others, we can all eventually use the bad stuff for good.

Sometimes we can help simply by standing proud when we weren't at fault for a situation that turned sour or criminal.

Re-thinking: Flying Leaps

Like many people I've thought about going skydiving, but in a vague, wouldn't it be scary but cool, sort of way. But one man has taken the challenge of skydiving to a new record.

AP

Jay Stokes celebrated his 50th birthday by jumping out of an airplane - 640 times. The veteran skydiver did it to break his own world record of 534 jumps in a 24-hour period. There was no immediate word when his new record might be confirmed by Guinness World Records. "I feel a little bit tired but I think I'll be OK," the exhausted former Army Green Beret said Saturday morning at Greensburg Municipal Airport after finishing. He almost didn't reach his goal after injuring his left quadriceps muscle around his 200th jump. "I had a little bit of a problem with an injury, and I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to continue, but I worked it out," Stokes said. The pace worked out to one jump every two minutes and 15 seconds.

His decision is inspiring. No, I'm not planning to jump out of a plane any day soon, but I will take actions that others see as weird or senseless simply because I want to. No apologies or explanations needed.

Re-thinking: The Right To Vote

With many states holding primaries this coming Tuesday, I was thinking about the rules and laws that are packaged as a means of reducing voter fraud or that take away felon's voting rights. What practical impact do they have on US citizens' constitutional rights?

Picture ID for one. To those of us with driver's licenses, this seems like it wouldn't cause even the slightest inconvenience or loss of rights, but to those who gave up their driver's licenses at the urging of their children or those who never learned to drive (my late mother for one), this rule may effectively take away their chances of voting. And what of those who have their wallets stolen?

Now let's look at laws that bar convicted felons from voting.

First, let's consider those who are not felons but share their name with a felon. By the time you prove you are eligible to vote, it may be too late.

Second, think about drug users who commit felonies. How many of our nation's felony-level drug users have never been charged, let alone convicted? How many of our nation's felony-level convicts are black?

The proportion of felony-level drug users by different ethnic groups is out of sync with the number who are convicted. Despite many people's efforts within the government and from citizens there is still racial bias in our law enforcement and court systems.

Third, remember that the quality of a defendant's lawyer can make a huge difference in the accused and guilty person's ability to get a plea deal where the guilty party is only convicted of a misdemeanor or to not be convicted of any crime.

Same crimes, but those who are white or well-off are much more likely to retain their voting rights. Those who are black or poor are much more likely to be convicted, sometimes falsely, and to lose their voting rights. And what about those who are convicted of felonies but have a lawyer who successfully petitions the court to have the felony conviction removed or who can convince a governor or president to issue a pardon?

If those who are disproportionately harmed by our current system are disproportionately removed from the ranks of eligible voters, politicians will have no reason to address the inequities against those groups.

Rather than passing laws that have the potential to harm citizens' constitutional voting rights and that have a chilling effect on non-partisan groups who help people register to vote, wouldn't it be better to tackle voter fraud directly?

My vote counts not only for the individual choices I make on each ballot, my vote counts because it means politicians have to recognize my existence.

To ensure that my vote counts properly, I also want to ensure than no technological improvement has the ability to take my decisions away from me either through malfuction or fraud.

Re-thinking: Rating Food

AP

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- Shredded wheat gets 3 stars. Baked beans, 1 star. Doritos, no stars. Those movie-style ratings for food, launched by a New England grocery chain, take nutritional hand-holding to a new level.

This system has great potential to help shoppers. With so many similar-looking products a quick way to decide which products to look at first.

For parents, this system also gives them a simple way to introduce their children to nutrition. With the amount of money spent marketing food directly to children, parents need something children can understand when they say no for nutritional information.

Carnival For Book Writers #6

Welcome to the September 6, 2006 edition of carnival for book writers.

literary agents

In Getting the Call posted at Bookends LLC, we get a discussion of that moment authors work so hard to reach from the agent's perspective.

In It's Soooo Easy... posted at Wylie Merrick Literary Agency, we get advice on what you can do to improve your odds of getting an agent.

In A Little-Known Resource for Agent-Hunters posted at Writer Beware, we get information on finding out whether an agent is reputable.

In What Not to Do posted at Bookends LLC, we get advice to help us from making common mistakes.

In Pub Credits turning sour posted at Miss Snark, we get advice on what to do if a previous publisher has subsequently turned into a subsidy press.

In Spam Filters, Interns, Assistants and Other "Helpers" posted at Bookends LLC, we learn more about how a literary agency works.

In Somewhere Beyond the Query posted at Wylie Merrick Literary Agency, we get a discussion of the power of the opening pages of the manuscript.

In When an Agent Disappears posted at Bookends LLC, we get advice on what to do if your agent stops communicating with you.

marketing fiction

In INTERVIEW: Theresa Meyers, Blue Moon Communications posted at Writer Unboxed, we get information and insight from a book publicist and writer.

In How Much Do Looks Matter? posted at The Man in Black, we get a reflection on author photos.

In Ten Money Questions for Amy Guth posted at Queercents, we get a different kind of Q&A with Amy Guth... Ms. Guth just released her debut novel called Three Fallen Women.

craft

In The first day of the rest of my life posted at The Spicy Cauldron, we get a multi-part discussion which leads the writer to look at how he blogs and to decide he could use that approach when writing a novel.

whatever

In News of the Weird posted at Writer Beware, we learn about a reality TV show starring writers.

That concludes this edition.

Submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival for book writers using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: carnival for book writers blog carnival blogging writing literary agents books publishing

Re-thinking: A Casual Jog

CNN

ORLANDO, Florida (AP) -- A missing runner was rescued from a Florida swamp after spending four days stuck in the muck with only the waist-deep water to drink. Eddie Meadows, 62, had left for a run over his lunch hour Thursday but never returned to his office at a nearby University of Central Florida research park, authorities said.

With all the incidents and reports of criminal activity we can forget that crime isn't the only thing we should watch for when we venture out on a routine activity.

Just as we wouldn't expect all joggers to suddenly get paranoid about where they place their feet, we shouldn't expect all potential crime victims to get paranoid about where they place themselves.

Life contains risks. The key is to pick the activities that are worth the risks and to do them with awareness and not paranoia.

Technorati tags:
Life

Start Seeing Labor

I'm shamelessly borrowing the slogan used by motorcyclists and those who fight to improve safety on the road for motorcyclists.

No matter what our economic status, it can be just as easy to overlook the contribution given by those who are classified as labor and to overlook the risks different laborers face, whether that is stress heart attacks for white-collar laborers or the cars that zoom within feet of highway construction workers as the drivers grumble about the inconvenience.

Sometimes the one overlooked is us. Either we don't give ourselves enough credit for what we do or we are treated as if we are invisible or actually worse than invisible.

So start seeing. And start appreciating.

Technorati tags:
Labor Day

Re-thinking: Defeatist

Whenever I hear politicians throwing out the word defeatist to describe their critics, it reminds me of the old cartoon George of the Jungle which spoofed Tarzan.

If we were to apply the defeatist label to the cartoon the way it's being used in real life, those who knew George was swinging straight for a tree would not be intelligent, they would be defeatist. That cartoon George would be the smart one by staying the course and ignoring the defeatists.

The fact that the cartoon George kept colliding with trees wouldn't have any meaning other than to show that not enough trees had been hacked down yet. The problem would not be with the decisions made by the cartoon George, it would be with the trees standing in George's way and everyone who didn't make similar mistakes.

We don't live in a cartoon world, we should stop tolerating politicians who talk as if we do.

Carnival For Book Authors Needs Your Nomination Today

The deadline for submissions to the 6th edition is tonight at 11 pm. Don't miss it.

If you have written or read a blog post that is useful to book writers, please nominate it.

The categories for submissions are: literary agents, editors, craft, marketing fiction, marketing non-fiction, and whatever. Some of the past editions have included interviews with literary agents, editors and cover artists. Posts that provide insight into the process of writing a book and/or getting it published and sold are welcome.

The process is simple. All you have to do is go our carnival submission form and provide the permalink and fill in the rest of the form.

If you want to get a sense of what I'm looking for go to http://carnivalforbookwriters.blogspot.com and read previous editions, but please don't limit yourself to the subtopics and approaches that have been included in the past.

The 6th edition will be posted here on Sept. 6th.

Technorati tags: carnival for book writers blog carnival blogging writing literary agents books publishing

Re-thinking: The Good Old Days

AP

NEW YORK (AP) -- When a wooden politician delivers the best line of the MTV Music Video Awards, you know the thrill is gone. So was the decadence, outrageousness and spontaneity that used to make the VMAs such a guilty pleasure.

and

Even Lil' Kim, who once appeared at the VMAs wearing a pasty on one breast, failed to get the party started. Recently released from prison after serving time for perjury, she stripped off an orange jail suit to reveal ... something that resembled a funky business suit. Hillary Clinton has worn more revealing outfits.

and

The lack of outrageousness almost made you long for the days when Michael Jackson was making out with Lisa Marie Presley - that was creepy, but at least it kept viewers talking.

Not only is MTV celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, but the wishing for the good old days when everything was new and exciting is typical of a silver anniversary. Everybody has to grow up some time, even networks.