“When the character of a man is not clear to you, look at his friends.”
– Japanese Proverb

↓ From The Dolphin’s Secret:

↓ From The Open Book:

↓ From The Giant and the Midget:

↓ From Been Called:

Most newspapers adhere to “AP style” - that is, style components and conventions determined by smart people at the Associated Press. The New York Times has its own style book, and so does the Wall Street Journal. Here are some forms that might be new to you. Be sure to adhere to these forms in your next press release, in order to increase the likelihood of exposure.

• Grand Slam. Capitalize when referring to the four major tournaments in golf (the Masters, the United States Open, the British Open and the P.G.A. Championship) and the four in tennis (the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon and the United States Open). (nyt)
• Occident or Occidental. Capitalize when referring to Europe, the Western Hemisphere or an inhabitant of those regions. (ap)
• Bible, biblical. Capitalize Bible (but not biblical) when referring to the Old and New Testaments. But: the style manual is their bible. (nyt)
• dollars and cents. Sums of dollars and cents are usually given in figures: 5 cents; 25 cents; $10; $12.25; $10,629. But: $1 million; $3.6 million; $895 million; $1.53 billion. In the simple adjective form, do not use a hyphen: $2.5 million investment. But hyphens must be used in longer modifiers, like these: a $10-to-11-billion increase; a $2-million-a-year job. (nyt)
• disc and disk. Use disc in references to phonograph records (disc jockey, discography), optical and laser-based devices (compact disc, laser disc, videodisc), farm implements (disc harrow) and brakes (disc brake). Use disk in references to the magnetic storage devices used with computers (floppy disk, hard disk) and to the fiber and cartilage between the vertebrae (slipped disk). (nyt)
• follow up (verb) and follow-up (noun and adjective). When will you follow up with Matilda? Sassafras reluctantly scheduled the follow-up meeting for the second Tuesday of next week. (ap)
• Election Day. When referring to the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, capitalize both words. (ap)
• congressional. Lowercase unless part of a proper name: exorbitant congressional salaries, the Congressional Quarterly, the Congressional Record.
• Nascar. Not NASCAR, for the National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing. (nyt)

Source: ProofreadNOW.com

*Note: FYI only, although I take no issue with the above guidelines. While there will always be errors that find their way into AP style, it’s still good practice to be aware of what’s considered correct.

“We do not write because we want to; we write because we have to.”
– W. Somerset Maugham

The short story concentrates on its grain of sand, in the fierce belief that there — right there, in the palm of its hand — lies the universe. It seeks to know that grain of sand the way a lover seeks to know the face of the beloved. It looks for the moment when the grain of sand reveals its true nature. In that moment of mystic expansion, when the macrocosmic flower bursts from the microcosmic seed, the short story feels its power. It becomes bigger than itself.

Yep. That is so spot-on it gives me butt chills.

At Fort MacArthur, here in our neighborhood in San Pedro, near the Los Angeles Harbor. Vive’s in his zone more than you probably know.

At the far right of this photo is a dog cemetery dating back to the early part of the 20th century, which, I’m happy to say, is being restored with a cool new stone wall, an iron gate, and headstones. Buried on those grounds behind the fort’s chapel are dozens of four-legged soldiers from the United States Army’s K-9 Command Program that gave their services, and subsequently their lives, to the free world. When international conflict started heating up in World War II, the K-9 Command Program upped the ante on what was asked of dogs, and, among other things, trained them to kill men in combat. When the war was over, the dogs were not deemed safe to return to civilian life, and were put down.

Lots of ghosts running free around here. I’ll write about it in detail some day. Much detail.

As the guy is staring down at his ball and contemplating his roundabout shot, his wife says, “Why don’t you just open up the doors on both sides of the barn and hit the ball through in one stroke?”

The guy examines the barn doors, thinks about it, and agrees. “That’s brilliant,” he says. “Good idea, dear.”

So the guy opens the doors on both sides of the barn and gets ready for his shot. He rears back, swings, and hits the ball on the heel of the club. The ball veers offline, hits a drainpipe on the side of the barn, ricochets off a tractor, and bounces off his wife’s forehead. She falls to the ground, unconscious.

Three weeks later, the same guy is golfing with three of his buddies at the same course. On the tenth hole, as luck would have it, his ball ends up at the exact spot as before. Directly behind the big red barn.

As the guy is staring down at his ball and contemplating his roundabout shot, one of his buddies says, “Why don’t you just open up the doors on both sides of the barn and hit the ball through in one stroke?”

The guy turns to his buddy. “No way,” he says. “Last time I tried that, I got a twelve on this hole.”

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(via sleepingdog)