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Rock and roll rhetoric: Searching for a Heart

“They say love conquers all You can’t start it like a car You can’t stop it with a gun.” Searching for a Heart (Zevon), Warren Zevon What a great line. Everyone, since the Roman poet Virgil, knows that love conquers all, but no-one explains why … until Zevon states the obvious, timeless truth in his […]

Elmore Leonard

10 x 29 = many rules for writing fiction #writing

The Guardian (in 2010) asked 29 authors for their ten rules: Part One, here Part Two, here Some random selections: “if it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.” “You see more sitting still than chasing after.” “Interesting verbs are seldom very interesting.” “1. Write. 2. Put one word after another. Find the right word, put it down. […]

Ada Lovelace, Poet of Science by Diane Stanley

Ada Lovelace, Poet of Science – @brainpicker

The BrainPickings blog highlights this engaging children’s book about mathematician, computing pioneer (and much more), Ada Lovelace: Sounds like it should be required reading to small children everywhere. By the way, reading this I learn that Ada Lovelace was the daughter of the poet Lord Byron; something I feel I should have known already.

Queen's College, Cambridge

The long view

A trip to Cambridge (for an early orientation as we embark on the great university search for son and heir) made me ponder the immeasurable benefits of a long-term perspective. The university dates back nearly 800 years. Cambridge city on a sunny Saturday bustles and buzzes with tourists, but inside their ancient walls each college […]

Knives, tell them well – @thisisseth

Seth Godin on knives: “Cooks know that a sharp knife is less likely to cause injury, because it goes where you point it. It does what you tell it to do, which means you can focus on what you want the outcome to be. The challenge of a sharp knife is that it puts ever […]

Career 7 – Nicholas Bate

Nicholas Bate offers succinct but invaluable career advice: 1. Money doesn’t motivate; lack of money demotivates. … 7. Once a month, ask the tough question: why would anyone need my skills? The rest, here.

Making Movies (on location, she don’t know it means)

Kurt’s Cultural Offering recommends Dire Straits third album, Making Movies, here. I’d heartily support that. I saw the band on that tour with Hal Lindes on rhythm guitar. I guess they looked a bit like this … I remember that gorgeous red Schecter Strat and Hal Lindes’ white one.

The rehabilitation of Michael Gove

Since leaving office, in the bizarre aftermath of the Brexit vote, Michael Gove has returned to his prior career as a writer, writing a regular column for the Times. His two latest contributions are excellent, objective observations on current events. The first, in the immediate aftermath of the Westminster attack, contemplates how best to respond […]

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