Do unto others 20% better than you would expect them to do unto you, to correct for subjective error - Linus Pauling

“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.” – Robert A. Heinlein

10 Tips on Writing from David Ogilvy

The better you write, the higher you go in Ogilvy & Mather. People who think well, write well.

Woolly minded people write woolly memos, woolly letters and woolly speeches.

Good writing is not a natural gift. You have to learn to write well. Here are 10 hints:

1. Read the Roman-Raphaelson book on writing. Read it three times.

2. Write the way you talk. Naturally.

3. Use short words, short sentences and short paragraphs.

4. Never use jargon words like reconceptualize, demassification, attitudinally, judgmentally. They are hallmarks of a pretentious ass.

5. Never write more than two pages on any subject.

6. Check your quotations.

7. Never send a letter or a memo on the day you write it. Read it aloud the next morning — and then edit it.

8. If it is something important, get a colleague to improve it.

9. Before you send your letter or your memo, make sure it is crystal clear what you want the recipient to do.

10. If you want ACTION, don’t write. Go and tell the guy what you want.

David

[Via Brainpickings]

Albatros: The Automatic Bookmark

I could really use this. London based designer Oscar Lhermitte is raising funds for his new polyester bookmark that automatically marks your page. We've all been running to catch muni and thrown our book into a bag, only to spend the next 5 minutes trying to figure out what chapter you were on.

The project is already fully funded, but you can still chip in. $10 gets you a set of 6 bookmarks.




Albatros bookmarks from Oscar Lhermitte on Vimeo.

[Via Reddit Gadgets & Laughing Squid]

SF Tour Guide Trivia

One of my favorite "emphatically" local blogs, The Bold Italic, asked San Francisco tour guides their favorite facts and trivia about the city. Check out Ashley Harrell's "Walk This Way."

Here are some of my favorites:

"San Francisco Bay is the largest landlocked bay in the world, but its average depth is akin to a swimming pool – 12 to 15 feet."

"The Wave Organ located on a jetty in the bay is made from rejected graveyard monuments that were left behind when San Francisco’s cemeteries were transplanted out of the city."

"The fortune cookie was created not by the Chinese, but by Japanese-American Makoto Hagiwara – the same landscape artist who designed the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park."

"Before the 1906 earthquake, there were 58,000 Victorians in San Francisco. Now there are 14,000, and that’s still enough to declare San Francisco home to the most Victorians in the United States."

Mark Twain at Stormfield, 1909

In honor of the author's 176th birthday this little nugget has been floating around the Internet today. The film is silent and has deteriorated significantly, but still makes me smile. Thomas Edison captured the only video of "father of American literature" Mark Twain at his home in Stormfield, CT in 1909. The video shows him walking about and playing cards with his daughters, Clara and Jean.

Book Challenge!

I spend a lot of time making lists of books I intend to read next; then I begin thousand-page, 5-book and counting series (yes, I’m talking about you, George R.R. Martin). My affinity for long-winded fantasy and sci-fi series means I rarely make much progress with my list, which currently stands at over 100 titles.

So, I’ve set a challenge: I will read 10 books off the top of my ‘Classics’ list in the next 5 months. 

I will admit this particular list is entirely influenced by what was available for free on the Kindle, but hey, they’re still good reads.

The list:

•  The War of the Worlds - H.G. Wells
•  Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea – Jules Verne
•  The Idiot – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
•  Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
•  The Man in the Iron Mask – Alesandre Dumas
•   Les Miserables – Victor Hugo
• Dracula – Bram Stoker
• Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson
•  The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
• The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde

I’m easing myself into it -- The War of the Worlds weighs in at about 100 pages, and despite being published in 1890, still features all the science fiction elements the geek in me craves.

I’ll update on my progress as I go, so far I have to say the juxtaposition between horse and buggies, gas lamps and giant tripod-esque Martian machines rules. The Tom Cruise film adaptation would have been so much better if it had been set in the 19^th century.