Sometimes there’s a story that I “have” to publish, even though I know it just won’t make it past the spam filters, so I “can’t” put it in the email newsletter. And see below for an update.
Language
Noblesse Oblige
Or, Was I Offensive to Little Girls?
There was a phrase in the previous blog entry on the 6-year-old kid, where I imagined the school staff: “Run in circles! Pull out your hair! Scream like a little girl!”
Today Nancy in Illinois complained that was “sexist language.” She writes:
Herb Caen: Master of the Three Dots
This story is what got me started on remembering Herb Caen — it’s from True’s 17 May 2009 issue:
Tardwit
Important Update Below
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Sundays are writing day around here: it’s the day I write This is True each week. This week, I had the usual line-up of stories about stupid people doing stupid things (or, as the case may be, smart people doing stupid things!) when I came across the story of Mark Rimkufski from the weirdest state in the union, which is of course Florida.
Weird News Video #28 — Christmas Traditions
Episode #28: “You Think Your State is Weird?”, from True’s 14 December 2008 issue.
Weird News Video #18 — Artificial Education
Episode #18: “Artificial Education”, from True’s 5 October 2008 issue.
Weird News Video #14 — Clbuttic Mistake
Episode #14: “How Embarrbutting!”, from True’s 7 August 2008 issue.
Higher Education
I do a lot of research when looking for stories, and I see quite a bit of amazing stuff. Most of it I use for stories, but sometimes even truly wonderful items just don’t quite make it into the final product. This is one such case.
Shift Happens
There’s a group of friends I hang out with online, all of us online entrepreneurs. One sent a URL around urging us all to “take 8 minutes to watch the video,” adding “if you care about such things, please consider blogging about it and/or passing it on.” What things? Our kids. Or, more accurately, the education of our kids. The world is a very, very different place than it was when we were kids.
A “Letter”? From an “Editor”!
Do the ! and ? in the title above, in relation to the quotation marks, bother you? Vindicate you? Make you wonder? Maybe you’ll enjoy this little debate, which opened in the 22 January 2006 issue.
Higher Education
aka, Ya’ll Grow Up Now, Hear?
I Became Aware of the Beaver Problem when researching the 18 June 2000 issue. People really enjoyed the resulting story. Pay particular attention to the second half:
Distant Cousins
See 2006 Update, Below
Many readers enjoyed these two stories that appeared in the 16 February 2003 issue, as they showed how different — and how similar — Australians and Americans are:
The True Story of Leonard Carlo’s Bar
See Updates Below!
I showed a friend the story below from the 3 October 1999 issue, and she found it way too hard to believe.
John Bobbitt:
Immortalized Through Verbification
It’s really hard to coin a word. I tried it in the 17 July 1994 issue: