ohjeez

I made the BEST Apple Brown Betty when I was 8 years old.

Though my husband _did_ learn how to cook in Scouts. (It helped that he went through serious wilderness camping trips, so he knew how to do everything from gig a frog to roast a chicken... starting with a live chicken.)

This really makes me happy.

When I was in Girl Scouts in the 1960s, we were taught to cook. I guess that was how they prepared us for our then-expected roles in life.

Even when I went to Girl Scout Camp (as I did from age 7 to 12), the outdoor skills we were encouraged to learn were watered-down versions of what boys learned. I canoed across lakes, where my husband canoed in wilderness areas on 10-day trips.

At what point did you say, "I'd better pick up iOS, if I want to have a career"? Was there a moment, or did it just make sense to add another tool to the tool belt?

There have been at least a few SF stories built on that premise. It's driving me nuts that I can't recall which they were.

I've been using it for more than a year. It's _super_ useful!

I'm glad you highlighted this; I hope other people discover it.

This makes me think: "Haven't any of these people seen a horror movie?"

Define "writing about technology."

A how-to (e.g. here's the steps in accomplishing this task)? A review (e.g. I tried this product and here I share how well it works and if it's worth your money/time)? Tech explanations (e.g. need to come up to speed on TechThing? I explain)? Something else?

And for whom? Developers, consumers, enterprise CIOs?

There are all sorts of ways to get paid for writing about tech. But it's easiest to guide you if you tell us more!

Sorry! I just used their headline and didn't add anything.

My favorite Lehrer story is... every one of them, really.

With a superhero name like that, you're going to find it easy to get job interviews!

It's awesome just for the photography.

Actually from last week, but I saw nothing about it.

An upvote for using the word "shibboleth."

I agree with you. But that individual fact isn't the point.

Each of us is sensitized to different things. A doctor friend watched less than 60 seconds of the original "E.R." TV show because in that minute he saw someone use an IV upside down. That made the entire show untrustworthy.

It rarely takes a lot of effort to get it right. Why not do so?

If you know a fact-as-presented is wrong, it throws you out of the story.

Fiction requires the willing suspension of disbelief. But you should not have to hang it until dead.

Not just disinterest, but competence. The skills that make you a good writer are very different than the skills that make you a good marketer.

My brother in law, whom I love dearly, self-published a novel. He's gone to all sorts of local fairs in order to sell it. But when I ask him for the elevator pitch, he can't give one. I've listened to him talk about it, and he can't even get ME interested in reading it.

I see what you mean, but I'd argue that stories succeed when they have more than one of these attributes. (And I'd enjoy the argument. This is a fun two-beer discussion!)

Sometimes the absence of an attribute encourages the reader to fill in the blanks; readers' own imagination is an important element. So if the characters are undeveloped but the worldbuilding is superb, the reader supplies what the story lacks.

As with other things, it's some of each. As well as identifying the elements of your creation that make something appealing.

Dan Brown is the quintessential example of a horrible writer who is nonetheless successful. By any measure his prose is terrible. His fact checking is nonexistent. (In the first book, the hero looks out the window of a bathroom in the Louvre towards the Eiffel Tower, and you can't see the tower from there.) ...And yet he is a good tale-spinner and excellent with "and _then_ what happened?" plot, so it works.

One very successful fiction writer pointed out to me years ago that fiction can rely on several items: voice, plot, character, setting, etc. So "being a good writer" is just an overall label that obscures those things. Ideally an author is great at all of them, but few are.

And as the same author pointed out, if you write (and want to make a living at it), you have to publish, and you have to get noticed. There's an old saying that books don't become bestsellers if they're hidden in a trunk. In the olden days when book publishers ruled the earth, an author could rely on the effectiveness of a good agent or publisher (and the luck involved in finding one). Now, the author has to learn to present herself with confidence, which does not necessarily come naturally. It becomes another relevant skill that has little to do with plot, character, etc. -- rather like the skill of getting your own butt into the chair in the first place.

That does indeed map to tech skills. Just as a thoughtful writer (and reader!) identifies the various parts of the novel, so too does a thoughtful developer consider her tech skills (idea generation, debugging, team building, whatever). And the ability to communicate/market is among them.

I suppose it helps that they're paid a living wage!

Honestly I love everything about that article.

I saw a link (sorry didn't keep it) saying it's being blamed on a transformer malfunction.

(Which makes me think all sorts of things about movies, but we won't go there.)

Yes, because we are all snickering about the irony.

Definitely. My husband had two previous relationships break up because, the women (each) said, "You're too smart for me."

My first marriage was much the same way. I didn't articulate it at the time (there were other problems), but he lost my attention... not because he couldn't keep up, but because I got tired of never being intellectually challenged. (He was and is a nice guy, just not the right one for me. I should have realized this when I discovered he owned one [count it one] book to be read for pleasure.)

That sounds like a win either way!

There's an old saying about a programmer who has 8 years of experience: The same year, 8 times over.

I think we have all worked with that person, at one time or another. Does that individual deserve a raise for the accomplishment of not being fired?

I was told, years ago, that when you are negotiating salary for a new job, and they say, "Sorry, $x is the most we can offer," you should ask for another week of vacation. At that point it seems (to them) cheap to say No, so you have a relatively good chance of getting it.

I'd think it would apply equally to asking for a raise, though I haven't tried it.

Yes, this. I've seen it happen on several occasions.

Also: Let's say you use this tactic to strongarm the current employer into giving you a raise. But that won't make you happy. You looked for a different job because this one did not fulfill you -- and most of the time, the dissatisfaction is not money related.

If you aren't happy with the current gig, leave. If you like your job but feel you deserve more money, help the current employer recognize that and respond to it.

I do something similar... though I haven't had reason to set myself a goal. I usually read 2-3 books per week, though. (I count a re-read, because some stories are mental comfort food.)

Actually I have books that I read in different places. There's a copy of All The Songs (the story of every Beatles song) in the bathroom, for instance. I only read a few pages at a time... which is just fine with me. I wouldn't be inspired to bring that book into the living room. On the other hand, I read cookbooks most often when sitting at the dining room table. (And I read a lot of cookbooks.)

You don't want a word to capture the wonderfulness of lazing around on Sunday morning? _What kind of monster are you?_

"The difference between the right word and the nearly right word is the same as the difference between lightning and the lighting bug." —Mark Twain