Google has this feature in its News section called Suggested for You. I guess they get it from things you searched for on regular Google. I can't think how else they do it.
Today's section of suggestions included an article about Geico. I was all like WTF? I've never searched for Geico, but then I remembered that yes, I did. When I was blogging about the commercial with the spy and his mom calling him, I did Google them.
There are some really odd suggestions at times, but then I do searches for a lot of off beat things. What I don't think the good folks at Google realize is that just because a person does one search on a topic, that doesn't necessarily mean they have any interest in ever seeing anything about it again. Put me squarely in that category. I mean really, just because I Googled about a television commercial that I liked, doesn't mean I have any interest in the company itself.
I get a lot of suggestions on things I looked at once and have zero interest in after that. Sometimes the suggestion seems to have no relationship to anything I ever searched for, but I'm assuming that's because I searched so long ago that I've forgotten about it. Either that or Google has decided to just throw random stuff at me and see if I care.
I usually click the not interested option.
Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
Thursday, March 24, 2016
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
This Study Makes Me Sad
Recently, I read an article about a study that was conducted. The results? People who end texts in periods are viewed as insincere, "probably because the people sending them are heartless." Washington post article.
WTF? When did using proper grammar make someone heartless?
FWIW, I always text in complete sentences with proper punctuation. I also capitalize the words that require capitalization, and get so frustrated when auto correct messes up my words. I am not being insincere and I'm not heartless. I simply believe that abandoning proper grammar is barbaric.
The article I linked to also mentions that the exclamation mark makes people believe you're being more sincere. This is a follow-up study. Exclamation marks? I like them. I use them, but sparingly. If everything ends in ! how do you know when I'm really excited about something? Writers are taught not to overuse exclamation marks. Sigh.
I'm not opposed to language being fluid, but seriously, let's keep some standards. Like proper punctuation without hyperbole!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (see what I did here?)
WTF? When did using proper grammar make someone heartless?
FWIW, I always text in complete sentences with proper punctuation. I also capitalize the words that require capitalization, and get so frustrated when auto correct messes up my words. I am not being insincere and I'm not heartless. I simply believe that abandoning proper grammar is barbaric.
The article I linked to also mentions that the exclamation mark makes people believe you're being more sincere. This is a follow-up study. Exclamation marks? I like them. I use them, but sparingly. If everything ends in ! how do you know when I'm really excited about something? Writers are taught not to overuse exclamation marks. Sigh.
I'm not opposed to language being fluid, but seriously, let's keep some standards. Like proper punctuation without hyperbole!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (see what I did here?)
Thursday, April 23, 2015
Suggested For You
Google has started this new section on their News page. Suggested For You. I'm not sure I like it for a couple of reasons. First, it reminds me that they're watching where I go on the net. Yeah, I know they do it, but I prefer not to think about it. This is a constant reminder. If it were only topics I'd searched for, that would be one thing, but some of their suggestions have got to becoming from articles I've clicked through to read from Twitter or Facebook. I'm fairly sure of this.
The other thing that makes me not sure I like the feature is that the suggestions are pretty lame. I think I searched for Frozen once and ended up getting that suggested to me over and over. I clicked no, not interested, but then I clicked through on Twitter about Frozen 2 and then the suggestions for the movie were back again. :-/
Today, I had Mark Twain in the suggestions. I'm trying to think how that triggered since I can't remember reading anything about him or his work for a long time.
Before you get the impression that I totally hate it, I don't. Because I did a couple of searches to research the Work In Progress (WIP) and since then Google has offered other suggestions that I've found helpful. This is also why I haven't checked to find out if there's a way to turn this off. Having information I didn't even know I needed delivered to me is pretty awesome. I just wish it was a little easier to fine tune it.
The other thing that makes me not sure I like the feature is that the suggestions are pretty lame. I think I searched for Frozen once and ended up getting that suggested to me over and over. I clicked no, not interested, but then I clicked through on Twitter about Frozen 2 and then the suggestions for the movie were back again. :-/
Today, I had Mark Twain in the suggestions. I'm trying to think how that triggered since I can't remember reading anything about him or his work for a long time.
Before you get the impression that I totally hate it, I don't. Because I did a couple of searches to research the Work In Progress (WIP) and since then Google has offered other suggestions that I've found helpful. This is also why I haven't checked to find out if there's a way to turn this off. Having information I didn't even know I needed delivered to me is pretty awesome. I just wish it was a little easier to fine tune it.
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Characters and Current Events
I thought I'd make this a three post blog topic and talk about characters and current events. While I have waded in with technology or things like music/movies in my books, I've shied away from news-type references. At least I'm pretty sure I have. The thing is that current events never stay current and even if something feels too big to fade, it will recede in people's memories.
Take Hurricane Katrina as an example. At that time, it was a huge news story. The outrage over the lack of government response, the people trapped at the dome, homes flattened, debris everywhere, and rooftop rescues were in the news constantly in the aftermath of the storm. It might be tempting to think that this would never leave public consciousness and that having a character reference it would still resonate years later.
IMO, not so much. Quick, what year was Katrina?
If you or someone you love wasn't directly impacted by the storm, the details become less distinct. It's the way humans are-something happens and we eventually put it behind us and move on. As more years pass, the memories will become even more vague.
And because the immediacy fades, characters referencing an event like this dates the book. Fast.
I think-and this is my opinion only-that if a character has a backstory that includes surviving a bad hurricane, that the writer make it a fictional hurricane. It can have Katrina-like elements to it, but made-up storms don't get dated. And of course, this would apply to any major current event. Make it up.
Probably I spend too much time thinking about stuff like this, but the pop culture and technology issues are still unanswered for me. I guess figuring out 1 out of 3 isn't bad, but I'd love to decide where I stand on all the topics.
Take Hurricane Katrina as an example. At that time, it was a huge news story. The outrage over the lack of government response, the people trapped at the dome, homes flattened, debris everywhere, and rooftop rescues were in the news constantly in the aftermath of the storm. It might be tempting to think that this would never leave public consciousness and that having a character reference it would still resonate years later.
IMO, not so much. Quick, what year was Katrina?
If you or someone you love wasn't directly impacted by the storm, the details become less distinct. It's the way humans are-something happens and we eventually put it behind us and move on. As more years pass, the memories will become even more vague.
And because the immediacy fades, characters referencing an event like this dates the book. Fast.
I think-and this is my opinion only-that if a character has a backstory that includes surviving a bad hurricane, that the writer make it a fictional hurricane. It can have Katrina-like elements to it, but made-up storms don't get dated. And of course, this would apply to any major current event. Make it up.
Probably I spend too much time thinking about stuff like this, but the pop culture and technology issues are still unanswered for me. I guess figuring out 1 out of 3 isn't bad, but I'd love to decide where I stand on all the topics.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Sensationalism
A little background before I get rolling about news and sensationalism. I graduated from the University of Minnesota's School of Journalism. My major was advertising copywriting, but I started in broadcast news before changing areas, and because of my education, I tend to analyze and look at the news and how it's presented in a different way than the general public.
The second thing I'll mention is that one of the reasons I became interested in journalism was reading an old, beat up copy of All the President's Men by Woodward and Bernstein as a young teenager. I think this is why I have a bias toward what journalism should and can be. It also explains why I'm pretty disillusioned by what we're seeing now, but that's a whole other post.
I probably don't have tell you the big story that got me going on this topic--the shooting in Colorado. I do understand the around the clock coverage and I actually agree with it. People will tune in at various times to find out the latest and it was big. My problem came when they started trotting out the experts when no one knew anything and they speculated. Then the speculation, which had pretty much no foundation, is talked about as if it's fact.
This isn't what had me aggravated, though. What triggered this post was an ESPN opinion piece about the NCAA sanctions on Penn State.
I'm not going to link to the article. You'll find out why in a few paragraphs.
The ESPN article referred to the NCAA president as a "generalissimo" and continued on with the South American dictator theme throughout--the inflammatory tone was definitely on purpose. You probably guessed already that the author's opinion was that the sanctions against PSU were wrong.
The NCAA sanction announcement was scheduled for 9am eastern time and the ESPN piece would have been written after that. By the time I read it at lunch break, comments had exploded through the stratosphere. The vast majority of the people were irate--understandably so. I didn't look at the number of tweets and Facebook sharing involved, but I'm betting it was in line with the volume of comments.
And this is exactly what the author wanted. He wanted the comments, he wanted the tweets with a link to the article, he wanted people to link via Facebook to his article. This is why I'm not linking to the article.
You see, the author of this opinion piece could have made his point in a way that people would have read without going ballistic. He could have said something like: "I don't condone child abuse in anyway and clearly the Penn State football program was out of control, but I believe the NCAA acted improperly for these reasons."
If he'd started out in a rational and reasonable manner, most people would have read his article with a more open mind, and even if they disagreed with him, there wouldn't be this avalanche of people calling for him to be fired or calling him a moron.
The author wasn't a moron and ESPN is not going to fire him. No way. He just generated an incredible amount of hits to their website with his inflammatory post.
This is why he wrote the post this way. He doesn't care whether or not anyone saw his point or understood his position. Nope, all he cared about was hyping up the language enough to anger people. He sensationalized his article, doing everything he could to guarantee the kind of reaction he received. It was done well, too. Despite the way I analyze news, it took me until the next day to see what he did and why. It also took me that long to figure out what, exactly, his opinion had been.
Because the language and imagery he used inflamed my emotions, too. He played me and everyone else. All in the name of ratings. Or in this case, hits.
This is what's wrong with news coverage. As big conglomerates bought the news outlets--TV, newspapers, web, radio, etc--it became all about the ratings, about selling copies and not about reporting the news. In fact, there is world news that is important and garners maybe a 15 second mention on US broadcasts--if it's reported at all. These are stories that won't pull in ratings or hits.
I seriously long for the world of journalism that I saw in All the President's Men. I'm not sure it ever really existed outside my imagination, but I still want it to be like that. Instead, we're beyond Don Henley's song Dirty Laundry. Well beyond.
The second thing I'll mention is that one of the reasons I became interested in journalism was reading an old, beat up copy of All the President's Men by Woodward and Bernstein as a young teenager. I think this is why I have a bias toward what journalism should and can be. It also explains why I'm pretty disillusioned by what we're seeing now, but that's a whole other post.
I probably don't have tell you the big story that got me going on this topic--the shooting in Colorado. I do understand the around the clock coverage and I actually agree with it. People will tune in at various times to find out the latest and it was big. My problem came when they started trotting out the experts when no one knew anything and they speculated. Then the speculation, which had pretty much no foundation, is talked about as if it's fact.
This isn't what had me aggravated, though. What triggered this post was an ESPN opinion piece about the NCAA sanctions on Penn State.
I'm not going to link to the article. You'll find out why in a few paragraphs.
The ESPN article referred to the NCAA president as a "generalissimo" and continued on with the South American dictator theme throughout--the inflammatory tone was definitely on purpose. You probably guessed already that the author's opinion was that the sanctions against PSU were wrong.
The NCAA sanction announcement was scheduled for 9am eastern time and the ESPN piece would have been written after that. By the time I read it at lunch break, comments had exploded through the stratosphere. The vast majority of the people were irate--understandably so. I didn't look at the number of tweets and Facebook sharing involved, but I'm betting it was in line with the volume of comments.
And this is exactly what the author wanted. He wanted the comments, he wanted the tweets with a link to the article, he wanted people to link via Facebook to his article. This is why I'm not linking to the article.
You see, the author of this opinion piece could have made his point in a way that people would have read without going ballistic. He could have said something like: "I don't condone child abuse in anyway and clearly the Penn State football program was out of control, but I believe the NCAA acted improperly for these reasons."
If he'd started out in a rational and reasonable manner, most people would have read his article with a more open mind, and even if they disagreed with him, there wouldn't be this avalanche of people calling for him to be fired or calling him a moron.
The author wasn't a moron and ESPN is not going to fire him. No way. He just generated an incredible amount of hits to their website with his inflammatory post.
This is why he wrote the post this way. He doesn't care whether or not anyone saw his point or understood his position. Nope, all he cared about was hyping up the language enough to anger people. He sensationalized his article, doing everything he could to guarantee the kind of reaction he received. It was done well, too. Despite the way I analyze news, it took me until the next day to see what he did and why. It also took me that long to figure out what, exactly, his opinion had been.
Because the language and imagery he used inflamed my emotions, too. He played me and everyone else. All in the name of ratings. Or in this case, hits.
This is what's wrong with news coverage. As big conglomerates bought the news outlets--TV, newspapers, web, radio, etc--it became all about the ratings, about selling copies and not about reporting the news. In fact, there is world news that is important and garners maybe a 15 second mention on US broadcasts--if it's reported at all. These are stories that won't pull in ratings or hits.
I seriously long for the world of journalism that I saw in All the President's Men. I'm not sure it ever really existed outside my imagination, but I still want it to be like that. Instead, we're beyond Don Henley's song Dirty Laundry. Well beyond.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
News, News, Coffee!
To start with the most exciting news first, In Twilight's Shadow is a finalist for Best Paranormal in the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence! Happy dog dancing on this one!
Next exciting bit of news is that I have the cover for The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance 2. I'll have a story in the collection called Blood Feud and I had so much fun writing it! Maybe because it's such a different length for me. I've never written anything this short before in my life! The heroine is Isobel and she's the vampire, so I was really glad to see a female vampire on the cover. The hero is Seere and he's a demon.
Release date in the US is Halloween and it's up for pre-order on Amazon.
That's all my news for today. To move on to the next subject in the title, I started grinding coffee beans today. I'd gotten a "deal" on some pretty expensive coffee, and although I'd been warned to only grind about a week's worth at a time, I decided not to. It's so darn messy that I wanted to grind everything and get it over with. I made it through 3 of the 5 twelve ounce bags. Ugh!
I could never work in a coffee shop, not if I had to grind coffee and smell it. I like the smell of coffee someone else has ground, but this just left me nauseated. Right now I don't even feel like getting my coffee pot ready to brew tomorrow's pot and that's like a fish not feeling like swimming. It just doesn't happen. :-) So my plan is not to grind any more for a while until I can stand the thought of smelling that again. And I am never, ever buying beans that I have to grind myself, not even if the price is good. This is torturous!
Next exciting bit of news is that I have the cover for The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance 2. I'll have a story in the collection called Blood Feud and I had so much fun writing it! Maybe because it's such a different length for me. I've never written anything this short before in my life! The heroine is Isobel and she's the vampire, so I was really glad to see a female vampire on the cover. The hero is Seere and he's a demon.
Release date in the US is Halloween and it's up for pre-order on Amazon.
That's all my news for today. To move on to the next subject in the title, I started grinding coffee beans today. I'd gotten a "deal" on some pretty expensive coffee, and although I'd been warned to only grind about a week's worth at a time, I decided not to. It's so darn messy that I wanted to grind everything and get it over with. I made it through 3 of the 5 twelve ounce bags. Ugh!
I could never work in a coffee shop, not if I had to grind coffee and smell it. I like the smell of coffee someone else has ground, but this just left me nauseated. Right now I don't even feel like getting my coffee pot ready to brew tomorrow's pot and that's like a fish not feeling like swimming. It just doesn't happen. :-) So my plan is not to grind any more for a while until I can stand the thought of smelling that again. And I am never, ever buying beans that I have to grind myself, not even if the price is good. This is torturous!
Thursday, April 03, 2008
More Good News
I found out yesterday that In the Midnight Hour is a finalist for Best Paranormal in the Write Touch Readers Choice Awards!!! Yea!
Monday, March 24, 2008
Extra, Extra, Read All About It
Sorry, the blog title is as clever as I can manage on the amount of sleep I had last night. :-)
This is going to be kind of a newsy post today since I've had a pretty exciting couple of days.
First on the list is that In the Midnight Hour is a finalist for Best Paranormal in the Colorado Romance Writers Award of Excellence!
Every author has a book that's a little more special to them than the others and Midnight Hour is one of those stories for me. And I'll totally deny I ever said this if any of the characters from other books ask! I guess I'm lucky to have more than one title that I would call the book of my heart.
Second, I received my first review for In Twilight's Shadow this morning and it's a great one! This is from Detra Fitch at Huntress Reviews:
This is my first review for Twilight and it's always a nervous moment to see what people think of the latest baby. I was thrilled to read this and now I can relax--a little bit. :-)
And so concludes the exciting news portion of this blog. :-)
Last night I was nearly done with the chapter I was working on--within spitting distance--and I vowed that I would not go to bed until I finished it. I was getting tired, but I persevered, and I did finish it. At 10:39 at night. That's really late since the alarm goes off at 4am for the Evil Day Job (EDJ).
Of course, I didn't fall asleep right away. I was too busy running scenarios through my head for the next chapter and wondering if it would be too much talking in back to back chapters if I went with Idea A.
Maybe that's why I had the weird dreams all night that continually woke me up. The only one I remember had writing people in it--not characters, I mean people in the business. I might not have known any of them, but I knew what they did. Dreams are funny that way.
So other than the fab review, it's been a rough morning for me. I couldn't get out of bed, was running late for work, and barely punched in on time. At least I haven't had to resort to the second cup of coffee. Yet.
This is going to be kind of a newsy post today since I've had a pretty exciting couple of days.
First on the list is that In the Midnight Hour is a finalist for Best Paranormal in the Colorado Romance Writers Award of Excellence!
Every author has a book that's a little more special to them than the others and Midnight Hour is one of those stories for me. And I'll totally deny I ever said this if any of the characters from other books ask! I guess I'm lucky to have more than one title that I would call the book of my heart.
Second, I received my first review for In Twilight's Shadow this morning and it's a great one! This is from Detra Fitch at Huntress Reviews:
"The story is so well written that Maia's anguish and despair seemed to dance on my nerves, making this a compulsive page-turner."
This is my first review for Twilight and it's always a nervous moment to see what people think of the latest baby. I was thrilled to read this and now I can relax--a little bit. :-)
And so concludes the exciting news portion of this blog. :-)
Last night I was nearly done with the chapter I was working on--within spitting distance--and I vowed that I would not go to bed until I finished it. I was getting tired, but I persevered, and I did finish it. At 10:39 at night. That's really late since the alarm goes off at 4am for the Evil Day Job (EDJ).
Of course, I didn't fall asleep right away. I was too busy running scenarios through my head for the next chapter and wondering if it would be too much talking in back to back chapters if I went with Idea A.
Maybe that's why I had the weird dreams all night that continually woke me up. The only one I remember had writing people in it--not characters, I mean people in the business. I might not have known any of them, but I knew what they did. Dreams are funny that way.
So other than the fab review, it's been a rough morning for me. I couldn't get out of bed, was running late for work, and barely punched in on time. At least I haven't had to resort to the second cup of coffee. Yet.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Culture Talk
I found out yesterday that the Pompeii exhibit at the Science Museum of Minnesota is open. I'd heard this was coming, but I was on deadline for In Twilight's Shadow and I completely forgot about it until I saw the article in the paper yesterday.
There was some other Pompeii exhibit that went through Chicago like a year or two ago. I heard about it after the fact, though, and hadn't gotten the chance to drive down to see it. I was disappointed by that because it sounded really interesting, but driving to St. Paul is much better than going to Chicago. :-) So it's all working out just fine. I'll be waiting to go until after the kids are back in school. :-) I'm thinking after Labor Day sometime.
I also discovered yesterday that the Guthrie Theater is doing a production of 1776. That's one of my favorite musicals ever! I even own the movie on DVD as well as having a couple of copies on VHS tape.
The Guthrie used to send me a mailing every year to let me know what shows are playing for the season, but I didn't get one this time around. :-( And when I went to check ticket availability on the theater website, all that dates I wanted to attend were marked "limited." :-( Guess I won't get to see 1776 live. That's a huge disappointment.
I found out about 1776 because the Guthrie Theater is on MySpace and sent out a bulletin. Now that's modern theater!
Revisions continue and I think they're going well enough. I'm actually thinking I might, just might, end up with enough time to do a straight read through for nitpicky smoothing stuff. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I have one more big, time consuming issue to tackle, and if that ends up being more difficult than I anticipate, that extra time might disappear.
Friday, February 23, 2007
Interesting Items in the News
I read a really interesting article this morning about solar power in the Telegraph. I'm pretty sure it's the London Telegraph, but since it doesn't specify the city, I'm erring on the side of caution. The part I found particularly fascinating was that new technology is emerging in this area so quickly, that the people interviewed believe solar power will be cheap enough within five years to compete with our current modes of energy.
Someone in the article is even quoted as saying that they don't need subsidies, that all they need is for the governments around the world to do "no harm." Which of course, got my brain swirling with potential story ideas. :-) What can I say? It's the hazard of being a writer. Anything and everything can spark the imagination.
I also saw a report on the TV about organic fruits and vegetables. I watched it on the web. (Have I mentioned I love having a high-speed connection?) This story talked about how expensive organic produce ran and what you should buy organic and what was okay to buy "regular."
There are some fruits and vegetables that have pesticide residue even after repeated washings, and according to the report, these are the "dirty dozen" that you'd be better off buying organic:
Apples, bell peppers, celery, imported grapes, peaches, nectarines, pears, potatoes, red raspberries, spinach, cherries and strawberries.
Merely buying organic for these items can cut your pesticide intake by 90%. Now, isn't that reassuring? Gah! After reading this, I shudder when I think of all the apples I've eaten.
Here's the list of produce that are the most consistently clean:
Asparagus, avocados, bananas, broccoli, cauliflower, sweet corn, kiwi, onion, pineapple, and sweet peas.
No new story ideas from this, however, I did find it interesting. Pesticides, genetic engineering, hormones, and other crap like this in the food supply worries me, but with organics so expensive, it's nice to know what I can skip spending extra on.
I think I'll quit here because the other item that interests me is the snowstorm from hell that's supposed to hit the Twin Cities today. And while I'm from Minnesota and there's nothing we love better than to talk about the weather, I know it bores people from other states. Y'all don't know what you're missing, though. :-) We can have twenty minute conversations with complete strangers and there's never an awkwardness as we search for a topic. ;-)
Someone in the article is even quoted as saying that they don't need subsidies, that all they need is for the governments around the world to do "no harm." Which of course, got my brain swirling with potential story ideas. :-) What can I say? It's the hazard of being a writer. Anything and everything can spark the imagination.
I also saw a report on the TV about organic fruits and vegetables. I watched it on the web. (Have I mentioned I love having a high-speed connection?) This story talked about how expensive organic produce ran and what you should buy organic and what was okay to buy "regular."
There are some fruits and vegetables that have pesticide residue even after repeated washings, and according to the report, these are the "dirty dozen" that you'd be better off buying organic:
Apples, bell peppers, celery, imported grapes, peaches, nectarines, pears, potatoes, red raspberries, spinach, cherries and strawberries.
Merely buying organic for these items can cut your pesticide intake by 90%. Now, isn't that reassuring? Gah! After reading this, I shudder when I think of all the apples I've eaten.
Here's the list of produce that are the most consistently clean:
Asparagus, avocados, bananas, broccoli, cauliflower, sweet corn, kiwi, onion, pineapple, and sweet peas.
No new story ideas from this, however, I did find it interesting. Pesticides, genetic engineering, hormones, and other crap like this in the food supply worries me, but with organics so expensive, it's nice to know what I can skip spending extra on.
I think I'll quit here because the other item that interests me is the snowstorm from hell that's supposed to hit the Twin Cities today. And while I'm from Minnesota and there's nothing we love better than to talk about the weather, I know it bores people from other states. Y'all don't know what you're missing, though. :-) We can have twenty minute conversations with complete strangers and there's never an awkwardness as we search for a topic. ;-)
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