It is harder to believe in probability than it is to believe in a political party
-----------------------------------
.
In a world of 6 billion people, 6000 people have an a million to one coincidence happen every single day.
That makes it hard to believe in randomness.
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I've got a bag full of surprises that would make Santa jealous.
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I'm an English teacher and an American person. I have a leather belt that I made with a Leatherman. The first time I talked to a therapist, he said "this is going to be fun."
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a typical human is not average
not in height
not in weight
not in hair
not in charm
not in anything
average is not typical
average is a black swan
average is a unicorn
average is a hooker with a heart of gold
average is an imaginary friend.
---------------------------
You can either choose to find the beauty in life
or you can expect life
to convince you that it is beautiful
(And before I say what's next,
I need to admit something.
I am dumb.
I am gold medal dumb.
I am Guinness Book of World Records Dumb)
However...
Noone is dumb enough
to argue
that one of those choices
isn't a whole hell of a lot
better than the other.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mankind isn't created
and mankind isn't designed
and mankind hasn't randomly lucked into an evolutionary world
to have things that work forever
Mankind is not made up of those who have never suffered a disaster
or those who gave up
Mankind is made up of survivors.
Mankind is made up of rebuilders
But
Mankind would never have survived without the experimenters.
the kind of men who create disasters,
the lovable fuckups
who aren't afraid of anything
except giving up on their own ideas
even
if those ideas kill them
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, June 8, 2014
Sunday, May 18, 2014
Grammar Girl- Best Podcasts for Students
grammar girl is an online expert on grammar who gives free instructions and advice.
Her podcasts can be found at itunes or at quick and dirty tips.com.
Check out the podcasts with these numbers
400
399
397
395
390
388
381 participles and gerunds
380 gerunds
377 Royal We
371
367
Her podcasts can be found at itunes or at quick and dirty tips.com.
Check out the podcasts with these numbers
400
399
397
395
390
388
381 participles and gerunds
380 gerunds
377 Royal We
371
367
Saturday, May 10, 2014
Thursday, May 8, 2014
Tweets?
Would a roller coaster be fun if it stayed on the same exact level the whole fucking time? All good rides and good writing has ups and downs, changes of speed.
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Writers should always try to surprise but not offend. This is far more difficult to do than it is to state.
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Whatever seems new is what to review.
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When nobody's outsides are the same, why do we expect their insides to be the same? Why do we expect their thinking to be? Why do we expect their emotions to be?
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If you can't standardize the students or standardize the teachers, why do you think we can standardize the curriculum?
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One of the words for a trick or a scam is "a con." The source of that is the word "confidence." This is why most writers say "this is true" when they really mean "I believe this."
---------------------------------------------
Stating ideas with total confidence straddles the line between a rhetorical device and a mental illness.
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Whenever anyone tells me that the world is my oyster I inform them that I have a shellfish allergy.
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To be a successful mechanic you need fine motor skills. #wordplay
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your task is to change minds, not to speak your mind.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"What is easy to read is easy to believe"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
On my first day of kindergarten, I showed up with an eye patch. That proved I was unlucky. In first grade, I read 902 books. That proved I was an idiot.
Later on, I realized that there was no cure for being unlucky, but there was a cure for being an idiot. It turns out that I was wrong about one of those things.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When I was born I had needs, but I did not make demands. Life was kind to me, even though I didn't earn it. I realized I had a debt, but I couldn't find the person to pay back. This is why I am a people-pleaser.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Writers should always try to surprise but not offend. This is far more difficult to do than it is to state.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Whatever seems new is what to review.
------------------------------------------------------------------
When nobody's outsides are the same, why do we expect their insides to be the same? Why do we expect their thinking to be? Why do we expect their emotions to be?
---------------------------------------------------------------------
If you can't standardize the students or standardize the teachers, why do you think we can standardize the curriculum?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One of the words for a trick or a scam is "a con." The source of that is the word "confidence." This is why most writers say "this is true" when they really mean "I believe this."
---------------------------------------------
Stating ideas with total confidence straddles the line between a rhetorical device and a mental illness.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Whenever anyone tells me that the world is my oyster I inform them that I have a shellfish allergy.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To be a successful mechanic you need fine motor skills. #wordplay
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your task is to change minds, not to speak your mind.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"What is easy to read is easy to believe"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
On my first day of kindergarten, I showed up with an eye patch. That proved I was unlucky. In first grade, I read 902 books. That proved I was an idiot.
Later on, I realized that there was no cure for being unlucky, but there was a cure for being an idiot. It turns out that I was wrong about one of those things.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When I was born I had needs, but I did not make demands. Life was kind to me, even though I didn't earn it. I realized I had a debt, but I couldn't find the person to pay back. This is why I am a people-pleaser.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Doing things the wrong way is more exciting than doing things the right way."
"You have a point, but I think there might be a better way to say the same thing."
"Oh yeah? What's that?"
"Doing things a new way is more exciting that doing things the clichéd way. Exciting doesn't always mean enjoyable though."
"You have a point, but I think there might be a better way to say the same thing."
"Oh yeah? What's that?"
"Doing things a new way is more exciting that doing things the clichéd way. Exciting doesn't always mean enjoyable though."
Suprise your readers, but don't offend them.
A good writer must try to surprise and not offend. This is impossible to learn how to do in general. This skill only works one by one by one.
This is pretty similar to the concept of "go from a to c."
This is pretty similar to the concept of "go from a to c."
Goals For Writing- My paraphrase
A writer wants to write something that seems
CLEAR to the audience
TRUE to the audience
NEW to the audience
Sometimes additional goals are added. Sometimes the goals have different priorities.
Other goals are to write something
HELPFUL to the audience
IMPRESSIVE to the audience
When writing for a course, I suggest this:
Write something
that follows instructions from the teacher
that follows advice from the textbook
that appears to be the result of a lot of hard work
CLEAR to the audience
TRUE to the audience
NEW to the audience
Sometimes additional goals are added. Sometimes the goals have different priorities.
Other goals are to write something
HELPFUL to the audience
IMPRESSIVE to the audience
When writing for a course, I suggest this:
Write something
that follows instructions from the teacher
that follows advice from the textbook
that appears to be the result of a lot of hard work
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