Archive for the ‘Writing/Publishing’ Category

Totally worth reading article on writing. (Refs Autism/Asperger)

Here’s a very worthwhile article with valuable tips on writing (check the comments stream for more!) It’s by Steve Silberman who wrote The Geek Syndrome for Wired magazine, which we discussed in passing in 2009. Anyway… … I’m finally writing a book of my own. The subject of my book is autism, the variety of [...]

A cost of doing business – celebrity as meat

Good to read that Murdoch’s The News of the World has admitted hacking Sienna Miller’s phone message system and repeatedly violating her privacy … and news today that they’ve ‘apologised’ and are paying £100,000 in damages and costs to her. Big deal. Callous so-and-sos. It was purely business to them, the journalists, the editors, the [...]

Yes, you are accountable for your words… but even more so for your actions.

Some interesting, contradictory, discussion about the role of social media in news journalism… we’ll have to get our heads around the issues with this stuff, by the look of things. This appeared in my Twitter timeline (ahem, feel free to follow @onthepaepae) this morning: … having been promptly re-tweeted by a number of journos I [...]

Inconsistency: hoist on our own petard?

This article The Other Torture Debate by Arthur Brisbane is worth reading to help understand how a journalistic ‘aspiration’ for an appearance of impartiality can lead to very poor decisions. In what I saw at the time as a prime example of the thin end of the wedge, the NY Times seemed to adopt the [...]

Facebook spinning a lil bit of Google smear

One of the topics we muse about here on ThePaepae.com is various attempts people make to masquerade as things-they-are-not. e.g. Dean Letfus as an unbiased and experienced ‘property expert’, Shaun Stenning as an ‘internet marketing expert’ who has ‘made millions’, Sean Wood as a ‘satisfied customer’ of (ahem) Sean Wood, Bernard Whimp as a straightforward [...]

I can see Pakistan from my house. Security clearance? You betcha!

Oh, boy, those White House photographers must have an ultra-plus-plus security clearance, huh?  Here’s Pete Souza’s pic of the gang watching the Osama Bin Laden ‘kill or capture’ mission LIVE-as-it-happens … just like TV show 24 only the body count is real. Imagine being there. UPDATE: Spoofed by NZ Herald cartoonist Rod Emmerson UPDATE 2: Hillary Clinton [...]

Keeping your distance

“The only way a reporter should ever look at a politician is down.” — David Broder That’s a pretty harsh line from veteran US political journalist/columnist David Broder, widely regarded as ‘the dean of the Washington press corps’. It’s quoted in a pretty good opinion piece from The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank on how journalists [...]

Don Brash’s ACT will cannibalise National

I like (agree with) John Armstong’s analysis of the nothing-if-not-brazen Don Brash takeover of ACT. And I agree with his take on whose political problem his ascendancy is… “With Labour down to its core support, the only source where Brash can realistically pick up votes is from National”. Yup. Ruthless Brash now National’s problem … [...]

Values and virtues – it’s worth stating them

I spotted these ‘Five Values’, below, on my visit to Radio Live’s website to pay my respects to the lovely Kerry Smith. Despite the label, they’re not really values in the sense of virtues. They’re more like policies, really (e.g. ‘post using your real name only, do not use ‘Caps Lock’) but I appreciated reading [...]

Carumba! Scott Adams defends himself using sockpuppet? Yes.

From the ‘Huh? Wha? Dang!’ files and following on from my post: ‘Is it worth dishonestly defending a reputation? No.‘ It’s emerged that Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams, has slipped into the same category as property spruiker Sean Wood — using an anonymous sockpuppet to defend himself from criticism/discussion online. (OK, Adams is not quite as [...]