Links and Stuff
Just a quick L&S today. The 31st Olympic Games started in Rio this past week. I haven’t seen much of it, but what I have seen has been quite impressive. In fact, I feel guilty critiquing the performances because I know I couldn’t do nearly as well. Like the gymnast who flipped and tumbled and ended up landing on her bottom. Granted, that’s a major faux-pas and cost her a lot of points. On the one hand, I sit there shaking my head, tut-tutting like a judge. On the other, I’m in awe of all the moves leading up to the crash, knowing if I tried anything like that, I would fall flat on my face after three steps. Athletics, like car mechanics, is something I wonder at from afar.
My wife and kids have been out of town this week, so no progress on the house-hunting. They’re back so we plan to look at some today. I’ll report next week.
Today’s link is to an article by Susan Spann, warning writers about signing books. Okay, so she’s not saying signing books is a bad thing, but she does caution against using the same signature in a book as you use, say, on a contract, or a check. In other words, keep your legal sig for legal docs, and develop a special signature for books. It’s not often identity thieves will steal signatures from books, but it can happen. Why give the thief that opportunity? I think I’ve discussed this before, and I do plan to adapt a signature for book signings (should the day come people ask for my squiggle on something I wrote). Mind you, my motive isn’t just security. My legal signature is virtually illegible, so it’s probably worthless to a book collector. 🙂
What do you think–about book signatures, the Olympics, or anything else going on in your life?
I have become quite the sporting expert since the Olympics started 😉
Yes, the Olympics brings out the wannabe in all of us, I think. 😉
I always thought it was nervy to judge Olympic athletes. “You ‘only’ got a bronze medal? You suck.” “Oh, yeah, loudmouth? You try it.”
Absolutely agree! Sure, for the athletes competing, nothing compares to winning gold. But those that win silver and bronze, heck those that simply qualify to compete, are in such a different league of physical conditioning to me, who am I to judge?
Geez oh PETE, identity thieves: this is why we can’t have anything nice.
I know. 🙁 Someone once pointed out that if there wasn’t evil in the world, we wouldn’t have novels and movies. As much as I enjoy a good story, to be honest, I would be okay with that trade-off. 🙂
I’ll say this: after last Monday’s Adventures with Delta Airlines, the amount of good in the world comes to the fore. I know the poor employees of the carrier must have taken enormous guff, but those of us in the lines – in the trenches – at the Atlanta airport were making friends and laughing. There were no reasons for ugliness, and we traded none between us. Just some sighs.
And this too: sitting at the fourth in a series of gates, hoping for departure, surrounded by masses of humanity all in the same dismal situation, turned out to be surprisingly good moment for prayer. (And not even about myself and my travels.)
Cool!! It’s wonderful when people rise above the instinct to be stroppy and make the best of an opportunity. Yesterday evening, I tweeted a recent clip someone posted elsewhere from a recent tennis match where one of the players invited his opponent to challenge a ref’s foul call. He said it wasn’t a foul. His opponent was taken aback, but took him up on his offer to challenge the call. The ball was, indeed, in, and our honest player lost the point. But he won big time in sportsmanship.
It’s what we call “common grace,” and it’s always a joy to witness. 🙂
Evil and good. That’s a heavy argument. I’ve been shying away from the internet because of all the evil and hate. But there is just as much good. So after some thought and a long pause I decided I’m going to keep posting my art.
I listened to the audio book The Birth of Classical Europe. It is an excellent book that helped me relativize the current events. Since ever warring has gone on in the middle East. The democratic colaition trying to eradicate all those dictators is similar to the hellenization of the Greeks. What is different today is the world is the arena, not just the Mediterranean.
At least with the internet we can filter our viewing, and choose how much we want to take in of the darker side. As you say, there’s still plenty of good stuff online. And yes, there really isn’t anything new under the sun. The stage is just bigger, and more people are watching.
Gymnastics fascinates me but I empathize with the athletes too much. When they fall, I think, their whole life just lead up to that one moment. I’ve never thought about the signature thing. But I guess if any Unfriendly ever tries to forge my (pen) name, I’d probably have the last laugh 🙂
It must be devastatingly disappointing for those gymnasts that fall, especially after a complex series of maneuvers. I’m sure it’s as hard for them to not focus on the failure as it is for the rest of us when we have less than wonderful moments. Only for them, the whole world was watching. Eeek! 🙁
I guess that’s one way to avoid the signature issue–use a pseudonym. Not only do you have a totally different signature, you have a completely different name! 🙂
I always thought the Olympics were a fun idea. I’ve never had much patience to sit down and watch much of them, except maybe the snowboarding during the winter.
I hadn’t thought about the signature thing, but then there’s a lot about writing I haven’t thought about yet. It’s a bad habit from grad school but I tend to leave worrying about stuff like that for when I’ve actually got to start worrying about it. I make a mental list of the things that I need to think about someday (your treasure chest is a wonderful trove for that) and then pull out the list when “deadlines” get closer.
I know just what you mean, Jamie. Part of it is a stress-coping device: don’t worry about things you don’t have to worry about yet. And most of the time it works. But it’s good to keep some of those things on the radar, even if they aren’t worth sleepless nights… at least right now. 🙂