Metaphors

Not that I would argue with Michael Chabon, but is an outfield really a ribbon of green?

A ribbon?

More like a woman's dress, stretched out to dry. Or a Chinese fan, with the print faded by the long days of unrelenting sun.

Or a battlefield, peaceful now, years after the last soldier fell.

Talking about deadlines


Never ask an editor when a book is due. Case in point, an excerpt from a recent discussion:

Me: Hey Xxxx*, how's it going?
Xxxx: Oh, hi Jim....

Me: Say, when do you want [next installment in best-selling series]?

Xxxx: Oh, yesterday. No, no - last week. Earlier than that would even be better. Want to go club hopping with a mafia assassin in Boston? . . .

Of course, the book's not actually due for months, but if I was bar-hopping with a mafia assassin, I'd want it now myself.

* Semi-famous editor at major house, who may actually be identifiable from the conversation, but we'll protect his identity anyway.

Bombing Iran's bomb


The NY Times had a story in its Week in Review section Sunday about the war games for an Israeli attack on Iran. So I guess it's jumped the shark.

(You can read the story here. My feeling is that an Iranian attack on Saudi Arabia is unlikely, but if it does happen, the U.S. launches an air war at that point, not later. But you've heard that already.)

The real calculation is this: Will five years buy Israel a missile defense system? If the answer is yes - and it is - expect an attack sooner rather than later.

The original . . .



In all its frenetic, jangle-jam, unbalanced, poor audio glory.

A different take . . .

"Those were diff-er-ent times"



By popular demand . . .

Things the copy editor taught me

. . . but I never seem to remember:

Adviser with an e is preferred.

It's cord, not chord.

Hard-ass gets a dash.

Heroes you don't hear about . . .

SEARCY, Ark. (AP) -- Family members say an Arkansas soldier's buddy tried to shield him before both were killed in an attack in Afghanistan.

Sgt. Jonathan J. Richardson, of Bald Knob, was buried Tuesday in North Little Rock after a funeral in Searcy.

Richardson's mother, Sharon Dunigan, says Richardson and Pfc. Jason Kropat from White Lake in Sullivan County were killed March 9 when a suicide bomber disguised as an Afghan police officer detonated a bomb.

Richardson's stepfather, James Dunigan, says other soldiers told the family that when the bomber approached the site, Kropat pushed Richardson out of the way and tried to shield him from the explosion.

The 24-year-old Richardson and Kropat, 25, were assigned to C Company, 1st Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Ky.

Kropat, who graduated from Monticello High School, was buried Friday in Evergreen Cemetery.

At a private service Brig. Gen. Warren Phipps Jr. presented the family with Kropat's Bronze Star, a Purple Heart and several other commendations for valor.

Another blast from aviation's past . . . though this one's more a footnote...

Reality worse than fiction . . .


We're down to the wire on the next Rogue Warrior, but we've still been folding in things that are happening in real time. Like all the novels, this one is based at least partly on stuff Dick has been doing; we try to walk the line between fiction and reality - and sometimes fiction and prediction, as Dick likes to put it.

But the scary thing this time is that the intel reports keep getting worse and worse.

The new book is set partly in India, and some days I all I can say is I hope the fiction portion remains just that.

The Dragonlady & her lovers . . .

Great story here on an old warrior that is still kicking butt in Afghanistan.

Pilots who fly the U-2 have an incredibly difficult routine before and after boarding the aircraft. And while in general they're too high to worry about groundfire, they face some pretty unique dangers. The aircraft and its mission require incredible dedication, not to mention 12+ hour workdays.

It takes a special kind of religious fervor . . .

. . . to try and convert a guy holding a running chainsaw.

The Jehovah's Witnesses are dedicated around here. You gotta give them that.

Trees

So I spent the day making toothpicks out of some of the damage from the last two storms. There's something to be said for the immediate gratification of chopping down trees, even if you are using a chainsaw.

Of course, I now have more wood than I can burn in a year, and still have at least four more to go.

Maybe you can have too much gratification, immediate or otherwise.

LA Woman . . .



. . . a continent or two down the road.

(The group is Poddighe; they're from Brescia, Italy. Check the links via You Tube for more information. It'll help if you can read Italian.)

Ask not . . .

. . . what your insurance company can do to you, but when . . .

Here.

http://www.forexyard.com/en/news/SPECIAL-REPORT-Insurer-targeted-HIV-patients-to-drop-coverage-2010-03-17T133338Z

Spell checking . . .

Why is it that when I put a dash in wannabes (wanna-bes), my spellchecker suggests cannabis?

China

Is the worm finally starting to turn on China?

Today's WSJ had this headline:

Business Sours on China Foreign Executives Say Beijing Creates Fresh Barriers; Broadsides, Patent Rules

While over in the NY Times, Paul Krugman lays out a case for a 25 percent tariff on Chinese goods if China doesn't allow its currency to find its actual level. (On his blog, here. The economic terms may scare some people off, but there isn't a clearer description of what China has been doing over the last decade anywhere on the web.)

I don't expect to see a tariff or companies pulling out of China any time soon, but there's at least some hope the country will be looked at more realistically.

You can't get there from here . . .

Speaking of marketing . . .


Well we weren't, but if we were, I'd direct them to this:

Hi, Ellis—

Let me introduce myself. My name is Gineen Klein, and I’ve been brought on as an intern to replace the promotion department here at Propensity Books. First, let me say that I absolutely love “Clancy the Doofus Beagle: A Love Story” and have some excellent ideas for promotion.

To start: Do you blog? If not, get in touch with Kris and Christopher from our online department, although at this point I think only Christopher is left. I’ll be out of the office from tomorrow until Monday, but when I get back I’ll ask him if he spoke to you.

Read more: http://www.newyorker.com/humor/2009/10/19/091019sh_shouts_weiner#ixzz0hskVJVYX

What the copy editor taught me


Do I really not know how to spell Fahrenheit?

And whatever possessed me to set something near the Dnieper River?