Also from TMD: Will 2023 be the year Americans beat their political addictions? Matt Welch is hopeful. “Already, we are seeing some preliminary indications of a turn away from political obsession,” he writes for Reason. “The media companies that fattened on anti-Trumpism are being starved of subscribers and shedding staff. Birth rates, having fallen steadily for 15 years, are experiencing a post-COVID ‘baby bump.’ Those who do politics for a living—journalists, consultants, hucksters—are letting the desperation show, trying to elevate possible Trump successor Ron DeSantis into a Nazi enabler or Joe Biden into an election-canceling commie. Returns are observably diminishing on doom-scrolling the news, arguing digitally with strangers, and mashing the ‘donate’ button to some person or group who shares and stokes your political hatreds. The effective methods for improving our personal, familial, and even societal dissatisfactions lie right there at our fingertips, or better yet, shoes—going out for a walk, participating in community institutions, getting the kids off of smartphones, reading an actual book, traveling to places we haven’t seen before.”
From TMD: The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that, after lobbying from the U.S. dairy industry, imported baby formula will once again be subject to tariffs in 2023. Congress voted over the summer to temporarily suspend the tariffs—which can reach as high as 17.5 percent—in an effort to boost supply amid nationwide shortages, which are expected to continue into next year.
Many years ago, I commuted to NYC by train and started to read the NYT but I found the WSJ gave me the same news/info in fewer words. From that point on when asked if I read The NYT, my answer was always, "too many words."
Okay, more seriously, I agree wholeheartedly. I often wonder if some writers are being paid by the word, or do they think we all are so hungry for each word they offer? In any case, and maybe my personal attention span has shortened, I often find that once I think I have caught the drift I start to skim and then just bail out and don't finish long pieces, especially when I feel the writer is working as hard to show off his/her ability as make a point.
Growing up, my father taught me many things. In pool he taught me "𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐭 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝!" In academia, I translate it to "if you can't write well, write long"! My dissertation was 255 pages, and I am not confident my dissertation chair actually ever read it...
That may be why so many academics don't get haiku.
Many years later, he and I are working on my Friends database project. He's read my work on it, and likes it. I keep it short.
This is off topic, but I thought it was something worth sharing. BikerChick recommended the Bari Weiss podcast with David Sedaris. He is one of my favorite writers, and it was a joy listening to him again. He’s gay (in case you didn’t know), 65, and has been with his boyfriend for about 30 years.
His observations on life and people are sharp, humorous, and thoughtful. He definitely says what he thinks, and I’m sure some might find him offensive, although I think they shouldn’t. (This one is NOT for children.)
As I listened to him, I found myself thinking that there is still some sanity in the world. There are still people who have taken a different path in life, chosen or not, that are completely acceptable to me because they don’t feel the need to force feed anything to anyone. They want to live their lives, enjoy being a human, understand that they (and the rest of us) are not perfect, and let’s just get along.
I hope some of you will give it a listen. It’s funny, sad, and hopeful.
Some pundits/commenters/newsletter writers just like to write longform, Nick and Jonah can be pretty wordy, but, I really enjoy reading them, where I cut back is who I have time to read , and I have mostly not spend a lot of time reading all the comments and posting as much on TMS at least.
At first I thought you were talking about people like me who just have trouble being succinct or brief when writing...lol
My mother has taken a turn for the worse, (mostly mentally) we think, but, it was kinda sudden and I think we should take her to a dr and see what is really going on...before we rush to do anything.
I am back at work today and somewhat erratically using my right hand...
As someone who kept getting dinged in school for being overly verbose in my writing, this article struck very close to home for me. 😳
Albeit I went to school just before the Internet era, so maybe things are different now.
BTW am off from work with a sore throat and other cold symptoms today (but not COVID assuming the home rapid test I just took is reliable), so I will not get a chance to be that verbose verbally today.
A few days ago, TMD mentioned that the "Executive Summary" for the Jan 6th report was something like 154 pages long! That may be a "Summary", but the "Executive" Part is questionable.
Back in my business school days, I was taught that real executives don't have the time to read lengthy reports so it was important to boil them down to the basics (if they then wanted to read more, they could read the report, if not, they had enough to understand the gist of things).
I had just come from finishing a Masters in History, where (truth be told) you were often rewarded for volume (a fifty-page report would often get you a better mark than a thirty-page report).
So, it was a shock when one of my first business school assignments was to write a report that was no longer than two pages. I went to the professor and explained that I had so much great content that it would be impossible to condense it to two pages.
He looked at me and said: "You can write as much as you like. I'm going to read the first two pages!"
I quickly learned to make my writing more compact and get to the point in a lot fewer words.
Happy Fifth Day of Christmas! Today’s special animal friend is the common or ring-necked pheasant, Phasianus colchicus. This game bird was introduced into Europe from Asia in the first millennium B.C. and was fully naturalized in Britain by the 11th century A.D.
It is suggested that the “five golden rings” for this day refer to the pheasants. They are large, very handsome birds and could be considered “golden” in the right lighting, especially the females. The term may also refer to their value as a high-status food item. Ring-necked pheasants are a species of Least Concern and can be farm-reared.
Also from TMD: Will 2023 be the year Americans beat their political addictions? Matt Welch is hopeful. “Already, we are seeing some preliminary indications of a turn away from political obsession,” he writes for Reason. “The media companies that fattened on anti-Trumpism are being starved of subscribers and shedding staff. Birth rates, having fallen steadily for 15 years, are experiencing a post-COVID ‘baby bump.’ Those who do politics for a living—journalists, consultants, hucksters—are letting the desperation show, trying to elevate possible Trump successor Ron DeSantis into a Nazi enabler or Joe Biden into an election-canceling commie. Returns are observably diminishing on doom-scrolling the news, arguing digitally with strangers, and mashing the ‘donate’ button to some person or group who shares and stokes your political hatreds. The effective methods for improving our personal, familial, and even societal dissatisfactions lie right there at our fingertips, or better yet, shoes—going out for a walk, participating in community institutions, getting the kids off of smartphones, reading an actual book, traveling to places we haven’t seen before.”
Some of us just come here. Thanks, again, MG!
From TMD: The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that, after lobbying from the U.S. dairy industry, imported baby formula will once again be subject to tariffs in 2023. Congress voted over the summer to temporarily suspend the tariffs—which can reach as high as 17.5 percent—in an effort to boost supply amid nationwide shortages, which are expected to continue into next year.
Disgraceful
Many years ago, I commuted to NYC by train and started to read the NYT but I found the WSJ gave me the same news/info in fewer words. From that point on when asked if I read The NYT, my answer was always, "too many words."
Okay, more seriously, I agree wholeheartedly. I often wonder if some writers are being paid by the word, or do they think we all are so hungry for each word they offer? In any case, and maybe my personal attention span has shortened, I often find that once I think I have caught the drift I start to skim and then just bail out and don't finish long pieces, especially when I feel the writer is working as hard to show off his/her ability as make a point.
Well said. (Was my comment too wordy?)
This also just in: A second Russian military "advisor" died suddenly and "mysteriously" in a hospital. At least this crowd knows to avoid stairs:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/alexei-maslov-is-second-russian-defense-sector-bigwig-to-die-in-two-days?ref=home
Keeping brief?
I'm an academic.
Growing up, my father taught me many things. In pool he taught me "𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐭 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝!" In academia, I translate it to "if you can't write well, write long"! My dissertation was 255 pages, and I am not confident my dissertation chair actually ever read it...
That may be why so many academics don't get haiku.
Many years later, he and I are working on my Friends database project. He's read my work on it, and likes it. I keep it short.
This is off topic, but I thought it was something worth sharing. BikerChick recommended the Bari Weiss podcast with David Sedaris. He is one of my favorite writers, and it was a joy listening to him again. He’s gay (in case you didn’t know), 65, and has been with his boyfriend for about 30 years.
His observations on life and people are sharp, humorous, and thoughtful. He definitely says what he thinks, and I’m sure some might find him offensive, although I think they shouldn’t. (This one is NOT for children.)
As I listened to him, I found myself thinking that there is still some sanity in the world. There are still people who have taken a different path in life, chosen or not, that are completely acceptable to me because they don’t feel the need to force feed anything to anyone. They want to live their lives, enjoy being a human, understand that they (and the rest of us) are not perfect, and let’s just get along.
I hope some of you will give it a listen. It’s funny, sad, and hopeful.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/honestly-with-bari-weiss/id1570872415?i=1000590976908
There are at least a couple of TD writers who would do well to read your piece, Marque. Thank you. (And thanks for the short paragraphs!)
Morning All
Some pundits/commenters/newsletter writers just like to write longform, Nick and Jonah can be pretty wordy, but, I really enjoy reading them, where I cut back is who I have time to read , and I have mostly not spend a lot of time reading all the comments and posting as much on TMS at least.
At first I thought you were talking about people like me who just have trouble being succinct or brief when writing...lol
My mother has taken a turn for the worse, (mostly mentally) we think, but, it was kinda sudden and I think we should take her to a dr and see what is really going on...before we rush to do anything.
I am back at work today and somewhat erratically using my right hand...
Sometime I felt like I was reading an entire second TMD when I came to Earl’s comment. 😆
As someone who kept getting dinged in school for being overly verbose in my writing, this article struck very close to home for me. 😳
Albeit I went to school just before the Internet era, so maybe things are different now.
BTW am off from work with a sore throat and other cold symptoms today (but not COVID assuming the home rapid test I just took is reliable), so I will not get a chance to be that verbose verbally today.
A few days ago, TMD mentioned that the "Executive Summary" for the Jan 6th report was something like 154 pages long! That may be a "Summary", but the "Executive" Part is questionable.
Back in my business school days, I was taught that real executives don't have the time to read lengthy reports so it was important to boil them down to the basics (if they then wanted to read more, they could read the report, if not, they had enough to understand the gist of things).
I had just come from finishing a Masters in History, where (truth be told) you were often rewarded for volume (a fifty-page report would often get you a better mark than a thirty-page report).
So, it was a shock when one of my first business school assignments was to write a report that was no longer than two pages. I went to the professor and explained that I had so much great content that it would be impossible to condense it to two pages.
He looked at me and said: "You can write as much as you like. I'm going to read the first two pages!"
I quickly learned to make my writing more compact and get to the point in a lot fewer words.
Happy Fifth Day of Christmas! Today’s special animal friend is the common or ring-necked pheasant, Phasianus colchicus. This game bird was introduced into Europe from Asia in the first millennium B.C. and was fully naturalized in Britain by the 11th century A.D.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TX3uT_4P6o
It is suggested that the “five golden rings” for this day refer to the pheasants. They are large, very handsome birds and could be considered “golden” in the right lighting, especially the females. The term may also refer to their value as a high-status food item. Ring-necked pheasants are a species of Least Concern and can be farm-reared.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4zLJ34urEw
The ring-necked pheasant is the state bird of South Dakota. They were introduced to the United States in the 1770s.
Wish the legal profession followed your advice. There appears to be no such thing as a brief brief.