January 2011
5 posts
4 tags
Wordle creator Jonathan Feinberg on (not) changing...
It pays to read FAQs, for answers, entertainment, and to avoid asking asinine questions like the one Jonathan Feinberg, creator of word-cloud generator Wordle, dispatches handily in that application’s Q&A page:
Could you remove or change the name of the “Sexsmith” font? I don’t want my students to see it.
Yes, with pleasure. First, please write to the musician ...
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Gene Weingarten on quitting pre-med and deadlines
Mother Jones: According to—uh—Wikipedia, you majored in psychology, but spent most of your time at the school paper. What were you writing then, and at what point did you know you wanted to do this for a living?
Gene Weingarten: I entered NYU intent on being a doctor, a career choice that got derailed for reasons pragmatic, emotional, and philosophical. Pragmatic: I flunked chemistry, probably the easiest course in the pre-med syllabus. Emotional: I walked into the college newspaper and discovered the elation delivered by a byline. Philosophical: I understood that with the combination of a doctor's license and my attraction to opiates, I'd likely be dead at 30. I wound up quitting college with three credits to go, to hook up with a teenage Puerto Rican street gang. It led to this [http://nymag.com/news/features/crime/48271/]. I never went back to college.
MJ: To parrot the predictable-journalist question you asked Garry Trudeau: Where do you come up with your ideas? Do you have a process?
GW: Like all writers, my greatest inspiration, my ultimate muse, is a deadline.
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Londo Mollari, on Drinking on the Job
Londo: You are sure you will not have a drink?
Mr. Endawi: Not while I am on duty.
Londo: There you see, we Centauri are always on duty. Duty to the Republic, to our houses, to one another. And so, we have made the practice of joy another duty. One that must be pursued as vigorously as the others. You should try sometime.
—Babylon 5, "Matters of Honor"
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“1. Improv will save your life.
I don’t mean this literally, but I do mean that...”
– Felicia Day, “Five Things of 2010.” All five tips are well worth reading. 