Bill Bennett
It could explain a lot if it turns out that Elon Musk has been testing his brain implant technology on himself.
Apple Watch has “complications”.
These are the last things I want in my life. Looking forward to when Apple Watch can offer me “simplifications”.
#Apple
The end of an era
My last story on NZBusiness magazine.
There will be an online edition, but the print version has finished and so has the budget for freelance journalist.
25 years ago I was in a bar with an older journalist discussing how the internet would affect us. He said the demand for journalists would die. but that the new industry would “see us out”.
I was less optimistic. Apart from anything else, I had longer to go. He was about ten or 12 years older than me and passed away a few years back.
He was right, the industry did see him out. Just about.
Me? I’m not so sure. Technically I’m close to retirement, but traditional journalism barely makes up a quarter of my income now. If another publication closes, that’ll more or less be it.
Go ahead, end a sentence with a preposition
Your school may have taught you not to end a sentence with a preposition. This is a hangover from Latin and Greek. Sentences in those languages never ended with prepositions.
Years ago I worked in communications for Britain’s Science and Engineering Research Council. My boss took me to task for ending a sentence with a preposition.
He told me it was; “Something, up with which, I will not put” – a quote from Winston Churchill.
Churchill was on my side in this. I suspect my boss didn’t realise the quote was a joke.
While the grammar police won’t agree, this is a rule you can ignore. It doesn’t apply to everyday writing, business writing, journalism and online communications.
There will be times it doesn’t make sense to twist sentences to avoid ending with a proposition. Your writing will be clearer and easier to understand.
Relax. You’ll be in great company. Most newspaper style guides allow it. Most popular authors and the overwhelming majority of modern literary authors sidestep the rule.
“Mr Bond, they have a saying in Chicago: Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it is enemy action.”
- Auric Goldfinger
Went to the Ever Present: First Peoples Art of Australia exhibition at Auckland Art Gallery today.
It’s a huge exhibition, so much that I couldn’t take it all in on a single visit. Will need to go back at least once more before it closes.
Definitely recommend it. Worth travelling to Auckland for if you live elsewhere in New Zealand.
Google as a verb
Google is one of a rare breed of companies that has moved into everyday language as a verb.
There are language purists who argue against turning nouns into verbs.
Don’t worry. It’s fine to “google something” online. People have “hoovered carpets” for years.
Note the lower case G and H.
Most of the time Google and Hoover are proper nouns requiring a capital.
There’s no such thing as a proper verb, so why should Google or Hoover take a capital when they are used as verbs?
Years ago when I was starting out as a journalist there was a regular supplement in the UK Press Gazette which argued exactly that: a company name used as a verb needs a capital.
I wasn’t convinced then. I’m not convinced now.
There would be a place in Ben Werdmuller’s otherwise excellent Publishers on social media are between a rock and a hard place to mention Micro.blog.
It doesn’t drive much traffic to my website, if any… but it gives me a lot of what Twitter no longer can. Also, it meshes nicely with Mastodon.
My site traffic is down by between 20 and 30 per cent now I’m not active on Twitter. I could make a faustian pact to get that traffic back, but at least I’m comfortable with myself.
Google Search Console sets impossibly high bar
Google Search Console sets an impossibly high bar for its “Redirect Error” test.
According to Google’s own measurements the 301 redirect that takes readers from
to
takes 36ms. Yet somehow that is slow enough to register as an “error”.
This would be a fascinating story to read, until you get to “Macalister was not willing to reveal the names of the 16 companies.”. At which point I lost all interest.
Seven things I’ve learnt about blogging
- You don’t need fancy software to blog.
- Free hosting services, like WordPress.com can as good as or better than self-hosting. You’ll need to pay for a few basics, but it won’t cost more than web hosting.
- A low-cost, minimalist option like Micro.blog (where you are reading this post) is the best for anyone who’d rather write posts than mess around with code.
- Blogging can take up a huge amount of time. It doesn’t have to.
- There’s a community aspect to blogging. It isn’t apparent until you dive in and do it yourself.
- Blogging is similar, but not the same as journalism.
- My blogs don’t have any direct economic benefits, but they keep me in touch with audiences and show prospective clients that I’m alive and kicking.
In the latest Download Weekly newsletter:
Vodafone FibreX party leaves One NZ with $3.7 million hangover
Newsletter is free, shown in full on-line. You can sign up to get email delivery at the site.
I’m not vegan or vegetarian. In general I don’t eat pizza or hamburgers and have never spent a day barbecuing a brisket or similar. Am unable to code. I carefully avoid science fiction or fantasy. I’m not a gamer and don’t play board games. Don’t find xkcd funny. I’m not a paid up member of a fringe political party and don’t get angry often. I spend a lot of time watching sport.
Frankly, I’m amazed that I’m even ALLOWED on social media.
Was up at six AM on one of the coldest mornings of the Auckland winter to watch the opening game of this year’s Premier League season.
Sadly the match was a touch one-sided, but then, realistically, most games involving Manchester City are a touch one-sided.
I am both impressed and intimidated by Logic Pro on the iPad. It’s everything I wanted, but it is taking me a lot of time to master the software.
Community hunts for origins and installer of mysterious metal pole
I’m amazed no-one has mentioned aliens. ;)
After Twitter
There are plenty of post-Twitter alternatives to choose from. Each of the active ones has its own charm, its own potential and its own source or sources of friction.
Yet, none solve the problem I face: my main website’s readership remains on Twitter. Web traffic has plummeted since I’ve wound down my Twitter activity.
It wasn’t too bad at first when I could relay messages from Micro.Blog or Mastodon to Twitter. Now those avenues have shut.
The next stage is going to be difficult.
The four most dangerous words in investing are: It’s different this time.
- Sir John Templeton, quoted in The Asian Age.
Not only are there no new economic paradigms, the moment anyone mentions the word paradigm in connection with your money, I suggest you run for the door.
So glad I didn’t sign the non-disclosure form and agree to the media embargo on a boring yet ridiculous new Dyson vacuum cleaner that costs the thick end of two grand.
Structure your writing like a journalist
Newspapers teach journalists to write using the inverted pyramid.
It isn’t always the best approach, but it is reliable. the inverted pyramid has worked for news writing since the days reporters telegraphed dispatches to editors. Today it works for online writing.
The structure echoes the classic essay structure you were taught — or should have been taught — at school.
The basic format:
Introduction — say what the piece is about; answer questions like who, what, where and when. You can also explain why at this point, although that can wait until later.
Then — expand, amplify;
Keep doing this until you’ve told the whole story. Make the most important points first then add more and more detail in each additional paragraph.
How did this develop? Printed newspaper had limited space for news. Traditional newspaper subeditors would cut a story from the bottom if it needs to fill a specific space on a printed page.
The inverted pyramid structure, with each paragraph being progressively less important, means editors remove the least important information first.
A news story written using the inverted pyramid structure can be cut at the end of any paragraph, even the first paragraph, and still be a self-contained story.
Online this means search engines pay more attention to the most important words – which helps people find your writing. Those opening paragraphs also make neat summaries for listings and similar online uses.
The most important information goes in the first paragraph and each extra paragraph carries progressively less weight. That’s where the inverted pyramid name comes from: the foundation sits at the top, the less important details are at the bottom.
Use be verbs sparingly
If you want to make your writing clearer and more interesting, use ‘be’ verbs sparingly.
The verb to be includes:
Be, being, been, am, is, are, was, were.
Be verbs make text dull partly because of overuse, but also because they remove the reader one step from the action. They take readers the long route to meaning and can be long-winded.
Compare:
Fred is dismissive of cowboy films
with
Fred dismisses cowboy films.
The second phrase has more energy, it propels the reader along. It expresses the same idea in a clearer, more concise way.
Be verbs turn up in passive language, staying away from them helps keep your writing in the active voice.
Old-school newspapers taught journalists to never use be verbs in headlines, but prefer strong action verbs instead. It’s hard to get away with that in today’s online world, so think instead of keeping them to a minimum.
Make the active voice your first choice
The active voice is usually better than the passive voice because it is direct. This makes it easier to understand and unambiguous. With the active voice a subject does something to an object: Andy kicked the ball.
In the passive voice the object is acted on by the subject: The ball was kicked by Andy.
An active voice makes for tighter writing and easier reading. It is more personal and less formal.
Efficient writing The passive sentence used six words while the active sentence needed only four. It has simpler grammar. Active sentences are economic and clear.
Active voice phrases are easier to understand because they involve fewer stages. Think of it as fewer mental hoops to jump through. This becomes important in more complex sentences and longer pieces of text.
While active voice sentences are also easier to write, you might not always find this in practice. The good news is that writing active sentences helps organise your own thoughts. That way you’ll write clearer.
Confident words Sentences written in the active voice read as if the writer is confident about the facts. In contrast, phrases and sentences written in the passive voice seem tentative or uncertain.
Bureaucrats and corporate managers often like hiding behind the passive voice’s ambiguities. Academics like to use it.
For example, in the phrase; “the claims have been analysed”, it isn’t clear who did the analysis. On the other hand; “We analysed the claims” is definite.
It gets worse when the writer resorts to using the word ‘it’ instead of ‘I’ or ‘we’: In the sentence “It was decided no claims would be payable” the author is deliberately hiding behind the ‘it’ implying that authority comes from on high and not identifying the person who did the deciding.
There are times when you need to use the passive voice. That’s another post
Why short words are the best words
Winston Churchill said: “Broadly speaking, the short words are the best, and the old words best of all.”
He was right.
Short words are best because they don’t get in the reader’s way. They are familiar.
This makes them easy to understand and easy to spell.
They are also easier to pronounce.
Most short words in modern English come from Anglo-Saxon, not Latin, roots.
They mainly describe real world objects and actions, not abstract concepts.
Short words get straight to the point. Use as many of them as you can.
Let concrete nouns pin down your writing
Good writing is direct, clear and precise. It gives readers direct insight into your thoughts and ideas.
Concrete nouns keep your writing on track. They are unambiguous and specific.
Use concrete nouns when you need to pin down facts and inform readers.
We describe nouns as concrete when they refer to something you can touch, smell, see, taste or hear. They are all things you sense directly.
Banana, chair, piston engine, trumpet, pterodactyl are all concrete nouns.
I like to think of concrete nouns as crunchy, but they could just as easily be squishy, smelly, loud or colourful.
As opposed to abstract nouns
On the other hand, abstract nouns are things you can’t form a picture of. They are ideas, conditions and qualities, such as courage and happiness.
Many abstract nouns started life as verbs or adverbs, but become abstract nouns with suffixes. So fascinate, becomes fascination, credible becomes credibility and so on.
Yet if you want to report on events or describe something, steer clear of abstract nouns.
Abstract nouns are useful when you want to generalise or when writing about ideas. They can be good for poetry, song lyrics and other flowery types of writing. At the same time they make it hard to figure out exactly what the writer means and are open to misinterpretation.