A thouands words…People & Trash

Phnom Penh Municipal Dump

In honor of Valentine’s Day I’ve set my filter on Lovey Dovey

The BootsnAll gang updated their blogging software so things are a bit strange around here: Comments are going to SPAM even though I have the filter set on “Lovey Dovey” (and yes that is the actual setting’s name); and the Latest Comments section of the home page is empty for some reason. Here’s what they said:

The initial step is moving your current blog over. We’ve done enough testing that this should be a seamless process and you should barely notice a blip. Of course, now that we’ve said that it could all come crashing down We’ll be making the switch later this evening (Tuesday, Feb 12th).

To which I thought: “Crap it’s the 14th and I’m still having issues.”

Apologies to Rachael who continues to be banished time and time again by the SPAM filter, but, God bless her, continues to comment nonetheless.

I’ll get to the bottom of this.

Anti-gaters unite!

We have a -gate on our hands, and you might remember that I’ve vowed to put an end to all -gates.

This one is Nannygate and the object of my ire is ESPN journalist Jayson Stark. While blogging at the Clemens-McNamee hearing, he used “Nannygate” in reference to the controversy of whether Clemens’s nanny kids and himself attended a party hosted by Jose “Juiced” Canseco.

Stark’s misdeed:

1:36 p.m. ET
Nannygate erupts again.
Rep. Tom Davis asked Clemens to clear up how he came to invite the nanny back to his house last week and we learned from Clemens “it was great to see her.”
But as the Nannygate questioning rolled along to center around whether Clemens’ family was at Canseco’s increasingly famous party, Clemens did suggest he came to “believe the nanny was there with my kids.”
As for him, though, “I was on my way to the ballpark,” Clemens said, voice rising.
“I know one thing,” he said. “I wasn’t holed up with somebody trying to do a drug deal.”
Another fine sound bite moment for Clemens. He’ll take all he can get.

I will do everything in my power to insure that Mr. Stark ceases to use -gate. In fact, I just posted a comment on his blog. I’m sure he’ll read comment #3502 and comply immediately. Here’s my comment:

Mr. Stark,

The silliness must stop. Your use of “Nannygate” in this posting is an embarrassment to all that is Journalism.

My non-profit organization strives to rid the world of any use of the -gate suffix to refer to a scandal. Such usage is overdone, uncreative, and annoying. Please stop this before some famous person scandalously hops a gate, steals a gate, or is hit with a gate and we are subjected to the Gate-gate scandal. And if that famous person was Antonio Gates, the Pro Bowl Tight-end for the San Diego Chargers, we’d end up with the ridiculosity that’d be Gates-Gate-Gate scandal. And if that took place at the Watergate Hotel…

Well, You get the idea.

We will follow your writings closely in the weeks to come. Any other mention of “nannygate” will likely result in more pointless comments. And no one wants that, do they?

Respectfully,

Kelsey Timmerman
President/Founder of the Anti-Gate/Anti-litmus test Organziation (AGALO)

I should be writing…

…but I just spend 1.5 hours watching the Clemens-McNamee hearing. I don’t even like baseball!

The sad thing is that someone could and (probably will) bind the transcript of the hearing, put Clemens on the cover, and sell a hundred times more books than the book I’m supposed to be writing.

Of course, maybe if I admit to using HGH to enhance my thumb-twiddling abilities, which fuels my creativity, I could sell a lot more books.

How about this for a title:

Where am I wearing?: a global quest to meet the people that made my clothes…I use HGH

Scalzi on writing and money

Science-fiction writer John Scalzi delivers some “unasked-for advice to new writers about money” on his blog Whatever.

You gotta give Scalzi some credit, few people talk about money, especially writers who often work a lot to make very little. Although, I suspect, it’s easier to talk about money when you make as much as Scalzi. But Scalzi has paid his dues. Here’s a list of his Science Fiction earnings. In 1999 he earned $400 in 2007 $67,000. (Note: he supplements this income with a fair amount of corporate writing, blogging, non fiction writing, so he was able to feed his family in 1999.)

Anyhow, here’s my favorite point of his unasked-for advice:

8. Unless you have a truly compelling reason to be there, get the hell out of New York/LA/San Francisco.

Because they’re friggin’ expensive, that’s why. Let me explain: Just for giggles, I went to Apartments.com and looked for apartments in Manhattan that were renting for what I pay monthly on my mortgage for my four bedroom, 2800 square foot house on a plot of land that is, quite literally, the size of a New York City block ($1750, if you must know, so I looked at the $1700 - $1800 range). I found two, and one was a studio. From $0 to $1800, there are thirteen apartments available. On the entire island of Manhattan. Where there are a million people. I love that, man.

The other day someone in the publishing industry told me that I sound like the type of guy that should move to New York to be in the mix. He even drew a picture something like this: I would arrive from Indiana, stand on the street corner all wide-eyed with my weathered suitcase, a bag of apples my mom packed, full of naïve optimism, and marvel at the big city.

I told him that although I’m sure if would be nice to have connections, if I moved to NYC, Annie would leave me, which would not be a good thing and would completely go against Scalzi’s tip #3. Also, like Scalzi points out, the big city is expensive. In Indiana my writing career affords a pretty nice life (supplemented by my day job and Annie’s) in a 2400 sq foot home. But In NYC, it would afford a pretty nice cardboard box. And I like not having to worry about my walls getting soggy when it rains.

If I lived in a big expensive city, the pressure to earn money would have probably put a stop to my writing career long ago.

Obama’s T-Shirts: Made in USA

I can look out the window of my day job’s office in Greenville, Ohio, and see the company (Tiger Eye Design) that’s printing and shipping T-shirts, buttons, key chains, and other swag to Obama-backers everywhere. All the products are made in the USA by union workers.

The company was featured in Time Magazine and also on the local news:

Hard to swallow, my flip flops

The people that make our flip flops often work 15-16 hours per day seven days a week. I don’t imagine that this complies with any worker laws, regulations, or compliances anywhere in the world. That’s why I gave the passage below from Deckers Outdoor’s webpage the ol’ “bullshit” sneeze.

Deckers We do not manufacture our footwear. We outsource the manufacturing of our Teva, Simple and UGG footwear to independent manufacturers in China. We also outsource the manufacturing of our UGG footwear to independent manufacturers in New Zealand and Australia. We require our independent contract manufacturers and designated suppliers to adopt our Factory Charter and to comply with all local laws and regulations governing human rights, working conditions and environmental compliance, before we are willing to place business with them. We require our licensees to demand the same from their contract factories and suppliers. We have no long-term contracts with our manufacturers. As we grow, we expect to continue to rely exclusively on independent manufacturers for our
sourcing needs.

I was told that China has stricter labor laws than what we have in the USA so it’s highly unlikely that the factory I visited that makes Tevas meets them. But in China, the law and practice are two very different things. Deckers is probably not any more or less guilty than other shoe manufacturers that source in China, which is pretty much all of them.

Deckers is trying to capitalize on the sustainability movement, but how long before they start trying to capitalize on the social-conscience movement and offer products by workers who don’t spend every waking minute gluing, stitching, and packing?

I found this passage on their website, too. (Again, I’ve highlighted the points that I find hard to swallow):

We do the right thing by assuring that our manufacturers do not employ child, forced, indentured, or convict labor. We openly and proudly comply with guidelines set forth by Amnesty International that recognized these Human Rights standards in the workplace. How can we be sure? Easy. We have full access to our factories, and we grade them several times a year against our standards. This helps us work closely with our manufacturers to ensure that safety measures like adequate lighting, healthy air, access to first aid, set minimum wages and protection against mandatory overtime, and safe workstations are implemented.

I would drive 45 mph in a 35 mph zone if there weren’t police officers that would give me a ticket. Wouldn’t you? Self-policing just doesn’t work.

Here’s more thoughts on my flip flops.

A thousand words…somewhere warm

The sweat-laborer of the publishing industry

Who makes a book’s index?

I had no idea. I just hoped and prayed that it wouldn’t fall on my shoulders. I am anything but organized and deciding what should or should not be listed in the index sounded like an impossible task. Have you ever really look at an index?

I posed the question to my editor:

KT: Do I have to do the Index?

Editor: No, the Indexers will do that.

KT: There are Indexers?

Editor: Yep, they are pretty much the garment workers of the publishing industry.

Who knew? There is even an American Society of Indexers. They have conferences. Boy, those must be a hoot.

Honoring me or a coincidence?

Today, is the Chinese New Year, but since today was yesterday in China that means 1.3 billion Chinese were bringing in the New Year on my birthday. So, I ask, does the New Year just happen to fall on my birthday or is the world’s most populous nation honoring my recent visit?