Courtesy of the former Times Foreign Desk intern Adam, here's what copy editors have to put up with. And here's the editors' response.
WARNING: Not safe for work!
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Easily Amused: Health Food Store Edition
One of the joys of living in Post-College Yuppieville is that there are lots of natural food stores. At least two large ones and a smaller produce store that calls itself a farmer's market within three blocks or so.
But the reason I like these places so much is not so much because of the healthy food, although that helps. It's because I spent the last four-and-a-half years grocery shopping at Wal-Mart, and even after six months I find actual variety to be utterly amazing, and thus if I'm not careful grocery shopping turns into recreational food shopping. Today I went to one of these stores looking for a bottle of vanilla extract and I came out with a $2.60-on-sale box of organic macaroni and cheese (Annie's, though. totally worth it) and a jar of marinara-and-zinfandel spaghetti sauce (which actually tastes like wine). Oh, and the vanilla was a) organic, b) fair-trade and c) cheaper than the bottle of pure vanilla extract I bought at Wal-Mart, used a teaspoon of and left in Eau Claire.
The best, though, is Trader Joe's. There's only one around and it's in union square, but it's totally worth the trip every now and then because most of it is random stuff that you can't find anywhere else. Also, it's relatively cheap.
While I'm usually lazy when it comes to cooking, I am in the process of baking cookies. From scratch. From a recipe in the Times that came with this article. I say "in the process" because the article says you should let the dough sit for awhile (upto 36 hours if you have the time. I'm settling with overnight.) So tomorrow I'll see if the wisdom of The New York Times makes for a better cookie or if I should have stuck with prepackaged refrigerator dough.
But the reason I like these places so much is not so much because of the healthy food, although that helps. It's because I spent the last four-and-a-half years grocery shopping at Wal-Mart, and even after six months I find actual variety to be utterly amazing, and thus if I'm not careful grocery shopping turns into recreational food shopping. Today I went to one of these stores looking for a bottle of vanilla extract and I came out with a $2.60-on-sale box of organic macaroni and cheese (Annie's, though. totally worth it) and a jar of marinara-and-zinfandel spaghetti sauce (which actually tastes like wine). Oh, and the vanilla was a) organic, b) fair-trade and c) cheaper than the bottle of pure vanilla extract I bought at Wal-Mart, used a teaspoon of and left in Eau Claire.
The best, though, is Trader Joe's. There's only one around and it's in union square, but it's totally worth the trip every now and then because most of it is random stuff that you can't find anywhere else. Also, it's relatively cheap.
While I'm usually lazy when it comes to cooking, I am in the process of baking cookies. From scratch. From a recipe in the Times that came with this article. I say "in the process" because the article says you should let the dough sit for awhile (upto 36 hours if you have the time. I'm settling with overnight.) So tomorrow I'll see if the wisdom of The New York Times makes for a better cookie or if I should have stuck with prepackaged refrigerator dough.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Pictures
Wow. I just found this, from my freshman year of college. Apparently, even though the screen name has been defunct for 4 years plus, it's still floating around. Let that be a lesson to you kids: whatever you put on the internet is public record forever.
Dr. Trayes hasn't posted my blog entry yet, but he did post this lovely shot of us News Service interns, past and present.
Dr. Trayes hasn't posted my blog entry yet, but he did post this lovely shot of us News Service interns, past and present.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Pathways
bloody hell again.
You'd think being tired from not sleeping much last night would make it easier to sleep tonight, but not so much.
Blogging did the trick for me last night, though, so maybe this will do it.
I think when you're a little sleep-deprived a neural pathway opens up in your brain that makes creativity flow a little more. It's good for getting writing done. (editing or reporting, not so much.) But there's only a very limited window of tiredness that it functions for; any more and you just start rambling, much like I am now.
You'd think being tired from not sleeping much last night would make it easier to sleep tonight, but not so much.
Blogging did the trick for me last night, though, so maybe this will do it.
I think when you're a little sleep-deprived a neural pathway opens up in your brain that makes creativity flow a little more. It's good for getting writing done. (editing or reporting, not so much.) But there's only a very limited window of tiredness that it functions for; any more and you just start rambling, much like I am now.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Argh!
This is what happens when I work too many 6 p.m. shifts in a week ... eventually I become quasi-nocturnal. But even then I normally don't feel the need to stay up until 6 a.m. Not even the My Neighbors Suck Playlist (which worked without fail to drown out 4 a.m. rap parties in the old neighborhood) is doing the trick. I could watch TV until I fall asleep, but the roommate will be getting up soon. Naturally, today is the day I have to go in at 2 p.m. instead of 6.
My last semester of college when I couldn't sleep, I read from my class textbook on the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict. That always did the trick. I even learned a little about the Arab-Israeli conflict in the process.
The sun is completely up now. Bloody hell.
My last semester of college when I couldn't sleep, I read from my class textbook on the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict. That always did the trick. I even learned a little about the Arab-Israeli conflict in the process.
The sun is completely up now. Bloody hell.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Wasting too much time on blogs so you don't have to: Angry journalist edition
(Otherwise known as links I stole from Gawker).
At Angryjournalist.com, you can rant anonymously about your co-workers, your recent layoff or how you feel your journalism degree isn't worth the paper it's printed on. For the views of laid-off journalists, the hopeful and the hopeless, on the future state of the news industry, there's Parting thoughts, recently started by the Columbia Journalism Review. (Sample thought: "I still want journalism. Journalism just doesn't seem to want me.")
On a less negative note, are you a reporter scrambling for a source? A publicity whore looking to get your name in the paper? Then check out Help a Reporter, the free site that links reporters and sources. Gets good reviews from Gawker commenters, for whatever that's worth.
But why am I wasting so much time on Gawker? Because I am taking a break from working on a blog post for the Temple University Editing Residency blog, started by Dr. Trayes and this year's crop of interns. So I'll let you know when that's posted.
At Angryjournalist.com, you can rant anonymously about your co-workers, your recent layoff or how you feel your journalism degree isn't worth the paper it's printed on. For the views of laid-off journalists, the hopeful and the hopeless, on the future state of the news industry, there's Parting thoughts, recently started by the Columbia Journalism Review. (Sample thought: "I still want journalism. Journalism just doesn't seem to want me.")
On a less negative note, are you a reporter scrambling for a source? A publicity whore looking to get your name in the paper? Then check out Help a Reporter, the free site that links reporters and sources. Gets good reviews from Gawker commenters, for whatever that's worth.
But why am I wasting so much time on Gawker? Because I am taking a break from working on a blog post for the Temple University Editing Residency blog, started by Dr. Trayes and this year's crop of interns. So I'll let you know when that's posted.
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