Ian's Messy Desk

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USATODAY.com - Bible written for cellphones

Bible written for cellphones
ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) — "In da Bginnin God cre8d da heavens & da earth."

That's according to a new version of the Bible translated into the text message language of cellphone users.

The Bible Society in Australia on Thursday launched its translation of all 31,173 verses of the Bible in the modern, abbreviated language of text messages.

link from TP! Wire Service

Office Depot Online has a number of business resources listed under the Business Tools section of their web-site.

1. To join two independent clauses, use a comma followed by a conjunction, a semicolon alone, or a semicolon followed by a sentence modifier.

2. Use commas to bracket nonrestrictive phrases, which are not essential to the sentence's meaning.

3. Do not use commas to bracket phrases that are essential to a sentence's meaning.

4. When beginning a sentence with an introductory phrase or an introductory (dependent) clause, include a comma.

5. To indicate possession, end a singular noun with an apostrophe followed by an "s". Otherwise, the noun's form seems plural.

6. Use proper punctuation to integrate a quotation into a sentence. If the introductory material is an independent clause, add the quotation after a colon. If the introductory material ends in "thinks," "saying," or some other verb indicating expression, use a comma.

7. Make the subject and verb agree with each other, not with a word that comes between them.

8. Be sure that a pronoun, a participial phrase, or an appositive refers clearly to the proper subject.

9. Use parallel construction to make a strong point and create a smooth flow.

10. Use the active voice unless you specifically need to use the passive.

11. Omit unnecessary words.

[from a Google cache of the now unavailable page >>http://www.junketstudies.com/rulesofw/]]

Rebecca posted a Proverbs Limerick and challenged others to create their own. Here's my effort:

Take a quick look at what riches bring.
They fly off like a bird on the wing.
Do not flex, strain and twitch,
At some scheme to get rich,
'Cause you know, wise restraint is the thing. Proverbs 23:4,5

Imagination Prompt Generator

Faced with a case of writer's or blogger's block? Visit the Imagination Prompt Generator at the Creativity Portal and get a prompt to start those creative juices flowing. Don't like the prompt you're given, click and get a new one.

link from 43 Folders

Blogging Toward a Postmodern Faith with Brian McLaren, Mabiala Kenzo, Bruce Ellis Benson, Ellen Haroutunian and Myron Penner.

This blog-book will discuss what a postmodern evangelical faith looks like. The blog format will make it possible to allow you the reader, to participate in the writing of both the blog and the eventual published book to follow by Paternoster Press. Be a part of this experiment in conversation by adding your voice to the discussion.

“A New Kind of Conversation” begins on Sept 15th 2005.

Sign up to be notified when the blog starts

Pencil Revolution is a blog dedicated to...?????

• Pencil reviews —The venerable Dixon Ticonderoga
• Pencil history —Who's got the biggest pencil
• Pencil art —not just pencil drawings, but sculptures from pencil points

If you need to put some lead in your pencil, drop by for a visit.

Be the next William S Burroughs with tools from Language Is A Virus -- writing toys, games & gizmoz to inspire your creativity! Text generators! Cut up machines!

Here are some examples from the Haiku-a-Tron:

Spin, dive. With sharp ferns
Desire, decline. With green flames
Move, dive: wandering.

Crawl, sit. With thin waves
Ascend, wonder. With dry lilys
Sink, glow: returning.

Under the slow tree,
As the silent kiss strays,
I sit; the path wakes.

Never weak, but loose,
The tree knows all old sparkles.
Angry, he contends.

Swift leaf, weary moon.
The flat, upright kiss looks.
Slow leaf, proud twilight.

I’ve always had a thing for paper and writing implements. (I was going to say fetish, but it’s not that weird.) There is something about the tactile response of a fine tipped fountain pen on good stock. I can sit and doodle lines and scratch out words just for the sake of feeling the pen on paper.

I have known about Moleskine notebooks for a while now. Just before Christmas, I went out and picked up a Moleskine pocket-sized plain-page notebook. Since then, I have started seeing Moleskine references in my browsing.

• BBCi has posted an article
• There’s a Moleskine blog moleskinerie
• Along with blogs from Moleskine users: Mike Rohde and Mike Shea.

Of course, as Mike Shea reminds us in his post, What Do We Write, “Our fancy notebooks are only as good as what we put in them.”

1. Verbs HAS to agree with their subjects.
2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
3. And don't start a sentence with a conjunction.
4. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
5. Avoid clichés like the plague. (They're old hat.)
6. Be more or less specific.
7. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are (usually) unnecessary.
8. Also too, never, ever use repetitive redundancies.
9. No sentence fragments.
10. Don't use no double negatives.
11. Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.

With a paper journal it was easy to write. That's pretty much all you could do. Sketch a little, doodle a little, but mostly write. As long as you carried it with you, you got some writing done.

Not so with the electronic version; too many distractions. I can update my bankbook, read a couple of news articles -or a whole book-, or play a couple of rounds of Bejeweled.