I’ve commented on bad, misleading, attention-grabbing headlines before, and this one compounds it with the use of the passive voice in a misleading way:
“Coach Jim Boeheim was involved in a fatal car crash last night.”
Until you hear the story (it was on the radio), it makes you wonder: involved in a fatal car crash? Was he killed?
No. He was the driver of a car that struck and killed someone.
Second: since when do we refer to a car hitting someone as being “in a car crash”? Technically, I guess, it’s accurate, but it’s misleading.
Third, the passive voice: “was involved in”? He was driving the car that hit and killed someone, so sure, he was “involved.” The car didn’t do it all on its own.
My sympathies go out to the man who was killed, and his friends and family, and to Coach Boeheim and HIS friends and family. From all accounts, this was a tragic accident. Roads were slippery/icy; I was out on them myself a little more than an hour earlier. Coach Boeheim was apparently trying to avoid a car that has spun out and was in the road in front of him and in that effort, he struck someone on the shoulder of the road. But for the radio to word things this way is irresponsible, the audio equivalent of clickbait, and it brings discredit on those who would do this for the purpose of sensationalizing a tragic situation.
The Last Evo
Read this, and let Maggie Stiefvater break your heart over a doomed car you’ll never see and will never drive
It delivered what every Evo always has: frantic, capable joy. It whispered what the Evo had whispered to thousands of drivers before me: Drive it like you stole it; drive it like there’s no tomorrow.
— Maggie Stiefvater, Driving the Last Brand-New Mitsubishi Evo to its Grave, at roadandtrack.com
When you run out of future…
Just saw an ad urging you to “Consider PBS in your future plans.”
As in, when you die and * hint, hint * leave money to PBS.
This is more like, “Make a plan for when you run out of future!”
The license to use 2018 has expired
It seems like, after sufficient warning, the license to use 2018 has expired but we have been granted access for 2019 on the same terms. I suggest we accept it before they alter the terms of the deal.
Welcome the New Year
And now we welcome the new year, full of things that have never been.
— Rilke
A short story by Maggie Stiefvater for Christmas 2018
It’s no secret that I’m an admirer of Maggie Stiefvater’s writing. Every time I read her, I’m watching to see what she is doing and how, so I can do it better myself.
You’ll get more from this if you’ve read the Raven Cycle of books she wrote. And the ending is stunning, if you have.
A Raven Cycle Holiday Short (A Very Declan Lynch Christmas) – Maggie Stiefvater
The Meat Trilogy
Seeing an ad on TV for ham on sale, it made me think that in our family there was a Meat Trilogy. Thanksgiving was turkey, Christmas was roast beef, and Easter was ham.
So go ahead and have ham at Christmas if you want. I won’t judge you. But I have my preferences.
Crush strength of a trachea, calibrated in cats
If you want to know what the crush strength of my trachea is, it’s somewhat greater than the eleven pound cat sitting on it now,
Movie summaries
Sometimes I suspect movie summaries are more cogent and better constructed than the movies they describe.
Unexpected sounds
Sometimes I hear unexpected sounds and then I realize, the cat walked on the clock radio at bedside.
I hope.