How the media would report on the end of the world

USA Today: WE’RE DEADWall Street Journal: Dow Jones Plummets as World EndsInc. Magazine: 10 Ways You Can Profit From the ApocalypseRolling Stone: The Grateful Dead Reunion TourSports Illustrated: Game OverLadies Home Journal: Lose 10 Pounds by Judgment Day with Our New “Armageddon” Diet!TV Guide: Death and Damnation: Nielson Ratings Soar!Discover Magazine: How will the extinction… Read More »

Don’t start!

Not to discourage you from anything, but here’s an interesting quote: “I’ve never done any exercise, so I think it would be very dangerous if I suddenly started.”– Simon de Pury, Phillips de Pury & Co. Related posts:The fastest way to slim downEat healthy, exercise often, die anyway Technorati Tags: Simon de Pury exercise interesting… Read More »

Writing headlines

Sometimes when you read the headlines in the news, you probably cannot help but suppress a giggle. Consider these:“Tiger’s wife gives birth to a daughter” – The Associated Press“Tiger’s new cub is a baby girl” – Independent Online The problem with the above is that they assume their audience is familiar with Tiger Woods (and… Read More »

Why commas are important

An English professor wrote the words, “Woman without her man is nothing” on the blackboard and directed his students to punctuate it correctly. The men wrote: “Woman, without her man, is nothing.” The women wrote: “Woman! Without her, man is nothing.” Related posts:How men and women shower differentlyDangerous womenWhy I love womenMen are from RAM;… Read More »

Polluted? Convoluted!

Sometimes when we’re writing, we become so engrossed with statistical accuracy that we fail to take into consideration how a reader would interpret a poorly constructed sentence. For example, in a recent FORTUNE article on India’s pollution problem (“River of Sorrow“, June 11 issue), the author wrote: “The problem is that 11 of the city’s… Read More »