Date: Wed, 17 Jul 2002 22:05:15 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Keith F. Lynch" <kfl at KeithLynch.net>
To: WSFAList at KeithLynch.net
Subject: [WSFA] Re: fw: metaphorically speaking
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

> The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a
> bowling ball wouldn't.
> --Russell Beland, Springfield

Probably inspired by Douglas Adams' famous line "The ships hung in the
sky in much the same way that bricks don't."  A brilliant and original
way to succinctly convey meaning.  Contrast that with the following:

  'Life as a Toilet Roll' Wins Writing Prize
  Wed Jul 17, 8:31 AM ET

  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A California woman who spends her
  spare time crafting slogans for lapel buttons has won the 2002
  Bulwer-Lytton bad writing award for a piece which compared a
  faltering relationship to a balky roll of toilet paper.

  Rephah Berg, of Oakland, California, beat out thousands of other
  entries in the contest run by San Jose State University, which for
  21 years has been soliciting examples of exceptionally bad starts to
  imaginary novels, organizers said.

  The contest, which carries a modest $250 cash award, is named after
  Victorian novelist Edward George Earl Bulwer-Lytton, whose 1830 novel
  began with the immortal words "It was a dark and stormy night..."

  Berg's submission, one of ten she sent in this year, reads as follows:

  "On reflection, Angela perceived that her relationship with Tom had
  always been rocky, not quite a roller-coaster ride but more like
  when the toilet-paper roll gets a little squashed so it hangs
  crooked and every time you pull some off you can hear the rest going
  bumpity-bumpity in its holder until you go nuts and push it back
  into shape, a degree of annoyance that Angela had now almost attained."

  The Bulwer-Lytton awards, which were officially announced Monday,
  featured separate prizes for a number of writing categories including
  detective, science fiction, adventure and children's literature.

I've briefly quoted, with full credit, from three sources in this
message.  I don't feel this has done anyone any harm, or cut into
anyone's revenues.

>From what I've been reading, this may not be possible for very many
more years.  In an attempt to stamp out every possible vestige of
copyright infringement, the PC as we know it, and even my VT420
terminal, will soon be outlawed, and replaced with information
appliances under the exclusive control of large, licensed, "content
providers" and the government.  The information appliances will reside
in our homes, but anyone who "tampers" with them will be guilty of a
serious crime.  Sigh.  The government is not on your side, or mine, or
that of any but the very largest content providers.

Me, I refuse to have anything in my home that I'm not free to tamper
with to my heart's content.  But that's just me.
--
Keith F. Lynch - kfl at keithlynch.net - http://keithlynch.net/
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