From: "Ted White" <twhite8 at cox.net>
To: "WSFA members" <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: fw: metaphorically speaking
Date: Wed, 17 Jul 2002 23:50:16 -0400
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

----- Original Message -----
From: "Keith F. Lynch" <kfl at KeithLynch.net>
To: <WSFAList at KeithLynch.net>
Sent: Wednesday, July 17, 2002 10:05 PM
Subject: [WSFA] Re: fw: metaphorically speaking

> > 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.

I'm more concerned about the assinine attempt (which may be
successful) to put internet radio out of business.   I've
been guesting on Sunday nights over at Fairfax Public
Access's WEBR, which stopped broadcasting on the internet
this Monday due to insane royalty payments demanded --
retroactively, for the station's entire history, over and
above normal radio broadcasting royalties (none of which
will go to the musicians who created the music being
broadcast).  Feh!

--Ted White