An Engineer's Blueprints For Writing by Nick Arvin Steal, Simplify, Allow Ambiguity Writers look for ideas to steal. There's no shame in this. Shakespeare pilfered old stories of princes who feigned madness for characters and plot points in "Hamlet." Modern writers in turn pilfer "Hamlet" for characters and plot points, in works like Tom Stoppard's "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead" and David Wroblewski's "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle." Simplify. Fifteen years ago in a job interview, a friend of mine was asked, "What is your engineering philosophy?" He had never before thought about his "engineering philosophy," but he realized at that moment that he did have one. "Simplify," he said. Moral ambiguities lie at the heart of compelling drama and conflict. So the writer will seek out and enlarge these in ways that an engineer never would. Dostoevski was one of the great masters of this. He developed characters like Dmitri in "The Brothers Karamazov" who are abominable yet sympathetic, and he thrust good characters like Myshkin in "The Idiot" into morally ambiguous situations where no good answer can be found. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303815404577334124203000012.html?mod=WSJ_topics_obama O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a 2000 comedy film directed by Joel and Ethan Coen and starring George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, John Goodman, Holly Hunter, and Charles Durning. Set in 1937 rural Mississippi during the Great Depression, the film's story is a modern satire loosely based on Homer’s Odyssey. The title of the film is a reference to the 1941 film Sullivan's Travels, in which the protagonist (a director) wants to direct a film about the Great Depression called O Brother, Where Art Thou? The idea of O Brother, Where Art Thou? arose spontaneously. Work on the script began long before the start of production in December 1997 and was at least half-written by May 1998. Despite the fact that Ethan called Odyssey as "one of my favorite storylines schemes" neither of them had read the epic and were familiar with its content only through adaptations and numerous references to the "Odyssey" in the culture. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Brother,_Where_Art_Thou%3F#cite_note-FAQ-3 The title of Lisa Caponigri's delightful guide to Italian family dining takes the form of a question, one that many Americans with no Italian blood but with fond childhood memories of food and fellowship around the family table must often ask themselves: "Whatever Happened to Sunday Dinner?" Its subtitle—"A Year of Italian Menus With 250 Recipes That Celebrate Family"—succinctly describes the purpose of this well-written and beautifully presented collection of recipes organized into 52 tempting five-course menus for a year of Sunday dinners. Each menu appears with a different appetizer (antipasto), a usually pasta-based first course (occasionally varied with a soup, polenta or risotto selection), a main course of meat, seafood or poultry accompanied by a carefully matched vegetable side dish, and finally an elegant but easy-to-prepare dessert. Although Ms. Caponigri acquired some of her more sophisticated recipes while living and working in Italy as an adult, her core inspiration came from her Sicilian maternal grandmother. Thus many of the book's best recipes are Sicilian in origin, reflecting that island's exposure to Greek, Phoenician, Roman, Arab, Norman and African culinary influences in the course of its long and convoluted history. A good example is Menu 36, an ideal meal for cool-weather months: verdure marinate (marinated vegetables), linguine con vongole alla nonna (grandma's linguine with clam sauce), gamberi marinati alla Siciliana (Sicilian marinated shrimp), caprese al forno (baked tomato and mozzarella salad), and castanaccio (chestnut cake). While most readers will find this elegant, nicely balanced meal tempting enough, they may wonder about their own ability to prepare it. They needn't. Ms. Caponigri's recipes are concise and easy to follow—and, as with so much truly good food, the best dishes are not always the showiest or most elaborate. Aram Bakshian Jr. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303815404577334823250684712.html National Electronics Recycling Infrastructure Clearinghouse Year E-Waste Laws Were Passed: 2003: California; 2004: Maine; 2005: Maryland; 2006: Washington; 2007: Connecticut, Minnesota, Oregon, Texas, North Carolina 2008: New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Virginia, West Virginia, Missouri, Hawaii, Rhode Island, Illinois and Michigan; 2009: Indiana, Wisconsin Find current electronic recycling laws at: http://www.ecyclingresource.org/ContentPage.aspx?Pageid=28 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Basic Information about reducing and recycling electronics Where You Live provides information about regional and State eCycling programs Where Can I Donate or Recycle My Old Computer and Other Electronics? lists organizations and retailers with donation and recycling programs Statistics on the Management of Used and End-of-Life Electronics Regulations/Standards for handling electronic equipment Frequent Questions and answers about electronic waste Resources publications and links that offer additional information on the management of electronics http://www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/materials/ecycling/ bonanza (buh-NAN-zah, boh-) noun 1. A source of sudden wealth or profits. 2. A very large amount. 3. A rich mine or pocket of ore. From Spanish bonanza (calm sea, hence good luck or prosperity), from Latin bonus (good). Earliest documented use: 1844. countenance (KOUN-tuh-nans) verb tr.: To tolerate or support. noun: 1. Appearance, especially the facial expression. 2. The face. 3. Composure. 4. Approval or support. From Old French contenance (bearing), from Latin continere (to contain), from con- (with) + tenere (to hold). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ten- (to stretch), which also gave us tense, tenet, tendon, tent, tenor, tender, pretend, extend, tenure, tetanus, hypotenuse, pertinacious, and detente. Earliest documented use: around 1290. gloze (glohz) verb tr.: To minimize or to explain away. verb intr.: 1. To use flattery. 2. To make an explanation. 3. To shine brightly. noun: 1. A comment. 2. Flattery. 3. A pretense. From Old French gloser (to explain), from Latin glossa (explanation of a difficult word), from Greek glossa (word needing explanation, language). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ghel- (to shine), which is also the source of words such as yellow, gold, glimmer, glimpse, glass, arsenic, melancholy, and cholera. Earliest documented use: around 1290. forte (fort, FOHR-tay) noun: 1. A strong point: something in which a person excels. 2. The stronger, lower part of a sword blade. Used in music direction (FOHR-tay) adjective: 3. Loud. adverb: 4. In a forceful manner. For 1, 2: From French forte (strong), from Latin fortis (strong). Earliest documented use: before 1648. For 3, 4: From Italian forte (strong, loud), from Latin fortis (strong). Earliest documented use: 1724. The noun sense of the word was originally pronounced as a single syllable (fort), as in French, however the two-syllable pronunciation (FOHR-tay) has mostly supplanted it. The word is in that limbo state where no matter how you pronounce it, someone may fault you for it. A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg Feedback to A.Word.A.Day From: Debbie Stultz Subject: Doldrums Def: 1. A state or period of stagnation or slump; 2. A region of the ocean near the equator marked by calms and light variable winds. For me, the Doldrums will always be associated with Norton Juster's fantastic book, The Phantom Tollbooth. The Doldrums are where Milo ends up after just driving along not thinking. This website http://arnoldzwicky.wordpress.com/2011/05/26/the-phantom-tollbooth/ has a map of the lands beyond the tollbooth, with the Doldrums appearing in the lower left, with S-shaped and spiral roads, designed for getting nowhere. The book defines the Doldrums as "where nothing ever happens and nothing ever changes." Of course, in keeping with the wonderful wordplay of the book, Milo encounters the Lethargarians. From: Michael Sharman Subject: bonanza Def: 1. A source of sudden wealth or profits. 2. A very large amount. 3. A rich mine or pocket of ore. Goethe wrote two poems on the subject of a Calm Sea and a Prosperous Voyage (Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt) The two are not synonymous: a calm (and therefore windless) sea was a cause for alarm in the days of sail, as they could be stuck in the doldrums. Hence there was joy when the mists cleared and a fresh breeze filled the sails. Beethoven was inspired by these two poems to write an orchestral piece called Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage. Mendelssohn was likewise inspired by Beethoven to do the same. Unknown to most computer users, they could lose Internet connections this summer. The problem began when international hackers ran an online advertising scam to take control of infected computers around the world. In a highly unusual response, the FBI set up a safety net months ago using government computers to prevent Internet disruptions for those infected users. But that system is to be shut down. The FBI is encouraging users to visit a website run by its security partner, http://www.dcwg.org, that will inform them whether they're infected and explain how to fix the problem. After July 9, infected users won't be able to connect to the Internet. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/story/2012-04-20/internet-woes-infected-pcs/54446044/1