There are no visual or auditory clues, and there are no gestures to soften the words you send electronically.  Below are tips for sending texts and emails that communicate effectively, and do not alienate or confuse.    

Texting in itself isn’t bad or good.  It’s in how we use it.  Texting in a place where you’re not with anyone or bothering anyone is fine.  However, texting around others or as part of multi-tasking often causes harm.  It’s in the less obvious ways than car crashes or while walking, (a New York City area teen fell into a manhole while texting; luckily, she’s fine now) that texting hurts by depersonalizing our personal encounters.  With every text message sent or received in the presence of others around the family table, the living room sofa, the boardroom, or the grocery store check-out lane, we’re separating our focus from the person in front of us.  Our attention is a gift.  Our full attention is the foundation of every kindhearted, other-centered interaction.  Read more at:  http://www.mannersmentor.com/only-at-work/seven-ways-to-text-with-graciousness-and-savvy

 

Email courtesy

Pay careful attention to where emails will end up.   It can be embarrassing if a personal message ends up on a mailing list goes to the wrong people.
When asking for something, don't forget to say "please".   
Similarly, it never hurts to say "thank you".
Don't expect an immediate answer.  Most people will not check their email more than a few times a day, so a delay should be expected.  
Never send personal or sensitive information by email.  Email systems are not always designed to be secure so it is best to err on the side of caution.
Don't use sarcasm or write emails when angry.  Witty sarcasm is hard to detect in email and may accidentally offend the recipient.  Anger can also be offensive. 
Don't send or forward emails containing libelous, defamatory, offensive, racist or obscene remarks.  Also avoid sending virus hoaxes and chain letters.
Unless the recipient has previously agreed, don't forward poems, jokes, or attachments.  
Always have the recipient's permission to send them such emails.   http://helpdesk.ws.edu/pages/guide_emailEtiquette.asp

At a performance of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, there was this piece of music that was getting louder and louder and was supposed to stop all of a sudden.  A woman was talking to a friend during the crescendo, and when the music stopped, she shrieked "I FRY MINE IN BUTTER!" 

The Indianapolis Brewery was shut down by Ar­ticle XVIII of the United States Constitution, which declared in 1919 that the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors was against the law.  Intoxicating liquors did not be­come lawful again until 1933. 

Timequake (semi-autobiographical novel) by Kurt Vonnegut  1997 

Indianapolis Brewing Company was started by an "English syndicate" in 1887.  Peter Lieber was the president of the new company for its first year, retiring in 1888 due to ill health.  Albert Lieber, Peter Lieber's son was the first managing director and took over as president.  Peter was appointed Counsel to Duesseldorf in 1893 by President Grover Cleveland.  They won a gold medal for their Duesseldorfer at the Paris Exposition of 1900.  There was a "magnificent industrial parade" when they returned with the medal.  They also won the grand prize gold at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904 and a gold medal at Liege, Belgium in 1906.  Kurt Vonnegut's grandfather was Albert Lieber.  The recipe for a dark lager beer that Peter Lieber devised was brewed by Wyncoop Brewing, Denver, in 1996 to celebrate the new library there.  It was called Kurt's Mile-High Malt.  A "secret ingredient" of the brew was coffee.  In 1938 they appealed a case to the US Supreme Court to fight Michigan's beer importation laws.  They lost.  This case has been referenced many times including G. Heilman's bankruptcy and many cases about mail-order beer and wine sales.  Read much more at:  http://www.indianabeer.com/History/IH-In.html 

To celebrate Denver and National Poetry Month, Denver's Wynkoop Brewing Company hosted its second annual Liquid Poetry event in the brewpub's Mercantile Room.  The event featured the 2009 Liquid Poetry beer, and beer-minded poetry.  http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Wynkoop+Brewing+Co.+revives+Liquid+Poetry.-a0210034349 

A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg

chevy    (CHEV-ee)  verb tr.:  To chase or annoy.  noun:  A chase, hunt, or a hunting cry.
After Cheviot Hills bordering England and Scotland.  A battle between English and Scottish forces over a hunting expedition is described in a 15th-century ballad (The Ballad of Chevy Chase).  A chase is a tract of land reserved for hunting.  The name of the city Chevy Chase in Maryland has the same origin.  Earliest documented use: before 1825.
Himalayan  (him-uh-LAY-uhn, hi-MAHL-yuhn)  adjective 
1.  Enormously large.
2.  Relating to the Himalayas.
After the Himalayas, the mountain range having Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world. From Sanskrit him (snow) + alaya (abode).  Ultimately from the Indo-European root ghei- (winter), which is the ancestor of words such as chimera, hibernaculum, hiemal, and hibernate.  Earliest documented use:  1866.

Updated June 10, 2013  River Danube has reached highest level in 500 years after days of rain.  Budapest was on high alert yesterday as the River Danube threatened to burst its banks and flood the historic city.  The river peaked at record highs as desperate homeowners, hotel staff and military reservists piled sandbags in front of their buildings to protect the Hungarian capital.  Tens of thousands have been forced to leave their homes and at least a dozen people have been killed in floods that have hit central Europe in the past week.  The Danube – Europe’s second longest river which flows through four capital cities and ten countries – started rising rapidly in Hungary last Friday.  The country announced a state of ‘extreme danger’ which is likely to last into next week as the waters are expected to recede very slowly.  Claire Ellicott  See many pictures at:  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2338449/Danube-reaches-record-levels-historic-capital-Budapest-goes-high-alert-river-burst-banks.html

We planned a two-week vacation in Europe about a year ago, but all did not go as planned:

The Danube flooded, and our one-week cruise from Passau, Germany to Budapest, Hungary was cancelled.  DANUBE RIVER WINS--TOURISTS LOSE
Our hosts at Domaine La Veronique, "Gourmet  Breaks in the Languedoc" http://www.domainelaveronique.com/ were able to take us an extra two days. 
DOMAINE LA VERONIQUE WINS--TOURISTS WIN
Air traffic controllers in France went on strike, disrupting travel throughout Europe. 
FRENCH AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS WIN--TOURISTS LOSE
KLM Airlines treated us to a hotel and meals, re-booked our flight, and did much more when the strike made us miss our flight home.  KLM AIRLINES WIN--TOURISTS WIN