There have lately been a spate of “writers sure are pathetic” article. A sampling:

+ From the Times: Bail Out the Writers!

+ Writers are advertising on craigslist for people to do the hard work for them. Next they will subcontract the actual writing of their novels.

+ Then there’s this lady who held a funeral for her writing career.

It strikes me that these stories are kind of in the same vain as this completely stupid Times article about rich teenagers who are getting jobs. Are we supposed to feel sorry for these people? As a languishing mostly-unpublished author, I know that writing is a lot of hard work, but these articles seem to be implying that we should feel sorry for the lazy.

Aren’t there instances of real poverty and hardship the news media could be reporting on? Lazy writers and teenagers with affluent parents? Seems to me that, given the current state of the job market and the publishing industry, if you wanted to get published, you’d work your ass off (improving your writing, sending out many queries, plugging away at that magnum opus), you wouldn’t hold fake funerals or contract out the hard stuff to someone on craigslist.

On the other hand, if this is my competition, I’m sure to get a publishing contract, right?

Seriously. “My parents cut my allowance form $100 to $60 per week, so now I have to get a job!” Please, kids. If only I had your problems. I think the real loser here are those of us who have to read these stupid articles.

Same thing we do every night, Johnny. Try to TAKE OVER THE COUNTRY!

I haven’t done much science blogging lately. I should get back to that.

Let’s start in Texas, where there’s a new strategy in the works to get BS non-science into science classrooms, mainly teaching the “strengths and weaknesses” of evolution “as a theory.” It’s a shame this paragraph is buried so far into the Times story:

volution as a principle is not disputed in the scientific mainstream, where the term “theory” does not mean a hunch, but an explanation backed by abundant observation, and where gaps in knowledge are not seen as grounds for doubt but points for future understanding. Over time, research has strengthened the basic tenets of evolution, especially as advances in molecular genetics have allowed biologists to read the history recorded in the DNA of animals and plants.

You can scream “Intelligent Design is not SCIENCE” until you’re blue in the face, but ignorance will prevail, with Creationists pushing their agenda on school boards and textbook publishers. And, as a former science textbook editor, the creeping of Creationism into science textbooks offends me deeply. It has no place there. We shouldn’t even be talking about it. And the net effect is to make kids dumber. College professors are finding (and I come by this information anecdotally, but the marketing department at any college textbook publisher will tell you the same things) that students are less and less prepared for their college-level science classes, having been spoonfed a lot of nonsense and not even knowing the basics, like the scientific method. The scientific method which states, incidentally, that a theory is based on thorough testing. Which these ignorant school-board members in Texas would know if they kept their nonsense out of science classrooms.

Incidentally, this story comes via Skepchick, a blog by women about science. How awesome is that?

We’ve lost Arthur C. Clarke and Anthony Minghella.

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I just stumbled upon Match It for Pratchett, a project dedicated to matching Terry Pratchett’s $1 million donation to Alzheimer’s research. Pratchett has Alzheimer’s, and so did my grandmother, so it’s a worthy cause.

Spotted outside Heights Coffee in Prospect Heights Brooklyn. Two types of punctuation abuse: gratuitous use of quotation marks and gratuitous apostrophes.