The Register: Time to examine the anatomy of the British Library ransomware nightmare.

First I’ve heard of this. Look forward to scanning the report. So many folks are relying on older systems, hardware … valuable or sensitive information left to disappear due to inertia. Big lessons here.

I value paper more, as a result!

Website Planet: How to make your writing more sensitive - and why it matters.

A reader, unknown to me, suggested this link after reading one of my other posts. Usually I would dismiss these kinds of comments as spam (no offense intended, the email comes through Squarespace looking like spam), but the link was so interesting and helpful to me, I had to post it immediately.

It is likely to be a point of discussion on this blog - or across blogs - so many feel that writing with more inclusion becomes either too ‘difficult’ or too ‘politically correct’. I deal with enough younger people of varying identifications, that this information is very much welcome. My writing style was forged under the shadow of a WWI vet, a WWII vet, WWII and Vietnam-era teachers — very masculine, dismissive, heavy disrespect from a modern perspective. I have many ‘autopilot’ stereotypes I use without even a smidge of cognition, that in rewriting shock me a little. I work hard to rectify these when they slip out. Never be afraid to shove my face in it - I do apologize and rewrite.

I am wondering how professional journalists handle this. For instance, is there a new section in the “Chicago Manual of Style” or similar?

So thank you, Emma. Your suggestion is appreciated. Welcome to dm!

Personal Improvement: Self-love, self-awareness ... and narcissism.

My readers know narcissism has been bugging me, as a general subject that I’ve been dancing around. This is why. I find many of the books in the self-help niche are sloppy with the boundaries between beneficial attention to self, and malignant self-love. As I work through the books purchased, write against their recommended journalling prompts, so much sounds like training in straight-up narcissism.

Perhaps dipping into narcissism to remedy a deep neglect of one’s self may rebound to a normal level of self-awareness? I’m uneasy with that. I’ve begun not writing against certain prompts.

This is useful in how to identify the two, and how to manage the sometimes-subtle differences. I liked this bit:

Self-love can turn to malignant self-love when it becomes less about supporting your health and more about giving yourself glory, pomp, and importance.

One can see in these books how hard they work to try to build our senses of importance and glory. I certainly don’t think they are nefarious on purpose, but I have to go back through and correct some of the things I’ve written, read. I could never walk up to someone and demand respect because I might think I was better or smarter. I would just walk up and be myself, and let them be the judge. That’s my natural method of handling ‘self love’. A few of you longtime readers first encountered me when I’d step far outside my zone of experience and state a forceful opinion, and you called me on it. I pulled back and apologized, making up for the mistake. Or offer to do more research and return with a different take. Some, I realized I could NEVER know enough to determine a reasonable conclusion. And I admitted it. I was one of the first to have an ‘errata’ section, where I’d categorize corrections. That’s why you’re still readers. No worship; just honest discussion, searching for truth or fact.

This concern over narcissism doesn't just apply to books; you will all recognize these themes running throughout the video reels of social media channels. They seem to be breeding a very unhealthy level of narcissism as a ‘base level’ of self-aggrandizement in order to be an influencer. How many brag that they are gods and goddesses!

Don’t get me started on politicians (eyes crossed).

And we bloggers are certainly not immune. Right now, restarting this blog is an exercise in humbleness. My daily viewers and RSS subscribers are a microscopic amount compared to the 00’s. If we bloggers were narcissists today, we’d never bother. Seriously. We’ve gone from megachurches to Quaker meeting houses (healthier so; a subject for another time). I do this because I’ve missed writing daily. Parts of my intellect suffered in its absence. Journal prompts just don’t do it for me. I’ve been spoiled by blogging, I suppose. I’m hoping a good table in the pines to rest my journal on, or a typewriter in the wilderness can break me away from this online habit. Still, very much ‘ride or die.’

So be aware if you delve into the self-help section of the bookstore. There’s some deeply misguided guidance there. As astute as I seem, I almost got sucked in.

If I can be, you can be too. In the meantime, I’ve become hypersensitive to how many “I’s” there are in my writings …

Ever hear of "zettelkasten"?

The latest rabbit-hole I’m diving into. My Evernote has become a black hole of thousands (15,000+ tags alone) of aged content. I need something better. Been looking at The Archive and have downloaded Obsidian. Longtime readers will recall my experiences with The Brain (too pricey now), also.

I’d really like to have a filing system to back up my grey matter in a more useful, Google-Search-like manner. But moreso, to save some of my longer writings. I’m discovering lately that blogging has ‘built’ me for longer form pieces, and I’d like to categorize and save them in useful (quick recall) formats. So many times, when composing a longer blog post, I recall a piece of writing from the past. I can’t tell if I’ve stuffed it in Ulysses, Drafts, IA Writer, Evernote, FreeMind, Notes, Omni Outliner, Open Office, Google Docs, OneDrive, Yojimbo, Highland 2, Scrivener, Word, Pages, Textedit, or wherever. After decades of writing for the internet, I’ve got good things stuffed in every nook and cranny on my hard drives, depending on what latest whizzy app or app update I was fiddling with, in order to give a salient comment on the blog.

I’ve been terrifically disorganized with my longer writings, and now I need to pay the piper. I really wish I’d come up with some dazzlingly brilliant method of naming files, but alas … it never crossed my mind until now.

Consider this a ‘spring cleaning’. Thought others might want to peek, too.

OpenCulture: How Jane Austen Changed Fiction Forever.

“What, exactly, is going on here? Before this passage, Puschak explains, ‘the narrator is describing the thoughts and feelings of John Dashwood.’ But then, ‘something changes: it’s suddenly as if we’re inside John’s mind. And yet, the point of view doesn’t change: we’re still in the third person.’”

In my casual reading, I keep coming back to Austen frequently. More for me to learn with my own writing.

3 Quarks Daily: Free Will, Pragmatism, And The Things Best Left Unsaid.

Oh, this is a great one. Take time to sit with it.

“Even Sapolsky recognizes that there’s something inherently sad about giving up one’s own sense of agency, and mentions the 2016 article in The Atlantic, “There’s No Such Thing as Free Will … but We’re Better Off Believing in It Anyway.” I’m not sure about the first half of that headline, but I agree with the second. I don’t know the degree to which the future is determined, but I know for certain that it isn’t helpful for me to think of it as being so.”

NY Times: N. Scott Momaday, Pulitzer-Winning Native American Novelist, Dies at 89

I am sad. I had the privilege of photographing - and briefly talking to - Scott Momaday last January (2023). A very erudite and pleasant person to spend time with, as well as very patient for my experimentations with position and pose.

Rest in peace, good sir. Never lose that gentle smile of yours.

Bookanista: The Essential Art of Rewriting.

“The mismatch between the general population’s assumptions about authors’ working lives and reality never fails to startle me; the supposed glamour, freedom, wealth and influence rarely materialise. It is a solitary, often lonely job, frequently maddening and fraught with frustration at the impossible task of turning these wild ideas into something that can be understood, as clearly as possible, by a stranger.

Blogging for all this time helped me with that, and yet … I still struggle to be understood in writing, too often. That is where good editors are invaluable. Not easily available to the solo blogger, but … for me, I have friends (wink) …

Taoism to ponder.

Chuangtse and Hueitse had strolled on to the bridge over the Hao, when the former observed, "See how the small fish are darting about! That is the happiness of the fish."

"You not being a fish yourself," said Hueitse, "how can you know the happiness of the fish?"

"And you not being I," retorted Chuangtse, "how can you know that I do not know?"

"If I, not being you, cannot know what you know," urged Hueitse, "it follows that you, not being a fish, cannot know the happiness of the fish."

"Let us go back to your original question," said Chuangtse. "You asked me how I knew the happiness of the fish. Your very question shows that you knew that I knew. I knew it (from my own feelings) on this bridge."