o, irony

clipped from www.bspcn.com We all shrug off our mortal coil eventually. Whilst we all look forward to a long and happy life, there are some unfortunate souls who leave this world with a touch of humor. If you’re gonna go, go out in style! Lifeguards On Duty In New Orleans more than 100 lifeguards threw a party to celebrate their first year without any tragedies. While they were partying, one of the guests, who was not a life saver, fell into the swimming pool fully clothed and drowned, even though four lifeguards were supposed to be on duty at the time! Out For A Morning Run A naked man running across New York’s Brooklyn bridge singing “Oh what a beautiful morning!” was run over by a car and killed. Are You Sure That Being A Veggie Is Healthy? Victor Villenti, 50, was a strict vegetarian, and forced his family to follow the same regime. While jogging in 1991 he was killed by an eight pound frozen leg of lamb which fell from a third-story window.

corruption index

read it and truly weep

Israel is ranked 30th out of 180 states in the 2007 "Corruption Perceptions Index," released Wednesday by Transparency International, a global NGO committed to fighting corruption

The ranking represents a slight improvement from 2006, when Israel came in at 34th, receiving a score of 5.9 out of 10, as opposed to this year's 6.1

Britain is ranked 12th and the United States 20th, with scores of 8.4 and 7.2, respectively

The survey focuses on corruption in the public sector and among politicians, and the organization defines corruption as "the misuse of entrusted power for private gain."

Denmark, Finland and New Zealand tied for first place on the list

Gross, the chairman of Israel's Transparency International branch, said that more than half of the 180 states that were examined received scores of three or less, which indicates that funds needed for education, medicine and infrastructure are being pocketed by politicians

clipped from www.haaretz.com		w
26/09/2007
Israel ranked 30th out of 180 countries in Corruption Index

what would b.d. do?

clipped from www.dylanmessaging.com

when did editing end? - sadi ranson-polizzotti

part of an ongoing (and previous) series on the popular site, teleread, www.teleread.org, editor david rothman, author, sadi ranson-polizzotti.

clipped from www.teleread.org No longer can an editor find the time to hold an author’s hand and, line by line, make careful or substantive changes to a submitted manuscript. “Due to the pressures of time and business, in the 21st century, the art of line editing is all but dead,” says Evander Lomke, an editor at Continuum Books and an officer of The Genius Club, a small, private organization comprised of members of the intellectual community. Line editing is a dying art in the modern book world. This much is a sad fact and one we must accept if we are to succeed as writers of e- or p-books. Note: Sadi Ranson-Polizzotti, TeleRead’s e-book editor, teaches a graduate-level course in editing. Sadi Ranson-Polizzotti: When did editing end? The ‘p-boo