Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips We tend to want complex things. Too simple shows that we didn’t work hard, right? No, that is usually wrong. It happened again at work this week… Someone wanted a couple of sentences that summarized a project. The project had been running for ten years and is a success. Lots of people […]

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by Dwayne Phillips In the past month or two, many have bemoaned the appearance of software that can write essays for students. I have yet to read concerns about software that teachers can use to write essay assignments. ChatGPT is ruining the world. Well, at least some folks think it is ruining their world. The […]

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by Dwayne Phillips For what it is worth, and I think it is worth much, read or review Orwell’s “Politics and the English Language.” I didn’t take many English courses in college (just one). While happy, at the time, to skip needless courses, I sometimes regret what I could have learned. Then again, I was […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Old metaphors indicate many problems. One result, however, is that they prevent thought. Thinking is a pretty good practice, and I discourage anything that reduces it. The old metaphor should be avoided. George Orwell wrote about this in his essay on Politics and the English Language. Orwell wrote it much better than […]

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by Dwayne Phillips If AI wrote this, is that okay? The question isn’t that difficult. In the past few months, we have all sorts of artificial intelligence or machine learning sites “writing” things for us. Well, this isn’t that intelligent or learned (in my humble opinion), but clever mimicry. Still it is quite useful. Why […]

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by Dwayne Phillips This post is about the person who edits. Most organizations no longer employ an Editor, and that practice is fraught with imminent peril. Consider The Editor: An Editor is a professional who is the voice of a company, ensuring that all written materials are accurate and of high quality. They work with […]

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by Dwayne Phillips A conversation about writing and publishing and the like. A: It sounds like you have a book—in your head, in your ear, maybe even on paper. It also sounds like you would like to one day have a book in your hand and maybe in the hands of others. A: Tell me […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes, if you wait a week before writing something, you can write it well and quickly. Here is a writing technique that works for me. Try it; it may work for you. I think about something for a week. No great concentration, but thinking now and then, off and on, having conversations […]

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by Dwayne Phillips A new acronym for each day: what did you learn today? I have read about a new trend called “quiet quitting” in which persons earn their paycheck (a necessary component) and do not more. They are not climbing the ladder or whatever we call is these days. They work hard and then […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Stop worrying about the next technology. Do something simple that has all the functions you need. The database. Sigh. Gosh, what is next? What is the next database technology that will solve all my problems? Requirements: Enter information. Find entered information. Read entered information. Change entered information. Solution: The ASCII text file. […]

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