Mailer on the media...

From UT's Daily Texan:

Mailer said he initially only understood [Gary] Gilmore through the press, but discovered he needed more information to accurately write his novel.

"If you believe literally what you read in the press, you're going to have a very poor notion of reality," he said.

Gee, ya think?

Cheers...

Watch the gunwales!

A torrent of work really let loose today, with one client calling to find out how much of a 150,000-word project I can take over the next few weeks. I gave the appropriate answer and figured that, with a good load of translation to do, it'd be a good time to go visit the old man in New York, so I'm set with JetBlue for a departure next week.

I am gathering new clients. One, from up north (but not that far up) actually got back to me after several days with a fairly sizeable job with a reasonable deadline - I had figured they'd decided against meeting my price - but they then subjected me to the hazing ritual of "registering" with their web site, which turned out to be no big deal, in the end, but reinforced a valuable lesson: never assume your password is "invisible" to others. (I had toyed with the idea of creating a rude password, not out of any personal animosity but simply out of frustration, but decided against it; lo, and behold, a few hours after registering, my contact person sends me a reminder email with my login and password, just in case I forget them!)

I got an email this morning from an outfit in France, too. They wanted me to do a short job, and I'm not sure we ever decided that I'm going to do it, but the deadline is tomorrow, so I went ahead and did the job. These folks have something of a track record on ProZ.com, so I'm not too concerned that I'll be left holding the proverbial sack, though I am concerned that I spent altogether too much time on the assignment to make it worth my while no matter what they pay me (short of some ridiculously large, lottery-like amount).

My telecon this morning ran very nearly the full two scheduled hours. At the end, the speaker for the Russian side remarked that had been pleasant speaking with everyone and that the interpretation had been very good. It didn't occur to me to do anything but interpret what was said, whereupon the folks in the room somehow got the impression that I was pulling their leg with that last part, so they laughed, which caused the fellow at the other end of the line to ask, "Why is everyone laughing? I'm saying that seriously!" I thanked him for his kind words before the connection was broken.

So here it is, just after 6 pm, and I feel as if I've accomplished a lot, and accomplished not much at all. Tomorrow's calendar calls for me to participate in a mission simulation starting at 1 pm. I should also send a note to my PM regarding my trip to New York next week.

Cheers...

Frankie Laine, RIP

Apropos of my old man, one of the first records that he bought to play on his excruciatingly sensitive stereo system - the one I was expressly forbidden to touch - was a collection of songs by Frankie Laine, including Rawhide (familiar to me because of the television show).

Naturally, since I was forbidden to touch the stereo, I would play my old man's records in the time between coming home and about 30 minutes before he got home. :^) (Why 30 minutes? Well, I once turned off the stereo while he was on his way up in the building elevator, and was "busted" when the heat from the amplifier tubes gave me away.) My two favorite records were Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture and the Western songs by Laine.

Do not forsake me, oh, my darlin',
On this, our wedding day.
Do not forsake me, oh, my darlin',
Wait; wait alone.
I do not know what fate awaits me.
I only know I must be brave.
For I must face a man who hates me,
Or lie a coward, a craven coward;
Or lie a coward in my grave.

Oh, to be torn 'twixt love an' duty.
S'posin' I lose my fair-haired beauty.
Look at that big hand move along,
Nearing high noon!

He made a vow while in state prison:
Vowed it would be my life for his'n,
I'm not afraid of death but, oh, what shall I do,
If you leave me?

Do not forsake me, oh, my darlin':
You made that promise as a bride.
Do not forsake me, oh, my darlin'.
Although you're grievin', don't think of leavin',
Now that I need you by my side.

Wait along, wait along.
Wait along.... wait along!

Rest well, pard.

Cheers...

This is, like, a joke, right?

Via Engadget:

Brace yourselves good people of New York, mother government is prepared to step in (again) and save you from yourselves. Senator Carl Kruger is reportedly set to introduce legislation that would ban the use of MP3 players, cellphones, and any other electronic device while crossing the street in New York City or other "big cities" in the state. The proposed ban follows two recent pedestrian deaths in Kruger's district where at least one is said to be the result of a person "listening to his iPod." We just gotta wonder: if police can't enforce jaywalking laws in NYC, how could they possibly enforce this?

Indeed.

Between this and the proposed California law forbidding corporal punishment of small children, one wonders if maybe we'll need more cops to take care of these pressing issues?

Cheers...