Quick Roundup 226

An Open Fan Letter to J K Rowling

He posted it awhile back and I haven't read Book Seven yet, but I am sure I'll agree with Toiler on this one when I do:

If story-telling is magical, then you're one of the rarest, most gifted witches in this world, a world full of muggles.

Read it all. His comment on modern cynicism echoes a very good point about criticism in general from Anton Ego's review of the chef from Ratatouille, which I saw last weekend with my wife and loved.

The Van Simpsons

A few nights ago, I stopped by the Inspector's blog and found him and a few of his regulars posting Simpson-style caricatures of themselves that they'd generated at the Simspons Movie web site.

So I decided to get into the act. Since I'd once done a South Park-style rendering of my wife and myself (which I haven't been able to find), I decided to do Mrs. Van Horn as well.


That's a ringer for me, but not so much for the wife, whose hair and body type aren't quite right. The Matt Groening aesthetic just doesn't do justice to my pretty, plump, petite wife -- but I'm glad she was okay with me posting her caricature anyway.

Profitable Charity

If you haven't read it already, the Software Nerd has posted a fine example (from India) of one way to improve the education of the poor without government reliance:

With this charity, a successful kid who could not afford $5,000 [entrance exam fee] up front, will probably end up going abroad and earning $100,000 a year.

But, there's a twist to this giving ...

[Fund manager Monish] Prabai asks the kids to promise that, if they are admitted to an IIT, they will donate 10% of all their future income back to his charity!

And as always with the Software Nerd, there is some interesting context and commentary on this arrangement. Very interesting!

We have a "winner"!

Here is the winning entry from this year's Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, which each year solicits writing so bad it's good:

Gerald began -- but was interrupted by a piercing whistle which cost him ten percent of his hearing permanently, as it did everyone else in a ten-mile radius of the eruption, not that it mattered much because for them 'permanently' meant the next ten minutes or so until buried by searing lava or suffocated by choking ash -- to pee.

Hee, hee!

-- CAV