Save The Wild Haggis

Every year, almost 100,000 haggis are needlessly slaughtered in haggis processing centres around the country to cater for the ever-increasing popularity of Scottish haggis.

Once, the Highlands of Scotland were teeming with these cute creatures, but modern-day intensive haggis farming has caused the numbers of wild haggis to decline sharply.

Save Haggis In Trouble

 

Hipster Lorum Ipsum Generator

First, a bit of description from MONSIEURMAORI who says here that:

Whether you’re a sensational graphic designer or, you’re a hipster writing a poem, at some point you’re going to need some filler to make sure your text looks right on the page. In the case of designers, you’re trying to make your design work. In the case of hipsters… you’re just trying.

The Hipster Lorum Ipsum Generator is here. You have two basic choices; hipster with a shot of Latin, and Hipser neatl

And here's a delectable sample; I went with Hipster with a shot of Latin:

Yr PBR single-origin coffee, salvia high life eiusmod williamsburg whatever brooklyn nulla magna. Art party helvetica gluten-free anim vero craft beer. Viral lo-fi cliche gluten-free 8-bit. Carles echo park id banksy williamsburg, viral american apparel voluptate synth nesciunt tempor cosby sweater brunch reprehenderit accusamus. Readymade keytar assumenda wayfarers, art party ex pitchfork farm-to-table odio ea lo-fi mcsweeney's. Biodiesel nisi ad assumenda food truck. Incididunt nesciunt mustache fanny pack, excepteur cred raw denim gluten-free nulla eiusmod.

Squid craft beer art party salvia, aliquip Austin sint nulla. Est eu high life scenester echo park. Ad tempor ea incididunt photo booth artisan. Laborum dolore cosby sweater, viral locavore marfa trust fund excepteur labore culpa 3 wolf moon. Culpa echo park etsy twee, quis nihil aliquip bicycle rights 8-bit tempor trust fund nulla. Brooklyn cillum master cleanse commodo bicycle rights, 8-bit +1 american apparel lo-fi eu freegan organic vero terry richardson. 8-bit salvia you probably haven't heard of them incididunt ullamco, leggings odio next level.

Rowling's Plot Chart for Order of the Phoenix

One of the things that both writers and literary scholars are interested in are the ways in which authors figure out their story, and plots. There are lots of super tools for helping writings plan, ranging from spreadsheets, to index cards, to paper scraps and post-it notes, as well as a lot of software, like Scrivener, or Dramatica, that's specialized for fiction and screenplays. 

But this image shows J. K. Rowling's loose-leaf notebook page turned to landscape view, and covered with quick notes about the basic plot premises of Rowling's Order of the Phoenix.

The first column is the chapter number.

The second column shows the time of the year for that chapter.

The third column is a general chapter outline.

The rest of the columns deal with the various subplots that are part of the book, each column tracking one subplot wrt to the chapter, whether it actually appears on the chapter or not.

Thank you, Ms. Rowling, for being this generous to other writers, and thanks to the original poster, James Plafke at Geek System and Elvisaaron on Tumblr

 

See the original here

The Life of the Book Reviewer, In Pictures

The Book Publicity Blog collected pictures of the over-flowing bookshelves, desks, and floors, of book reviewers. Many authors, especially those who have newly self-published, think that book reviewers are just waiting to receive a copy of their book

The idea to collect the images was inspired by Murderati blogger and reviewer Tess Gerritsen's post about Why the hell won't they review my book."

 

The truth of the matter is that there are thousands more books to be reviewed than book reviewers can possibly review—even if they wanted to review them all, and the sad truth is that a rather large percentage of the books in question are really rather wretched. 

You can read about the project to collect picures of reviewer's shelves, and see the Flickr stream of the photos

The Dallas Morning News book room

This is the Dallas Morning News>/cite> Book Room, after the reviewer failed to shelve books "for a few weeks."

SUBJECT: OUR MARKETING PLAN

This is a New Yorker piece by . It's painfully funny in that a-little-too-close-to-the-bone way:

Let me introduce myself. My name is Gineen Klein, and I’ve been brought on as an intern to replace the promotion department here at Propensity Books. First, let me say that I absolutely love “Clancy the Doofus Beagle: A Love Story” and have some excellent ideas for promotion.

 

To start: Do you blog? If not, get in touch with Kris and Christopher from our online department, although at this point I think only Christopher is left. I’ll be out of the office from tomorrow until Monday, but when I get back I’ll ask him if he spoke to you. We use CopyBuoy via Hoster Broaster, because it streams really easily into a Plaxo/LinkedIn yak-fest meld. When you register, click “Endless,” and under “Contacts” just list everyone you’ve ever met. It would be great if you could post at least six hundred words every day until further notice.

Read more of Subject: Our Marketing Plan

 

 

Creamed Collard Greens: Patrick and Gina Neely

 Ingredients

  • 4 pounds collard greens (4 bunches), tough stems and ribs removed
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 3 large shallots, minced
  • 2 large garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/4 pound Parmesan, grated

Directions

Bring a very large stockpot of water to a boil. Prepare a large bowl of ice water. Add half of the collard greens to the boiling water, a little at a time, and push them down into the water. Let the water return to a boil, then cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Using tongs, transfer the greens to the bowl with the ice water to reserve. Repeat with the remaining greens. Drain the greens very well and squeeze them dry in a kitchen towel, then finely shred.

In a very large skillet, melt the butter. Add the shallots and garlic and cook over moderate heat until softened, about 6 minutes. Stir in the cream and simmer, stirring occasionally, until reduced by half, about 25 minutes. Add the greens to the cream and toss until warmed through, about 3 minutes. Season generously with nutmeg and salt and pepper. Add to serving dish and sprinkle with the Parmesan.