Hot off the Press: Bloomsday edition

The obsession of "young writers" and the fact many authors (a handful, at least) do their best work in their 20s and 30s is the focus of this NYT piece: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/20/books/review/Tanenhaus-t.html?hp. It's not so much that they do their best work young, I think it's that their best work is usually among their first. I better get cracking on my novel.

The referees at the World Cup need to be aware of the swear words used in the 17 or so languages at the tournament: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/11/sports/soccer/11cursing.html?ref=global-home.

The Iowa DOT has been affected by a global shortage of road paint: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20100610/NEWS/100610020/Iowa-DOT-short-of-paint-for-road-stripes.

"Is a college degree still worth it?": http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-jobs-educate-20100612,0,1944150.story. Here's the lead:

As the warm glow of college commencement ceremonies gives way to the cold reality of today's job market, this year's graduates and their anxious parents might be tempted to wonder whether it was worth it.

After spending tens of thousands of dollars on higher education, often taking on huge debts along the way, many face a job market that doesn't seem to need them. Not only is the American economy producing few new jobs of any kind, but the ones that are being added are overwhelmingly on the lower end of the skill and pay scale.

Sweet. Someone did a lot of the research I was looking to do for my novel.

Another great article related to my future novel, only this story is set in Greece: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-greece-youth-20100613,0,5656904.story.

Geologists and the Pentagon have found vast deposits of vital minerals in Afghanistan: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/world/asia/14minerals.html?hp.

An internal Pentagon memo, for example, states that Afghanistan could become the “Saudi Arabia of lithium,” a key raw material in the manufacture of batteries for laptops and BlackBerrys.

Well, looks like the US will be in Afghanistan for a while.

Apple asked the illustrator of a graphic novel version of Ulysses to remove nude images before the comic was approved as an iPad application: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/technology/14ulysses.html?ref=books. As a proud life-long Mac user and owner, it's hard for me to see Apple becoming the domineering Big Brother it painted Microsoft to be in the late-'90s. Think different? Maybe not anymore.

Speaking of Ulysses, Bloomsday is tomorrow, June 16: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/11/books/11bloom.html?ref=books.

A California construction worker (I really wish the story would say where in CA he's from) was arrested in Pakistan for trying to find and kill Osama bin Laden by himself: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-fg-pakistan-californian-20100616,0,5562560.story.

I'll have to get this poster: http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/15/are-you-ready-to-publish-your-novel/?hp. It's not that I need ironic advice, but more the fact I want something nerdy and writerly to put up in my room.