Archive for May 2006

First, NY Times writer Jayson Blair plagiarized. Then A Million Pieces writer James Frey who said the work was nonfiction when it was fiction. Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code is under suspicion. Now How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life by Kaavya Viswanathan has passages from two books by Megan McCafferty.

The last thing I want to do as a writer is plagiarize. As I read resource after resource, I fear that some resource’s words or phrases will stick in my head and I will have thought they’re my own rather than something that hid in a tiny forgotten memory box somewhere in the brain.

I don’t want to steal someone’s ideas and pass them as my own. It feels wrong and I’ll feel guilty for days, months, and possibly years. The cases of Blair and James Frey are obvious. But could Brown and Viswanathan have memorized facts they didn’t realize they had? Brown’s case is a tough one because he intermingles history with fiction.

I’m beginning to question ideas that pop in my head. Are they there because of something I experienced? Or are they there simply because my creative mind put some experiences together and created a new one?

I wrote a tutorial and posted it in an online resource. Shortly after, I received an email from someone who had an article on the topic somewhere else online. When I wrote the tutorial, I based it on my experience and then I researched many resources to tweak it further — one of which was the person contacting me. I felt horrible when I got her email.

I looked at my content and hers. There were some similarities, but some of it I came up with on my own or did I? Could I have read her tutorial months before? Stupidly, I should’ve referred to her tutorial and a couple of others when I published mine. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in my writing that I forget to add the important resources as I believe linking to others is vital.

Yesterday’s post provides a good reason not to plagiarize non-fiction — the story might have inaccurate facts.

Denny Hatch wrote a great article on plagiarism.

Here are plagiarism resources:

* http://www.famousplagiarists.com/

* http://www.plagiarism.org/

* http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/print/research/r_plagiar.html

This was a fascinating story to write — Judge Rules Internet Surfing at Work Is OK — as I had an opportunity to interview New York City’s Law Department chief of labor and employment law.

She made it clear this was not a court case. Rather it was a case that went to the City’s Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings. The office oversees disciplinary cases from city agencies.

The judge wasn’t as concerned about the Internet surfing as he was about the employee’s insubordination. The judge recommended a reprimand and the decision as to what to do was up to the Chancellor. On May 5, the Chancellor fired him.

That wasn’t the only story I was surprised to get right. When Google advertised Firefox with Google’s Toolbar, many sites reported that it was the first time Google ever advertised a third-party product. Not true.

The point here is not to show off my reporting skills — I’ve made plenty of mistakes, believe me — but to indicate that many Internet resources don’t always report accurate facts and we have to be careful.

I worked on a Microsoft story in which I wrote that the tool checks for copies when customers use Automatic Updates (along with the others listed in the article).

Automatic Updates was wrong. I could’ve sworn I got that from Microsoft’s news release, but I didn’t. It was from somewhere else on the Web (don’t remember where). So that was a quick and painless lesson in relying on certain sources. Painless because Windows Updates can be automatic.

Reporting something like the program is required not optional would be a a serious error.

I love brainstorming ideas for a new company name. I guess you could call me a name freak. Every case is different, but here are the basic tips I tend to follow when hunting for inspiration:

* Randomly flip through the dictionary.

* Take words and mixing or subbing letters.

* Say names out loud.

* Pick a handful of words and use them with other words, prefixes or suffixes.

* Open an atlas and look around the world for name ideas.

* Use RhymeZone, which provides more than just rhymes.

* Use the Internet Anagram Server.

* Enter words in domain name and check out the suggested names (www.namedroppers.com, www.domaintools.com, and www.nameboy.com.

* Based on the business type or industry, search the industry and see what words come up. Play with those.

* Look at competitors or browse existing names that fit in the customer’s requirements and see what comes up.

Guy Kawasaki discusses The Art of Customer Service. He offers ten tips for successful customer service. Unfortunately, all culture changes must have buy-in from the C-level executives and direct reports. And this doesn’t mean getting buy-in for earning a piece of paper that says you’re Six Sigma or CMM certified. It means living and breathing the culture… the journey, not the destination.

I’m doing an abstract on Smartsourcing, and I’m convince that U.S. companies need to switch from thinking about outsourcing to smartsourcing. The authors describe smartsourcing as “outsourcing 2.0.” The book isn’t an easy read, but it’s one that all U.S. execs should read if they want to survive the changing business environment in which companies need to adapt to the environment not the other way around.
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Full-time freelancing: 10 more things provides a useful list of things he learned in his first year of freelancing full-time as a Web designer. Though it focuses on Web design, much of the advice if useful for other business. Here’s my commentary from a freelance writer’s perspective.

Speed: I try to work fast when doing freelance writing assignments, but it also leads to making mistakes. Of course, Web design work and writing aren’t equals.

Late payments: Definitely include in your signed contract or document it somewhere that the client will be penalized for late payments. This shows you’re serious about your business and that you don’t tolerate late fees. Most of the time when they see this, they pay on time.

Email: I am SOOO bad about checking email. I’m organized, but I just can’t stop clicking GET MAIL especially now that I work on stories with a few hours turnaround time.

Time: I read somewhere that it’s OK to take a little more than you can handle because things get delayed. This is true. Once your cup runneth over, then put a temp stop gap.

Play nice: I’ve worked with a few folks that touched almost every nerve in my body. I do all I can to keep things amicable. When one company decided to do the bridge burning, I bit my tongue as lashing out would do no one any good.

Self-motivation: When you’re on your own, you MUST have the ability to accomplish work without push from anyone. Though clients will push you to get things done now, now… there isn’t a boss behind you making sure you do so. Another way to look at it — if you can’t complete an online course, then you most likely can’t be in business for yourself.

Taxes: Not all of my clients require W9s. I pay quarterly taxes (1040-ES estimated tax for individuals PDF file) through EFTPS. The form looks more complicated than it is. I mainly linked to it so you see the four payment vouchers. When it’s time for a quarterly tax payment, add up what you’ve earned and multiply that by .15, .25, or whatever you need to take out based on how much taxes you paid last year. Of course, please consult with a professional accountant on this — this is just FYI.

Promises: Consistency is right. However, I do make an effort to “surprise and delight” the client where possible.

Scientists studying ancient fish teeth have now proposed that the passageway where the Pacific and Atlantic oceans join began opening around 41 million years ago, much earlier than originally estimated.

In spite of being the size of a grain of sand, Fossil fish teeth have a wealth of a rare Earth element known as neodymium (Nd). The isotopic ratio of this element varies from ocean to ocean. The Pacific and Atlantic oceans have a significant difference in Nd ratios. “The presence of neodymium with a Pacific signature in the deep Atlantic suggests that Pacific surface waters flowed into the South Atlantic, where they cooled and sank,” explained Ellen E. Martin, study team member and associate professor of geology at University of Florida.

Gondwana, the southern supercontinent combined the land of most of the continents in the Southern Hemisphere. About 160 million years ago, the same mechanisms that drive plate tectonics dented into the land. The dent grew and eventually became the Drake Passage, the body of water where the Atlantic and Pacific oceans meet between South America and Antarctica.

“The merging of the two oceans created a ring of cold water forming the largest ocean current in the world known as Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC),” said Howie Scher of University of Rochester and a study team member. The current, circling Antarctica, led to Antarctic’s frigid conditions after separating it from warmer climates. Ice sheets quickly appeared in the continent about 34 million years ago.

However, the debate continues on when the ACC formed. Prior to its formation, Antarctic’s temperatures most likely included the subtropical surface currents. “This transport of heat would have been interrupted as the ACC began to circulate following the opening of passageways around Antarctica,” Scher told meryl.net.

Searching for Clues in Fish Teeth and Rare Cruises

While on a different project, Martin found and analyzed fish teeth, which are made from the same material as human teeth. Scher and Martin verified the reliability of fossilized fish teeth for a better estimate of when the opening of the Drake Passage occurred. “The idea was to use a sediment core from the Atlantic Ocean to determine the earliest appearance of the isotopic signature of Pacific seawater, which would mark the opening of Drake Passage,” Scher said.

The team found increased Nd around 37 and 34 million years ago. They concluded that the ACC may have played a key role in Antarctic becoming covered with ice sheets potentially explaining how the ice sheets formed and remained.

Martin said the samples for the research are based on those collected by the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP), an international consortium that supported drilling on a research vessel, in 1985. Research tours to the Southern Ocean are limited as it isn’t a hospitable place, Martin told meryl.net. In order to do such research, scientists spend years planning an expedition to a specific area of the ocean. A group of scientists spends two months on the ship and collects cores. After one year passes, any scientist can request samples.

Concerns of ocean and atmospheric warming

The researchers observed the Drake Passage opening coincided with growing biological production in the Southern Atlantic. “This is significant because biological productivity in the oceans pulls carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, which can also lead to global cooling. The global significance of this linkage is an important question,” Scher explained.

Scher plans to study other sediment cores to see different parts of the ocean responded to the changes. The study will provide information on how the climate system is affected by ocean circulation. Martin has another project to look at ocean circulation patterns in the Cretaceous period. This was the time when the Atlantic basin was opening up, global temperatures were much higher and ocean circulation was different from what it is today.

Scientists are concerned about the collapsing of the ice sheets as they could cause the sea level to rise around the world. Evidence shows the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and the Greenland Ice Sheet are becoming less stable as they confront the ocean and atmospheric warming. “Our data highlights the role that ocean circulation plays in controlling climate. The West Antarctic ice sheet is very unstable today, and these data indicate that the circumpolar circulation is helping to slow the effects of global warming in this region. It also illustrates that we need to respect the power of the ocean to control climate,” Scher said.

The campaigns to promote Firefox and demote Internet Explorer keep coming and Google tops them all by promoting Firefox on its home page–prime ad estate–along with the its Toolbar. For a limited time on Wednesday, April 26, users in the U.S. surfing with Internet Explorer saw a one-liner that read, “Firefox with Google Toolbar: tabbed browsing, safer surfing.”

Google specifically promoted the Firefox edition that comes with the built-in Google Toolbar. This effort further strengthens the Google and Firefox relationship. In 2005, Google implemented an AdSense Referrals program in which AdSense publishers earned one dollar every time their visitors clicked the referral button and downloaded Firefox.

Contrary to many reports (including well-respected reporters and bloggers), this is not the first time Google has promoted a third-party on its home page. The company has highlighted other third-party bundles such as the Google Pack and Google Video content from the NBA and CBS, according to Google spokesperson Sonya Borälv. The promotion builds on the aforementioned AdSense Firefox referrals program.

Analysts have noticed more advertising on Google’s home pages sending a message that the company is opening up to large partnerships. Google looks like it’s jumping on things that are big and beneficial for the companies involved, said Emily Riley, analyst with JupiterResearch.

Behind Google’s Motivation

What could Google stand to gain from promoting Firefox with its Toolbar? A likely scenario is that Microsoft could be planning to tie the search tool closer with future releases of Internet Explorer. So as a counter-action, Google encourages users to switch to a browser the company can control. “This may be a prelude to either taking over Firefox or launching Google’s own Firefox-like product, but regardless, this initial effort is to ensure Google’s place on the desktop,” said principal analyst of Enderle Group Rob Enderle.

“Google will gain more Toolbar users, which means more data and more committed Google users. Also, the more Firefox in the world, the better for Google, and the worse for Microsoft,” commented John Battelle, chairman of Federated Media Publishing and author of The Search who posted a screen shot in his blog.

Google plans to continue working with not only Mozilla, but also other technology providers. The company wants “to ensure our mutual users have the best experience possible with our products and services,” said Borälv.

This helps Mozilla expand its reach. Based on the available tools and applications such as Gmail and Google Calendar, Google is moving away from a “pure search.” “Microsoft still has a huge penetration in the browser space and any new offering that’s better will surely take market share from Microsoft. This is sort of the ‘final frontier’ for Google in becoming both the browser and the home page,” Riley said.