Should coranavirus be capitalized when writing?

The quick answer is no.

There are numerous "style guides" used by writers, editors, and scientists alike, largely created by people with too much time on their hands to come to any universal agreement. God help us if The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and Associated Press could ever agree on punctuation or grammar. Even Buzzfeed has their own style guide. Buzzfeed. Yes, folks, we have entered that confusing moment in human development.

But here is where some of the largest style guides fall on the spelling of coronavirus.

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The Associated Press:

The Associated Press Stylebook (used by numerous journalists worldwide) states, "referring to simply the coronavirus is acceptable on first reference in stories."

They're adamant that you include "the" before "coranavirus," because--specifically speaking--there are a number of coranviruses, and COVID-19 is simply the version of coranavirus which developed in late 2019. The AP doesn't want you sounding glib and casual in your writing, so don't forget "the."

The AP's explanation also goes on to describe the family of diseases (SARS, MERS, COVID), and warns writers, "Do not exaggerate the risks presented by any of the three diseases by routinely referring to them as deadly, fatal or the like."

Key here is "routinely referring to them." The AP stresses a focus on facts. Yes, the diseases potentially are fatal, but the vast and significant majority of people survive, many without symptoms. Lack of panic doesn't attract readers and viewers, and lack of readers and viewers means lacks of advertising, which is why it appears broadcast and print media largely ignore this rule.


Chicago Manual of Style:

The Centers for Disease Control follows the Chicago Manual of Style Handbook (which is heavily favored by academic journals), and specifically links to the handbook on their site. The CDC gets bonus points for not creating their own style guide.

In essence, the CMOS Handbook limits capitalization at all cost across all forms of writing, unless the word involves a proper noun or acronym. For example, one would never capitalize "cold" or "flu" by themselves, but if referencing a certain pandemic, like the Spanish Flu, it's capitalized. Same rules apply for coronavirus.


American Medical Association Manual of Style:

Short and simple, it's largely the same as the Chicago Manual. The virus isn't capitalized; acronyms are. They could simply link to the Chicago Manual, but that would mean looking less important in the highly nuanced and petty world of style guides.

____________________


So, in conclusion, no capitalization is needed.

Now, we all can go back to washing our hands and schlepping through another day adorned in pajama pants while questioning the merits of ice cream at 11am.

Columnist joins The New York Times, then writes how the newspaper's power might be bad news.

Point #1:  Ben Smith used to work at BuzzFeed when it was a startup company.

Point #2:  The New York Times has more digital subscribers than the COMBINED subscribers of The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, New York Daily News, Chicago Tribune, Newsday, Boston Globe, Houston Chronicle, The Dallas Morning News, and San Francisco Chronicle.

Point #3:  Ben Smith left BuzzFeed, joined The New York Times as a columnist, and on Sunday wrote his first piece about how his now-employer's consolidation of media power might not be so good.

He joined the very problem he fears.

The New York Times has become such a monopoly of information that it can hire people to criticize the company, publish it, play it as self-aware, and simply laugh as they watch more money roll in.

Famous Writers Shirtless: Ernest Hemingway (with dog)

Writers are never known as the studliest or sexiest of people, but that doesn't stop them from showing some skin for the camera once in awhile.

So, occasionally we'll post some literary beefcake for your perusal.

Today:  Ernest Hemingway

Is Hemingway wearing shorts here? Is he nude? I fear he's going commando and letting things just air out. The New York Times might be doing us a great service.

With that face of confusion, you just know that dog has seen things it wishes it could un-see.

Canada might not have a midsection for all we know.

To kick off the new year and easily fill up a solid fifty pages of reading material, the New York Times created a list of "52 Places to Go in 2017." In essence, they found a world map, flung 52 darts at it with abandon, and made a list for you. Sounds researched to me!

From Minneapolis* to Madagascar, Gabon to Greece, the Times rumbles through the list of destinations--one for every week of the year--like a poor man's Rick Steves. Their number one pick was Canada. Nowhere specific in the world's second largest country, mind you, but apparently ALL of Canada in honor of the 150th anniversary of its confederation.

As a secondary analysis of Canada, though, the Times asked four Canadian writers--Madeiline Thien, Cory Doctorow, Kim Fu, and Sarah Nicole Prickett--to reflect on what part of their nation sticks with them, a sort of amateur Fodor's or Lonely Planet guide that's heavy on emotional introspection. The Times called this "My Canada," and the sheer lack of references to hockey or Labatt Blue is startling.

Two of the four writers picked islands near the American border. One picked Niagara, which also happens to be right on the American border. And one writer went crazy and actually ventured inland, picking Dawson, deep in the Yukon Territory--although still within forty miles of the Alaskan border.

Dawson just wants to visit Alaska on the weekends.

While all four grow nostalgic about idealistic childhoods and the wonders of the Earth around them, it seems mildly curious how a citizenry where 80% of the population lives in urban areas seems more beholden with its nature than its cities. Likewise, none of the four writers wanted to venture inland away from the United States border more than forty miles. This is a sort of tourist hand holding little seen outside tour buses packed with senior citizens.

This is akin to cobbling together four American writers, asking them to pick their favorite place in the country, and all of them shudder at the thought of visiting Nebraska--yet they're not too keen on Chicago or Los Angeles either.

In the list description of 52 places to visit, the Times notes that Canada is "also a world unto itself, with cosmopolitan cities [...] and everything in between."

"Everything in between."

A vague statement about the middle of Canada. Does it actually exist? Does anyone know? The evidence would suggest no, not at all.




*Wait--Minneapolis? So Bismarck was not a happening enough place apparently.

When Writers Go Weird: That time Samuel Beckett wanted to sue over...well...God knows what.

Are writers ever normal? No, otherwise they'd be productive members of society. 'When Writers Go Weird' is when we remember writers acting strange, odd, off, or--yeah--just plain weird. Also known as Tuesday to them.


Today:  That time Samuel Beckett wanted to sue over some water, Phillip Glass, and black people.


Samuel Beckett always had the resting grouch face of a moody human being. But unlike some innocent people with such an issue, Beckett actually followed through with such petulant behavior.

Everyone loves a good ego stroke. Hollywood, Wall Street, and Washington wouldn't exist if ego stroking wasn't a critical part to the process. But before the tender sensibilities of a real Donald Trump or a fake Gordon Gecko, there was the infallibility of pride in the form of Nobel Prize winners such as Samuel Beckett.

That's the face of unabashed enthusiasm right there.

Lawsuits (or the threat of one) from Beckett almost became a midweek pastime, a hobby with the frequency and randomness he doled them out. Not for some egregious action, like plagiarism, profit, or libel regarding him or his work--but threats simply because Beckett didn't like the way something in a play of his was going to be interpreted.

Most notable of all cases occurred in 1984, when Boston's American Repertory Theatre (ART) decided to put on a version of Beckett's 'Endgame.' The play, directed by award winning JoAnne Akalaitis, kept the play's dialogue verbatim, but simply tweaked other areas, like the set and music. Beckett's original play had a plain room with two windows as the setting--nothing else. Akalaitis moved the play into a derelict, abandoned subway tunnel. She added some water (Why? It's a Beckett play--everything's a why?), and had an orchestral movement by famed composer Philip Glass included before the play started.

And Beckett was not happy.

____________________________________________________________________________

"Beckett believes the version..."totally distorts" his play by...casting black actors."

____________________________________________________________________________


"He doesn't like it. He's disgusted by it," said Beckett's attorney, Martin Garbus, at the time. "But he doesn't have funds to take on [...] all the other people at the American Repertory Theatre. He feels he doesn't have any choice."

The Associated Press added, "Beckett believes the version by the highly acclaimed theater company "totally distorts" his play by changing the locale, adding music and casting black actors in key roles, Garbus said."

That's right. The scourge of skin pigment. Samuel Beckett lost perspective enough to think that a play where characters sit in trash cans (seriously--if you haven't read/watched his work--two characters channel their inner Oscar the Grouch and live entirely in a trash can) couldn't have someone other than a white actor participate.

"I have never heard him so angry," said another acquaintance of Beckett's to the AP.

_____________________________________________________________________________

"Anybody who cares for the work couldn't fail to be disgusted by this."

_____________________________________________________________________________


Beckett initially attempted legal action against ART, yet stopped at some point. Whether it was common sense that he'd lose in a court of law or ART's desire to sweep the matter under the rug, one wonders. Both sides agreed to a disclaimer being added to the play's program, and both agreed to allow Beckett a direct response to the attendee:

"Any production of Endgame which ignores my stage directions is completely unacceptable to me. My play requires an empty room and two small windows. The American Repertory Theater production which dismisses my directions is a complete parody of the play as conceived by me. Anybody who cares for the work couldn't fail to be disgusted by this."

Perspective in life requires a sort of intellectual nuance, something Beckett clearly struggled to gather. Once you've lost your two windows, you might have lost your two cents. Beckett never mentioned the water or black actors matter again, for reasons unknown. The brouhaha over Beckett versus the ART in Boston was such a sensation at the time it led The New York Times theater critic Mel Gussow to review the play in 1984. Aside from the aforementioned music and scenery, Gussow said "the alterations are minimal."

"The director has not only respected the meaning of the dialogue," wrote Gussow, but "she has been attentive to the author's pauses, silences and intonations." Moreover, he said, "[T]his is a valid representation of the spirit of the original work."

Was it really a matter of two windows? The mellifluous music of Philip Glass? Black actors being used? In the end, no one quite understood Beckett's fuss, but it was quite clear no one had a reason to be disgusted. That is, perhaps, except Beckett in himself.

Spain sort of shoulder shrugged their way through Cervantes' own 400th anniversary.

Cervnates is so sad, even his
mustache and eyebrows are frowning.

Not only does Spain contrast with England in weather, food, and attractiveness of its citizenry, it also contrasts in how they venerate their nation's most famous writer.

This weekend England nearly ground to a collective halt in adoration of their dearly departed Shakespeare for the 400th anniversary of his death. The Royal Mint released a coin commemorating him, monarchy praised him, and every cultural and public institution seemingly held an event to honor him. Things were as Englishy as England gets outside of a Monty Python sketch in the rain.

But just south, in Spain, the nation had to be tapped on the shoulder to be reminded that the 400th anniversary of Cervantes' death was occurring, too.

How badly was Cervantes ignored? Arturo Pérez-Reverte, one of Spain’s best-selling novelists, wrote online that the Spanish government's response was "the international embarrassment of the year of Cervantes." No major celebrations, no cultural standstill. An annual book award in his name was given out, but that's done every year with a collective yawn from the populace.

Admittedly, Spain is in the fifth month without an elected government, but there is a government nonetheless. That government simply just didn't make much ado about anything. Proof in point: A little over a year ago, Cervantes' body was discovered in a convent. Yet, according to the historian who led the search, Fernando de Prado, Spain has done "absolutely nothing" to promote the burial site.

José María Lassalle, state secretary for culture, explained to the New York Times the laissez-faire attitude to the anniversary as an attempt "to break with the philosophy" of the 1980s and 1990s when socialist governments heavily subsidized celebrations and strictly directed them. In 2016, it was supposed to happen organically.

Lassalle forgot that even organic things sometimes never grow.

Plagiarism in the crossword puzzle world will shake your foundation in all that is good in the world.

Right?

Crossword puzzles are cozy, something grandparents and people riding the subway have done for years to pass the time. In a world of ambiguous moral grays, crosswords are literally one of the few things that are black and white.

Just like plagiarism is black and white. You either commit it or you don't. In the world of crossword puzzles, plagiarism is a rarity, mainly because of the whole "puzzle" angle and its complexity toward stealing from someone else for fifteen across, five letters, starts with "t." (Hint: "thief.") Now, though, a scandal has rocked the nebbish crossword world, striking fear into their bowtie community.

Timothy Parker, who edits puzzles for USA Today and for syndication, allegedly stole large elements of New York Times crossword puzzles. The website FiveThirtyEight dove down this rabbit hole, and found nearly 65 identical puzzles with Parker as editor over a 17-year period, or roughly four puzzles a year being, ahem, borrowed from the Times. It wasn't just that Parker was the editor, but the listed writers of the puzzles simply didn't exist.

FiveThirtyEight reached out to Parker, who didn't deny there were striking similarities in the puzzles. "To me, it’s just mere coincidence," Parker told the website. "We don’t look at anybody else’s puzzles or really care about anyone else’s puzzles."

This is like when I tell people it's a mere coincidence that I look like Chris Hemsworth. Sure, it's uncanny, a mere coincidence, but sometimes people can't believe that it isn't Thor writing an obscure blog about books and words and education, that I could have such a ripped physique simply from typing on a laptop and eating Twinkies. Crazier stuff happens. Like crossword puzzles being plagiarized.

Meanwhile, USA Today asked Parker to take a seat while they investigate.

What's a seven letter word for "oops"?

Ah, that's right: jobless.

Bob Dylan won't go away.

But what about an obscure Lithuanian poet?

The cult of Bob Dylan is a powerful entity, which explains the giant long-form piece in the New York Times and countless stories across news outlets about the folk hero's archive being bought by The Kaiser Foundation and put on display at the University of Tulsa.

Indeed, in their extensive story of his work, the Times refers to Dylan's "dozens of rewrites" of "even minor songs," how he was clearly "an obsessive self-editor in constant motion," and how this whole archive is the next step in the "canonization" of the musical legend. But the Times, like most media outlets and Dylan cultists, largely ignores his history of constant allegations of plagiarism.

Dylan has been accused of plagiarism so often he finally felt the need to speak out in 2012. Regarding accusations he stole lines of poetry from a book of obscure Japanese poetry, as well as an equally obscure American Confederate Civil War-era poet, Dylan told Rolling Stone Magazine the claims were made by "wussies and pussies," and, as Reuters noted in their own reporting, that "[to Dylan] musical appropriation is [as he says] 'part of the folk tradition.'" Moreover, Reuters noted Dylan said that in folk and jazz music "quotation is a rich and enriching tradition."

No. Quotation is what I just did there. I quoted Reuters, who was quoting Rolling Stone, who was quoting Dylan. That's how quoting works. Plagiarizing is when you simply take the work of others and pass it off as your own. It's a rich and enriching tradition of lazy writers who create a persona and piggyback off the work of others to create worldwide fame for themselves. Work like that of obscure Japanese poets. Work like obscure poets from 140-years ago. Plagiarizing happens to lazy writers.

Like Dylan.

Who shouldn't be canonized.

Tiny London bookstore supplies to the whims and quirks of the average and elite.

Heywood Hill is tiny in size, but mighty in scope. The venerable 80-year old London bookstore eschews the trappings of modern retail book buying, the conveyor belt of mass production, and instead focuses on one major aspect: individualized attention. Their attention to detail is so renowned that the Queen--yes, that one--has someone shop for her at their store.

Looking for a collection of books regarding Dadaism? Need some advice on engaging reads about The Crusades? Thinking a wide array of material on Australia's involvement in World War One is key to any well-rounded intellectual conversation? That's where Heywood Hill lends a hand.

But what if you're opening a fashionable hotel and looking to supply varied reading material to worldly clients? Does your private jet need some tomes to accompany guests on long flights? Have that vacation home in the Hamptons or on Nantucket, and are just tired of coffee table books you see at your competition's friend's place? Heywood Hill finds the perfect collection to suit any taste or situation--for a price.

As the New York Times reports, Heywood Hill's assistance can cost into the six figures. If you still haven't hit the lotto despite your dogged determination and want to have a respectable collection of books, their program called 'A Year in Books' supplies a book-a-month based on your tastes for roughly $515.

But back to the Queen. Everyone wants to know what's on her reading list--so what does she fancy? Histories? Biographies? Harlequin novels?

"We don't really talk about her," said store manager Nicky Dunne to the Times.

So, Harlequin novels it is then.




photo: publishingperspectives.com

You can buy Maya Angelou's Harlem home for $5.095 million.

It looks like a banker's house, circa 1880.

Back in October Maya Angelou's Winston-Salem, NC, home went up for sale. Now, according to the New York Times, her Harlem brownstone has entered the real estate market as well. Asking price? $5.095 million.

Someone with a greater real estate acumen could explain why the extra $95,000 was added on a $5 million price tag. It raises a litany of questions. Is an even $5 million going to set the seller back--but $95,000 really solidifies the financial picture? Was $5.096 million too high? $5.094 million too low? When did Maya Angelou's brownstone become a Goldilocks situation?

Better yet, who knew that Maya Angelou was sitting on so much coin from writing poetry?




photo: LinkNY Realty

Amherst College no longer acknowledges its namesake.

Lord Jeff pondering who to kill next.

Lord Jeffery Amherst was a colonial-era military commander for Great Britain in North America and Commander-in-Chief of the Forces for the crown during the Seven Years' War. In case you're foggy on your numbered-year wars, the Seven Years' War was between those two quarrelsome jamokes, England and France. Lord Amherst was a key figure in the war, where he oversaw key victories in then-French territories like Montreal and Quebec City.

Lord Jeffery Amherst was also not a friendly and benevolent man. He wanted to eradicate the Native American population by dishing out smallpox-coated blankets and implored Great Britain to "try every other method that can serve to extirpate this execrable race." Swell guy.

But benevolence in warfare doesn't win you fame, and fame doesn't exist 250 years ago unless you have a variety of cities and towns in America named after you, especially in the northeast. Take Amherst, MA, named after Lord Jeffery and home to the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Amherst College, and Emily Dickinson's agoraphobic ghost.

Except now Amherst College is looking to distance themselves from any association to Lord Jeffery and his use as the school's unofficial mascot. As a number of students, school officials, and the New York Times are quick to point out, Amherst College wasn't named after Lord Jeffery. The college was named after the town! Not the same thing!

((.......................pause........................))

Try not to get a headache overthinking this one. There's a thousand arguments that could be made to kick Lord Jeffery to the curb, but your head will throb if you try to disassociate the town and college's naming origins.

10,000 character tweets? They might be on the horizon.

10,000 characters is also known as blogging, but, hey.

Twitter realizes that not everyone has jumped on their bandwagon, much to investors' concerns, so they're looking to branch out.

Twitter's co-founder and current CEO Jack Dorsey has been heading up a project to see how exactly to expand the social media giant's presence, mainly by expanding how much a user can write. Gone would be 140 character limits (although that limit would still remain in your status feed), and users could start writing longer rants during their Twitter beefs without people needing a Rosetta Stone to decipher what most of it meant.

The move is to make Twitter more appealing to the masses. As a result, Dorsey is reportedly mulling the 10,000 character per post mark, but also "only" 5,000. No final decision has been made.

In case you're wondering, this entire blog post you just read? It's 899 characters long.

Insert arousing guitar riff here: "______________"

The New York Times has a quick little video documenting the history of, uhh, well, stuff that is less high brow than usual at the New York Public Library. You know, the stuff that your uncle Frank has a large collection of, but your family politely ignores when they gather at Thanksgiving? The sort of stuff that's usually behind the counter at a 7-11, underneath the lotto scratch ticket display, hidden behind some plastic shields?

Porn. I'm talking about porn.

Apparently the NYPL has a large collection, as showcased here:




I'll never look at an Aldo store the same way again.

Person asks the New York Times: Can squirrels enjoy the colors of fall?

High five! We're color blind!

In the middle of autumn, I know when a squirrel streaks across the sidewalk in a ball of fury, leaping onto a side of a tree, and clicks its throat at me in anger--the first thing I'm wondering is, "Yeah, but do you appreciate the red coming off this maple? It's stunning!"

Someone wrote into the New York Times to ask just that very concern. Do squirrels actually realize trees are changing color, or are they just painfully ignorant about it all?

Turns out the bushy-tailed little acorn bully is very similar in sight to your average color blind human. He can see color changes, but greens and reds sort of blend together.

So, no, they don't appreciate the red coming off that maple. But those yellow oaks? Even a squirrel is in awe.

Copyright issue creates a problem over who actually wrote Anne Frank's diary.

Seventy years ago, Anne Frank was killed at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Her diary, known the world over, was published with a preface written by her father that the words contained within the pages were almost entirely her own.

Except now, in roughly six weeks on January 1, 2016, the copyright over the diary expires throughout most of Europe. Copyright law in Europe is based largely on when the author died.

Now, a Swiss foundation, the Anne Frank Fonds, which owns the copyright to Frank's diary, wants to change the authorship to claim that Oscar Frank, Anne's father, was a co-author--not just the editor. In doing so, the copyright would be extended until 2050, to coincide with the 70 year anniversary of Oscar Frank's death, who died in 1980.

Agnès Tricoire, a intellectual property rights lawyer in Paris tells the New York Times that the foundation is walking on shaky ground. "If you follow their arguments, it means that they have lied for years about the fact that it was only written by Anne Frank," says Tricoire.

It also opens up a wound between the foundation and the Anne Frank House Museum, which have had a frosty relationship over, in essence, who has more of a claim to Frank and her intellectual property. The museum has been working with historians on an exhibit for years regarding the diary for when the copyright ends--and, if the copyright is extended, that frosty relationship most assuredly will grow only colder.

To further make things chaotic, in 1991 there was a new edition of Frank's diary published by a different editor, Mirjam Pressler, who added upwards of 25% new material from the diary, as well as revised the original version. Pressler is still alive today, meaning the copyright on Pressler's extended version of the Anne Frank diary still won't reach the public domain until seventy years from Pressler's death, whenever that occurs.

Or, as the Times notes, Anne Frank once asked in her diary a simple question:

"Why do grown-ups quarrel so easily?"

Mobs of parents, nannies, and babies are showing up for story time at New York City libraries

Over half a million people.

That's how many New York City locals attended a story time event at one of the city's library branches for the recently concluded fiscal year of 2015. That's an increase of nearly 28% since the end of the 2013 fiscal year.

Indeed, story time has become such a go-to event that lines form outside the front door at some branches well before the library even opens--an array of parents or nannies with children in tow--with free admission tickets handed out on a first-come, first-served basis. Crowds have swollen so much that the 67th Street branch holds story time outside during the summer, with upwards of 200 people attending.

The popularity of the old standby has gained so much steam that the New York Public Library plans on hiring an additional 45 children's librarians.

Toddlers 18 months to 3 years of age are allowed to attend (with an adult, obviously). But fear not, adults! Many of the same branches also hold an Adult Coloring Book Club events.

It's all cyclical. You start out reading, but when you grow up all you really want to do is just color.

Some NYU students are staying in $300-a-night hotel rooms as their "dorm room."

Many of your larger colleges and universities occasionally run out of dorm rooms, especially during the incoming fall semester. It tends to be a short-term problem, with students who paid thousands for residence on campus put up at local hotel rooms for roughly a month--until hundreds of students drop out, quit, grow homesick, or otherwise create space and a free bed in a dormitory.

Except this year, NYU is having longer-term issues. Over 145 students are still residing in hotels in the Manhattan area, including the Manhattan NYC--an Affinia Hotel (that's the official gasbag of a name), a $300-a-night room, where they'll likely stay for the duration of the school year.

According to the New York Times:


"The hotel room he shares with a roommate is outfitted with two double beds, a desk, a flat-screen TV, a coffee maker, a two-burner Miele gas cooktop, a microwave, and an iPhone docking station. Housekeeping comes twice a week to clean the room, change the sheets and refresh the bathroom, including changing the towels and refilling the shampoo and conditioner, which are dispensed via pump bottles."

That's right--odds are the students at NYU with the smoothest, most silky hair are the ones shacking up at the hotel. The guy with greasy hair? Don't blame him for poor washing habits. Blame NYU for not giving him a suite at the Ritz.

But there is a dark side to living at the Manhattan NYC, as 19-year old sophomore Zach Barela tells the Times:


"I don’t want to sound like a stereotypical N.Y.U. kid saying: ‘Oh, I hate Midtown,’ [...] but it does get so crowded that walking like a few blocks can take forever."


The horror! What else Zach?


“It doesn’t really feel like a community (living at the hotel). I don’t even know if there are any other students on my floor.”

If you listen really closely, that tiny little squeaking noise you hear in the distance is the world's tiniest violin playing.

Everything old is new again: Possibly the oldest draft of the King James Bible discovered.

The most widely read book in English literature history now has new information as to how it came to be.

Jeffrey Alan Miller, an assistant professor of English at Montclair State University in New Jersey, was in England at the University of Cambridge looking for an unknown letter of a man named Samuel Ward. Ward was known to have worked as part of a collection of men commissioned by King James that translated the Old and New Testaments into a definitive English-language bible for the Church of England--but, alas, Miller just wanted to find a letter.

Instead, while combing through the archives, Miller stumbled upon a small book belonging to Ward, wrapped up and cataloged nearly 30-years ago as "verse-by-verse biblical commentary" with "Greek word studies, and some Hebrew notes." When Miller dove into the book he realized it wasn't just any old collection of biblical notes--but an early draft of portions of the King James Bible, which was published in 1611.

Ward's draft must have been worked on between the years of 1604, when King James commissioned the work, and 1608, when drafts were required to be submitted to a committee for review. That means Ward's small, humble little book is the earliest known document of the King James Bible ever to be found.

"There was a kind of thunderstruck, leap-out-of-bathtub moment," Miller told the New York Times. "But then comes the more laborious process of making sure you are 100 percent correct."

In all likelihood, Miller is correct, say his fellow scholars, and will be verified in the coming months.

And as for the unknown letter of Ward's that Miller was looking for?

He found that, too.

To speak it or not to speak it, that is the question.

One of the greatest complaints modern readers have regarding Shakespeare's work is that it's not approachable, that his word choice and phrasing is too dense to unravel in order to understand. It's as if everyone reading Hamlet or Macbeth collectively gets a migraine trying to figure it out. Pass the Advil.

This sort of collective groan from confused people is what has led various Shakespearean theatrical companies to reconfigure the bard's work into modern vernacular. Gone are the "thee"s and "thou"s and sentences that sound like Yoda on a bender. The Oregon Shakespeare Festival--an 80-year old annual event--is the latest to jump on the modernization bandwagon. As James Shapiro notes in an opinion piece this week in the New York Times:

"However well intended, this experiment is likely to be a waste of money and talent, for it misdiagnoses the reason that Shakespeare’s plays can be hard for playgoers to follow. The problem is not the often knotty language; it’s that even the best directors and actors — British as well as American — too frequently offer up Shakespeare’s plays without themselves having a firm enough grasp of what his words mean."

Or, taking it one step further, we have become so beholden to the rhythm and patterns of 21st century speech, that simply making an effort to interpret a different cadence, a different pulse to the phrasing Shakespeare uses has become too much for readers and playgoers to bother with. It isn't simply a dumbing down. It's apathy. It's mental inertia. It's intellectual lethargy that wants things handed over easily.

Put in more simplistic terms: It's wanting a 12-course French meal, but only willing to pay for a Big Mac.

Banned Books Week: The Most Challenged Books Of The Year

It's Banned Books Week, that one week a year when the American Library Association (ALA) reminds sensible Americans that there are still unhinged individuals out there who want to censor your reading material.

And as with every year, the ALA has released the top-10 books most frequently contested from the previous year. For 2014, they are:

1.      The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
Reasons: anti-family, cultural insensitivity, drugs/alcohol/smoking, gambling, offensive language, sex education, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group, violence. Additional reasons: “depictions of bullying”

2.      Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi
Reasons: gambling, offensive language, political viewpoint. Additional reasons: “politically, racially, and socially offensive,” “graphic depictions”

3.      And Tango Makes Three, Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
Reasons: Anti-family, homosexuality, political viewpoint, religious viewpoint, unsuited for age group. Additional reasons: “promotes the homosexual agenda”

4.      The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
Reasons: Sexually explicit, unsuited for age group. Additional reasons: “contains controversial issues”

5.      It’s Perfectly Normal, by Robie Harris
Reasons: Nudity, sex education, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group. Additional reasons: “alleges it child pornography”

6.      Saga, by Brian Vaughan and Fiona Staples
Reasons: Anti-Family, nudity, offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited for age group.

7.      The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini
Reasons: Offensive language, unsuited to age group, violence

8.      The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
Reasons: drugs/alcohol/smoking, homosexuality, offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group. Additional reasons: “date rape and masturbation”

9.      A Stolen Life, Jaycee Dugard
Reasons: drugs/alcohol/smoking, offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited for age group

10.  Drama, by Raina Telgemeier
Reasons: sexually explicit

All of these are ridiculous reasons to ban a book, obviously. But And Tango Makes Three holds a special spot on this blog, as I recounted the book being banned as far back as five years ago. The true story of penguin love affairs needs to be made into a Hollywood epic immediately. As I wrote five years ago:
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The real-life story occurred when two penguins named Roy and Silo found the penguin dating scene a little thin in the zoo, so they hooked up on a platonic level and created their own sort of bachelor pad. Being in such close quarters, romance was bound to happen. In time, Roy and Silo decided to try dating casually, before things started heating up. According to zookeepers, the duo eventually tried hatching a rock together. Admittedly, sex education is lacking at the zoo. But who hasn't had that awkward sex stage at some point?

After being given an egg to hatch together, Roy and Silo brought Tango, their daughter, into their lives. Raising Tango to maturity, Tango would eventually mate up with a male, Tanuzi, and live happily ever after.

But the white-hot media spotlight on Roy and Silo doomed their romance. First, they were evicted from their nest by other aggressive penguins. The penguins didn't say anything to the media, but I'm just putting it out there that their landlord was homophobic. Soon, Silo was seeing women on the side, especially a morally loose female penguin from California named Scrappy. Meanwhile, Roy was last seen alone, single, and staring at a wall. (Yes, that link goes to a New York Times article.) The lust between Silo and Scrappy was short-lived, as the California minx was off seeing other penguins, stepping out on Silo before they got too serious. Alas, Roy and Silo could never rekindle their romance. Roy could never trust Silo for his philandering ways.

Greatest story ever told??

Greatest story ever told.
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Five years later, the book is still amongst the most banned books in America--and it's still the greatest story ever told.