Category Archives: Editing

Business, Editing, Society, Technology

Has LinkedIn Jumped the Shark?

I am seriously considering shutting down my LinkedIn account.

I just saw someone boast on LI that they had 30,000 connections.

Excuse me? How could you possibly know, and have worked with, 30,000 people?

The original premise of LI was that people who had worked with each other would connect, and vouch for each other. Or at least acknowledge that they’d worked together.

It’s completely debased. It’s now Facebook with a resume.

Another numbers game.

And LI is driving this debasement. Every time you accept a “connection” these days, it pops up dozens, if not hundreds, of other suggested connections. It wants to mine your email address books, if you let it.

I was wondering when I would see a cat photo on LInkedIn.

Today was the day.

Sigh . . .

Editing, Photography, Society, Travel

Thanks, Baba, for the Embroidery – Still Miss You

One of the themes at the recent Editors Canada 2018 Conference in Saskatoon, SK, was indigenous issues, and several indigenous writers and editors spoke about the importance of “remember where you come from.”

This is where I come from.

Baba Ukrainian embroidery cemetary

An aunt found this embroidery, obviously meant for a Ukrainian men’s shirt, and she thought Baba must have embroidered it for me. So my aunt insisted that I take it, and when Yumi and I later drove up to the family farm, we visited Baba’s grave and I thanked her.

She lived a tough pioneer life for many of her years, and yet she had love and comfort for all.

And in the packet. . . It’s like she just walked away from it minutes ago . . .

Baba's Ukriainian embroidery needles and thread

Business, Editing, Technology

Microsoft’s Windows 10 Update Bricks my Computer – Again!

Microsoft’s latest Windows 10 update has bricked my main computer twice. I am fortunate to keep regular images of my C: drive, but still, each time it’s taken hours to swap drives and restore everything.

I keep clicking on the postpone update message, hoping they’ll get their act together and release something stable. I’ve gone into update preferences and attempted to shut down updates. Yet it appears that the second time MS went ahead and overrode my preferences.

This is extremely aggravating, time-consuming, and costly. And I’m not the only one. Sharing my experiences on social media has turned up plenty of folks, some in major institutions complete with IT departments, who have had the same problem.

Yes, I have Mac and Linux boxes, too, but my workflow has been Windows based for decades, with various utilities and such that I’m loath to give up, or find equivalents for on other OSes.

Meanwhile, today I bought another HD, so that I can keep multiple images of my C: drive. At least having imaged drives reduces the aggravation somewhat, in addition to regular data backups on NAS devices for additional insurance.

Business, Editing, Photography, Technology

Year-End Digital Data Backup

I back up regularly, but I also make a point of making sure I have fresh images of my main computer hard drive, and backups of all data drives, at the end of the year.

There’s no such thing as having too many backups — both onsite and offsite.

Yes, make sure you also have a backup stored with a relative, or at a trusted friend’s place. Or in a safety deposit box.

My project for this cold and rainy afternoon was to check my drives and backups.

My 3TB D: drive, which is dedicated to photos, was near capacity, while my 2TB C: drive was 80% free. I’d been contemplating upgrading to 4TB-plus on D:, but ended up moving several hundred GB of old photos from D: to C:, giving me enough room on D: to keep me going well into the new year.

Now setting up backups of the new configuration to my NAS (network attached storage) RAID drives.

Again: there is no such thing as too many backups!

Business, Editing, Writing

Editors Canada Supports NYT Copy Editors

Proud that Editors Canada supports NYT copy editors, at least in spirit!

editors canada supports NYT copy editors

Dear copy editors of The New York Times:

The Editors’ Association of Canada (Editors Canada) wishes to express our support for you as The New York Times plans to drastically reduce its copy editing staff.

As your colleagues north of the border, we appreciate your efforts to bring much-needed attention to the importance of the profession of copy editor. As editing professionals, we know that the copy editor’s role is crucial. Without the copy editor, a huge range of errors can all too easily slip into print—not only spelling, grammar and punctuation mistakes, but factual errors, biased language, unclear passages and other problems, all of which can seriously undermine the credibility and effectiveness of a piece of writing. The result is not only unprofessional, but could lead to legal action against the publisher. While copy editors tend to be invisible, their work is indispensable.

We wish you well as you continue to speak out about the value of the copy editor in the publishing process, and we hope for a positive outcome for your current situation.

Sincerely,

Anne Louise Mahoney
Certified Professional Editor
President, Editors Canada
president@editors.ca

http://www.editors.ca/news/editors-canada-supports-copy-editors-new-york-times

Business, Editing

Goodbye to Cipko Consulting Ltd.

I filed my last corporate tax return for Cipko Consulting Ltd. today using TurboTax Biz. I had been shutting it down over the last year, so the return was not difficult.

It was a long ride — we incorporated in February 2000. It’s kinda sad, of course, but it was time. My heart hadn’t been in it for awhile.

Now I have to dissolve the company, but seeing as I’m the only shareholder left, that shouldn’t be too onerous.

I’ve transitioned back and forth from having my own business to working for others a few times over the years, so I may be back running my own show again some day, or maybe not. . .

Loss of any sort, and change of any sort, can be stressful, and I admit I’m feeling drained and a bit sad, but I’m seeing this as an opportunity to try new things, explore new career avenues.

I’ve still got at least a decade of work in me, if not longer. And I’m confident that I have the education and experience to make substantial contributions to an organization and to my community.

Let’s see what I can bring to tomorrow! 🙂

Books, Editing, Society

Mom’s Tenth

Funny how the stars align now and then. Today is the 10th anniversary of my Mom’s passing. She spent over 30 years in the College of Education at the University of Saskatchewan, retiring as Assistant Dean, Student Affairs.

And just now in my email box I see an invitation to a “Millions of Memories” College of Education Alumni Event (I did a B. Ed. there way back when).

Mom would advise me to “do” rather than “stew”, so despite the gray, rainy day, I’m going to go for a long walk before dinner.

A link to an old blog post with Mom’s obit. (Hm, some wonky characters have popped up in there…)