Christmas morning never fails to remind me of the most memorable holiday event I’ve ever experienced. No, this is not the heart-warming story of family gathered round a blazing fireplace, sipping eggnog and inhaling the aroma of freshly baked cookies. Rather, it’s a tale of a somewhat less time-honored Christmas tradition – the grab-bag game. […]
https://pen4rent.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Mierda2-w-HD-Xmas-2016.jpg32642448Howard Danielhttps://pen4rent.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/logo.pngHoward Daniel2016-12-25 16:20:332017-12-24 16:28:23A Memory of Christmas Past
Dr. Richard R. Kelley with Howard and Sandra Yesterday, December 17, 2016, was the conclusion, for me, of a 14-year editorial collaboration* with a remarkable man, Dr. Richard Kelley, who, on the eve of his 83rd birthday, has just put down his pen as “scribe, editor and publisher” of a remarkable corporate newsletter. Saturday Briefing, […]
For the past couple of years I’ve been editing a semi-annual magazine, Marin Medicine, the journal of the Marin (California) Medical Society. Unfortunately, I’m now losing this interesting client because the Society has just voted to merge with the San Francisco Medical Society, which publishes its own magazine. This development somehow triggered the long-lost memory […]
https://pen4rent.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/gauze-Pad.jpg7791024Howard Danielhttps://pen4rent.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/logo.pngHoward Daniel2016-12-11 19:24:422016-12-11 19:24:42Gauze Pads Are Not Just for Bleeding
Oxford, Harvard, Serial or Cereal Comma? We’re tired of the tiresome “Oxford” – or serial* – comma debate, whose annoying persistence seems largely the doing of the Oxford proponents. Proponents say that when you don’t use the serial comma, you can introduce ambiguity into a sentence. Serial comma opponents point out that when you do […]
https://pen4rent.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Cereal-comma.jpg200200Howard Danielhttps://pen4rent.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/logo.pngHoward Daniel2016-12-04 17:14:422016-12-07 15:01:26Tired of the Oxford Comma Debate?
The most memorable Thanksgiving I’ve ever experienced1 took place in 1970 in Pawarkheda, pretty much in the geographic center of India.2 It was the site of a training facility belonging to the government of Madhya Pradesh (M.P., or Central State), which was made available to the Peace Corps to train a new group of volunteers […]
Prabha Gupta, my first Hindi teacher (I discovered this photo in my slide archives over a year after I published this blog post) Part of the good fortune I’ve had in a career that afforded me the opportunity to live and work in several other countries has been the chance to learn other languages and […]
Some four decades ago, my wife and I were flying with our two kids, Naomi and Adam, then aged 3 and 1, to visit my dad. It was a long trip – from Leningrad, where I was then working in the American consulate general, over halfway around the world (13 time zones!) to Hawaii, where my […]
https://pen4rent.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Diaper-plane.jpg17453000Howard Danielhttps://pen4rent.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/logo.pngHoward Daniel2016-11-13 18:20:092018-06-24 19:17:50The Perils of Flying With Small Kids
The Mongol Horde From time to time I’ve seen the words horde and hoard confused. But they’re as different in meaning as in spelling. Horde, a noun, refers to a very large group of people – e.g., a swarm, an army. In fact the word is often used to refer to the much-feared 13th century […]
If faithful readers of this blog (yes, it appears there actually are a few of you) are tiring of tales from the time I spent in Leningrad, here’s a change of pace – a story from Brazil. And what could be more authentically Brazilian than a story about that fascinating country’s best-known export – other than samba […]
https://pen4rent.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/cafezinho.jpg27363648Howard Danielhttps://pen4rent.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/logo.pngHoward Daniel2016-10-30 17:57:392016-11-27 18:01:03A Great Cup of Coffee
Reticent Reluctant I keep seeing and hearing this, so I thought I’d finally put in my two cents – reticent does not mean the same thing as reluctant. That’s right. Reticent means to be inclined keep one’s thoughts and feelings to oneself, to be reserved, uncommunicative, silent. Reluctant means unwilling, disinclined – not only in […]
A Memory of Christmas Past
/0 Comments/in Holidays, Humor, Language, Recollections /by Howard DanielChristmas morning never fails to remind me of the most memorable holiday event I’ve ever experienced. No, this is not the heart-warming story of family gathered round a blazing fireplace, sipping eggnog and inhaling the aroma of freshly baked cookies. Rather, it’s a tale of a somewhat less time-honored Christmas tradition – the grab-bag game. […]
A Delightful Collaboration
/0 Comments/in Places I've lived, Recollections, Writing & editing /by Howard DanielDr. Richard R. Kelley with Howard and Sandra Yesterday, December 17, 2016, was the conclusion, for me, of a 14-year editorial collaboration* with a remarkable man, Dr. Richard Kelley, who, on the eve of his 83rd birthday, has just put down his pen as “scribe, editor and publisher” of a remarkable corporate newsletter. Saturday Briefing, […]
Gauze Pads Are Not Just for Bleeding
/0 Comments/in Humor, Places I've lived, Recollections /by Howard DanielFor the past couple of years I’ve been editing a semi-annual magazine, Marin Medicine, the journal of the Marin (California) Medical Society. Unfortunately, I’m now losing this interesting client because the Society has just voted to merge with the San Francisco Medical Society, which publishes its own magazine. This development somehow triggered the long-lost memory […]
Tired of the Oxford Comma Debate?
/6 Comments/in Humor, Language, Thoughts, Writing & editing /by Howard DanielOxford, Harvard, Serial or Cereal Comma? We’re tired of the tiresome “Oxford” – or serial* – comma debate, whose annoying persistence seems largely the doing of the Oxford proponents. Proponents say that when you don’t use the serial comma, you can introduce ambiguity into a sentence. Serial comma opponents point out that when you do […]
My Most Memorable Thanksgiving
/2 Comments/in Holidays, Places I've lived, Recollections /by Howard DanielThe most memorable Thanksgiving I’ve ever experienced1 took place in 1970 in Pawarkheda, pretty much in the geographic center of India.2 It was the site of a training facility belonging to the government of Madhya Pradesh (M.P., or Central State), which was made available to the Peace Corps to train a new group of volunteers […]
The Best Language-learning Experience Ever
/0 Comments/in Language, Places I've lived, Recollections /by Howard DanielPrabha Gupta, my first Hindi teacher (I discovered this photo in my slide archives over a year after I published this blog post) Part of the good fortune I’ve had in a career that afforded me the opportunity to live and work in several other countries has been the chance to learn other languages and […]
The Perils of Flying With Small Kids
/0 Comments/in Humor, Recollections, Travel /by Howard DanielSome four decades ago, my wife and I were flying with our two kids, Naomi and Adam, then aged 3 and 1, to visit my dad. It was a long trip – from Leningrad, where I was then working in the American consulate general, over halfway around the world (13 time zones!) to Hawaii, where my […]
‘Horde’ vs. ‘Hoard’
/0 Comments/in History, Language, Writing & editing /by Howard DanielThe Mongol Horde From time to time I’ve seen the words horde and hoard confused. But they’re as different in meaning as in spelling. Horde, a noun, refers to a very large group of people – e.g., a swarm, an army. In fact the word is often used to refer to the much-feared 13th century […]
A Great Cup of Coffee
/0 Comments/in Humor, Places I've lived, Recollections /by Howard DanielIf faithful readers of this blog (yes, it appears there actually are a few of you) are tiring of tales from the time I spent in Leningrad, here’s a change of pace – a story from Brazil. And what could be more authentically Brazilian than a story about that fascinating country’s best-known export – other than samba […]
‘Reticent’ vs. ‘Reluctant’
/4 Comments/in Humor, Language, Writing & editing /by Howard DanielReticent Reluctant I keep seeing and hearing this, so I thought I’d finally put in my two cents – reticent does not mean the same thing as reluctant. That’s right. Reticent means to be inclined keep one’s thoughts and feelings to oneself, to be reserved, uncommunicative, silent. Reluctant means unwilling, disinclined – not only in […]