Your Daily Posterous Spaces Update

	September 20th, 2012 行進 Posted 1 day ago by Koichi Mitsui to s a s u r a u 3 空を覆って。 10 rules of writing from Zadie Smith Posted 1 day ago by Kate Rinsema to Holy Kaw! 11 Acclaimed British novelist Zadie Smith was asked by the Guardian for a list of her top ten tips for writers still making the long, hard climb to the peak that is publishing, and her list has some unique insights we have yet to see in the many nuggets of advice gleaned from great writers in the past. Perhaps a few of these will help get you back to the drawing board, and before you know it, we’ll be quoting you. 1. When still a child, make sure you read a lot of books. Spend more time doing this than anything else. 2. When an adult, try to read your own work as a stranger would read it, or even better, as an enemy would. 3. Don’t romanticise your ‘vocation’. You can either write good sentences or you can’t. There is no ‘writer’s lifestyle’. All that matters is what you leave on the page. Full story at Brain Pickings. Writing tips. Photo credit: Fotolia Dictionary holds ancient Egypt's everyday language Posted 1 day ago by Futurity to Holy Kaw! 7 Scholars have completed a dictionary that offers insight into the lives—taxes, work, and marriage—of people in ancient Egypt. The Demotic language was one of the three texts on the Rosetta stone, which was also written in Egyptian hieroglyphs and Greek. In addition to being used on stone carvings, the script was left behind on papyrus and broken bits of pottery. “Demotic was used for business and legal documents, private letters, and administrative inscriptions, and literary texts, such as narratives and pieces of wisdom literature,” says Johnson, a professor at the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute. Full story at Futurity. More research news from top universities. Photo credit: Jason Smith Arctic shrinking could leave seal pups homeless Posted about 24 hours ago by Futurity to Holy Kaw! 4 Shrinking sea ice in the Arctic could dramatically reduce areas where it’s suitable for ringed seals to reproduce, threatening their survival. They're currently under consideration to be listed as a threatened species, and they build caves in snow drifts on ice to rear their young. The snow depths must be on average at least 20 centimeters, or 8 inches, to enable drifts deep enough to support the caves -- but climate predictions say this may not be possible.  Full story at Futurity. More research news from top universities. Photo credit: Brendan Kelly/NSA Attack ads hook only trusting voters Posted about 23 hours ago by Futurity to Holy Kaw! 5 Negative political ads may pack a punch—but only with voters who trust the politicians delivering them, say researchers from the University of Florida.  The greatest impact in terms of voters faulting incumbent for his alleged shortcomings was evident among the people who were knowledgeable about politics and who expressed a relatively high degree of trust in their political leaders—a segment of the electorate that is smaller than it used to be. Full story at Futurity. More research news from top universities. Photo credit: Fotolia An ode to bacon, slam-style [video] Posted about 18 hours ago by Kate Rinsema to Holy Kaw! 2 Know what’s even better than bacon? Well, nothing really, but slam poetry by Nick Offerman about bacon runs a distance third or fourth at the very least. Embedded media -- click here to see it. Full story at College Humor via Pleated Jeans. Bacon: Poetry for the tastebuds. Sent by Posterous. Change your email settings or unfollow. Other questions? We'd love to help.