Why the stock market dropped

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The Dow lost almost 1400 points in the last two days, losing 5% of its value. Other commentators will give possible explanations for what happened. However, this post is the only place you will read the actual cause of the drop. The reason the market went down is that . . . . . . at … Continued

Microsoft PR flubbed its cool endorsement of open source

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Microsoft made a huge announcement yesterday in support of Linux and Open Source. Its actions were startling. Its statements, not so much. There was plenty of news coverage. Here’s how Engadget described it: Microsoft open-sources 60,000 patents to help Linux avoid lawsuits The company as joined the Open Invention Network to keep Linux safe Microsoft … Continued

Ask Dr. Wobs: How to bust out of rigid academic writing boxes

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Today’s question comes from a university student who thinks the professor is putting him in a box with instructions on how to write a paper. But how big is that box, really? Dear Dr. Wobs, Re: Avoiding the structure of academic writing I’m taking a political science writing class at Ohio State, and we have a … Continued

Does the Brett Kavanaugh op-ed make its case?

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Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh defended himself in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal. He says you can trust him to be impartial. Did he undo the damage he did during his hearing last week? Just a reminder: the purpose of this blog is to reveal what’s really going on with written communications. I’m … Continued

Fixing the passive Presidential Alert

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Like several hundred million other Americans, I received a lump of passive voice in the form of a Presidential Alert yesterday. This was a huge time waster. So I fixed it. I was out at a farmers’ market when all of our phones and radios started hooting and whining. People got annoyed and kept shopping. … Continued

How Russia will disrupt the midterm elections

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The objective of Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election was never to elect Donald Trump — it was to create chaos. So let’s game it out. You are the head of Russian intelligence. You’re out to build on your success in 2016 and make America as impotent and divided as possible. What would you do? … Continued