An abbreviated edition this three-day weekend, so I’m kicking it off with a:
Valentine’s Day Pitch
Although perhaps out of the ordinary, here’s one of the things I did for Valentine’s Day: made a contribution in memory of my dad, a World War II infantry lieutenant, to Honor Flight South Dakota. It’s a new organization hoping to provide WWII vets a free trip to the National World War II Memorial in Washington, DC. As the organization’s web site notes, “Most WWII veterans are in their 80’s and beyond and many no longer have the where-with-all to travel on their own.” So Honor Flight South Dakota wants to raise funds for at least four flights, with the first tentatively planned for May 1 and 2. Not only is the group fundraising, it is accepting applications from veterans and “guardians,” individuals who will travel at their own expense to accompany and provide assistance for veterans on the trip. You can donate right on the organization’s web site and obtain more information there. I know times are tight but for many of these vets time is even shorter.
Bookish Linkage
An interesting exploration of the significant difference between a book by a bilingual writer writing in English and a work written in a writer’s native language and then translated by someone else into English.
I posted To Kindle or Not to Kindle over at the KELO blogs.
Nonbookish Linkage
Want to know part of the reason Springsteen is so great? Read his account of the Super Bowl performance.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has updated its Legal Guide for Bloggers.
They are just guys from Broadway and Main Street, but you wouldn’t remember them. They are too far away now. They are too tired. Their world can never be known to you[.]
“The God-Damned Infantry,” Ernie Pyle, May 2, 1943
Regarding translating differences, if you happen to have some fluency in Spanish consider the magazine AMERICAS published by the OAS. It is available in English and Spanish but written in English and then translated to Spanish. While it makes it much easier for readers where English is the primary language. If Spanish is primary, I have been told it is phrased ‘strangely’.