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Election Day + Tuesday = Presidential Trivia!

At Project Grownup, Tuesdays are reserved for one of 5 “T”s: Tips, Tricks, Tools, Treats, or Trivia.

And what fits today better than trivia? So here are some fun facts about past Presidents, followed by a themed quiz (U.S. Currency) at the end. And, best of all? No political commentary ;-).

Have any other crazy presidential facts? Share them in the comments!

Fun Facts About Past Presidents

Elections

  • Twice in history, neither candidate received the majority of electoral college votes. A case which leaves the House selecting the presidents. The two elected thusly? Thomas Jefferson and John Quincy Adams.
  • George Washington was elected unanimously by the Electoral College. James Monroe would have had the same success, but for one New Hampshire delegate who held out in order to preserve Washington’s lone achievement.

Persons

  • President William Howard Taft was a pretty thick dude, weighing in at over 300 pounds during his time in office. According to National Geographic, he got stuck in the White House bathtub, after which he had it replaced with a tub big enough for four grown men.
  • Ironically, it was Taft who [Read more…]

Affect vs. Effect

Few English word-pairs confound native speakers like “affect” and “effect.” (And few punctuation issues confound me like correctly placing periods and commas when using quotation marks.)

So if you’re still in doubt about these two, today’s simple explanation is for you. In typical Project Grownup fashion, I’m aiming to detail the 20% of the issue that will effect 80% accuracy. I’m all about bang for my buck.

(Ironically, using “effect” as I just did is not part of the 20%. But I’ve explained it over at the facebook page if you’re interested.)

Using “Affect” and “Effect” Properly

The vast majority of the time, you can use the word’s part-of-speech to determine whether “affect” or “effect” is appropriate.

If the word is a verb, it’s most likely correct to use “affect”, meaning “to influence,” as in “His speech affected me” or “How does poverty affect children’s behavior?”

If the word is a noun, it’s most likely correct to use “effect”, meaning “result,” as in “not being able to choose a sentence for “effect” is having a negative effect on my mood.” or “I wonder if these boots will provide the desired effect?”

But How To Remember?

I don’t have an easy way to remember this. Grammar Girl has something that works for her, but it’s a little dubious for me. The good news is, if you can remember one of the two (which is the verb or noun) you can remember the other by default.

I did this by remembering that “effect” is the noun. I think of the phrase “cause and effect” and remember that just like in that phrase, “effect” is usually the noun, which means that “affect” is the verb.

To Recap:

The vast majority of the time you can use the part of speech to determine whether to use “affect” or “effect”:

  • “Effect” is the noun
  • “Affect” is the verb

But if correct usage really matters – like when you’re writing something in a professional context – definitely consult a more in depth treatment like these definitions and sample sentences at Daily Writing Tips.

…what about you?…

What words or phrases regularly give you the most trouble?

For Kindle: Get Notified of Free and Recently Reduced-Price Books with eReaderIQ

If you have a Kindle, one of the things you probably love about it, perhaps even the main thing, is the free and inexpensive content.

But eventually you discovered that in order to find that content, you had to sift through countless romance novels and other drivel you couldn’t care less about. But nevertheless, digital book prices are on the rise; what’s a reader to do?

Wouldn’t it be great to have someone else sift through all of that and just give you the good stuff? To make sure you don’t miss out when a book you want goes on sale? To tell you when that reference volume is finally released in Kindle format?

This is exactly what eReaderIQ does. If you read books on Kindle or a Kindle app, I think you’ll like knowing about this. (And I’ve done lots of linking below to help you get to exactly the page you’re interested in.)

What does eReaderIQ Do?

eReaderIQ tracks 3 major Kindle Book Happenings:

For each of those three happenings, you can either browse related titles on the site or sign-up for email notifications. (You don’t even have to create an account!)

Browsing

Browsing options vary depending on which of the three happenings you’re perusing. But each has robust filtering and sorting options, letting you look for just what you want. (How much do you want to pay? How big must the savings be? Want to see only things that have a high rating and lots of reviews? You got it.)

Email Notifications

Email Notifications are my favorite thing about eReaderIQ. And there are tons of options for them as well.

  • For free Kindle titles, they offer a daily digest email letting you know everything that is new in this category. And you can choose to get notified of only genres that interest you, which dramatically pares down the email. Some days the list can still be long, but a quick scan will make sure never miss a free offering.
  • For price drops, the email notifications work a little differently. In this case, you sign up to get notified when a specific title drops by an amount (dollars/cents or percentage) you specify. I got a notification this week that Veronica Roth’s Divergent had dropped to $7.29. Score! Even better, eReader IQ now has button for your toolbar that will automatically take you to the notification sign-up page from any book page on Amazon. That way, when you’re searching around and find a title you’d like, but don’t want to pay that price, you can just click the button on your toolbar to get notifications set up. Holla!(In the case of the toolbar button, it automatically signs you up to receive a notification if the price ever drops, even by a penny. If you cut & paste the ASIN in yourself, you have more options.)
  • For new-to-Kindle titles, you can sign up to get notified when a title you’re waiting for arrives on Kindle. Simple enough, right?

Another Nifty Tool

eReaderIQ has another tool worth mentioning: the price-history viewer.  The “1-click Viewer” is a button you drag to your toolbar, that, when clicked from any Amazon book page, takes you to a page on eReaderIQ that delineates the price history for that title. This page lets you know if the price has ever been lower (or higher) than it is right now, making it easy to see if you’re paying top dollar or “best-price” (as they vendors say out here). They also make a buy/wait suggestion, though I’m not sure how they come to it.

Final Thoughts

I’ve been using eReaderIQ for over a year now, and while the site-design is on the bare side, the value of the service and the fact that they don’t send unsolicited emails the rest of the time have made me love love love them. If you read anything in Kindle format, bookmark this post or their site for easy reference next time you’re looking at new books.

Do you know anyone who might want to know about this? Share it with them using the buttons below. (And thanks in advance for doing so!)

Farther Vs. Further

Today’s post is dedicated to my mom.

My mom was an English teacher for many years and remains very loyal to those roots, always noting misuse of phrases and punctuation and encouraging people to use them correctly. Which often puts me in the middle of a tiff between the grammarian mom and the linguist husband. I agree with both and tend to side against whoever is being more dogmatic about it.

But among all the gaffes that bug my mom, I think mistaking farther and further are near the very top of the list. Because they get misused SO often. Professionally.

In my opinion, whatever kind of English you want to use when u txt ur bff is fine. But if you want to present yourself well on occasion, it’s good to know how to correctly use words and phrases. And at work you should always make the added effort, because your misuse becomes a reflection of your company. And if you desire any upward mobility, you should probably care about representing your company well.

As for farther and further, they are misused so often that it’s very difficult to “catch” the correct way to use them. So what is a person to do?

Consult Grammar Girl, of course!

If you’re interested in a more exhaustive whole farther/further explanation, check out her article on it. Here we’re just getting down to the nitty gritty basics. And if you remember nothing else from this riveting post, please at least walk away with this:

Farther and further are not interchangeable.

If you remember this, you can always look up the specifics when you’re stuck.

The Difference Between Farther and Further

The difference between farther and further is that one refers to metaphorical distance (as in to discuss something further) and one refers to physical distance (as in the mountains are farther inland than where I live).

So which is which?

  • Farther refers to physical distance.
  • Further refers to figurative distance.

I use Grammar Girl’s memory trick to keep them straight: “farther” has the word “far” in it, and “far” refers to physical distance.

In that light, “further” becomes this kind of other word (since “fur” doesn’t seem to directly relate). And this helps me remember that it’s used for figurative or metaphorical situations. “Further” doesn’t relate literally like “farther” does.

What if it’s not obviously physical or metaphorical?

I can’t say it any better than Grammar Girl:

The quick and dirty tip is that “farther” relates to physical distance and “further”  relates to figurative distance. If you can’t decide which one to use, you’re safer using “further” because “farther” has some restrictions, and if you tend to get confused, try using “furthermore” instead of “further.”

…what about you?…

What’s your history with further and farther? Were you already distinguishing between them? Do you notice when others use them incorrectly?

A Simple Way to Jumpstart Your Reading

Simple Way to Jumpstart Your Reading

Soooo… I do this thing.

I do this thing where I stop reading for a few days, and those days turn into weeks, and all of a sudden I have no idea what I was reading and I’m completely out of the habit. I really, really hate it.

But over time I’ve found a trick to kickstart things when I’ve been away from reading for a time. If you can relate, give this a try next time and let me know what you think.

  1. Find a book (suggestions from friends or other trusted sources are best) that is fun and easy-to-read and fast-paced. This might even be a book you’ve read before that you know you’ll enjoy and will move through quickly. You want a page-turner of a book whose content won’t frustrate you. (Think Gregor or TFIOS)
  2. Find a single time slot in your week when you can kick back and enjoy yourself for 30 minutes or so. Maybe this is in the morning before the house is abuzz, or under a tree while the kids play on the playground. Perhaps the forecast calls for rain Thursday and during the kids’ quiet time you can sit by the window and cozy up. Or maybe you ride the metro to work and can use your commute to read. Just think of when this time might be, and make yourself a note to sit down and read at that time.

Hopefully this single 30-minute slot will get you far enough into the book that you’ll naturally finish it sooner than later. If it doesn’t, find another 30-min slot and repeat.

3) When you’ve finished the book, assess how you’re feeling about your reading. Are you ready to tackle that book on finances or de-cluttering or or parenting or your spiritual life you’ve been meaning to get to? If so, dive in! If not, plan to start another quick read. If you just read a book from a series, go on to the next one. Or you could read something else from that author, or get a suggestion from a friend. The main thing is to start another book soon.

That’s it. Are you surprised?

Here’s why it works. When you pick the right sort of book, you trick yourself into reading more. The thirty minutes you devote on the first day is enough to get you hooked, and once you’re hooked, you’re on your way to carrying a book with you, looking for spare moments to sneak in a few more pages. Within a few days, you’ve been reading. (Hey! You’re reading!) And the practice of having a book around plus the momentum you’re gaining go a long way toward keeping the party going.

The only challenge I’ve found to this technique is that it’s counter intuitive. Even though I’ve reliably used it several times before, it’s hard to imagine that re-reading the Hunger Games could possibly be the best next step toward my actual goal of finishing The Histories by the end of the year. But like many things in life (think exercise), reading begets more reading. And if I can’t muster up the willpower to dive in to that work of non-fiction that’s been sitting on my shelf all year, easy-fiction somehow bridges the gap to get me there.

Of course, no technique is a magic pill. If you want to keep reading after your jumpstart, you’ll have to be mindful. Start that next book right away. Ask around what people are reading. Start talking books with your friends; you can discover good titles this way and if they are excited about books, you might find their interest contagious.

Good Luck!

Manners vs. Etiquette

image by William Arthur Fine Stationery

Etiquette was at the top of the list of things I wanted to learn during year of the grown-up. It’s not that I see myself as garishly impolite (though I may be and not know it), but that I want to know an acceptable thing to do in various circumstances that tend to leave me a bit bewildered.

I often find myself in situations where I feel like there is a “standard” way to do something – a way that those “in the know” do it – but I don’t know what it is. So last year I started trying to learn what options are acceptable in various circumstances so that I can worry less about myself and pay more attention to the people and ideas present.

As I began to read about etiquette, I found that there is a distinct difference between etiquette and manners. Etiquette refers to the “rules” that are applied in a given context, while manners refers to the spirit of valuing others above oneself. For example, In the U.S. it is considered good etiquette to not chew with one’s mouth open, which is a natural way to foster a pleasurable dining experience for everyone sharing the table.

Letitia Baldridge explains it well in the “Introduction” of her book Letitia Baldridge’s New Manners for New Times:

Etiquette is protocol, a set of behavior rules you can memorize like a map, which will guide you safely through life. Manners are much more, since they are an expression from the heart on how to treat others whether you care about them or not.

Manners teach you how to value another’s self-esteem and to protect that person’s feelings. Etiquette consists of firm rules made by others who have come before, telling you to do this and do that on specific occasions.

Etiquette means acting with grace and efficiency, very laudable in itself, but your manners are yours, yours to use in making order out of chaos, making people feel comfortable, and giving pleasure to others.

She goes on to explain that helping a bewildered guest discover appropriate etiquette in a specific situation (assuming this is done in generosity and not condescension) is good manners. Which conversely (and ironically) means that those who chastise people for their “bad manners” are displaying bad manners. I find that both comforting and hilarious. But I’m trying not to be smug about it, because that’s rude.

I still have much, much to learn when it comes to etiquette. But I love the idea that I can grow in good manners with no roadmap whatsoever just by making an concerted effort to honor others above myself. As a person who tracks with the teachings of Jesus, that idea isn’t new to me. But in day-to-day life it seems more of a platitude than a practice. When someone breaks something of mine or their kid colors on my favorite lamp, I’m not looking to make sure they continue to enjoy themselves at my home. I’m generally pissed and hoping they feel like crap.

Yeah, my manners could use a little improvement.

Am I the only one who didn’t already have this difference straight in my head? What aspects of etiquette do you wish you knew more about? Which do you wish others knew more about?

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