Author: Joe Wilcox

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I must kick the Autocorrect Habit

My apology goes to Art Alexakis, lead singer for Everclear. In a post last night observing his role as a tattoo artist in movie “Wild”, his name is misspelled. Funny thing, so to get it right, I copied and pasted from the web into the WordPress post editor. Yet somehow when published, and I missed, his name appeared as Alexis. My thanks goes to Scott Bell, who pointed out the error in Google+ comment.

It’s strange how tech meant to be beneficial gets in the way. More mistakes appear in my stories because of autocorrect than I make myself. The pattern is consistent: I will write, nix autocorrect’s misspelling, but later edit something else in the sentence. Word changes! As a long-time writer and editor, I revise constantly until publishing—and afterwards, too. The mistakes I most often miss typically are the ones made for me during spot edits. 

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Please Support My Google Exposé

My mind is divided about Google, or is that Alphabet now? On one hand, I see the company as among the most innovative ever. I highly value many of Google’s products and they enable me to work more efficiently and to accomplish much more in far less time. On another hand, the search and services operation’s business model is hugely disruptive to people like me that generate content that is primarily consumed online. My profession is in shambles, with the “Google free economy” as the primary wrecking ball.

Overnight, I started an investigative report that will, in the early stages, primarily focus on how the information giant’s business disrupts the news media and some other content producers. “What Does the ‘Google Free Economy’ Cost You?” is crowdfunding through Byline. Should I achieve my modest milestone goal—$250 over 40 days—another milestone would follow with larger goal, and the reporting will expand into additional areas of concern, such as privacy or even how Google could influence the outcome of the U.S. 2016 Presidential election. 

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Flickr a Day 237: ‘Free Ride’

Take pictures of your kids that look like the photostream of Amanda Tipton and you will make a memory book they will cherish as adults. Her art delights so much that picking one pick is misery. I could choose a dozen breathlessly. Self-titled “Free Ride” takes the Day for composition, perspective, candor, and as demonstration the importance of having the camera with you and using it!

“No he has never done this before and no I didn’t ask him to; lol”, she says. “But because I didn’t want my camera to melt in the hot car I happened to have it in the store with me. Of course, I probably looked like the worst mom ever snapping pictures before I told him to get up; haha”. I say best mom ever. Amanda captured the moment on July 18, 2012, using Nikon D700. Vitals: f/2.2, ISO 720, 1/250, 35mm.