The QLog

Happy Birthday, Smiley

Twenty-five years ago today marks the origin of emoticons.

Since tone is subtle and not always easily transmitted through pure text, Carnegie Mellon University Professor Scott E. Fahlman posted the smiley as a solution to signify humor within messages. On September 19, 1982 at 11:44 AM, he suggested the following on an electronic bulletin board:

I propose that the following character sequence for joke markers:     

:-)

Read it sideways.  Actually, it is probably more economical to mark
things that are NOT jokes, given current trends. For this, use   

:-(

Since then, emoticons have become ubiquitous within emails, instant messages, and SMS phone text messages. I would argue that they are almost as important for electronic communication as the colon, exclamation point, period, and perhaps both the adjective and adverb, as they easily denote feelings or irony that might not be detected through textual context alone.

Happy 25th B-Day, Smiley.

Authorship Counts!

Who is the world’s earliest writer known by name?

I asked this question to a group of very intelligent professionals recently and most suggested either Homer (the name given to the poet or poets that constructed the Iliad and Odyssey) or Moses (tradition states he wrote the first five books of the Jewish Bible). These were both good guesses. My question was a tough one!

The answer would only be known to someone with a keen interest within antiquity or archeology: Enheduanna.

The first known author in history was a woman from 2250 BCE. Enheduanna was the high priestess of the moon god in the city of Ur and she authored of several Sumerian hymns. This was during a time when the skill of writing was highly restricted to a few people on the entire planet!! She composed her poetry on clay tablets AND she signed her name. One tablet even records her as the "daughter of Sargon of Akkad," giving her relationship to the King.

The name Enheduanna would have been lost completely to history if she had simply written anonymously.

Bottom Line: When you write something, I highly suggest you sign it. And not just the great American novel. This applies to short essays, emails, blogs, love letters, and business memos. Authorship counts! Of course, there are more pragmatic reasons for signing your works beyond providing research fodder for scholars in the distant future that may discover your computer files one day.

1) It will help establish priority and preserve your copyright. This is important in some cases.
2) The other main reason is this act alone will begin to enhance your writing.

When you get in the habit of signing your work, you will notice that the prose is more carefully constructed: arguments are tighter, the logic is better, and the diction improves. Signed documents directly represent your essence as they have been imparted with your mark. As a result, the quality will improve for 99.9% of people that apply this technique.

Alpha and Omega

I am the light everywhere

All is who I am.


Everything has poured from my lips,

All will flow back to my heart.

I am the eternal source.

Split the atom: I am there.

Decode the genome and

there you will find me. 

Note: this previously unpublished poem, Alpha and Omega, was composed in November, 1996. After spending ten years languishing at the bottom of my desk drawer, I thought it was finally time to release it into the wild. The poem is a modern update of saying number 77 from the Coptic Gospel of Thomas. As the author, I do claim the legal copyright; however, if you would like to reprint it, please let me know, and I'm likely to grant permission.