Random Links

It’s been a busy few days for me, but here are some interesting links I’ve stumbled across. Some relate to books, but some don’t.

–Sports writer Mark Kriegel mentions an economic crisis idea from Tim Smith of theDaily News: Make the oil companies bail out the auto industry. Exxon Mobil announced profits of $14.83 billion for the third quarter of this year, a record for an American company. The quarter before that, Exxon profitted to the tune of $11.68 billion. That’s $26.43 billion in six months. The Big Three automakers originally said they needed $25 billion and then came back and said they need about thirty-five or so. Shit, if we put Exxon Mobil on the case, they can clean that auto industry mess up before summertime.

–Ross Siler and Steve Luhm of the Salt Lake Tribune figured out that the average professional basketball player in the NBA earns $3,487 per minute.

–We can probably count the writers who approach such income on one hand. So for everyone else, Ed has some heartfelt words of advice and encouragement for you to stay writing, in spite of difficult times.

–A few different folks are discussing, some of them tongue-in-cheek, resurrecting the Federal Writers Project or bail out plans for writers.

–Jol Dantzig’s blog at Hamer Guitars has a wonderful post about making every project count. Whether you make guitars, write stories, take photos, or compile TPS reports, “approach each task as if it were the one that will define you,” Dantzig advises.