Better a day tardy than never? After a spate of writing, I realized I hadn't publicized my recent DeHaan Services article on several annual summer events in Toronto. " Can India Day Festival 2012, etc. beat Taste of the Danforth?" might be the most underwhelming title ever written. I'm open to suggestions!  "Shish Kebab" image by jatalone (Hajime NAKANO) The most popular "Taste" street festival in Toronto is probably "Taste of the Danforth" in the Greektown area. Thus, we present this picture of a shish kebab.
However, there are plenty of other annual Toronto summer festivals in the second weekend of August. Therefore the "etc." in the title.
Publicity for my Alternative Summer Events in Toronto Article
Writing Tip from my India Day Festival Article
Here is a "Do what I say, not what I do" writing tip.
Take the time to craft a really good title. At first, I was going to focus solely on the "conflict" between the India Day Festival at Yonge-Dundas Square and the Taste of the Danforth street event.
Then I realized that I did not have enough days in the week to also write separate articles about Wheels on Danforth or the pair of art festivals also beginning around Aug. 10, 2012.
That added "etc." to the title, which weakens it.
So the writing tip is to discipline yourself to craft and keep a strong title, even when writing about a variety of topics such as competing street festivals in Toronto during the summer.
 "Graph of CSCW Tweets" image by Marc_Smith (Marc Smith) Marc Smith has posted a number of images like this on Flickr; they show how complicated the paths can be among Twitter users. However, so far as I know, he had nothing to do with the research paper that my article discusses.
The key breakthrough by Dr. Pedro Pinto and his team, was to avoid the need to examine every message belonging to every user in a network. How did they do this? Sorry, you'll have to read my Decoded Science article to learn more.
Publicity for my Network Tracing Article
Writing Tip from Tracing Networks
Today's writing tip is more of an observation than a tip.
My editor at Decoded Science had suggested this topic and provided contact information. Dr. Pedro Pinto answered my questions quickly, and was very helpful through the brief process.
Sometimes a writing assignment is much more difficult; the source authority might not have time or interest in helping out. However, if you can ask a couple of thoughtful questions, generally they gladly help you publicize their concepts and achievements.
In summary, the writing tip is to ask your source a good question.
 "Recreational Archery" image of and by ninahale( Nina Hale) Archery is just one of the sports presented in the 2012 Ontario Summer Games in Toronto. Others include fencing and karate; baseball and softball; lacrosse and soccer; and many more.
My article provides the full list, with dates and venues in one compact and easy-to-read list.
Promoting my Ontario Summer Games 2012 Article
One Ontario Summer Games "Writing Tip"
Today's writing tip was inspired by my view of the way the editors of Readers Digest magazine work.
Recognize situations where the primary source gives too much information, or in a poor format. Then edit it down and make it as useful as possible.
In my view, the official site for the 2012 Ontario Summer Games thoroughly lists the events, venues, dates, and a lot more background material. However, it's split over two separate pages, and the length of the main page is pretty discouraging.
My improvement was to make a brief list, so it is a quick and easy read. If a reader already prefers a sport, she can quickly find it and decide whether to pursue it further.
So the writing tip is to think like an editor who wants to focus on serving a reader's immediate need. Be quick and accurate, like a fencer at the Ontario 2012 Summer Games in Toronto.
 "N Factorial from 1 to 5 or 10" image by Mike DeHaan This first picture is an Excel spreadsheet graph of the first five factorials. Note how the "n!" column inflates very, very quickly.
 "Choose K of N" image by Mike DeHaan It's difficult to insert the large "Choose" brackets, or even a division line, into an online article about mathematics.
Further Publicity for my Math Factorial Article
A Writing Tip from the Factorial Article
Usually I compose my writing tip after completing the article. For the moment, I'm going to experiment with something that I learned for my previous Decoded Science article, " Introducing Math Symbols for Union and Intersection" .A Windows PC, in my case running Vista, has a program called "Character Map".Can I insert a capital Gamma between these brackets, (G ), using the Character Map? No, Weebly translated it into an upper-case 'G'. However, I succeeded here (Γ ) by copy-and-pasting from a Wordpress editor, using the "insert custom character" tool.I might get away with it using a different drop-down module.The writing tip is to use a variety of tools and platforms to accomplish your writing goal.This is a custom HTML form. Let's see whether I can paste the Gamma here: (Γ). Yes, but only by copying from a Wordpress article as in the previous paragraph.
 "Map of Todmorden Mills, Toronto" image by Mike DeHaan using Google Maps The map may be useful, but the article also includes a few other details that its readers might find important in seeking the Papermill Gallery for this art exhibition.
Promoting my August 2012 Art Exhibition Article
Writing Tip from my August Art Article
The trivial writing tip is to avoid multi-letter alliteration, such as "Art Article" in the sub-title above. The important writing tip is to save energy by re-using material when possible. The example from the current article is that the map was first created and used for my " Dream of Shakespeare at Todmorden Mills, Toronto, in July 2012" article. I think it's justified because the same venue is used for both events, and it's vital that the readers know the directions.I did point link back to the previous article for the complete directions, so I didn't repeat a fairly lengthy paragraph. However, there was no point in making a different map for the same location. Only the type of event changed: rather than an outdoor theatrical performance, the current event is an art exhibition inside the Papermill Art Gallery.
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