Things that annoy me . . . . And should

The guy even admitted it was absurd. To me the bigger absurdity is limiting the "safe driver course" deduction to the primary driver; whether the primary or secondary driver is in an accident, the result is the same -- the insurer has to pay. Therefore, both drivers should be encouraged to take such courses. IMHO.

 

I've come to regard my snail-mailbox as a conduit from the Post Office to the recycling center, because I simply drop mostly unopened unread mail into my recycling container.

 

The fact that some agents will want you to get your manuscript professionally edited BEFORE they send it to THEIR editor.
(or an editor will prefer it be professionally edited before they take a look at it)


.... a) isnt that what you guys are there for?
.....b) i do not have that kind of money just laying around!

 

Easy solution:

Create your own editing agency.
Have it 'edited professionally by this agency'
Submit work.

 

Just wondering: if the agent's editor is looking at it anyway, don't you have to pay him too?

(I know, I know: it makes no sense to pay two editors instead of one).

The problem with that is that if you do this, agents expect your 'editing agency' to be listed online (at least with google) ... and possibly have its own website, and be registered for tax, and all other sorts of dumb things.

Moose's comment is very apt. Agent's demands don't make sense? Drop the agent. Why pay the agent anything for something he/she didn't do?

 

Easy.
Getting a website: Wix.
Get tax stuff? (Easy for me.)
It's doable.

 

My wife is respected genetic researcher, in the field of life-threatening conditions affecting newborns. This week she was at a gathering of elite scientists working against an insidious disease primarily affecting a large minority population, when they were suddenly told by [government agency that will not be named] to close up the meeting and disperse immediately. The research was cancelled. The meeting leader asked if they could go ahead and meet for the rest of the day since everyone had already assembled, and they were told no, there will be no work done, no final report, nothing.

 

I'm so sorry to hear that, Graham. It's devastating news.

 

I am so sorry. Please tell your wife thank you for what she has done and I hope she can get back to her research soon. What happened really sucked.

 

I agree! Compared to that, some of the things posted in this thread are small potatoes. *frown*

The [government agency that cannot be named] can take a long walk off a short pier. How short-sighted! I hope your wife and her colleagues can meet and share their research again very soon.

 

Thanks for all that. She still has other research, and related work, to do. The irony is that this meeting, this committee, was essentially cost-free to the government, save for travel and per diem expenses -- the committee members had already done most of their work, without charge, during their own regular working hours (often long hours). The meeting was to finalize and coordinate their findings and make a report. To have already paid those people's expenses, then to arrogantly send them home, without letting them finish up what was mostly completed, is a classic case of "government waste."

 

This reminds me of an episode of "Yes Minister".

The Minister and Sir Humphrey are working on a report to a fictional committee called the "Central Policy Review Staff" (colloquially known as the "Think-Tank").

However, the chairman (Dr Hughes) reveals that the Think-Tank recommendation had already accepted the idea of reducing the number of autonomous government departments. But not all the Ministerial evidence has been taken -- the Minister's, for instance, has not!

However, the Think-Tank has already reported unofficially, and the report won't change now, no matter what the Minister says. As Dr Hughes explains scornfully: "The Central Policy Review Staff do not sully their elevated minds with anything as squalid as evidence."