From the lighter side

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Just in time for Black Friday, here's a list of gifts for writers, assembled by the people behind The Science Writers' Handbook. There are the obligatory caffeine-related items, plus surfing camps and yurts. On the more practical side, however, check out the plug-in charger that "lets a budding Hemingway charge his smartphone, tablet, and other devices and protects his computer from power surges while on the road or hanging about in cafes."

We have to disclose up front that this is not for real. But it's too close for comfort. From McSweeney’s, it's a help-wanted ad for a marketing firm intern: "We cannot offer any sort of payment or college credit at this time, and actually, with public transportation costs and fun/mandatory (fun-datory!) team-building happy hours, you’ll more likely be hemorrhaging money by taking this job. But the experience will be priceless. Hey, maybe you should be paying us."

Matt Waite did the computer programming behind the Pulitzer-winning PolitiFact site. Now he's a college professor who recently found himself sitting through a remedial math class. Why? Because, like many of us, he avoided math while studying journalism: “So do me a favor: Try. Stop with the jokes. Stop telling me, 'Oh, I could never do that' when you ask me about math. Because it’s not true. You can. If you try. You can be good at math.”

You'd be surprised how many people have thought so, Maria Popova writes on Brain Pickings: "Irony — along with its kin, snark and sarcasm — is an art form that thrives on the spoken word, relying on intonation and body language to distinguish it from the literal, so it's had a particularly rocky run translating into written language." An upside-down exclamation point was one 17th-century proposal. Others looked like a tiny triangle and a backwards question mark.

USA Today's Natalie DiBlasio takes aim at public relations professionals who fill her inbox with pitches but rarely get much for their effort. Here's number 7 on her top 10 list: "If every email you send me has a subject starting with 'New!' 'Breaking!' 'Please read' or 'Once-in-a-lifetime story if you just click' I might start to think you over-exaggerate about your story’s newsworthiness. The delete key looks awfully tasty after a half-a-dozen of these a week."

You've heard of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and her theory of the five stages of grief? A TV reporter came up with something similar for long-form journalism and posted it on Facebook, where it was picked up by John L. Robinson and posted to his blog: "Depression – 'This is the worse thing anyone has ever written in the vast history of humanity. My keyboard should be smashed, my desk lit on fire and I should be sent to wander the wastelands doomed to never write again.'"

Be careful before you put down that iPad or Kindle and pick up an old-style "paper" book, Dave Winer writes. You might not be prepared for the experience. First of all, you have to move your head when you go from a left page to a right page. If there's a word you don't know, you might have to reach for another book to find out what it means, instead of just pressing your finger on the screen. And then this: "I keep looking for the clock. Paper books don't have them."

Samuel Johnson's opinion aside, there are times when it's OK to write for free, Jessica Hische asserts in this elaborate flow chart with a question-and-answer format. An example of the questions: "Is it for your Mom?" If so, the answer is easy: "22 hours of labor and you can't do ONE … garage sale flyer?? COME ON!" Other questions: "Is it for a legitimate business?" "Is it for a charity or non-profit?" "Is it for your friend?"

Ex-editor John L. Robinson has assembled a long list (numbering 178 at last report) of "signs you’re truly an ex-newspaper journalist," in what started as a blog post but quickly became a group effort with contributions from dozens of commenters. An example: "The employee handbook for your new job describes work hours as 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. with a one-hour lunch break, with nights, weekends, and holidays off. The Human Resources representative asks why you’re giggling."

You know that saying about a kid in a candy store? Authors in bookstores aren't much different. Don't worry, though, Rebecca Makkai offers advice for navigating the aisles: "March to your alphabetical shelf. If you've done this enough, you know where your book should be just by scanning for the landmarks. You're always about two inches to the left of the bestseller with the trippy yellow spine, and a few inches to the right of the Pulitzer winner with the naked sailor."