Page 1 of Philip Yaffe's writing

1. How to Turn an Agnostic into a Believer Dear Reader, I am a devout agnostic. I have been carrying on an electronic conversation with a devout Christian, in fact an evangelist, for about two years. It was not my intention to challenge her faith, but rather to seek answers to questions... (posted by Philip 173 days 5 hours ago.)

2. Debunking the Myth of Complexity and Culture by Philip Yaffe I used to speak Swahili. I don’t anymore, but at one time I was nearly fluent. This is because in the mid-1960s I spent two years as a Peace Corps volunteer teaching mathematics and physics in Tanzania(East Africa). ... (posted by Philip 353 days ago.)

3. Uses and Abuses of Racist Jokes I love racist jokes. If you are shocked by this declaration, you shouldn’t be because what I mean by the term is not those disgusting, brutal — and generally false — observations designed to cause offense and injury. These do not qualify as... (posted by Philip 362 days 21 hours ago.)

4. The Dichotomy of Polygamy by Philip Yaffe I recently did an Internet search to find out why polygamy is banned in some places in the world and is not, and even encouraged, in others. Why? Because a few years ago I did a similar search and came up with essentially... (posted by Philip 362 days 21 hours ago.)

5. The Surprising Benefits of a Pre-first Draft by Philip Yaffe Ever since I joined Toastmasters International several years ago, people have been telling me that I am a “natural-born speaker.” If you don’t already know, Toastmasters is a worldwide club (250,000 members)... (posted by Philip 362 days 21 hours ago.)

6. How Spelling Reform Would Promote Good Writing I know that what I am about to say may seem to be somewhat off the wall. However, the more I think about it, the more I am convinced that a major reason most people write so poorly is the chaotic state of English spelling. It seems evident... (posted by Philip 1 year 77 days ago.)

7. Resurrecting the Bullet Point: The Return of an Old and Valued Friend I have recently been reading and hearing comments that bullet points for slide presentations are dead, as evidenced by the rapidly-becoming-legendary presentations of Steve Jobs, co-founder and head of Apple Inc. There are three things wrong... (posted by Philip 1 year 137 days ago.)

8. Science, Reason, and Robots It is often said that what distinguishes true science fiction from space horse operas is its ability to examine fundamental questions of ethics, philosophy, and sociology in situations so remote from contemporary life that they can be considered... (posted by Philip 1 year 233 days ago.)

9. If You Want Them To Read, Teach Them To Write How often have you gone to see the film that won the Oscar for best picture of the year, only to be disappointed? Probably more than once. Did this mean that there was something wrong with you or something wrong with the judges who voted for the... (posted by Philip 1 year 234 days ago.)

10. The Purpose of Punctuation This article is derived from the author's book The Gettysburg Approach to Writing & Speaking like a Professional . In 2003 Lynne Truss's book "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" caused a firestorm of interest in stopping the purported precipitous slide... (posted by Philip 2 years 28 days ago.)

11. Questions of Faith I Am Dying To Have Answered To try to pre-empt people from misreading between the lines, let me clearly declare that the purpose of this article is in no way to challenge anyone's faith, but rather to better define my own. I am now approaching the proverbial three score... (posted by Philip 2 years 318 days ago.)

12. Pithy Prose: The Wit & Wisdom of Gertrude Stein Part 17 of an occasional series I am a collector of quotations. I have been ever since I learned how to write, I mean professionally, not in primary school. I am particularly fond of what I like to call "pithy prose". These short... (posted by Philip 2 years 346 days ago.)

13. How An Ugly Duckling Became a Swan Over the past 40-plus years as a journalist and marketing communication consultant, I have frequently been told that I am an exceptionally good writer by teachers, friends, colleagues, and clients. But I wasn't always a good writer; in fact, I... (posted by Philip 2 years 346 days ago.)

14. Pithy Prose: The Wit & Wisdom of Simone Veil Part 16 of an occasional series I am a collector of quotations. I have been ever since I learned how to write, I mean professionally, not in primary school. I am particularly fond of what I like to call "pithy prose". These short... (posted by Philip 2 years 357 days ago.)

15. Ghost-writing: A half-century tribute to John F. Kennedy If you were there at the time, you will find it hard to realize that the 50th anniversary of the election of John Fitzgerald Kennedy is rapidly approaching. The iconic 35th President of the United States was elected in a close-run contest against... (posted by Philip 2 years 357 days ago.)

16. Public Speaking: Why Using the Right Word Is Not Always the Right Thing To Do Mark Twain famously said: "The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug." Of course he was absolutely right -- and partially wrong. As every professional writer... (posted by Philip 3 years 5 days ago.)

17. Pithy Prose: The Wit & Wisdom of Friedrich Schiller Part 15 of an occasional series I am a collector of quotations. I have been ever since I learned how to write, I mean professionally, not in primary school. I am particularly fond of what I like to call "pithy prose". These short... (posted by Philip 3 years 5 days ago.)

18. How a Polish immigrant in the USA directed a major victory over hepatitis B Because they were extracted from human blood, the first-generation hepatitis B vaccines developed in the early 1980s had significant drawbacks, including high cost, low availability, and the possibility of unsuspected contamination (HIV/AIDS).... (posted by Philip 3 years 5 days ago.)

19. How To Make Dull Information Exciting Someone once said (it may have been me): "There is no dull information, only dull writers." We have all had the misfortune of reading very dull texts and sitting through very dull presentations. But were they inherently dull? Or were they made... (posted by Philip 3 years 13 days ago.)

20. Common Misconceptions: Things We Know That Just Aren't So We all live with misconceptions about the world. This is quite normal. No one can be an expert in everything, so we simplify our learning into easy-to-remember snippets, which are often very close to the truth, but never quite there. Generally... (posted by Philip 3 years 13 days ago.)

21. It's a Strange, Strange World As someone once said (it may have been Einstein, but it may have been someone else): "The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it's stranger than we can imagine." Whoever may have said it, in 1929 a certain Robert Ripley took the... (posted by Philip 3 years 22 days ago.)

22. The Secrets of Writing a Truly Useful Executive Summary In virtually all walks of live -- business, education, politics, research, etc. -- documents of more than a few of pages consist of the body and an executive summary. Unfortunately, most writers treat the executive summary as an afterthought... (posted by Philip 3 years 22 days ago.)

23. Pithy Prose: The Wit & Wisdom of Elbert Hubbard Part 14 of an occasional series I am a collector of quotations. I have been ever since I learned how to write, I mean professionally, not in primary school. I am particularly fond of what I like to call "pithy prose". These short... (posted by Philip 3 years 36 days ago.)

24. Can God Be Immoral? To open the discussion, let's deal with the point of view that God is the source of morality; therefore, morality is whatever He defines it to be. Agreed. So let's change the premise. Can Man ever fully understand what is moral and what... (posted by Philip 3 years 36 days ago.)

25. Pithy Prose: More Wit & Wisdom of Anon Part 13 of an occasional series. Follow-up to Pithy Prose: The Wit & Wisdom of Anon (Part 7) I am a collector of quotations. I have been ever since I learned how to write, I mean professionally, not in primary school. I am particularly... (posted by Philip 3 years 46 days ago.)