“We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.” - Dead Poets Society

When you look at a good proportion of both the scientific and business communities, there is a tendency to look down at the arts and works of fiction. I experienced a good deal of this during my university days, because I was pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology and English literature. Many of my peers scoffed at my decision, saying that it would have been much more “useful” for me to pursue a degree in chemistry or commerce.

While there is certainly value in scientific and financial analysis, there is also great value in considering various works of fiction. The value of watching television, enjoying movies, and reading novels extends far beyond the sheer sake of entertainment. Fiction holds value well beyond acting as a simple diversion. It gets you to think, to see the world in ways that you may not have otherwise considered.

I’ve said before that you are what you read, but this does not mean that you should avoid “indulging” in fiction. Reading something that is fictional does not make you fake; it connects you much deeper with the world around you.

X-Men (and the Rest of the Marvel Universe)

Growing up, one of my favorite Saturday morning cartoons was X-Men. I never really got into the actual comic books themselves, but I was fascinated with that half hour of animated mayhem every weekend. Sure, the primary appeal would the epic battles and the fascination with superhuman abilities, but there’s quite a bit more to the X-Men universe than that.

The treatment of mutants in the X-Men universe acts as an allegory for discrimination in the real world. These mutants are persecuted and discriminated against, just like the systematic racism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination that we find in modern society. The mutants, despite their superpowers, are still human beings and that serves as a core message of X-Men. There’s also the pressing message of hope for mankind. Yes, we can.

Hamlet (and Other Shakespeare Plays)

William Shakespeare was a wonderfully brilliant man and he continues to serve as a source of inspiration for many people. His plays did not always have an explicit moral message to them, but many of these plays (and poems) do have something to say about society and the human condition.

For example, Hamlet gets us to consider the ramifications of indecision. The title character struggled with an internal battle, not being able to decide whether or not he should avenge his father’s death. After all, avenging his father would mean killing his uncle. What would you do?

Jurassic Park (and Other Michael Crichton Novels)

Michael Crichton was easily one of my favorite authors growing up and I’m saddened to hear about his recent passing. The great thing about Michael Crichton was that he was able to take the current state of technology and push it just a little further into what could be possible. In this way, his novels weren’t so much about science fiction as they were about science fact.

More importantly, Crichton’s novels got me interested in areas that may not have otherwise piqued my interest. Jurassic Park got me thinking about DNA manipulation (and furthered my fascination with dinosaurs). The Terminal Man introduced me to medical psychology and the study of human behavior. Prey enthralled me with nanotechnology and the dynamics of the swarm. Believe me, I would not have picked up some scientific journal or textbook to research these areas, but I’m more than happy to pick up a great novel exploring these topics.

Fiction is an important aspect of the human existence. In between sessions with the Wall Street Journal and CNN, don’t forget to “indulge” in the worlds of fiction too.

Welcome to another rousing tour of what the blogosphere has to offer. I’ve gathered an eclectic collection of blog posts that I hope are of interest to Beyond the Rhetoric readers.

If you want to be featured in a future edition of What’s Up Wednesdays, I highly recommend that you follow me on Twitter. It pays to follow, because I do make a call for posts every week.

Chris Bibey is a highly successful freelance writer and he really enjoys what he does for a living. I can certainly appreciate that sentiment. In one of his recent posts, Chris explains why freelance writing is fun. It’s not all about the money (but it helps).

The Dough Roller might not be rolling in quite as much dough these days, so that’s why he (?) turned to his readers to find 97 painless ways to save money. Tip #18? Breastfeed. Once again, boobs are saving the world (and your wallet).

Mostly Lisa prides herself in being somewhat of a shutterbug, so she knows a thing or two about turning blah into beautiful. Even though I don’t own a DSLR, I really dig using the super macro mode on my Canon S3 IS. Perspective is everything.

John Bardinelli usually talks about video games, particularly those from the casual market, but he also happens to be a professional freelance writer like me. As such, he does have some interest in the the top ten most irritating phrases, as described by Oxford. Looks like some of these could serve as fodder for future Grammar 101 articles.

Tyler Ingram takes a look outside his Vancouver window to see that, yes, it is indeed raining. Again. He also happens to a have a holiday-themed Starbucks cup in his hand, so that’s how he knows that the holiday season is upon us. Santa Claus can’t be far behind. Ho ho ho!

It’s been quite an interesting week in the NFL, not only because I’ve managed to reasonably maintain last week’s success, but also because of how some of these games turned out. As we get closer to the playoffs, the NFL obsession will only grow.

The Philadelphia Eagles and the Cincinnati Bengals had their game end in a tie. The last time that a game ended in a tie was back in 2002! While Houshmandzadeh was not able to lead his team to a victory over Philadelphia, I think a lot of people are losing respect for Donovan McNabb and Andy Reid. The Eagles couldn’t beat the flailing Bengals in regulation and they still couldn’t beat them with an extra 15 minutes of football. Do you think McNabb is overrated?

Yes, I was crazy for thinking that the Baltimore Ravens would be able to beat the defending Super Bowl champions. Even though the better Manning only threw for 153 yards, the Giants were able to win by 20 points. The Ravens never got closer than within 10 points and you can attribute this Giants victory to their 200+ yard rushing game. Contrast that to Tennessee continuing its undefeated streak through the air.

Easily the biggest story of the week is the game between the San Diego Chargers and the Pittsburgh Steelers. As the game drew to a close, San Diego was deep in its own zone. After Philip Rivers passes the ball, it goes through a couple of laterals, before getting picked up by the giant ball of hair known as Troy Polamalu of the Steelers.

He bumbles into the end zone, pushing the score to 17-10. This would cover the spread of 4.5, but the officials took the TD back after the clock wound down to zero, saying that there was a forward lateral involved. The official score was then posted at 11-10, but the officials later noted that they were wrong to take away the touchdown (but the official final score does not change). The result was something like a $60 million swing in Las Vegas betting… and me getting one of my picks wrong.

The English language contains a number of common idioms that people use on a fairly regular basis. In order to further expand a business, for example, someone may say that he needs to take his marketing efforts “to the next level.” If a particular television show is especially funny, it would be appropriate to say that it “had you in stitches.” When discussing financial matters, you are oftentimes told to “save for a rainy day.”

By the same accord, there are a number of sayings that are meant to express a certain lack of interest. A very common error that many people make when trying to express this sentiment is saying that they “could care less.” This is actually quite inaccurate and incorrect.

I Could Care Less

Think about the meaning of that statement for a moment. If you are trying to say that you do not care about something, then you may be trying to say that it may not be possible for you to have less care about that particular subject.

If you “could care less,” this implies that you do have a certain amount of care for the topic. It would mean that you do care, at least a little, and this goes directly against the meaning that you are trying to express through this saying. You could care less, because you have some care to spare. So, what is the proper form of this apathetic idiom?

I Couldn’t Care Less

Whereas the previous statement implies that you do care for the subject, this statement says that it is not possible for you to care less about the subject. You could not care less, because you are already at the absolute minimum (zero) level of caring. It is not possible to care less than not to care at all.

I couldn’t care less about the latest trends in Christmas tree design, because I am not getting a Christmas tree this year. In fact, I don’t think I have erected a proper tree in over a decade. That’s why I couldn’t care less. It is not within the realm of logical possibility for me to care less than I currently do and, thus, I could not care less.

But You Should Care More!

We all suffer from a certain level of apathy, because society is leading us to care more about superfluous things like cool new toys and care less about the things that matter most in life. Instead, it is perhaps more appropriate to care a little less about the latest holiday drink at Starbucks and to care a little more about helping your fellow man this holiday season.

National Philanthropy Day may have come and gone, but it is important to be charitable all year round. Ha! You didn’t think a Grammar 101 post was going to end on that note, did you?

Earlier this month, I announced that I would be hosting the Funnel Vision Contest. The grand prize in this grand contest is valued at over $200, including three great iPod accessories from Griffin and one $70 “paid” review here on Beyond the Rhetoric. Since the month is about halfway through, I figured now would be a good time to provide a brief update.

As you recall, the goal of the contest is to send as much referral traffic as possible from your site/blog to Beyond the Rhetoric. By and large, I said that you could use whatever strategy you would like. Standard things would be simply linking to me on the sidebar or in a post, but some people have been a little more creative. For example, one guy decided to provide an incentive for his site visitors to click on a link over to my site. That’s smart thinking.

In the interest of fairness, there are a few referral sources that are exempt from this contest. Search engines and social media sites cannot win, of course, but I’m also leaving out any of my freelance writing clients as well. It wouldn’t make sense for me to give the prize to Mobile Magazine or LoveToKnow, right?

So, who’s winning? At the time this article was written, the top five referring sites (according to Google Analytics) are:

1. Ed Lau
2. John Chow
3. Stephen Fung
4. Nick (Romandock)
5. Chris Bibey

I’m undecided as to whether John and Stephen should be exempt since I write for both of them. Then again, I don’t write for Stephen’s blog and I haven’t had any ReviewMe reviews on John’s blog (yet) this month. With this in mind, the top spot is still very much up for grabs. So, even if you haven’t made any major effort so far this month, you still have a great chance to win.

What are you waiting for? Get out there and win my contest!

Growing up, many of us are raised to study hard, do well in school, and try to land that perfect job that will sustain us for the rest of our lives. While most of the population still adheres to this philosophy, a growing number of people are trying their hand at making money online. People are drawn to all the wonderful advantages that working from home can bring. You can be freed from your bosses, work at your own chosen schedule, and stay home to take care of the kids. Making money online sounds pretty great.

Naturally, things aren’t quite so simple. Making a career out of an online business is really not that different than trying to establish a brick-and-mortar business. The startup costs may lower and, as such, the barrier to entry is a lot easier to overcome, but that does not mean that you’ll be an overnight success. It’s taken me quite some time to achieve what I have as a freelance writer and I continue to work hard to try and do even better.

Maybe you’re not that great of a writer. That’s fine. One of the great things about online entrepreneurship is that there are several different avenues that you can explore. Unfortunately, so many people dive into these online businesses with unrealistic expectations of instant riches. There are some success stories that may lead you in that direction, but they are certainly the exception and not the rule. It certainly does not help that the “make money online” niche is constantly bombarded with promises of financial freedom and infinite riches.

Take this eBay business course as an example. They tell you that you can become an eBay Power Seller quickly and easily, raking in plenty of dough by selling all sorts of things on everyone’s favorite auction site. That may be true, but it won’t be easy and it’s unlikely that you’ll be buying that Lamborghini any time soon.

It gets even more cryptic when you consider programs that don’t even tell you how you’re going to make money. I found this free course on how you can make money with Google, but it doesn’t really say what you’ll be doing or how you’ll be earning any kind of income. I guess there’s little harm in giving these things a shot — the program itself is free; you just have to pay for shipping — but is there really anything to gain?

There is no such thing as easy money (unless you count winning the lottery). When considering some of these “free” online courses on how to make money online, don’t be afraid to take a chance, but don’t go in with rose-tinted glasses.