So here (courtesy of Empire State College, NY) is a helpful guide to alleviate a frequently heard question: should one put the period inside or outside the parenthesis?

Short Answer: Punctuate correctly in and around parentheses. If a whole sentence is inside parentheses, then put the period inside the end parenthesis. If only part of the sentence is in parentheses, then the period goes outside of the end parenthesis.

Examples: Parentheses are like polite back seat drivers. (They interrupt to explain additional information that the reader should know.) Parentheses can hold explanations, illustrations, or clarifications forty (Byron was 36; Nathanael West, Rimbaud, and Robert Burns were 37; Thomas Wolfe and Pushkin were 38; and Dylan Thomas was 39). I told him I absolutely believe in marriage (as a cure for the temporary insanity of infatuation). Parentheses are also used to set off dates, provide reference information, and to enumerate a list.

• Angela Merici (1470-1540), an Italian, founded the Ursulines in 1535, an unconventional religious order in which women took vows but lived at home and taught in the community.
• The Chinese poet Li Po (c.700-762), a “lighthearted winebibber,” fell out of a boat and was drowned when he tried to kiss and embrace the moon’s reflection in the water (Hendrickson 111).
• The reason there are so many popular bike trails outside of Washington, D.C., is that the land is mostly flat (see contour map on page 6).
• If your toddler does not sleep through the night there are several questions to ask: (1) Have you developed a soothing bedtime ritual? (2) When checking on your child, do you accidentally wake him or her? (3) Is your toddler afraid of the dark? (4) Is your toddler waking regularly in the night hungry or thirsty? (5) Does your toddler use a pacifier or “cuddly” so he or she is able to comfort himself or herself?

It’s like running a red light, and then having your picture show up in the mailbox. The amount of your fine: 7 cents per piece, or a total of $175 in this case. Yes, that’s right. You pay for every address on the list, even the good addresses.

Friends, there’s no traffic school at the Post Office.

Standard class mail is becoming an increasingly unattractive option, unless you’re well equipped to navigate the postal system. And with all postage rates going up soon, we’re all well advised to get things right, before getting things in the mail.

Here are the new rules

Obviously, this is not a do-it-yourself job. It requires special tools and direct access to the most current version of the Postal Service’s Move/Update database.

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If you choose, we’ll process and mail your materials for the lowest available postage rates.

Keeping your list clean is a good step along the path to being “green.” You’ll save on postage and printing while less undeliverable mail ends up in the landfill. Besides, wouldn’t you want to know if your customer or prospect has moved (or died)? In any event, you’ll need to certify in writing that your list is ready for prime time.

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EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY: Copies&Ink will update and certify your list AT NO CHARGE if your project is printing and/or addressing & mailing at Copies&Ink. Contact our customer service department and ask for the NCOA promo. Offer expires Jan 31, 2009, so act today!

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We’re also offering a special $27 rate for NCOA processing only (any list up to 2500 addresses), no printing or mailing services need be purchased to receive this price. Offer valid until Jan. 31, 2000.

TO GET STARTED or for additional information, fill out our quick form below. You can optionally attach your mailing list file in Excel or text formats.

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OPTIONAL: Attach your mailing list using the file upload button above.

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Using a menu bar item, or keyboard shortcut, you simply select the content you need and paste it wherever you want. Simple and elegant.

It’s called Jumpcut. Download it from the author’s Sourceforge page.

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In a talk entitled Fishing the Sea to Death, anthropologist and scientist Joshua Reichert explains that “People don’t mourn the loss of something they never knew existed, nor do they tend to mourn the disappearance of something they never experienced directly. They may regret its absence intellectually, but they don’t feel the loss emotionally.”

Download this talk originally broadcast on the New Dimensions radio series, and I guarantee you’ll be shocked and terrified. The sea is being devastated by commercial as well as personal interests to an extent that may never be reversible. Yes, using recycled paper and other renewable resources is a great idea, but let’s remember that even larger issues may loom outside our direct view.

I have no clue as to all the things you can do with FinderPop for the Macintosh. But if you just use it to sort your way through a messy desktop or to switch between applications, you should get it. Best of all, it’s free. Donations will be accepted by the publisher.

I’m in Chicago on an extended business trip, and decided to try a new (to me) hotel chain: Extended Stay Hotels. Upon checking in (a marginal experience) I found my room to be adequate, but missing a couple of things I’ve come to expect at any hotel: shampoo and a hair dryer. One would think those necessities are provided in a place that by definition caters to business travelers.

I can put up with a room that isn’t quite clean, and even one that smells a little funny, as this one does. But to the front desk manager (well dressed lady in her 40s): please don’t admonish me to return your low end hair dryer, as if I intend to steal it. And when I ask for shampoo, (I’m here for 3 days) perhaps you could afford to give me more than one tiny 1 oz bottle?

Contrast that to my experience at optical chain Lenscrafters. I’m a long time customer of that company. Just before boarding my Chicago plane a day ago, my eyeglass frame broke. Upon arriving at my hotel, I noticed a problem with my backup glasses too. Panic began to set in!

I was the first customer to visit a Skokie, Illinois Lenscrafter store on Tuesday morning. The young clerk behind the counter quickly assessed the situation used her creativity to improvise a temporary repair for my frame, while another technician replaced a missing part in my other pair. “No charge,” I was told. “We just did what I’d expect if I were traveling and broke my glasses,” declared the 20-something employee. What a star!

Wow. That simple act cemented my customer loyalty for years to come. By the same token, my experiences at Extended Stay were equally memorable, but for different reasons. It’s not about mission statements and corporate edicts. It’s not about fancy signage alongside the interstate. It *is* about being friendly, professional and attentive when the rubber meets the road.

Packaged foods $777B, up 11%, Beverages $366B up 4%, and Food Service $691B up 5%.

Travel & Hospitality especially close to home “stay-cations” $760B up 1%, Gambling/Wagering $797B up 7%, and Fall Fashion $567B up 12%.

Freight/Logistics $624B up 9%, Computer Software $434B up 23% and Telecommunications $1.02T up 9%. And if that’s not enough, here’s an old standby: Banking/Insurance $3.2T up 7%.

So before we all go hang ourselves, let’s not forget how dynamic and resilient our US economy can be. If you have something of value to sell, get out there and scare up some business!

A plug to the author, who is a long time, well respected expert: you can buy the full report at the PBBA website.

I’m guilty of falling into that trap too. A few years ago I gave up our family business’ name for a moniker that sounds more like a national chain. In retrospect, that may have been a mistake.

Thinking back a few years and remembering some my earliest Alpert’s Printing customers, there are a few that still stand out in my mind, some 29 years later. They had personality. They didn’t need a six paragraph mission statement. Clarity and character is so lacking in today’s world of sameness. I’d be willing to bet a month’s phone bill that the descriptive name General Telephone is still easier to remember than the cryptic Verizon.

I doubt the corporate spin masters will be dropping their LGs, Altrias and Cingulars any time soon, but that doesn’t mean the rest of us need to buy into the blanding of America. If you want to get your marketing noticed today, perhaps try something that comes naturally: be yourself!