I've stopped counting. in These titles mean nothing.

  • March 8, 2022, 1:27 p.m.
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words, laps, money. I haven’t stopped doing but I’ve quit adding up totals and marking them down and pretending they mean anything -30- Anyone know what 30 at the end of something means?


Jinn March 08, 2022

Nope .. :-)

Just Annie March 08, 2022

From Wikipedia: There are many theories as to how the usage came into being,[2][3] and why it is found in North America but not in other Anglophone nations. One theory is that the journalistic employment of -30- originated from the number's use during the American Civil War era in the 92 Code of telegraphic shorthand, where it signified the end of a transmission[4] and that it found further favor when it was included in the Phillips Code of abbreviations and short markings for common use that was developed by the Associated Press wire service. Telegraph operators familiar with numeric wire signals such as the 92 Code used these railroad codes to provide logistics instructions and train orders, and they adapted them to notate an article's priority or confirm its transmission and receipt. This metadata would occasionally appear in print when typesetters included the codes in newspapers,[5] especially the code for "No more – the end", which was presented as "- 30 -" on a typewriter.

I remember using it in high school for the school newspaper.

woman in the moon Just Annie ⋅ March 08, 2022

I suppose the end of a telegraphic message is the simple answer.
I remember Jack Webb having a tv series about a reporter/newspaper that was called 30. I don't ever remember seeing it. I was not a fan of Jack Webb but I was in love with the idea of working for a newspaper. Did you enjoy your newspaper work?

Just Annie woman in the moon ⋅ March 08, 2022

I did. Funny, though, I never worked in the news department. I started in circulation and worked my way up to business office manager/assistant to the publisher. Sadly, though, it's not the same as it used to be. I blame the Life Style Editor, Patti. (She ran away with the ultra-Christian circulation manager, oh, the drama.) When Eleanor Fruth ran the lifestyle section, it was all local news. She knew everybody and everybody read the newspaper for her content. She retired. Patti was hired. She was too lazy to write local stuff, she pulled it off the AP wire. I'm surprised it is still publishing. It has a bare-bones staff and it's delivered via the post office. -30-

woman in the moon Just Annie ⋅ March 08, 2022 (edited March 08, 2022)

Edited

That sounds like my town's newspaper = the one I wrote the column for, probably because the editor liked me. It had huge drama when the publisher ran off with the advertising sales person. Then their abandoned spouses married each other - briefly. The original adulterous couple are still married but are out of town. There is a lot of gossip/a lot of news in a small town paper. I really regret that I can't and haven't written novels. Life is just so full of 'material'.
I 'strung' for a couple dailies = school board and city council = while working at my 33 yr factory job. That all needs to be written about. I regret I've gotten so old. Too old.

Just Annie woman in the moon ⋅ March 09, 2022

What is it with publishers and advertising people? One of the publishers I worked for had a long affair with the head of advertising. That's how she kept her job because she sure wasn't very good at it. But the newspaper was sold and the new owners gave her the boot. The publisher didn't say a word but I hear they are married now, so all's well that ends well.

Purple Dawn March 08, 2022

I noticed the -30- at the end of your last entry and was curious too.

Serin March 08, 2022

I assumed it was some character set encoding issue because random codes are part of web life. But I'm delighted that your "the end" marker is in the middle of the text.

woman in the moon Serin ⋅ March 08, 2022

oh well. I'm not perfect.

Serin woman in the moon ⋅ March 08, 2022

I thought you were being ironic. :)

woman in the moon Serin ⋅ March 09, 2022

I wonder what I was being. More imperfect than ironic. Though when I'm being ironic and people think I'm imperfect, sometimes I get angry. Often I get angry.
God this is a lot of work. To so little purpose. Yet it is our life. My life anyway.
Have a good day.

noko March 11, 2022

I still add things up. At some point it won't matter anymore.

NorthernSeeker March 11, 2022

I'm always counting and recording things in a data base...points, steps, $$, notes I sent, notes I received. I like data. Does it help at all? Maybe. I might feel like I am completely disconnected but in fact I am doing things that can be counted.

woman in the moon NorthernSeeker ⋅ March 12, 2022

I'm back to counting laps. On the calendar with barometer, humidity and temperature inside and out. I'm giving up 750 words for a while. It will be there when/if I want to go back.

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