Articles of Interest about writing, journalism, fakes & more – July 30

***WRITING & READING

How to Sell Books in 2020: Put Them Near the Toilet Paper

Four-year-old lands book deal for his 'astonishing' poetry

8 Writers on Finding a Literary Agent

Writing Historical Fiction As History Repeats Itself

The Physical Traits that Define Men and Women in Literature

***GRAMMAR 

Man faked death to avoid jail but typo gave him away

Did Rutgers University Declare Grammar ‘Racist’?

***JOURNALISM 

Publishers and Journalists on TikTok

Choi criticizes journalists for tweets about Jefferson statue issue

Prosecutor: No time for evidence against arrested reporter

A Judge Said Federal Officers Can’t Arrest Or Use Force Against Journalists In Portland

Press freedom incidents have surged during police protests

Law enforcement tear gasses, throws flash-bangs at high school journalist covering Portland BLM protests

***FAKES & FRAUDS

This clever Netflix scam attempts to steal your credit card information

How dubious psychology techniques have been misused in criminal investigations

Fake Signs Warning Campers Of Satanic Cult Activity, Animal Sacrifice Pop Up Around Big Bear Lake

Twitter bans 7,000 QAnon accounts, limits 150,000 others as part of broad crackdown

Why Conspiracy Theorists Think FEMA Is Building Camps to Imprison Americans

17 Fascinating Facts About Conspiracy Theories 

Testing of a tool for detecting image duplication shows it has potential but also triggers false alarms

***CORONAVIRUS CONSPIRACY THEORIES

25% in US see at least some truth in conspiracy theory that COVID-19 was planned

Snopes and coronavirus rumors: Debunking website can’t keep up with the misinformation 

Coronavirus: 'Deadly masks' claims debunked 

'COVID parties’ are a pandemic urban legend that won’t go away

Local TV stations across the country set to air discredited 'Plandemic' researcher's conspiracy theory about Fauci 

Coronavirus: Conspiracy Theories (John Oliver video)

An FBI hostage negotiator explains how to persuade people to wear masks

***SOCIAL MEDIA  

Facebook can see your web activity. Here's how to stop it 

The US is 'looking at' banning TikTok

***LANGUAGE

People are sharing common phrases that no longer reflect the action and it's eye-opening

***PRIVACY & SECURITY  

Rite Aid deployed facial recognition systems in hundreds of U.S. stores

Face masks are screwing up facial recognition software

***PRODUCING MEDIA

Some of the winners of this year's iPhone photography awards

Final Cut Pro X review

AP to equip all visual journalists globally with Sony Imaging products