Putting grammar back in grammar schools: A modest proposal

'Tis and 10 other fun proclitic words

Flying Saucers Comics

Painted Ships on Painted Oceans: an Accidental Map of the Doldrums - This is very cool.

Thousand-Year-Old Vineyards Found in Spain - Traces of ancient vineyards that date back 1,000 years were discovered in the terraced fields ( Read more... )

Learning a language is like learning to drive a car, and studying linguistics is like learning to become a mechanic.

Interactive dialect map

5 lies you were told about grief - (Thanks to Lisa Costello.)

Let’s Talk About Death - The conservation project. (Thanks to Lisa Costello.)

How to change the world $1 at a time - Guerrilla bank marketing ( Read more... )

In which our collaborate novel Our Lady of the Islands, written by me and Shannon Page, finds a home

Jade par Jay Lake - A French review of the French translation of my book Green. Some complaints, but I interpret the Google Translate version as generally positive.

Textopornographie: France creates its own word for 'sexting' - Of course they did ( Read more... )

Interview: Jay Lake - Ken Scholes interviews me for Lightspeed.

Hobbit's Gollum Lacked Precioussss Vitamins - An offbeat study, released on Sunday, which concludes that the evil characters in J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit" lost their battle against men, elves and dwarves because they suffered from vitamin deficiency. Uh… Rickets. Yeah. (Via David ( Read more... )

Desolation again strikes Tolkien-themed street signs - Ah, Portland. (Via Dad.)

Alfred Shaheen: Pioneer of the Hawaiian Shirt - Oooh! (Via ( Read more... )

Dementia: Terry Pratchett 'angry' with government

Meet Your Body’s Death Eaters - From brain to blood to bone, macrophages take out our cellular trash. (Via Daily Idioms, Annotated.)

Calvin and Hobbes on ebooks - Hahahah.

Twitter’s World - Languages and Twitter.

Prosthetic Arm Found in Second-Hand Shop - Ah, headlines.

Irrefutable Proof that ( Read more... )

Dude, Where's My Accent? - Why the California Vowel Shift may have us all by the tongue. Also this. Snerk. (Via David Goldman.)

Lovebible.pl - Charlie Stross is very funny.

Why Do We Call People Redheads Instead of Orangeheads?

Who Put the O in Portland? - More on the ‘round maps’. I was also struck by this comment: [T]here's scientific evidence ( Read more... )

Nelson Mandela, hero of South Africa, dies at 95 - Sic transit gloria mundi.

United States, Israel opposed Mandela, supported Apartheid - The attempt to make Nelson Mandela respectable is an ongoing effort of Western government spokesmen and the Western media. He wasn’t respectable in the business circles of twentieth-century New York or Atlanta, ( Read more... )

Aging cells share features with cancer - Chemical modifications of DNA look similar in aging and cancerous cells.

Sex versus Cancer - (Via Laurie Mann.)

50 States of Lego - This is cute. (Via ( Read more... )

Milo Fowler is giving away a personalized copy of my new novella from Prime Books, Love in the Time of Metal and Flesh

Famous Novelists on Symbolism in Their Work and Whether It Was Intentional - Boy, do I have a lot to say about this. (Via Beverly Block.)

You, Me, and Every Word We Know - Ta-Nehisi Coates on the languages of labeling, in-groups ( Read more... )