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... )

Being right or being happy: pilot study - Which kind of reminds me of my “justice versus peace” parable I sometimes tell. (Via David Goldman.)

Was Dickens’s Christmas Carol borrowed from Lowell’s mill girls? - A new discovery by literary scholars highlights an unexpected inspiration. (Thanks to Dad.)

Stunning photography of man's mightiest shame ( 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... )

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Tolkien - Daniel Larison is very unhappy with Peter Jackson. I pretty much agree with his points, though I am perhaps less vociferous in my articulation thereof.

Literary self-loathing: How Jonathan Franzen, Elizabeth Gilbert and more keep it at bay - Really? Yeah, maybe for them, but I’m with Scalzi on this one. ( Read more... )

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

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

Skip the Supplements - I can tell from long experience as a cancer patient being treated with chemotherapy, all those ‘natural’ supplements can be a real problem. Many of the things people take thinking to protect their body can also protect the cancer from the effects of chemotherapy, for example. Good luck figuring that out by talking to anyone ( Read more... )

Civilization and Its Stoplights - Interesting. I have found myself falling on both sides of this question over the years.

Twitter Reverts Changes To Blocking Functionality After Strong Negative User Feedback - Uh, yeah.

California to Test GPS Earthquake Warning System

Simulations back up theory that Universe is a hologram - A ten-dimensional ( Read more... )

I now have a screening and intake appointment at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, on December 30th. Due to a combination of flight availability and a desire to have a margin of error in case of severe weather issues, Dad, Lisa Costello and I are flying east several days earlier. As we are working on multiple tracks at ( Read more... )

NSA forces novelist to scrap book - Hah. Charlie Stross from the other end of the telescope. (Via Dad.)

Hubble Space Telescope Sees Evidence of Water Vapor Venting Off Jupiter Moon - (Via Bruce Taylor.)

What You Get When You Pour Molten Aluminum Into An Ant Hill - Wow…

Strange gelatinous creature gives hints of the first animals on Earth - The ( Read more... )