blanketfort

[listen] - added a list of podcasts to the music page (at right, middle). radiolab, sound opinions, this american life, quirks & quarks, ideas, definitely not the opera, and others. further suggestions welcome.

[words] - the politically incorrect alphabet

Derek Abbott's (international) Animal Noise Page. Hear how they sound at bzzzpeek and Sounds of the World's Animals. (via)

Didacticism - "... In this sense, the Bible is didactic because it offers guidance in moral, religious, and ethical matters. It tells stories of the lives of people that followed Judeo-Christian teachings, and stories of people that decided to go against God and the consequences that they faced." So the bible is the world's oldest chain letter!

Poems showing the absurdities of English spelling

you know, that thing...

Umwelt. See also: Reality tunnel and World view and Veil of perception

[words] - BBC | Tingo, nakkele and other wonders. more on the same book, The Meaning of Tingo, at the independant. and a followup. and a followdown.

I'm continually surprised at how many people don't know what a blanket fort is.

Playboy. In Braille. (via)

The Constructed Languages Portal at Wikipedia.

weltanschauung is not healthy at all it may be preferable to take the centrist position and bite into the intact cookie

teal teal teal. (fie on your aquamarinecobaltturquoise. fie!)

[lists] - 33 Things To Do Before You Turn 10 (more/via)

List of unusual personal names
Lists of tropical cyclone names
also At ABBA, Go Left to SpongeBob, on the naming of the martian landscape. (via)

Rarely-Used, Underrated English Words

Category: Fictional deities. i like the third image at Invisible Pink Unicorn, soo geeky.
Category: Fictional characters by nature. i dont know why, but Fictional Vegetarians just sounds funny.

List of fictional books. larger list at The Invisible Library.

[words] - to live by.
Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt's Oblique Strategies deck of cards. (see also the Stratigraphy, and samples from the 4th edition)

Bruce Mau's An Incomplete Manifesto for Growth (and textism's annotated mockery)

Sheldon Kopp's Eschatological Laundry List. The illustrated book version, No Hidden Meanings, comes packaged with photographs by Claire Flanders. recommended, and thoroughly out-of-print.

Jeremy Bushnell's possible moves : An evolving list of strategies for group improvisation

Marvin Gardens's Correctional Facility

Rules for "Playing on the Edge" (very bottom of page)

Edward De Bono on Simplicity

all in reply to Brad Zellar's pondering "what words I would teach my parrot". Which has since branched into an "exhaustive cultural study of parrotology"

[speechifyin'] - Commencement speeches:
FlyLittleBird.org - "A searchable archive of commencement speeches." Also a research project to analyze the archives for collective wisdom.

Humanity.org - "The art of the commencement speech, an archive. Outstanding speeches from 1936 to 2005."

a selection of (mostly recent) celebrity speeches: Steve Jobs, Jon Stewart, David Foster Wallace, Will Ferrell, Warren Beatty, Conan O'Brien, Mr. (Fred) Rogers, and an old one by Bill Watterson.

Samuel L Jackson ended his speech by reading Dr Seuss's Oh, the Places You'll Go!

C-Span is hosting archives of this summer's speeches (realvideo). (these generally range from bad to worse)

the fiasco that was Arnold Schwarzenegger's Speech.

and the urban-legend of the sunscreen speech.
- -
just plain speechifyin' (non-commencable):
American Rhetoric: Top 100 Speeches by Rank

[words] - this post dedicated to my friend and former english teacher, Ken Jon Booth, who rocked the smock (née shopcoat).
smock
smock
smock
smock
smock
smock
smock
"In the Rutherford Library the professional librarians, at least those working with the public, usually wore neat blue smocks. So the blue smock, for Kathy, had become a symbol; a symbol of service to that great portion of humanity which struggled to lift itself from the mire of ignorance through reading."
smock!

[words] - Referential Communication with an African Grey Parrot. for anyone into psychology.

[words] - Meme, intro blurb and list of examples

[ontology] - Corkscrew Classification Methodology (via the redesigned Coudal)

[words] - Self-Annihilating Sentences

[words] - Omniglot - a guide to abjads, alphabets, syllabaries and other writing systems and Shoyen Manuscript Collection - Palaeography

[words] - petrichor and more

[words] - Dictionary of All-Consonant Words and All-Vowel Words

[words] - David Foster Wallace Parody Finalists

[words] - Word Up - Which dictionary is the best?

[words] - Nearly extinct whistling language revived

[language] - gilroy's grammar cubes

[language] - Bilingual conversations

[words] - snatches of conversation. also some good horoscopes

[yay] - "Distraction and curiosity are the two ultimate sins, outward signs of that impatience which has always prevented man from rediscovering the gate of paradise" - Roberto Calasso

[wander] - Labyrinthos - Labyrinth Resource Centre - Caerdroia. lost. (not who are all)

[language] - BBC - Doctor slang

[writing] - The Modern Word - Contest #1: Imaginary Book Review.

[writing] - bIPlog: Revolution is not an AOL Keyword (via slashdot) (now with added hyperlinks!)

[courage] - The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts. -- Bertrand Russell

[words] - lexical fun, google gloss

[words] - Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary.
MAN, n.
  An animal so lost in rapturous contemplation of what he thinks he is as to overlook what he indubitably ought to be. His chief occupation is extermination of other animals and his own species, which, however, multiplies with such insistent rapidity as to infest the whole habitable earth and Canada.

[all the way down] - connotation implication derivation ramification insinuation extrapolation permutation

[words] - knowledge is power. (sounds masonic if you ask me)

[word] - Farnbauer Gabor - English translation of "Az ibolya illat" p. 1

[librarians] - They're not what you think.

[oook!] - sexiest sentence alive contest w/prize

[reminder] - Return your Attention. [Attention!] to the Modern Word. Scan the list of authors, and see what thee fancy strikes.

"The Manifesto is a product of many minds." Humanist Manifestos I and II. Futurism: Manifestos and Other. The Rights of Man to His Own Madness and more. Manifestos for the New Millenium.
play with your paradigm too much and it might break. this too, is good.

[anagram] - So if power corrupts, how does one give the people power without giving the people power? comedycar.
thanK doG for the internet. source of real life humour and despair.

Dictionary.com/expostulate

Bök Bök Bök.

The Skeptic's Dictionary: A Guide for the New Millennium. But should people be dissuaded from their superstitions if they do no harm? One person's neurosis is another's personality trait...

A Handbook of Rhetorical Devices. Procatalepsis. Pleonasm. Sententia. Antanagoge.
yum :)

quote o' the day from giro.org: "The problem, folks, is that there's been this sudden outbreak of Real Life lately"