From the New Yorker, Animal Tales, what do animals think of humans when they’re talking to each other.

Example, Dalmatians:
  “Hey, look, the truck’s stopping.”
  “Did they take us to the park this time?”
  “No—it’s a fire. Another horrible fire.”
  “What the hell is wrong with these people?”

Kadigan is a term used to describe placeholder words. The ‘kadigan‘ Wikipedia page is all about placeholders.

I LOVE this page.

For instance, a few placeholders for ‘People‘:

Before the wedding invitations go out, everything from the wedding dresses to the wedding rings, the menu and the wedding venue should be decided beforehand, not arranged at the moment, like any regular handbags and totes.

Tip of the hat to Sameer Mishra, winner of the 2008 Scripps US National Spelling Bee tonight. His winning word was “guerdon,” a noun with 14th century Middle English origin, it’s meaning is a reward.

Sameer is an Indiana eighth-grader making his fourth and final attempt to be the nation’s top speller; he bested 288 spellers from around the world.

Go to ABC News for the story.

I guess small towns like Seattle, even though it’s fairly cerebral and book’ish, may never partake in this kind of book event. Good for you San Francisco, hope you enjoyed your Naughty Librarians Convention.

On behalf of geeks everywhere, including those that make passes at girls that wear glasses, we’re looking forward to NLC 2009!

American Book Review has compiled a list of the top 100 best last lines from a novel (PDF). It’s very comprehensive, here’s a few choice endings-

#37 “P.S. Sorry I forgot to give you the mayonnaise” Trout Fishing in America (1967)

#72 “The old man was dreaming about the lions” The Old Man and the Sea (1952)

#77 “Tomorrow, I’ll think of some way to get him back. After all, tomorrow is another day.” Gone With the Wind (1936)