by

Wordy Birdie on Twitter

From the Twitter Blog:

“Wordy Birdie is a game that works within Twitter. The creator, Dan Grigsby, describes it as ‘part buzzword bingo, part drinking game.’ You earn points by predicting what words people you follow will use in their updates.”

I haven’t played, but it looks fun. Another example of how Twitter is “the right kind of stupid,” as Jacob Harris admiringly put it. Which is to say, it’s simple and has a good API, so it lends itself to creative reuse.

Some Wordies have taken it upon themselves to create games, an effort I heartily applaud. And I’m all ears if anyone has any suggestions for “official” Wordie games. Ideally they’d be simple both to play and to code, and wouldn’t require much in the way of moderation or refereeing. Suggestions in the comments, s’il vous plaît.

by

Takes All Types

One more digression: Takes All Types is the best Facebook app I’ve ever seen. It takes our social networks and uses them as the basis for a national blood donation network. Sign up, let them know your blood type, and they’ll notify you when blood is needed in your area. Such a simple idea, but so powerful.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

by - 2 Comments

Andreessen on Obama

I try to avoid talking about politics on both Wordie and Errata, with mixed results. Likewise I try to stay on the topic of language and words, or at least in the ballpark.

But Marc Andreessen’s latest post is just too interesting not to pass on. So to paraphrase Leslie Gore, it’s my blog, and I’ll repost Andreessen if I want to.

In early 2007 Andreessen spent 90 minutes talking privately with Obama, before the media frenzy made that impossible for normal people (not that Andreessen is all that normal). He writes eloquently about the very positive impression Obama made on him, and about how Obama comes across in an unguarded setting. It’s an enlightening post, and will have a particularly strong impact on Andreessen’s post-Boomer cohort.

Despite the fact that Andreessen apparently contributed to Mitt Romney’s campaign (wtf?), I’m going to take a flier. You heard it here first: Obama/Andreessen ’08.

by - 4 Comments

Staircase Bookcase

This is the least practical staircase ever. Tabbed treads to throw off eye and foot. Stripped lines all over the place, and in every plane, to toy with your depth perception. Clearly an ankle breaker.

As for the books, they must get punted all the time. And a typical stair riser is not more than 7″ high, which means nothing but smallish trade paperbacks under there.

Still, it’s totally awesome, and I want one. Park a bookinist at the top, and you’re in the catbird seat.

by - 2 Comments

On OUPblog: Reading the OED, An Interview with Ammon Shea

The good people at OUPblog asked me to pinch hit for Ben Zimmer yesterday. The very thought of living up to a real live lexicographer sent me into a paroxysm of fear, so I punted, to mix bad sports metaphors, and sent them an interview I did recently with author Ammon Shea.

I had planned to run it in Errata, but Ammon’s most recent book is about reading the OED, all 21,730 pages of it, which he did last year. That heroic effort seemed ideally suited to an OUPblog post, so that’s where it went. I got the book itself the other day, and will post specifically about it closer to its August publication date.

This is the first of what I hope will become a regular feature: the Errata “Legends of Lexicography” interview series.

by - 2 Comments

Donald, I’m Sorry

I just checked a rarely-used account of mine, and read for the first time an email from Keith M. Urbahn, an aide to Donald Rumsfeld. He sent an audio file of the speech I mocked Rumsfeld for last month.

I stand by some of my mockery–comparing email and talk radio is silly–but Rumsfeld does not say “pods,” as quoted in Sharon Weinberger’s original post, which I in turn quoted. He clearly says “blogs,” which makes a lot more sense. I should have hunted down the original audio sooner. Weinberger, too, has updated her post with the correction.

Enough time has passed that I figured this merited a new post, in addition to updating the original. This is a blog about words, so I should try to get them right, and correct myself when I don’t. I apologize for the error.