Today’s Podcast

I cannot apologize enough for the dearth of recent posts.
Today I came across an interesting word in an editorial by Cory Doctorow at the New York Times. Cory’s editorial draws our attention to cheap programmable microchips that allow nearly anybody with an idea for a simple electronic device, say a whimsical watch or [...]

PlayI came across today’s word in David Pogue’s New York Times Circuits email newsletter. The word is inanity. When I first read it I suspected it was a typo; that Pogue meant insanity. As the author of many typos I was quite excited to find a typo in a New York Times [...]

Oubliette, this word popped up on two sites in one day so I had to include it in a podcast.
Oubliette, as you can probably tell from the sound of oubliette is a French noun. An oubliette is a dungeon or cave with only an opening at the top. A hole in the [...]

Happy Mardi Gras! Today I would take a little time to discuss Mardi Gras, Ash Wednesday, Carnival and Lent.
Lent is the forty day Christian fasting season leading up to Easter. Christians, particularly Catholics, mark the period by giving up meat or some pleasure or comfort.
Carnival is the two week celebration leading up [...]

I heard Felicity Huffman use the word equanimity on NPR’s All Things Considered. Felicity Huffman plays Lynette on Desperate Housewives and recently received an Oscar nomination for her staring role in Transamerica- the story of a man who becomes a woman then discovers she has a teenage son.
The interview focuses on motherhood [...]