It's a question I've often pondered when hearing foreigners talk in an unfamiliar tongue: What does American English sound like to someone who doesn't understand the language? Italian singer Adriano Celentano has the answer. In 1972, Celentano wrote the song "Prisencolinensinainciusol." Its lyrics are almost complete gibberish, but they're made to sound like English, so curious American listeners can better… Read More >>

Our Beautiful World and Universe, a Facebook "community page about Mother Nature," never fails to delight with its gorgeous images of wildlife and natural beauty. I stumbled on the page a few months ago and have since been treated to extraordinary photos of everything from peacocks to pandas, deep sea life to polar ice caps, cute critters to awe inspiring vistas.

When I have a chance, I also like looking at the comments from all over the world—in English, Russian, French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, you name it: proof that nature's beauty is a great unifier.

Our Beautiful World and Universe's  posts are like a mini vacation, and they're a welcome break from the political arguments, dopey apps, and "I just ate a piece of toast" updates from Facebook friends. Like, like, like.

As my co-workers can attest, I spend a good part of most work days with ear buds firmly in place (nothing personal, guys). Depending on my mood and goals for the day, the tunes I stream can range from my favorite radio station, Seattle-based KEXP, to a new album on repeat (currently Bobby Womack). I can't imagine my life or work without music. So when I saw this… Read More >>

This is spooky...and fascinating: Design magazine Demilked recently featured Canadian artist Jon Rafman's "Nine Eyes of Google Street View" project, so named because of the number of cameras that capture each moment on Google Maps. Rafman took virtual strolls around real-world locations captured by Google, and the scenes he found are bonkers. There's an apparently abandoned baby outside of a Gucci store, a police stop, a trapped dog, and much more. The whole endeavor could be… Read More >>

Even casual comic strip fans will enjoy The Comics Curmudgeon, Josh Fruhlinger's brilliant daily breakdown of the funny papers.  Mary Worth, Mark Trail, Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, the Beetle Bailey crew —they're all here and they're all fair game for Fruhlinger's zingers, wisecracks and deadpan analysis. Writing about this recent Blondie strip, he observes: "Dagwood’s look of befuddlement… Read More >>

As we prepare to kick back over the long Labor Day weekend, 227 American athletes are in London to compete for Team USA in the largest Paralympic Games yet, which started yesterday. With more athletes competing from more countries before more spectators than ever before, the 2012 edition of the Gameshas generated unprecedented buzz. The Team USA roster is particularly impressive, with… Read More >>

These colorful cookies—first spotted on Pinterest (below), and then tracked to She Knows—were apparently made for Cinco de Mayo, but pinatas and surprises have year-round appeal, right? Here's the deal: After you make the crazy striped dough, punch out shapes, and bake the cookies, you use frosting to stick three cookies together. But first, you cut a hole out of… Read More >>

I love the subject of character names. So much depends on what an author decides to call the people in a book. Huckleberry Finn, for instance, may be the most American name ever, with connotations of jam and immigrants. Plus, it leads to the good old diminutive, Huck. Who better to float down the Mississippi on a raft than a kid named Huck? And the classic…

If you’re a writer in need of names, or just curious, you might want to look at a fun and useful piece published on Amazon's Omnivoracious blog called A King Named Sue: Picking Perfect (Character) Names. There's advice about how common a name should be, or how unusual, even how names with different numbers of syllables have different impacts.

For my money, the all-time best author for names is Charles Dickens. Murdstone. Pecksniff. The Veneerings. Jarndyce. Wackford Squeers. Uriah Heep. Dick Swiveller. Havisham. The thing about all of these is that they all could be real, but each carries connotations of character or situation that are indelible. One doesn’t have to have a sham wedding to be a…

Have you seen any of the sobering anti-texting-and-driving commercials for AT&T’s “It Can Wait” campaign? The heart-breaking videos of such unimportant text messages as “Yeah” (above) or “Where R” that drivers received during fatal or debilitating car crashes are enough to make me want to turn off my phone entirely while I drive, although I admit I’ve yet to take that… Read More >>

Life seems easy for NASA's Curiosity Rover. After landing on Mars on August 6, 2012, it blasted Will.i.am.'s new song Reach for The Stars (luckily, no neighbors complained), snapped some pictures, and watched a whole lot of these insane blue sunsets. And when it's not kicking up dust and being spied on from outer space, it's Tweetingto over 1 million fans. But could all of this fun be a cover for Curiousity Rover's… Read More >>