"The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary."
Gollancz is developing the SF Gateway:
Gollancz, the SF and Fantasy imprint of the Orion Publishing Group, announces the
launch of the world’s largest digital SFF library, the SF Gateway, which will make
thousands of out-of-print titles by classic genre authors available as eBooks.
Building on the remarkable success of Gollancz’s Masterworks series, the SF Gateway
will launch this Autumn with more than a thousand titles by close to a hundred authors.
It will build to 3,000 titles by the end of 2012, and 5,000 or more by 2014.
No clue as to pricing. See the press release for more details and list of participating authors.
The Bulwer-Lytton contest asks for submissions for the first sentence of the worst novel never written.
I don't have an iPhone so have not experienced its - er, quirky - autocorrect feature. Here is a collection of the top 15 funniest text conversations that have been totally given new meaning. Warning - DEFINITELY includes language Not Safe for Work (NSFW).
He's an author I keep meaning to get to, but haven't yet, though this quote makes me more inclined to read him:
"So where do you go to find a researcher who is intelligent, imaginative, skilled in the use of computers, devoted to discovering the truth, and knowledgeable about science, technology, history and literature, and who usually works for dirt and gets credit for nothing?
After lunch I drove down to the city library on Main and asked the reference librarian..."
Catherine Breyer here makes the excellent point that you can't meaningfully judge one religion using the beliefs of another. I would add that not only do people think their beliefs are the right ones, but judge their own religion to be rational while others are irrational, and, in large part, that is because they have grown up with those beliefs and they are familiar.
The Guttmacher Institute is a think tank that works on reproductive rights issues. Here's their article on the record number of laws, most restricting abortions one way or another, that have been passed by Republican-dominated state legislatures this year.
The short answer is yes, and they give the facts about both.
He's pretty blunt, and being a liberal, I entirely agree with him.
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Interesting post from Ed Brayton as to how a society's definitions of morality change over time.
For a variety of reasons, illegal immigration to the U.S. from Mexico is down now to very low numbers.
A post like this is why I like Ed Brayton so much. He talks about the Declaration of Independence and the ideals it espoused - liberty, equality, and justice, and how these are what he pledges allegiance to. I agreee, and appreciate how much I have learned about all three from his blog.
According to this report, which analyzed numerous studies of abstinence only and abstinence only plus (programs which teach abstinence is the only sure prevention of pregnancy and STIs, but does teach about contraceptions as well), shows that abstinence only programs not only do not delay age of first sexual contact or number of sexual partners, but has a negative impact on the use of condoms for prevention. Abstinence plus programs fared better.
Ed Brayton does a great job of showing the layers of bigotry - against any group, though here specifically talking about anti-gay bigotry - and by what process the culture changes to acceptance.
