Tabling
The verb tabling means the opposite in British English from its meaning in American English. In the UK, to table an item means to begin discussing it. In the US, to table an item means to postpone discussing it.
Miscellany
Miscellany
How buildings decay
I was at a conference at the University of Portland a few weeks ago, and several of the sessions were held in Franz Hall, the campus' relatively new classroom building. The building and its classrooms have an attractively modern and stylish look. Nothing has been broken, and none of
Miscellany
Japanese cachet
Last year, Sudoku was the big rage among casual puzzle-solvers. At the Deadhead Fred yesterday, I saw a book of "Kakuro" puzzles. The latest new thing. Except that such puzzles already have an unexotic English-language name: Cross Sums. And I did my first one almost 30
Miscellany
Question for my Houston readers
Does this logo look familiar?
Miscellany
Ohio State echoes: comic and tragic
Comic: The Daily Show will be taping next week in one of my freshman-year hangouts. Tragic: A student was crushed to death in an elevator at a residence hall I worked at my sophomore year.
Miscellany
Librarian flash cards
Most license plates in Oregon and Washington are some combination of a three-digit number and a three-letter string. Most three-digit numbers have a subject assigned to them in the Dewey Decimal Classification system. Anyone up for a random roadway test of knowledge?
Miscellany
Puppy-laden
Have you ever seen a phrase in a foreign language and you don't know what it means but you know what it looks like it means? For example: A ballet called "Im Puppenladen". The title obviously means "I'm carrying puppies". And the
Miscellany
Cell phone frustration
My cellphone has two kinds of ringer volume settings: Unhearable and unbearable.
Miscellany
The latest blog quiz
You Passed 8th Grade Math Congratulations, you got 10/10 correct! Could You Pass 8th Grade Math?(Via Jim Henley.)
Miscellany
A certain sense of humor
One of my uncles is a model train builder, and he visits stores that sell parts and equipment to hobbyists. As you probably know, some people spend a lot of time and money getting their model train environments Just Right. Not just the trains themselves, but train stations, streets, towns,
Miscellany
Great line
From Mark Hasty: "The North Dakota State Forest is an eight-foot dowel."
Miscellany
"Me, me, me is dull, dull, dull"
I am not interesting. Neither are you. What we do and can do — that can be interesting. What we know — that can be interesting. What we have seen and read — that can be interesting. What we like and don't like and why — that can be interesting. Our experiences