Headlines

Where Do European Country Names Come From?

Word nerd Rob Watts explains where the names of all the European countries come from. Which country is the “land of the rabbits”? Why does Germany have so many different names? Where do the Dutch actually live? What links Croatians and neckties? (via open culture ) Tags:

How the Words We Teach English Language Learners...

How the Words We Teach English Language Learners Changed, and What That Says About Us . “The shifts reflect a life that moved further from its own making: less tied to tools, animals, food…; more tied to global institutions, categories, systems…”

Don’t use AI until you’re 40 . “We have been so...

Don’t use AI until you’re 40 . “We have been so quick to treat access to new technology as an inevitability that we have failed to question whether every powerful tool should be placed in the hands of every developing mind the moment it becomes available.”

Betye Saar Dies at 99

The beloved artist dies just four days before her 100th birthday. Also, Trump crosses a new line in his war against the Smithsonian.

The light narrows

My father’s death sent me to the jiu-jitsu mat. Then came defeat, low testosterone and the lure of a chemical cheat code - by Wes Brown Read on Aeon

The smush

When new creation technologies arrive, they make the best a little worse and the bad a lot better. Desktop publishing made every local garage sale sign a lot more legible, but can’t quite replace the hand-kerned and tweaked typography of the era before. A smartphone in your