Besides writing the monthly Language Lounge column, distinguished lexicographer Orin Hargraves creates our unique "themed" Words of the Day. Subscriber Marije Martijn recently sent us this comment on the word "Stipple," which ran on July 24th:

I just had to be my pedantic self and comment on the word of the day: if you want to thank someone for the root "stip" of your verb 'to stipple', you should thank the Dutch. I admit, there is also a German word "Stipp," but "stip" is a Dutch word. There is even a Dutch verb, "stippelen," i.e. "to dot." I don't know of a German verb like that. But then, I am not German, so there may very well be such a verb. Best wishes, Marije

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Lisa Napoli, a senior reporter on public radio's Marketplace, has led a busy 20-year career as a journalist, covering diverse stories like the first Clinton campaign, the culture of the Internet and NASCAR racing; producing for CNN and Fox; writing for the New York Times; appearing on MSNBC; and, of course, telling stories on the radio. With Lisa's broad experience, we here at the Visual Thesaurus wondered how she writes differently for the ear -- and what we can learn from it. So we called up Lisa and asked her.

VT: What's unique about writing for radio?

Lisa: You have to get a lot of information across with very few words -- and you have to write it like you'd speak it. That sounds really simple but you're usually not taught to write conversationally. You have to make sure you read your stuff out loud. If it doesn't make sense when you say it, it's not conveying any information.

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We asked our Bad Language columnist Matthew Stibbe to tell us the top blogs on his "must surf" list. He says:

I scan over a hundred every day so it's hard to pick the good ones but I make a point of reading these four carefully.

Samuel Pepys's diary. This a blog created from the diaries of the famous historical figure.

Lifehacker. Neat geeky tricks for making life more efficient.

Guy Kawasaki. Always provocative and entertaining.

Presentation Zen. Really nice website about making presentations.

The Academy of Achievement, an organization that brings students face-to-face with the "greatest thinkers and achievers of our age," compiled a list of books that have impacted the lives of remarkable people. Read the entire list here. A few examples:

James Earl Jones recommends The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Jonas Salk, MD, recommends The Island Within by Ludwig Lewisohn

Author Peggy Noonan recommends The Moviegoer by Walker Percy

Explorer Sylvia Earle recommends Galapagos: World's End by William Beebe

In 1998, when my husband announced that he'd been invited to Oxford University for a year, I made an announcement of my own. I was having a mid-life crisis, thank you very much. Therefore, I wished to stay in Arizona and write fiction.

Unlike most normal red-blooded American women of a certain age, I hate to travel, unless it's to a familiar place, to see people I already know. For me, travel is an opportunity to be reacquainted with my dearest anxieties: flying, packing, shipwreck, public toilets, nameless indigenous insects and being stranded without lunch by the thief in the American Express commercial.

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What role do blogs play in the classroom? How do they change learning? A teacher -- and blogger -- tackles this question on his education-focused website Borderland. He writes: "Education bloggers understand that the deployment of new publishing tools in classrooms unhinges learning from the frame of the traditional classroom. When students change from recipients of information to active participants in knowledge exchange and construction, their roles as learners are redefined. The definition of classroom is opened for debate." Read the entire entry here.

We asked Katie Raynolds, the amazing high school student we interviewed about words, language and books, to recommend her favorite reads to fellow students. Here's what she wrote:

I love anything by Ray Bradbury, like Fahrenheit 451, and especially his short story anthology The Illustrated Man. I also recommend Alexandre Dumas's The Count of Monte Cristo, which has a lot adventure and not too many crazy words that others may struggle with. I admit, many of the books I read would not suit boy readers, but they're still good! An example would be Stargirl. This book may be better for girls, and it's a little better suited for girls that are younger than I, but it changed my life. Holes is also a really, really good book -- the author ties every detail to another plot point, and it's incredibly smart. And of course, there are the popular Harry Potter books and the Lord of the Rings series, which are an acquired taste but are, in the end, a joy to read. I know that some of these titles are obvious suggestions, but they're great, great books!!!