Once upon a time, my husband and I went to Vienna on a vacation and fell in love. Not with each other -- we'd already done that -- but with the city.  Continue reading...

Over on Separated by a Common Language, Lynne Murphy has her own trans-Atlantic twist on the usual Word of the Year selections. Make your nominations for "Best American to British import" and "Best British to American import."

How can playing the Visual Thesaurus Spelling Bee help students improve their spelling?  Continue reading...

Mark Twain, lauded by many as America's greatest humorist, has a strong online presence nearly a century after his death.

Following the Equator

Mark Twain's Mississippi

The Mark Twain Project

Twain Quotes

Practice matters. That not-so-profound thought occurred to me while I was standing on the edge of a field recently, basking in the warmth of a glorious autumn afternoon and watching my 14-year-old daughter play soccer.

Okay, let's be honest, I wasn't standing so much as sitting in a lawn chair. I was also contemplating how much more fun it would have been if I'd thought to fill my water bottle, which was opaque, with something made from, say, hops. It's tough being a soccer mom, lipstick or not.  Continue reading...

The leaves have fallen and there's a chill in the air, so that could mean only one thing: Word of the Year season is starting! This year, the New Oxford American Dictionary kicks things off with its annual choice: hypermiling, meaning "attempting to maximize gas mileage by making fuel-conserving adjustments to one's car and one's driving techniques."  Continue reading...

No U.S. politician who professes to be an agnostic can hope for much of a career: a majority of Americans require their elected representatives to take the deity very seriously and insert "God bless America" into every speech. But in the world of business, and especially in high technology, agnostic isn't just accepted, it's practically — well, revered.  Continue reading...