The New York Public Library's blog is actually a compendium of the many blogs written by its staff, covering a host of curious topics from feathered hats to Julia Child! Check it out here.

Think you know books? Test your smarts with the "It Was a Dark and Stormy Night" game! Listen to the opening lines from novels, poetry, even children's books, and see if you can guess the title or author. Check it out here.

How do you persuade others to see, think, feel or believe in something? ChangingMinds can help. This huge website (2,500 pages and counting) lists disciplines, techniques and explanations related to the art of persuasion. Check out this rich resource.

"Rationalize rhetoric and it speaks to your mind, personify her and she speaks to your soul," announces the online speech bank American Rhetoric. Listen to hundreds of classic speeches on its website by MLK, JFK, FDR and other giants -- and learn from them.

Check out Word, the blog of Writing and Read magazines, which bills itself as "chock full of writing tips, book chats and whimsical word ramblings" put together by the publication's editors. They're not kidding.

Frescata? Bananarcalepsy? Dreadhawk? Any of these ring a bell? They're all entries in a fascinating online project to document "false words" called Fauxlogism. Check out their entire list.

"Literacy, Education and Technology" is the slogan of the Verizon Foundation's Thinkfinity website, "an exciting collection of online educational resources." Exciting, indeed! Partners include the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the International Reading Association, the National Geographic Society, and more. Check out this terrific resource for educators.