Lizzie, the daughter of slaves, dies at a record-breaking 116 - World - Times Online

In the year Elizabeth Bolden was born, Bram Stoker began writing Dracula, America had fewer than 45 states, and Wilhelm II — Kaiser Bill — had just become Emperor of Germany.

On Monday, Mrs Bolden, the world’s oldest person, died in a US nursing home at the age of 116 and 118 days, leaving behind a very different world to the one she was born into on August 15, 1890.

Language Log: Doublespeak and the War on Terror

A briefing paper entitled
Doublespeak and the War on Terrorism
by
Timothy LynchCato Institute seems to be getting
belated attention. It appeared in September, but this
AP report

by Calvin Woodward came out today. The briefing paper addresses the attempt of the
Bush Administration
to make more palatable its violations of civil liberties by using doublespeak,
e.g. dubbing “warrants” “national security letters” in the hope
that the courts will be fooled into thinking that judicial oversight is not required,
or describing the suicide attempts of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay
(referred to by the Bush Administration as “detainees”, as if they were witnesses to a
traffic accident asked by the police to remain until they could be interviewed)
as “self-injurious behavior incidents”.

of the

the (new) legal writer: One space is enough

Roald Dahl mentions in his childhood autobiography, Boy:

Cadbury’s were using some of the greatest chocolate-bar experts in the
world to test out their new inventions. We were of a sensible age,
between thirteen and eighteen, and we knew intimately every chocolate
bar in existence, from the Milk Flake to the Lemon Marshmallow. Quite
obviously our opinions on anything new would be valuable. All of us
entered into this game with great gusto, sitting in our studies and
nibbling each bar with the air of connoisseurs, giving our marks and
making our comments. “Too subtle for the common palate,” was one note
that I remember writing down.

Writing, Clear and Simple - Notebook - How to Write E-mail that Sucks: An Incomplete Guide

E-mail is an essential part of the modern communications toolkit. If you want your e-mail messages to almost-but-not-quite-completely fail to live up to their potential, here are some tips you can follow at your own peril…

Guardian Unlimited Books | News | New research indicates Johnson gave up on his dictionary

Leading expert claims that Dr Johnson abandoned his dictionary for several years - without telling his publishers

TNPC Blog » Blog Archive » How To Read A Book - Mortimer J. Adler

I recently found myself discussing and recommending How to Read
A Book by Mortimer Adler. [Faraz: Me too.] I keep coming back to that book since
it had a such a large impact on my life. In a nutshell the book
shows you how to read a book and extract the meaning inside of
it. Obviously, this doesn’t have to apply only to books. The
techniques work just as well with all forms of communication.