January Linkfest

Winter vacation's over. Back to school with Fritinancy!

Geography

Ever wanted to live on your namesake street? This nifty little app identifies all North American thoroughfares that share "2,000 or so common girl and boy names." Who knew there were more than 900 streets named Nancy? I've never seen even one. (Requires Google Earth download, which is so very worth it.) (Via Kottke.)

That New York Times interactive map of Netflix rentals is fun but surprisingly repetitious: In city after city, people tended to rent last year's Oscar nominees. Much more fun: Slate's zoom lens on the most "eclectic," "idiosyncratic," and just plain weird ZIP code patterns.

Vocabulary

At the Supreme Court, life is one big vocabulary lesson. (Via The Slot.)

Philanthropy 2173, a blog that covers "the business of giving," lists the top 10 philanthropy buzzwords of 2009, from "impact investing" to "move the needle." (Via Irene Nelson.)

History

This year, all the buzz at the Consumer Electronics Show was about e-readers and 3D TV. Here's what they were talking about at CES 2000 and 1990. Why did anyone ever care about making household appliances "talk" to each other? (Via OrangeXW.)

Journalism

Winnipeg-based The Beaver, the 90-year-old magazine of Canadian history, is changing its name to Canada's History to accommodate search engines and deter double entendres. That leaves fans of The Beaver and The Walrus ("Canada's Best Magazine") without a reliable "Wally and the Beav" joke. The National Post lists a bunch of titles that would have been preferable to (yawn) Canada's History, including Castor (French for "beaver"); C Is for Canada, Eh; and Stuff That Happened in Canada. (Via someone on Twitter; I apologize for not remembering who!)

Physical Education

"Of this year’s 34 [college football] bowl games, only a handful did not carry the name of a commercial entity." On the Button, the blog of naming consultancy A Hundred Monkeys, says the most ridiculous name is San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl.

Dramatic Arts

The Dude, forsooth: Two Gentlemen of Lebowski, a "most excellent comedie and tragical romance." The dramatis personae include "Two Nihilists." (Via Hubbit.)

McSweeney's Internet Tendency presents Fragments from Balloon Boy! The Musical. You've gotta love a lyric that rhymes "Mayumi" with "So sue me."

Art

Most relevant identity work of the decade, Brand New's year-by-year recap of logos that made an impression. Pets.com and Napster make the list for 2000.

Home Economics

Play the game: Cheese or font? (Via Word Czar.)

English Composition

RANdom CAPITALization and other secrets of angry letter writing!!!!!!! The Washington Post's Gene Weingarten delicately responds to jerks who sign their letters "An American Patriot." (Via Craig Paridy.)

Trademark lawyer Bob Cumbow has commented on this blog from time to time, usually to set your correspondent straight on legal matters. Now, thanks to the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar, a k a SPOGG, I'm pleased to link to a collection of Bob's essays on language. Although the essays were written for the Washington State Bar Association, non-lawyers will find them readable, valuable, and often amusing.

Comments

[Molly Walker]

Thanks for Gene Weingarten's wonderful column. I have relatives who write all their e-mails in capital letters. I always feel they are yelling at me. Fortunately, they generally don't swear much.

[Erin]

I once lived in a tract with streets all named for places in Ireland, so while I didn't live ON Erin, I lived close to it. (That got included as an honorable mention, I guess, since as far as I know, "Erin" is just the Anglicized Irish name for Ireland, not an actual place name there.)

[DenVan]

Quick note from a Canuck on The Beaver and the Walrus. I Tweeted you the "Wally and the Beave" line after I got it straight from the editor of the Walrus. I assume it's an inside joke at their magazine - which has a fairly small circulation. "Canada's Best Magazine" was/is my opinion, not an official tagline. Cheers.

[Nancy Friedman]

Thanks, DenVan. I commandeered "Wally and the Beav" because it's so darn good. Thanks! ("Beav" is how the nickname was always spelled in connection with "Leave It to Beaver.") And "Canada's Best Magazine" appears on The Walrus's site right next to the date, so I took it for at least a semi-official tagline.