http://www.howjsay.com

This site gives (British) pronunciation for any word you enter. It offers a couple of nice extras:

* A list of alphabetical neighbors -- if you enter 'rapid' you'll see a list of words running down the left side of the window with your term highlighted: raphidiomimula, raphidioptera, raphidophora, rapid, rapidity, rapidly, rapidness, rapids, rapier

* The option to display your word in any of a couple dozen languages, supported by Google translate. Sadly, there is no audio for the translated term!

On this date in 1964, an old white guy in a black robe declared the song "Louie, Louie" to be pornographic. That was the same day that the Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" hit the top of the charts.

Tonight it seems very apt to refer to SCOTUS by the name SupremeCo. Count me among the disappointed-but-not-surprised that corporatism has made its most audacious stand ever against democracy on Obama's watch.

David Sedaris on NPR

The featured item is his story of being a Macy's elf at Christmastime, but scroll down for interviews with Sedaris, reviews of his work and other related stories from the NPR archives. (NPR.org is such a great site!)

Forvo.com is a pronunciation guide for a whole bunch of languages, with sound clips of actual speakers, whose geographic location is pinpointed on an accompanying map. Should get better over time as more people participate.

One:

There isn’t much room for bipartisanship when 87.8% of the other party is totally irresponsible.

Two:

My first cut says that the changes to the Senate bill will ensure that we have at least 600,000 fewer Americans employed over the next two years.

The real question now is whether Obama will be able to come back for more once it’s clear that the plan is way inadequate. My guess is no. This is really, really bad.

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And more at The Conscience of a Liberal, Paul Krugman's blog.

It's reassuring to know that Obama probably reads Krugman, and understands what he reads, unlike the Unmentionable One, but I sure hope he is paying attention too. In Krugman's main (ie, non-blog) column today, he pulls together the stuff from the blog into a pretty damning essay, blaming both the administration and congress for what he predicts will be a giant failure.

Top 100 Foods to Aid in Your Productivity

By dan at FoodProof.com