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We're Humans Too Word of the Day : personnel
This noun suffered a setback in frequency when human resources became the term of art for departments responsible for employment, but it lives on in military contexts to distinguish it from materiel, and to designate people required or desired for a particular task.
How to Make Money Writing for the Web
My company, Articulate Marketing, helps big tech companies communicate better about their products and services. A large part of my work is writing editorial-style content for websites. My credentials are my work for HP, Microsoft, eBay and others. In the past couple of weeks, several people have asked me for advice about becoming a web copywriter, so here it is.
For Younger Writers
Books to inspire young writers to tell their own stories. The Young Writer's Companion Writing Magic What's Your Story? Live Writing
Dictionaries Roll Out New Words
Dictionary publishers don't get too many opportunities for creating PR buzz, but one surefire way of getting some attention is to announce the new words (and new senses of old words) that have been added in the latest update to a particular dictionary. In the past few days there have been new-word announcements for two major dictionaries, one in the US and one in the UK: Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (11th edition) and the Concise Oxford English Dictionary (also in its 11th edition, coincidentally enough). Let's take a look at what they're adding.
Legal Eagles
Lawyers and language don't have to be adversaries. Some blogs to help transcend legalese. The Party of the First Part Legalwriting.net Set in Style The (New) Legal Writer
Vocabulary Instruction: The Non-Amorphous Shape of Word Knowledge
The other day, my two teenage sons cajoled me into watching a movie they both find tremendously amusing. The film is not new. It's called Kangaroo Jack, and features Christopher Walken playing a small-time thug named Sal. Although Sal is the head of a bumbling crime family, he feels very insecure about his word knowledge, and throughout the film he is seen making a desperate attempt at self-improvement through the use of a tape-recorded vocabulary tutorial. In my favorite scene, a soothing female voice on Sal's tape player defines the word amorphous — having no shape or form, and then directs Sal to use the word in a sentence. Sal responds with this beauty: "After Joey Clams got whacked, his head was amorphous."
Mailbag Friday: "Hot Dog"
Welcome to the latest installment of Mailbag Friday, our new feature for answering readers' questions about word origins. For this special Fourth of July edition, we have a very timely query from Jason B. from Wilmington, DE. "I've heard a lot of stories about the origin of 'hot dog.' What's the frank truth? I await your answer with relish."
When You Reeeaaallly Want to Say Something
How can the Visual Thesaurus help students replace trite words of emphasis with "words strong in themselves"?
Capitol Words
Want to find out Topic A in the U.S. Congress on any given day? Check out Capitol Words, which computes the most frequently appearing word in the daily record. While Congress is out of session, you can browse through previous hot topics.
Web Usability and Copywriting: Making Your Visitors Feel at Home
A website is a strange beast — it is your reception area, your office, your shop, your brochure, your catalogue... And all without being able to walk into it, sit down in it, touch it. But just as you wouldn't want your customers to get lost on the way to a sales meeting in your offices, or to leave your shop in frustration because they can't find the goods they're looking for, so it is crucial that the visitors to your website can find their way around your website and get to where they want to go as easily as they can follow a sign, open a door, reach onto a shelf. The science of designing sites that work for visitors is known as usability.
Pitching Your Novel
How do you get a novel published? Some books to help you perfect your pitch. The Sell Your Novel Tool Kit Making the Perfect Pitch Give 'Em What They Want How to Publish Your Novel
Found in Translation
"Circumstances almost compel us to learn English, and this lucky accident has given us the opportunity of access into the richest of all poetical literatures of the world." It sounds like an idea that could be expressed today, but it was in fact written almost 75 years ago by a great artist who is our guest this month in the Poetry Corner.
Book Review Blogs
The book review sections of major newspapers are branching out to the blogosphere. Washington Post: Short Stack New York Times: Paper Cuts The Guardian: Books
Skedaddle, Scadoodle, Skidoo, Skadoosh!
In Sunday's Boston Globe I fill in for Jan Freeman, who writes a regular language column called "The Word." My topic is a silly new word that appears in the movie "Kung Fu Panda": skadoosh. It came from the fertile mind of Jack Black, voice of Po the Panda, who was inspired by an equally silly old slang expression, 23 skidoo. And skidoo probably came from scadoodle, which in turn is a variant of skedaddle. Whew!
The Visual Thesaurus Crossword Puzzle: June Edition
There's an extra-fiendish twist to this month's crossword puzzle. Figure it out and you could win a Visual Thesaurus T-shirt!
Introducing... The VT Spelling Bee!
We're very pleased to announce a brand-new feature: the Visual Thesaurus Spelling Bee! Taking advantage of our high-quality audio pronunciations, we've created a quiz that will sharpen your spelling skills and expand your vocabulary. And as everyone here in the office can attest, the quiz is downright addictive.
Acting American
Which British television actors are best at pulling off American accents? Readers of BBC's Radio Times give cheers to Hugh Laurie of "House" and jeers to Michelle Ryan of "Bionic Woman."
A Contretemps over Newspaper Vocabulary
The "Letters to the Editor" section of the Los Angeles Times has featured some heated discussion about what kind of vocabulary is suitable for printing in a newspaper. And no, this doesn't have anything to do with the "seven dirty words" famously satirized by the late lamented George Carlin. Instead, it's about some moderately challenging vocab items that you might expect to find on a Visual Thesaurus word list.
Are Newspapers Dying?
Journalism experts grapple with how the newspaper industry can survive the digital age. The Vanishing Newspaper Digital Journalism -30-: The Collapse of the Great American Newspaper Digitizing the News
Jane Austen Blogs
The cult of Jane is as strong as ever. Take a stroll through these blogs for all things Austenian. Jane Austen Today Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict Austenprose Jane Austen's World Austen-tatious
Those Who Do Not Know History Are Doomed to Fail English, Part II
Okay, y'all, last month's column wore me out. So I turned off the interweb, rested my mouse-clickin' hand, and took a nap with Julie Andrews' wonderful memoir, Home, on my chest. Now, as I promised, I'm back with more resources to help teachers get their students to grasp literature through historical context.
Mailbag Friday: "Bamboozle"
Welcome to a new feature on Word Routes: Mailbag Friday! This is where we answer your questions about the origins and evolving usage of words and phrases. If you've got a burning question, just click here and we'll do our best to address it in a future installment of Mailbag Friday. First up is Lisa W. of Smyrna, DE, who writes: "Our youngest son earned the nickname 'The Bamboozler' at an early age, for his uncanny ability to outwit his unsuspecting parents. That got me thinking, where does the word bamboozle come from?"
Pop Vs. Soda
Forget about red states and blue states... what really divides Americans is whether they call carbonated beverages pop or soda. (Or coke if you're in the South.) Check out the detailed maps on The Great Pop vs. Soda Controversy to see where the battle lines are drawn on this contentious question.
Roget's Legacy: Thesaurus as Tool, Thesaurus as Crutch
In part one of our interview with Joshua Kendall, we explored how his new book The Man Who Made Lists: Love, Death, Madness, and the Creation of Roget's Thesaurus illuminates the mental world of Peter Mark Roget, a man who escaped the disorder of his personal life by creating a very orderly thesaurus. In the second and final installment, Josh discusses the publication of the first edition of Roget's Thesaurus in 1852 and the lasting legacy of his monumental reference work, both for good and for ill.
How to Self-Edit
Successful writers of fiction need to master the fine art of self-editing. Here are a few books to help you clean up your prose. Line by Line: How to Edit Your Own Writing Self-Editing for Fiction Writers Write Great Fiction: Revision And Self-Editing
Thinking about Tim Russert, Red States and Blue States
The untimely passing of Tim Russert, host of NBC's Meet the Press, has led many to reminisce about his lasting influence on political reporting. Some obituaries mentioned that Russert has been credited with popularizing the terms "red state" and "blue state," to refer to states favoring Republican or Democratic candidates. Though Russert's memorable analysis of the twists and turns of the 2000 presidential election no doubt played a significant role in popularizing the "red/blue state" designations, the history of the color coding is surprisingly complicated.

Below, you'll find extensive information on leading webster dictionary articles and products to help you on your way to success.

A True Review Of Comparison Shopping With A Mobile Phone
By Michael Brito

Today, many consumers who make purchases online won’t buy anything until they consult with a comparison shopping website first such as Shopzilla, Cnet.com, or Shopping.com. They understand that comparison shopping ensures that they are getting the best deal around, which is what most value conscious shoppers want after all. However, with today’s social and lifestyle pace being faster than ever, there is a growing need for comparison shopping on the go. Sure, there are laptops and wireless connections all over the place, but the average person is more likely to leave home with their cell phone instead of their laptop. So, the need for comparison shopping using a mobile phone was answered and there are several ways to take advantage of this new technology.

Google SMS

Google recently launched a new service that allows U.S. mobile phone users to tap into its search results via the short message service (SMS) infrastructure. Users send queries to GOOGL or 46645 and receive results on their phones. The service returns directory information about local businesses via Google Local and provides price comparison shopping information through Froogle.com. It also lets users search for residential phone numbers, definitions and Web search results snippets. Google SMS also does calculations, area code look-ups and ZIP code look-ups. Results usually come within a minute, and are text-based only.

This is a great alternative to wasting gas money and time driving all over the city looking for the best deal.

Frucall

Launched in March 2006 as the first price-comparison mobile service using voice, Frucall allows consumers to compare retail store prices with prices for the same products on Amazon.com

New Mammal Discovered in TanzaniaRedOrbit, TX - 7 hours agoAlthough it has become a rare occurrence in the modern time, scientists recently reported the discovery of a new species of mammal in the Journal of Zoology ...New shrew-like mam
Nature.com (subscription), UK -The grey-faced sengi is so large, by elephant shrew standards, that it proved too big for the traps that Francesco Rovero, of the Trento Museum of Natural ...<br/><br/>::
Rare shrew-like mammal found in TanzaniaLIVENEWS.com.au, Australia - 37 minutes agoThe discovery would be formally announced in the February 4 issue of the Journal of Zoology. Scientists say discoveries of new mammals are rare and ...Hum
RedOrbit, TX -4 issue of the Journal of Zoology, suggests the new species is confined to two high-altitude forest blocks in the mountains of south-central Tanzania.<br/><br/>::
Disappearing languagesUniversity at Buffalo Reporter, NY - 1 hour agoGood says that from a scientific standpoint, the work of linguists today is like that of early botanical and zoological explorers and collectors who went ...Fossil rep
UConn Daily Campus (subscription), CT -Since childhood, Wells studied the breeding courses of toads, and decided in high school to pursue zoology. He studied zoology at Duke University and ...<br/><br/>::
Disappearing languagesUniversity at Buffalo Reporter, NY - 1 hour agoGood has conducted fieldwork on other African languages and worked on the Comparative Bantu Online Dictionary and a lexical database for the Turkish ...Hats off to voc
Sunday Herald, UK -He is searching for a dictionary, one of 100, and mostly first editions. His fingers run along the spine of a Dr Johnson, past Jamieson's Scottish ...<br/><br/>::
Stanford to get papers of paleontologist GouldSan Jose Mercury News, USA - 21 minutes agoStanford staff traveled to Gould's Manhattan home and his office at Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology to pack up about 50 boxes before shippi
Ocean Pines Independent, MD -While you may not have heard the term yet, coined by Richard Louv in his 2006 book Last Child in the Woods, you've surely witnessed the tell-tale symptoms ...<br/><br/>::
Chirps made by hummingbird are actually created by its tailScience Centric, Bulgaria - 29 minutes agoClark and recent UC Berkeley graduate Teresa J. Feo, both with UC BerkeleyA s Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, report their findings in thi
San Francisco Chronicle, USA -The upgrades will cost the city's Recreation and Park Department about $1 million, said Yomi Agunbiade, the department's general manager. ...<br/><br/>::
HCM City poor children to enjoy happy TetNhan Dan, Vietnam - 2 hours agoThe Vietnam News Agency reported that at the festival, organised by the Ho Chi Minh City Education Newspaper, local poor children will have a make chung ...Zoo gears
Dissident Voice, CA -America A s 29th ranking in science education can, in part, be laid at the feet of our creationist/biblical literalists parading about as those righteous ...<br/><br/>::
How the hummingbird got his whistleiAfrica.com, South Africa - 1 hour agoChristopher Clark and Teresa Feo of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at the University of California at Berkeley set up high-speed video cameras and a ...How the hu
PhysOrg.com, VA -The Research Fellow then worked closely with Dr Peter MA ller and Professor JA rgen Nielsen of the Zoological Museum, University of Copenhagen, and Professor ...<br/><br/>::
How the hummingbird got his whistleDaily News &amp; Analysis, India - 16 hours agoChristopher Clark and Teresa Feo of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at the University of California at Berkeley set up high-speed video cameras and a ...T
The Free Lance-Star, VA -by Jonas Beals Around Thanksgiving, Storrs Olson, senior scientist in the Division of Birds at the Museum of Natural History, received notice that he had ...<br/><br/>::
The rodent to ruin?BBC News, UK - 11 hours agoThe Scottish Wildlife Trust and the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland have submitted an application to the Scottish minister for the environment to bring ...Dr. Norman W. VogelLock Haven E
CBS 13, CA -Zoological Society board chairman Nick Podell told the committee: &quot;Under no circumstances is it OK for an animal to escape. There is no excuse and the focus ...<br/><br/>::
The rodent to ruin?BBC News, UK - 19 hours agoThe Scottish Wildlife Trust and the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland have submitted an application to the Scottish minister for the environment to bring ...Lions and tigers back on displa
San Francisco Chronicle, USA -&quot;Under no circumstances is it OK for an animal to escape its enclosure,&quot; said Nick Podell, chairman of the San Francisco Zoological Society, the nonprofit ...<br/><br/>::
SOCIAL IN BRIEF 30/1VietNamNet Bridge, Vietnam - 48 minutes agoAt the festival, to be organised by the Ho Chi Minh City Education Newspaper, local poor children will have a make Chung (sticky rice) cakes or arrange ...MSU scholars receiv
MSU State News, MI -A m happy to see Bush go,A education freshman Lukas Darnton said. A I have fairly liberal views, and I disagreed with a lot of his points of view.A Zoology ...<br/><br/>::
State of the County
Milwaukee Small Business Times, WI -At the zoo, we completed a $30 million capital campaign with the Zoological Society of Milwaukee. The US Bank Gathering Place will open this spring and the ...<br/><br/>::
All-American day for Davis coupleDaily Democrat, CA - 41 minutes agoBy KATHY KEATLEY GARVEY/Special to The Democrat New American citizens Walter Leal, right, professor and chairman of the Department of Entomology and his ...Milwaukee Co.
San Jose Mercury News, USA -... public viewing and wire mesh fencing surrounded by foliage, said Yomi Agunbiade, general manager of the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department. ...<br/><br/>::
Climate is teach-in topic at MATC, UWThe Capital Times, WI - 8 minutes agoThis is education at its finest,&amp;quot; said James Pawley, professor of zoology at UW-Madison. &amp;quot;It represents the enormous power that youth have when t
Charlotte Observer, NC -The zoological collection was originally collected by recently retired UNCC professor Edmond Menhinick. UNC Charlotte's Venture Outdoor Education Department ...<br/><br/>::
How the hummingbird got his whistleDaily News &amp; Analysis, India - 3 hours agoChristopher Clark and Teresa Feo of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at the University of California at Berkeley set up high-speed video cameras and a ...Th
High Plains Journal, KS -... US Department of Agriculture, and Paula Cushing, department chair and curator of invertebrate zoology at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. ...<br/><br/>::
The Creationist Buffoonery and Its Dangerous ImplicationsDissident Voice, CA - 5 hours ago... since Charles DarwinA s 1859 book On the Origin of Species, scientists of relevant disciplines such as cosmology, astronomy, geology, biology, z
Pittsburgh Post Gazette, PA -9:25 AM A Little Black Book '04. Brittany Murphy. To learn more about his past, a young woman interviews three of her boyfriend's former sweethearts. ...<br/><br/>::
Ethos of the Forum is shared wisdomnebusiness.co.uk, UK - 2 hours agoHer North-East credentials are strong too A Judith graduated from Durham University with a degree in zoology, trained on regional newspapers as a journalist ...A new s
Guardian Unlimited, UK -Zoological names are monitored by a committee based in the museum: with millions of species yet to be discovered, described and named, this is a complex ...<br/><br/>::
Orissa seals Bengal borderCalcutta Telegraph, India - 30 minutes agoNandankanan zoological park authorities have stopped procurement of chicken to prevent the possible conta- mination of bird flu to the zoo inmates. ...Pakistan's Univers
Medical News Today (press release), UK -... recently published work in zoology or paleontology - goes to JENNIFER A. CLACK, professor and curator of vertebrate paleontology, department of zoology, ...<br/><br/>::
Hats off to vocabulary buildingTulsa World, OK - Jan 25, 2008The result was an educational extravaganza of words, from amphibian and arachnid to zeppelin and zoology. Fourth-grader Gerald Garner fashioned an Egyptian ...Photos: Tibor Jag
Sunday Herald, UK -He is searching for a dictionary, one of 100, and mostly first editions. His fingers run along the spine of a Dr Johnson, past Jamieson's Scottish ...<br/><br/>::
Did Giant Reptiles Share the Earth with Giant Humans?Canadian National Newspaper, Canada - 22 hours agoSome of the specimens were sent to the American Investigating Museum. A . . . In December 1886, WH Scoville of Andrews Settlement disco
High Plains Journal, KS -... US Department of Agriculture, and Paula Cushing, department chair and curator of invertebrate zoology at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. ...<br/><br/>::
Student scientists use their initiativeMedill Reports, IL - Jan 24, 2008... materials science, mathematics, microbiology, physics and zoology. Robert Reynolds, coordinator for the Area 1 fair, called the projects A fabulous. ...NMMU, Bay
Scoop.co.nz, New Zealand -A gifted storyteller, activist and teacher she will be in conversation at Pataka Museum. LetA s not forget the NZ Post Writers and Readers Schools Day ...<br/><br/>::
Tourism threatens Darwin's labSarasota Herald-Tribune, FL - 4 hours agoAccording to a May report by the Darwin Foundation, &amp;quot;Galapagos at Risk,&amp;quot; of which Watkins, a zoologist and ecologist, was a co-author, the islands'
24 Hour Museum, UK -The site of the Walter Rothschild Zoological Museum is also home to the ornithological research collections (Bird Group, Department of Zoology) and the ...<br/><br/>::
Fulfilling her dreamKannapolis Independent Tribune, NC - 4 hours agoPaquette called the facility a A roadside zoo,A a pejorative in the zoological community, because of JaunakaisA refusal to be overseen by the American ...Tourism threaten
MorungExpress, India -The Rangapahar Wildlife Sanctuary &amp; Zoological Park, a total area of 8809 Ha (21768.4 acres) of Rangapahar Forest was declared a Reserve Forest in 1924. ...<br/><br/>::
Herbarium collection loaned to countyCharlotte Observer, NC - 5 hours agoThe zoological collection was originally collected by recently retired UNCC professor Edmond Menhinick. UNC Charlotte's Venture Outdoor Education Department ...Fred
MyFox Memphis, TN -He is considering majors of ecology, geology and zoology. A His idea is he more he can be out in the public he better off heA s going to be, so people will ...<br/><br/>::

and online comparison shopping service Yahoo Shopping, directly from their mobile phone. It’s a simple solution that sidelines many services that offer price comparison results to be sent via text message. Even better, is that consumers can soon buy products directly from their mobile phone, assuming they have registered and have a valid credit card in their profile. Frucall enables consumers in the midst of examining retail aisles to call a toll-free number (888-FRU-SHOP) and input the product’s barcode. Within approximately 10 seconds, the caller gets a confirmation of the product name and the price of the product as listed online. Currently, the service compares prices for products from a variety of categories available on Amazon including automotive supplies, books, electronics, jewelry, movies, music, tools and pet supplies. There are even features that will allow consumers to save purchase history, makes notes, and reminders.

Lastly, is that Frucall be accessed from any phone and since the results are not returned via SMS, there are no text messaging fees that sometimes occurs with Google SMS.

Conclusion

With cell phones being as popular as socks, and everyone from age 10 to 100 having one, there is no surprise that mobile phone comparison shopping services are taking off. It is a simple concept that brings tremendous value for consumers who are looking to save a few dollars; and they can now feel confident about making the right purchasing decision, online or offline.

To learn about online comparison shopping tools, please visit: http://www.frucall.com.

Michael Brito is a freelance writer/internet marketer for a variety of consumer goods and services. Visit: http://www.michaelbrito.com