Over at Language Log there's been a nice little kerfuffle over celebrity linguists. A commenter twitted¹ the denizens of Language Log Plaza for not paying sufficient attention to Noam Chomsky. So they paid her, and him, the slightly backhanded compliment of discussing, at perverse length, the Ch...

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If I were in the least bit insecure about this blog, I would welcome comments like this one:

First of all thank you for a such wonderfull topic, well i have to say it is difficult for me to say if i agree with you or not. I will read it for a second time and let you know what i think

Sure, i...

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If Malthus is wrong, then why is it necessary to prove him wrong again and again, every decade and every century?

Answers on a postcard, please.

It's a scandal! Jonathan Eisen says that Hollywood is making a movie tentatively entitled Tree of Life. Plot summary?

In a mystical world of folklore, several individuals embrace in a race to find the Tree of Life, said to give immortality, fertility, and other supernatural powers.

Eisen w...

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“I’ve joined a gym,” said a friend and colleague. We agreed that this was a good thing, then she said that she hoped she’d keep it up. Cue my Inner Economist.

“What you need is something that’ll hurt if you don’t go,” I said. “Like a contract, and if you don’t go, you pay me.”

Not much happene...

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