A librarian opens a book and finds a mysterious invitation scribbled on the back of a business card. Another discovers a child’s letter to the Tooth Fairy, tucked into a book decades ago. What stories are left untold by these forgotten...
The autocomplete function on your phone comes in handy, of course. But is it changing the way we write and how linguists study language? Also, suppose you could invite any two authors, living or dead, to dinner. Who’s on your guest list and...
After hanging out with San Diego sailing enthusiasts, Martha picked up several bits of slang and jargon. Catenary describes the desirable curve of an anchor chain, from Latin catena, meaning “chain.” A chain that is not pulled up...
A physicist is curious about the term learning curve. He pictures it as a pair of axes. But if that’s the case, what’s X and what’s Y? This is part of a complete episode.
beam blade n.— «What about your wiper blades? We are seeing fewer cars with blades in brackets that resemble a bridge. Snow has a way of jamming the bracket hinges, leaving only a narrow contact patch with the windshield. Winter blades...
tail risk n.— «“Tail risk,” as it is known to quantitative traders, for where it falls in a bell-shaped probability curve. Tail risk, broadly speaking, is whatever financial cataclysm is believed by markets to have a 1 percent chance or...