pinchbeck (PINCH-bek) noun An alloy of zinc and copper, used as imitation gold in jewelry. adjective Counterfeit or spurious. [After watchmaker Christopher Pinchbeck (1670-1732), who invented it.It’s ironic that today his name is a synonym for something counterfeitbut in his time his fame was worldwide, not only as the inventor ofthis curious alloy but also […]

“That’s right. I never told Frank about the Graemlings. Did you ever hear the stories about gremlins the pilots tell? Little goblins that got onto planes and wrecked them?” “But–“ “Well, it turns out the legend had some basis in fact. The Graemlings did exist, but they’re gone now. A completely different race. Not human

Ray tied her shoes last night! She kept saying things like, “It’s too hard for my fingers.” But she laughed her way through the tricky process–success! I made her untie them and do it again–and she did it again! She will probably have to learn it again today. Her fingers do not know how to

Cooool. The pep talk for NaNo this week is from Neil Gaiman. I was so thinking about doing this last night, but then, I don’t have an agent: The last novel I wrote (it was ANANSI BOYS, in case you were wondering) when I got three-quarters of the way through I called my agent. I

A man is dining in a fancy restaurant and there is a gorgeous redhead sitting at the next table. He has been checking her out since he sat down, but lacks the nerve to talk with her. Suddenly she sneezes, and her glass eye comes flying out of its socket toward the man. He reflexively

…with two bad jokes preceeding, just to let you down easy.

I have now passed the 25K mark, one day early! “Frank,” Nancy joked, “I’m unpredictable. Ellen just does things for reasons you don’t understand. I think it’s because she likes people and she wants them to be happy. Me? I could care less.” “You?” Frank asked. “I know you too well. You’re the predictable one.”

I had no idea that 1) Daft Punk has been around that long or 2) the tropes in the Charleston were so similar to modern dancing (including breakdancing).

Back in college, I had some friends that were always joking about making “organic techno,” or electronica-sounding music just using their mouths. (They weren’t very good. They only had one song, which went on interminably. But it was funny.) This is actually called beatboxing these days. Mix Bobby McFerrin with techno, there you go. Kid

What’s a chateau? A château (plural châteaux) is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor or a country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally – and still most frequently – in French-speaking regions. Where clarification is needed, a fortified château (that is, a castle) is called a