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Virtual Verduria
Incatena

Linguistics

• sci.lang FAQ Frequently asked questions about linguistics
• The numbers 1 to 10 in over 5000 languages.
• Deriving Proto-World with tools you probably have at home. And whether you should bother.
• How likely are chance resemblances between languages? - Quite likely, really.
• Proto-World and the Language Instinct Two dubious ideas working dubiously together
• Hau to pranounse Inglish: The real rules of English spelling
• Writing English Chinese-style Because English spelling is a pain
• When do people learn languages? And how to make them learn yours
• Mangling Foreign Dialects: a manual from 70 years ago

  Specific languages

• Fun facts to know and tell about Quechua
• Amerindian words in English
• Arabic words in English
• English words from Chinese
• English words from India
• Hiragana flashcards: Gotta learn 'em all!
• Hanzi flashcards - Get to learnin'!
• Devanāgarī flash cards
• Flash cards for Hebrew

Language Construction

• The Language Construction Kit
• SCA² - The Sound Change Applier: To apply a set of sound changes to a lexicon
• gen - a Javascript language generator
• phono - A phonology builder
• Syntax Toys: ggg, gtg , mg
• Messing with Markov
• Hergé's Syldavian: a grammar

• ZBB : my conlanging / conworlding forum

• My own conlangs can be found here
• Writing English Chinese-style Because English spelling is such a pain
• Cyroman - a mixed Roman/Cyrillic font

Comics

• Women in Comics
• Jaime Hernandez Chronology
• Jaime Hernandez Character Index
• Love & Rockets Links
• Exploring French comix with gun and camera
• A roundup of Latin American comics Getting beyond Mafalda, if you've got that far
• Bob's Comics Reviews - all the comics worth reading
• Fuschia Chang comics: Fuschia takes on chat, comics stores, Asians in comics, evil, etc.
• Swatoons Skeevy little bits of #spinnwebe
• What the translators did to Ranma

Culture

• E-Z home test: Are you an American? Plus many more culture tests: French, German, Brazilian, Scottish, Japanese, Indian, Australian, Verdurian...

• It's the cities, stupid: Jane Jacobs on cities
• Some Faye Wong lyrics in English
• Quel con ce Baudrillard (English/français)
• Trip to Brazil Plus travel pictures!

Diversions

• Horselover Fat's Page o' SpinnStuff: Spinnwebe- and DFC-related pages

• The Zompist Phrasebook. The last phrasebook you'll ever need
  In more languages! - In Chinese
• They Thought You'd Say This : Unlikely phrases from real phrasebooks
• English As She Is Spoke vs. Babelfish! Do humans or machines translate worse?
• The Excuse-O-Mat 3,000,000 ready-made apologies for all occasions.
• The Names of Alchemy - What's butter of antimony? Flower of zinc? The Green Lion?
• Un Chien Spinndalou The #spinnwebe crowd Hollywoodizes Buñuel
• What will happen when you meet Lore And you know you want to.
• The Not My Desk Interview
• The Readers' Commentary on the Not My Desk Commentary
• Great Rock Group Names
• The Quotations File: One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven
• The Chicago Reader Review-O-Mat Unlimited pedantry on demand!

Books

• Recent reading is over at my blog
• Facts from my bookshelf
• Heinlein : The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
• Asimov : The Foundation Trilogy
• Asimov + : Beyond the original trilogy
• Banks : Excession
• Stephenson: Snow Crash
• Dick vs Scott : Do Sheep Run in Electric Dreams?
• Godwin : The Cold Equations
• Lynch : Thought Contagion
• Lewis & Herman : Mangling Foreign Dialects
• Baudrillard : L'Amérique
• Jacobs : The Economy of Cities etc.
• Smith : The Wealth of Nations
• Piketty: Capital in the 21st Century

Editorials

• Keep up to date over at my blog
• Why liberalism works - and why plutocracy doesn’t
• The morality of liberalism
• Privilege: A User Manual
• How to argue with Zompist: or, Social Skills 101
• What's still wrong with Libertarianism Or, distinguishing sci fi from poli sci; v3.0
• The Bible on the poor: Or, why God is a liberal
• Fascism: What is it? Not updated for the actual fash era.
• The last century: what the heck was that? Finally, I explain everything
• U.S. Interventions in Latin America
• Traveler's Guide to the U.S. Elections 2000 and 1996: Making sense of America's favorite quadrennial sport
• What Bob and Newt don't want you to know about welfare
• Is government evil?

Science

• Facts from my bookshelf
• Understanding the Chinese Room Searle's response to AI
• 12 reasons to toss the Turing test
• Crib Notes for the Turing Test
• The new pseudo-science of memes
• The history of chemistry on Earth and Almea
• The nearest stars - A conworlder's guide
• All about e - Fun facts to know and tell about e

Science Fiction

• Recent reviews are here
• Two sf classics (Bester, Lem)
• Books by Tim Powers
• Is science killing science fiction?
• Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
• Psychohistory: Was Hari Seldon pulling our legs?
• Forward and Backward with the Foundation
  All those Foundation books beyond the original trilogy
• Neal Stephenson: Snow Crash
• Do Sheep Run in Electric Dreams? Comparing the visions of Dick and Scott
• The cold readings: Don't blame it on physics

  Stories

• Rights for Robots What happens to the beta?
• The Fire Shall Try: The world after our regrettable deaths
• The rogues: A forgotten deity is not harmless
• Against Peace and Freedom: buy my novel

Games

• Recent games are covered on my blog
• How to take over the world Well, in Civ2
• Winning at Civ3 sometimes
• How to do better at Civ4 than you probably were
• Oblivion Journal
• Extra fun with the Sam & Max video game

 

My books

The Language Construction Kit   Advanced Language Construction   The Planet Construction Kit   The Conlanger's Lexipedia   The Syntax Construction Kit   The Religion Construction Kit   China Construction Kit • India   Against Peace and Freedom   In the Land of Babblers • Atlas

Virtual Verduria

Almea is a fantasy world with insanely detailed languages, history, religions, and maps. Find out how a country run by artists works, or a female-dominant society, or an empire run by sea creatures. Or try the Almeopedia.

The Incatena

Meet the Incatena — A s.f. universe featuring STL travel and thousand-year lifespans. A good place to begin is the Areopolis text adventure. Then you can start the novel.

The fine print

Created by Mark Rosenfelder. Powered by Trader Joe’s chocolate chips. Some background info. Also how to get in touch.

Except where noted, entire contents © 1996-2026 by Mark Rosenfelder.