NameVoyager

Explore the sea of names, letter by letter...watch trends rise and fall, and dive in deeper to see your favorite name's place in the historical tides.

The Baby Name Wizard's NameVoyager is an interactive portrait of America's name choices. Start with a "sea" of nearly 5000 names. Type a letter, and you'll zoom in to focus on how that initial has been used over the past century. Then type a few more letters, or a name. Each stripe is a timeline of one name, its width reflecting the name's changing popularity. If a name intrigues you, click on its stripe for a closer look.

Launch NameVoyager (requires Java)

Top Ten Favorite Words (Not in the Dictionary)

1. ginormous (adj): bigger than gigantic and bigger than enormous

2. confuzzled (adj): confused and puzzled at the same time

3. woot (interj): an exclamation of joy or excitement

4. chillax (v): chill out/relax, hang out with friends

5. cognitive displaysia (n): the feeling you have before you even leave the house that you are going to forget something and not remember it until you're on the highway

6. gription (n): the purchase gained by friction: "My car needs new tires because the old ones have lost their gription."

7. phonecrastinate (v): to put off answering the phone until caller ID displays the incoming name and number

8. slickery (adj): having a surface that is wet and icy

9. snirt (n): snow that is dirty, often seen by the side of roads and parking lots that have been plowed

10. lingweenie (n): a person incapable of producing neologisms

Son Volt: A Retrospective 1995-2000

Rhino has announced plans to release Son Volt: A Retrospective 1995-2000 on May 24th. The 20-track compilation will feature 5 unreleased tracks alongside album tracks, rarities and demos. Liner notes from veteran rock critic and NPR contributor, Ed Ward, are also included. In conjunction with this compilation, there will be several exclusive tracks available for download on May 24: “Going, Going, Gone” from Switchback ep (Yahoo), “Medicine Hat” acoustic performance from WFUV (Napster), “Driving the View” 4-track demo (Real Rhapsody on May 31st), and “Flow” from Acoustic Café (MSN).

SON VOLT
A RETROSPECTIVE 1995-2000

1: DROWN
2: WINDFALL
3: ROUTE
4: REX’S BLUES
5: LOOKING AT THE WORLD THROUGH A WINDSHIELD
6: TOO EARLY
7: BACK INTO YOUR WORLD
8: PICKING UP THE SIGNAL
9: I’VE GOT TO KNOW*
10: CREOSOTE
11: STRAIGHTFACE
12: TULSA COUNTY
13: DRIVING THE VIEW
14: AIN’T NO MORE CANE*
15: FLOW
16: HOLOCAUST
17: TEAR STAINED EYE (Four Track Demo)*
18: LOOSE STRING (Four Track Demo)*
19: MEDICINE HAT (Live – Acoustic Café)*
20: OPEN ALL NIGHT

*Previously Unissued

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You may be able to give someone a second chance

FRISCO - About three months after his twin boys were born, Mark McCrerey developed full-blown jaundice, accompanied by extreme fatigue and brain encephalitis.

He had been number 168 on the liver donor recipient list - which meant it would have taken about three years to get one.

But when he developed an infection which left him unable to eat or get out of bed, he ended up in the intensive care unit and moved up to No. 1 on the list. Doctors said he would have died within 24 hours had he not received a transplant.

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