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Internets! Never leave me again. I was without internet access at home for about 36 hours, and I’m telling you, it was 35 hours and 59 minute too long. I survived by scrounging wifi from the neighbours and doing everything on Aeryn, but Aeryn is tiny. So, um, reading the damning email James Murdoch replied to on the Guardian website was kind of hard. Speaking of which, seperis has a post about that, and also about Napoleon. She’s not comparing James Murdoch to Napoleon or anything, they just happen to be the two subjects of her post (I'm fairly sure Napoleon, were he transposed to the present day, would READ his emails before replying to them).

And there was a really neat reply by sorrelchestnut here. I know comparatively little about Napoleon and the Napoleonic Wars. Rec me good books on the subject, dear readers. I have one rec already, the oh-so-imaginatively titledNapoleon: A Biography by Frank McLynn. Do others concur with this rec? If not, do they have different bio recs? What about more general books about the period? I anticipate having some gift cards to Chapters and Amazon after Christmas Day, so help me spend them. Preferably before New Year's Day, when I will make my annual resolution to quit buying books. And will probably keep said resolution for at least a month.

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Moving away from unexciting family matters, have zingerella's hilarious tale of The Five Messiahs.

Or on a more serious note, have Everyone Speaks Text Message, an article about how computers and cell phones are breathing new life into previously dying languages. In many cases, speakers are saving languages which have never been written down by inventing alphabets for them, allowing them to write in previously oral-only languages. If you have trouble with the NY Times website, as some do, the full text of the article is also archived here.

And finally, ignipes has gorgeous photos of galaxies.