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<HTML> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text-html; charset=utf-8"> <HEAD> <TITLE>Mark Rosenfelder's Metaverse</TITLE> <link REL="SHORTCUT ICON" HREF="favorite.ico"> <META HTTP-EQUIV NAME="Pragma" CONTENT="no-cache"> <style> @font-face {color:#404040; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Verdana";} b {font-family:"Verdana";} p {font-family:"Verdana";} h2 {color:#FF862B; font-family:"Verdana";} li {font-family:"Verdana";} td {font-family:"Verdana";} </style> </HEAD> <BODY BGCOLOR="#ebf0df" LINK="#323f0f" VLINK="#657636"> <form action="http://www.google.com/cse" id="cse-search-box" name="theform"> <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript"> var whichShown = "recent"; function show(item) { if (item != whichShown) { var theItem = document.getElementById(item); theItem.style.display = "block"; theItem = document.getElementById(item + "tag"); theItem.style.fontWeight = "bold"; if (whichShown != "") { theItem = document.getElementById(whichShown); theItem.style.display = "none"; theItem = document.getElementById(whichShown + "tag"); 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Find out how a country run by artists works, or a female-dominant society, or an empire run by sea creatures. Or try the <a href="http://www.almeopedia.com/almeo.html">Almeopedia</a>. </td> <td></td> <td bgcolor="#F2EED1"> <img src="areo-thumb.gif" align="left" > <a href="incatena.html">Meet the Incatena</a> — A s.f. universe featuring STL travel and thousand-year lifespans. A good place to begin is <a href="mars/index.html">the Areopolis text adventure</a>. Then you can start <a href="apaf.html">the novel</a>. </td> </table>  <table width="100%"> <tr><td colspan="10"> </td></tr> <tr><td colspan="10" bgcolor="#546132">Read all the things (mouse over) </td></tr>  <tr bgcolor="#7e8b5b"> <td><div id="recenttag" onmouseover="show('recent');" style="cursor: pointer;">Recent</div></td> <td><div id="linguisticstag" onmouseover="show('linguistics');" style="cursor: pointer;">Linguistics</div></td> <td><div id="conlangstag" onmouseover="show('conlangs');" style="cursor: pointer;">Conlanging</div></td> <td><div id="comicstag" onmouseover="show('comics');" style="cursor: pointer;">Comics</div></td> <td><div id="diversionstag" onmouseover="show('diversions');" style="cursor: pointer;">Diversions</div></td> <td><div id="culturetag" onmouseover="show('culture');" style="cursor: pointer;">Culture</div></td> <td><div id="bookstag" onmouseover="show('books');" style="cursor: pointer;">Books</div></td> <td><div id="sciencetag" onmouseover="show('science');" style="cursor: pointer;">Science</div></td> <td><div id="editorialstag" onmouseover="show('editorials');" style="cursor: pointer;">Editorials</div></td> <td><div id="sftag" onmouseover="show('sf');" style="cursor: pointer;">Sf</div></td> </tr> <tr bgcolor="#dee5cc"> <td colspan="10">  <div id="recent" style="display:block"><UL> <a href="tzhuro.html">Grammar of Tžuro </a> <a href="basfahe.html">Basfahe: lower-class Verdurian </a> <a href="bob69.html">Bob on Paradox Girl, Catwoman, Chwast </a> Grammar of <a href="sarroc.html">Sarroc </a> <a href="firstwar.html">The First Dhekhnami War</a> <a href="meck.html">The Middle East Construction Kit</a> is here! Bob reviews <a href="bob67.html">Dick Tracy </a> <a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/58271313">The Bhöɣetan family</a> <a href="classics.html">Two sf classics (Bester, Lem)</a> Grammar of <a href="naviu.htm">Obenzayet </a> Bob reviews <a href="bob66.html">Incal, Brazen, Moomin </a> <a href="vermodern.htm">Modern/future terms in Verdurian </a> <a href="lm/index.html">The Langmaker book is here! </a> <a href="flash-hebrew.html">Flash cards for Hebrew</a> <a href="powers.html">Books by Tim Powers </a> <a href="mars/hanying.html">Hanying Creole</a> & <A href="mars/modern-hanying.html">Modern Hanying <A href="phono.html">Phonology Builder</a> <A href="blender.html">Blender for Conworlders</a> <a href="nyccult.html">New York City culture test by John Cowan</a> Syntax Toys: <a href="ggg.html">ggg</a>, <a href="gtg.html">gtg</a> , <a href="mg.html">mg</a> <a href="verdurian.htm">Verdurian grammar rewritten</a> <a href="privilege.html">Privilege: A User Manual</a> <a href="libmoral.html">The morality of liberalism</a> <a href="Le-spirituality.html">Beic religion</a> <a href="maraille.html">Maraille: a D&D idea stack</a> </ul></div>  <div id="comics" style="display:none"><UL> <li> <a href="comicswomen.html">Women in Comics</a> <LI> <A HREF="loveroc1.html">Jaime Hernandez Chronology</A> <LI> <A HREF="Lovinchar.html">Jaime Hernandez Character Index</A> <LI> <A HREF="lovelinx.shtml">Love & Rockets Links</A> <LI> <A HREF="frenchy.html">Exploring French comix with gun and camera</A> <li> <a href="tiras.html"> A roundup of Latin American comics </a> Getting beyond Mafalda, if you've got that far <LI> <A HREF="bob.shtml">Bob's Comics Reviews</A> - all the comics worth reading <LI> <A HREF="zhang.htm"> Fuschia Chang comics</A>: Fuschia takes on chat, comics stores, Asians in comics, evil, etc. <li> <a href="toons.html">Swatoons</a> Skeevy little bits of #spinnwebe <LI> <A HREF="ranma.html">What the translators did to Ranma</A> </UL></div>  <div id="culture" style="display:none"><UL> <LI> <A HREF="amercult.html">E-Z home test: Are you an American?</A> Plus many more culture tests: French, German, Brazilian, Scottish, Japanese, Indian, Australian, Verdurian... <li> <a href="jacobs.html">It's the cities, stupid</a>: Jane Jacobs on cities <LI> <A HREF="faye.html">Some Faye Wong lyrics</A> in English <LI> <A HREF="baudri.html">Quel con ce Baudrillard </A> (English/français) <li> <a href="viagem1.html">Trip to Brazil</a> Plus travel pictures! Old games stuff <a href="http://zompist.wordpress.com/category/games/">(new stuff here)</a> <li> Winning in <a href="winciv2.htm">Civ2</a> <a href="winciv3.html">Civ3</a> <a href="civ4.html">Civ4</a> <li><a href="oblivion.html">Oblivion Journal</a> </UL></div>  <div id="linguistics" style="display:none"><UL> <LI> <A HREF="langfaq.html">sci.lang FAQ</A> Frequently asked questions about linguistics <LI> <A HREF="numbers.shtml">The numbers 1 to 10 in over 5000 languages</A>. <LI> <A HREF="proto.html">Deriving Proto-World with tools you probably have at home</A>. And whether you should bother. <LI> <A HREF="chance.htm">How likely are chance resemblances between languages?</A> - Quite likely, really. A statistical investigation. <li> <A HREF="langorg.htm"> Proto-World and the Language Instinct </A> Two dubious ideas that work dubiously together <li> <a href="spell.html">Hau to pranounse Inglish</a>: The real rules of English spelling <LI> <A HREF="yingzi/yingzi.htm">Writing English Chinese-style</A> English spelling is such a pain-- why not use logograms instead? <li> <a href="whylang.html">When do people learn languages?</a> And how to make them learn yours <li> <a href="dialect.html">Mangling Foreign Dialects: a manual from 70 years ago</a> Specific languages <LI> <A HREF="quechua.html">Fun facts to know and tell about Quechua</A> <LI> <A HREF="indianwd.html">Amerindian words in English</A> <li> <a href="arabic.html">Arabic words in English</a> <li> <a href="chinawords.html">English words from Chinese</a> <li> <a href="indiawords.html">English words from India</a> <li> <a href="flash.html">Hiragana flashcards</a>: Gotta learn 'em all! <li><a href="flash-hanzi.html">Hanzi flashcards</a> - Get to learnin'! <li><a href="flash-nagari.html">Devanāgarī flash cards</a> <li><a href="flash-hebrew.html">Flash cards for Hebrew</a> </UL></div>  <div id="conlangs" style="display:none"><UL> <LI> <A HREF="kit.html">The Language Construction Kit</A> <li> <a href="sca2.html">SCA² - The Sound Change Applier</a>: A Javascript program to apply a set of sound changes to a lexicon <li><a href="gen.html">gen</a> - a Javascript language generator <li><A href="phono.html">phono</a> - A phonology builder <li>Syntax Toys: <a href="ggg.html">ggg</a>, <a href="gtg.html">gtg</a> , <a href="mg.html">mg</a> <li><a href="markov.html">Messing with Markov</a> <LI> <A HREF="syldavian.html">Hergé's Syldavian</A>: a grammar <li><a href="http://www.verduria.org/">ZBB</a> : my conlanging / conworlding forum <li>My own conlangs <a href="virtuver.htm">can be found here</a> <LI> <A HREF="yingzi/yingzi.htm">Writing English Chinese-style</A> English spelling is such a pain-- why not use logograms instead? <li><a href="cyroman.html">Cyroman</a> - a mixed Roman/Cyrillic font </UL></div>  <div id="diversions" style="display:none"><UL> <li> <a href="spinn.html"> Horselover Fat's Page o' SpinnStuff: </a> Spinnwebe-related pages, including DFC stuff, and a map of #spinnland <LI> <A HREF="phrases.html">The Zompist Phrasebook</A>. The last phrasebook you'll ever need <a href="phrases2.html">In more languages!</a> - <a href="phrases3.html">In Chinese</a> <li> <a href="thought.html">They Thought You'd Say This </a> : Unlikely phrases from real phrasebooks <li> <a href="spoke.html">English As She Is Spoke vs. Babelfish!</a> Do humans or machines translate worse? <LI> <A HREF="excuse.html"> The Excuse-O-Mat </A> 3,000,000 ready-made apologies for all occasions. <LI> <A HREF="chemical.htm">The Names of Alchemy</A> - What's butter of antimony? Flower of zinc? The Green Lion? Dephlogisticated air? <li> <A HREF="andalou.htm"> Un Chien Spinndalou </A> The #spinnwebe crowd Hollywoodizes Buñuel <li> <a href="http://www.spinnoff.com/swhc/FF-Morgreth.html">The sun starts sinking as the party sits there in the sand not doing much </a> D&D or something <li> <a href="lore.html">What will happen when you meet Lore </a> And you know you want to. <li> <a href="notmydesk.html">The Not My Desk Interview</a> <li> <a href="nmd.html">The Readers' Commentary on the Not My Desk Commentary</a> <LI> <A HREF="rockers.html">Great Rock Group Names</A> <LI> The Quotations File: <A HREF="quotes.html">One,</A> <A HREF="quotes2.html">Two</A>, <A HREF="quotes3.html">Three</A>, <A HREF="quotes4.html">Four</A>, <A HREF="quotes5.html">Five</a>, <a href="quotes6.html">Six</a>, and <a href="quotes7.html">Seven</a> <LI> <A HREF="reader.html">The Chicago Reader Review-O-Mat</A> Unlimited pedantry on demand! </ul></div>  <div id="books" style="display:none"><UL> <li>Recent reading is <a href="https://zompist.wordpress.com/category/books/">over at my blog</a> <li> <a href="facts.html">Facts from my bookshelf </a> <LI> <A HREF="heinlein.html">Heinlein : The Moon is a Harsh Mistress</A> <LI> <A HREF="psihist.html">Asimov : The Foundation Trilogy</A> <LI> <A HREF="asimov.htm">Asimov + : Beyond the original trilogy</a> <LI> <A HREF="excess.html">Banks : Excession</A> <li> <a href="snow.html">Stephenson: Snow Crash</a> <li> <a href="android.html">Dick vs Scott : Do Sheep Run in Electric Dreams?</a> <li> <a href="cold.html">Godwin : The Cold Equations </a> <li> <a href="memes.html">Lynch : Thought Contagion</a> <li> <a href="dialect.html">Lewis & Herman : Mangling Foreign Dialects</a> <LI> <A HREF="baudri.html">Baudrillard : L'Amérique </a> <li> <a href="jacobs.html">Jacobs : The Economy of Cities etc. </a> <li><a href="smith.html">Smith : The Wealth of Nations</a> <li><a href="piketty.html">Piketty: Capital in the 21st Century</a> </ul></div>  <div id="editorials" style="display:none"><UL> <li>Keep up to date <a href="https://zompist.wordpress.com/category/politics/">over at my blog</a> <li><a href="liberalism.html">Why liberalism works - and why plutocracy doesn’t <li><a href="libmoral.html">The morality of liberalism</a> <li><a href="privilege.html">Privilege: A User Manual</a> <li><a href="arguing.html">How to argue with Zompist: or, Social Skills 101</a> <li> <a href="libertos.html">What's still wrong with Libertarianism</a> Or, distinguishing sci fi from poli sci; v3.0 <li> <a href="meetthepoor.html">The Bible on the poor</a>: Or, why God is a liberal <li> <a href="fascism.html">Fascism</a>: What is it? Are we in danger? <li> <a href="restructure.html">Reconstituting America</a> Five ideas to begin <li> <a href="predic.htm">The last century: what the heck was that?</a> Finally, I explain everything <LI> <A HREF="latam.html">U.S. Interventions in Latin America</A> <LI> <A HREF="eguide.html">Traveler's Guide to the U.S. Elections 2000</A> and <a href="election.html">1996</a>: Making sense of America's favorite quadrennial sport <LI> <A HREF="welfare.html">What Bob and Newt don't want you to know about welfare</A> <LI> <A HREF="gummint.html">Is government evil?</A> </ul></div>  <div id="science" style="display:none"><UL> <li> <a href="facts.html">Facts from my bookshelf </a> <li> <a href="searle.html">Understanding the Chinese Room</a> Searle's response to AI <LI> <A HREF="turing.html"> 12 reasons to toss the Turing test </A> <li> <a href="crib.html">Crib Notes for the Turing Test</a> <li> <a href="memes.html">The new pseudo-science of memes</a> <li> <a href="versci.htm">The history of chemistry </a> on Earth and Almea <li><a href="nearstars.html">The nearest stars</a> - A conworlder's guide <li><a href="trig.html">All about e</a> - Fun facts to know and tell about e </ul></div>  <div id="sf" style="display:none"><UL> <LI> <A HREF="killsf.html">Is science killing science fiction?</A> <LI> <A HREF="heinlein.html">Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress</A> <LI> <A HREF="psihist.html">Psychohistory: Was Hari Seldon pulling our legs?</A> <LI> <A HREF="asimov.htm"> Forward and Backward with the Foundation </A> All those Foundation books beyond the original trilogy <LI> <A HREF="excess.html">Iain M. Banks' Excession</A> <li> <a href="snow.html">Neal Stephenson: Snow Crash</a> <li> <a href="android.html">Do Sheep Run in Electric Dreams?</a> Comparing the visions of Dick and Scott <li> <a href="cold.html">The cold readings</a>: Don't blame it on physics Stories <LI> <A HREF="robot.htm">Rights for Robots</A> What happens to the beta? <li> <a href="fst.html">The Fire Shall Try</a>: The world after our regrettable deaths <li><a href="rogues.htm">The rogues</a>: A forgotten deity is not harmless <li><a href="apaf.html">Against Peace and Freedom</a>: buy my novel </ul></div>  <div id="games" style="display:none"><UL> <li> <a href="http://zompist.wordpress.com/category/games/">Recent games </a> are covered on my blog <li> <a href="winciv2.htm">How to take over the world </a> Well, in Civ2 <li> <a href="winciv3.html">Winning at Civ3</a> sometimes <li><a href="civ4.html">How to do better at Civ4 than you probably were</a> <li><a href="oblivion.html">Oblivion Journal</a> <li> <a href="smax.html">Extra fun with the Sam & Max video game </a> </ul></div> </td> </table>    <table width="100%"> <tr><td colspan=3 bgcolor="#7e8b5b"><a name="about">The fine print</a> <tr><td colspan=3> Created by Mark Rosenfelder. Powered by Trader Joe’s chocolate chips. <A HREF="20years.html">Some background info</a>. Also <A HREF="contact.html">how to get in touch</a>. Except where noted, entire contents © 1996-2021 by Mark Rosenfelder. </td></tr> </table> </form> </BODY> </HTML>