A little fun at spelling bee time

Alaska can't spell Hawaii, and this other state can't spell itself: In honor of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, Google Trends releases a map showing which word each state struggles to spell.

Unlike my fellow Kentuckians, I can spell 'maintenance', but according to this map, I should live in Minnesota or Montana, because 'vacuum' is a challenge for me, and often takes two tries. I might come out on some of the others, as I use International Standard English spellings in general, not American ones (sorry, have for years--it's just a quirk from reading lots of British literature plus a love for archaic pre-Webster/Dewey spellings), so there's things like 'grey' and 'neigbour' instead of the ones as they are placed on the map. I am a little confused as to why Utah and Arkansas share the whole thing about leprechauns. Amd poor Massachusetts.

A look years of life lost around the world

This is kind of cool

Thanks to the Centers for Disease Control, we now have a map of The Most Distinctive Causes of Death by State, 2001-2010. Ours is 'pneumoconioses and chemical effects'.

This is so cool

Dialect Map of North America

I wonder what they'd make of my accent, having grown up in all sorts of states, mostly in the South, but including the West and Midwest?

Thanks to Maria Popova for the link.

This is fun and educational

National Geographic created a map of words, indigenous meanings of placenames throughout the United States. Click on the meaning and the word blows up with text underneath that tells you what the place is. My favourite is Topeka, Kansas, 'a good place to dig potatoes'. :)

Thanks to shelfcheck at LISNews.

Nifty

A map of the land of books

Thanks to Blake of LISNews for the link.

An interesting online historical resource

The Map of Early Modern London, also via anderskb.