The latest edition of my favorite style guide introduced some changes that I have mostly adopted in my own writing before now, and agree with wholeheartedly. A selection of favorites:

“An initial The in the title of a newspaper or other periodical that includes one (as on a masthead or cover) will now be retained in running text (The New York Times and The American Naturalist but the Chicago Tribune and the American Journal of Sociology).

This one has always bothered me. If it’s in the masthead, it should be in the citation!

"The first word of a grammatically complete sentence following a colon will now get an initial capital.

Finally!

"The terms ebook and esports will join email as exceptions to the rule for hyphenating e-terms.

I wonder when "ebike” will follow. I still use “e-bike”, but can see the argument for eliminating the hyphen.

“We’ll clarify our rules relative to compound modifiers that follow a noun to allow for certain hyphenated exceptions. For example, though a well-read student is well read (no change to our current rules), a first-rate editor will remain first-rate after the noun. We’ll also clarify our rules for compound modifiers that may remain open before a noun, as the term guest room in guest room access.

I generally find this better fits real-world usage.

"The generic singular they will now be considered acceptable even in formal writing—for example, when the antecedent is an indefinite pronoun (someone forgot their coat) or when referring to a person whose gender is unknown or irrelevant (will the driver of the yellow sedan please move their car) or whose identity must be concealed (the author wants their privacy protected). These generic uses complement the referential singular they, which we covered for the first time in the last edition relative to people who identify with they/them pronouns.”

Good. Catching up with the times.

Madilynne Medina, at SFGate:

“Drivers of cars with a Clean Air Vehicle decal issued by the state have enjoyed the privilege of using an HOV lane without the required number of passengers since 2005 thanks to a federal transportation bill. But unless Congress renews the program through new legislation, it’s set to expire Sept. 30, 2025.

"But Goodwin [a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission] isn’t optimistic that clean air vehicle drivers will get an extension. He told SFGATE he believes the program could disappear for good after its expiration.”

Letting this expire feels premature to me. While we don’t currently have an electric vehicle, we used to. That access was a big reason for buying it, as well as for getting rid of it at the end of the lease when we no longer had the long commutes. Given the price premium that electric vehicles still largely demand, and that we in the Bay Area have so many HOV lanes that are relatively unused, I think this incentive should be renewed.

Gail Sherman, writing at Boing Boing:

“When the Writers Guild of America went on strike, Jeopardy producers decided to continue the show – without writers. […] A seemingly never-ending series of tournaments followed….”

No kidding! It was tournament after tournament for months. I liked the Second Chance tournaments, but it definitely got to be too much. Funnily enough, the level of play was so high with champions (or near champions) competing against each other every day that it was jarring to go back to—dare I say?—ordinary players. But I’m glad that we’re back to regular play.

I never watched The Chase, so I was unfamiliar with Victoria Groce. Watching her take the Jeopardy Invitational Tournament win was fun; she was great. It’s rare to see someone still have what it takes to compete at the highest levels well over a decade since her first appearance.

Speaking of “recombobulate”, Wiktionary has the first citation as being from Piers Anthony in the book Night Mare in 1987: “They never touched living creatures directly, however; contact with warm flesh discombobulated them, and it took them a long time to get recombobulated.” Who knew?

Benjamin Schneider, at FastCompany:

“Of course, the biggest barrier to bike or e-bike adoption is street safety. But the best way to build a constituency for bikeable streets is to flood the zone with bikes, creating a virtuous cycle where more cyclists vividly justify the need for better bike infrastructure. That’s what New York City, Washington, D.C., Chicago, and San Francisco have done through their popular bikeshare programs. Scooter share services have had a similar, albeit somewhat lesser, effect in smaller cities across the country.”

Where we live, bike access on our main corridor is spotty at best, and there are a couple of intersections that are downright scary. That said, there are a lot more people on e-bikes these days, and I love the idea of “flooding the zone” to motivate our local governments to enhance infrastructure.

On top of road infrastructure, I think that supermarkets and other shopping destinations could differentiate themselves in a positive—and I’d bet financially meaningful—way by creating first-class, secure parking for e-bikes.

“Poor infrastructure notwithstanding, e-bikes are popular: Americans purchased more e-bikes than cars in 2022. And e-bike subsidy programs are a hit wherever they’ve been offered. Connecticut’s program was oversubscribed in three days. Tampa received five times more applications than it could afford. Denver’s program was so inundated by applications when it opened that it needed to be paused.”

2022 was under the extreme influence of the pandemic, including the very high price of cars at the time, but this is still a great stat.

Mike Johnston, at The Online Photographer:

“The signs (and the word) were the brainchild of Barry Bateman, the Director of Mitchell Airport. Harold Mester, Mitchell Airport’s Public Relations Manager, said, "Whether it’s a word or not, I think we can all agree we all feel discombobulated after going through a security checkpoint and need a minute to recombobulate.” According to an article in OnMilwaukee.com, not a single grammarian complained. The word was named the most creative word of the year by the American Dialect Society in 2009. It’s a fun word because discombobulate is a fun word.“

I love it. I’ve never flown through Milwaukee nor seen the sign, but it’s perfect.

Charles Pulliam-Moore, writing at The Verge:

“Season 3 of Paramount Plus’ Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is still in production, but the streamer has already decided to renew the series. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said of Star Trek: Lower Decks, which is coming to an end.”

Good news about ST:SNW. I love the show so far, and knowing that it’s locked in for two seasons is nice. I never got much into Lower Decks, but it seems like five seasons is a good run.

This is an interesting article about a classic camera, with lovely pictures to illustrate it. John Watson is among the best in marrying photography and bikes, and this bit of gear nerdism is punctuated with his love for the format. I’ve never owned a Mamiya 7Ⅱ, but it’s one that I’d love to spend time with at some point.

Claire L. Evans:

“How to describe a scintillating scotoma? It’s one of the most common symptoms of a migraine, but unless you’ve had one, it sounds unreal. A scintillating scotoma is like a barbed ripple in the pool of sight. It’s a skeletal Magic Eye raised up from the flatness of the world. It’s a glare on the tarmac as you drive West at sunset on a rain-slick freeway—only when you turn your head, it’s still there, so you have to pull over, close your eyes, and wait out the slow-motion firework working its way across your brain.”

I’ve suffered from migraines for as long as I can remember, literally. They were more severe when I was younger, reliably knocking me out of action for hours at a time, always ending with a vomiting attack. These days, the pain is less severe, and I no longer vomit, but the “aura"—a word sufferers frequently use to describe the "scintillating scotoma” Evans writes about in her article—is still there, warning me the headache is coming.

I liked the featured artwork from sufferers depicting their auras in the article, and found the writing itself to have more flourish than any other I’ve read on the subject, so I recommend checking it out.

Andrew J. Hawkins, at The Verge:

“Rivian revealed its next electric vehicle, the R2, a more affordable SUV that the company is counting on having a much broader appeal than its stylish — and expensive — R1T trucks and R1S SUVs.”

“Interested buyers can reserve an R2 starting today for $100, with deliveries expected to begin in the first half of 2026.”

First reaction: I love it. At a $100 refundable deposit, I put mine in instantly. I’m not in the market now, but 2026 sounds about right.

“Keeping with its ‘adventure’ ethos, the R2 will also feature a nifty bike mount system that can connect easily with the vehicle’s rear accessory ports.”

Hmm. Hopefully this “accessory port” can yield to a 2" standard receiver. As a bike enthusiast, I’m picky about how I carry bikes, and I’m skeptical that I want a rack from Rivian. I want the flexibility to use what’s on the market. I’m confident that they wouldn’t be so dumb as to rule that out.

“The steering wheel also has a new feature: two giant scroll wheels. The wheels will have dynamic haptic feedback, but Scaringe says they need to be used to be really appreciated. ‘It takes our existing scroll wheel and really up levels it to a degree that’s hard to fully appreciate unless you’re sitting in the car,’ he said.”

“The infotainment system will run on Rivian’s own operating system, and like Tesla, won’t support Apple CarPlay or Android Auto.”

I really like the steering wheels and the controls, although the lack of CarPlay gives me serious pause. Do I really need to put my iPhone on the dash of this thing to use the apps I want? I sympathize with the wish to own and control the whole experience, but the bottom line is that we all have an ecosystem that is embedded in our lives, carried with us all day. We want that to extend to our car, too, not have some separate ecosystem of apps just for that case. There’s a reason this is high up on so many peoples’ list of must-haves. Even if Rivian makes a wonderful experience, it’s still not the one we all use everywhere else, all day.

“The rear seats fold down for additional space — and the front seats fold down as well. Scaringe said this would be an ideal configuration for anyone interested in sleeping overnight in their Rivian R2.”

Very nice! While I’d generally use our camper van for any overnighting, this is a nice touch, as are the rooftop tent and rear-mounted camping kitchen.

“In addition to the R2, the company also announced the R3, a sportier compact SUV, and its performance variant, the R3X. Rivian said the R3 would be even less expensive than the R2, but didn’t release the exact price. Reservations for the R3 will go live at a later date.”

I’ve always loved sporty hatchbacks: my first brand-new car was a Honda CRX, followed by various flavors of Civic Si. The R3X has me intrigued. While I’m impressed with the R2, and it might be better suited to be my next car, the R3X has me questioning it already. I put in my deposit for the R2 in as soon as the button popped up on the website, mid-presentation. If I’d seen the R3X, I might have held off. (Alternatively, I’d have put another deposit down on the R3X, if they were taking them, just to hedge my bet.)