I know this has just taken up a solid hour of my day, but I’m a nerd and am fascinated by accents and how they affect communication.

• Here is the Speech Accent Archive

Some other interesting goings-on:

• Curious timing by the Bush Administration by delaying a decision on the polar bear listing. Could this have anything to do with some major oil and gas leases that will be taking effect in a couple weeks that could be compromised by this potential listing…?

• Clemens strikes back… this time without a broken bat.

• The Supreme Court is listening to a case on lethal injection today.

• Violent crime drops nationwide, including a significant drop in cities with over 250,000. Not bad… although small towns (under 25,000) had an overall increase of 1.1%.

• Oh, and there’s a primary tomorrow in case you forgot.