Brain Noodles
This topic has had loads of debate and wikipedia explains it well. Found this nice thread on Reddit. A decade, century or millennia can be any arbitrary period of 10, 100 or 1000 years. For example 1450 to 1549 is a century. However, if you want to refer to a time period relative to another, the counting matters and this causes different points of view.
So you can legitimately claim a millennium started in the year 2000 and many did. That's fine. However from a math point of view, the 3rd millenium didn’t start until 2001. Likewise, you can claim that 2000...
Our kids don't get a weekly allowance. You might think this is mean but I believe money needs to be earned in some way rather than just handed out.
First, we don't pay for chores around the house. That leads to the question "How much will I get?" whenever you ask them to do something. If they ask me that, I tell them how much they owe me for renting their room. The kids live in the house so they have an obligation to share in the domestic chores they're capable of. No arguments.
I will sometimes offer to pay them for a...
This year we came up with a point system to limit the amount of time the kids played games on the computer and get them to do more educational things. I've written up the details in an article called A Point System for Earning Computer Time.
Overall, it's worked very well. I would encourage parents to come up with their own system so that kids earn the privilege of playing on the computer rather than give them unfettered access. I'm not against playing games on the computer but rather believe kids should indulge in a wide variety of play with a...
Well I think it's just amazing watching this global crisis of the Prophet Muhammad cartoons develop - a fascinating clash of values. Personally, I think both sides are basically wrong. I'm all for defending the freedom of the press but that freedom should be used judiciously. Satire has a place in raising awareness but I don't see this particular instance as having any merit.
Meanwhile, the groups of Islam fundamentalists that are over-reacting are clearly out of line in the way they are protesting about these cartoons. They seem to be using this as an excuse to vent a broader range...
I bought a lottery ticket yesterday.
I rarely buy lottery tickets. Clearly, the odds of winning are ridiculously slim so a lottery, to me, isn't about winning. No, what a lottery does is give you a few delightful days of fantasies about being really, really, wealthy.
You're not going to win so make the best of those fantasies. That's really what you've paid for. The right to a fantasy that just might come true. Once you get past the many hedonistic fantasies, you can start thinking about what you really want and value. And when you don't win, you can start thinking...
I still haven't sent any Christmas cards this year. I procrastinate about it every year and then always send them late. Honestly, it's one of the those Christmas chores I don't like even though I admit I like receiving cards.
This year, I figure it makes more sense to take the money I usually spend on about fifty cards and stamps and just give it to charity instead. I can then send a personal Christmas greetings by email.
Christmas cards are soooo last century.
Christmas cards started when Sir Henry Cole commissioned John Calcott Horsley in 1843 to create a card he could...
It's not uncommon, at least where I drive, to see a "Baby On Board" sign stuck to a car's rear window. I've been wondering. What does this sign really mean?
I've somewhat assumed up to now that it means, "Please don't tailgate me as I have a fragile occupant in the car". In that case, the sign has no effect on my driving as I don't tend to tailgate anyone. Doesn't seem to effect anyone else's either.
Or does it mean, "Watchout for random things thrown out the windows?". Not too helpful. More likely it means, "Driver hasn't slept well and may...
I predict that "Energy Security" is going to be one of the big political and media catch-phrases over the next decade. It's inevitable as the oil supply can no longer meet market demands and energy prices keep rising. It will become paramount for each country to establish stable sources in order to protect its economy.
You could argue that the US occupation of Iraq is a move to ensure energy security. Chinese corporations are beginning to buy foreign energy companies. The UK is edging towards a pro-nuclear policy. Dirty fuels are back on the table as an option. And no where...
It was Rosa Parks whose refusal to give up her bus seat to a white man in 1955 triggered the start of the Civil Rights Movement. She died a few days ago on Oct 24, age 92. A truly inspiring story. Amazing that racism was so deeply entrenched only fifty years ago.
Horror of horrors but that's the conclusion of a study published in Science Magazine this month comparing perceptions of national stereotypes to the results of averaging countrymen personality tests. The study was conducted by the U.S. National Institute on Aging by 87 researchers across 49 countries by gathering NEO-PI-R self-reports from 3,989 people.
I haven't got ahold of the original study but it's being widely reported around the 'net.
Canadians have always had a problem defining a national identy and part of the Canadian myth building is "we're not American". The perception is widely agreed upon across Canada but it doesn't hold up...
When you're driving, do you wave to anyone driving the same car as you?
Well, it's not really a wave. You just extended the fingers of the hand closest to the driver's side window in a cool and deliberate manner. Maybe even lift it a little just to make sure the movement is seen. But, heaven forbid, you don't move it back and forth!
It's an interesting phenomena as only drivers of certain brands and models do it. It pretty much defines what an enthusiast car is. If you drive a common, mass market car, there's no waving. The car has to...
Interesting article highlighting this evolution in media coverage of major events. Many of the images, both still and moving, now come from members of the public at the scene of the incident thanks to the ubiquity of cameras. Better yet, with mobile phones, the images get sent to news channels within minutes of the event or they soon show up on blogs. These images often have much more impact that what a reporting crew can capture hours later.
This really is a great evolution in how media is created and consumed. Of course there is still a need for due diligence...
You may have heard of the Paris - Dakar Rally. It's parodied by the Plymouth - Dakar Rally which this year is going by the title Plymouth - Banjul Challenge. The goal is to buy a banger for £100 and drive it 3000 miles through France, Spain and along the West Coast of Africa to Senegal. Some teams spend up to £600 on the car and you're only allowed £15 worth of modification. If you make it, the car gets sold at an auction in Banjul and the proceeds given to charity. There's a good write-up in the June/July 2005 issue...
Sounds like good advice:
"Thirty minutes of exercise three times a week, and 15 minutes of laughter on a daily basis is probably good for the vascular system."
Forget the drama's. Watch comedies. Reminds me of a poster I saw that claims children average 500 smiles a day while adults only average 15. Why do we stop smiling? Further on in the article, there's this quote:
"UK heart experts said there was increasing interest in the idea that positive emotions benefited health."
Just an idea? Isn't it just blindingly obvious that there's a big causal relationship between emotion and health?
When I was a kid, my parents bought me a microscope. It was a very simple compound microscope that wasn't that good but nevertheless, I spent a lot of time mucking around with it. I found all the things in pond water quite amazing. I've been holding off getting a microscope for my own kids until the time seemed right. Indeed for young children, just a magnifying glass is best.
There are basically two kinds of microscopes. Low-powered stereo microscopes and high-powered compound microscopes. A stereo microscope is recommended as a first microscope for children since you don't have to prepare the...
We were out doing some errands and we needed to make a phone call. Jenny's mobile battery was too low and I wasn't carrying my mobile on me. No problem! Just do it the old fashioned way; find a pay phone. Do you think we could find a pay phone? A petrol station didn't have one. Even a community centre didn't have one but the receptionist let Jenny use the main switchboard phone.
Obviously with mobile phones, there's not as much need for payphones. In fact, according to ofcomwatch, BT has removed 17,500 payphones in the last two years. Of the...
I'm going to try a new series of blog entries I'm gonna call Signs Of The Times. It's just observations of the little things which are indicative of the bigger changes that are going on around us.
Today I drove past a local government building in Slough. It had a long sign in front of it right next to the road and all it had on it was a URL www.slough.gov.uk. That's it. There was no other sign except for that one. URLs are pretty common in all kinds of places usually as a subtext to something else but this URL was the...
Stuck for a gift? Here's a catalogue of very very worthwhile (charitable) gifts. If you want to buy me something, pick from here.... :-)
Last weekend I did a course on using Macromedia Flash MX 2004. It's the tool commonly used to make animations delivered on web pages. For your viewing pleasure, here's my first flash animation. Yes, it's pretty crude but it was fun putting it together and it tries to pull together many Flash techniques covered in the course. It took about four hours to produce. Make sure you turn on your sound. The voice is a recording of R* I made a few years ago. Don't forget to click on the question mark button. It probably needs version 7 of the Flash...
Excellent instructions by Johnny Lee on how to build your own steadycam on the cheap. Nice idea. Gotta see whether I can find all the components.
After two weeks enveloped in heat, we're back to soggy, cold, grey England. It seriously had me contemplating emmigration to Australia. According to a newspaper article I read on the flight back, it's the #1 emmigration choice with 50,000 Brits upping sticks and moving there each year.
Of course, we love Vancouver/Victoria but it's soggy, cold and grey there too. America is full of insular, paranoid Americans who vote for idiotic politicians so I don't want to go there. Of the English speaking world, that leaves Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. New Zealand is a bit too rural for me...
Nice short essay on the value of work and the need for meaningful work. It's hosted on a site called World Transformation which looks pretty interesting.
It doesn't happen often but once in a while I run into a brand new word. I've never heard of this one before today but someone actually used it in a posting:
discombobulate
What a great word! It rolls off the tongue nice and rhythmically. Can't wait to drop that into a conversation: "I've been discombobulated!" or "what a discombobulation!"
Sums up Bush quite well doesn't it? It's a one of the great placards at the protest rally against Bush in New York - so heart-warming to hear of such a massive protest. I can't wait to see the Republican's kicked out of power. It can't happen soon enough.
We've been watching quite a bit of the Olympics. In fact, I gave the kids pretty much free rein to turn on the TV and watch as much as the Olympics as they want! They've been watching mornings, afternoons and evenings. I figure it's about the only chance they get to see such a huge array of sports performed by world class atheletes. And as a bonus they get to learn the names and flags of various countries.
I also hoped it would inspire some interest in a particular sport. R* enjoyed watching the Judo and showing off her knowledge of the sport. She...
Didn't do anything to celebrate besides wear a Canada T-shirt and eat fried beaver tails-on-a-stick. Will someone explain to me why there is now a National Flag of Canada Day on Feb 15th? Kind of strange to celebrate a flag if you ask me. Do you get the day off in Canada?
The site does give a nice description of flag etiquette that includes items such as "don't use it as a seat cover".
Meanwhile, it's interesting to ponder why the United Kingdom doesn't have a national holiday celebrating the nation. St George's Day is only an English holiday so that's no good. Most...
Aaahhh!!!
What an amazingly tense game. And what a bummer to lose Rooney. I thought Portugal played really well but England should have won it with Campbells' goal.
I'm not a football fan but I just finished watching this game. I'm still shocked. I can't *believe* England lost this in the last two minutes. Absolutely tragic!
It's a shame but you don't really get comic strips in the UK newspapers. At least not in the papers I've read. Well, there might be the odd one here and there but in Canada, even a daily paper had almost a full page of comics. As a kid, the highlight of the week was the ritual read of the Sunday newspaper comic supplement - several pages long and in full colour.
My all time favourite comic strip was Bloom County. It still rates as the best there ever was. Far behind it, I'd give The Far Side number two spot with...
Cool! In May, I had 2020 unique visitors to my website. That's my first time over 2000. The weird thing is that my stats say that 77% of visits are from direct links while only 12% are from search engines. I can't believe I have 1500 people bookmarking this site. No way! Something wrong with the math there I suspect.
Last weekend while lounging around in a park, I challenged the kids to find a four leaf clover. To raise their motivation, I told them I'd buy a lottery ticket if they found one. We've talked about lottery tickets before and they know it's easier to get hit by lightning than win a big lottery. But it's a game to play and they know it offers an incredibly slim chance they could get a dog since we would probably move into a bigger house.
Lo and behold, K* found a five leaf clover! I kept my promise and bought tickets for this...
So US foreign policies are putting American corporate brands in the mud? Fantastic! Wouldn't it be great if this motivated corporations to influence US foreign policies for the better. I'm sure there's some irony here somewhere.
I've got a problem. We have two cars. On one car the wiper control is on the right and the indicator control is on the left. But on the other car, it's reversed. The result is that I frequently use my wipers to indicate that I'm turning (always embarassing). Or I signal a turn when it begins to rain. I'm not stupid and I can't be the only one that drives two cars with these controls in inconsistent places. One car is German while the other car is Japanese. I'm going to embark on a quest to find out where...
My Radio Userland license expires in a few days so I'm migrating this website to some new weblog software. Links will probably break and there might be some teething problems. Unfortunately, all the comments over the last year will be lost. In the future, I'll be able to migrate those as well. Hang on!
We just finished watching Jurassic Park with the kids. It's great going through all the decades of movies and sharing them with the kids. There's just so many movies to watch! It's quite hard figuring out what the canonical movies are. What's worth watching? What do you consider the seminal movies of our culture? It's the modern version of story-telling and many movies have added certain phrases and images to Western culture. They've captured a time or place or idea. Wizard Of Oz. Gone With The Wind. Casablanca. 2001. Star Wars. etc.
An excellent question R* asked was "Why are...
My first blog post was made 17 March 2003 - almost one year ago. I've enjoyed it and concentrated mostly on putting up content and making it a habit. I'm going to carry on blogging but now is a good time to implement a bunch of changes:
I've created a new domain to which I'm moving the "Software Adventures" blog. This will become my professional/career site and will be aimed at fellow geeks, technical colleagues, potential employers and customers. I'll annouce the URL once it's all ready.
I'm migrating this site to use the .Text blogging software so the look and functions will change...
Yes! Someone has finally articulated this really well. I'm more of an introvert than an extrovert and this article so right. There's plenty of quotes I could pick so just go read the article.
"The worst of it is that extroverts have no idea of the torment they put us through. Sometimes, as we gasp for air amid the fog of their 98-percent-content-free talk, we wonder if extroverts even bother to listen to themselves."
Second, when you see an introvert lost in thought, don't say "What's the matter?" or "Are you all right?"
I hate Ikea. I hate how they force you to meander through a long maze of displays. I hate how friendly and convenient it is. It's so easy to buy more than what you originally went there for! I hate that I just can't order it online but I actually have to go there. I hate how clever they are. Very clever right down to the last detail. I hate how popular they are and I absolutely refuse to go there on a weekend. But it's not so bad on a weekday....
I'm not that fond of many Ikea designs. Very good...
I was musing over this thought the other day. This is just a ramble....
We live in an age of massive mobility. Railroads and bicycles were the beginning and their impact was huge. Tourism was born. Motor vehicles came next and eventually became affordable. In the last few decades, mass tourism and global trade really took off with the advent of cheap air travel. This massive mobility has forged the way world works today.
What if energy sources were taxed to reflect their true cost? What if fuel became expensive? What if air travel was no longer affordable?
Some speculation...
Obviously it would quickly wipe out...
So Bush wants to send men to the Moon and Mars just like his father did. The estimated cost given to his Dad was 500 billion and the topic was quietly dropped. I wonder what's changed? The cost would still be enormous and for what? Bragging rights?
I should admit I've been indocrinated in enough sci-fi and Star Trek to quite like the idea of space exploration. Let's terraform Mars. Sure. It's a long term goal we can work on over the next few hundred years.
So the program needs a good vision and slow, steady progress on a series of worthwhile goals with...
So why is it that the phrase "Daddy's Girl" has a relativley warm positive connotation while the phrase "Mummy's Boy" has a negative connotation?
So as I was shopping for CDs the last few weeks, it hit home that music retailers really have missed the boat on how to sell music. The problem is that it is assumed that you know what you want to buy beforehand and hence the store is organised like a library for you to find the CD and go buy it. For this to work, demand has to be generated through radio or some other media or through word-of-mouth. It basically assumes that you've already made the purchase decision before coming into the shop. This is stupid.
This system favours only...
So the Big Read has just announced the final results of the popular vote for best loved fiction in the UK:
The Lord Of The Rings
Pride And Prejudice
His Dark Materials
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire
I think the most interesting question is how heavily is this list biased by recent film and TV exposure? If the Lord Of The Rings movies hadn't come out and been so successful, would it have really done so well? Pride And Prejudice was recently aired as a TV series last summer. Likewise, Hitchhiker and Harry Potter have...
Nice article from MIT Enterprise Technology Review.
"Parents have more control than ever before over how popular culture influences their kids. The trick is to treat media as an ally rather an enemy."
I've often thought that media literacy should be right up there in the core curriculum taught throughout the school years; not just an option in Senior School. Instead the onus falls to parents to teach their children to be discerning about what they see and read. But how many are ready to do that? Can you teach them to deconstruct the messages they are being bombarded with? In an information...
You know a question that's always been in the back of my mind is "Why is annual growth such an imperative at a company like Microsoft?" Every year, new sales targets get set higher and higher. Big speeches get made by the executives (I've seen many). Managers exhort their direct reports to make the numbers. People sacrifice their home/work balance to meet the new objectives for their performance reviews.
Why?
Why can't the growth targets be scaled back and investors just given dividends? Obviously Microsoft isn't a growth stock. If there was zero growth and a big dividend, the stock price would remain stable....
My daughter (age 8) got a chain letter from a school friend of hers last week. A real snail mail chain letter. It purported to be trying to set a Guiness Book of Records record and was sent FreePost (no postage required). I'm pretty surprised the Royal Mail delivered it. After searching around the Internet, I found out that variants of this chain letter have been in circulation since 1981! Geez. Talk about perpetual motion! Check out Break The Chain.
I'm always looking for the best place to buy CD's in the UK. Yes, I still like to buy CD's and not just download MP3's. Found this comparison engine recently that seems pretty good but it doesn't include CDWow which has great prices. I still often wait until I can go splurge at A&B Sound in Canada. Drop me a comment if you know anywhere cheaper.
So in the UK, a brick layer is a Brickie and a carpenter is called a Chippy. I haven't heard of names for other trades peoples but I guess an electrician should be called a Sparky? Maybe a plumber should be Splashy? Or just Pipes? Could call someone who digs Mucky. No idea what you could nickname a Plasterer. Slappy?
Interesting compilation of 50 places you should see within your lifetime along with 50 things you should do. Its inspired Jenny and I to draw up our own lists. I think it's a great exercise for anyone to really think through what experiences you want to have in this lifetime. Luckily Jenny and I have a lot of overlap! Then it's just a matter of picking one and going for it.
I once did the Myers-Briggs (Personality) Type Indicator way back in my University days and I came out as an INTP (Introverted Intuitive Thinking Perceiver). Of course, I don't agree with putting people in boxes but the description still finds plenty of resonance; better than a horoscope! Actually, they claim the type indicator isn't a box but a preferred way of working. Reasonable enough. I bring this up only because I stumbled upon a whole INTP website. You can find out more at KnowYourType.
I can't believe we've already received our first Christmas Catalogue in the post. I don't want to think about Christmas yet! You think retailers could wait a bit longer although I bet there are people out there who already have their gifts sorted out.
It's end of the month so I've been checking my website stats. The most visits come from the Netherlands but I think that's due to to search engine indexing servers. Next is the UK which makes sense but the third place most visitors are from is Lithuania. So welcome Lithuania! How you find me I have no idea. After that it's Australia, Brazil and Hungary. Unique visitors is down a bit to 877 but still managed 197 views of that Writing Code Is Stupid article. By far most people who find this website via a search is looking for StrengthsFinder...
Here's a money making idea. Offer your services as a Tree Spirit Medium with the ability to channel Tree Spirits. You can then provide advice for how to create harmony in the garden among all the plants. Make sure the rose bushes are happy and the flowers are all getting along with the shrubberies. In extreme cases, some plants might need a ceremonial moving or a tree could be exorcised of a bad spirit. Could probably even sell a range of powders and special waters for different plants. Or has this already been done?
While traveling around any part of the USA, you will undoubtedly run across the phrase "God Bless America". I gotta admit everytime I read it, I feel irritated. Just why should The Divine One bless an entire country? And why, of all countries, would America deserve such a blessing? Alright, 9-11 was a tragic event and there is grief to overcome. But, with respect, the suffering is but a pinprick compared to other nations and I get a sense the phrase is used in a self-righteous, arrogant way that just rubs me the wrong way. God Bless The Poor Nations. God Bless...
We went out for pizza here in Maryland yesterday. The interesting thing is that the pizza came in three sizes: medium, large and extra large. Now, I ask you. What happened to small? I'm sure in the UK you still have the sizes: small, medium and large but I'm now on the look out to see whether small is an endangered size in the US - at least as far as pizza go but it might extend to other things too. Maybe it's socially unacceptable now to only order something small? America!
I'm very pleasantly surprised to discover my blog listed in someone's "Worth Reading" list. Flattered even. It's a very well written and thoughtful blog. Worth checking out.
So wizards can grow bones, shrink teeth, transconfigure themselves and all kinds of other amazing things. Don't you think they should be able to fix eyes? Corrective lenses should only be a muggle thing.
In case you haven't noticed, I've added a page of links to people I know who have websites. If you I know you and you have a website, let me know and I'll add it. I've also provided links to monthly archives in the Software Adventures and The Good Life weblogs. I'll add one soon to the Brain Noodles weblog but there's a technical issue involved that you don't want to know about.
Can some kind soul explain what it means to describe something as "a complete Horlicks"? I know Horlicks is a drink but what does it mean as an adjective? I found the reference in this news article with the following quote:
He admitted the whole "dodgy dossier" affair was "a complete Horlicks".
A large box arrived for me today. Inside the large box were air bags and a smaller box. The smaller box was hard to get open and the plastic very sharp. I finally extricated a small webcam and a CD. Most of the box was air. I really hate how much garbage all the packaging generates which I now have to dispose of. It's a complete waste and it's all just a marketing ploy to make the box look substantial and pretty as it sits on a shelf. And this happens over and over again with almost everything I buy. I...
Interesting read of people receiving honours from the Queen. There were 509 in all and over half came from public nominations. Here's a description of the British honours system or even more detail at Debrett's. The more common honours were invented by King George V in 1917 to recognize non-combatants in World War I as the war dragged on. Within "The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire" are five classes:
Knights or Dames Grand Cross, (GBE) Knights or Dames Commanders, (KBE or DBE) Commanders, (CBE) Officers, (OBE) Members, (MBE)
There's a link to the full list and what they do. Nice to have...
So in the month of May, this website had 168 unique visitors (different computers/IP addresses) visiting 1300 times viewing 5212 pages. The peak for a single day was 67 visitors. I'm impressed. I have no idea the number of people that really represents but it's more than just Mom and Dad! :-)
I've stopped posting to this category. The posts will instead appear on the home page weblog. I'll leave this here for a while and then delete the whole thing in a few weeks.
Speaking of pet peeves - it's also very hard to get decent sushi in the UK. Of course, it's not a very popular cuisine so it's not really surprising. Many people here haven't tried it and in London, it's very expensive. We really miss the sushi in Vancouver. It strikes me as strange that fish is relatively unpopular in the UK given that it's an island nation. Ok, there is fish & chips but besides that there isn't any great fish tradition compared to places like Japan, Spain and the nordic countries.
You know, time and again, I really wish someone in the UK would make half decent pizzas. They almost put the toppings on with a paintbrush! No, Pizza Express isn't good enough. And then they charge an arm and a leg for them. And while I'm at it, a decent plate of nacho's would be appreciated too!
Sorry for the lack of postings lately. Got busy and then went on holiday. Back now but the kids are off school this week.
In England pretty much 80% of all desserts are drowned in custard. So why isn't custard used much in America or Canada? Maybe there's a business opportunity here. Why not rebrand custard as "Traditional American Sauce" and sell it in the U.S.? Hey! It's amazing what sells. Apple pie and custard. That's what America needs.
This is an idea Mike and I had the other day. The premise is that America has a hidden aristocracy. It's well known that something like 5% of the population controls something like 80% of all the wealth in the US and there's a network of these wealthy business people sitting on the Boards of Directors of multiple companies. Using the Internet and SEC filings it should be possible to automatically mine the internet for these relationships and map out the aristocracy and the web of corporations they influence.
Posted a new article More Than Pictures that I posted on Jennys' family website some time ago.
Hey cool. I've been googled. If you type "brain noodles" in google it finds this website. So I guess that makes my internet presence official! The first external link to this site has gone up at Microsoft Watch in their list of Microsoft Bloggers. I guess I better put some reasonable meta tags in my pages. I just checked and Yahoo can find me as well but MSN doesn't. I wouldn't be surprised if I get listed in health food or cooking searches at some point :-)
I get a really good statistic report from my ISP. I've had 127 unique visitors...
Ran across this abstract of a talk by Roger Shank of Carnegie Mellon University. Thought it was interesting food for thought...
In our culture we have a conception of an Educated Mind that comes from what one might call the tyranny of the academic elite. Although the academic elite love to read and teach and cite scholars like Plato, Plato actually thought that an educated mind was one that could get into a good argument and defend a point of view. Instead, facts, formulas, and test scores are the currency of modern education We are in a major crisis in education...
Poor Mr Kirby was badly ripped off by Zurich/Allied Dunbar. He invested in one of their pension schemes and they took most of the money in the form of upfront "fees". Stunning. His website is an excellent protest site and the PowerPoint presentation he prepared for the CEO and board of directors is superb. Demonstrate the power of the Internet and the ideas behind cluetrain.
Very interesting discourse on "markets as conversations". Almost the antithesis of the branded corporate world described in Naomi Klein's "No Logo". It frames how blogging might evolve and the role it might play.
I recently discovered the blogging community within Microsoft (http://blog) if you're internal and there are of course public blogs up on http://www.gotdotnet.com. There's also an internal email discussion alias on blogging with people discussing where it might go. I haven't looked into the BlogX code yet that Chris Anderson has written and that's getting use.
One simple way I explaing blogging is that with newsgroups, we order things "by...
The value proposition of this website is "To arrive at the edge of the world's knowledge, seek out the most complex and sophisticated minds, put them in a room together, and have them ask each other the questions they are asking themselves."
Interesting site. "The Oscomak project will foster a community in which many interested individuals will contribute to the creation of a distributed global repository of manufacturing knowledge about past, present and future processes, materials, and products."
"The project’s ultimate long-term goal will be to generate a repository of knowledge that will support the design and creation of space settlements."
Wow. That's ambitious.