http://www.factcheck.org – Nice unbiased political fact checker for the US Elections. We should have something like that here in Ireland.
A passive verb and adverb flagger for Mozilla-derived browsers Aidan will love that.
The Essence of Knowledge Great post on blogs, and information gathering and blogs. In it, it references Learning, Working & Playing in the Digital Age by John Seely Brown.
Get free email from:
http://www.abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijk.com/
Hard to remember off by heart.
Some Funky T-Shirts from Oz. Pity they are not made by exploited people. The T-Shirts always feel softer if they are made by child slaves.
Just signed up my blog with QueerFilter Must add their button thingy to the site soon.
Charles Miller has made a post about his Rules of Argument. Its a good post, but what I really like is the comments. I find that quality blogs with authors that have have a clue attract intelligent people after a while who can contribute just as much to a post via comments.
One useful link that was posted in the comments was Wiio’s laws on communication. I’ve never heard of these before but they’re something worth looking at.
This link then brought me to Four Principles of Interpersonal Communication which are:
1) Interpersonal communication is inescapable
2) Interpersonal communication is irreversible
3) Interpersonal communication is complicated
4) Interpersonal communication is contextual
And I also followed a link to Six “Laws” of Organizational Communication and Some of Their Implications for Christian Workers
Whichever way you look at it, it is art. It’d be fun though if it was actually a working urinal. Virgin got into shit for creating Rolling Stone Lips like urinals I can imaging if these were installed anywere.
Link here: http://postarchives.entensity.net/031204/image.php?pic=pray.jpg
Douwe Osinga has created a tool that allows me to match keywords and my website. I can see what position my site is in google for certain keywords.
Google Pos is the tool and it rocks. You can also download the source code.
There are also more interesting projects on this site.
According to New Scientist and Many 2 Many people lie less via email than on the phone. Probably to do with the fact that email is logged and can be forwarded on. Also the study showed (I think) that people are generally more honest online. This can be true.
Excerpt here:
The First Law of Instant Messenger: Instant Messenger is Not Real Communication.
What you write is rarely read the way you would have said it in person, especially when you’re trying to be funny. This brings up the second law of IM:
The Second Law of Instant Messenger: Instant Messenger is Not a Venue for Sarcasm.
Using sarcasm over IM is nearly impossible, because most people take written language literally and cannot see you roll your eyes or make some kind of face to indicate that you’re kidding. In the end, when you type “I really wish Jennifer Love Hewitt would make more CDs and movies” that’s exactly what the other person thinks you mean. Explaining your sense of humor over IM is like making crepes on the backyard grill — not worth the effort.
If you do make a joke and aren’t sure someone else got it, then send a little smiley face at ’em and drive home the point. It’s polite. Which brings up the third law of IM:
The Third Law of Instant Messenger: Emoticons Should Be Used Like Punctuation.
While somewhat girlish and lame, emoticons can be acceptable if used to punctuate thoughts, in the same way a sly wink is used in person. This is fine. You’re not lame if you do this sporadically. Remember, there’s a fine line between using the “embarrassed” smiley once in a while, and becoming a junior-high school girl who ends every sentence with one of those rainbow-double-happy-face exclamation-point things.
Ultimately, there are certain words that are such poor communicators over IM even emoticons can’t help them. And so, Law Four:
The Fourth Law of Instant Messenger: There’s Nothing “Fine” About the Word “Fine.”
Indeed, an especially problematic word is “fine,” which never, ever means that you’re fine with something, even if you’re actually fine with something. After years of hearing people utter “fine” in a clipped, short, “I’m so NOT FINE about this” way, it’s been permanently tainted with an opposite meaning. Instead use: “cool,” which is peppy and indicates that you are, in fact, fine.
Because of the miscommunication and myriad meanings words can take over IM, you must obey the cardinal rule of IM at all times. More than “don’t type in all caps,” more than “don’t speak in acronyms,” more than “cybersex is for losers,” more than anything else, you must remember the Fifth Law:
The Fifth Law of Instant Messenger: Never Fight Over Instant Messenger.
Don’t do it! Getting mad at your significant other via IM is not useful or smart. Having that long-desired sit-down about how your roommate is a total slob will backfire horribly. Telling your family you’ve failed at school because all you’ve done is add to your buddy list is a poor choice, since they’re gonna want to yell at you over the phone. All you’ve done is open Pandora’s Box of massive misunderstandings and major miscommunication, creating a special new kind of hell for yourself.
Never forget: The emotions and sentiments expressed over IM are not real. They only read that way.
This got recommended by some guy on boards.ie and I was slightly sceptical but damn its good. I really like the singers voice. So go buy The Stills – Logic Will Break Your Heart
I’ll probably get sued by a record label for publishing song lyrics without permission in the future but fuck you, I’m advertising one of your bands.
The Stills – Lola Stars And Stripes Lyrics
we all need to feel secure
we’re so middle class
But i’m still waiting for next week’s chemical blast
don’t go feeling insecure, no feeling sad
with an M-16 you’ll feel the surge of your american past
but are you afraid?
you always said the world would never last
and lola i’m not afraid
if you star-wipe all your past away
and the sun burns one more day
lola, lola, will the world end me and you
lola, lola, no we’re never gonna make it through
can you take me back to that place where stars glow
comets swarm like fireflies outside your window
but are you afraid?
you always said this world would never last
and lola i’m not afraid
if you star-wipe all your past away
and the sun comes one more day
lola, lola, will the world end me and you
lola, lola, no we’re never gonna make it through
lola lola lola lola ooooooooooohhhh
And then I got asked what I was loyal to. Thats a good question too.
http://weblog.infoworld.com/udell/stories/2002/12/11/librarylookup.html
A cool tool that lets you search your local library to see does it have in stock a book that was mentioned on a website. Searches by ISBN now I think.