If you've got the data, flaunt it.

Google Globe....

Over on Dan Gilmor’s eJournal there’s a video of the “Google Globe”, an Earth rotating which shows the “relative numbers of queries to the Google site in various parts of the world”. Apparently Google showed this off at the D Conference earlier this week. We’re not sure if it’s really cool or downright creepy. If we were an alien invasion team sent to take over earth, we’d first index all the human knowledge with a “search engine” then we’d eventually eat them.

[Engadget]

10:48:31 PM •  • comment  

Something on the lighter side

The Simpsons: The Map of Springfield.

This is so funny I was literally crying.  Seriously, spend some time exploring.

[ComputerZen.com - Scott Hanselman's Weblog]

10:36:41 PM •  • comment  

My Unix experiences started with Unix V on a DEC Vax system in the early 1980s.Wish I'd done a better job of maintaining and extending those early skills.

History of Unix.

Here. An amazing timeline!

[E M E R G I C . o r g]

10:35:12 PM •  • comment  

Another great thing, of course, is all those clever folks helping you find things worth knowing about. Thank you AKMA for another resource I didn't know about.

One of the Things the Web Is Great For.

I like online dictionaries, since much of the information I seek in a dictionary appears only in the heaviest, bulkiest, least portable and convenient sources. I’d long relied on Dictionary.com, but if you have the bandwidth, Webster’s Online tops everything else I’ve seen.

Of course, if you just want the correct spelling or a simple definition, there’s no need to call up all the overhead from Webster’s. Webster’s is for browsing and reveling more than elegant simplicity (though there must be a way of making the output from Webster’s more elegant, without aggravating its bandwidth load).

[AKMA’s Random Thoughts]

10:10:38 PM •  • comment  

Looks like a useful addition to the toolkit.

Monkeying Around With Text. Courtesy of my friend Marjolein, the ActiveWords queen, here's a wonderful little tool that saves more time than you can hope for: TextMonkey, from Boxer Software.TextMonkey strips away all the formatting rubbish that accrues when you move something from an... [LOOSE wire]

9:11:11 PM •  • comment  

I spend way too much time in conversations like these.

Responding to RFPs.

Very very funny :o)

"So, let’s say I build houses… and someone says.. “Hey, wanna come and build me a house?” –

I say “Damn Straight Brother – what do you need?”

They say “Well, I really want blue walls – how much will that cost?”

I say “Hmm.. well, I need to know more about the house you need… how many floors, how big, will you need a basement? How many doors?  “

They say “Well, you should know that’s not important.  What I really need is wood shingles.  Now knowing what you know… how much will the house cost?  And don’t try to screw me because I’m going to hold you to it and I also have 50 other house builders bidding for the work”

I say “ Um… let’s go with $250,000”

They say “Wow, that’s a lot.  Could you justify that based on my requirements?”

I say “Well, it’s the blue paint… that made all the difference...” [Joel from Canada via SoulSoup]

[incorporated subversion]

8:00:54 PM •  • comment