How can they screw it up again?

The Washington Post, The Boston Globe and Wired have all already reported on how America has screwed up yet another election. I honestly don't know how a country that holds it's head so high when it talks democracy just doesn't seem to understand how to make it work. Electronic voting machines going haywire, incumbent members being ID checked and even voters being threatened with arrest if they turn up have all marred what has turned out to be a golden day for Australia, though probably an ominous one for Iraq.

Cool Quotes

After watching an awesome episode of the Simpsons last night, parodying Mel Gibson's Passion. So, with Maddy's page as a form of inspiration, I've decided to add a 'Cool Quotes' section.

Mum: "You try to raise your kids as good secular humanists, and then these religious Hollywood types come and push their agenda on TV."
Kid: "Mummy, why wasn't I baptised?
Mum: You see? You see?

NaNoWriMo

So the NaNoWriMo festival (?) is now well under way. The National Novel Writing Month is an event organised via the Interweb for those (presumably primarily Americans) who need motivation for writing a book. There really isn't anything to gain from it except that you get that idea you've always wanted to put down on paper finally off and running, but still, that should be enough.

Yet again the exams have derailed any plans I had for participating, but for those of you who've always wanted some motivation to write a book and have the time to do so here's a good excuse.

The best bookmark I've ever seen

This is a page of javascript bookmarks that you can use to search Wikipedia even quicker! Now, instead of using Google to search (which is often pretty damn good anyway), a popup box can prompt for your search terms and with just one keypress you're away...and without parameters, it still goes to the Main Page. That's a minimum of 4 keys to get to wikipedia straight away...and no mouse! That's at least one less than the method you're probably using (Really...think about it, there's two for the shortcut to the address bar, at least two for the keyword and the 'enter', then you still have at least one more 'enter' from the Main Page).

I'm sure this'll be cool for another couple of weeks until someone develops a Firefox plugin that reads you mind...hmmm...

'Too much English' should encourage us

My Dad forwarded me this story from The Australian about a UN "forum on global governance" which decided that the prevalence of English on the Internet is drowning out those languages without a strong international readership, apparently those of Colombia and Senegal deserve special mention. For a start, this is what happens with languages, get used to it. This should, however, encourage us to hasten the development of translation programs.

I'm sure we've all Googled something and had those pages in Spanish, French etc come up because the word has the same form in those languages. Imagine a Google that automatically translated the pages and then brought up even more relevant results. Imagine then such technology in place in the boardroom, on the telephone and even just in the street where you can speak whatever language you want and be sure to be understood. Obviously there are other benefits too, in order for such technology to work more effectively, linguistic rules, phonetic, semantic and syntactic, will have to be more rigourously obeyed, thus providing languages with an yet another layer of natural protection.

This kind of 'mother-tongue' communication is sure to be the way of the future, and the sooner we are able to implement it reliably and universally, the more languages we can preserve.

Aussie DMCA

Wired and a bunch of others have all reported about a new bill pending review in Parliament which basically replicates the ridiculous DMCA laws in the U.S. (html, pdf) which have led to companies being allowed to define the use of their products. eg. If you buy a song from iTunes, you don't really own that song, you only own it in the supplied format and only for 3 copies (from memory)

Still early days but get ready to get riled up.

Finnish Latin, Pigeons, Pelicans and the legalities of Googling

Apparently Finland is obsessed with Latin, so much so that they broadcast a radio station in the nearly-dead language and even translate EU Presidency reports in it. (BBC)

An awesome spectacle in St. James Park as a bunch of people watched a pelican saunter over to a group of pigeons and gobble one down. (BBC)

An apparently Google's lawyers get just a little upset at the use of the verb 'to Google' when used to refer to searching through another portal. Seems like the majority of replies are pretty pissed off. (Official Google Blog)

A Memary Wednesday

1. Small town or big city? Big, or maybe small but only for a short time. I love the anonymity of massive cities like Sydney, Tokyo, London and Paris...and despite all the calls that they don't have character, each does and finding it is half the fun.

2. Do you have a favorite childhood memory, and if so, would you share it? 'Yes' and 'no'.

3. How do you calm down when something has really upset and/or angered you? Do you swallow it? Call a friend and rant? Go in the bathroom and cry? Punch a wall? Walk around muttering to yourself, complete with scary hand gestures? Used to go for a run or punch something hard, but now those two are a bit more difficult to do or find so I just take it.

4. What attracts you to memes? I like learning a bit more about my friends & feel I should reciprocate.

5. From mads : How reliant are you on computers to get through your day? I thought I was a lot more reliant, but then I went travelling...and then my computer died thus I've found the ability to go without.

6. In a crisis, are you calm or do you panic? Same as Mads I think: I'm usually pretty calm, although maybe I'm just good at hiding my panic!