Hindi Chatbot Breaks New Ground

“A computer chat program that speaks Hindi could open up computers to India’s illiterate millions. ” —Hindi Chatbot Breaks New GroundBBC) Similar:Idlewild's Story Book Forest Improves Its SignageIn the past, I have pointed out copy-edi…AestheticsIn May, 2002, I was blogging about… typefaces in period movies; poets Paul Dirac and Ste…In May, 2002, I was blogging…

Is Our Children Learning?

“But after spending 20 minutes just designing the introduction page, the students still can’t answer the most basic question: What does the liver do? ‘I don’t know; we were supposed to do the gallbladder,’ answers a shy Latino girl with pigtails. They are learning how to use PowerPoint, but they have no idea what the…

There's No Place to Hide

“The next word in security is a system so thorough that it will reveal even the contents of a cigarette pack hidden in your coat pocket. Developed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the scanner uses holographic imaging technology to provide full-body, 360-degree coverage of a person in near real time. ” —There’s No Place to…

Students Complain About Devices for Reading E-Books, Study Finds

“Navigating through digital texts was one of the e-book users’ biggest complaints. They found moving from page to page ‘tedious.’ They also found it difficult to find specific chapters in texts and to find particular words.” —Students Complain About Devices for Reading E-Books, Study Finds (Chronicle) Similar:How to Lie with Data VisualizationData visualization is one of…

SatireWire Has Landed

“Citing creative differences, SatireWire’s founder and sole employee, Andrew Marlatt, announced that as of today, the site will no longer be updated. Unlike everything else on the site, this is not a joke.” Andrew Marlatt —SatireWire Has LandedSatireWire) SatireWire was never quite as good as The Onion, but it did have a pleasant “doing this…

A World Without Water

“But what of the world’s water crisis? Currently the UN identifies approximately six ‘hot stains,’ places where water is so scarce that human life may not be sustainable and conflict over dwindling resources is an ever present threat. ” Ginger Adams Otis —A World Without WaterVillage Voice) Similar:Journalists Verify ClaimsConfirm what your sources tell you.…

The Environmentalists are Wrong

“Why does the developed world worry so much about sustainability? Because we constantly hear a litany of how the environment is in poor shape. Natural resources are running out. Population is growing, leaving less and less to eat. Species are becoming extinct in vast numbers. ….There is, however, one problem: this litany is not supported…

Satellite Tracker Finds Goose in Freezer

A goose fitted with a £3,000 electronic transmitter to chart its migration has been tracked 4,500 miles (7,245 kilometres) by satellite – to an Eskimo hunter’s freezer. —Satellite Tracker Finds Goose in Freezer (BBC) Similar:About that Cough, Rough, Pony, Bologna MemeDo the spellings of cough & rough, p…BooksHiggs Boson VideoGreat video about subatomic particles, f…Academia#PPTPlaytime…

War of the Worlds

“Science fiction has often featured ‘evil empires’ against which are set utopian ideas whose survival must be fought for against the odds by a small but resourceful band of men. Such empires often turn out to be amazingly fragile when faced by intelligent idealists.” —War of the WorldsGuardian) The argument that Osama Bin Laden was…

Judge Tosses BT Hyperlink Case

“U.S. federal Judge Colleen McMahon has dismissed a claim by British Telecom that it developed and holds a patent to the hyperlink technology used to whisk Web users from one site to another. ” Michele Delio —Judge Tosses BT Hyperlink Case (Wired) Similar:Deadline seems to have briefly published, then taken down, story that says Pence has…

Report: Millions Behind Bars in U.S.

Not! The headline says “Millions Behind Bars,” but paragraph 4 says there are 1.3 million in prison. The lead paragraph counts not only prisoners but also those on probation or parole, to come up with a total six times larger. —Report: Millions Behind Bars in U.S. (AP)) 1.3 million is still a staggering number, but…

Hacking Las Vegas

“For six years in the 1990s, Lewis was a principal member of the MIT Blackjack Team, an infamous cabal of hyper-geniuses and anarchistic whiz kids who devised a method of card counting that took the gaming world completely by surprise. ” Ben Mezrich —Hacking Las Vegas (Wired) Similar:Alice in Quantumland: A Charming Illustrated Allegory of Quantum…

What's In a Name?

Two short items appeared recently in Associated Press reports. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – One of four Democrats seeking a Sarasota-area congressional seat sued an opponent over the punctuation in her name. Patrick Feheley objects to his rival being listed as Candice Brown-McElyea because if left hyphenated, the name would appear before Feheley’s on the ballot. A…

Antarctic Sea Ice Increases over Past Two Decades

“In a surprising departure from other findings that point to a warming planet, a NASA researcher has found that the amount of ice in the Antarctic increased from 1979 to 1999, as measured by satellites.” —Antarctic Sea Ice Increases over Past Two DecadesSpace.com) It’s not too surprising if you’ve read anything by Julian Simon. Similar:Wikipedia…

Moon Seen as Nuclear Waste Repository

“One by one, the [waste-bearing] casks smack into the Moon. The soft deep lunar regolith in the impact area should ensure proper waste burial. Plowing into the lunar surface at high speed, the waste would be buried under several feet of glassified regolith…” —Moon Seen as Nuclear Waste Repository (Space.com) Space:1999. Moonbase Alpha… Nuclear Waste…

Let Users Control Font Size

“Tiny text tyrannizes users by dramatically reducing task throughput. IE4 had a great design that let users easily change font sizes; let’s get this design back in the next generation of browsers.” Jakob Nielsen —Let Users Control Font SizeUseIT.com) This apparently the Week of Cute Headlines. Why not “Tiny text type terribly trashes task throughput”?…