Webliminalblog

Interfere with the interface

One of the podcasts that I've signed up for and occasionally listen to is TED talks. Very cool.

The one I was listening to today is "Three minutes of fast-paced, whip-smart wordsmithing from spoken-word artist Rives, who has some unconventional ideas about how the Internet should be run. (Recorded November 2006 in New York, NY. Duration: 4:15)"

You gotta see it: http://www.ted.com/tedtalks/tedtalksplayer.cfm?key=rives

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U.S. Deaths Confirmed By The DoD: 3155
Reported U.S. Deaths Pending DoD Confirmation: 6
Total 3161
DoD Confirmation List
Latest Coalition Fatality: Feb 27, 2007

(3236)

Web 2.0 at YouTube

I realize I'm coming a little late to this, but today I came across a very nice video at YouTube, "Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us," http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE, by Michael Wesch, an assistant professor of cultural anthropology at Kansas State University. Very nice work.

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U.S. Deaths Confirmed By The DoD: 3129
Reported U.S. Deaths Pending DoD Confirmation: 6
Total 3135
DoD Confirmation List
Latest Coalition Fatality: Feb 17, 2007
From Iraqi Coalition Casualty Count

(3194)

Articles of Interest from Peter Squire

The second instance of interesting Web sites from our friend Peter Squire:

Top Articles for the week

• Happiness 101
• That was 2006 – a review of the year’s top stories and pictures http://www.nature.com/news/specials/2006/index.html
• Most Important Science Stories of 2006
• A Robot in Every Home http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=9312A198-E7F2-99DF-31DA639D6C4BA567

Fun stories of the week

• Becky award (people or organizations who have made outstanding contributions to linguistic misinformation)- Linguistic Nonsense http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6717017

Website/Radio Show/Book

• Cognitive Task Analysis (CTA) http://www.ctaresource.com/
• Stand-In Moms' Warm Hearts, Fill Stomachs http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6682127
• The Buzz over Energy Drinks- How much Caffeine is to much? http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6720000
• For a Healthy Brain in Old Age, Start Early http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6719135

Biology

• A Fast, Sensitive Virus Detector http://www.technologyreview.com/Nanotech/18028/
• Alzheimer's Disease and Parkinson's Disease: a 360° view – top papers on the subject gathered by Nature http://www.nature.com/360/index.htm
  
  

General

• Virginia Sets Example for Communication Readiness
  http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6716152

Military

• Vibrating Vest Could Send Alerts to Soldiers

Robots

• Mars Rovers Are Taught New Tricks http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6224509.stm
  

Software

• Programmers to blame for Hard-to-Use Software
• Ada Enhances Embedded-Systems Development

Technology

• Citing Problems, U.S. Bars Lab From Testing Electronic Voting http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/04/washington/04voting.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
• Wikipedia Links Used to Build Smart Reading Lists
• Ensuring You Find What You Seek

Recycling your computer

A friend has been organizing his work space at home and had a few computers that he didn't need any more, and asked for some advice on selling them, donating them, or otherwise getting rid of them. The most expedient thing to do in this area, if the computer and/or monitor is in working condition, is to take it to the local landfill where they have a special container for working electronic devices. It is really important that a computer and monitor are disposed of properly since they contain potentially hazardous materials. It also is a great idea to recycle the computer and monitor as someone will be able to use the device or parts of it.

We recently purchased a computer from Dell. They have a program whereby you can recycle your computer and/or monitor. A shipping label is included with the packaging material and if you pack your old computer and monitor in the box, it will be pocked up for free. HP has a similar program.

Here is a list of three resources about recycling computers.

• Guide about computer recycling and reuse
• Ten Tips for Donating a Computer
• How to: Recycle Your Computer (TreeHugger)

When I come across other resources, they'll be put into my delicious list of URLS with the tags recycle and computer, http://del.icio.us/ernestackermann/recycle+computer.
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U.S. Deaths Confirmed By The DoD: 3001
Reported U.S. Deaths Pending DoD Confirmation: 11
Total 3012
DoD Confirmation List
Latest Coalition Fatality: Jan 07, 2007
Source: http://icasualties.org/oif/

3063

Articles of Interest from Peter Squire

Peter Squire, a friend, occasionally sends me and a host of others a list of articles that he finds interesting. The list always contains some sites that I'd like to read further, come back to, and recommend to others. The list comes by email and I think it ought to be blogged. So without asking his permission, here is the list I received this morning from Peter Squire, with URLs converted to hyperlinks by me.

Top Articles for the week

What It Takes to Make a Student http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/26/magazine/26tough.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5087&en=f88b748bf061ed7e&ex=1182142800

A review of important scientific achievements reported in Science News during the year 2006. http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20061223/bob22.asp

Fun stories of the week

Best Buy Offers Digital Life System. New software will turn your home into a networked oasis. http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/posts.aspx?id=17491

Fact or Fiction?: NASA Spent Millions to Develop a Pen that Would Write in Space, whereas the Soviet Cosmonauts Used a Pencil http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa004&articleID=9CF01C5C-E7F2-99DF-3EEFFCD06138AEC4

Website/Radio Show/Book

There are military academies, what about a public service academy? http://uspublicserviceacademy.org/about/

Brain

Foods may affect the brain as well as the body http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20060304/bob8.asp

Exercising the body can benefit the mind http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20060225/bob10.asp

Biology

Longevity Gene Keeps Brain Agile http://www.technologyreview.com/BioTech/17949/
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=C055A20E-E7F2-99DF-3D3D2252606AAAC8

A hair-like optical fiber implanted in the skin could make frequent glucose measurements easier for diabetics. http://www.technologyreview.com/BioTech/17943/

General

Lessons for the Mentor http://www.cio.com.au/pp.php?id=457796608&pp=1&eid=-154

Work-Life Balance http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8450071

Enhancing Quality of Life--and Saving Billions http://www.carnegiemellontoday.com/article.asp?Aid=376

Group Formed to Address Future of Libraries in Internet Age http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1206/122006tdpm1.htm

Robots

DARPA raises stakes for urban robot race http://news.com.com/DARPA+raises+stakes+for+urban+robot+race/2100-11394_3-6142278.html

Real Robots http://www.thestar.com/article/164480

Robotic Baby Seal Wins Top Award
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6202765.stm

Fun Sing

Fredericksburg.com created a really neat feature for the holidays. The page Holiday Songs contains the results of 'people-on-the-street' video vignettes singing their own versions of several Christmas songs and carols. It is funny, heartwarming, and am interesting collection of people singing without reservations; being themselves.

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In Iraq:
U.S. Deaths Confirmed By The DoD: 2957
Reported U.S. Deaths Pending DoD Confirmation: 8
Total 2965
Latest Coalition Fatality: Dec 23, 2006

Visual proofs/explanations

Browsing reddit this morning, I came across a link that included some visual proofs, displayed below. They are very clear explanations of some mathematical identities. I started looking around for some others. Here's what I found:

• Visual Explanations in Mathematics
• Wikipedia Commons entries for the Pythagorean Theorem
• the two interesting looking books by Robert Nelson Proofs Without Words and Proofs Without Words II
• Math Made Visualby Roger Nelson and Claudia Alsina
• Philosophy of Mathematics by Robert James Brown

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You have an active mind and a keen imagination. -fc
2960

wikiHow

I came across wikiHow through the entry "How to Reduce Your Greenhouse Gas Emissions" that was featured on Google homepage. It interesting to me because of the way a wiki is being used to provide how-to information. You can create an account and contribute in wiki-style to the entries. The pages each carry a discussion page as well. The one accompanying the page on reducing greenhouse gas emissions mirrors the discussions found on and offline.

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Do what's right for you, as long as it don't hurt no one. - Elvis Presley

2777

Computer Science tutorials

I received a "Dear Faculty" email today from Jessamy Hoffmann asking for recommendations of Web resources for the Web page "UMW - On-line tutorials by subject" published by Academic Services at Mary Washington. The page has links to several tutorials in a variety of subject areas. The current one listed for Computer Science is

Computer Science Tutorials and Applets, University of Saskatchewan – a combination of interactive applets and tutorials students can drill down through to learn more about their subject.

Here are a few others that I recommended as I've found useful:

• W3Schools Online Web Tutorials
• Learning guides and tutorials from whatis.com
• Programmer's Heaven

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The web of our life is of mingled yarn, good and ill together. - Shakespeare
2681

The Odd body

the Register Online has a collection of columns categorised (it is a British paper) as the Odd Body. Reader's send in questions and they're answered by Stephen Juan, Ph.D. is an anthropologist at the University of Sydney. the articles that first drew me in are titled "How long does it take the body to...". The first of these starts with"

It takes time for everything, including what happens in the human body.

* Fingerprints form six to eight weeks before birth.
* Fingernails grow about four times faster than toenails - about .02 of an inch (0.05cm) per week.

and, naturally, it eventually includes items related to sex and reproduction.

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Ninety-eight percent of the adults in this country are decent, hardworking, honest Americans. It's the other lousy two percent that get all the publicity. But then, we elected them. - Lily Tomlin

2650

History of Computing

An interesting site that deals with the history of computing. "History of Computing," http://www.comphist.org/index.php. It also contains many links to other useful resources.

NSA Eavesdropping - How it's done?

An article at CNET covers some of the ground about ways that NSA eavesdropping might work.
NSA eavesdropping: How it might work | CNET News.com

Eavesdropping 101

American Civil Liberties Union : Eavesdropping 101: What Can The NSA Do?

An interesting and informative article by our friends at the ACLU. God bless America.

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Just say know. - Mary Mathrey, R.N.

2387

blog software comparison

Two charts that compare blog software.

• Blog Software Breakdown. The document was last updated in November, 2005. It compares b2Evolution, bBlog, BLOG:CMS,Blojsom, Blosxom,Expression Engine, MovableType, Nucleus, Pivot, pMachine Pro, Serendipity, SPIP, .Text, TextPattern, and WordPress


• Blog software comparison chart was published in July 2005 as part of the article "Time to check: Are you using the right blogging tool?," in the USC Annenberg Online Journalism Review. It compares Blogger, TypePad Basic, TypePad Plus, TypePad Pro, Blogware, WordPress, Movable Type, and Expression Engine.

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If your diskette is full and you need more storage space, remove the disk from the drive and shake vigorously for two minutes. This will pack the data ("data compression") enough to allow for more storage. Be sure to cover all the openings with scotch tape to prevent loss of data.

2309

A funny piece - Einstein's performance review

I just came across "'05 Annual Performance Review: Albert Einstein" by Peter Norvig. It's a funny piece. I particularly liked

"In addition, I would have to say your output, while at times quite extraordinary, has been inconsistent. In Q1 you managed to publish one paper in the final two weeks of the quarter. In Q2 you improved productivity, with your dissertation in April, the Brownian Motion paper in May, and the Special Relativity paper in June. Not bad for a quarter, not bad at all. But then you seemed to slump: you did finish one paper 3 days before the close of Q3, but it was only 3 pages long. I admit that some reviewers did find it noteworthy, but really, couldn't it have been the conclusion of your June paper? It almost seems like you held it back just to have something to show for Q3. (This flippant, almost disrespectful attitude is also evident in your dissertation: when told by your respected thesis committee that your thesis was too short, you added one sentence.) And then in Q4 -- no publications at all.

I was reading his essay "Teach Yourself Programming in 10 Years" in preparation for teaching CPSC 401, Organization of Programming Languages in the spring semester, and thought I'd like to know more about the author. You too might enjoy visiting Peter Norvig's Web site. While you're there take a read of "Hiring a President. "

Recently added bookmarks; January 3, 2005

Closet & Entryway Doors

We are looking for some ideas about doors for the remodeling project we've been involved in, and this seemed like a good site to consider. "Your closet doors make a statement about yourself and, as such, you should be able to express yourself. We believe that you should not have to settle for the mass produced stamped steel, hollow core or super-thin wood doors of the world. Instead we offer you another choice. 10 choices actually with each door design available in 80 standard sizes."

familydoctor.org - Health Information for the Whole Family

A site published by the American Academy of Family Physicians. They say, "The mission of the AAFP is to improve the health of patients, families, and communities by serving the needs of members with professionalism and creativity." The site has links to information in the categories Healthy Living, Men, Women, and so on.

Frequently Answered Questions: Image Resources

An entry in the blog "Frequently Answered Questions, Questions answered by the Distance Education Librarian at Buley Library, Southern Connecticut State University." A nice idea for a blog. The entry contains an explanation of some of the copyright issues involved in using images and fair use. It also contains annotated links to resources for images that can be freely used.

Games for the Brain

A collection of online games and puzzles compiled by Philipp Lenssen. "Play neverending quiz & memory games to train your thinking." Check out some of his other sites at http://www.outer-court.com/

Greener Lifestyles

An online store or natural, fair trade goods. Includes furniture and gifts.

Sensible Forms: A Form Usability Checklist

An article in A List Apart by Brian Crescimanno. As you'd expect, the focus is on providing forms that are designed for people using the form, not designed for a programmer.

Simpson Door - handcrafted exterior and interior doors

Another link related to that remodeling project.

Vsocial

A Web service for uploading, tagging, and sharing videos. No charge to set up an account.

Wikipedia, academia and Seigenthaler

A thoughtful commentary by Danah Boyd on the issues related to dealing with wikipedia's resources in an academic environemnt. "I am worried about how academics are treating Wikipedia and i think that it comes from a point of naivety. Wikipedia should never be the sole source for information. It will never have the depth of original sources. It will also always contain bias because society is inherently biased, although its efforts towards neutrality are commendable. These are just realizations we must acknowledge and support. But what it does have is a huge repository of information that is the most accessible for most people. Most of the information is more accurate than found in a typical encyclopedia and yet, we value encyclopedias as a initial point of information gathering. It is also more updated, more inclusive and more in-depth. Plus, it's searchable and in the hands of everyone with digital access (a much larger population than those with encyclopedias in their homes). It also exists in hundreds of languages and is available to populations who can't even imagine what a library looks like. Yes, it is open. This means that people can contribute what they do know and that others who know something about that area will try to improve it. Over time, articles with a lot of attention begin to be inclusive and approximating neutral. The more people who contribute, the stronger and more valuable the resource. Boycotting Wikipedia doesn't make it go away, but it doesn't make it any better either."

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And today's special is ..
The artist is the man in any field, scientific or humanistic, who grasps the implications of his actions and of new knowledge in his own time. He is the man of integral awareness. - Marshall McLuhan

2298

Recently added bookmarks; December 20, 2005

20Q.net

This is the classic game of Twenty Questions. An experiment in Artificial Intelligence, the program is very simple but its behavior is complex. All questions and objects were entered by other people playing the game.

ACM Queue - Social Bookmarking in the Enterprise - Social bookmarking tools are taking off on the Web. Do they have a place within the enterprise, too?

"The desire to find and share information among small groups, teams, and communities of practice has, not surprisingly, led to the development of a number of shared bookmarking systems."

ACM Queue - Socially Acceptable Behavior - Social bookmarking is a technology whose time has come.

"One thing is for sure: Social bookmarking is a technology whose time has come, and once corporate America discovers it, advertising will surely follow. I give del.icio.us eight months before it becomes riddled with ads.

AJAX spurs Web rebirth for desktop apps | CNET News.com

AJAX spurs Web rebirth for desktop apps | Watch out, Office. New tools and techniques are fueling a surge in hosted versions of traditional PC software. | December 1, 2005, 4:00 AM PT | Martin LaMonica

Do-it-yourself: Stop junk mail, email and phone calls

A free guide to reducing unwanted or intrusive advertising

Does Your Company Belong in the Blogosphere? : Technology : HBS Working Knowledge

An article in Harvard Business Review addressing using blogs in the realm of business.

EchoEcho.Com - Web Hosting - JavaScript Tutorial - HTML tutorial - CSS Tutorial - Flash Tutorial - Online for free!

EPIC West: Electronic Privacy Information Center West Coast Office: Hoofnagle's Consumer Privacy Top 10

FTC Study Shows Technology Gaining in the Battle Against Spam

ImageShack® - Hosting

A place to host images at no charge

Instructables: step-by-step collaboration

kiva

"Kiva provides a new, sponsor a business option for individuals to connect with small enterprises in developing countries through flexible loans.

libwww-perl: WWW Protocol Library for Perl

Mastering Ajax, Part 1: Introduction to Ajax

Ajax, which consists of HTML, JavaScript, DHTML, and DOM, is an outstanding approach that helps you transform clunky Web interfaces into interactive Ajax applications. The author, an Ajax expert, demonstrates how these technologies work together -- from an overview to a detailed look -- to make extremely efficient Web development an easy reality. He also unveils the central concepts of Ajax, including the XMLHttpRequest object.

O'Reilly Network: What Is Web 2.0

Prints and Photographs Online Catalog (Prints and Photographs Reading Room, Library of Congress)

Putfile - Upload Video and Upload Images

Putfile is a free host. Upload video and images for free.

ResourceShelf - What to Make of Web 2.0

Yet another excellent article by Shirl Kenendy. his one about Web 2.0.

Social Security Retirement Suite

This is an official Social Security web site with information on retirement planning.

Will Fair Use surrvive

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Never esteem anything as of advantage to you that shall make you break your word or lose your self-respect. - Marcus Aurelius
2275

Recently added bookmarks; November 29, 2005

Baking supplies from the San Francisco Baking Institute - Baking and Pastry Arts School for Professionals and Enthusiasts

San Francisco Baking Institute - Baking and Pastry Arts School for Professionals and Enthusiasts

Computer Science Style Guide Suggestions

ACM, APA, and IEEE bibliographic styles from Dalhousie University Libraries

Looks Too Good To Be True

Looks Too Good to Be True is the internet resource for information, reporting and education for consumers who may be the victim of online or mail fraud.

NPR : Kitchen Window

Kitchen Window commentaries on food and entertaining are published every Wednesday and feature recipes.

Pew Internet & American Life Project Report: Search engine use

Online Activities & Pursuits. Search engine use shoots up in the past year and edges towards email as the primary internet application. 11/20/2005 | Lee Rainie

Recognizing and Avoiding Spyware

A cyber-security tip from CERT, 2004.

Webmaster Tools and SEO Software Resources :: Webmaster Toolkit

"This site came into existence as a collection of webmaster tools developed to help myself and a few other webmasters with our daily webmaster chores. After creating a fair number of online tools, it was decided that we should make the site public, so that other webmasters around the world would have access to them for free. The suite of free tools and resources offered continues to grow to this day, and we aim to offer something useful for the beginner to the advanced webmaster alike."

Xoom.com - Webmaster Tools

A collection of links to tools for Webmasters. Includes "Free Counters and Stats, Website Hosting,Free Email, Website Builders and Maintenance Tools, Clip Art and Graphics,Free Script - Javascript, Perl, Python, CGI, Tutorials for Webmasters, and Digital Photography."

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No matter how old a mother is, she watches her middle-aged children for signs of improvement. Florida Scott-Maxwell
2235

Recently Added Bookmarks; November 19, 2005

Bookmarks added this past week:

'Tagging' gives Web a human meaning | CNET News.com

'Tagging' gives Web a human meaning | A growing number of Web sites are implementing tagging systems as a way to bring order and organization to information. | November 15, 2005, 11:18 PM PT

43 places

“43 Places helps you make a list of the great places you want to visit and share stories and photos of the places you’ve been."

Applying Writing Guidelines to Web Pages

A report by John Morkes and Jakob Nielsen giving some metrics fro usability studies regarding following their recommendations in an article mentioned below.

Create Your Own Internet Search Engine with Eurekster Swicki

Make your own search engine for your site or blog with Eurekster Swicki. You are in charge of the search results, the search terms, and how the search engine looks. Find out what a Swicki is and see if it's something you might want to place on your own website or blog.

Developing Web Applications with Ajax, Part 3 - WebReference.com

The third in a series of articles about using Ajax. I've got to get on this stuff!

How to Write for the Web (Full Paper)

From Jakob Nielsen's site useit.com. All the good tips about writing for usability by John Morkes and Jakob Nielsen

I want to - a page of utilities that help you do stuff you want to Web 2.0 applications

From Phil Bradley." "I want to..." or "I need to" or "How do I?" These are all questions we all ask all the time. This is a small collection of resources that will help to answer those questions. It is not complete, nor will it ever be. I will be adding to this on a regular basis, so feel free to bookmark it and come back and visit. Now listing over 200 applications."

Linux.com | My sysadmin toolbox

"By: Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier

Every administrator has a set of software tools that he just can't live without. These are the utilities that you install as soon as you log into a new machine, to help make day-to-day tasks a little easier. Here are my top 10 tools. "

Mashups a Go-Go! New Mashups from MSN Virtual Earth and Yahoo Maps

From SearchEngineWatch. A list of some recent mashups

Slide

A public photo share that includes easy ways to make a slide show.

thefreecountry.com: Free Programmers' Resources, Free Webmasters' Resources, Free Security Resources

Free programmers' resources, free webmaster resources, free security and privacy resources

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In the last analysis it is our conception of death which decides our answers to all the questions that life puts to us. - Dag Hammarskjold

2200

Recently Added Bookmarks 11/11/2005

AgeLine Database

Database maintained by AARP on issues of interest

Ambient Findability: Findability Hacks

Web Design to support a usable information architecture. An exerpt from Peter Morville's book Ambient Findability

Edge: TURING'S CATHEDRAL by George Dyson

Einstein Light: a brief illumination of relativity

Geek's guide to working out@Everything2.com

Medical Dictionary, Hospitals, Pharmaceutical Company and Medical Associations Searches

Medical Dictionary, Worldwide Pharmaceutical Company Search, Hospitals Directory and Other Medical Searches

memeorandum

My Web 2.0 BETA - Tools - Yahoo!

Never build a website for no reason

Science & Technology at Scientific American.com: Science & Technology Web Awards 2005 -- Our editors name 25 of their favorite sites

Search Engines and Directories A to Z

Search engines and directories profiled from A to Z. Includes information, updated news, commentary, and how to use them.

tech.memeorandum

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One real world is enough.

Posted by ernie at 07:04 AM | Comments (0)

Recently added bookmarks - for anyone

2005 Washington, DC Metro Area Dining Guide with Tom Sietsema (washingtonpost.com)

The 2005 annual Tom Sietsema dining guide for the Washington, DC metro area restaurants.

Ari Weinzweig's Guide to Good Olives: The Splendid Table

Ari Weinzweig's (a founder of Zingerman's) Guide to Good Olives

Business 2.0 - Web Guide - Guide Topics -e

A directory to Web topics of special interest to businesses

Center for Ecoliteracy | Welcome

Center Ecoliteracy

Folkstreams » The Best of American Folklore Films

Folkstreams » Best American Folklore Films

Main Page - Wikimedia Commons

Main Wikimedia Commons. You get the idea.

morguefile :: archive

morguefile archive The purpose of this site is to provide free high resolution digital stock photographs and reference images for either corporate or public creative pursuits

Product Reviews and Reports by Consumer Search - ConsumerSearch.com

Product Reviews Reports Consumer Search. Very helpful site when you need to find out which makes and models are recommended.

UNCW Student Affairs: Career Services

UNCW Student Affairs Career Services. Information for compute science students.

Web Marketing Today Info Center - Wilson Internet Services

"Links to hundreds of on-line articles about effective Web marketing and to on-line resources for business."

Welcome to the Home of the California Rare Fruit Growers!

California Rare Fruit Growers

Zoto

photo social media

Posted by ernie at 09:30 PM | Comments (0)

Free image editors

Two reviews in PC Magazine caught my eye. Each was for a free image editor.

They are

• PhotoPlus 6 - "Hands-down the best free basic image editor around."


• GIMPshop - "If you are entirely new to image editing and want to experiment with the GIMP, you'd be better off with the original program (available from www.gimp.org). If you want Adobe-like software, PhotoShop Elements is more powerful and easier to use."

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Your enemies may come to your rescue

1998

Recently added bookmarks - for programmers, geeks, the true technorati

Here are some items I've recently added to my bookmark list. I use PowerMarks to manage bokmarks, and used it to generate the items on this list.

Application Development: Install PEAR on a shared Web host Gotta have it.

http://builder.com.com/5100-6371-5163311.html?tag=e601

Description: The various libraries provided by the PEAR open source project can greatly increase the application development capabilities of PHP. In this article, you'll see how to install the PEAR libraries onto a shared hosting site.

Keywords: Application article capabilities Development greatly host hosting increase Install libraries open PEAR PHP project provided shared source Web

Control your scripts with command-line PHP In case you didn't know.

http://techrepublic.com.com/5100-3513-5889263.html

Description: This document will introduce you to PHP 's command-line interface (CLI), showing you how to interact with PHP programs at the command prompt .

Keywords: CLI command command-line Control document interact interface introduce PHP programs prompt scripts showing

File Extensions Reference A good reference

http://www.sharpened.net/helpcenter/extensions.php

Description: List of file extensions with detailed information for each extension, including the programs that can open the files.

Keywords: detailed extension Extensions File filename files formats including information List programs Reference suffixes

FileInfo.net - The File Extensions Resource Another good one!

http://www.fileinfo.net/

Description: A searchable database of file extensions with detailed descriptions and information about each file type.

Keywords: data database descriptions detailed details extension Extensions File filename files formats Resource searchable type types

Gather Web server stats with a custom PHP app Nice example of reasonable applications of PHP

http://builder.com.com/5100-6371-5059952.html?tag=e601

Description: You can't always trust the server statistics provided by a third-party hosting company, so developing your own monitoring application is a wise move. See how to use PHP to create a stats-generating app that produces reliable logs.

Keywords: app application company create custom developing Gather hosting logs monitoring PHP provided reliable server statistics stats stats-generating third-party trust use Web wise

ProgrammableWeb: Web 2.0 Mashup Matrix This is very sweet. Thanks Tara! It looks like we're going to have lots of fun with this!

http://www.programmableweb.com/matrix#

Keywords: 2.0 Mashup Matrix ProgrammableWeb Web

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And today's special is ..
I was in a museum and had to be dramatically clever and clearheaded. --Umberto Eco

1942

Recently added bookmarks - for anyone

Here are some items I've recently added to my bookmark list. I use PowerMarks to manage bokmarks, and used it to generate the items on this list.

Benefits, Advocacy and Information on Aging for People Age 50 and Over - AARP

http://www.aarp.org/ As we take the field in the second half.

Description: AARP - Enhancing quality of life for all as we age. Leading positive social change and delivering value to people age 50 and over through information, advocacy and service. Visit AARP website for resources on aging and retirement; discounts on drugs, travel; insurance, financial services, and a wide range of unique benefits and products for members.

Keywords: 50 AARP Advocacy Age Aging airline American association Benefits bulletin care change citizen delivering discount discounts drugs education elderly employment Enhancing financial grandparenting health Information insurance Leading life living long-term members old Over People person positive prescription products quality range resources retired retirement senior seniors service services social through travel unique value Visit we website wide women

Common Dreams | News & Views

http://www.commondreams.org/ A really nice site for keeping up witht he comemntary you want to read

Description: Common Dreams - Breaking News and Views for the Progressive Community

Keywords: Alternative Breaking Common Community Dreams News Newscenter Progressive Views

Flash » Epic 2015

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/epic You gotta see it, you gotta feel it!

Description: Epic 2015. Flash Movie Animation.

Keywords: 2015 Animation Epic Flash Movie

Yotophoto

http://yotophoto.com/ A good place for free-to-use stock photos

Keywords: Yotophoto internet search engine finding free-to-use stock photographs images

Using Google's intitle search syntax

I've been having students who are enrolled in the Internet course I've been teaching this semester give short presentations of sites or services they've particularly enjoyed or found useful. One student gave a brief presentation on using Google's intitle syntax for finding MP3 or other media files, when you can't use one of the services that locate these files for you. He said it was particularly useful when those services are blocked by a firewall or some other filter at your workplace.

Here's an example of what you can enter into Google's search box to show a directory listing that contains mp3 files whose names include "emmylou harris"
?intitle:index.of? mp3 "emmylou harris"

When you use intitle:xyz you're searching the titles of Web pages. Try intitle:cpsc104

I found some other interesting comments about using intitle, several of which were related to security issues.

Googling up passwords http://securityfocus.com/columnists/224

Google Your Site For Security Vulnerabilities
http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/security/2004/10/07/googling_for_vulnerabilities.html

Demystifying Google Hacks
http://www.hackingspirits.com/eth-hac/papers/Demystifying%20Google%20Hacks.pdf

Google hacking at its finest..
http://www.i-hacked.com/content/view/23/42/

--
And today's special is ..
You're enough to keep me awake nights.
1928

Noteworthy Sites Scraped from the Blogosphere - September 7, 2005

I came across these in Neat New Stuff, Weekly Reviews of New Sites by Marylaine Block.

EFF: Legal Guide for Bloggers - from the Electronic Frontier Foundation

Commentary Today - columns from commentators on the left and the right. New columns are marked as well as those two or three days old.

Electronic Journals with RSS feeds - a list of RSS feeds to online journals from our friends at the University of Saskatechewan Library

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1845

Today's Special: If you cannot convince them, confuse them. - Harry S Truman

Hurricane Katrina Resources

Our friends at the Librarians' Index to the Internet have put together a good list of resources about Hurricane Katrina and its effects.
LII: Hurricane Katrina

Students in my Internet class also put together lists of resources

Katrina Resources Group1

Katrina Resources Group2

Katrina Resources Group3

Katrina Resources Group4

Katrina Resources Group5

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Today's special is

The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty. - James Madison, 4th US President

1841

Hurricane Katrina -- Online Resources and How to Help

Hurricane Katrina -- Online Resources and How to Help - A list of resources in the Washington Post.Compiled by Staff and From Wires
Includes

• Resources for Finding Missing Persons
• Get Help
• FEMA list of agencies needing cash to assist hurricane victims
• Volunteer opportunities
• Washington Benefits

The Wikipedia entry for Hurricane Katrina also contains links ot several resources.

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1831

Blog guides, tips & tutorials

Here's a list of Blog guides, tips & tutorials that I came up with today.

Blogging 101: wikibook A collection of links with some exposition to the basics of blogging

Welcome to Blogosphere: An Executive Blogger's Guide A 17 page guide to blogs for executives. Nicely done.

Building a Blog with Dreamweaver, PHP, and MySQL Looks like a nice guide to developing a blog using the software mentioned.

Mandarin Design Daily:The MEG Blog Lots of great tips for using CSS to enhance your blog.

Guardian Unlimited | Weblog | Weblog guide From the Guardian, some blogs they like arranged by categories - British, World, News, Tech, and others.

Tired of blogging without being noticed? "Ah, the vagaries of unrecognized blogging brilliance. So you've taken Hugh's advice and started a blog, and nobody's noticed you? Welcome to the club. Almost all of us start at the bottom, unless we're already well-established authors or pundits or some such."

Technorati Help: Blogging 101 A nice clear-cut intro to blogging; terms explained done as a FAQ.

10 Tips on Writing the Living Web A really nice piece by Mark Bernstein: "Some parts of the web are finished, unchanging creations – as polished and as fixed as books or posters. But many parts change all the time.." Ten tips for interesting writing.

Understanding and Reading a Blog (for Newcomers) Just what you'd expect from Dvorak; a clear-cut explanation of blogs.

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1732

Reviews of anti-spyware software from PC Magazine

PC Magazine: New Product Reviews Contains a number of reviews of antispyware.

ZeroSpyware 2005 3.2 "Good. ZeroSpyware removed or blocked most, but not all, of the spyware we tested it with. It's unusually informative, offering detailed information about found spyware but also identifying known harmless processes. And its live 24/7 help with remote diagnostics makes it an excellent choice for those who are less tech-savvy."

Spyware X-terminator 2005 " Poor. Despite its tough-guy name, Spyware X-terminator was completely ineffective at blocking spyware and did a poor job of removing spyware from an infested system. It offers no data about found threats beyond a severity level rating. We can't recommend it, especially given the number of superior products available."

Spyware Eliminator 4.0" Good. Spyware Eliminator detected most of our samples but couldn't remove many of them. Its threat descriptions are detailed but awkward. The ADS system completely blocked many spyware threats, but completely missed others. With wider coverage, ADS may become a powerful tool to keep spyware from ever getting installed on your system.

Spyware Doctor 3.2 " Very Good. Spyware Doctor removed or at least detected all the spyware in our tests; it even removed two keyloggers. When installed before testing, it blocked or quickly removed all but one item. While its descriptions of found spyware could use work, it's very effective and easy to use.

Spy Sweeper 4 " Very Good. Spy Sweeper 4 is faster than its predecessor and catches a significant number of newer threats, but it is otherwise unchanged from the previous version. We're coming to expect more information about found threats and a smoother user interface. It's effective at spyware removal—but the competition is getting fiercer."

Norton Internet Security 2005 Antispyware Edition " Fair. Integrating antivirus, antispyware, and firewall smoothly in a single package is a fantastic concept. However, the antispyware module here just doesn't hold up, and the all-inclusive package may not install on an already-infested system. For now we suggest you continue to use a standalone antispyware product."

Microsoft Windows AntiSpyware (beta) " Good. MSAS did well at removing spyware. Despite its elaborate Security Agent protections, it let more than half of our test spyware install. Still, it's free! Use it if you're on a budget, or use it in conjunction with another antispyware tool."

I use Spybot - Search & Destroy, rated as Good by PC Magazine.

--- today's special is

We make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars: as if we were villains by necessity; fools by heavenly compulsion. -- Edmund (Shakespeare)

1603

Noteworthy Sites Scraped from the Blogosphere June 24, 2005

From Librarians' Index to the Internet

Youth & Militarism : AFSC "Questions and answers from this Quaker organization "committed to the principles of nonviolence," about military recruitment issues facing American youth. Topics addressed include counter-recruitment, the military in schools, the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test (the admissions and placement test for the U.S. military), draft registration and selective service registration, and conscientious objection."
Ask the Expert: Early retirement - May. 9, 2005 "May 2005 article that discusses issues to consider when planning for early retirement. Topics include lifestyle and emotional issues, and financial considerations. Includes links to related articles and to retirement income and benefits calculators. From CNN/Money."
FireWire vs Hi-Speed USB Connecting peripheral devices to your computer used to be a drag. Not only would you need extra cables and power cords but sometimes you'd also need to reboot your system and wait for it to respond each time you plugged in a new gadget. And, once connected, the transfer of data could be painfully slow. Thankfully, along came FireWire and Universal Serial Bus (USB): faster and easier to use replacements for serial and parallel ports.

And today's special is ..
When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece. - John Ruskin

1593

Noteworthy sites scraped from the blogosphere june 21 2005

From the June 16 entry in John Batelle's Searchblog:

YubNub self described as a (social) command line for the Web. It's pretty neat. Enter commands in the form and YubNub conducts a search or performs a service. The examples on the home page include
"gim porsche 911 Do a Google Image search for Porsche 911's.
ls List all available commands.
random 100 Pick a random number between 1 and 100.
create Create a new command Cool!"
It's that last one that makes it "social."

And today's special is ..
Talkers are no good doers. - William Shakespeare (From Henry VI)
1577

Noteworthy sites scraped from the blogosphere june 18 2005

Sites mentioned in other blogs and saved to my bookmark list:

From ResourceShelf

Firewalls
Source: SearchNetworking.com
Firewall Resource Guide
"Firewalls are an essential tool in protecting your network from various threats...this guide is a compilation of resources that explain what firewalls are, how they work, vulnerabilities, troubleshooting, configurations and more."

From particletree

The Importance of RSS
By Kevin Hale
After months of careful observation, Kevin writes down his ideas on the fall of blogs, the bright future of rss, and how web applications like Del.icio.us, Bloglines and Gataga are scaring Google into action.

Database Simplicity With Class
By Ryan Campbell
Want to get rid of the tedious drudgery in your database lifestyle? Ryan shows you how with his clean and easy to use database script. Pack it up and take it anywhere, it’ll offer all your basic database functionality in a simple, reusable format.

From The Shifted Librarian

Popular Science magazine gives us the following five things You Didn’t Know You Could Do with RSS:
1. “Package Deliveries
2. Library Books
“ Avoid late fees and fruitless trips to the library with ELF (libraryelf.com), which generates a feed to inform you when books you've requested are available at your local branch (including a link to operating hours) and when your checked-out books are almost due.”
3. Local Weather
4. TV Listings
5. Yourself” [via del.icio.us/merlinmann/43folders]

IBM Guideines for Bloggers

developerWorks : Blogs : James Snell

Permalink

IBM published "an announcement on its Intranet site encouraging all 320,000+ employees world wide to consider engaging actively in the practice of "blogging". This move follows several years of persistent grassroots efforts by an informal community of IBM bloggers."

"the corporate communications and legal teams worked collaboratively with the IBM Blogging Community to draft the Corporate Blogging Guidelines copied below. The core principles -- written by IBM bloggers over a period of ten days using an internal wiki -- are designed to guide IBMers as they figure out what they're going to blog about so they don't end up like certain notable ex-employees of certain notable other companies. They're also intended to communicate IBM's position on such practices as astroturfing, covert marketing, and openly goading or berating competitors -- specifically, don't do it. As these guidelines were being drafted, we drew heavily upon our own experiences as bloggers and the excellent prior art in this space graciously provided by Sun, Microsoft, Groove and many others who have drafted policies and guidelines for their employees."

The prior art referred to in the quote above is "Blogging Policy Examples" in Charlene Li's blog.

Math Goes Postmodern

Definitional Drift: Math Goes Postmodern From the LA Times by Margaret Wertheim, the "Quark Soup" science columnist for LA Weekly. "Like so many other fields, mathematics is becoming less about some Platonic ideal of ultimate answers, and more a functional project of computational simulation and communal negotiation. Dare we say it: Math is becoming postmodern."

A good read about the difficulty of verifying mathematical proofs, and an article of interest to all of us who think about thinking.

Maybe We Should Let That Kudzu (that's theatening to overtake the house) Grow

In this week's issue of the Scout Report:

The Scout Report -- Volume 11, Number 20, In The News: Kudzu May Help Curb Excessive Drinking

"Study: Herb Helps Curb Binge Drinking
http://www.newsday.com/news/health/wire/sns-ap-binge-drinking-chinese-herb,0,179837.story?coll=sns-ap-health-headlines .....
For more than 100 years, kudzu has been seen by many as a curse on the landscape of the American South, growing up to a foot in a single day, and extending over thousands of acres of land. This pervasive plant may be getting a better name soon, as recent research has indicated that the plant may be able to help curb binge-drinking. In a recent study conducted by researcher Scott Lukas at the Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital indicates that those participants who took kudzu pills drank an average of 1.8 beers per session, compared with the 3.5 beers consumed by those who took a placebo. This research draws on many hundreds of years of anecdotal evidence from China, where various parts of the kudzu plant have been used in a variety of treatments. The initial reports seem to suggest that while kudzu won’t in fact turn heavy drinkers into complete teetotalers, it will in fact help them cut back."

Compare your height for fun

TallorNot is a fun application available at Ringphone.com. You enter your height and then select names of (other) famous people from a list. A graphic showing comparing your height to theirs is displayed. This is the place to go if you'd like an idea of what it would look like to have you standing next to Abraham Lincoln, Julia Roberts, or Yogi Berra.

Chance of a White Christmas

Check out Weather Underground: Fredericksburg, Virginia Forecast: white christmas? to read the chances of a white Christmas in Washington DC or Baltimore. The folks at Weather Underground have done a good job analyzing the statistics of past weather conditions. It seems the chances of snow on Christmas are pretty slim, but there's always hope. Weather Underground also has a Trip Planner that you can use to see the average temperature, wind conditions, and precipitation for a city or airport on a range of dates. We used it this past summer when we were plannign our trip to Switzerland this past summer to help us decide what to pack. I really like Weather Underground and have been using their services since the early 1990s when it was only accessible via telnet. You can take advantage of their services without advertisements for a fee of only $5.00 per year. (Yeah, that's pennies a day.)

A very nice "Single-serving"

single-serving.com phrase, trail, and travel guides

What a nice site! it contains links to printable booklets of language basics for tourists in French, German, Italian, Hungarian (that's ho I came across this site, but that's another story), Russian, Albanian, Czech, Polish, Swedish, Spanish, Croatian, Slovene, Danish, Afrikaans, Dutch, Portuguese, and Romanian, and partial booklets for several other languages. Radovan Anzulovic, the site's author, also includes audio files to help with pronunciation.

A very useful and helpful site. This is yet another example of an individual using the Internet to be helpful, without starting the project as an overt commercial venture. Here is his statement of purpose taken from the section About: "My goal is to create the best phrase guides and language aides on the web. My purpose is not as clear. I am obviously putting a lot of personal time and money into it. My purpose is really to be satisfied that I have a fantastic product. Of course I dream of being able to someday live from something that I'm doing on the web. I could then live anywhere, or travel anywhere, and still be at work. (But how realistic is that?)" My comment: Be careful what you wish for. Too many of us are working wherever we are by taking along the connecting technology.

This is a first-class, easy-to-use, and helpful site. Congratulations.

Links for academics/scholars

Talking with some friends at lunch the other day I was *shocked* ( as in the case of Capt. Louis Renault in Casablanca) to hear that they were still using IE for browsing and hadn't even heard about Firefox. What follows are some links to tools/sites useful to an academic/scholar using the Web.

Firefox - http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/. This is the best browser available - great features, robust, no charge, and open source.

Google Scholar. - http://scholar.google.com/. A new search tool, released by Google, that focuses on scholarly resources. it's more suited to research than the Google's general tool at http://www.google.com. (Try searching using the expression "ernest ackermann" in both to see the difference.) The Chronicle of Higher Education carried a story about Google Scholar on November 19, 2004, http://chronicle.com/free/2004/11/2004111901n.htm.

Academic Resources entry in the Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_resources. Take a look at this for two reasons. One is the list of resources, and the other is to get some exposure to the Wikipedia, a resource built by its readers. Hey, maybe you'd like to edit the page!

Technorati - http://technorati.com/. Use this to search for the Web for information being posted to blogs -- up to the minute opinion and commentary. You do need to know about blogs. To find out about them take a look at How Blogs Work, to get your own blog go to blogger.com or Bloglines, to read about scholars who use them read Scholars Who Blog, and to browse a good example (IMO) of a blog take a look at Lessig Blog, by Lawrence Lessig.

Blogmarks

Here's a list of links about blogs that come from my bookmark list.

Blog Software

Blog Software

BLOGGER

One of the first free blogspots.

Blogging Resources

Resources compiled by Virginia Montecino.

Bloglines | Free, Web-Based News Aggregator

Bloglines a free Web-Based News aggregator

Blogs in Education

Blogs in Education

blogs+education

blogs and education

Educational Bloggers' Network :

Educational Blogger Network

Flash: Blogging Goes Corporate

A story about corporate blogging from Wired

Freedom to Tinker

Freedom Tinker blog

Greymatter - Weblog/Journal Software

Greymatter Software

Howstuffworks "How Blogs Work"

A good account about blogs and blogging from "How Stuff Works."

ITS Center for Instructional Technology

ITS Center Instructional Technology unc blog services applications

movabletype.org

movabletype blog software

MT Plugin Directory

MT Plugin Directory

News Is Free: Top News

A news aggregator useful for reading blogs

Radio UserLand : What is Radio UserLand?

radio userland blog software

The Chronicle: 6/6/2003: Scholars Who Blog

An article from the Chronicles about scholars who blog!

The Weblog Tool Roundup

A typically good roundup of blogging tools.

Internet Surveillance

I started reading the report The Internet Under Surveillance 2004 from Reporters Without Borders, and thought that the topic, Internet Surveillance would be a good one to use in lectures and class activities in my course The Internet: Technology, Information, and Issues this fall.

In some related searching I was lead to a few other reports.

• Internet Surveillance Law After the USA Patriot Act: The Big Brother That Isn't " This article argues that the common wisdom on the USA Patriot Act is wrong. Far from being a significant expansion of law enforcement powers online, the Patriot Act actually changed Internet surveillance law in only minor ways and added several key privacy protections"
• Milking the Internet surveillance cash cow "Pundits and policy-makers are arguing over the legal implications of the FBI's recent petition to the FCC (http://www.cdt.org/digi_tele/20040310fbipetition.pdf) about how to implement the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act. But the Bureau's push to get broadband providers covered under CALEA, which currently applies only to telecom carriers, stands to benefit more than just government spies: a domestic eavesdropping industry stands waiting to sell Internet wiretapping tools and services to cable and DSL companies."
• Internet and e-mail surveillance at the workplace " In Switzerland, large numbers of employees have access to the Internet and e-mail from their workplace - essentially for professional reasons, but sometimes for private use also. What use is permitted, and how surveillance may be carried out, is clarified here. "

I also came across The Register - a great site for Internet and IT related news.

Strindberg + helium

Congratulations to Eun-Ha Paek, Erin Bradley, and James Bewley for Strindberg + helium! Great animation and content. The site contains a collection of short films that are great to watch and enjoy.

An article in the NY Times 'Strindberg and Helium,' a Sweet Flowering of Youthful Creativity gives a good review of the site.

Tom's Hardware

I noticed today that HP is offering a choice of Windows XP or Mandrake Linux 9.1 on some of its business systems. There are some options for configuration and the various models come with a Celeron or Pentium processor.

I wanted to know more about the features or workings of the Pentium chip and Googled "advanced transfer cache." The first result was a page at the site Tom's Hardware Guide. Reviews of hardware are the featured content. The reviews focus on the technical aspects and often include illustrations, photographs, and charts. The site claims the reviews are "independent editorial reviews of cutting-edge computer hardware." The site also features annotated press releases in "Tom's Hard News", a weekly newsletter "Tom's Hard News", and a bulletin board titled, very appropriately IMO, "Tom's Hardware Guide Community."

The site has been around since 1996 and I wonder why I've never come across it before. I was originally attracted by the content. That's why I decided to write about it, but I'm also impressed with the site's structure and purpose.

World of Science

I got to visit a site that once again made me feel that great exciement of finding an excellent resource on the Web.

The site is Wolfram's Research World of Science http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/.
It's clean, easy to use, and has lots of depth. The main categories are mathematics, physics, astronomy, chemistry, and biography.

Not sure why none of the life scienes are listedand why biography is there. The self-description of the site pretty much identifies this as an encyclopedia put togehter by one person : "This resource has been assembled over more than a decade by internet encyclopedist Eric W. Weisstein with assistance from the internet community." - About Eric Weisstein's World of Science

It's a great site and visit it when you get the chance.

Originally posted September 2002