Jinn of Quality and Risk

Web developers have all sorts of browsing tricks that they have gained from years of experience, to the point where they can't even imagine not knowing them -- right-clicking to open a new browser window, for instance, or using the arrow keys to navigate a list. ... This article describes seven Web site features that typical non-technical users aren't familiar with... Some of these are really tied to usability problems inherent in browser design, rather than being elemental ignorance. Still, a useful compendium and a reminder to software developers that they do not represent the average user: logos that link to the home page; security vs. privacy; rollover menus; drop-down lists; hacking URLs; browser controls; and extra browser windows. 

Very intelligent description of the nature of weblogs: Weblogs simply provide the framework, as haiku imposes order on words. ... we're in the middle of, and enjoying, an evolution of communication. ... As with free speech itself, what we say isn't as important as the system that enables us to say it. [Megnut @ O'Reilly Network] 

The most misunderstood concept in Economics is the [law] of "comparative advantage." Any description of that law is best if it stresses that it is universal and works for the mutual benefit of all parties involved — instead of describing it from the point of view of one party only, which is usually how people manage to misinterpret it... i.e. falling into the too-common trap of what is seen and what is not seen...

Most people tend to forget that this law applies first and foremost to each producer in a free-market economy, not merely to countries as a whole (i.e. aggregates of people). In a major elaboration of Ricardo's Law of Comparative Advantage, von Mises showed that there is room for all in the competition of capitalism, even those of the most modest abilities. Such people need only concentrate on the areas in which their relative productive inferiority is least. For example, an individual capable of being no more than a janitor does not have to fear the competition of the rest of society, almost all of whose members could be better janitors than he, if that is what they chose to be. Because however much better janitors other people might make, their advantage in other lines is even greater. And so long as the person of limited ability is willing to work for less as a janitor than other people can earn in other lines, he has nothing to worry about from their competition. He, in fact, outcompetes them for the job of janitor by being willing to accept a lower income than they. Von Mises showed that a harmony of interests prevails in this case, too. For the existence of the janitor enables more talented people to devote their time to more demanding tasks, while their existence enables him to obtain goods and services that would otherwise be altogether impossible for him to obtain. [excellent von Mises tribute, George Reisman]

More from the Google Glossary. 

The Eagle Nebula is a very luminous open cluster of stars surrounded by dust and gas. The three pillars at the center of the image are being sculpted by the intense radiation from the hot stars in the cluster.