Universal Rule

Book Reviews

Saturday, September 21, 2002

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David Sorkin on Internet Law and Spam: "... the offline world is equipped to handle most online disputes, and cautions that attempts to address Internet problems such as spam are only going to make matters worse." [Slashdot]

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Massive / Meta / Mindless Link Propagation?: "The links in my bookmark file serve no purpose if I keep them to myself, so I'm posting--and editing--its contents for your browsing pleasure." [kuro5hin.org]

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The MPI standard (Message Passing Interface) apparently lives on. I have written (in Finnish) a guide on using MPI, so it is nice to see that the standard still has a lot of going for it.

Using MPICH to Build a Small Private Beowulf Cluster (Linux Journal) [LWN.net]

What are weblogs: a form or a medium? -- Comment()
Weblogs: form or medium?: "Dylan Tweney runs with Peterme's distinction between media and forms:

Just to clarify the terms: A practice is something you do, probably requiring some training, a standard of professionalism, and code of ethics (journalism, medicine, or construction). A medium is a vehicle through which information is transmitted and displayed (broadcast television, HTTP/HTML, newspapers). And a form is a stylistic genre, a way of organizing and presenting information or stories (haiku, sonnets, novels, magazine stories, weblogs).

So far, there's not really a "practice" of blogging in any coherent sense.

Tweney thinks that we'll see syndication behaving more like a medium as we move further along the adoption curve." [Radio Free Blogistan]

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It is nice that Harry Potter has seduced many kids (and grown-ups) to start reading. Here is a weblog entry discussing this. Of course, the cited writers are by no means new names, and their style is not the same as in Harry Potter. Another name to mention here would have been Terry Pratchett.

Kids lit grows up: "Inspired by Harry Potter, bestselling authors Michael Chabon, Neil Gaiman, Carl Hiaasen and Isabel Allende are spearheading a renaissance in books that enchant readers of all ages." [Salon.com]

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It must be said that people write all kinds of things in their weblogs. The following is not even an extreme example.

Stumbled: "So I stumbled on some photos on the Internet of my ex-girlfriend having sex. This was on a porn site. I visit porn sites." [dive into mark]

Of course, the weblogs contain a lot of creativity. Not everything written in the blogs is true or even half-true. Many kinds of fabricated personalities and stories have appeared in online forums. So one should always read the post with a suspicious turn of mind.

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Here is another example of the effort bloggers make to keep track of the referrals. Aggregator survey: "According to my own statistics, 771 readers have used identifiable news aggregators to read my site in the past few days. Here's how it breaks down." [dive into mark]

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Introduction to the Semantic Web: "This document is not intended to teach you RDF via my own words, but rather to hand-hold you through the "good" parts of the same journey I took. If it looks like a big link-list with menial comments from the peanut gallery, then you're not far off the mark." [dive into mark]

Drive-by-wire cars -- Comment()
Scientific American: "Fly-by-wire aircraft have been around for years. ... GM is now experimenting with drive-by-wire systems for cars. These cars are computer controlled, and use fuel-cells to power electric motors on the wheels. What's possible with this? Massive improvements to car design. Much better maneuverability, radically enhanced driving characteristics, computer mediated corrections for out of control driving situations, lightweight construction, larger and more flexible cabins, and lower costs." [John Robb's Radio Weblog]

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It seems that weblog keepers are quite resourceful in finding out who is linking to their writings. Here is an example of this.

Scott and I get the nod from Yahoo: "According to Friday's Yahoo What's New – Social Science, Scott Rosenberg's Links & Comment and this site, Radio Free Blogistan, have followed the Reverse Cowgirl's Blog in being added to Yahoo's weblog directory." [Radio Free Blogistan]

An outsider looking in -- Comment()
It seems that most of the weblog keepers are relatively young, many in their teens, even.

I'm an outsider in this group - I have two children, and have published about 50 books and hundreds of shorter pieces.

On the other hand, I believe that the future happens in the Net: in the weblogs, in the community forums, and on the instant messaging systems. So, despite perhaps being on outsider, I want to be connected to this new kind of community building.

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There seems to be available a new update to Mac OS X, dated September 20th. A Security Update to the Terminal program. Does not require a restart, so I'm doing the update now.

A few days ago I updated to Mac OS X 10.2.1, and everything has worked all right. Also the updated iTunes (3.0.1) has performed well.

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Uses For Spam: "... after visiting these sites, you too will be singing the praises of spam." [kuro5hin.org]

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An alternative to fighting music piracy: "Bon Jovi Tries New Approach To Fight Piracy by selling CD's which allow to register to the Bon Jovi's website in order to receive such exclusives as prioritized concert ticket purchases and unreleased music. I think the german band Einstürzende Neubauten has a better approach." [kuro5hin.org]

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The Philosophy of Humility: "Given recent articles, it seems many people know what they don't want to see in our discussions. Some would even rather we abandon debating about politics altogether. They see politics as a moot topic--one at which no one succeeds at arguing about. Instead, no one develops a greater understanding but rather the participants grow increasingly frustrated and angry. Eventually we ignore each other altogether. My opinion is that Kuro5hin is the proper place to discuss policies and government. But a problem that seems to plague most political debates is an overwhelming lack of humility." [kuro5hin.org]

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Today I made some small changes to the weblog theme. This is getting to be a regular exercise. But I like to tinker with the layout, trying to make it more personal and functional.

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Phil Wolff on K-Logs combining a world of content. [John Robb's Radio Weblog]

The world of Radio and weblogs seems to indeed be a fast moving target!

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Brent Simmons: Why I develop for Mac OS X: "One of the reasons I develop for OS X is that, when it comes to user interface, this is the big leagues, this is the show." [ranchero.com] [Mac Net Journal]