Links

Stuff I find around the web that interests or amuses me.

Space Shuttle Colombia lost

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My heartfelt condolences to the families of the seven astronauts of the Space Shuttle Columbia, which was lost today during reentry.

Seven astronauts were killed today when space shuttle Columbia broke up about 38 miles above Texas on its way to Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

President Bush said in a news conference Saturday that the news had brought “great sadness to our country,” but pledged, “Our journey into space will go on.”

CNN: Seven astronauts killed as shuttle shatters

I sincerely hope that Bush is right here. I’ve always felt that one of the most unfortunate repercussions of the 1986 Challenger Shuttle loss was the crippling effect it seemed to have on NASA. In the space of the few seconds of the explosion, we went from a country still intent on pushing the boundaries of our world out into space, into one apparently too scarred by the loss of the Challenger to try for anything beyond what we’d already accomplished.

One hundred years ago, in 1903, the Wright Brothers became the first humans to fly. 66 years later, Neil Armstrong became the first man on the moon. But then, over the next twenty years, as the cold war ramped up, space exploration became less and less of a priority, and the explosion of the Challenger seemed to take the wind out of what was left of NASA’s sails.

It’s only been in the last few years that I’ve felt like our space exploration programs were really starting to get moving again, and I’d hate to see this accident tie us back to earth again.

(On a side note, I also think that Bush needs better speechwriters. The best soundbite I can see in his press conference from this morning is “Mankind is led into the darkness beyond our world by the inspiration of discovery and the longing to understand. Our journey into space will go on.” Not nearly as good, or as likely to be remembered, as Reagan’s quoting John Gillespie Magee, Jr.’s poem “High Flight” when he said that that the Challenger astronauts had “slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God” in his address after the Challenger explosion.)

Anyway, enough rambling pontification. My best to the astronauts, their families, and all at NASA working to determine the cause of this accident.

Singing my own song

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BurningBird brings us a parable today: The Mockingbird’s Wish.

The news spread first as a whisper and then as a shout: First Mother was granting to each creature one wish. One wish, only, but whatever was asked, would be granted. Mockingbird heard the news from Hawk who head the news from Sparrow who heard the news from Robin and the forest was atwitter with the sound of the birds as they discussed this extraordinary event.

I’ve always tried to do my best to sing my own song. Some days I do better than others, of course, and it’s easy to get lost in the chorus, but at least I can always keep trying.

Poke

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Mark has been looking at his writing/blogging influences. Good stuff, but the first thing that popped into my head when I read this part…

However, I feel he is dead on about the nature of weblogging conversation. It is most definitely talking at people, not with them. That they occasionally happen to talk back at you (and poke you with a wide variety of digital poking mechanisms) does not make it a conversation in any traditional sense.

…was simply, technically, isn’t a finger a “digital poking mechanism”?

Suckers

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How absolutely mindblowingly perfect is this? A French yacht taking place in a round-the-world sailing race was attacked by a giant squid. The perfect part? The trophy they’re going for is the Jules Verne around-the-world sailing trophy.

“The squid was pulling really hard, so we put the boat about and when we came to a stop the tentacles let go. We saw it behind the boat – and it was enormous. I have been sailing for 40 years, and I have never seen the like,” he said.

Crew member Didier Ragault, who spotted the creature through a port-hole said \”the tentacles were as thick as my arm wearing an oil-skin, and I immediately thought of the damage it could do.

“When we saw it behind the boat it must have been seven, eight or nine metres long,” he said.

(Via G’day Cobbers)

Yahoo's getting pushy again

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Yahoo! wants to know who you are, where you’ve been, and where you’re going…

Yahoo is now using something called “Web Beacons” to track Yahoo Group users around the net and see what you’re doing — similar to cookies. Take a look at their updated privacy statement.

About half-way down the page, in the section “Outside the Yahoo! Network”, you’ll see a little “click here” link that will let you opt-out of their new method of snooping. You may want to do this. Once you have clicked that link, you are opted out.

Notice the “Success” message at the top of the next page. Be careful, because on that page there is a “Cancel Opt-out” button that, if clicked, will undo the opt-out.

Sneaky little devils!

I hardly use Yahoo! anymore ever since they started charging for remote e-mail access, but other people might want to keep this in mind. I don’t want someone tracking my movements online anymore than I’d want someone tracking my movements in the real world.

(Thanks to Wil for the heads up.)

So many books, so little time

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In a fortuitous bit of serendipity, I just re-discovered a website I’d found a few months ago, but forgotten to bookmark — All Consuming, which scans recently updated weblogs for Amazon book links, and uses that data to track what books are currently popular in the weblog world. Nifty stuff to explore!

Amusingly enough, there’s a feature in the top right that lists the first line of a book for you to attempt to guess the source, which reminded me of a bookstore up on Broadway on Capitol Hill that does the same with a readerboard on the sidewalk. As it turns out, that very bookstore is where All Consuming’s webmaster got the idea! Small world, I tell ya.

Incidentally, though, I’ve never run across a first line up at the bookstore that I knew. Hm. Guess I just haven’t read enough yet!

Web Writing Style Guide

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on a side note, i wonder when somebody will get the hair to standardize style and do a stylebook specifically for the web? Like MLA, AP, Chicago Manual of Style, etc.

— Kirsten, in a comment on this site

Your wish is granted!

Well…er…sorta. I don’t think this is quite what you were aiming at. Pretty accurate, though!

No matter what Flash-blinded web monkeys would have us believe, the Internet is a text-based medium: especially its major discussion forums (IRC and Usenet) where people from all over the world can interact and share information. A popular misconception about text messages on the Internet is that, to be an effective communicator and earn the respect and admiration of your peers, you must be able to write lucid prose; that your messages, articles, posts and pages must be easy to understand and pleasant to read.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Popular sites filled with cutting-edge Internet cognoscenti (such as Slashdot and ShackNews) give the lie to this harmful and destructive myth: they are brimming with horrific grammar, atrocious spelling, gratuitous abbreviation and childish, arrogant attitude. To be “in” on the net, you must write like a wanker.

As far as when someone will write a real style guide, I’m not sure, though it wouldn’t really surprise me if there were one already out there and I just haven’t stumbled across it yet. Pointers, anyone?