I think I've stumbled upon a little yet-to-be-released Google search feature: "review:". Similar to "define:" to look up definitions, I predict this will work in conjunction with the recently re-branded Google Products (formerly Froogle) to let you quickly access Google Products' functionality directly from the main search.
The reason this is plausible is due to the fact that as of about 10:15 PM EDT, any Google search that starts with review: returns a persistent "502 Server Error" (example). Perhaps this means Google's about ready to release this. Either that, or I've unintentionally disturbed some delicate balance holding together the very internet as we know it!
Though I’m not a fan of the popular buzzword web framework, Ruby On Rails, I noticed something the other day: there seems to be a correlation between design beauty and use of Rails. Every app or site I’ve stumbled upon that uses the framework has a great, often minimal design that is quite pleasing to the eye. Perhaps it’s the fact that the people who design these sites have similar tastes in methodologies when it comes to programming languages: sweet, clean, and simple.
Those are just my two cents, but still don’t believe me? Check out some of these sites based on Rails:
Then again, it could just be the influence of “Web 2.0″ design concepts that make all these sites look great, but largely similar in terms of design elements (yes, Web 2.0 gets quotes from me). Stupid Web 2.0.
It had been quite awhile since I’d last been on vacation, and after returning from one last evening, I realized that being away from my computer for a mere four days had a far larger impact than I’d ever imagined.
When I came back home, it wasn’t even the 30 emails (only 5 of which weren’t spam) waiting for me in my inbox, or the 200 odd-some unread articles in my RSS reader. No. You see, when I first booted up my computer, it even felt strange to use a mouse, or drag a window about. It was as if I’d never used a computer before.
Now, this didn’t last too long, but what did was all the catching up I had to do — the missed messages from my friends on AIM, trying to find out the happenings in #randomshapes on IRC, making a feeble attempt to read 20 pages worth of Digg content. Believe me, the list goes on.
When I think about it, the fact that, if I had been home, I would have consumed all of this content is honestly a bit sad. It made me realize that I spend a truly huge chunk of my time basking in the glow of my monitor.
Maybe I should go on vacation more often!
As is now widely known, Saddam Hussein, genocidal extraordinaire, is to be executed within the next 30 days.
In my opinion, executing Saddam just makes him a martyr. In fact, I think it shows just how weak Iraq’s government remains. If they truly wanted to punish Saddam, they’d just keep him in prison for the rest of his life and let him suffer.
I like Thursdays, because before there is Friday, there is Thursday. Thursdays make you realize that life is always a matter of waiting, and waiting, and waiting. Thursdays are always dreaming of how wonderful the next thing will be, but that to get there you first must endure what lies between. It is what lies between, the substance that fills these isolated points, that is life. So make the most of Thursdays, because even though Friday is tomorrow, we still have an entire day ahead of us.
As a personal sidenote, I fully intend to keep blogging. For the past month and a half, I’ve been in a rut in regards to writing, and life has been really hectic. Things are now going more smoothly, so I’m glad to be back.
Note: The following is best read after reading this blog post, to which I am responding.
The way I see it, if we’re going to help third-world countries get on the path to the first-world, it’s undoubtedly going to take clean water and an adequate food supply, but it’s also going to take education. If these countries abdicate their imperative dedication to their youth in bringing them on par with children in developed nations, then they are facing grime fates as nations. So, to accomplish this feat, take a look at what perhaps not all, but a large of majority of children in developed nations I’d go so far as to say depend on in everyday life: technology.
Now, children in these less fortunate nations may have gotten along fine without laptops — as would children in developed countries — but this is because they are used far too often for superfluous activities, as we have the means for teachers, schools, textbooks, and all other things needed for education. But when used otherwise, these laptops open up a world of free knowledge and discovery available through the internet that could be at the fingertips of third-world children across the globe.
The $100 laptop is an investment in both the future of these nations’ youth and a resultant investment in the future of their country, and it’s going to go a hell of a lot further than one textbook for an entire village of children.
