NASA is thinking of a space elevator, a la Clarke. On one hand, I think… can’t we save poor children in Somalia? On the other hand, 500 years from now, would you remember this generation for saving children or building a space elevator? Do you remember the Egyptian pyramids or slavery? Then again, to quote Groucho Marx, “Why should I worry about posterity? What has posterity ever done for me?”
I’d build the elevator. It’s cool.
I’m at the New York airport. It’s 9/11. The city is having a bout of nostalgia. While I’m watching all this, I wonder: when were the Gujarat earthquakes? Why do I (and the world) remember 9/11 better? Probably because terrorist attacks are more glamorous than natural disasters. Because New York is more top-of-mind than Gujarat. But mostly, because 9/11 became a way of referring to the event and 1/26 did not. Interesting… that what you choose to remember an event by can impact when it’s remembered.
In the meantime, I have been up to no good.
Recent Google goodies: News alerts, Calculator, and the ~ operator. via GoogleBlog
Small world — this project from Columbia University finds that while there are probably less than 6 degrees, the network entertains requests for favours only about a third of the time, and that it’s not as hub-and-spoke as scale-free networks would have us imagine. via NYTimes
Maybe corporate elephants can dance. Can dead horses?
I’ve taken my longest break from this blog. Three reasons: work has been good, Age of Empires has been exciting, and the Web has become boring. But having heard from so many of you (thanks!), I’m going to continue the blog a bit. But I’m thinking of a new format, in the meantime. So please bear with infrequent posts till I get there.
The end of error-message advertising. Bonzi has been ordered by the courts to stop advertising popups that look like Windows error messages. I’ve been conned a few times by these too.
Microsoft iLoo. Yes, it’s what you think it is. No, it’s not a hoax, though at one point, Microsoft itself thought it was.