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Author: Alan

Wish Lists for P2P

Wish Lists for P2P

Don has an interesting idea.
Makes me think of the idea to subscribe to keyword(s) on a blog where you receive posts that hopefully have to do with a subject you’re interested in. Categories wouldn’t be sufficient because a person’s name, for example, could appear in multiple categories and you have no idea what category to subscribe to.

Update: Richard has always had good ideas on the topic of SocialSoftware. He aggregates his posts here

A large dictionary is not a good thing

A large dictionary is not a good thing

The English language has so many words that if you included them all, then common typographical errors would often match (by coincidence) a valid English word and therefore not be detected by the spell checker. Which would go against the whole point of a spell checker: To catch spelling errors. [via Raymond Chen]

Update 040409:
Today, I was killing some time and picked up “Writing Solid Code” by Steve Maguire in 1993. On Pg 3 the same point was made.

Social Networking services. Where’s the beef?

Social Networking services. Where’s the beef?

Some aren’t buying the social network phenomena. Sample comment from Dan Gillmer’s post:

Many current social networking apps, especially the FOF apps, do something that, while technically possible to do, doesn’t solve a *real* problem. They provide: random networking — vs. meaningful connections; no boundaries — boundaries are crucial for healthy relationships; no sense of purpose and no clear social protocols. The more interesting social networking software is emerging in the e-democracy space. Groups like moveon.org are addressing real human needs to connect/bring people together both virtually and physically around a sense of purpose. Dan, you’re not missing anything….I can’t bring myself to join any of the FOF social networks…too much of an invasion of privacy and an invitation to be deluged with random requests/connections.

Posted by: Linda on March 21, 2004 07:48 AM

Five reasons Social Networking doesn’t work [via Scoble]

Ingrid, IMHO Orkut and Technorati are useful for ‘running into’ new people to meet but are not useful for creating or reinforcing groups because the they do not provide compelling communication channels that binds people. Belonging to an Orkut community, for example, involves is no more compelling than joining a book club.
Media archive of political discourse

Media archive of political discourse

Quoticus, a nonprofit, provides:

“a video library of speeches, interviews, and debates conducted by prominent public figures, and make it accessible to anyone with an Internet connection. We also provide carefully reviewed text transcripts linked to each piece of video; convenient, simple-to-use search tools that let journalists and Web loggers find the videos of the events they are writing about; and convenient tools that let them link their articles to these transcripts and videos.”
I hope these guys can pull it off. A valuable service if they can.

[via Dan Gillmer]

Three simple tests can diagnose a stroke

Three simple tests can diagnose a stroke

How to Recognize a Stroke

This might be a lifesaver if you can remember the following advice, sent by a nurse, whose husband is a medical doctor.

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. A stroke victim may suffer permanent brain damage when people fail to recognize what’s happening. Now, doctors say any bystander can recognize a stroke, simply by asking three questions:
ask the individual to smile.
ask him or her to raise both arms.
ask the person to speak a simple sentence.
If he or she has trouble with any of these tasks, call 911 immediately, and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher. Researchers are urging the general public to learn to ask these three questions quickly, to someone they suspect of having a stroke. Widespread use of this test could result in prompt diagnosis and treatment of a stroke, and prevent permanent brain damage.

Read more…