05/12/26 Linklogging
05/12/25 Babylon revisited
05/12/13 Sony redux
05/12/26 Linklogging
05/12/25 Babylon revisited
05/12/13 Sony redux
Today: just when I was starting to lose interest in linklogging, a couple of good stories came along.
Information wants to be free.
K5: All systems go - the newly emerging infrastructure to support free books
Not just a pretty face.
K5: days of the new flesh - my experience as a model
Notes from the edge.
K5: Sydney race riots
'Intelligent design' is creationism.
BBC News: 'Intelligent design' teaching ban
(via Plastic Bag)
The pagan roots of Christmas.
The flying fists of master Grant: Christmas trees and the god of Yule
Wikipedia: Freyr
(via Plastic Bag)
Today: yes, it's another spelling reform. (And happy christmas, of course.)
On August 1st, 2006 another Dutch spelling reform will be in force, 'correcting' a number of errors from the previous reform of 1995. Several newspapers have announced that they will be boycotting the new spelling. The previous reform also met with a great deal of criticism. One thing many people objected to was the extra 'n' that was inserted into many words - for example turning 'pannekoek', pancake, into 'pannenkoek'. I suppose the extra 'n' may make sense from a linguistic point of view, but since it isn't pronounced in the spoken language it's still completely counter-intuitive to the average Dutch speaker.
I used to be a very good speller as a kid, but I must confess I've simply lost interest. Whatever Word's or Apple Text Editor's spelling checker considers right is fine with me - which means that at home I'll continue to use the 1995 spelling. Trying to keep up with spelling reforms is like playing Monopoly with a petulant nine-year-old - whenever it looks like you're winning they'll decide to change the rules.
More Dutch politics and current events:
Dutch politics in 2005
Today: catching up on Sony.
Mid-november.
MeFi: Sony pwns your computer, part II
Wired: Sony numbers add up to trouble
Freedom to tinker: Sony's web-based uninstaller opens a big security hole, Sony to recall disks
December.
News.com: New Sony security risk found
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