It's true: You can now get Acts of Volition on your handheld (or PDA, or Palm, or whatever the hell you want to call it).
The handheld version of aov includes the 10 most recent posts to the site for your ‘waiting-in-line-at-the-bank’ reading pleasure.
The Acts of Volition AvantGo Channel works on both Palm and Microsoft PocketPC devices.
The Open Directory Project at dmoz.org is another wacky love child of the AOL-TimeWarner merger. Other bizarre offspring of the corporate mega marriage include Mozilla and Gnutella.
Basically an open-source version of the Yahoo editorial system, dmoz has the advantage of having actual human beings (of varying quality) decide which site goes in which category, without the disadvantage of possible censorship associated with a central system. Anyone can signup to be an editor.
Anyone can use the Open Directory Project data on their site. Sites using it include Google, Altavista, Netcenter, Lycos, and Hotbot.
Acts of Volition is proud to be listed under on The Open Directory Project under:
I'm not sure what this means but I'm sure you can deduce something from it. Here is a top-down view of the 50 most visited websites on the web.
I know criticism is easy but that doesn't mean you can't be particularly good at it. Jeff Stark, the associate editor of Salon Arts and Entertainment, is very good at it.
Read his article Rock is dead and well at the MTV;; Video Awards at Salon. Sure, criticizing the MTV;; VMAs for being low class and artless is kind of like criticizing *Nsync for pandering to teenage girls, but this is still a fun article.
A representative sample (italics mine):
Durst of Limp Bizkit (do not follow this link) said something about being in “the world's most hated rock band.” This is the same lame outlaw posturing Metallica specializes in. How unpopular can you be, Fred, if you're up onstage getting an award from Viacom?
Do you enjoy chinese food (the simulated, americanized variety), or the song “Cats in the Cradle” (by Ugly Kid Joe or others)? If you answered “yes” to either question, do not go here.
The Onion is a site which hardly needs an introduction. A site actually driven by content worth digesting, it is one of the few websites worth visiting on a regular basis. The paticular genius of the site is the disguising of social comentary as low-brow humour.
This week they have outdone themselves. Someday, I Will Drive This Short Bus Myself, is an incredible well written, and touching* article, not just by The Onion's standards but, I think, by anyone's.
* Author is comfortable enough with his masculinity to be able to say "touching," and mean it. No giggling either.
I remember reading an article about how the web and hyperlinks were going to change the way children thought. At the time I dismissed it as mumbo-jumbo about non-linear thought patterns and other such nonsense. I fear the hypothesis have been proven true in myself.
Sitting in an evening university class (a place which is both foreign and familiar to me), I found myself constantly wanting the professor to move on. I found myself 'skimming' the lecture and was incredibly frustrated when I couldn't control the movement from topic to topic.
Clearly, part of the problem is my inability to interact with people who don't exist on my computer. However, I think this points to a clear conclusion: The Internet has fried my brain.
Humankind Systems, maker of a fine webmail template I bought recently, seems to be diversifying.
Their product, The Flasher, occasionally flashes on your computer screen while you work with affirmative messages like:
I did not make this up. However, I wish I had.