Acts of Volition

When the Mozilla Foundation announced the name change for their web browser from Firebird to Firefox, there was a predictable response of skepticism. It was the second name change and people were understandably skeptical that the name would continue to change.  •  Even though the Mozilla …

It is generally understood that sometime in the next few months, our new Prime Minister will call a federal election here in Canada. We’ll have a bit of variation on our standard political fare this time around. The Liberal party is wrapped up in financial scandal, the Conservative party is a …

During a recent conversation about software upgrades (to which I am a confessed addict), a friend made the profound statement that “everyone loves the future.”  •  Perhaps you’ve seen the recent television advertisements in which GM promotes their oddly-spelled “hy-wire” concept car. As Wired News …

As you have probably already seen, Ralph Nader has announced that he will run for president in 2004. Lot’s of people seem to be saying that he shouldn’t run because he it will take votes from Democrats and in doing so, help the Replublicans (or the press talks about people you say that a lot, at …

I think we’ve let a term slip through our collective defences against nonsense and foolishness. Programs like Microsoft Word and WordPerfect are referred to as “word processors”.  •  Word processing? Think about it. It’s the dumb term. An editor or writing application maybe. Have you ever told …

Editorial Note: However cliché it may be, I have to point out that this post was first written on two sides of a (thankfully unused) barf-bag on a plane.  •  On a recent flight from one boring city to another, I had a minor revelation. As we took off and gained altitude, I had a clear view of the …

Having gotten so much from Brian Greene’s book, The Elegant Universe, I was pleased to learn (via kottke.org) that it was to be the subject of a documentary of the same name on PBS.  •  The entire three hour program is available to view in streaming video. Taking a three hour program to the web is …

Two semi-random environmental notes from a complete evironmental hypocrite (me):  •  First, Tessa Blake, who shared her fantastic soon-to-be-release film, The Pink House at the Zap Your PRAM conference mentioned the weekly Chicago radio show This American Life. When I saw the link to This American …

The front page of CNN.com often seems to be as hilarious and absurd as the front page of The Onion. My friend Dan James point today’s particularly notable list of “top stories” (see the full screenshot):