Under The Sun

Gutenberg Bible on PDF

The Gutenberg Bible has been digitized as a PDF document. The full work costs $65, but low-resolution spreads are online on the Octavo website.

Digital Barn

Digital Barn is an on-line computer museum — a real treasure trove for an aging techie like me! Among the exhibits, a here’s a nice chart showing the Mother Tongues of all Computer Languages.

Human Markup Language

Human Markup Language is an ambitious project to improve communication over the Internet by using XML to represent human characteristics:

The primary objective of HumanML is to ensure that all of the characteristics relating to human nature (e.g., behavioral, mental, and physical traits) are properly conveyed to enhance the fidelity of human communication. It brings together human qualities and technology. This synergy provides an efficient framework for interested parties to (a) gain a better understanding of one another and (b) improve bidirectional information exchange. This markup language will play a key role in eradicating various barriers we are currently experiencing regarding global Internet communication.

The aim is not just to convey non-verbal communication and emotions, but to be the core of applications that can “Provide relevant data on the expectations of dissimilar subcultural groups and age groups” and “Provide tools to cross-reference and correlate beliefs between two different religions”..

The aim is laudable; e-mail, for example, is notorious for causing hurt and anger by failing to convey the sender’s emotion and intent. I have reservations though. In a recent discussion on the XML-DEV mailing list, Claude Bullard, after relating a frustrating encounter with a semantically-based Internet filter, wrote “Ready to turn your business processes over to semantic machines? How about your career?”, to which Simon St Laurent replied “I think we’re racing down the wrong path toward maximizing automation rather than complementing human capabilities with a lot of the XML work being done today.”. The idea that human nature can be so encoded that it can be processed entirely by machine is not just over-ambitious, but dangerously misguided.

Harry Potter and the 12″ Pepperoni Pizza with Coleslaw and Diet Cola

Well, what else would the Order of the Phoenix be?

My take on the books? Let’s just say that I see no point in arguing with people who think that the Harry Potter stories are about magic.

Surprised I’m Here

This is probably old as the hills, but it amused me when I came across it… According to today’s regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 40’s, or 50’s probably shouldn’t have survived.

Die, Comic Sans!

The Comic Sans font is grossly over-used. It really irritates me when it’s used in serious company memos and documents, in a clichéd attempt at adding a “human” touch. It seem’s I’m not the only one:- from the Ban Comic Sans Manifesto:

Clearly, Comic Sans as a voice conveys silliness, childish naivete, irreverence, and is far too casual for such a purpose. It is analogous to showing up for a black tie event in a clown costume. We are summoning forth the proletariat around the globe to aid us in this revolution. We call on the common man to rise up in revolt against this evil of typographical ignorance. We believe in the gospel message “ban comic sans.” It shall be salvation to all who are literate.

A GREAT MUSIC

A New Yorker book critic examines the poetry of the King James version of the Bible

I’m not a particular fan of the continued use of the KJV. I remember how, when I was first drawn to seek after Christ, the only Bible I had was my old Sunday School King James Authorised Version (”Appointed to be read in Churches”). I was reduced to near despair just trying parse the sentances in Romans 7, let alone understand what it meant: “For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me”. It was such a joy to read Paul’s letters in a modern translation.

Yet, James Wood points out that the KJV/AV, more than any other English translation, captures the meaning of the original:

So there is a one-word answer to the question of what the translators got right. It is music. And here music is meaning. Take the well-known words from Matthew 11:28: “Come unto me all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Tyndale had “Come unto me all ye that laboure and are laden and I will ease you.” The Jacobeans retained Tyndale’s rhythm; but it was they who added that simple, brief word—to our modern ears a marvellous half-adjective and half-adverb—heavy laden.

Ghana trumps Microsoft

BBC article describes the success of a small software company in Gana:

“These people are choosing to invest purely because of African intellectual property and that makes me very, very proud. Technology is the only way for Africa to get rich,” Mr Hesse says, “we don’t have a proper infrastructure and we can’t compete in manufacturing… But if you put me behind a PC and tell me to write software for a Chinese customer, then I can compete brain for brain with anyone trying to do the same thing in the US.”