From Merriam-Webster comes the 2007 Word of the year.
“This year’s winning word first became popular in competitive online gaming forums as part of what is known as l33t (“leet,” or “elite”) speak—an esoteric computer hacker language in which numbers and symbols are put together to look like letters. ”
You will have to follow the link to see what it is.
As Veterans Day approaches in the US, Armistice Day is observed in Europe. The Red Cross archives from “the Great War” are the subject of this BBC story and a remembrance of the conflict that set in motion the major events of the 20th century.
“There are rows of boxes, from floor to ceiling, whole shelves with the same surname: Smith, Smith, Smith, Smith. Muller, Muller, Muller, Gautier, Gautier, Gautier, Gautier… and on it goes.
Each box contains thousands of file cards, and each card refers to an individual human being, a soldier missing, imprisoned or killed during the war.”
David Brooks column in todays NY Times wonders whether the age of information has made us empty headed.
“Memory? I’ve externalized it. I am one of those baby boomers who are making this the ‘It’s on the Tip of My Tongue Decade’. But now I no longer need to have a memory, for I have Google, Yahoo and Wikipedia. Now if I need to know some fact about the world, I tap a few keys and reap the blessings of the external mind.”
Happy National Dictionary Day! To celebrate, Oxford Language Dictionaries Online is offering free access here until October 21st. It is also the birthday of Noah Webster.
The BBC has this story on the release of documents from the Vatican Secret Archive.
“The Knights Templar, a military order of the Roman Catholic Church, are back in the news again, almost 700 years after they were suppressed by papal edict.
To the delight not only of scholars but also of Templar buffs around the world, who have been captivated by Dan Brown’s stories, they are publishing facsimile reproductions of the original account in Latin of the investigation and trial into the alleged misdeeds of the Knights Templar. It took place in Rome between 1307 and 1312.”
There is new life for old books in the British Library according to this BBC story,
“More than 100,000 old books previously unavailable to the public will go online thanks to a mass digitisation programme at the British Library.
The programme focuses on 19th Century books, many of which are unknown as few were reprinted after first editions.”
A video posted on Sivacracy.net looks at the day to day life of a simple librarian who happens to idolize Batman and happens to be the daughter of Commissioner Gordon. Who wears yellow to work anyway?
This brief post on Boing-Boing let’s you know some of the magazines available and soon to be available on DVD. Anybody’s collections include some of these already?
The Register has this piece on some favorite quotes.
Homer Simpson has agreeably made his debut in the new edition of the Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations.
Homer is honoured for several classics, including this now-legendary piece of wisdom: “Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is never try.”
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that the Internet Archive is now considered a library.
“The Internet has been around long enough to have its own attic — an ever-expanding repository of art, pop culture and information. It’s the San Francisco-based Internet Archive, a Web site where surfers can spend hours exploring a universe of archived books, films, music and more.
It’s not just any old online attic, though. In May, California officially recognized the Internet Archive, established in 1996, as a library. The designation makes the online archive eligible to apply for several federal grant programs that are administered by the state of California.”
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