The BlakeBlog

The prices of plane tickets go up and down more often than a commuter shuttle. But now there's Farecast.com, which predicts whether the price of your flight is likely to rise or fall before your travel date and tells you to buy or wait. The site achieves its 70 to 75 percent accuracy rate--high for a market so volatile--by using data mining to analyze past flights and determining which factors most affect ticket prices. The service is available on more than 2,000 popular routes. Free;

From Popular Science Best of 2006

You probably know a lot of them, and some are for Windows programs you probably don't use, but it's still a good list. Skim the comments, because they have a few more shortcuts that aren't in the list.

The Best of What's New 2006 has loads of interesting stuff. This isn't just for geeks: one of their items is a better nail for hurricanes and earthquakes. Another is a cap that stiffens on impact to act like a helmet, but doesn't feel like one the rest of the time.

The full title is really "Disgruntled Dell customer finds crafty path to lawsuit settlement". It's a fun article about how some guy sued Dell for his unresolved computer issues by serving the papers to a Dell shopping mall kiosk.

I wonder if HP has any kiosks? I finished reinstalling my programs and was having the same problems again, infrequently at first, then more and more. HP's response was, "It must be one of the programs you installed causing the problems. We don't know which one, and can't help you." Essentially, if you do anything other than use the computer in the factory provided state, you're on your own from a support standpoint when you get an HP.

Making the previous entry on www.AnswersThatWork.com reminded me to mention why I wanted to post it here. It has been very useful in the continuing fight with my new, partially-functional HP desktop computer. It's been about two months now; they won't take it back and they won't fix it.

I'm not working on this all the time, of course. At this point, I've done a complete reformat of the drive and re-installation of most of my programs. This time running Windows Update didn't break it. I have rebooted after each program was installed, as requested by HP's support person. I learned on my own not to use MSFT's video driver "update" because it is older than the update on the video manufacturer's website, and it determined that it was what broke my graphics program the last time. The new driver is also not on the HP site, but the video program (Paint Shop Pro) help area is where I learned that it was needed to get things working. I'm still getting occasional crashes (no blue screens) and the HP printer has trouble talking to the HP PC. They sent me PC recovery disks from free, but the disks were unreadable until I discovered a driver update for the DVD player on the HP website. It doesn't sound like they will ever get my older programs to work at all, in spite of them working on my older XP system. I won't be able to make music CDs without living with HP's idea of the minimal requirements of what CD burning software should do (such as you must always have a 2 second break between songs).

There was a time when companies tried to make sure that new products were compatible with old, and made an effort to fix the problem if it didn't. Now I guess we have to just buy new software with the new hardware and hope it works, if a new version is available at all.

If you're a properly inculcated PC user, you probably always run virus software and, at least occasionally, also ad-ware or spy-ware checkers such as Ad-Aware. Or maybe the PC seems to be running slow, so you check out what tasks are running. The problem is that sometimes something shows up that you don't recognize, like msimn.exe. It may not be a problem, but it's a research project to figure out if it's a program that should be there or not. Many Google links just go to places that have a one line description of the task or program, and the rest of the page is trying to get you to buy their software if you want to know more.

This one has a bit more info, and I like the name of the place: www.AnswersThatWork.com

They're still selling, but their free answers are more complete than other sites I've been to. I include it here because it is usually buried deep in all the less-useful Google listing.

In addition to picking up the Winternals Software team in July, Microsoft has apparently acquired an interesting piece of intellectual property — the Sysinternals "Blue Screen of Death" screensaver.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2055211,00.asp

I bought a new HP Pavilion computer just over six weeks ago. I have spent many hours online searching for fixes to problems, and over six hours on the phone with tech support. Today I got to the top level of support, and basically got a "read the fine print" reminder from them. They obvious don't put this stuff in their marketing literature.

• Your PC is only guaranteed to run with the programs it comes with. Anything that you install may not work. If not, too bad. (Almost none of my older games will run on this machine. One of the newer graphics programs that I use all the time has quit working since the latest Windows upgrade.)
• The CD burner that comes with your PC is only guaranteed to write discs that can be read by your computer, and only using the program that comes with your computer. Should music discs not work on your audio CD player, too bad. This is even if you know that your audio player plays CDs made on your much older, but working computer.
• Windows is pre-installed. Yeah, obviously. But it turns out that some Windows programs that are supplied with the OS will only work if the Windows CD is available. Oops, no CD. Too bad. They can't supply a disk.

Unfortunately, the program that won't run is one of the Windows recovery programs, SFC (system file check). SFC was my last hope for getting this POS PC to work right. The severe problems started after running Windows Update; it blue screened and required starting in Safe Mode and doing a System Restore. I got it mostly working, but when problems started again later, System Restore would no longer work. Because SFC won't work without a CD, I can't use Windows' built in repair utility. What are we left with? Support has to give the one answer we all know and fear (and apparently, the only answer they know): "Format the disc and reinstall the OS."

Remember that what broke the system beyond repair was doing a standard Windows Update. This makes it is very likely that if I follow their instructions, I will once again have a broken PC.

Okay, what's the big deal about doing a reinstall? And why did it take six weeks to get to this point? That's how long I've been moving programs from my old system, reconfiguring, updating, etc. Now I get to lose all that work because tech support can only say, (everyone this time): "Format the disc and reinstall the OS." Of course, before I do it I'll have to move everything back to the old PC with the hope that most of the data doesn't get lost.

This isn't really just an HP computer warning. It really applies to any PC where you don't get the Widows disc, which unfortunately is most. Just a reminder that even though you think your PC should work with standard programs, your computer's manufacturer may not feel the same way.

Days of hell moving things over, settings scattered everywhere. New versions to download. Upgrades to perform after installing. Incompatibilites. And I haven't even started moving the hardware.

And I get to learn all about licenses for downloaded music and why it won't play on the new machine. I love DRM.

All these years, and nobody ever told me that I was just making a slip knot. You can learn how to tie your shoes, too, at Ian's Shoelace Site.

There are pictures to help, including 17 ways to tie your laces.

A survey found that only 48% of Americans know the Earth revolves around the Sun. Wow. Links are few, but a couple are Herald-Leader and Boston Globe.

What Carlin said:

Scary.

Many people already do much of what is listed in this article but sometimes a reminder is helpful. Some is more applicable for business use, but Use a Great Title should be used by all.

The only one I don't agree with is use plain text. There are too many times a picture might be included and it's easier to separate sections (like a signature) with the aid of color.

Yeah, I know, strong words — but I plan on making them stick, at least for a while. So what's the deal this time? Sony went way over the edge with their latest DRM (copy protected) CDs. Short story: they install hidden software on your PC that is susceptible to hackers, and hacks have already been done. Sony has "temporarily" stopped shipping the CDs, but haven't taken them off the shelf. You have to email Sony to get a removal tool, but there are warnings that using it will damage your PC as well.

It's not just me. Here's the last paragraph from one of the many articles on this subject:

Don't Buy Sony
Accidents happen, but this was clearly a considered action. My view is that any company that actively attacks or exposes its customers to attack should not be in business. This is the holiday buying season, and I agree with my friend Dan Gillmor: There is no better way to showcase your dissatisfaction with this behavior than by simply not buying Sony. Given that a large number of media companies appear to be considering similar behavior, this would remind these companies that messing with consumers in this way is something they should avoid like the plague.

As one article stated, this is the type of thing that will make companies create rules that will not allow their employees to play CDs at work. So if you want to listen to at work, use an mp3. But that's what Sony is trying to stop.

There are a lot of articles out there about this, and I waited to let things settle a little. But reading the history can be interesting, too. A new addition: Microsoft decided this is spyware and will remove it with their next release of their monthly malicious software removal tool. And even the government told them to stop it. Consumers in California filed a class action lawsuit on Nov. 1 to stop Sony from distributing the CDs. It goes on...

Devaluing the Product Part II - Sony Music CDs Threaten PCs
Microsoft deals with Sony DRM 'Rootkit'
Trojan Exploits Sony's DRM Flaw
Sony Will Suspend Use Of Controversial CD Software
Bush Administration to Sony: It's your intellectual property -- it's not your computer.
Sony Suspends 'Rootkit' DRM Technology

Sony's DRM: It Just Keeps Getting Worse:

Someone in the Netherlands did a decompile on the XCP rootkit that has gotten most of the attention lately. It seems that parts of the rootkit use the LAME mp3 encoder, which is licensed under the Lesser GPL. That means by delivering only an executable (the rootkit) without source or crediting, XCP violates the GPL Violating the GPL puts Sony at massive legal risk for—wait for it—copyright infringement.

As an extra twist, removing the software yourself is also illegal because the Digital Millennium Copyright Act bans the "circumvention" of anticopying technology. I suppose that also makes it illegal for Microsoft to do it. What a mess.

Quick fun that shows you can't believe what you see: www.patmedia.net/marklevinson/cool/cool_illusion.html

Haven't had the time or inclination to post anything here for a while, but these two sites deserve a look because of the great artwork:

Nikon's Small World Gallery has has the 2005 winners of it annual photomicrograph contest.

The Worth1000 contest Monster ModRen 3 (Frankenstein meets DaVinci) asks a simple question: If the renaissance took place in more recent times, and the models were famous movie monsters/aliens, what would the artwork have looked like?

If the girl gets stuck, just move her with your mouse! Link

Thanks, Ron

Today I learned that google can be searched with a fill in the blank mode. The example they gave was: the parachute was invented by *

So I clicked it and learned that the parachute was invented by: da Vinci in 1515, Garnerin, French balloonist Jean-Pierre Blanchard in 1785, André Jacques Garnerin (1769-1823), and/or Coldplay.

Always trust internet facts.

The Blurbs shows how the advertising copy for a movie can be completely misleading. Well, I think most of us figured that out. Still, seeing the extremes they take it to is a bit more than expected.

They did a bunch on Fantastic Four. Here's one of the shorter ones:

Here's another on The Beat That My Heart Skipped:

Fun!

No, I didn't do it yet, but verified it's not a hoax.

I've always liked wordplay, and liked the sound of backronym. The rest of this is stolen from Wiwipedia.

Noticed this at BoingBoing, it eventually led to these great mammatus cloud pictures. I've never seen anything like them.

State Senate Bill 840, the California Health Insurance Reliability Act (CHIRA) passed in the State Senate by a vote of 24 to 14.

The bill would insure every Californian with comprehensive health benefits while preserving each consumer's right to choose his or her own doctor.

Even if you're covered now at work (think that will go on forever?) consider this: Half of the personal bankruptcies in this country are the result of medical expenses, and the majority of the people bankrupted for that reason had insurance at the time they became sick or injured.

Press release should soon be posted at Health Care for All — California website.

Always using sunscreen may actually contribute to far more cancer deaths than it prevents. In the last three months alone, four separate studies found vitamin D helped protect against lymphoma and cancers of the prostate, lung and, ironically, the skin. The strongest evidence is for colon cancer.

link

I wonder why we aren't hearing anything about this one? Since it involves kids I would think this would be all over the news.

Story: Then They Came for the Children

One of the "stars" in a early 60's film promoting growth and funding for Florida's college system is a pre-Doors Jim Morrison. The archived clip mercifully shows mostly the Morrison part, saving us from having to view the entire film to find him.

http://www.floridamemory.com/photographiccollection/videofilm2/

Frank Zappa did cover versions of Sunshine of Your Love and Stairway to Heaven. This surprising news is from The Covers Project, where you can look up songs or groups and see what they did that other people did.

Like lots of music reference sites, this is neither complete or correct, but it's a good start.

Another useful site is AdTunes.com, where I found what is, and who did, the Mitsubishi ad that goes "yeah yeah yeah yeah yehyehyehyehyehyehyeh YEAH!"?. The answer (which I should have know) is it's "Uncontrollable Urge" by Devo.

Need a measuring tape but one's not around? Whip out any U.S. bill and use it for a rough measurement. It is about 6-1/8inch long.

Lots of other good tidbits at HandymanWire

A recent news article reminded me that I still hadn't bothered to get my free credit reports, so I finally got around to it at www.AnnualCreditReport.com. The good news is that it works. The bad news is that all it does is link you to the other sites and saves you from having to fill in your name and address on each one.

Each of the three agencies had different ways of verifying that you are who you say you are. TransUnion was a pain, asking for multiple account numbers before giving me access. I wonder what would have happened if their info was wrong in this area?

They all had my basic credit info and it seemed to be correct. None of them had my correct birthday, which I always thought was a major part of determining who is who. The dates varied by eight years. They said I've lived in places I've never lived. My last employer was from a job that ended in 1990. One place had an alternate spelling for my name, along with the correct one. There are lots of accounts that I can't figure out, but none were opened recently and all are paid on time and/or have a 0 balance.

Now I understand why my credit is so good. There are multiple listings of the same information, giving me a history of having Really Big Loans and paying them off.

I'm sure glad nobody expects this information to be accurate.

HandPrint/watercolor is about watercolor paint. It may have questionable oil paint relevance about specific colors but I suspect that most of the information still applies. More importantly, it's got charts, it's got research, and it's got an explanation of color theory that fits all the pieces together. There's more info on color at this site than all the art books and website I've seen.

British researchers have found chemicals produced by the human body that repel mosquitos, which could lead to a natural, odourless bug spray.

more

A group of former pupils at a London comprehensive school are poised to win thousands of pounds in unpaid royalties for singing on Pink Floyd's classic Another Brick In The Wall 25 years ago.

full story

Having just received one of those reminders of how the Pilgrims shared with the Indians, which started the tradition of Thanksgiving, I was inspired to find a little more of the true history. Here are a few likes that tell the real story.

• The Fourth World Documentation Project's Thanksgiving Information has lots of historical details. You can get most of the info by reading An introduction for teachers. It reminds us that the celebration was more of a treaty negotiation, and was intended to last until more Puritans arrived to help exterminate the heathens. This item has the most details and historical references, but is also the longest.
• The Thanksgiving Story gives an only partially-sanitized version. Short and sweet.
• One person's account of what they found on the internet in a similar search to mine. A good mix between lots of info and relatively short.
• History of Thanksgiving is short.
• The History Channel has a page on Mayflower Myths and another on Other Feast Facts. Both are short but don't provide a lot of the unspoken history mentioned in the first item here.

Enjoy your food, but remember it's not all about what they taught you in grade school.

It sounds too incredible to be true, but this is not a hoax. A species of tiny human has been discovered, which lived on the remote Indonesian island of Flores just 18,000 years ago.

Researchers have so far unearthed remains from eight individuals who were just one metre tall, with grapefruit-sized skulls. These astonishing little people, nicknamed 'hobbits', made tools, hunted tiny elephants and lived at the same time as modern humans who were colonizing the area.

News@nature.com tells the story of a find that changes the world of palaeoanthropology, and challenges our perception of what it means to be human.

link

It was sure hard to find a page that had a list of holidays, commendations, and that type of stuff. What I really wanted was a list of just those things that congress wastes its time on, like declaring the fourth week in November National Bible Week.

The best list so far is this one at ButlerWebs.com

Wash Up! Wasabi! What is up? A Matrix version of Whassup?

See way too many of them -- but you need a high bandwidth connection.

The "Induce Act" is a crazy bill to begin with, and it looks like it is gone, at least for a while. This description from Reuters, quoted below, gives a good example of why bills should be limited to one subject.

Though the committee declined to take action against file-trading networks, it did approve a measure that would direct the U.S. government to devote more effort to chasing down individual file traders.

Peer-to-peer users who share more than 1,000 songs or other copyrighted works would face up to three years in prison under the bill. U.S. copyright investigators would be able to file civil suits, which require a lower standard of proof than criminal cases, echoing tactics already used by the recording industry.

Those who secretly videotape movies when they are shown in theaters or distribute movies before their release date would face up to 10 years in prison.

The bill also designates the oak as the national tree.

I have no idea how the idea of "one bill, one subject" could become law, although it should. The problem is that it would be very difficult to define what "one subject" is — for instance a finance bill could cover a lot of different areas, but still be considered one subject because it's all finance.

The Lone Star Iconoclast, which distributes 425 weekly newspapers, has endorsed John Kerry for president. Why does such a small newspaper endorsement warrant comment? Because it's the newspaper for Crawford, Texas, George Bush's hometown.

Not even the editors of his hometown newspaper will stand with Bush this election season, saying that after they endorsed him in 2000, "we were duped into following yet another privileged agenda."

And there's more:

Four items trouble us the most about the Bush administration: his initiatives to disable the Social Security system, the deteriorating state of the American economy, a dangerous shift away from the basic freedoms established by our founding fathers, and his continuous mistakes regarding Iraq.

Oddly enough, Reuters reports this in one of their Oddly Enough articles.

I'm feeling really lazy today, so a little humor is all that there's going to be:

"Yesterday President Bush gave a major speech about Iraq. Today John Kerry gave a major speech about Iraq. You know what this means? The war in Vietnam may finally be over ladies and gentleman." --Jay Leno

"We begin tonight with a simple, indisputable fact: as a young man, President George W. Bush benefited from family connections to get a place in the Texas Air National Guard, thus avoiding service in Vietnam. As you would guess, this has led to calls for the resignation of Dan Rather." --Jon Stewart

"Bush and Kerry have agreed to three debates. The first debate will cover the 1960s and the second debate the early '70s and in the third debate if there's time, some topical issues." --Jay Leno

"Over in Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin is using terrorism to increase his power and erode his people's civil liberties. It's nice to see the American way of life catching up around the world." --Jay Leno

"There's a lot of controversy surrounding the authenticity of this memos shown on '60 Minutes' concerning President Bush and his service in the National Guard. If there's one thing you don't want to see, it's a president who didn't really win the election being brought down by phony documents." --Jay Leno

What do Gillian Anderson, Tori Amos, Christina Aguilera, Paula Abdul, Honore de Balzac (French writer), Rachael Leigh Cook (star of "She's All That"), Sally Field, Buckminster Fuller (inventor of geodesic dome), Laura San Giacomo (star of tv's "Just Shoot Me"), Gerry Halliwell (ex Spice Girl "Ginger Spice"), Avril Lavigne, Shakira, Dudley Moore, Elisabeth Shue, Paul Simon (of Simon and Garfunkel), Reese Whitherspoon, and Paul Williams (songwriter, actor) have in common?

They're all one inch shorter than Sammy Davis Jr., Bo Derek, Judy Garland, Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Ghandi, Melissa Joan Hart (of tv's "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch"), King Hussein (of Jordan), Nikita Khrushchev, Vivien Leigh, Natalie Portman, Mickey Rooney, and Voltaire (Francois Marie Arouet, French writer)

Wow, Bo looks so much taller than Dudley. Learn more at FamousHeights.com

Chordbook.com has an interactive Flash guitar chord builder and finder. It doesn't have all the inversions, but it's a good start.

Another cool feature is you can build your own chord and it will look up what its name is.

I recently received the following in an email, forwarded from the organization HCA. You don't need to read all of it, but it gives an explanation of what his five-minute animation is about and who its target is. I preferred to just read to text version at Single Payer?. I'm a big proponent of this, but have had a difficult time explaining why it would work and countering the arguments against it. Graham does a good job of doing it in a short space.

Graham Walker's animated message on single payer

Single payer advocates sometimes have difficulty understanding why there isn't a groundswell of support for the single payer model of reform since its superiority as a method of funding health care is so clear (to us). But actually the model is fairly complex and not well understood by the majority of citizens. A brief explanation tends to be dismissed with the meme by which we have been thoroughly indoctrinated that "the government can't do anything right."

Graham Walker is a medical student at Stanford University and a former staff member of Physicians for a National Health Program. To no surprise, he found that it was difficult to deliver a simple message on single payer that would stimulate an inquisitive mind to investigate the model further. He then went to work on creating a message that would be directed to a broad spectrum of relatively uninformed individuals. He was especially interested in creating rhetoric that would connect with young adults who have been saturated with the message that Social Security and Medicare will not be there when you need it (essentially the same message that is being presented this week by President Bush when he discusses the "ownership society"). Graham uses the analogy of funding "Prom Night" as an example that might resonate with a younger audience.

Graham has created an animated explanation of single payer targeted to the larger audience that does not have a sophisticated understanding of health policy. You should view this five minute animation since you will probably find it very useful in your advocacy work. It is particularly suited to distribution over the Internet through an e-mail link that Graham has provided.

For the animation: http://www.grahamazon.com/sp/whatissinglepayer.php

For a written explanation of single payer (The animation can be accessed on this page by clicking ""animated version" near the top.): http://www.grahamazon.com/sp/

If you don't have five minutes now, retain this message so that you can view the animation during a break. I suspect that you'll agree that we should share this with as many people as possible (but avoid spamming those who wouldn't be interested).

But this won't get it done. I just got an email similar to this:

Governor Schwarzenegger has a phone poll for the electorate.

Call (916) 445-2841
1. On the phone tree, Press #5 for "Hot Issues."
2. Press #1 for Same Sex Marriage
3. Press #1 or #2 to vote on "gay" marriage in California.

It really is a state-run poll, but as a way of gauging public opinion it's a waste of time. You can vote as many times as you would like, making the results meaningless as a scientific poll. The poll's phone number isn't listed on the State's website. You have to know that an issue is being polled or you're not likely to know that you can vote on it.

The only thing the results may be good for is as a way for Ahnold to justify a stance, in something like: "calls to my poll indicated that a majority of people favored...". Other opportunities for pretending your voice is heard (at the same phone number) include voting on "Drivers License (for Undocumented)" and legalizing ferrets already in the California.

To see the current cost, click here. It was $130,502,023,708 as of this posting. The site also shows what else could have been done with the money. Code is available there to add a counter to a website, but Blogger won't allow a javascript tag in any posts so I couldn't include it here.

Thanks, Becky

From a 8/25/04 press release:

DualDisc was officially launched today by a consortium of record labels including EMI Music, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and 5.1 Entertainment Group/Silverline Records.

DualDisc is a two-sided disc made up of a CD on one side and a DVD on the other. In addition to a full album on the CD side, the DVD side provides the full album in enhanced sound (such as surround sound and/or DVD-Audio or LPCM stereo), and also includes a wide range of special features such as music videos, interviews, photo galleries, web links, concert footage and lyrics.

Although DualDisc creates a new music experience, it does not require new equipment. DualDisc is compatible with nearly any device that can currently play a CD or a DVD-whether a home stereo system, portable disc player, car stereo, game console or PC.

More info is available at High Fidelity Review's DualDisc - The Hybrid CD/DVD Disc Part 1 and Part 2, including the patent war that may be looming. I don't understand how they can say that DualDisc requires no new equipment, but it may have DVD-Audio content; many DVD players don't include the technology required to play DVD-A.

A while back I was trying to find the name of one of the songs used in a Mitsubishi commercial. (It was Start the Commotion (video) by The Wiseguys.) Lots of fun sites were discovered:

AdTunes has a lot of good links to commercial advertising sites. Three of the better ones listing popular songs used in commercials are related: Inthe70s Music, InThe80s Music and Inthe90s Music. The site also has other trivia for each decade.

About.com 80s Music details 1980s era music used in television commercials, but it's links to other music trivia is what really eats up the time. Songtitle.info features a list of music used North American TV commercials from 1996 and keeps adding to keep it current.

A black bear was found passed out at a campground in Washington state recently after guzzling down 36 cans of a beer.

link

I'm not making this up. This article is from Phuket Gazette:

High-speed bedmakers put to the test

Phuket, Thailand: Tuesday, July 27, 2004

PHUKET CITY: This year�s Hotelex Exhibition Food and Beverage Show, which will be held at the Royal Phuket City Hotel from August 12 to 15, will open with a thrilling �speedy bed-making� contest.

The novel competition, with 6,000 baht in prize money up for grabs, will get underway at 1 pm on August 12, marking the start of the four-day show...

What better city than Phuket? What better country than Thailand?

If you have Windows XP, you've probably heard about Service Pack 2 being released. They don't make it easy to find the support page, but you'll probably need it: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;windowsxpsp2

Many software vendors are making updates to their programs to get them to work properly again, because the upgrade breaks a lot of stuff. MS's page Using programs and hardware with Service Pack 2 (SP2) provides lists of programs that either "behave differently" or "stop working". They're long lists that includes their own products, the major anti-virus programs, and much more.

Make sure you have a lot of spare time, especially if you use dial up connection: The total download size may be as small as 70 megabytes (MB) or as large as 260 MB. With a 50k connection speed, that's 41,600 seconds, or about 11½ hours. I read that the upgrade installation can take between 30 minutes and two hours. That's after the download is complete.

SP2 also makes web pages behave differently; it: disallows ActiveX, disallows Java and prompts for script running. Lots of websites use scripting for their pages. If it's really doing what it sounds like, disabling javascript, there's going to be a lot of sites that need to be rewritten and will lose their dropdown menus. I would guess that upwards of 25% of pages, including most major commercial pages, would have to be updated. Many, although not completely based on script, still use it in a couple of places.

I can't wait to get my upgrade and watch things break!

"Effective with this sentence, Wired News will no longer capitalize the 'I' in internet," writes Tony Long, Wired News' copy-editing chief. "At the same time, Web becomes web and Net becomes net. Why? The simple answer is because there is no earthly reason to capitalize any of these words. Actually, there never was."

So what do we care? Wired produced the hardback book Wired Style in 1999. Although very out of date, it was the only guide of its time to cover a lot of the new terminology. This decision will (might?) influence a lot of writing.

In 2000 Wired magazine declared that the hyphen belongs in e-mail.

Personally, I never capitalized internet or web unless a spell check insisted for something being done at work. The move to email was recent, and Wired helped justify it: conventional wisdom [is] that "new terms often start as two words, then become hyphenated, and eventually end up as one word." Almost everyone knows what email is, and it's about time it just became its own word.

A similar spelling subject was recently discussed (actually emailed) with a friend: edress, e-dress, eddress or e-ddress. The issue is slightly different because the 'a' was being deleted from address, so it's no longer just two words being merged. There were, and are, no standards to check What Is Right, but a few semi-useful references did surface:

• PseudoDictionary
• SlangSite
• RealDictionary
• Webster's-online - not to be confused with Merriam-Webster