Links for November 30th through December 2nd

This entry was published at least two years ago (originally posted on December 2, 2009). Since that time the information may have become outdated or my beliefs may have changed (in general, assume a more open and liberal current viewpoint). A fuller disclaimer is available.

Sometime between November 30th and December 2nd, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

  • On Language – Against Camel Case: "Word spaces should not be taken for granted. Ancient Greek, the first alphabet to feature vowels, could be deciphered without word spaces if you sounded it out, and did without them. Spaces or centered points divide words on early Roman monuments, but Latin, too, ceased to separate words by the second century. The loss is puzzling, because the eye has to work much harder to read unseparated text. But as the paleographer Paul Saenger has explained, the ancient world did not desire 'to make reading easier and swifter.'"
  • Exploding Whale Video Reporter Looks Back Four Decades Later: "We're hearing this noise around us and we realize it is pieces of whale blubber hitting the ground around us (from) 1,000 yards away. …we ran away from the blast scene, down the dune and toward the parking lot. Then we heard a second explosion ahead of us, and we just kept going until we saw what it was: A car had been hit by this coffee-table-size piece of blubber and had its windows flattened all the way down to the seats."
  • Verizon Changes FiOS AUP, -1, Offtopic: "Verizon has changed their FiOS AUP effective yesterday, and added an interesting new clause to their specific examples that we're all familiar with: 'it is a violation of the Agreement and this AUP to … post off-topic information on message boards, chat rooms or social networking sites.' At this point, every FiOS-based Slashdot user is breaking the new AUP." As some of the (less amusing, on-topic) comments to this /. thread note, this is probably simply a poorly-worded clause intended to cover any Verizon-owned/managed forums, or to target spammers, or both. That doesn't make it any less amusing.
  • Is Obama Another Mr. Spock?: "He shows a fascination with science, an all-too deliberate decision-making demeanor, an adherence to logic and some pretty, ahem, prominent ears. They all add up to a quite logical conclusion, at least for 'Star Trek' fans: Barack Obama is Washington's Mr. Spock, the chief science officer for the ship of state."
  • 12 SF Movie Adaptations That Did the Books Justice: "Whether or not you loved The Road, most people seemed to feel it captured Cormac McCarthy's novel. Sadly, most adaptations do violence to the original books, but not all. Here are 12 adaptations that did right by the books."