Quick Link: Tip of My Tongue
November 11, 2008
This is just something I found the other day. I forget where I first stumbled upon it, but I’d like to give credit where credit is due, so I apologize to whoever helped me to discover this site. Tip of My Tongue is a quick web app that aims to help its users with a problem that humans have had for all of time: remembering a word that they just can’t think of. Using short qualifiers, the app narrows down possible words as far as possible. I’ve found it pretty successful in identifying words that I tested it out with.
Useless example: For instance, if I just can’t remember what you call a book which you use to look up meanings of words, I’m quickly able to figure it out. I type in “book,” “meanings,” and “words” into the “Word Meaning” fields, and it narrows my search to “dictionary” and “wordbook,” at which point I realize I’m thinking of the word “dictionary.”
Give it a shot; I think it’s a pretty cool app.
The Publishing Company Gets It Right Again
November 1, 2008
The other day on his blog, CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers Michael Hyatt announced a new project that his company has introduced, Book Review Bloggers. The idea behind this is that a blogger is given the opportunity to review a new release from Thomas Nelson on both their both and also the book’s product page on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or another book-selling website. I’ve talked about how I’ve done this before with Scot McKnight’s Blue Parakeet, and I’ve also recently posted on my excitement with the way publishers are jumping on board with some new ideas for uses of the Internet and social media. This is another great example of how they’re starting to get it right, and I’m excited about that.
I particularly like this idea because it is quick and easy for both parties. I, the blogger, get a free book, and the publisher gets a quick endorsement of their product. Once I’ve reviewed one book successfully, I can apply to receive another. Additionally, both the publisher and the blogger get lots of online press via links and social media marketing.
I’m pretty excited about this, as you can tell. I think I’m mostly glad to see this for the principle of what they’re doing by tapping into the vast resource of the blogosphere. Although this blog isn’t in any way a book blog, expect to see some reviews in the near future.
Halloween Mask Sales Reflect National Election Polls
October 28, 2008
With Obama in the lead in most national election polls, voters are putting their money where their votes are. Amazon has been tracking for the last several weeks the sales of Halloween masks of both Barack Obama and John McCain. Most polls give Obama a 5-10% greater number of voters, which is interestingly similar to the lead Obama holds in Halloween mask sales. I personally have not decided who I’m going to vote for, but I’m pretty sure that no matter which way I decide I would still prefer a McCain mask, simply ’cause it’s much more funny to wear a mask of an old person.
ht TechCrunch
Twitter Joins in on Search for Missing Girl
October 20, 2008
Note: For some reason, Bing searches for “Halloween Masks” are coming here. Instead, see this post: Halloween Mask Sales Reflect National Election Polls.
Twitter was abuzz a few days ago as a 14-year-old girl from South Carolina went missing. Oftentimes in the past Twitter has been used during a time of tragedy for communication about the situation, but this time things were different. Twitterers rapidly went to work getting the world out by “re-tweeting” the situation by saying something like:
“RT Twitter AMBER ALERT @genochurch‘s 14 yr old daughter is missing http://tinyurl.com/5yodvb – PLEASE RETWEET”
The words in this tweet quickly began to trend as (by my calculations) about 1200 people forwarded the message to all of their followers.
I’m not exactly sure how Kenzie, the girl, was found, and I’m not really sure Twitter was directly involved, but literally thousands of people were aware of the situation. Obviously in a situation like this, the more who are able to be alert the better. Of course something like this is awful, but I’m fascinated by the practicality of Twitter and similar services in a time of personal need.
Blog Action Day – Love
October 15, 2008
Today is Blog Action Day, a day where more than 11,000 bloggers are coming together to post about the topic of poverty and issues of social justice. I’ve read several great posts on other blogs which have joined in on this project.
I decided that I would simply and quickly bring up the topic of love. I believe that love is at the core of global issues (even, in this case, poverty). If we as people would learn to love without expecting anything in return, the world would most certainly be changed. Loving people well is one of the most important things we can do. I pray that we would turn our gazes outward and look at other people with the goal of loving.
Now here’s the thing. I wanted to be a part of this fantastic event, and I have a great idea for a post topic other than the one I’ve chosen. In fact, I’ve been thinking about this particular topic, and I’m not sure a blog post is the best format to introduce it. I haven’t yet decided how I’m going to write it or in what format, but that will be announced soon. I’ll be working on it in the near future, but to keep you curious, I decided to announce the title of this project: “Social Justice is Dead”. Don’t worry, it’s not as bad as it sounds; it should actually be really exciting. Keep on the lookout for it.