From TED – This was created with a noble purpose in mind, and I’d encourage everybody to learn more about it. This, also, is a fascinating piece of technology. The Orb turns a handful of LED lights into a display of our home, Planet Earth.

Nick and James Sears have taken up Fuller’s geo scope challenge, and built a way to contextualize the world’s data.

This is truly fantastic.

That’s hard to type with a straight face, even if it’s only for this op ed blog post.  But I read it every day in the headlines.

The Daily Show has somber investment advice

Put your money in things you can eat.  And weapons, to kill more things you can eat.  And fire, because you can’t keep the marauders away without fire.

For those of you who don’t know, WT, or sometimes WMT, short for Webmaster Talk, is a forum of highly intelligent people discussing how to run a small business over the internet, among other subjects. Not very surprisingly, this is a popular subject on the web, and WT is not at all unique in turning a forum over to it. They’re unique in the people they’ve managed to attract.

Diana, aka LadynRed, seems like the world’s expert in markup. There is no HTML or CSS question she can’t answer, and it’s usually done in minutes. She’s pretty good with the Adobe software (Flash, Photoshop, etc), but this doesn’t interest me in the least. Steve, aka Van Gogh, and Chris, aka Chirs Hirst, aka the comic book man from The Simpsons, are experts in marketing, search optimization, and so on. Even if Chris H calls it optimisation.

What surprises me is a wider internet phenomenon, that people willingly donate their time to help strangers. This happens across the internet, almost no matter the subject. Yet, I watch advice given out that would cost hundreds of dollars, with detailed appraisals of code of all sorts, for all reasons.

My wish is that the database forum would be more used. There aren’t enough good challenges in there. Before long, it will be 20 years of professional experience I have in SQL programming. Like the rest, I enjoy helping solve questions, at least the ones offered in good faith. I’m only where I am because of all the help I’ve received from more people than I could ever count, and I’d like to pay the world at large back in ways like sharing knowledge. It should be freee anyway, and, like a candle, it can be shared with no cost.

Because of the global interwebs, I guess I might explain that here in Americaland, which is under the leadership of King George the Uncurious, we have a saying that something, when it impresses, “kicks @$$”. However I prefer not to swear, and while I’m not sure whether the English version, Arse, is a profanity across the pond (from what I’ve heard, “bloody” is), it’s not here. But I digress, and I haven’t started here.

Neerav, a new friend of mine, a man who ran for the prime ministership of his country and got more % of the votes than Ralph Nader here, is a stunningly talented photographer. I thought my friend Forrest was the only person on earth who took pictures that aren’t just boring snap shots, but clearly this is wrong. Neerav is half Michaelangelo or Leonardo da Vinci, and half Steve Irwin the Croc Hunter. I’m not kidding, there are pictures of feeding crocodiles, and now, of a real life glacier!

Have a look at this one – the newst in a long line. Have a look at the others, too. I live in Northern California, near the ocean and among the redwoods, but I’m transferred to New Zealand, which I’ve always heard is a nice place. Through the Window(s TM) of my computer I can see with my own eyes this is true in spades.

Neerav lets people download his pictures. I’d love to attach the glacier one to this post, but, out of respect, and from complaints I’ve heard that this is a problem for talented cameramen, I won’t publish his photo here. But you really should go over and have a look at it. Download it for your desktop. I did – it looks like the camera itself might have took a strong dose of LSD before snapping this.

Whym is a friend of mine, and someone I have a lot of respect for.  Daniel has a zero tolerance policy for spam, hostility, and all that’s wrong with the world, but he’s also worked substantially to make the world a better place.  In short, Dan is a person who’s earned my esteem.

So I’d like to call attention to his new project, Whym Web Design.

This is why underneath it all I don’t understand athiests.

How can you look at that (sheer perfection) and not see the grace of God in the wings of a butterfly?

Still it’s a cool picture, from a cool community. That one is good, too, but there’s no competition – it’s not incredible like the one above. Sorry Frosty!

Beware Blackwater Mercenaries!! This applies more to Iraqi civilians who don’t want to get shot than to American readers who’s tax money pays for the shootings.

Spam bait – both are worth reading. The whole blog is, but why he’s got 2 spammers from Candadastan?

Maybe English Sucks, but Digital Point Sucks More!

Where the Mountains Meet The Praries by Fine Art Photography.

Best explanation of Wikipedia I’ve read in my entire life. I’m not exaggerating.

Ten Gnomes in a Death March??

Adam Senior of Canadastan is reporting on a strange and unusual discovery. Ebay (K-Mart of the internet) has closed its door to human customers. This leaves only robots and spiders, who are very motivated but often dirt poor. This is a shocking move on Ebay’s part, such a bizarre strategy.

Check it out – http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_den_store