billso.com

Tech: Slashdot discusses various efforts to transform the Internet and the Web into common nouns. This is one of those things that information systems instructors have to monitor, silly as it seems. See Wired, two entries at Wikipedia, The Chicago Manual and this article on Joseph Turow.

USA: Maggie Gallagher discusses why men and women don’t get along. Are we a culture of grievance or gratitude?

Hawai’i: Governor Linda Lingle is considering a mandate to add ethanol to gasoline in Hawai’i. Ethanol can be made from sugar cane, which would encourage agriculture in the state. The move wouldn’t change gas prices, but it would decrease profits for the oil industry. There is only one gasoline refinery in Hawai’i.

Tech: Yahoo! News - Corn-Based CDs Delayed: “Sanyo estimates that around 85 corn kernels, each weighing an average of 0.5 grams, are needed to produce enough polymer for a single 4.7-inch optical disc, so an average ear of corn can produce around 10 discs. The International Recording Media Association estimates world demand for CDs at around 9 billion annually, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates world corn production at about 600 million tons, so less than 0.1 percent of the world’s corn production is theoretically required to produce enough polymer to satisfy worldwide disc demand.”

USA: Parties to Allow Bloggers to Cover Conventions for First Time (washingtonpost.com): “But neither party has ever allowed bloggers to cover one of its presidential conventions firsthand — and the decision seems to promise a clash of two very different cultures. The conventions have become carefully staged productions intended, primarily, to reintroduce the parties’ nominees to the general public. Independent blogs — especially those focusing on politics — are far more freewheeling, their authors mixing fact with opinion and under no obligation to be either fair or accurate. ”