Sunday, March 28, 2010

Wikipedia, one of the top ten websites on the internet, will soon be receiving a face lift. The first part of the change is a new skin called Vector. This skin, currently used on Wikinews, will be enabled for Wikipedia on April 5th and provide a more updated look and feel. The second part will change the toolbar when editing, and is intended to ease common tasks. Both changes are important to encourage new people to edit and update content. The improvements have been tested by more than 500,000 beta-testers.

The wiki code will also be altered; editors will be able to change tables data and other elements with what is intended as an easier form, in addition to editing an article while watching it.

On the other hand, the staff of Wikimedia requested more editors to add and update articles in their wikis. Wikipedia is a website maintained by users in unprecedented numbers. Maintenance and updating processes are dependent on just one percent of their users. Based on some statements, fewer than a thousand users do the maintenance and updating work.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Starting in September, British schools will inform parents of their child’s weight in an attempt to deal with the growing issue of obesity, according to an announcement by the Department of Health (DoH).

Nearly 23% of children aged 4-5 are overweight or obese, with that figure growing to nearly 32% for children aged 10-11. Standard procedures in schools involve weighing and measuring children in schools to determine their body mass index (BMI). The information is passed on to the National Health Service (NHS) to determine the extent of obesity in the area.

Parents will soon be sent a letter of their child’s weight, including advice on what to do if the child is overweight. However, government ministers have ruled that “offensive” language, such as “obese” or “fat” will not be allowed to be used in the letters, with words such as “overweight” being used instead.

The letters will provide useful information to parents, such as the problems caused by obesity like diabetes, and how to overcome these problems. Research has shown that parents often do not realise their child is overweight, and the letters will be a “wake-up call” to them.

“We have to get the balance right between being a nanny state and a neglectful state,” said Will Cavendish, the director of health and wellbeing at the DoH.

Saturday, September 3, 2005

Over twenty five nations have offered aid in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. In particular, France has offered the use of its resources in the Caribbean sea, including 2 navy ships, 1 navy hospital, 8 planes, 600 tents, 1000 beds, and rescuers. President George W. Bush has refused such material aid to the hurricane’s victims, although cash donations will be accepted. He explained his reasons to ABC News:

I’m not expecting much from foreign nations because we hadn’t asked for it. I do expect a lot of sympathy and perhaps some will send cash dollars. But this country’s going to rise up and take care of it. You know, we would love help, but we’re going to take care of our own business as well, and there’s no doubt in my mind we’ll succeed. And there’s no doubt in my mind, as I sit here talking to you, that New Orleans is going to rise up again as a great city.

A few of these nations, such as Venezuela and Cuba, are disliked by the administration, but the majority are considered allies of the United States. Venezuela’s Citgo Petroleum Corp. pledged a $1 million donation for hurricane aid. Cuba refused U.S. aid following Hurricane Dennis. In order to reduce the side effects of hurricane Katrina, Japan, Venezuela, and most EU countries offer to provide oil reserves to the U.S.

Saturday, October 14, 2006

An American inventor has patented a pair of new time formats with a footprint less than 50% of that of conventional four-digit time. The more unusual of the two new formats, called “TWELV”, dispenses with numerals altogether. In place of clock hands or digits, the new clock uses color to convey the hour and a moon image to convey the minute, which moon slowly grows throughout the course of an hour from a narrow crescent to a full-fledged circle.

The second and more approachable of the new formats retains numerical digits to indicate the minute but uses colors to convey the hour.

Early critics question whether the aesthetic benefits of the moon-clock will be sufficient to encourage users to learn the color-based time-telling system. However, the size advantages of the new system may make it particularly suitable for mobile applications, particularly cell phones, wearable computers, and head-mounted displays.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Viktor Schreckengost, the father of industrial design and creator of the Jazz Bowl, an iconic piece of Jazz Age art designed for Eleanor Roosevelt during his association with Cowan Pottery died yesterday. He was 101.

Schreckengost was born on June 26, 1906 in Sebring, Ohio, United States.

Schreckengost’s peers included the far more famous designers Raymond Loewy and Norman Bel Geddes.

In 2000, the Cleveland Museum of Art curated the first ever retrospective of Schreckengost’s work. Stunning in scope, the exhibition included sculpture, pottery, dinnerware, drawings, and paintings.