From NASA, a stunning time-lapse video showing the air-traffic over the Continental US in a 24h period.

14MB Quicktime LinkDiscuss

(Thanks, Richard, and everyone else who suggested this while I was on holidays!)

[Boing Boing]

Ben Hammersley's latest Guardian column challenges the received wisdom that the Internet is killing off good prose:

Writing is dead, they say. The internet killed it: kids r writing SA n txt, grown-ups rely on spell checkers and stylish grammar is punished by green squiggly lines. In fact, listen to the critics and you would be forgiven for thinking the internet is not so much a cultural wasteland, but a vacuum - sucking the very essence of civility and art out of its users...

Readers are getting a good deal. But why is this? Cost, mostly. Until now, a free press has been anything but: paper, printing, binding and distribution all cost money that niche publications would never be able to find or recoup. But with the internet, one can be read almost anywhere on the planet, contributed to by strangers and influenced by writers who, only a few years ago, you would have never had the chance to hear of.

The unveiling of good writing is one thing, but how do you become a good writer in the first place? The internet helps out there, too. Writers' communities, where people offer advice, encouragement and read and review each other's work, are becoming very popular. Sites such as Zoetrope, the Short Story Group and, while offering no critique, sites such as ABCTales, will publish anyone who wants to show their work to the world.

LinkDiscuss

(Thanks, Rob!) [Boing Boing]

Guardian: "Social software is being massively overhyped." [Scripting News]

Not yet, anyway [The Register] so that will be a representative of the company Sage and not a Sage then ;-) with an attitude like that and opposition that can buy banks out of quarterley profits ....... hhmmmmm why is Sage so ugly?

Liverpool are close to signing defender Steve Finnan for £4m from Fulham - and plan to swoop for Damien Duff. [BBC News | UK] hhhmmmmmm ?

Microsoft sends a mixed message as it readies the successor to Windows XP. The upcoming OS is designed to make sharing multimedia files easy -- but its digital rights management features restrict how those same files can be used. By Michelle Delio. [Wired News]

More than 750,000 people tune into digital radio each week, according to industry figures. [BBC News | Technology | UK Edition]

Many Americans are surprised at the President's appearance, in 'battledress' with American military hardware providing a backdrop, on an aircraft carrier off San Diego to announce 'victory' in the gulf. Senator Bird had a pop at him and a row has ensued about patriots and patriotism - and not much of it is the 'friendly fire' that 'patriots' provided in Iraq, Ed.

Byrd has made himself a sort of conscience for these times, denouncing Bush as the warmongering buffoon that he is: Questioning the motives of a "desk-bound president who assumes the garb of a warrior," Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd on Tuesday reproached President Bush for flying onto an aircraft carrier last week to declare an end of major fighting in Iraq. Senator Byrd's speech is here, via Craig's Booknotes. "War is not theater, and victory is not a campaign slogan. I join with the President and all Americans in expressing heartfelt thanks and gratitude to our men and women in uniform for their service to our country, and for the sacrifices that they have made on our behalf. But on this point I differ with the President: I believe that our military forces deserve to be treated with respect and dignity, and not used as stage props to embellish a presidential speech." [Mercurial]

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair is set to receive the Congressional Gold Medal to honour his support for the war against terrorism. [BBC News | UK] - GOOD GRIEF