OneLook Reverse Dictionary
OneLook’s reverse dictionary lets you describe a concept and get back a list of words and phrases related to that concept. Your description can be a few words, a sentence, a question, or even just a single word. Just type it into the box above and you’ll get back a list of related terms with the best matches shown first.
I can’t begin to tell you how many times the reverse dictionary has helped me find the word that’s been hiding on the tip of my tongue.
For example, plug in “back of your throat” and the first result is, appropriately, uvula.
Found this tidbit from NewScientistTech interesting:
During the middle ages, the Muslims who fought crusaders with swords of Damascus steel had an edge - a very high-tech one. Their sabres contained carbon nanotubes [...] and even nanowires.
In his latest “Geek in Review” column, Wil Wheaton weighs in on the Star Wars saga, reserving some extra-special venom for the prequel trilogy.
The prequels, especially Episode I, are a kick in the balls to us. [...] It’s obvious now, especially after watching all of them and seeing what Lucas does when he’s left entirely to his own devices, that the movies are just excuses to show off his special effects and sell toys.
It’s a good read (as is most of Wil’s stuff); you should check it out.
This is a list of the 50 most significant science fiction/fantasy novels, 1953-2002, according to the Science Fiction Book Club. Bold the ones you’ve read, strike-out the ones you hated, italicize those you started but never finished and put an asterisk beside the ones you loved.
- The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
- The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov
- Dune, Frank Herbert *
- Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
- A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
- Neuromancer, William Gibson
- Childhood’s End, Arthur C. Clarke
- Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
- The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
- Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
- The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
- A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.
- The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov
- Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras
- Cities in Flight, James Blish
- The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett
- Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison
- Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
- The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
- Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
- Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey
- Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card *
- The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson
- The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
- Gateway, Frederik Pohl
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, J.K. Rowling *
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams *
- I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
- Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin - Little, Big, John Crowley
- Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
- The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
- Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
- More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
- The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith
- On the Beach, Nevil Shute
- Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
- Ringworld, Larry Niven
- Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien- Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut *
- Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
- Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
- The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
- Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein
- Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
- The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks
- Timescape, Gregory Benford
- To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer
[via John Wick]
Vox is a new blogging environment from SixApart, who also own and operate LiveJournal, Movable Type and TypePad. After I heard about it from a friend who worked on it, I signed up.
I haven’t done much of anything with my account, but one of the really neat things Vox has done to promote regular participation is develop a Question of the Day.
Today’s is, “What’s on your Top 5 video games list?”
In no particular order:
- The Legend of Zelda (NES)
- Sid Meier’s Civilization II (PC)
- Tron (arcade)
- Gyruss (arcade)
(just beats out Galaga in my book, but good luck finding it around any more…)
- Doom (PC)
Boing Boing is reporting that Best Buy has gone after BlackFriday.info, the site I mentioned last week, for posting their “Black Friday” price lists. Their weapon of choice? The favorite tool of overreaching asshats, the DCMA.
BestBuy sent a DMCA takedown notice to BlackFriday.info over a posting that contained leaked information about its Thanksgiving sale-prices. Takedown notices are intended to provide an expeditious means of censoring material that infringes your copyright, but there’s no copyright in a price-list — copyright only attracts to original creative works, not lists of prices.
ArsTechnica, who first reported on this yesterday, notes that Best Buy has been accused of abusing the DCMA before.
In November 2003, Best Buy issued a takedown notices [sic] to FatWallet over a Black Friday ad posted on the site. FatWallet responded by suing Best Buy for abuse of the DMCA. Such lawsuits are permissible under the DMCA if a company knowingly misrepresents a DMCA notice. FatWallet’s case was dismissed with the judge ruling that the bargain-hunting site had not suffered injury because of the takedown notice.
No strangers to dealing with bogus DMCA takedown notices themselves, the folks at Boing Boing have posted a mirror of the BlackFriday Best Buy page on their site.
