Month: May 2019

Read No, someone hasn’t cracked the code of the mysterious Voynich manuscript [Updated] by Jennifer OulletteJennifer Oullette (Ars Technica)

Medieval scholar: "Sorry, folks, 'proto-Romance language' is not a thing."

The Voynich manuscript is a famous medieval text written in a mysterious language that so far has proven to be undecipherable. Now, Gerard Cheshire, a University of Bristol academic, has announced his own solution to the conundrum in a new paper in the journal Romance Studies. Cheshire identifies the mysterious writing as a "calligraphic proto-Romance" language, and he thinks the manuscript was put together by a Dominican nun as a reference source on behalf of Maria of Castile, Queen of Aragon. Apparently it took him all of two weeks to accomplish a feat that has eluded our most brilliant scholars for at least a century.

👓 Are you ready to share your OPML? | Dave Winer

Read Are you ready to share your OPML? by Dave Winer (Scripting News)
Imagine if there were a database of feeds we all subscribed to, and we could get recommendations of new feeds to follow, based on what we already follow.That's the idea behind Share Your OPML, a service I started in 2006. The story of SYO is one of success followed by scaling issues. Now we have better technology so it should scale better.Help us get it started by:1. Export your subscription list in whatever RSS reader or podcast client you use.2. Upload it to the new SYO site. (It's simple, just sign in with Twitter and drag-drop your OPML on the gray box. Takes less than a minute.)If you have questions, post a comment here. Dave

📺 Take Back Your Web by Tantek Çelik | Beyond Tallerand 2019

Watched Take Back Your Web by Tantek Çelik from Beyond Tallerand | Vimeo

We used to control our online identities, content, and experience. We now share Twitter names instead of domains; even web developers tweet and post on Medium instead of their own sites. We scroll social media and feel empty instead of reading news & blogs to feel informed and connected. Algorithmic feeds amplify rage & conspiracies, enabling tribal ad-targeting to polarise and spread misinformation, threatening democracy itself.

What happened? And what are we doing to fix it?
That's a big question that will require all of us, our communities, our employers, to shift. I don't want to wait, and you probably don't either.

What can you do for yourself, today?

Own your domain. Own your content. Own your social connections. Own your reading experience. IndieWeb services, tools, and standards enable you to take back your web.

📺 All Constraints are Beautiful by Charlie Owen | Beyond Tellerrand | Vimeo

Watched All Constraints are Beautiful by Charlie OwenCharlie Owen from Vimeo

We so often consider constraints to be a negative. We have become convinced that they stop us doing what we want and that, therefore, they prevent us from being our most creative.

But constraints are actually the most beautiful thing in the world. Constraints are what give us direction. Constraints are what give us focus. Constraints are what give us empathy.

In this talk Charlie will tell us how constraints are something that should be sought out and embraced, especially in the infinite chaos of the web.

Charlie Owen is a modern day superhero! Holy shit, what a moving talk.
Liked a tweet by Greg McVerryGreg McVerry (Twitter)
Liked a tweet by Greg McVerryGreg McVerry (Twitter)