Worth
Similar to value, I've noticed that different objects that cost the same amount of money have different relative worth.  For example, I have a laptop that cost several hundred dollars.  It serves as one of my primary communication devices at home, plus it stores a bunch of information, files, and probably every picture I've every taken.  It's important to me, and I treat it like it's worth a lot of money.  But at the same time, I'd be willing to part with it.  I have my files backed up in several different places, and computer hardware generally becomes obsolete every few years.  At the same time, I own a similarly-priced guitar.  It's a beautiful piece of art.  Every note sounds like the earth was created for the sole purpose of hearing its sound.  It took a while to actually gain possession of it because the guitar store had to order it from a different store and then eventually ended up ordering a brand new one from the manufacturer.  Whether that plays a role or not, I wouldn't be willing to part with this guitar.  Its relative worth is much greater than that of the laptop.  It can't be easily replaced.  It won't become obsolete any time soon, let alone at all.  I treat it like it's worth more than it actually is. #money

Sproose
Sproose is a "social search engine", meaning users can interact with search result rankings.  In other words, if you search for something and you find a good result, you can give it a ranking with 1-5 stars, and that result will move up in the search results.  There are also 3 "social" functions under each search result:  Discussion, tags, and bookmarking.  These functions help the user collect and organize links found in search results, and it lets other people chime in with their comments and suggestions.  In order to fully contribute to the site, you need to go to the Sproose home page and sign up with a username and password. 

This site is attempting to do what Wikipedia's new search engine, Wikiasari, is setting out to do:  Create a search engine edited and organized by humans instead of machines.  It's worked pretty well with Wikipedia, Digg, and other user-contributed websites, so maybe it'll work with a search engine too. 

This is a sponsored post. #technology

Subtle insults (1)
In the course of defending controversial ideas and positions, I frequently come across an annoying little trend:  People disguise subtle insults as regular parts of a conversation.  Usually it goes something like this: 
Me:  I believe dragons existed thousands of years ago. 
Smart guy:  Any intelligent person can easily come to the conclusion that dragons are mythical creatures that could not have possibly ever existed. 
Or this: 
Me:  I believe the Bible is the infallibly inspired word of God. 
Smart guy:  Most logical people agree that infallibility is impossible.  Oh, and God doesn't exist. 
Or this: 
Me:  I think most people are too stupid to have an intelligent opinion about politics
Smart guy:  No reasonable person would ever say something like that. 
What's happening in each of these very real examples is more than just a rebuttal or a disagreement.  It's a personal attack.  I, as a fringe-dwelling Bible-believing anti-political luminary, am unintelligent, illogical, and unreasonable.  While at least 2 out of those 3 points might be true, I like to think I'm at least slightly intelligent.  But besides that, I think the attacks are misdirected.  If you're arguing about a topic, focus the criticism on the topic, not the person presenting the topic.  If you think dragons go hand in hand with stupidity, that's fine.  Just don't insult me for believing something you deem to be unintelligent. #psychology

Firefox 2.0 keyboard shortcuts
I just upgraded to Firefox 2.0 yesterday (several months late) and I immediately noticed a problem:  Accesskeys and keyboard shortcuts don't work.  Sites like Gmail and Bloglines use keyboard shortcuts extensively, and even my site uses a few accesskeys to make life easier.  I searched and found an article that mentioned the problem, and it offered a simple solution:  Go to about:config, go to "ui.key.contentAccess" and change the value to "4".  Problem solved. 

Other than that, I have three thoughts about this new version: 
  1. The spell check feature is amazing.
  2. Websites look more like Internet Explorer's version now (I don't know if this is good or bad).
  3. The close button on each tab is an obvious feature that should've been there in the first place, so now I don't have to use the TabFX extension.
#technology