The ability of radiation to cause cancer is dependent on whether or not the radiation is able to alter chemical bonds. This occurs when electrons involved in bonding in a molecule absorb radiation with enough energy to allow them to escape – this is called ionization. The thing is, whether or not radiation is ionizing is based solely on its energy, not on its number, and as we saw above, its energy is determined entirely from its frequency.
Cool article on WordPress.com about Why Cell Phones Can’t Cause Cancer, But Bananas Can, which I read while eating (and finishing) a banana. It covers dielectric heating too.
Party Update
It’s rainy and chilly, but the party is still on in full force. I updated the entry with some frequently asked questions. I’m really excited about some of the folks coming out, it’ll be a great mix. Perhaps some of the writers can help me with the 1.5 release announcement. *duck*
Douglas Van Bossuyt says What VaultPress means to me.
This Untold Story of Silk Road is pretty amazing writing, a gripping story regardless of the genre (non-fiction, in this case). I can’t wait for the next chapter to come out on May 14. Also when reading about Ross, it’s interesting to keep in mind Vanity Jones who was in many ways the brains behind the operation, and also undiscovered.
Make-A-Wish on 1.5
The Texas Make-A-Wish Foundation manages their entire site with WordPress 1.5, very cool. Dig those Pages.
Lockergnome Reviews WordPress
Lockergnome reviews WordPress and gives it 9/10. “I have never seen such a great interactive community before in my life.” Also talks about Blogger, which I’m personally a big fan of and it’s usually what I recommend to new bloggers. They also have the coolest logo and clothing in the biz.
Tomorrow I’m going to be speaking at ZURBsoapbox in Campbell, California at noon. If you’re in the Bay Area please come out and say howdy.
and now you, who are the father of letters, have been led by your affection to ascribe to them a power the opposite of that which they really possess. For this invention will produce forgetfulness in the minds of those who learn to use it, because they will not practice their memory. Their trust in writing, produced by external characters which are no part of themselves, will discourage the use of their own memory within them. You have invented an elixir not of memory, but of reminding; […]
A few thousand years ago Plato predicted how Google would make us less able to remember things.
Hat tip: Chris Rudzki.
On Packing
Luckily most of my clothes look the same when wrinkled.
Memeburn has a new interview up: The future of WordPress: Q&A with founder Matt Mullenweg.
Panels Finished
My last panel was yesterday at 5 PM so now I’m taking as much time as I can to catch the panels that are left and learn a few things. Speaking was more stressful than I expected but most of the feedback was good. I still need to check out the web feedback though, as people are probably more candid online than when they’re shaking your hand.
Inline Editing
In our blog session Jay Allen described his vision for inline editing of weblogs, it looks like Owen is taking the first steps though I’m not sure why he’s doing it as a theme and not a plugin.
Spammer Compliments WordPress
A spammer, or a former one, compliments WordPress in this interview about 5 minutes in. It’s an interesting listen regardless. Hat tip: Praneet Kandula via email.
More Inline Editing
Gregory has a plugin that allows the sort of inline-editing we’ve been talking about the past few days.
Usable Security
Usable Security is a new blog about—you guessed it—the intersection of usability and security. This comes up every few weeks since I improved the error messages on the WordPress login (and bbPress) to specify which part of the login was mistaken, the username or the password. Security folks see this as a problem because you’re revealing more information but I see making the error message more generic as premature security optimization. Plenty of systems where login names are public or easily discoverable, such as Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail, most email systems, and so forth, seem to be doing just fine.
7 Days of Plugins
Scott is doing 7 Days of Plugins.
XFN Graph
XFN Graph is a tool that you give a URL and it then spiders all the XFN relationships and shows them in a neat graph/map.
WordPress Lessons
WordPress Lessons on the Codex are looking good, in fact the entire Codex is becoming a fantastic documentation resource. Kudos to Lorelle for kicking these off.
Drupal 4.6
Drupal 4.6.0 is out and has some very cool new features, not the least of which is it’s joining the generation of new publishing tools that ping Ping-O-Matic by default. 🙂 Congrats to the Drupal team on the release.