Dictionary.app on Mac OS X is apparently a replica of The New Oxford America Dictionary. If that's true The New Oxford America Dictionary is fast becoming my favourite dictionary. I'm surprised to find that dictionary writers have a sense of humour. If you have access to Mac OS X check out the definitions for the following words.

democracy: a democracy in Iraq is quite unlikely for now or any time soon (thesaurus)

dude: if some dude smacked me, I'd smack him back (dictionary)

observe: I observed this wheelchair dude in the vestibule waiting for me (thesaurus)

These turned up on Digg some time ago. Please contact me if you've spotted something that I should add to this list.

This is an interesting meme handed down amongst deep sea researchers—the lowering of a polystyrene cup into deep water. The increase in pressure "shrinks" the cup down to a miniature of its former self. Cups are decorated and kept as mementos of the voyage.

The first link leads to a time-lapse video of a single cup as it is lowered into the sea. The other links are to pictures of decorated cups.

I upgraded my RAM today and became a member of the ever growing "5.9 Club". I know this doesn't mean much nowadays, but it still feels good to see it on screen. I wonder when Microsoft are going to raise the maximum past 5.9.

I was excited today to see that my letter was chosen to be read on DL.TV #237. In the previous episode Robert asked for people to write in and share their experiences with DSL. Below was my reply.

I imagine with the increased use of cable and fibre in the US, that DSL is seen as an older technology to be left behind. Australia's low population covering such a large area means that replacing the traditional phone network is an expensive proposition. So whilst the rest of the world marches on with cable and fibre networks, Australia is left to hack what we have with DSL. The once vigorous rollout of cable some 10 years ago slowed to a crawl when the telcos realised that there was still life left in the national copper network. And now thanks to ADSL2+, it looks as if we'll be using those two tiny strands of copper that run from our houses for a little while longer. When Telstra unveiled their ADSL2+ network a few months ago, the number of Australian's who have access to the service was increased many times over. Yes, I know, it's Telstra—but having fought off being regulated to wholesale the new network, it now appears as if they are going to do exactly that, and wholesale the service to smaller ISPs. It would seem that Telstra was just opposed to being regulated on the matter, and not against wholesaling ADSL2+ at all. This leaves Australia in good stead with DSL, which in a global climate of fibre and cable, must appear a little weird to the rest of the world.