13 things that do not make sense

Michael Brooks has written about "13 things that do not make sense" in New Scientist on 19 March 2005. To quote:-

1. The placebo effect
   
2. The problem of the Univese's Horizon
   
3. Ultra-energetic cosmic rays above the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin limit
   
4. Why/How/Does Homeopothy work?
   
5. Dark Matter
   
6. Viking's discovery of methane on Mars
   
7. Tetraneutrons
   
8. The Pioneer (spacecraft) anomaly
   
9. Dark energy
   
10. The Kuiper cliff (is there a 10th planet?)
    
11. The Wow signal
    
12. Not-so-constant constants
    
13. Cold Fusion
    

Tips for Staff Directories

James Robertson has written about Tips for Staff Directories in "Column Two" on 7th April 2005. To quote:-

While the majority of staff will access the staff directory online, there will be a number of users with a strong need for a printed version of some (or all) of the directory details.

In particular, there must be a facility to create a printed 'phone list' out of the staff directory, either for all the organisation or for just a single division, business unit, etc. This should be automatically generated as a PDF or Word document, to facilitate easy printing.

Tips...
1. Formalise processes to ensure available printed copies are up to date.
2. Option of entering e-mail address when they download a printable version, so can "push" later updates.
3. Support clean prints of single profile pages - CSS media styles recommended.

Précised from the Step Two Design's Staff Directories report.

adaptive path � ajax: a new approach to web applications

Jesse James Garrett of Adaptive Path has written an essay about "ajax: a new approach to web applications".

Defining Ajax

Ajax isn’t a technology. It’s really several technologies, each flourishing in its own right, coming together in powerful new ways.

Ajax incorporates:

• standards-based presentation using XHTML and CSS;


• dynamic display and interaction using the Document Object Model;


• data interchange and manipulation using XML and XSLT;


• asynchronous data retrieval using XMLHttpRequest;


• and JavaScript binding everything together.