The Oxford English Dictionary is the gold standard for dictionaries. This is the one you always found in some remote corner of the library, open on its own wooden stand. It had to have its own stand because it was far too big to ever fit on one of those shelves. Puny shelves, leave Hulk OED [...]]]> by Richard

The Oxford English Dictionary is the gold standard for dictionaries. This is the one you always found in some remote corner of the library, open on its own wooden stand. It had to have its own stand because it was far too big to ever fit on one of those shelves. Puny shelves, leave Hulk OED smash! And that’s the abridged version.

Anyway, that might all be changing with the next edition of the OED.

The publisher of the complete Oxford English Dictionary says the OED may be the next printed work to give up on paper and go completely digital.

The Oxford University Press said recently it may not have enough market demand to publish a hardcover version of the third edition of the multivolume OED, according to anAssociated Press report. The Oxford University Press would instead focus on selling subscriptions to the OED’s online version.

Of course, that’s not really a pressing concern since they’ve been working on the latest version, the third edition, since 1989 and still haven’t gotten past rococoesque. That’s the problem with creating a dictionary for a living language, words keep getting added all the time. I’m pretty sure an Oxford Latin Dictionary would be pretty easy to whip up.

The OED is widely considered to be the preeminent authority on the English language, and has been available in print since 1884. The second edition of the complete OED was published in 1989 as a 20-volume hardcover set. The OED contains more than 21,000 pages detailing word pronunciation, history, usage, and spellings. The set sells for about $1300 on Amazon and weighs 137.72 pounds.

Which goes a long way toward explaining why people want to access the OED website instead of toting around their huge dictionary set. Still, I imagine that much information must take up a lot of disc space as well. Or not.

The entire text of the OED’s second edition takes up just 540 megabytes of digital storage space. That means you would need just three-quarters the storage capacity of a typical blank CD to store all of the current OED’s 291, 500 entries.

Guess I won’t need to clear out my hard drive any time soon. However, I think it’s a pretty nifty indicator of where we, as a society, are heading, and that’s toward pixels and away from pages.

Just think. Come some time pretty soon, your little dudes and dudettes will be able to have the entire OED in the palm of their hand. And you’ll have another tired story about “When I was a little dude, we had to hump 137 pounds of dictionary to school every day. . . “

Related posts

• Cheating: A Rant (2)
• Me First And The Gimmie Gimmies* (0)
• Freaky Friday: Verbal Sight (0)
• Trippin’, Fallin’ & Spyin’ (0)
• Freaky Friday: Online Ostracism (1)

The middle young dude, Zippy the Monkey Boy, goes to a private school, which means we pay (out the nose) for his education. And the lovely thing is this means it’s like he’s going to college for four years before he goes to college.

Anyway, there are times when he’s overjoyed to be going there and [...]]]> by Richard

The middle young dude, Zippy the Monkey Boy, goes to a private school, which means we pay (out the nose) for his education. And the lovely thing is this means it’s like he’s going to college for four years before he goes to college.

Anyway, there are times when he’s overjoyed to be going there and I’m a little suspect. Today is one of those times.

Every year, the high school portion of his school packs up and the young dudes and dudettes head out to camp. Yes, they’re going to Camp Cheerio, the same place Zippy the Monkey Boy, Hyper Lad and Sarcasmo, have spent so many happy summer months.

Now, the school says this three-day excursion is an exercise in team building and getting the students into a different setting to work on their educations and their approach to learning.

Me? I’m thinking it’s more of a mini-vacation for a group of students, who already have far too many days off during the school year.

Yes, I am turning into a grumpy old man. Why do you ask?

Zippy the Monkey Boy loves it, though, so I’ve decided to quit griping. At least in public. Well, at least where he’s likely to notice it anyway.

The good news is that it’ll be two days where I won’t have to actually dynamite the young dude out of bed on school mornings and that’s always good for my blood pressure.

So, I guess, cheers!

Related posts

• Another Ending, Another Beginning (0)
• More Than A Rooster (0)
• Head Banging (0)
• Freaky Friday: Verbal Sight (0)
• Freaky Friday: Online Ostracism (1)

Your brain is a muscle, dude. And, just like every other muscle in your body, you’ve got to exercise it if you want it to perform when it’s needed.

Last month, a research team from UC San Francisco (said) that practicing simple visual tasks can improve the accuracy of short-term or working visual memory.

At the same [...]]]> by Richard

Your brain is a muscle, dude. And, just like every other muscle in your body, you’ve got to exercise it if you want it to perform when it’s needed.

Last month, a research team from UC San Francisco (said) that practicing simple visual tasks can improve the accuracy of short-term or working visual memory.

At the same time, The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc, provider of AARP’s auto insurance programs for 50-plus drivers, said using (visual) training tools can help older adults reduce the likelihood of being in a car accident.

Basically, what they’re saying is that brains need to be challenged. There are numerous computer programs that are designed to get brains working hard.

Edward Baig of USAToday has a nice roundup of various programs on his blog.

It is difficult for this reviewer to measure such assertions, especially since I’ve been using the programs for days rather than the prescribed weeks and months, and haven’t been schooled in the science. I can say that they’re fun and a challenge, which is important, because I suspect keeping a user engaged is half the battle. The companies all claim their programs are backed by sound science.

No matter which path you choose, get out there and get your brain in gear.

Related posts

• Freaky Friday: Online Ostracism (1)
• Freaky Friday: Who Needs The Tooth Fairy? (1)
• Freaky Friday: Sofa Spuds Unite! (0)
• Freaky Friday: Rip Van Winkledude (0)
• Freaky Friday: Not-So-Social Networking (0)