SPIEGEL Surfs the Web Connecting the al-Qaida Dots
Ever since the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001 made al-Qaida a household name, a growing number of people have become interested in the workings of the nebulous Islamic terror group surrounding Osama bin Laden. Sure, you might know he was connected to former Taliban leader Mullah Omar. But if you want to find out everyone else bin Laden has met, been linked to, or associated with, then you might need some help.
That's where the Web site TrackingTheThreat.com can come in handy. They have a nifty browser-based network diagramming feature that visually illustrates all the connections between persons, places and events related to al-Qaida. Just select an entity from the drop-down menu and you're off. There's even a geospacial view that lets you sift through data overlaid on maps. Of course, any tool, regardless of how of flashy, is only as good as the data it's based on. Since TrackingTheThreat.com relies on open-source information, you'll have to make your own decision about its ultimate reliability.
Make Your Own Church Sign
The church sign is as normal a feature of the American landscape as the hamburger stand or the two-lane highway. Drive through any town, especially in the Bible Belt in the American South, and you're bound to see a sign announcing the topic for Sunday's sermon, bingo on Saturday night, or something unexpected ( "FREE COFFEE, EVERLASTING LIFE" ). Now a Texas Web developer has designed a Church Sign Generator to give up a composite digital photo of a typical electric sign with your very own custom message. Create the photos for free, download them, send them to your friends, post them on your site; or -- for a price -- turn them into a fridge magnet!
The developer, Ryland Sanders, had his own collection of real-life church-sign photos, and came up with the idea of writing a script to overlay custom digital messages. His code is free for the taking, but, he says, "this is not a script for beginners." Beginners should stick to making their own church signs, instead of whole new message generators.
Prejudice According to Google
The Web search engine Google continues to expand its power in cyberspace. Everyday people come up with another quirky way to make use of its almighty algorithms. First came the Googlewhack , where people with way too much time on their hands tried to find two different words that would come up with a single search result. But it didn't stop there.
Now a German blogger has come up with a world map that shows what traits different nationalities are especially known for. It's called "The Prejudice Map," but it seems more like a catalog of stereotypes and clichés to us. But seeing as how such stereotypes can lead to prejudice, we can probably let that slide. How does it work you ask? Well, its creator has simply put the phrase "Germans are known for *" into Google and the the search engine has done the rest. SPIEGEL ONLINE turned that tactic against Google itself and found out that the Web site is known for its relaxed corporate culture, simplicity and frequently changing its ranking methods.
