Thoughts Made WordsTodd Hoff's Weblog.Are Web Icons a Modern Form of Illiterate Communication for the Dumbest Generation- July 8, 2008 Are Web Icons a Modern Form of Illiterate Communication for the Dumbest GenerationHow do you communicate with an illiterate population That's a problem I hadn't thought of before, but on a recent trip to Europe I was fascinated to learn how medieval towns and merchants solved the problem of how to communicate with a population that couldn't read. Their solution was to use elaborate symbols that reminded me a lot of the iconography developed for websites and other computer devices. I couldn't...http://radio.weblogs.com/0103955/2008/07/07.html#a259 Is Oil China's New Black Plague- July 7, 2008 Is Oil China's New Black PlagueThe article Oil price shock means China is at risk of blowing up makes clear that if the effects of expensive oil have hit the US hard, they have hit China even harder because the China miracle is in large part built on cheap transportation based on cheap oil. When oil becomes expensive that advantage goes away which could have a devastating impact on China's economy.Curiously this parallels another time when a dominant China was brought low by a black substance,..http://radio.weblogs.com/0103955/2008/07/07.html#a258 |