I'm Pondering Over Whether To Buy This Dictionary...

So I pondered up and down, left and right, over and under... hahaa sorry Tym... ;p I love dictionaries, even if I cannot claim to know many words found in the Englishphere. I still remember that by Primary Six, I was probably the only person in class who had a dictionary (I used the Little Oxford Dictionary) prominently displayed on the desk; I could beat anyone at the time trials when it came to looking up a word. Sure, it was little, but the title's just a decoy; it has many, many words, with short and concise explanations.

The next dictionary that I used was the Oxford Paperback Dictionary. It's so good I'd been using it for over 15 years. It has words like Stephan Hawking, George Bush, Seneca, Gaza Strip, Madonna... the so called 'encyclopaedic entries'. These are words that other dictionaries are loathe to include since the 'importance' of proper nouns is really subjective and it's difficult to decide which ones are more 'worthy' to be included in the dictionary. As I'm going to take the CELTA course (to improve my blogging) next month in Siam (so probably no blogging for the entire month), I thought it'd be good to buy a 'learner's dictionary'.

Now, most people who have learnt English as a second language would probably have come across the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Heck, on the fascinating history of the OALD website, it says that it's probably the most pirated book in the world LOL. I looked at the copy that my parents used; it was a 1974 edition with Chinese translation (not pirated, as far as I can tell!). AS Hornby wrote the first edition in 1948, in wartime Japan. Since then, the dictionary has sold 30 million copies, and is still selling at the rate of one copy every minute. Now I've had the impression that the OALD is fine for 'learners', or 'beginners'. It not only has the usual definitions, it includes sample sentences to illustrate exactly how a word is supposed to be used. The only thing that a more 'advanced' person might be concerned about is the relatively fewer number of headwords it includes compared to a 'non-learner's' dictionary.

The lastest 2005 Seventh Edition paints a different picture. It now contains 183,500 British and American English words, phrases and meanings. Now, it is unclear how many headwords this actually represents, but the numbers sure look formidable. So what I did was to go to Borders for a couple of hours and randomly picked pages, and see how it compares to the newest edition of the Paperback dictionary. My findings were favourable; the OALD doesn't lose out much, and in fact it includes headwords that the Paperback doesn't. So that was a pleasant surprise.

There are a few competitors in the 'learners' dictionary market. Coming in a close second is Longman's Dictionary of Contemporary English. Third place goes to the very new Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary. I think that the bad thing about the Cambridge dictionary is a problem with the user interface (UI). It's like comparing the UI of a Palm and a PocketPC, or an iPod with a Zen; it's about how the whole thing is put together. And to this end, the OALD is tops. The fonts, font size and colour, symbols, example sentences, parts of speech etc. are all exquisitely presented in an intuitive manner. It's simply a joy to read. (Off topic: my favourite online dictionary is the Merriam-Webster. I've included a link to it on the right margin.) So anyway, I've decided to use the OALD as my 'default' dictionary. It's too bad 'Cartland, Dame Barbara Hamilton (born 1901), English writer of romantic fiction.' isn't listed. Well, you win some and you lose some... So I'd highly recommend this if you're looking for a new dictionary. It's OK even if you're not exactly a 'learner'. Also, get the cheaper International Student's Edition from Kinokuniya, and remember to choose the version with the CD-ROM. Here're some screenshots. :) Update (!): Just a short note on my new findings. The Longman dictionary has one remarkable feature: audio entries of tens of thousands of sample sentences on the CD-ROM. The OALD also has audio pronunciations (both British and American English), but only of headwords. I still prefer the latter though. The Longman cannot hold a candle to the OALD in terms of extra help in grammar and other useful information. As for online presence, the OALD, Longman, and M-W.com all provide plenty of good stuff...

2013 Update (!): My favourite online dictionary is now the OALD., the paper version is now in its 8th edition.

Singapore Skyline Featured On Civilization IV Website!

Thanks to Wandie for catching this in a previous comment. It's true! The homepage of the Civ IV website features local buildings! (Click below for bigger picture.) Walking along the paved Roman road, you'll reach the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The White House is beside it. The buildings above the WH are, from left to right, Singapore Land Tower, Maybank Tower, OUB Centre, UOB Plaza 1 and 2 (separated by the road), and OCBC Centre. The real life view is here. Way cool! :)

Google As Cultural Anthropology

I've just spent a second day yesterday at Borders reading The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture. The book had me at page four when author John Battelle described Google as having the potential to store this Database of Intentions when we are able to analyse what people are searching for, and what results are being returned. And I was like....whoaaaa! Prof Battelle was a co-founder of Wired magazine and studied Cultural Anthropology in uni, so his angle on the story, apart from the obvious technological and business phenomenon that Google represents, is utterly fascinating. The philosopher in Sophie's World asks Sophie to think about these questions: Who am I? And why am I here?, I've always wanted to know What do you want? Google has the potential to provide this answer because the things that people are searching for on their computers mirrors exactly what their intentions are. Substitute 'intentions' for 'desires', 'wants', 'hopes', 'lusts', 'meaning of life' etc. And these intentions are like archaeological layers that we can then dig up and analyse. The Google Zeitgeist is a good superficial example of this, teasing us with some idea of what folks in various places are searching for. From that website,

"We should note that in compiling the Zeitgeist, no individual searcher's information is available or accessible to us. What you see here is a cumulative snapshot of interesting queries people are asking – some over time, some within country domains, and some on Google.com – that perhaps reveal a bit of the human condition. We appreciate the contribution all Google users make to these fascinating bits of information.

Internet surfers might not have found what they're looking for (well at least I know Bono hasn't), but Google knows what folks are trying to look for to a large extent. And it's not telling, partly due to technical reasons (there are so many interesting ways to present the Zeitgeist, and some really require lots of brute computing force!), and partly due to ethical ones like their Do No Evil ethic. But who knows what evil is? The book also covers the history of the search engines, a little more on how LarryPageRank came about, the constant battle against folks who try to work around the system, some legit, others not so legit, the innocent folks who suffer during Google Dance, the question of doing business of China... And oh, incidentally, Google has stopped addressing Taiwan as 'province of China' after getting complaints for the description in Google Maps. It has now taken away the description entirely, which I thought was a clever and reasonable way to sidestep the issue hahaa. Do no evil, Google! You have the Database of Intentions, and the authority to decide what country belongs to whom, in your hands!

Eye Candy: Hercules C-130

10 years ago, I boarded a C-130 for Taiwan to work for a local defence contractor. The experience beats any trip on economy, business, or first class. These screenshots are from CaptainSim.

October: National Cyber Security Awareness Month

Last night, an MSN friend told me two of her friends' hard disks were progressively being erased due to some virus while we were chatting. Don't let this happen to you. Always use protection! Microsoft has declared this month National Cyber Security Awareness Month. Apart from the tips given, here are mine.

Best Practices To Prevent Bad Things From Happening 1) Use Firefox, and Internet Explorer only when necessary (free of charge). 2) Install Service Pack 2 for Windows XP. Turn on Window's Automatic Updates (free). 3) Use a firewall such as ZoneAlarm (free). 4) Use an antivirus software and engage the automatic updates (free). 5) Use a spyware and adware detection program like Ad-Aware (free).

These are the essentials. Of course there are other things that can also be weak links, like ezy-to-guess passwords, non-VPNed WiFi, opening attachments when they are not expected... I hope I haven't made you paranoid hahaa Update (!): In other news, gssq struggles with spyware...