Funny how all these stories have a picture of a Eastern Grey Squirrel although the most common squirrel in Finland is the Red Squirrel. Perhaps the grey squirrel most resembles a global stereotype of a squirrel and is therefore better for a news story. Who cares what color squirrels are in Finland anyway?!?

In more disturbing wildlife news, a camel kills wild ass at Helsinki Zoo. Tempting, but I’m not going to photoshop that chain of events.

Height of the largest Windows Vista ad bought by Microsoft, projected on the side of the Jin Mao tower in Shanghai: 421 meters

Price for a basic, legal copy of Microsoft Vista in China: $295

Price of a pirated copy of Microsoft Vista on the street in China: $1.30 to $4.00

244 genuine copies of Microsoft Vista sold in China in the first two weeks after its launch: PRICELESS!

Source: FP Passport

I’ve written about hyperlinks before. I have argued that it is absolutely ludicrous that some websites want to prevent you from deep linking to content on their websites, or mandate special conditions for hyperlinking. I sent dozens of requests to such sites asking for permission to link to their sites. I was honored, but more than slightly amused, when I received a formal permission to link to the website of the government of Australia. Here it is again, a friggin government approved link!

Only one request was explicitly denied, the others never replied to my requests.

According to Tim Berners-Lee, on the web, to make reference without making a link is possible “but ineffective – like speaking but with a paper bag over your head.“

Linking is not only our fundamental right, it’s our duty. Not linking to relevant sources causes extreme frustration in most readers. I find it incredible that most online newspapers don’t link to external sites at all. Some, like engadget.com, even have a perverse habit of linking only to their own stories, whereas bloggers usually utilize a sane habit of linking.

I stumbled upon this article by John C. Dvorak. He argues (and quite rightly so) that overlinking is probably better than null-linking. He also discusses the concept of dimensional linking – the idea of different levels of links that can be turned on or off with the browser.

This would be a great idea for many sites, but no doubt difficult to implement without making it overly complex. Imagine a blog, where you could hide all unnecessary links with just one click, leaving only the really important links visible. Now wouldn’t that be awesome!

I was shocked today when I found Wanda the fish floating upside-down in its tank. Happy April 1st everybody!