links for 2008-06-24

• The man who started building the Web -- in 1934
  Interesting NYT story about Paul Otlet, a Belgian scientist who in 1934 sketched out plans for a global network of computers to allow people to search and browse through millions of interlinked documents. Sounds familiar? (Thx LN and IW for the link)
  (tags: paulotlet, web, www, internet, history interesting)
• Brian Cox on the world's biggest experiment
  Must-read essay by Brian Cox on the Large Hadron Collider (it will go live in late August). Favorite quote: "The particles have been around for the entire life of the universe. They are spending the blink of a cosmic eye in the pattern known as 'you'".
  (tags: LHC, CERN, physics, science, Higgs)
• Software Company Ditches Google AdWords for Kiva
  As in Kiva.org, the site channeling microloans. "In the pursuit of growing our own business, we decided we'd much rather help a small store owner in Uganda feed her village than support the Google billionaires' hobby of flying to space."
  (tags: kiva, advertising, marketing, interesting, original)