Blogger profile search form updated

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I've changed the form for searching Blogger.com profiles (the form, for anyone who wants to use it, is in my sidebar, just scroll down towards the end) so that it opens the search results in a new window, rather than the same one. (Previously, with my limited Javascript knowledge, trying to get the results to open in a new window just produced a weird result in the original window).

[Edited 12 November 2005 to add the search form here for ease of use, as I see this post is getting more direct hits than the other relevant ones!] The search form is also below:

Find this word or phrase:

within this profile section:
InterestsMoviesMusicBooks

Many thanks to G-BOAC from Blogger Forum for the fix.

I've also updated the code for the profile search form, which can be copied and pasted into Blogger templates - see my previous post which gives the code and also includes the search form.

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Technorati Tags: Blogger, Search, Searching, Javascript

Jobs reflecting names (nominative determinism, or aptonyms)

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New Scientist magazine coined the terms "nominative determinism" or "aptonyms" to describe the phenomenon of people whose names reflect their jobs - or rather, who end up working in areas that reflect their names (hence the "determinism"!).

An example might be a plumber called Pipe. Real life instances abound.

A great one recently included in New Scientist's 12 February 2005 Feedback section: the noise and vibrations engineer for the Queensland Electricity Commission, Australia used to be someone called Ron Rumble.

Ones I've come across myself - there's a finance director called Stephen Purse. And an RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) warden called Partridge.

Added on 17 February 2005: In London there's a dentist called Blood-Smyth. And a surgeon named Hack! More of a homonym for an almost aptonym, but have you heard of the sexologist and author whose surname is Heiman?

Contributions from others to add to the list would be welcome, and will be duly credited - just email me (link in the footer) or post a comment!

Update: for more examples of nominative determinism and other funnies see

• Interesting names
• Another great name
• Nominative determinism 4
• Nominative determinism 5 and similar stuff
• Nominative determinism 6
• Nominative determinism 7 and other funnies
• Nominative determinism 8
• Nominative determinism 9
• Nominative determinism 10: dogs lead in Barking, woof woof!
• Funny cut-off name
• Funny food name
• Funny food name 2
• Funny patent decision: soul power, maaaan!
• Silly names - Cornwall Records Office

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Technorati Tags: Humour, Humor, Funny, Aptonyms, Nominative Determinism

Speed up Firefox a zillion times!

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A fantastic way to accelerate the free Firefox browser, mentioned by Copygodd on the Blogger Forum, is described at Forever Geek.

It only works for broadband. I have a 1MB ADSL connection (just upgraded from 512k) and this tweak has made all the difference. Pages are opening up in Firefox almost instantaneously now! I love it. But the cautionary comments on that page are worth reading too, though it's working brilliantly for me now.

Tip: it might be obvious to most, but to change some of those settings mentioned on that page, you just doubleclick on whichever line it is, and it will toggle the value or allow you to enter the value, depending. To get it back to the default value, rightclick on the line and choose Reset.

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Technorati Tags: Firefox, Tweaks, Optimisation, Optimization