This is a heartbreaking story about a couple trying to find their son and parents after the earthquake in Sichuan Province. So many similar stories are still happening there. My heart is with the people in my home country.

A new study featured by the Onion Radio News. Yes, the Onion.

Warning: You will be directed to a podcast, which will start playing immediately. Be sure to turn down the volume.

Encyclopedia Britannica has launched a program named Britannica Webshare. It offers free access to web publishers, who are loosely defined as "anyone who publishes regularly on the Internet--bloggers, webmaster, and writers who publish on the Web." This offer is worth $70 per year. Web publishers can use Britannica widgets to post links to EB articles on their blogs or web sites. Readers who click on a link will get the entire Britannica article on the subject, even if the article needs subscription.

Almost everyone can't help but see Britannica Webshare as a response to the ubiquity of Wikipedia. TechCrunch has a post on this, in which TechCrunch describes Britannica's move as being half-pregnant: "they want the benefits of web linking but don't want to give up the subscription fees from the fools who continue to pay them." TechCrunch also suggests Britannica adopt a wiki-like format to allow users' editing if they do not want to go out of business. Hmm... if so, is it still Britannica?

I think Britannica has made a positive move to give the public indirect access to one of the most authoritative encyclopedia. No free full-text access to everyone yet. Yes, I know. But it is still much better than the status quo: we know its existence, but most of us cannot afford to get to it, like the Moon.

Even if Britannica goes entirely free, I am not worried that Britannica will kick Wikipedia out of business. Britannica is eloquent and authoritative. Wikipedia is chaotic and energetic. Neither can replace the other. Admittedly, most Wikipedia articles are much less polished than Britannica articles. But Wikipedia is much more update-to-date and detail-oriented. Choosing one over the other is dependent on the subject topic. If I want to offer readers background information about Celeron, I will prefer Wikipedia. For a post concerning communication, Britannica definitely wins out.

I just noticed a crack on my 5-month-old MacBook. I have never dropped it. Obviously, this is a product defect since I am not the only one. As soon as I get a high-quality picture (this one was taken by my SE w810), I will post it to the "My MacBook Was Cracked By Itself" group on Flickr.

Update: Last week I got the top case replaced at an Apple store. Everything works perfectly now (knock on wood). The new keyboard actually feels smoother than the old one. Also, according to a genius, defects like this should be covered even if the product is out of warranty.

American Heart Association recommends hands-only CPR. NPR's talk of the nation has a story on this.

When an adult suddenly collapses, trained or untrained bystanders - that means a person near the victim - should:

1) Call 911
2) Push hard and fast in the center of the chest.

People who have sudden cardiac arrest will die unless someone takes action immediately. Untrained bystanders might do something wrong or make it worse. But the more chances are they can save lives! In this case, doing something is better than doing nothing.