Steven Berlin Johnson has an interesting little piece in the NYT Review of Books, where he discusses how words acquire meaning – or, rather how online definitions of words acquire meaning over time, thanks to the perpetual ephemerality of online material. Definitions by Googlerank. Recommended.

PS: The NYT has come up with an alternative view ("Single Page") for those of us who like to see the whole article at once. Previously, you could use the "Print" version, but that would strip out pictures and diagrams and make the page less readable on screen. Smart.

PSPS: If I were to follow SBJ’s viewpoints here, I should probably have written the first PS as a separate blog entry, titled "Single Page". Oh well. Guess someone else will have to carry the burden of defining it…