The stackexchange point was a good one, so I asked the question there:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/16719747/opensource-tool-which-accepts-freeform-posts-from-a-forum-and-structures-tags-a

Feel free to answer it.

Thanks. It's of course, the former that I want.

I guess it'd be summed up by the XKCD comic:

http://xkcd.com/810/

My point is, this isn't a simple task.

Concatenation, or building a list of links would be trivial.

Taking untagged and unformatted information and providing it with:

  - semantic tagging
  - structure
  - hierarchy

Is not something which happens w/ free-form data w/ publicly available tools resulting in a usable result.

Closest thing to it I've found is Simson Garfinkel's address book sBook:

http://simson.net/ref/sbook5/

and it can barely handle addresses, e-mails and URLs.

If I've missed a tool, I'd be delighted to be shown where it is.

William

The wiki is quite interesting, and I'm hoping to build some of the things from the site once I get my Shapeoko http://www.shapeoko.com/ up and running again.

There was actually explict mention of this in one of the books --- whenever 2 Federation ships meet their computers synch w/ each other --- can't recall it being a plot point though.

I write scripts in TeX and AppleScript for my day job, thank you.

I don't see an available tool or technique that'll take 80 search results for ``driveshaft'': http://www.shapeoko.com/forum/search.php?keywords=driveshaft

and condense, reformat,discard redundant / off-topic mentions and create a structured page like: http://www.shapeoko.com/wiki/index.php/Drive_Shaft

There's also 138 matches for ``drive shaft'': http://www.shapeoko.com/forum/search.php?keywords=drive+shaft (and I'm sure someone mis-spelled it as well).

Yes, I could script auto-adding or concatenating 218 pages, but that's not any more useful than any of the responses to my initial post.

I've spent more time than I care to remember moving content from:

http://www.shapeoko.com/forum

to

http://www.shapeoko.com/wiki

Why can't it be automated?

Hugo award winner:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cookie_Monster_(novella)

Most of it is available here:

http://www.analogsf.com/0310/cookie.shtml

Making ammunition is trivial:

    - bullets can be cast from lead http://www.amazon.com/Cast-Bullets-E-H-Harrison/dp/B0007ASOHO
    - primer can be strike anywhere matches carefully ground up, or fashioned from chemicals http://cryptome.info/0001/tm-31-210.htm
    - gunpowder is simple chemistry http://www.amazon.com/Do-Yourself-Gunpowder-Cookbook/dp/0873646754
    - cases can be turned on a lathe (granted they're not as malleable as those which are formed, but they'll last for a couple of firings) http://www.janellestudio.com/metal/turning_brass.txt

and of course, doing a muzzle loader eliminates the need for that, just need a patch

I said:

> only used for a period of time brief enough that it's unlikely bacteria will develop resistance

as opposed to the current scheme of continuing to use until anti-biotic resistance is pervasive.

Remove the anti-biotic from the environment and there won't be a selection for resistance (instead there will be a selection for the replacment), but before there's selection for the second, rotate in a third, rinse, lather and repeat.

But above all, usage of anti-biotics should be minimized to:

  - people who are genuinely ill (prescribed and monitored by a doctor, w/ a rigorous lecture on the importance of completing the entire regimen)
  - small dosage uses with a genuine payoff in societal terms (preventing cavities is the only one coming to mind)
  - animals who are genuinely ill and a veterinarian deems worth saving

where it is markedly better than anything else, though I wouldn't object to seeing it prescription only.

All other usages should be discontinued.

Further, _all_ anti-biotics should be on a rotating schedule, and only used for a period of time brief enough that it's unlikely bacteria will develop resistance, then some other similar anti-biotic rotated in, repeat as necessary, and new anti-biotics are added into the rotation schedule (and only used when prescribed by a doctor, or injected by a veterinarian).

This could be easily enforced by manipulating the expiration dates of anti-biotics.

William

This is a good example of why I prefer to live where the local top police official is elected, not appointed.

I really wish I'd pirated a copy of MacBasic instead of buying Microsoft's lame BASIC for Macintosh ( http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=MacBasic.txt ).

Every time I pick up my Fujitsu Stylistic ST-4121 running Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, I wish it were running Go Corp.'s PenPoint ( http://www.amazon.com/Startup-Silicon-Adventure-Jerry-Kaplan/dp/0140257314 http://www.amazon.com/ThinkPad-Different-J-Gerry-Purdy/dp/0672317567/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1368791379&sr=1-1&keywords=thinkpad )

It kills me that I can't buy Creaturehouse Expression for a new version of Mac OS X ( http://www.creativemac.com/article/Microsoft-Buys-Creature-House-Assets-21443 )

Or that I can't upgrade my copy of Altamira Composer or that the plug got pulled on Altsys Virtuoso for Windows NT.

&c.

Well, for the automated greenhouse there are some commercial ones, and on a small scale there're Aerogrow tabletop gardens (but I don't think their fertilizer usage is sustainable (search for ``peak phosphorous'')

I've thought for a while that FEMA should develop a concrete block for disaster relief which could be poured on site and filled with:

  - window greenhouses for food
  - rain water collection system and filtration system
  - small sink
  - composting toilet
  - solar panels, LED lighting and a bicycle connected to a generator
  - fold up sleeping pallets which double as seating

Once the disaster was over people could build a house around it.

There were a number of HyperCard clones for Windows:

  SuperCard
  Runtime Revolution
  Asymetrix Toolbook