Translate Web pages with Babel Fish
A clever reader mentioned an article in a German magazine about the effect of tire choice and terrain on rolling resistance. We can all read it using this free online translator.
I worked on Babel Fish while I was working at AltaVista. You enter a block of test or a URL, select the from-to languages and you’re ready to read.
The translations aren’t perfect — this one reminds me of talking to my old German friend Andreas — but you can understand the main points.
Here is Babel Fish. (AltaVista was bought by Yahoo!)
Here is the German Mountain Bike article.
. When you follow links the pages are automatically translated.
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Bonus points: Where does the name Babel Fish come from?
The Babel fish is a small yellow fish that acts as a universal translator in the Hitchhiker’s Guide universe…
;=
Nice!
The article was also translated by a human here:
http://www.bicicletta.co.za/Downloadable%20Docs/Rolling%20Resistance%20Eng%20illustrated.pdf
Awesome.
There is a “summary” on MTBR that gives basic stats on each tire.
http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=419392
michael
You can’t give a point just for mentioning “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” without mentioning that more than being a universal translator, the babel fish was actually absolute proof that God does not exist. IMO one of the cleverest parts of the of the whole trilogy, regardless of whether you agree with the logic or not.
Wow. Nice.
From http://hitchhikers.wikia.com/wiki/Babel_Fish
Oolon Colluphid used the Babel fish as the main theme of his best-selling book ‘Well That About Wraps It Up For God’. Colluphid uses the Babel fish as an argument for intelligent design, but then goes further to use to actually prove God (Or the creator) does not exist. The basic argument runs thus:
God refuses to prove that (S)He exists because proof denies faith and without faith God is nothing.
Man then counters that the Babel fish is a dead giveaway because it could not have evolved by chance. It therefore proves God exists, but by God’s own arguments God does not exists.
God realizes (S)He hadn’t thought of that and promptly disappears in a puff of logic.
It should be noted that most leading theologians claim that Colluphid’s argument is “a load of dingo’s kidneys”.