TWAIN: when an acronym isn't an acronym...

If you've ever used a scanner with your computer you've probably heard of TWAIN. TWAIN is an image capture API (Application Programming Interface) for Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh operating systems.

Most people assume that TWAIN is just another technology acronym, but according to the TWAIN Working Group's FAQ, TWAIN isn't an acronym:

Question: What is TWAIN an acronym for?

Answer: An image capture API for Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh operating systems. The standard was first released in 1992, and is currently ratified at version 1.9 as of January 2000. TWAIN is typically used as an interface between image processing software and a scanner or digital camera.

The word TWAIN is from Kipling's "The Ballad of East and West" - "...and never the twain shall meet...", reflecting the difficulty, at the time, of connecting scanners and personal computers. It was up-cased to TWAIN to make it more distinctive. This led people to believe it was an acronym, and then to a contest to come up with an expansion. None were selected, but the entry "Technology Without An Interesting Name" continues to haunt the standard."

You'll find TWAIN defined on Acronym Finder with an annotation that it's not an acronym. You can read more about TWAIN, at the TWAIN Working Group's website.

At last there is HOPE

We've just added a new definition for HOPE to the Acronym Finder database: HUMMER Owners Prepared for Emergencies.

The HOPE program is a partnership/agreement between the national HUMMER Club, Inc. and the American Red Cross. Qualified Hummer owners can get a certification as Red Cross volunteers who can be deployed by the local chapters of Red Cross to drive supplies and Red Cross personnel into disaster areas where other vehicles might not be able to reach.

Read more about it at HOPE's website. And here is an American Red Cross press release on the HOPE program.

Tom Manning breaks 15,000

Congratulations to one of our Hall of Fame contributors, Tom Manning, who has just passed the 15,000 submission mark!
Tom has been contributing to the site regularly since 2002 and has contributed an average of over a dozen new acronyms and abbreviations each day! When he started contributing, we had "only" about 228,000 definitions in the database. We have almost 429,000 today, which means that since he started, Tom has contributed about 7.5% of all user submissions! Amazing.

Not only has Tom submitted new acronyms, but his eagle eye has spotted hundreds of errors in the existing database.

Acronym Finder is a much better resource because of users like Tom. Keep up the fantastic work!

Folding At Home (FAH)

Among other things, FAH stands for "Folding At Home." Folding At Home is Stanford University's distributed computing project to study and understand protein folding, protein aggregation, and related diseases.

Users download and install a client program which runs on their computer when it's idle. When the program finishes a small "work unit" the results are returned to the FAH servers. So far, almost 500,000 users have donated processing time for almost 1.4 million CPUs, far more computing power than the largest supercomputer.

If your computer sits idle a lot, you should consider running FAH, as this is a huge benefit to scientific understanding which will certainly lead to cures for major diseases.

You can get more information about FAH and protein folding here: http://folding.stanford.edu/

Michael Katz breaks 25,000 contributions!

Michael Katz, a Hall of Fame contributor, has just recently surpassed 25,000 contributions to the site! We have several very dedicated contributors, but Michael is currently #1.

Michael is from Canada and has only been contributing regularly to the site since early 2003 (when we had "only" 262,000 definitions). That's an average of about 25 submissions per day! This means that since he started, he's contributed about 15% of new acronyms and abbreviations. Wow!

And Michael has also told us about several hundred errors and duplications in the database.

Michael, thanks for all your hard work! Your efforts have made Acronym Finder so much better.

Jules' Undersea Lodge (JUL)

JUL stands for the Jules' Undersea Lodge in Key Largo, Florida.

It has been featured on "Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous", in "Sports Illustrated Swim Suit Issue", in countless magazines and newspapers, and on every major television network in the world.

For the first time in history an authentic underwater research habitat is open to the average person--sport divers and even those who have never before dived. And although Jules' still functions as a research lab, you will be pleased to know that it has air-conditioning, hot showers, stereo music, VCR's, a fully stocked galley, and unlimited diving for certified divers!

Visit Innerspace and experience what was once only a dream of science fiction writers: living within the sea! In fact, Jules' Undersea Lodge is named after Jules Verne, and our goal is to be sure that Mr. Verne would be proud.

Read more about it here.

Welcome!

Welcome to the Acronym Blog, hosted by Mike Molloy, the publisher of Acronym Finder.

This blog will supply you with the latest information and news about Acronym Finder and its family of related websites: Military Words and Acronym Attic.

We will regularly publish articles about Interesting Acronyms, new site features, our contributors and other things of interest to new and regular site users.