An update on the use of shortened URL’s and Retroforth to obtain the contents of web pages without the need to spell out the full URL.

1. Tinyurl.com does not take a snapshot of the URL that it makes tiny. Instead, it simply keeps track of what URL has been shortened to the tinyurl.

This means that if the URL is not for a static page, but instead for an ever changing one, you can reach that ever changing web page with the same tinyurl.

Put differently, if you have a favorite webpage and you convert its URL to a tinyurl, you can always find the latest postings using the same tinyurl.

2. Nor do you have to remember the 6 alphanumerics that make up the tinyurl page to obtain the latest posting. Peek has a “sent” folder. If you leave one email there that you sent to Retroforth to obtain the contents of the underlying URL, all you have to do to reach it again is forward that same email to Retroforth, after removing “Fwd:” from the subject line and replacing it with “www”.

Now, if Retroforth could figure out a way to spot the numerous links that appear at the top of the URL that it retrieves, and move them all down to the bottom of the text. One blog that I enjoy reading has some 300 links which have to be waded through before the substance of the blog starts.