Slashdot Mirror
Niue WiFi Network Gone, .nu TLD May Follow
gxc writes "The world's first free national wireless grid is no longer with us, after waves from
Cyclone Heta swept over Niue's thirty metre cliffs, destroying
everything. Although only one person died, the damage is so bad that
there is talk of winding up the country , meaning their fortuitous ccTLD could go the way of .su. Perhaps the easiest way
for Slashdotters to help Niue would be to choose a .nu domain over the dull alternatives."
Well, Sealand doesn't exactly qualify as a recognized nation in the international scene. For smallest official independent state, I think Vatican City (Holy See) qualifies for that award.
Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
Perhaps you should RTFA and use your brain before opening your mouth.
Let's start off showing you how far off-base you are by providing a quote from one of the articles linked to in the story summary:In case you're too stupid to understand what "economic and administrative assistance" means, I'll translate it for you: it means that when they need help, New Zealand is obliged (morally, if not contractually) to provide it.
Secondly, let's point out the bloody obvious: in an environment that's subject to weather extremes, such as hurricanes and cyclones, putting up telegraph poles isn't the best way to provide connectivity because telegraph poles and lines tend not to stay standing for long in those conditions. And of the alternatives, wireless is by far the most practical (cheaper, easier to implement and upgrade), especially on such a small scale.
Thirdly, NZ$8 million equates to US$5.45 million. (NZ$1 = US$0.6815.) So that's US$4,500 per native Niuean. Contrast that with the US$3-4 billion pa in military aid alone that the US gives Israel (population, 6.5 million), which works out to be US$615 per Israeli.
Now, what's the more ethical:
A. New Zealand giving Niue $5.45 million of support, money that it would have to pay out anyway if Niue was to cease being an independent nation and return to being a part of New Zealand? or
B. The US provinding Israel with $3-4 billion of military aid every year, some of which is spent oppressing and killing innocent Palestinean civilians, as well as Western observers (including US and British aide workers)?
"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
"Nu" translates to "now" in dutch, and for some time .nu places were popular. Maybe they still are in the underground scene. I haven't seen any commercial sites addopting .nu however. There are little or no .tv sites here as well.
.nu or .tv
Maybe the problem is that these domains come cheap, and that the stuff that you can find with
domain names mostly is too.
It's not just that "nu" means "now", it's also that it at least used to be the case that there were huge administrative restrictions on getting .se domains. .se for major government projects! Even the government was using .nu.
Basically I think you had to be a Swedish corporation and you could only get one related to your name. We had a lecture back when I studied at Uppsala by a guy from a government department who said that they couldn't even get
When I was there (in 1999) there was talk of the government more or less forcibly changing the registrar in order to change the policies. I don't know if anything happened.
The article linked talks about $50m worth of damage. I'm assuming it's $NZ as it's a NZ site. That's around $US34m. According to the CIA Factbook there is a population of 2145, but I've heard numbers as low as 1200. Let's assume 2000. Also on the CIA site is a GDP of $US3600 per capita. I read somewhere (can't find a reference) that a few hundred houses were destroyed.
So, $50m sounds like an awful lot - I'd like to know where that number comes from.
Read reviews of shopping cart software