Around the web what are examples of some links?... for free audio books available that are compatible with more types of computer setups?
It would be a good idea to list these examples on libraries' websites where library clientele are also pointed to overdrive. Then overdrive becomes one of the listed alternatives among other free audio books that are available. Boston Public Library and Cambridge Public Library http://www.cambridgema.gov/CPL/audiobooks.html across the river should list many of the alternatives including the overdrive method rather than limiting the pointer to only one!
"I therefore urge the Boston Public Library to terminate its association with OverDrive Audio Books, and adopt a policy of refusing to be agents for the propagation of Digital Restrictions Management." http://www.fsf.org/news/letter-to-the-bpl
Richard Stallman sent a letter to the Boston Public Library (BPL) asking them to abandon the system they currently use to distribute audio books, since this format requires the use of proprietary software. It is illegal in the US to release free software capable of reading these audio books because of the Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) measures that are being imposed.
You can help by sending your own letter to the BPL (gref at bpl dot org) and by examining the policies of your own local library. We would be glad to see CCs of any letters you send at campaigns@fsf.org and to hear about any similar policies in place at libraries other than the BPL.
Don Saklad forwarded me your message which reports that OverDrive Audio Books use "copyright protection technology" made by Microsoft.
The technology in question is an example of Digital Restrictions Management (DRM)--technology designed to restrict the public. Describing it as "copyright protection" puts a favorable spin on a mechanism intended to deny the public the exercise of those rights which copyright law has not yet denied them.
The use of that format for distributing books is not a fact of nature; it is a choice. When a choice leads to bad consequences, it ought to be changed, and that is the case here. I respectfully submit that the Boston Public Library has a responsibility to refuse to distribute anything in this format, even if it seems "convenient" to some in the short term.
By making the choice to use this format, the Boston Public Library gives additional power to a corporation already twice convicted of unfair competition.
This choice excludes more than just Macintosh users. The users of the GNU/Linux system, an operating system made up of free/libre software, are excluded as well. Since these audiobooks are locked up with Digital Restrictions Management (DRM), it is illegal in the US to release free/libre software capable of reading these audiobooks. Apple may make some sort of arrangement to include capable software in MacOS (which is, itself, non-free software for which users cannot get source code). But we in the free software community will never be allowed to provide software to play them, unless laws are changed.
There is another, deeper issue at stake here. The tendency of digitalization is to convert public libraries into retail stores for vendors of digital works. The choice to distribute information in a secret format--information designed to evaporate and become unreadable--is the antithesis of the spirit of the public library. Libraries which participate in this have lost their hearts.
I therefore urge the Boston Public Library to terminate its association with OverDrive Audio Books, and adopt a policy of refusing to be agents for the propagation of Digital Restrictions Management. Sincerely Richard Stallman President, Free Software Foundation MacArthur Fellow http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/bpl.html
Extemporaneous and unconventional solutions to the
on
MacGyver Physics
·
· Score: 1
A number of people are studying an extemporaneous and unconventional solution to the problem of sorting gmail alphabetically by subject, by author, by size and sorting out messages by the first word or first string of characters of the subject. What hints, tips or pointers on how you believe it could be done have any of you kind folks out there for an extemporaneous and unconventional solution to sorting gmail?...
..Or ask for the full content of council committees' public notices on the website http://cityofboston.gov/citycouncil
Apparently enough users of technology are novice enough without the mastery to see how to ask to get the problematical distribution of this municipal public information fixed.
...regrettably textedit and appleworks do not always reproduce everything, for example Boston City Council calendar gets cut. See for yourself, ask for the city council calendar updates by email ann.hess@cityofboston.gov
thank you!...regrettably it is not compatible with OS X 10.3.7...it would have to be someone who knows how to do it and how to get them to pay attention. Boston City Council has been unwilling to respond positively to requests from people on this matter.
If you would like to contact MIS Management Information Services at Boston City Hall, it would help to get them to use plain ASCII text in email and put the full text public notices on the web instead of just abbreviated calendar listings. Contact rajesh.pareek@cityofboston.gov
Here is the Boston City Council rule 34 that needs to be updated for the web with regard to making available on the web full text of public notices of council committees public hearings
...Upon scheduling of a hearing and posting of a hearing notice (including time, place, and subject) with the clerk, the hearing notice shall be posted electronically and on council bulletin boards, and a written and electronic notice shall be delivered to each councilor and other interested parties by council staff...
If you might give it a stab with a note for the council to improve the predicament of getting them off their addiction to.doc formatting for public notices, please contact council staff director ann.hess@cityofboston.gov or your favorite city councilor. Note the peculiar one letter l in councilor.
Ask the rules of the city council be updated for so called e-government and distribution of council public notices full text by email in plain ASCII text and on the website.
Boston City Council sends by email public hearings notices for council committees like the Human Rights Committee. But our Boston City Council is unwilling to send the email as plain ASCII text instead of the.doc formatted public notices that are not so compatible.
Maybe they want to preserve enbolded text as if that enbolded text was some sort of legal document. Maybe they want to preserve the image of a seal of the city. At the expense of wider more compatible distribution of important information our city council is even unwilling to put the full text of public hearings notices on the web site at http://cityofboston.gov/citycouncil
An online calendar at the website does list the meetings minimally with no details. The full explanation for the purpose for holding the public hearing needs to be posted every time with an archive for reviewing past hearings.
Would any of you folks out there happen to have or could you let me know where to find the 1989 net.physics articles by Jay Sulzberger on Bell's Inequality ?...
1.
How can our University of Massachusetts get away with subjecting people to stricter policies than might be accorded you publishing in a public forum such as a commercial ISP or a book you might publish?...
Quote
"Copyright Policies
By law, individuals generally can make copies of small portions of copyrighted material for their personal use. This is called "fair use". Exactly what consitutes fair use is often a matter for courts to decide. See the WebLaw FAQ for discussion of these matters. As the FAQ suggests, you are usually better off making a link to material rather than copying it
In any case, the use of the Math and Computer Science Departmental Network subjects you to stricter policies than might be accorded you publishing in a public forum such as a commercial ISP or a book you might publish. Whether or not a court would declare it fair use, you may not post on our servers, email to anyone, or post to newsgroups the entirety, nor even significant portions, of copyrighted materials without the permission of copyright owner. We will not enter into discussions of what is a significant portion or what is fair use. Follow the same rules you learn about for writing papers: use of a few sentences, fully attributed, is OK. More than that usually is not. A copyrighted image is not.
Finally note that just because something doesn't have a copyright notice on it does not mean it has no copyright. Your best strategy is to assume anything you find on the web is copyrighted and if it does not explicitly carry permission to copy, or if you do not have written permission to copy it, you should just link to it. See the aforementioned FAQ."
Quoted
Our universities should be more open centers of intellectual freedom devoted to free speech, individual liberty, religious freedom, the rights of conscience, legal equality, due process, and academic freedom on campus
Professor Robert A. Morris http://www.cs.umb.edu/~ram/ appears to be a principal among university faculty in devising policies that remarkably for an institution devoted to thought even overrestrictively state "We will not enter into discussions of what is a significant portion or what is fair use."
2.
It is ironical that our university will not even enter into an open discussion of ideas?...
Boston Public Library Departments Reference Desks, our Regional and
Massachusetts Library of Last Recourse, so called, have forwarded
to City Hall some reference requests for public records
managed by our public library.
It's an attempt to be a kind of deterrent for public library users and
contrary to the usual expected discretion for BPL Departmental Reference Desk services.
Our cities' public libraries departments reference desks have flouted
state and local FOI freedom of information principles when it involves their very own
departmental curatorial reports on collections development and the related cities consultants reports on our cities public libraries.
Boston Public Library denies it, yet has flouted state FOI principles and reference desk principles.
Slashdot Mirror
Would it be better to use the term GNU/Linux
See also
http://www.gnu.org/gnu/why-gnu-linux.html
Around the web what are examples of some links?... for free audio books available that are compatible with more types of computer setups?
It would be a good idea to list these examples on libraries' websites where library clientele are also pointed to overdrive. Then overdrive becomes one of the listed alternatives among other free audio books that are available. Boston Public Library and Cambridge Public Library http://www.cambridgema.gov/CPL/audiobooks.html across the river should list many of the alternatives including the overdrive method rather than limiting the pointer to only one!
Send a letter to the Boston Public Library
* Send this page to somebody
"I therefore urge the Boston Public Library to terminate its association with OverDrive Audio Books, and adopt a policy of refusing to be agents for the propagation of Digital Restrictions Management."
http://www.fsf.org/news/letter-to-the-bpl
Richard Stallman sent a letter to the Boston Public Library (BPL) asking them to abandon the system they currently use to distribute audio books, since this format requires the use of proprietary software. It is illegal in the US to release free software capable of reading these audio books because of the Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) measures that are being imposed.
You can help by sending your own letter to the BPL (gref at bpl dot org) and by examining the policies of your own local library. We would be glad to see CCs of any letters you send at campaigns@fsf.org and to hear about any similar policies in place at libraries other than the BPL.
Please keep an eye on our DRM campaign area for future updates about this and other related issues
http://www.fsf.org/news/letter-to-the-bpl
Our libraries come up short with regard to overdrive...
Letter to the Boston Public Library
http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/bpl.html
* Send this page to somebody
To the Management of the Boston Public Library,
Don Saklad forwarded me your message which reports that OverDrive Audio Books use "copyright protection technology" made by Microsoft.
The technology in question is an example of Digital Restrictions Management (DRM)--technology designed to restrict the public. Describing it as "copyright protection" puts a favorable spin on a mechanism intended to deny the public the exercise of those rights which copyright law has not yet denied them.
The use of that format for distributing books is not a fact of nature; it is a choice. When a choice leads to bad consequences, it ought to be changed, and that is the case here. I respectfully submit that the Boston Public Library has a responsibility to refuse to distribute anything in this format, even if it seems "convenient" to some in the short term.
By making the choice to use this format, the Boston Public Library gives additional power to a corporation already twice convicted of unfair competition.
This choice excludes more than just Macintosh users. The users of the GNU/Linux system, an operating system made up of free/libre software, are excluded as well. Since these audiobooks are locked up with Digital Restrictions Management (DRM), it is illegal in the US to release free/libre software capable of reading these audiobooks. Apple may make some sort of arrangement to include capable software in MacOS (which is, itself, non-free software for which users cannot get source code). But we in the free software community will never be allowed to provide software to play them, unless laws are changed.
There is another, deeper issue at stake here. The tendency of digitalization is to convert public libraries into retail stores for vendors of digital works. The choice to distribute information in a secret format--information designed to evaporate and become unreadable--is the antithesis of the spirit of the public library. Libraries which participate in this have lost their hearts.
I therefore urge the Boston Public Library to terminate its association with OverDrive Audio Books, and adopt a policy of refusing to be agents for the propagation of Digital Restrictions Management.
Sincerely
Richard Stallman
President, Free Software Foundation
MacArthur Fellow
http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/bpl.html
google gmail still has no alphabetical sorting!
A number of people are studying an extemporaneous and unconventional solution to the problem of sorting gmail alphabetically by subject, by author, by size and sorting out messages by the first word or first string of characters of the subject. What hints, tips or pointers on how you believe it could be done have any of you kind folks out there for an extemporaneous and unconventional solution to sorting gmail?...
..Or ask for the full content of council committees' public notices on the website http://cityofboston.gov/citycouncil
Apparently enough users of technology are novice enough without the mastery to see how to ask to get the problematical distribution of this municipal public information fixed.
Boston City Council indicated that the predicament would be fixed more subscribers asked for plain ASCII text. Subscriptions to public notices available at ann.hess@cityofboston.gov
http://cityofboston.gov/citycouncil
...regrettably textedit and appleworks do not always reproduce everything, for example Boston City Council calendar gets cut. See for yourself, ask for the city council calendar updates by email ann.hess@cityofboston.gov
thank you! ...regrettably it is not compatible with OS X 10.3.7 ...it would have to be someone who knows how to do it and how to get them to pay attention. Boston City Council has been unwilling to respond positively to requests from people on this matter.
a. What is the definition of term?... unfunded mandate
b. What is a source or sources for the definition?...
If you would like to contact MIS Management Information Services at Boston City Hall, it would help to get them to use plain ASCII text in email and put the full text public notices on the web instead of just abbreviated calendar listings. Contact rajesh.pareek@cityofboston.gov
: www.tele-works.com/pdf/Boston.pdf+%22rajesh.pareek %40cityofboston.gov%22&hl=en
Reference
http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:z1r9094PnU8J
http://tinyurl.com/6k9g6
http://www.tele-works.com/pdf/Boston.pdf
Here is the Boston City Council rule 34 that needs to be updated for the web with regard to making available on the web full text of public notices of council committees public hearings
g .aspcouncilmeeting.asp
g .asp
Rule 34...
http://cityofboston.gov/citycouncil/councilmeetin
...Upon scheduling of a hearing and posting of a hearing notice (including time, place, and subject) with the clerk, the hearing notice shall be posted electronically and on council bulletin boards, and a written and electronic notice shall be delivered to each councilor and other interested parties by council staff...
http://cityofboston.gov/citycouncil/councilmeetin
Advocates of plain ASCII text can contact their favorite city councilor...
.txt attachments in email look encoded
How do you get rid of those mischievous links?... atm /stats/referers
http://GuideToProblematicalLibraryUse.buzzword.co
It's a blog template provided free to bloggers but with not that great support !
If you might give it a stab with a note for the council to improve the predicament of getting them off their addiction to .doc formatting for public notices, please contact council staff director ann.hess@cityofboston.gov
or your favorite city councilor. Note the peculiar one letter l in councilor.
Ask the rules of the city council be updated for so called e-government and distribution of council public notices full text by email in plain ASCII text and on the website.
Boston City Council sends by email public hearings notices for council committees like the Human Rights Committee. But our Boston City Council is unwilling to send the email as plain ASCII text instead of the .doc formatted public notices that are not so compatible.
Maybe they want to preserve enbolded text as if that enbolded text was some sort of legal document. Maybe they want to preserve the image of a seal of the city. At the expense of wider more compatible distribution of important information our city council is even unwilling to put the full text of public hearings notices on the web site at http://cityofboston.gov/citycouncil
An online calendar at the website does list the meetings minimally with no details. The full explanation for the purpose for holding the public hearing needs to be posted every time with an archive for reviewing past hearings.
So much for a mandate of so called e-government !
How do you get rid of the mischievous links at my blog?...m /stats/referers
http://GuideToProblematicalLibraryUse.buzzword.co
It is on a blog template provided free to bloggers.
How do you get rid of the mischievous links at my blog?...m /stats/referers
http://GuideToProblematicalLibraryUse.buzzword.co
It is on a blog template provided free to bloggers.
How do you fix that percussive sounding audio on this iMac 333MHz OS 8.6 96RAM Apple Computer?...
The notes don't sound right, they sound like percussion rhythm only.
Cheers!
oo__ don@saklad.org
Would any of you folks out there happen to have or could you let me know where to find the 1989 net.physics articles by Jay Sulzberger on Bell's Inequality ?...
They didn't appear on
http://groups.google.com
oo__ Don Saklad
dsaklad@gnu.org
1.
How can our University of Massachusetts get away with subjecting people to stricter policies than might be accorded you publishing in a public forum such as a commercial ISP or a book you might publish?...
Click on
use of copyrighted material
at
http://www.cs.umb.edu/help/Lab_help.shtml
Quote
"Copyright Policies
By law, individuals generally can make copies of small portions of copyrighted material for their personal use. This is called "fair use". Exactly what consitutes fair use is often a matter for courts to decide. See the WebLaw FAQ for discussion of these matters. As the FAQ suggests, you are usually better off making a link to material rather than copying it
In any case, the use of the Math and Computer Science Departmental Network subjects you to stricter policies than might be accorded you publishing in a public forum such as a commercial ISP or a book you might publish. Whether or not a court would declare it fair use, you may not post on our servers, email to anyone, or post to newsgroups the entirety, nor even significant portions, of copyrighted materials without the permission of copyright owner. We will not enter into discussions of what is a significant portion or what is fair use. Follow the same rules you learn about for writing papers: use of a few sentences, fully attributed, is OK. More than that usually is not. A copyrighted image is not.
Finally note that just because something doesn't have a copyright notice on it does not mean it has no copyright. Your best strategy is to assume anything you find on the web is copyrighted and if it does not explicitly carry permission to copy, or if you do not have written permission to copy it, you should just link to it. See the aforementioned FAQ."
Quoted
Click on
use of copyrighted material
at
http://www.cs.umb.edu/help/Lab_help.shtml
Our universities should be more open centers of intellectual freedom devoted to free speech, individual liberty, religious freedom, the rights of conscience, legal equality, due process, and academic freedom on campus
See also
http://thefire.org
Professor Robert A. Morris http://www.cs.umb.edu/~ram/ appears to be a principal among university faculty in devising policies that remarkably for an institution devoted to thought even overrestrictively state "We will not enter into discussions of what is a significant portion or what is fair use."
2.
It is ironical that our university will not even enter into an open discussion of ideas?...
Boston Public Library Departments Reference Desks, our Regional and
/ stories
Massachusetts Library of Last Recourse, so called, have forwarded
to City Hall some reference requests for public records
managed by our public library.
It's an attempt to be a kind of deterrent for public library users and
contrary to the usual expected discretion for BPL Departmental Reference Desk services.
oo__ dWs
Guide to Problematical Boston Public Library Use
http://GuideToProblematicalLibraryUse.WebLogs.com
http://saklad.org
http://GuideToProblematicalLibraryUse.WebLogs.com/ stories
Our cities' public libraries departments reference desks have flouted
s
state and local FOI freedom of information principles when it involves their very own
departmental curatorial reports on collections development and the related cities consultants reports on our cities public libraries.
Boston Public Library denies it, yet has flouted state FOI principles and reference desk principles.
Guide to Problematical Library Use
GuideToProblematicalLibraryUse.WebLogs.com/storie
http://saklad.org