Zuid is a dutch word, changed only later this century. I doubt it was a matter of precedence - South Africa existed long before Saudi Arabia and 'za' is not an internet country code but an ISP one.
Your linking point is a good one: there are differences in the nature of the medium - a TV story may be continuously updated but no-one would think that the broadcast at 18h00 is the same as the one at 16h00.
In other words, if you comment on the 16h00 - you're not going to be upset if the story has chenged at 18h00. But a story on a web - same url and no changelog - could create confusion in the way that two differing broadcasts wouldn't.
IANAL (clearly).
I wonder what the legal ramifications are: If a story is libellous on the first run, then changed on the second, is it still libel? I supposed its mitigated in its seriousness.
In Broadcasting - which the comparison is made with, a copy of each broadcast is legally required in many jurisdictions (for regulatory reasons as much as anything else). But in this case, not even that occurs; apart from cached or saved versions, there doesn't seem to be any way to ensure that there is an official archive available.
Even if there is no malice in this case, there may be (in others) an incentive to make such changes if there is no legally verifiable record.
Probably better protection for the animals. >There probably won't be any hunters try to hunt >them down. If I am an animal, I would rather >living down under than in Africa, no offense of >anything
only mild offence taken.
I couldn't work out exactly what the proposed size of this would be, but even at say 100 000 hectares, this would still be tiny compared to the completely safe environment of SA's Kruger park (+- 2million hectares) a superbly managed wildlife park that has a surfeit of elephants every year. Not to mention Botaswna's Okavango, Moremi and Chobe, Namibia's Etosha, Zambia's South Luangwa, and even Zimbabwes Hwange is not seriously at risk despite the political situation there.
Similar places exist in other countries. A crude assesment that Africa's wildlife is at risk in untenable. Specific habitats, and particular fragile ecosystems are at risk, but a wildlife park in Austalia is hardly going to save a Rwandan rainforest is it - no matter how many elephants are in the outback.
It would NOT be better for such animals to be in Australia. It would be worse for african wildlife in general if people visited this la-la land because they have irrational attitudes about to going to see the real thing.
Matthew
Wouldn't this just be a dream come true for the big white safari hunters (and watchers) of the world; exciting African wildlife without the pesky african people to spoil the scenery.
As pointed out by many already, the conservation aspect of this plan is trite. Look at the actual percentage of conservation land in Africa (especially S. Africa, Zambia Kenya, Botswana, Zimbabwe and increasingly Mozambique) - its far higher than any western country. All of these places have viable stocks of elephant, rhino etc. The dangers of poaching are usually specific to an area (ie Reduced elephant population in Tsavo in Kenya). Having elephants in Australia is hardly going to solve this.
There are vastly more important conservation projects going on in Africa that make this look ridiculous - particularly the peace parks mentioned in another post.
If he wants to do something stupid like this - fine; but not by claiming some kind of moral imperative about saving African wildlife from the predatorial, poaching africans.
Matthew
P.S.Apologies for the invective; my currency (the South African rand has just fallen even further into the mire based, as far as I can see, on similar self-fulfilling racist (or more likely, cynical) fantasies of those that control the money markets.
"if I made that comment 10 years ago, it would be invalid"
No, your're missing the point. Its only because of DNA testing that we know many people were innocently convicted. Its not about DNA, its about an imperfect justice system: ie one where you may not be safe if indeed you are innocent.
Thre point is that dramatically increasing the relative strength of the prosecution will increase the possiblity of innocent people being convicted.
These measures came about slowly through legal precedent, based on constitutional amendment. Suddenly reversing such legal lessons will almost certainly result in 'bad' law.
The (admittedly limited) commitment I have made to using linux as a desktop has been with KDE. However, Evolution is probably the most important app for me to increase my commitment. Do I have to switch to Gnome?
What do I lose out on if I use Evolution under KDE?
You'd be surprised. The economy in many countries is really small and there are some amazingly qualified and bright people around.
Personally I'd hate to be in the job market in Lusaka, Zambia (I Spent some time there recently). Sheesh there are some top people there working for what I as a South African, think is nothing - I'd hate to think what someone from America would think of it.
Africa's a complex place. Its screwed up in many ways but nothing like the ridiculous pictures painted here.
On a different note this is a good thing: if you have enough ordinary consumers running around using Mozilla, more mainstream webdesigners will have to design for browsers other than IE; an increasing trend in corporate (but occasionally useful) websites these days.
If any political viewpoint would be most likely to bring about Gibson's view of the future, I would have to admit that Libertarianism is it....
...However, I do believe that Liberty is worth the risk. It is more important to me to live free than to have security.
But surely a world as painted by Gibson is potentially just as 'unfree' as the current set up. Perhaps worse, as more and more important aspects of life get "privatized" and immune from the checks and balances that govern current politics.
Fascist is the wrong word. Please be more open-minded
I don't think it is the wrong word: I mean it in quite a limited analytical/historical sense: this 'idea' is a fascist idea, and really is in modern political philosophy/history understood as that. I imagine it has its antecedents in Aristotle or Plato but in the modern political lexicon it is linked specifically to fascism.
I've never really 'got' Heinlen, whether he's being serious or whether he wrote Starship Troopers as a satire on a totalitarian/fascist state. Certainly I found the Paul Verhoeven film to be a satire in this regard
What role will the most frequently used web development and (particularly) design tools have on this? I don't know many (real) designers who use FrontPage so I assume widespread use of these IE-only additions will only really start being felt once they are integrated into Dreamweaver et al.
This degree of tunnel vision is just absolutely fucking stunning. Here is an organization, with money and volunteers, going into some of the worst social, political and economic conditions in the world, and they're going to ignore it all so they can feel good about themselves while they run CAT5 between rat-infested grass huts!
I guess this makes senses if you really believe Africa is all the same (ie populated entirely by rat infested grass huts), all over, and needs nothing but tonnes of free food and past-their -sell-by-date medicines.
Its not and it doesn't. Many areas in African states are battling to make a successful transition to a (relatively) modern economy due to lack of skills. The universities are unbelievably under-resourced particularly with technology (many aren't able to even offer CompSci or IT orientated courses). The exception here is South Africa (where I come from) but even here, the best IT skills leave for salaries in strong currencies. The US Peace Corps sent out English and economics teachers and lecturers throughout the 60s and 70s: now I suspect Africa could do with wave of tech teachers.
Sure there are people starving in Africa. But everybody knows that. What you don't get pictures on the cover of Time magazine of is small businesses in tourism, craft manufacturer etc who can't expand beyond occasional passerby tourist trade because there's no way to get the message out that not everyone here lives in rat-infested grass huts.
Slashdot Mirror
thank you for saying this.
Zuid is a dutch word, changed only later this century. I doubt it was a matter of precedence - South Africa existed long before Saudi Arabia and 'za' is not an internet country code but an ISP one.
...follow suit.
MS South Africa has just
(http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.jsp?a=11 and about being able to compete in the global market.
How come after 7,000 years or so of Human existance, Africa STILL needs OUR help in getting runnign water
africa had running water for more of those 7000 years than anyone else did.
Name one thing that has come out of Africa in the past 500 years that has benefited mankind?
Well I suppose the US includes mankind, and slavery certainly benefited the new world.
A solid corpus of study suggests that thats also the answer to your first question.
Your linking point is a good one: there are differences in the nature of the medium - a TV story may be continuously updated but no-one would think that the broadcast at 18h00 is the same as the one at 16h00.
In other words, if you comment on the 16h00 - you're not going to be upset if the story has chenged at 18h00. But a story on a web - same url and no changelog - could create confusion in the way that two differing broadcasts wouldn't.
IANAL (clearly).
I wonder what the legal ramifications are: If a story is libellous on the first run, then changed on the second, is it still libel? I supposed its mitigated in its seriousness.
In Broadcasting - which the comparison is made with, a copy of each broadcast is legally required in many jurisdictions (for regulatory reasons as much as anything else). But in this case, not even that occurs; apart from cached or saved versions, there doesn't seem to be any way to ensure that there is an official archive available.
Even if there is no malice in this case, there may be (in others) an incentive to make such changes if there is no legally verifiable record.
Please.
exceleent!. sorry I don't have mod points...
Matthew
Probably better protection for the animals. >There probably won't be any hunters try to hunt >them down. If I am an animal, I would rather >living down under than in Africa, no offense of >anything
only mild offence taken.
I couldn't work out exactly what the proposed size of this would be, but even at say 100 000 hectares, this would still be tiny compared to the completely safe environment of SA's Kruger park (+- 2million hectares) a superbly managed wildlife park that has a surfeit of elephants every year. Not to mention Botaswna's Okavango, Moremi and Chobe, Namibia's Etosha, Zambia's South Luangwa, and even Zimbabwes Hwange is not seriously at risk despite the political situation there.
Similar places exist in other countries. A crude assesment that Africa's wildlife is at risk in untenable. Specific habitats, and particular fragile ecosystems are at risk, but a wildlife park in Austalia is hardly going to save a Rwandan rainforest is it - no matter how many elephants are in the outback.
It would NOT be better for such animals to be in Australia. It would be worse for african wildlife in general if people visited this la-la land because they have irrational attitudes about to going to see the real thing.
Matthew
Wouldn't this just be a dream come true for the big white safari hunters (and watchers) of the world; exciting African wildlife without the pesky african people to spoil the scenery.
As pointed out by many already, the conservation aspect of this plan is trite. Look at the actual percentage of conservation land in Africa (especially S. Africa, Zambia Kenya, Botswana, Zimbabwe and increasingly Mozambique) - its far higher than any western country. All of these places have viable stocks of elephant, rhino etc. The dangers of poaching are usually specific to an area (ie Reduced elephant population in Tsavo in Kenya). Having elephants in Australia is hardly going to solve this.
There are vastly more important conservation projects going on in Africa that make this look ridiculous - particularly the peace parks mentioned in another post.
If he wants to do something stupid like this - fine; but not by claiming some kind of moral imperative about saving African wildlife from the predatorial, poaching africans.
Matthew
P.S.Apologies for the invective; my currency (the South African rand has just fallen even further into the mire based, as far as I can see, on similar self-fulfilling racist (or more likely, cynical) fantasies of those that control the money markets.
Oates said he uses his computer for games, and that the computer discs police found were blanks used to record music.
whoa! Recording music! Is he mad? I mmean identity theft is one thing, but screwing with the RIAA...now he's in for it.
No, your're missing the point. Its only because of DNA testing that we know many people were innocently convicted. Its not about DNA, its about an imperfect justice system: ie one where you may not be safe if indeed you are innocent.
Thre point is that dramatically increasing the relative strength of the prosecution will increase the possiblity of innocent people being convicted.
These measures came about slowly through legal precedent, based on constitutional amendment. Suddenly reversing such legal lessons will almost certainly result in 'bad' law.
Matthew
What do I lose out on if I use Evolution under KDE?
Thanks
Matthew
Personally I'd hate to be in the job market in Lusaka, Zambia (I Spent some time there recently). Sheesh there are some top people there working for what I as a South African, think is nothing - I'd hate to think what someone from America would think of it.
Africa's a complex place. Its screwed up in many ways but nothing like the ridiculous pictures painted here.
matthew
>Just what would a GPL license be, if copyright was revoked?
unnecessary.
Matthew
Probably been able to hire a couple of ex South African Apartheid recces as mercenaries to *really* take out their servers.
MdeG
...However, I do believe that Liberty is worth the risk. It is more important to me to live free than to have security.
But surely a world as painted by Gibson is potentially just as 'unfree' as the current set up. Perhaps worse, as more and more important aspects of life get "privatized" and immune from the checks and balances that govern current politics.
I don't think it is the wrong word: I mean it in quite a limited analytical/historical sense: this 'idea' is a fascist idea, and really is in modern political philosophy/history understood as that. I imagine it has its antecedents in Aristotle or Plato but in the modern political lexicon it is linked specifically to fascism.
I've never really 'got' Heinlen, whether he's being serious or whether he wrote Starship Troopers as a satire on a totalitarian/fascist state. Certainly I found the Paul Verhoeven film to be a satire in this regard
What role will the most frequently used web development and (particularly) design tools have on this? I don't know many (real) designers who use FrontPage so I assume widespread use of these IE-only additions will only really start being felt once they are integrated into Dreamweaver et al.
I guess this makes senses if you really believe Africa is all the same (ie populated entirely by rat infested grass huts), all over, and needs nothing but tonnes of free food and past-their -sell-by-date medicines.
Its not and it doesn't. Many areas in African states are battling to make a successful transition to a (relatively) modern economy due to lack of skills. The universities are unbelievably under-resourced particularly with technology (many aren't able to even offer CompSci or IT orientated courses). The exception here is South Africa (where I come from) but even here, the best IT skills leave for salaries in strong currencies. The US Peace Corps sent out English and economics teachers and lecturers throughout the 60s and 70s: now I suspect Africa could do with wave of tech teachers.
Sure there are people starving in Africa. But everybody knows that. What you don't get pictures on the cover of Time magazine of is small businesses in tourism, craft manufacturer etc who can't expand beyond occasional passerby tourist trade because there's no way to get the message out that not everyone here lives in rat-infested grass huts.