For me one of the most important issues is the relative qualities of viewing content on paper (reflected light) against content on screen (emitted light source).
I find paper based material a lot easier to read, and I have a suspicion that it is something to do with this reflection vs emission of light: my eyes get tired a lot quicker looking at screens. Are any slashdot readers aware of any research into this area? love to have some references / URLs.
Also of course I think there is the issue of quality of type on paper versus pixels on screens, the area that can be shown on one printed page/screen without needing to access a navigation device (like mouse or scrollbar or turning the page); and the sheer tactile pleasure of paper (though not always with cheap printing;-) )
Open source is great, I want it to be the future. But the learning curve for someone who hasn't had a full on computer background sucks. I've got lots of graphic designer friends who think the concept is cool and would love to move over to Linux/ Open Source/ GPL software but when they find out what you have to do to get it to run on your computer (usually a Mac for them) they freak, and say "actually I think I'd rather stick with Adobe/Microsoft products, dealing with them is manageable".
Me, I'm a librarian turned academic researcher who loves the whole Open Source movement but finds the idea of working out how to get my modem or printer working with Linux instead of Windows or Macs absolutely terrifying (found some HOWTO's and that did it for me). Somebody write some user friendly interfaces and manuals and you'll find an awful lot more sympathisers turning into active users.
(rant) I understand that some humans gain satisfaction from being part of arcane groups and don't actually like freeing up knowledge.(/rant)
As they say in the library world - everybody is a beginner in something.
Includes a link to the Nikolia Tesla Museum, also check out AK Press, stockists of many wonderful and not so mainstream books. Do a search on their web site for Tesla, a friend of mine bought me "The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla" (ISBN 0 932813 19 4 Price: $16.95). It's great- lots of images and reproductions as well as texts on everything from the immensly practical (why we should have been taught about this man at school in science lessons) to the out there flying saucer stuff (probably the reason they prefer not to teach us about this man at school!). Definitely check out about the Wardenclyffe Tower.
(jonaharris@hotmail.spam)... But I guess it is one of the joys of living in a democratic society - its seems that the loudest voice rules not always the most voices
Guess that's why any discussion about rights/ censorship/ freedom on Slashdot always ends up with somebody shouting about the basic human need for access to guns then...
Ok an offtopic return to the above off topic point:-)
Only two countries in the world have not ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child : Somalia and the USA. The USA is one of the countries to still execute minors. http://www.freethechildren.org/ratify.htm
I am aware that there are many countries with *much worse* human rights records than the USA but I think we should all try to improve our own countries' human rights records as well as working to improve others.
For the record I think its terrible situation that ISPs are being put in the Russian Federation, SORM-2 sounds like bad news. I'll be very interested to read the opinions of slashdot posters writing from this country.
Don't assume everybody who reads Slashdot is American:-)
(though I expect a reasonable percentage are...very interesting to find out)
Some of us have perspectives based on living on a different part of the Earth.
Why does somebody else starting to do what you are doing mean there has to be a war?
Just for the record, IMHO Chinese attempts at developing new technology is a Good Thing, it wakes other people (and hey who knows maybe *the Chinese* may be the ones to break new ground, after all they did it on a lot of other things...) , Chinese authorities record on human rights (ie Agenda 21 issues) - downright appalling and the world should apply pressure to sort things out (though the US should also try harder on a few human rights issues as well).
A good place to start is http://ahds.ac.uk/ (Arts and Humanities Data Service -"Working on behalf of the academic community to collect, catalogue, manage, preserve and promote the re-use of scholarly digital resources" )
I used to work at the Royal Greenwich Observatory in the UK, and there were often debates about the long term preservation of archives. I'd recommend slashdot readers interested in serious long term archive issues should check what the big national museums and archives are doing. Several issues to consider:
The stability of the medium. The more stable the medium is, the less often you physically have to move your data. The big issue here is, jokes aside, the only long term media which have been proven are paper (life span of 2000 years if you are careful) and several more clumsy and more basic media (stone, gold, etc). Paper is the only high density storage medium we've used for more than 100 years in any great quantity, the only one we *know* will have a reasonable chance of lasting through natural and human made disasters. But even then remember the percentage that gets through is tiny. Most mechanically made 19th century paper is in worse condition (often unusable) than earlier hand made paper (the earlier paper is sometimes chemically more stable).
Data readers. Pick something that doesn't require a complex reading device. Within one lifetime we are losing the data readers for this century's data formats (microfiche readers, 8 track tape recorders, 5 inch floppy drives...) what are the chances we will have these devices in 1000 years? (we can still read paper written on at this historical gap).
Format of actual data. Pick something that people are likely to read in 1000 years. Hard enough as one of the slashdotters has said to unpick an early version of MS Word, let alone a 1000 year old format.
Usual story - the more complex the medium, the more likely it's going to mess up somewhere:-)
...but Playboy is probably among the most respected publishers of short fiction in the US at this point, and it has been for several decades.
hehehe says a lot about American culture... Sorry, only teasing, but you can't feed straight lines like this to the rest of us living outside the USA.... Surely you must have a large body of independent publishers there?
Fair call Siva: I admit I was prodding the slashdot readership a wee bit by choosing this example. I also have no desire to start a flamewar but chose our community to make people do some thinking, everybody gets set in their ways at some level... as you say and as I was also commenting, when people get a system running which works for them, it takes a lot to get them to change. Programmers and government officials alike.
So I think the intertia is more down to people's reluctance to change a functioning method of working when they are already under a lot of pressure, rather than a direct reference to their chronological age (met a lot of middle aged 20 year olds in my time). Bit like my dad, now he's retired he can take his time to think of new ways of doing things, he's losing nothing by taking the time out.
I don't think the age of the American government officials is the main issue. A contributory factor for sure but true of many busy people set in their ways. Reminds me a lot of computer geeks who insist on using impenetrable command line programs years after better/ more powerful/ more friendly programs come out because they can't be bothered to change their way of working.
My dad retired last year and bought a PC, I'm having a great time buying him computer books for his birthdays these days. He's just signed up for a web design course for senior citizens and he's one of the youngest on the course.
The article isn't about the UN conference, it is about an international conference on the Holocaust (the article doesn't name the conference).
Regarding the United Nations World Conference on Racism, Racial Discrimination and Xenophobia in 2001, all that is said is that the conference is occurring, and that "a key objective of this seminar would be to prepare recommendations on international actions to counter racism on the Internet."
It feels to me like Ristoril (the poster on slashdot) is putting strong bias on the issue by declaring "While no specific policies are mentioned, I seriously doubt they're planning the sensible thing -- education." The history of intolerance is littered with anger, violence and wars starting from people making unsubstantiated claims (the Jews sacrifice children, the Romany are thieves, the Americans rape your women..)
I agree with you, education is the best way forward. But back up your supposition with some facts, Ristoril.
as a personal rant, I am a wee bit biased cos I just get so *bored* of all these lists - I'd rather just get on and *do* stuff - so yup, if we're going to have lists let's at least make ones we can have a chuckle at:-)
I find it very interesting (and a little sad) that people are still focussing on the past. Why not a list of the technologies that will shape the *next* century?
I found it very perplexing in the last couple of years that people were looking back all the time (top people of our century, top technologies of the last millennium). I assumed this was because of some sort of deep-seated fear of the future, with the momentous occasion of the calendar shift coming up. Now we're actually in the new millennium why don't we look forward?
Use the wisdom of the past by all means (those who do not learn history are condemned to repeat the mistakes...) but let's spend time creating a fair and wonderful future rather than mythologising the past...
I think the idea of a Quebec- Yahoo parody is great, it's a healthy and vibrant culture that can laugh at itself (and laugh at the establishment). But I get a bit nervous when other cultural groups are described in terms which are close to racist, laugh at yourself by all means but be careful about what you call other people.
Or would it be fine for white people in America to call Afro-Americans 'niggers' because the white name-calling people thought it was funny?
(I am not suggesting all the language used in the parody is racist, just some is not exactly going to win friends and I find some of it offensive).
sad but for the most part true in Europe. But very true of English mother tongue speakers in the USA...
The UK education system really doesn't put much emphasis on foreign languages at school, and you get very complacent when all the media you are exposed (pop music, tv, computer stuff) is in English. On the one hand it's a great and easy advantage (you never have to try and learn another language until once in a blue moon you are confronted with something like the Yahoo-Quebec joke) but on the other hand this English dominance makes English speakers a lot more lazy than other people who are forced to deal with the English language dominance.
It's quite funny how upset some people in the UK have got now that Mac has decided not to support UK English anymore but only go with "International" (i.e. USA ) English...
If this story can be independently substantiated, then I will go a long way to believe this company is foolish and/ or setting a dangerous precedent. But I am sure this doesn't represent the views of everybody in France so I don't think the above Anonymous Coward's opinion is that useful. Hey Slashdot, moderate the racism, please.
I'm very interested to follow the threads from this story. There could be some wise philosophical discussions about the fear of large governments and what restaints they should place over computer / internet usage of their people; the fear of the technological competent criminal; the penalties to dissuade computer crime across the planet.
Or maybe it'll turn into a simplistic "let's kick commie butt" session slanging simplistic insults at a very different country with a very different political system.
Don't get me wrong, I am a passionate believer in human rights and the PRC is way down there in needing to drastically improve its record, and make some major amends for some terrible acts (e.g Tibet). But I'd much prefer to read through some interesting and thought provoking postings rather than wade through low grade uninformed junk. Slashdot does have a tendency to bring out some really dumb comments as soon as politics or another country gets mentioned.
...and I know this is a bit provocative, but, maybe posters from countries who still have the death penalty should think for a wee moment before posting strong views ( http://www.amnesty.org/ )
Amazing that this should happen while the WTO meets in Seattle and discusses extending patent laws to cover ownership of genetic material.
(...Global agreements being discussed by WTO trade ministers in Seattle this week include the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) that allows private ownership of commercially valuable knowledge such as software, agricultural innovations, and pharmaceuticals. WTO members are currently reviewing clauses of the TRIPS agreement related to the patenting of plants, animals, genetically engineered organisms and other forms of life....)
could I tempt you to check out a glorious Royal Enfield Taurus -"Created for traders, contractors, businessmen and agriculturists"...damn this is the one!
Slashdot Mirror
For me one of the most important issues is the relative qualities of viewing content on paper (reflected light) against content on screen (emitted light source).
I find paper based material a lot easier to read, and I have a suspicion that it is something to do with this reflection vs emission of light: my eyes get tired a lot quicker looking at screens. Are any slashdot readers aware of any research into this area? love to have some references / URLs.
Also of course I think there is the issue of quality of type on paper versus pixels on screens, the area that can be shown on one printed page/screen without needing to access a navigation device (like mouse or scrollbar or turning the page); and the sheer tactile pleasure of paper (though not always with cheap printing ;-) )
I agree with Cheerio Boy here.
Open source is great, I want it to be the future. But the learning curve for someone who hasn't had a full on computer background sucks. I've got lots of graphic designer friends who think the concept is cool and would love to move over to Linux/ Open Source/ GPL software but when they find out what you have to do to get it to run on your computer (usually a Mac for them) they freak, and say "actually I think I'd rather stick with Adobe/Microsoft products, dealing with them is manageable".
Me, I'm a librarian turned academic researcher who loves the whole Open Source movement but finds the idea of working out how to get my modem or printer working with Linux instead of Windows or Macs absolutely terrifying (found some HOWTO's and that did it for me). Somebody write some user friendly interfaces and manuals and you'll find an awful lot more sympathisers turning into active users.
(rant) I understand that some humans gain satisfaction from being part of arcane groups and don't actually like freeing up knowledge.(/rant)
As they say in the library world - everybody is a beginner in something.
Includes a link to the Nikolia Tesla Museum, also check out AK Press, stockists of many wonderful and not so mainstream books. Do a search on their web site for Tesla, a friend of mine bought me "The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla" (ISBN 0 932813 19 4 Price: $16.95). It's great- lots of images and reproductions as well as texts on everything from the immensly practical (why we should have been taught about this man at school in science lessons) to the out there flying saucer stuff (probably the reason they prefer not to teach us about this man at school!). Definitely check out about the Wardenclyffe Tower.
(jonaharris@hotmail.spam)... But I guess it is one of the joys of living in a democratic society - its seems that the loudest voice rules not always the most voices
Guess that's why any discussion about rights/ censorship/ freedom on Slashdot always ends up with somebody shouting about the basic human need for access to guns then...
you mean those guys who owned slaves ;-)
Only two countries in the world have not ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child : Somalia and the USA. The USA is one of the countries to still execute minors. http://www.freethechildren.org/ratify.htm
I am aware that there are many countries with *much worse* human rights records than the USA but I think we should all try to improve our own countries' human rights records as well as working to improve others.
For the record I think its terrible situation that ISPs are being put in the Russian Federation, SORM-2 sounds like bad news. I'll be very interested to read the opinions of slashdot posters writing from this country.
Looks like a lot of penguins checking out the site these days as well.
Now a penguin space programme, that would be something.....
(though I expect a reasonable percentage are...very interesting to find out)
Some of us have perspectives based on living on a different part of the Earth.
Why does somebody else starting to do what you are doing mean there has to be a war?
Just for the record, IMHO Chinese attempts at developing new technology is a Good Thing, it wakes other people (and hey who knows maybe *the Chinese* may be the ones to break new ground, after all they did it on a lot of other things...) , Chinese authorities record on human rights (ie Agenda 21 issues) - downright appalling and the world should apply pressure to sort things out (though the US should also try harder on a few human rights issues as well).
I used to work at the Royal Greenwich Observatory in the UK, and there were often debates about the long term preservation of archives. I'd recommend slashdot readers interested in serious long term archive issues should check what the big national museums and archives are doing. Several issues to consider:
Format of actual data. Pick something that people are likely to read in 1000 years. Hard enough as one of the slashdotters has said to unpick an early version of MS Word, let alone a 1000 year old format.
Usual story - the more complex the medium, the more likely it's going to mess up somewhere :-)
hehehe says a lot about American culture...
Sorry, only teasing, but you can't feed straight lines like this to the rest of us living outside the USA....
Surely you must have a large body of independent publishers there?
I admit I was prodding the slashdot readership a wee bit by choosing this example. I also have no desire to start a flamewar but chose our community to make people do some thinking, everybody gets set in their ways at some level... as you say and as I was also commenting, when people get a system running which works for them, it takes a lot to get them to change. Programmers and government officials alike.
So I think the intertia is more down to people's reluctance to change a functioning method of working when they are already under a lot of pressure, rather than a direct reference to their chronological age (met a lot of middle aged 20 year olds in my time). Bit like my dad, now he's retired he can take his time to think of new ways of doing things, he's losing nothing by taking the time out.
My dad retired last year and bought a PC, I'm having a great time buying him computer books for his birthdays these days. He's just signed up for a web design course for senior citizens and he's one of the youngest on the course.
Regarding the United Nations World Conference on Racism, Racial Discrimination and Xenophobia in 2001, all that is said is that the conference is occurring, and that "a key objective of this seminar would be to prepare recommendations on international actions to counter racism on the Internet."
It feels to me like Ristoril (the poster on slashdot) is putting strong bias on the issue by declaring "While no specific policies are mentioned, I seriously doubt they're planning the sensible thing -- education." The history of intolerance is littered with anger, violence and wars starting from people making unsubstantiated claims (the Jews sacrifice children, the Romany are thieves, the Americans rape your women..)
I agree with you, education is the best way forward. But back up your supposition with some facts, Ristoril.
thanks for your work and subsequent GPL'ing of the same. Big respect to thee clan of slashdot.
I like it!
as a personal rant, I am a wee bit biased cos I just get so *bored* of all these lists - I'd rather just get on and *do* stuff - so yup, if we're going to have lists let's at least make ones we can have a chuckle at :-)
I found it very perplexing in the last couple of years that people were looking back all the time (top people of our century, top technologies of the last millennium). I assumed this was because of some sort of deep-seated fear of the future, with the momentous occasion of the calendar shift coming up. Now we're actually in the new millennium why don't we look forward?
Use the wisdom of the past by all means (those who do not learn history are condemned to repeat the mistakes...) but let's spend time creating a fair and wonderful future rather than mythologising the past...
Or would it be fine for white people in America to call Afro-Americans 'niggers' because the white name-calling people thought it was funny?
(I am not suggesting all the language used in the parody is racist, just some is not exactly going to win friends and I find some of it offensive).
The UK education system really doesn't put much emphasis on foreign languages at school, and you get very complacent when all the media you are exposed (pop music, tv, computer stuff) is in English. On the one hand it's a great and easy advantage (you never have to try and learn another language until once in a blue moon you are confronted with something like the Yahoo-Quebec joke) but on the other hand this English dominance makes English speakers a lot more lazy than other people who are forced to deal with the English language dominance.
It's quite funny how upset some people in the UK have got now that Mac has decided not to support UK English anymore but only go with "International" (i.e. USA ) English...
Goodwill and peace to all
If this story can be independently substantiated, then I will go a long way to believe this company is foolish and/ or setting a dangerous precedent. But I am sure this doesn't represent the views of everybody in France so I don't think the above Anonymous Coward's opinion is that useful. Hey Slashdot, moderate the racism, please.
Or maybe it'll turn into a simplistic "let's kick commie butt" session slanging simplistic insults at a very different country with a very different political system.
Don't get me wrong, I am a passionate believer in human rights and the PRC is way down there in needing to drastically improve its record, and make some major amends for some terrible acts (e.g Tibet). But I'd much prefer to read through some interesting and thought provoking postings rather than wade through low grade uninformed junk. Slashdot does have a tendency to bring out some really dumb comments as soon as politics or another country gets mentioned.
( ...Global agreements being discussed by WTO trade ministers in Seattle this week include the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) that allows private ownership of commercially valuable knowledge such as software, agricultural innovations, and pharmaceuticals. WTO members are currently reviewing clauses of the TRIPS agreement related to the patenting of plants, animals, genetically engineered organisms and other forms of life. ...)
http://www.royalenfield.com/store/gallery.htm