Bear Flag Republic Radio Weblog

< 4:40:09 PM        >

Lit Lite

"While I have your attention, let me tell you what most Americans are not doing: reading books.

According to virtually every survey available, the numbers are dismal. Americans borrow, though don't necessarily read, seven library books annually, the American Library Association reports.

Adults spend 91 hours a year reading books, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, down 10 percent from 1995. They devote more than 17 times as many hours to watching TV. Yes, 17 times.

Almost 60 percent of all Americans read 10 or fewer books a year, according to a 1999 Gallup poll.

There is also the problem with what many Americans are reading: self-help mumbo jumbo written by P.T. Barnums in Teva sandals....

Here's the thing: If you're only going to turn off the TV long enough to spend 91 hours reading 10 books a year, you ought to be a whole lot pickier than this." [Atlanta Journal-Constitution, via Library Stuff]

I agree with Steven when he says that he is a "walking billboard for this statistic." I am, too, although I feel more informed than at any time previously in my life. I think I'm reading more... just not of what "they" are counting. I read more newspapers, more magazines, and more commentary online than I ever have before, and at a much wider breadth and depth. In fact, everything is beginning to run together in my mind because I'm reading so much online.

And what about all of the articles I skim in my news aggregator - how do I count those, even when I don't read the whole article? And what about the MP3 Audible titles I listen to in the car - are they counting those? I wonder when and how we'll start counting the online world in library statistics, the Census, and Gallup polls. When we will realize that "reading" includes new formats, too?

comments < 4:39:17 PM        >

Intel cleared UK hurdles for 802.11a last month: ZDNet reported March 11 (and I missed) that Intel has been cleared to sell 802.11a equipment with the 802.11h modifications in the UK. Only four of eight channels available will be legal, according to the article. The article also notes that although the 802.11h standards are being incorporated, it's expected that the h designation will drop off. I doubt this as it produces market confusion. Likewise, when the Wi-Fi5 term is officially adopted with accompanying certification programs by WECA, if Wi-Fi5 doesn't include h (which is likely), that will weaken the brand's initial impact, especially in non-US countries in which h will be a required modification.

[80211b News]
comments < 7:04:22 AM        >

Bob Frankston: "Take email for example. It seems so sophisticated and complicated. In fact, a consortium of all of the telecommunications regulatory agencies and companies united in an effort to create a world-wide standard for email. It was called X.400 and the effort started in the early 1980's. While waiting for X.400 there was a need for an interim protocol. Since it was only temporary, the emphasis was on expedience and just making it work. Instead of creating a whole complicated set of protocols and tools, the implementers just built a simple extension of the protocol used to type commands into a computer. The program itself is called Telnet and it is still available today. The protocol, SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Program), is dominant while X.400 is almost forgotten."  [Scripting News]
comments < 7:03:48 AM        >

Astronauts complete second STS-110 EVA. Two Atlantis astronauts conducted Saturday the second of four spacewalks scheduled for the STS-110... [spacetoday.net]
comments < 7:01:57 AM        >