|
|
Sunday, August 04, 2002
|
|
| |
The David Rumsey Historical Map Collection contains to date over 6,400 maps online and focuses on rare 18th and 19th century North and South America cartographic history materials. Historic maps of the World, Europe, Asia and Africa are also represented. The collection categories include old and antique atlas, globe, school geography, maritime chart, state, county, city, pocket, wall, children and manuscript maps. Genealogy and family history can be studied on the maps. The online collection is an expanding cross section of digital images designed to highlight the depth of the collection.
Unfortunately this site did not work with Mozilla, but it looked interesting so I fired up IE. There is also a JAVA enabled viewer application an a GIS browser that allows "detailed overlays historical maps and current geospatial data." I just like a well designed site. [via RRE News Service]
11:50:01 PM 
|
|
"It's late afternoon, you're thinking about dinner, and you realize it's been a long while since you enjoyed some shellfish. Do you (a) head to the seafood section of your supermarket and ask the clerk how fresh the clams are or (b) sign on to BuyClamsOnline.com?
I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that you chose Curtain No. 1. Fact is, you'd have to; the Web site BuyClamsOnline.com doesn't exist -- never did, so far as I can tell -- and the domain name expired on April 12. But the very fact that BuyClamsOnline.com has expired means that someone, maybe a year ago, maybe two, registered it. Someone out there, someone living among us, chose to bet that the road to online success would be paved with mollusks." Salon.com Technology | I come to bury IAmCarbonatedMilk.com, not to praise it [Daypop Top 40]
11:10:21 PM
|
|
I'm listening to Radio Paradise on the web. It never ceases to amaze me how much good music is available out here. And I'm not even trying hard to find the good stuff: I just find a link and BAM! it's better than anything I can find in my local FM radio airspace. Like the much lamented KPIG, which recently stopped its live feed because of the excessive cost added by the recent CARP (CRAP) mandated fees that online stations must now pay copyright holders in order to play the music, fees that effectively kill all the small, cool stations broadcasting in cyberspace. And they're dropping like flies. RAIN (Radio and Internet Newsletter) has a list of the fallen (down near the bottom). Doc Searles wrote an excellent article, Hollywood Steps Up Its Assault on the Net While Webcasting Death March Claims KPIG, which explains the situation and provides some links. If you care about variety in music, you should read this article and get up to speed. Respectfully submitted for your consideration: GET OFF YOUR LAZY CYBER-BUTTS, or we will be listening to all Britney all the friggin' time. There are links at RAIN and Electronic Frontier Foundation and SaveInternetRadio.org (to name a few) where you can click and send letters to your (alleged) representatives in Washington, D.C.
I've posted this elsewhere on the this particular weblog..., but I'll rerun it here, because this is the main point:
"...These legislative initiatives aren't just about copyright. They're about building a regime that's hostile to content that comes from anyone other than Big Media suppliers. That's because their real fear isn't copied Britney Spears CDs -- it's that people will abandon the crap they're selling for works by independent artists, and cut out the middlemen..." [Glenn Reynolds, Instapundit.com] via [The Shifted Librarian]
In order to maintain profitability without upsetting the status quo, Big Business as Usual has a vested interest in creating a musical (and cultural) monoculture, where we're all listening to the same music, grooving and dancing in rigid lockstep to corporately (and societally) approved musics, reading socially acceptable books and magazines, thinking pure thoughts, and oh yeah spending our hard earned $$ keeping the wheels of industry spinning. The distribution mechanisms for these approved entertainment products are firmly in place, and the economies of scale make them highly profitable for Hollywood Incorporated. But the natives are getting restless, we're starting to color outside the lines; the big picture is getting a tad messy, and it's hard for them to figure out how to profit from this strange new world. Neither have we for the most part, but we at least are willing to let everyone play with our cool toys, whereas the big corporate bullies and their legislative lackies are trying to take over the playground.
We're entertaining ourselves now, often without concern for making money, just creating content because we enjoy it, because we have to in order to get our groove on. Now much of this freedom has been made possible by the introduction of the general-purpose personal computer. They have identified this device as the root of all evil, the spawn of Satan, and are taking certain steps to hobble PCs now and forevermore, to turn them into yet another conduit for beaming authorized/sanitized content at us, all the while extracting dollars from us in an efficient manner and also (sometimes not so) subtly teaching us how and what to think.
Don't get me started: that's another topic for another day, another rant, another screed. Thanks for your attention, you've been a wonderful audience.
10:44:35 AM
|
|
OK, this was kind of interesting and maybe even revealing dammit. Click here to take the test.
9:49:37 AM
|
|
Hi, Mom!
12:04:37 AM
|
|
|
|
© Copyright
2003
Jay Machado.
Last update:
5/7/2003; 11:26:25 PM.
This theme is based on the SoundWaves
(blue) Manila theme. |
|
Food for Thought: My news aggregator subscription list
|
