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Tuesday, April 09, 2002 |
Spaceflight Now. Three interesting tidbits:
- Recent studies suggest that the mass of bacteria existing below ground may be larger than the mass of all living things at the Earth's surface, according to recent studies...
- Similar hydrogen-consuming microbes may some day be discovered on Mars, raising new prospects for the possible existence of life beyond Earth, Freund added.
- "The hydrogen that could feed bacteria in the depth of the Earth comes from a subtle chemical reaction that occurs within rocks that were once hot or even molten. In the top 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) of Earth's crust," Freund said, "the conditions are right to produce a nearly inexhaustible supply of hydrogen.
[John Robb's Radio Weblog]
9:14:52 PM
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16223 » April 9 1:57 PM. US Space Command! Bruce Sterling talks about the militarization of space, citing "The more people learn how dependent we are on space, the more likely they are to figure out, as the Chinese and Russians have, that being able to interfere with our satellites is essential to their strategic interest. The threat to space assets is real and growing." Does the rest of the world suffer from a minesatellite gap with the US? Plus, some scenario planning :) and a sensible missile defense program? [MetaFilter]
9:12:57 PM
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Life on The Net in 2004
"Fond memories of the days when there were alternatives to Microsoft's OS pass through your mind -- but that was before the government realised that software was like petrol -- a totally essential commodity in the lives of most businesses and individuals. Legislation was passed in 2003 that required all software developers and vendors to be licensed and a 45% tax added to all sales. Of course, much to Microsoft's glee, this killed the Open Source movement since being an unlicensed software supplier risks a stiff fine or even a jail term and those licenses are incredibly expensive.
You type in "cnn.com" then enter the ID and password associated with your monthly subscription. Remember when there were hundreds of sites offering the latest news for free? Not any more. Sure, there still a few, but they're regularly hit with law suits by the big names who allege breach of copyright. Although such suits are inevitably dismissed -- the cost of defending them means that the independent news sites usually only last a few months at most.
Flicking the remote beside you kicks your digital music player into action and you marvel that 95% of its computing power is dedicated to the sophisticated digital rights management system it contains.
Following an unsuccessful attempt to copy-protect CDs, the recording industry forced everyone to a new mini-CD format that has yet to be cracked (although there are rumours that some Russians have succeeded). You just can't buy music on CDs anymore and the old CDR/RW media now costs $10 a disk, thanks to the $9 anti-piracy levy that was introduced in 2003.
Another warning appears -- 'Your license for this recording has expired, unable to play.' Damn -- another $49 if you want to listen to that music for another year. You wonder, if as they claim, these new measures significantly reduce piracy, why music is now so much more expensive?
You type up a quick email to a friend, inviting them to meet you for lunch. Of course you're very careful not to use the words 'bomb' and 'aeroplane' in the same message for fear of attracting the attention of the new anti-terrorism police. After all, every single bit that enters and leaves your PC is now scanned by the authorities -- under the premise that it is in the interests of (inter)national security and crime reduction.
It's funny how they can supposedly detect even an unfriendly tone in an email but they can't (or won't) stop the endless tide of spam isn't it?" [The Daily Aardvark, via Slashdot]
And if you haven't already read A Love Song for Napster, you should. [The Shifted Librarian]
12:55:35 PM
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Thomas H. Huxley. "Try to learn something about everything and everything about something." [Quotes of the Day]
A few minutes surfing the net make this a very simple process. It is truly amazing how much information is out there just waiting to be found.
Strolling through the local library is a great way to find books on just about everything. It is great since you can pick out books you would never think to purchase and browse through them. Don't like the subject? Return the book. Like the subject? Buy the book or find others on the subject. Library doesn't have the book? Request it from another one to be sent to your library.
It truly amazes me how many services the local library provides. Our family makes a trip to the library a weekly thing. My 4 year old just about wets his pants to go get more books. It is pretty funny, he likes a particular series on Trucks and I swear every time we go he gets some of the same books that he just returned. I think he has checked out every book in the series at least 4 times.
8:20:17 AM
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Mortimer Adler. "You have to allow a certain amount of time in which you are doing nothing in order to have things occur to you, to let your mind think." [Motivational Quotes of the Day]
I think this is so true. In today's 24/7 culture it is so easy to just consume and consume and never let what you read and experience soak in. Mental bootstraping needs time to gel.
8:12:11 AM
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(Book Clubs') Life After Oprah
"Oprah's influence was immense, as each of Oprah's 47 picks sold between 650,000 and 1.2 million copies. But the way in which Oprah galvanized and created interest in book clubs might, in the long run, be her true legacy, said Carol Fitzgerald, co-founder and president of Bookreporter.com and ReadingGroupGuides.com....
Elizabeth Long, an associate professor of sociology at Rice University and the author of a forthcoming book about the social aspects of reading groups, says that while Oprah might have closed her club, the Internet can and already does to some extent spread that work of sorting, evaluating and recommending among hundreds, maybe thousands, of volunteers.
"Perhaps online sites don't have Oprah's cachet or charisma, but they can provide a welcoming environment for many kinds of readers," Long said." [Wired News]
How poor a job of marketing our book discussion groups have libraries done to not even get a mention in this article? This is really sad. I'd like to see ALA help initiate a Reading Groups @ Your Library angle to their @ Your Library campaign. Question for non-librarians reading this: are you even aware of ALA's @ Your Library campaign? Have you seen or heard about it anywhere, either at a national level or via your local public library?
"Kevin Smokler, owner of CentralBooking.com isn't trying to fill Oprah's shoes, but he does want to construct an online avenue where readers can stroll through the best independent book-review and community sites.
'As a reader on the prowl for book recommendations, finding a website that suits your tastes and trusting their expertise, is an unnecessarily long process,' said Smokler who hopes the Read Free or Die! Network will serve as a gatekeeper."
Which is why libraries really need to step up to the plate here. We need some ads in the major newspapers, we need to market our NoveList subscriptions, and we need to move our reviews and Reader's Advisory work online. NOW. [The Shifted Librarian]
8:09:22 AM
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© Copyright 2002 Mark Oeltjenbruns.
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