Nine Shift

To digitize, or not digitize, that is the question

Should we put books on the web so everyone can have access?

Or is there no way of stopping it from happening anyway?  There's several efforts underway, led by the Open Content Alliance (OCA), set up by the Internet Archive, to initially put 150,000 works online, according to a new BBC story.

Google and Microsoft are trying to get in on the act, but there's legal issues over copyright and opposition from publishers (no, really?).  What say you to this issue?

Boomers declare war on the 19th century

Americans are so insecure and frightened about the 21st century.

I'm thinking it is mainly Baby Boomers who are so scared about the Internet Age they are attacking the new technology. OK, but now some are even upset about the old technology - - horses and buggies.

In Loyal, Wisconsin, some of the local citizens are objecting to the horse manure left by the Amish as they come to town to do business.  Healthy, natural, horse manure that is also great fertilizer.

The story appeared in the New York Times, which also quoted Harvey M. Jacobs, a professor at the University of Wisconsin who studies the Amish.  Prof Jacobs' comments are right-on.

"The English community (mainstream America) has a number of things they are upset about. The non-Amish community is feeling a sense of alienation, a confusion and anger. These people live amongst us and yet don't live with us.  The horse issue is a way that can express itself." 

Great quote. And of course even more true about the 21st century people living amongst us. Boomers are caught in this new century of new values and attitudes and it's all so confusing.

The Internet is BAD

Careful. Watch out. Don't trust it. It's dangerous, it's BAD.

100 years ago, we were speaking of cars of course.
Today, they mean the Internet.
Between 1905-1910 and 2005-2010 there is this big struggle over the new technology.

This week's examples:
* We are still getting lots of press stories about how parents are limiting their children's time on the Internet, or trying to.  We have no data that the Internet is bad for kids, of course.

* The U.S. federal government announced this week that it wants colleges and universities to spend billions creating new safe Internet connections so the government can spy on the bad guys.

((picture of of Larry Conrad, Chief Information Officer for Florida State University in Tallahassee, who was interviewed by the New York Times on Sunday Oct 23. He said the onerous financial burden for colleges for different network connections was "overkill."  His wife, Rita Marie Conrad, teaches online for LERN as part of our Certified Online Instructor program))

NineShift beats BBC on story

Well, this doesn't happen often. We beat the BBC on a story.

On October 5, our post "The Race of Cities is On!" talked about how cities are racing to install wireless in the entire downtown or city.  Last week the BBC did a story on it as well, with their usual professionalism and insight.  Check it out.

Learn more: study on the train

My favorite "boy" is 103 year old Langdon Divers, who writes about growing up 90 years ago.

"When I was in high school, one of the teachers excused me every time there was a good show at the Miller Theater in Milwaukee, which was about 65 miles away.
I rode the train to Milwaukee.

I told my teacher I would study the lesson both ways, if he would let me go.
Next day, I always knew the lesson better than all the other kids."
(Editor's notes:
1. 90 years ago you could take a train, and then return back home the same day/night
2. The lesson is not only that one can learn on the train, but that 'attendance' does not always equal learning, and even boys can learn on their own.)

News flash! Horse-buggy more time efficient than cars

We were driving through Amish country again.
Seeing their beautiful horses gliding along at 8 mph, it suddenly occurred to me, having just done another awful 3 hours of driving that day, that the horse-and-buggy is now more time efficient than cars. 

** The Amish only travel a maximum of 5-6 miles, about an hour, to get anywhere in their world.
** For car-drivers, a 2-3 hour trip is not unusual anymore.
How long can we go wasting 25% of our work day? 

What's legal in cyberspace?

A whole new field of law developing, law for cyberspace.

I hadn't thought about that much til I read a recent posting on Terra Nova, the great master web site about online gaming.  A recent State of Play conference about gaming featured sessions on virtual architecture, and law in cyberspace.

Our economy is shifting to cyberspace. That's where the jobs, business and hope for advanced countries lies.  Would you want your child to grow up and become a virtual architect?
Feel free to add your thoughts on the business of cyberspace.

The Axles of Evil

I liked the term "axles of evil," referring of course to SUVs and other gas guzzlers.

September sales of SUVs down big time.
So, are SUVs at the end-of-the-road, or will they bounce back?

* Are drivers starting to shift to better gas-mileage cars?
* And are consumers starting to be more environmentally aware and see that air pollution is destroying the world, or not so much?

Your thoughts welcome.

The way Marketplace was

Back in the good old days (six months ago), when David B. and then David B. hosted Marketplace radio show.

(Photo of former Marketplace host David Brown)
Doesn't look the same, does it?

Marketplace goes corporate

Next to BBC's global business reporter Peter Day, "Marketplace" has been our favorite radio business program for the past 5 years. No longer.

Sadly Marketplace has gone corporate, abandoning its tradition of covering stories from the perspective of the 98% of us who aren't rich, as well as the best 21st century economic stories.
  In a nice if surprising gesture, new host Kai Ryssdal responded to my email and invited me to analyze that evening's story on WalMart.  I found that the reporter:
* Gave twice as much time to WalMart's side as the other;
* Quoted twice as many pro-WalMart people;
* Heralded relief that is only 0.00008% of annual income (LERN gave 62 times more as a percentage of our income); and
* Led with the slimy headline that if WalMart was running the Katrina disaster relief, it would have been flawless.
(the new corporate look, and voice of Marketplace)

What are your favorite sources of news?