Year: 2005

Categories
Uncategorized

Intellectual P______

Matt has really gotten me thinking on this issue. He writes about intellectual property and suggests that the term obscures everything it is attached to and that it encourages us to think about information as a thing which is owned. Somehow we have to recognize the fact that very little information is actually worth “owning.” Generally information is valuable only for sharing because when it is shared it tends to grow. Where that is the case there is no reason to retain more rights than mere attribution.

There are a few things that are worth patenting, but don’t use the patent list as a way of chosing what should be patented since it includes things like this. Try reading the comments here to learn more about some of the misuse of patent law.

I also think that there is a place for copyrights and trademarks, but just because there is a trademark should not mean that I cannot use the words Microsoft and Windows, even together (Microsoft Windows) without fear of being penalized.

I guess what this all adds up to is the inevitable, and worn-out conclusion that these areas of law are basicaly broken. Perhaps it is because of the introduction of such a vague term as “intellecutal property.”

Categories
life

Victory

It was very fun to hear from Laura that she has decided to try blogging as a way to record/share her thoughts. I set up her blog yesterday and she got right to work. After all my talk about blogging it’s only fair that I should publicly welcome her to the blogosphere. I have no doubt that she’ll have some fun things to say and find some good friends who enjoy sharing with her.

Here’s her feed for those who are interested in reading what she posts.

Categories
culture politics

Which way does the safety net bulge?

You know you have hit the big time when astute readers send you interesting articles. Okay, the truth is that it’s nice to have some extra eyes and ears out there to help me not to miss too much of the news that interests me.

This story was definitely one of those items. The issue is the reduction of benefits in the Medicaid program in Missouri, but the underlying theme is just as applicable. The conclusion of the article is that while we do not really want to cut government spending on these programs, the government programs are not as effective as having good people meet the needs of the needy around them.

The question sent to me was “what do [I] think of that?”

The answer is simply that the conclusion of the article is correct. When we set up government programs to help people in need the impersonality of the programs leaves them prone to abuse on all sides. The programs get used by some to perpetuate the division of society into classes. People who don’t need the help find ways to channel the money into their own pockets in various ways. (e.g. “hmm, section 8 provides rental assistance to low income people. If I rent to low income people I can charge rental rates at the top of the section 8 range and be assured of a constant income stream.” or “So long as I don’t save up any cash I can get the government to give me a generous allowance in foodstamps each month.”)

I do not mean to imply that everyone in the system is crooked or dishonest. I believe that is not the case, but I also believe that having an impersonal, government run solution makes it easier for those who are crooked to go unnoticed as they feed off the system. The only way a government run system works well is in a society where everybody is basically good and there are no leeches who try to take advantage of the system. A society like that can only be made up of people who care about their neighbors enough to notice them and help out where possible, where they put the needs of others before their own comforts. That kind of society does not require a government program because the help comes from individuals without the bureaucracy.

This does not mean that I propose that we scrap all the bulging safety nets, but it would be helpful if we understood that they are bandaids for the problems rather than solutions. The solution is to improve society and representative government cannot do that. Again, I do not propose to end representative government (if, in fact, that is still what we have) but rather I suggest that we recognize our individual responsibility in improving ourselves as a means to improve society.

Categories
culture

Bill Gates’ Speech

Thanks to e-Clippings I read the text of Bill Gates’ Speech on America’s failing high schools.

I can’t say that I am the biggest fan of Gates’ products, but his rhetoric here is exactly right and I think everyone should read it.

Categories
Uncategorized

Mixing Old and New Models

I like what I am hearing from Nate about what a Next Generation Journal should look like. Nate is right that “because we can” is not a good reason to make changes. We have good reason to streamline the peer-review process. We also have good reason to streamline the publication by eliminating the bundling in favor of publishing articles as they are cleared for publication and there is something to be said for publishing post-publication comments. I see no reason to publish pre-publication comments because if the comments are still relevant after publication they may be added to the post-publication comment list.

The only other change that I think would be important would be in changing the model for the distribution of rights to the intellectual property. This would most likely be based on the work of Creative Commons with the author(s) retaining rights to the material while granting specific publication rights to the journal which would have to be defined, but which would probably not be hard to nail down.

Categories
technology

Note Taking in the Future

I’m picky. I might as well get that out in the open. I also like to write a lot to record my thoughts. I have tried a number of different methods of taking notes from various binders to keeping my laptop with me at all times. I have discovered problems with every setup I have tried. The notebooks either start out bulky or else they become bulky after my notes begin to pile up. My laptop is pretty good except that the battery life is limited to a mere three or four hours. not bad for a laptop, but PDA’s get much better battery life, so why not get a PDA? Small screen and something between no keyboard and a small keyboard. Why pay hundreds of dollars for something that I already know I am going to complain about at times. The PDA does not offer enough to get me to replace my laptop so it is not worth the money it would cost.

One day I ran across a new Virtual Laser Keyboard which would allow me to have a full sized keyboard for a PDA. Nice idea, but after thinking about it I think we can do one better. If we can project a keyboard onto a desk or table, why not project the text onto a vertical surface and fix the whole small-screen issue. Get a gadget that combines a sound recorder and a hard drive with a mini-projector. We could use a virtual keyboard and suddenly we have a device the size of an iPod with the battery life of a PDA and more than enough storage for all the notes I could ever take. Give it a USB port as a means of transferring your files to your desktop and you have the perfect note-taking device. The operating system would have to do input and output and manage files, but this would be meant to not browse the net or anything else so security and processing power should be minimal concerns.

Who wants to invent my idea?

Categories
technology

50 million

I really enjoyed seeing this on Slashdot Firefox Breaks 50,000,000 Barrier. It was also fun to go to Blazing a Trail to 50,000,000 and watch as the counter shows that another 44,000 plus downloads have taken place in the six hours since then. Let the good times roll.

Categories
culture life

Peeling Away

This will only make sense with the background information that I never wanted to buy a minivan.

I love my minivan. That statement, and the rest of this post, is less about my minivan and more about me – and minivans in general.

As I peel away the rough edges of my own pride I discover that I do not care about image like I used to. I did not even know that I cared about image, but in retrospect I did. This is not to say that I have no care for image, but that it is different than it had been.

Before I chose to get a minivan I had decided that I did not want that minivan image. Basically that was because the image is not popular. It truth there is nothing wrong with it. I hated all the arguments about SUV’s using too much gas. The fact is that the mid-sized SUV’s have about the same gas mileage as the average minivan. It’s not great mileage, but it’s no reason to choose a minivan over a mid-sized SUV (at least once the optional third row entered the Ford Explorer and Chevy Trailblazer class) because they could seat the same number of people and got no significant disadvantage in fuel efficiency and I might as well get the increased towing capacity and power of the SUV – besides the image thing.

When the time came that I was faced with the need to grow out of two carseats in the back of my sedan I changed my mind on the stance I had held that I would rather make car payments on an SUV than own a minivan free and clear. I made the wiser choice (financially speaking) and now I look back and realize that I have come to care less about the image, more in line with what I used to believe was already true. I have also came to wonder why I ever hoped to own an SUV rather than a minivan. Who wants to open the back door of an SUV (of any size) when they have the option of sliding doors on their van. That also makes me wonder why anyone ever made a minivan with hinge doors to the back (the older models of the very minivan I bought – Mazda MPV – did not have sliding doors) when sliding door are so functional/versatile and save so much space in my garage.

Today I am thankful, not so much that I have a minivan that I like, but more because I got to catch a glimpse of growth within myself which is always what I am striving for anyway.

Categories
Education

Proposal

In a discussion board for my Using Technology to Enhance Learning class I made a proposal (on March 18th this year) based on teachers having a scarcity of time and the fact that teachers are underpaid partially because they are they are only paid for 9 months out of the year and they have to figure out summer employment if they want to keep working for the other three months.

If all of the preceding premises are true, wouldn’t it be great if teachers could get paid over the summer to take classes on new learning theories and new technologies where the assignments would consist of the teachers developing plans and ideas of how to integrate that new knowledge into their teaching.

Among the many responses I got that really interested me was this one from a teacher in Corning, New York named Micheal Simons:

I taught for two months in New Zealand at the end of my student teaching in 2000…

They operate on a GREAT schedule – I apologize that I can’t remember all of it:

They don’t have a “summer” (agricultural) vacation, first of all. Christmas (during the summer, down there!) vacation is the longest time off from school, I believe, and is approx. 5 weeks or so. Then, they return for 9 weeks, then are off for 3, then on for 9, and so on – YEAR ROUND.

I think that schedule is simply fantastic – a great balance, and it gives teachers 45-day chunks (with no days off, I think) in which to plan units, lessons, etc.

With a schedule like that, then, I can see teachers getting what [David] was suggesting – we’d have 3 week chunks during which we could get more training, go to a lengthy conference, work toward identifying “best practices,” and more!

-Mike

I wonder if anyone else has any thoughts about such an idea now that the class is over.

Categories
life

Only Fair

I think it’s only fair after posting about Feeling Useless that I give a little update on the calling thing. I have been called (about a month after I posted that) as the assistant executive secretary and I will be lose the assistant title in a couple of weeks we the current executive secretary moves to Georgia. I do not feel at all useless and I am excited because I will definitely get to know everybody in the ward through this calling.

I did this same calling in a student ward at BYU for a couple of years and so I know how involved it can be. Prayers are answered – more than we expect.