rePosts – Page 167 – On The 8 Spot

March 19, 2009

rePost:Excellent Idea:Rosetta Disk

saw this at reddit! This is an excellent idea, hope they can come up with something like this for programs, there are a lot of virtual machines right now hope they could make one for every significant operating system or computer architecture that we still have access to right now, while a few of the original designers are still alive to help with the details!

The Rosetta Disk is the physical companion of the Rosetta Digital Language Archive, and a prototype of one facet of The Long Now Foundation‘s 10,000-Year Library. The Rosetta Disk is intended to be a durable archive of human languages, as well as an aesthetic object that suggests a journey of the imagination across culture and history. We have attempted to create a unique physical artifact which evokes the great diversity of human experience as well as the incredible variety of symbolic systems we have constructed to understand and communicate that experience.
The Disk surface shown here, meant to be a guide to the contents, is etched with a central image of the earth and a message written in eight major world languages: “Languages of the World: This is an archive of over 1,500 human languages assembled in the year 02008 C.E. Magnify 1,000 times to find over 13,000 pages of language documentation.” The text begins at eye-readable scale and spirals down to nano-scale. This tapered ring of languages is intended to maximize the number of people that will be able to read something immediately upon picking up the Disk, as well as implying the directions for using it—‘get a magnifier and there is more.’
On the reverse side of the disk from the globe graphic are over 13,000 microetched pages of language documentation. Since each page is a physical rather than digital image, there is no platform or format dependency. Reading the Disk requires only optical magnification. Each page is .019 inches, or half a millimeter, across. This is about equal in width to 5 human hairs, and can be read with a 650X microscope (individual pages are clearly visible with 100X magnification).
The 13,000 pages in the collection contain documentation on over 1500 languages gathered from archives around the world. For each language we have several categories of data—descriptions of the speech community, maps of their location(s), and information on writing systems and literacy. We also collect grammatical information including descriptions of the sounds of the language, how words and larger linguistic structures like sentences are formed, a basic vocabulary list (known as a “Swadesh List”), and whenever possible, texts. Many of our texts are transcribed oral narratives. Others are translations such as the beginning chapters of the Book of Genesis or the UN Declaration of Human Rights.
via Concept —.

March 19, 2009

rePost:Business and Snake's Oil Men:Linus' blog: SSD followup

I wrote this yesterday about my take on business and snake’s oil sales men and realize that sometimes they are not trying to fool you into a decision. It is sad but sometimes people don’t try to think things through and investigate the stuff they are trying to say. Here Linus Torvalds shows us why a lot of reviews cannot be trusted, and judging from the way he says this I believe he is even referring to some people who are said to be professional reviewers. Things like this used to make me sad, then I realized that when something becomes useless they tend to become irrelevant to people and they tend to be cast off, like a year old fad. The thing is we need to try to live more aware of things and try to always go beyond what is obvious and easy to get. Do not subscribe to labels and pre conceptions, exercise that which we have that makes us more than animals!

Sadly, almost none of the reviews seemed to ever catch on to that, as they were all looking at the (totally irrelevant) throughput numbers that basically don’t matter in any real-life situation. Everybody just quoted the nice big marketing numbers, because finding the numbers that matter more to actual human perception (notably: average and maximum latency) was so much harder, and most disk benchmarks are crap and don’t even give those numbers.
Which is why I was so happy to see this review at AnandTech. Half the numbers quoted are still the worthless ones (I guess you can’t avoid quoting the industry standard benchmarks, even when they are horribly bad), but much of the actual discussion is about how unusable a drive is when it has maximum latencies in the hundreds of milliseconds.
via Linus’ blog: SSD followup.

March 19, 2009

Best Read: Why Pay For The Sins Of The Past:Stumbling and Mumbling: The legacy of slavery

One might ask: why should I pay for the sins of my countrymen’s ancestors? Simple. We are rich for the same reason Africans are poor. They are poor because they were born into a poor continent. We are rich because we were born into a rich one. I’m one of the richest 1% of people on the planet. This is not because I’m smart, or hard-working or charming. It’s because I was born in the right place. Any individual who thinks their wealth is the result of their own effort is just an idiot.
Of course, this argument has no weight whatsoever. But this is because empirical evidence and ethical considerations have no role in politics, except as thin veils for ego and self-interest.
via Stumbling and Mumbling: The legacy of slavery.

March 19, 2009

rePost: Best Teachers: Knowing and Doing: March 2009 Archives

I find myself sometimes pausing when I feel I am saying something that even I cannot do. I sometiomes think that staying quite is the most optimal course of action because I do not fancy being called a hypocrite , which I confess that I am often called. The thing is I have a simple heuristic when to shut-up and when to bring it. I state my case whenever I believe that the person can still change his/her mind or to be more exact if I believe the words from a hypocritical me can still change his/her mind, otherwise I shut-up.
Read the whole thing it’s short and at least for me a little poignant!

Through all my years in school, my best teachers jumped into the pool all the time and came up laughing and snorting with water up their noses. They wrote prose and code. They read about new ideas and wanted to try them out in the lab. Their excitement was palpable. Fun was part of the life, and that’s what I wanted.
I hope I can embody a little of that excitement and fun as a faculty member to our students, as a father to my daughters. But some days, that is more of a challenge than others.
via Knowing and Doing: March 2009 Archives.

March 13, 2009

rePost: Hope This Becomes Law:Bill proposes 7 more holidays – INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

: Image via Wikipedia

Bill proposes 7 more holidays
By Gil C. Cabacungan Jr. Philippine Daily Inquirer First Posted 17:55:00 03/13/2009 Filed Under: Legislation, Public Holidays
MANILA, Philippines—As if Filipinos do not have enough holidays already, Congress is proposing to add at least seven more red-letter days on the calendar that would jack up the number of non-working holidays in a year to 23.
Catanduanes Representative Joseph Santiago warned in a statement on Friday that too many holidays could further dampen the country’s economy especially the 24-7 call centers that have to pay a premium for non-working holidays.
The extra non-working holidays being sought in a bill pending in Congress are February 4 (Philippine-American War Heroes Day), Chinese New Year‘s Day (movable date), March 18 (Bangsamoro Day), March 22 (Emilio Aguinaldo Day), June 19 (Jose Rizal Day), November 20 (Children’s Day), and September 1 (Filipino Family Day).
via Bill proposes 7 more holidays – INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos.

March 13, 2009

Things To Ponder: Reclaiming The Space :Rough Type: Nicholas Carr's Blog: Realtime kills real space

: Image by Scarleth White via Flickr

Call me a Luddite but I think its time to fight back!
Not by isolating ourselves and not using the web and all its gifts but by trying to one up the web and making our real world interactions better. Trying to find the kinds of interactions that would flow naturally from using the web and living a connected life.
This is a new category , “Reclaiming Space”. trying to find the ways that would help make the web a complement , and not a substitute to real connections!

A government survey conducted last year concluded that eighty-two per cent of those between the ages of ten and twenty-nine use cell phones, and it is hard to overstate the utter absorption of the populace in the intimate portable worlds that these phones represent. A generation is growing up using their phones to shop, surf, play video games, and watch live TV, on Web sites specially designed for the mobile phone. “It used to be you would get on the train with junior-high-school girls and it would be noisy as hell with all their chatting,” Yumiko Sugiura, a journalist who writes about Japanese youth culture, told me. “Now it’s very quiet—just the little tapping of thumbs.”
Realtime, you see, doesn’t just change the nature of time, obliterating past and future. It annihilates real space. It removes us from three-dimensional space and places us in the two-dimensional space of the screen – the “intimate portable world” that increasingly encloses us. Depth is the lost dimension.
Rough Type: Nicholas Carr’s Blog: Realtime kills real space.

March 13, 2009

Best Read:Better Man:The everyday Masters – Part 4 at Paulo Coelho’s Blog

Image by superciliousness via Flickr

The harder thing is to try to be the bigger/better man/woman and in a sense this is about knowing yourself, being true to who you are, and trying to best your thoughts on who you are.

Cliche is cliche for a reason, it is the low resistance path, and as stated below, It is a choice. We must be mindful that we choose to get irritated, we choose to be disrespectful, we choose to be humiliated, we choose to be mean, we choose to be impolite. I’ve been thinking about this while going to work. I saw three people at Philcoa near UP trying to find a jeep that would take them to Nepa Q Mart. I have nothing against rural folks but I suspect that someone cheated them recently because the driver of the jeepney I was riding, was telling them that if they wanted to go to Nepa Q Mart the only way was to take a bus and they were at the farthest lane, the lane which no buses enter. Here was this jeepney driver trying to tell them something true and in a way did not even benefit him, because he was telling them to ride the bus, and here was these people telling him off. What he did was simple to say “Okay I don’t care anymore (“Bahala Ka Na” <in tagalog>)” and he drove away. I’ve been in similar situations where I tried helping someone and was rudely treated and I have to say there are a few times I wasn’t able to contain my irritation and probably insulted/cursed a few people. “If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too;”(line from If by Rudyard Kipling). I forgot that I know who I am , and the opinion of others are to be considered but far from something to be mad about. In most things and situations I believe we should try to be a better man than we think we are.

If I react the way that people expect me to, I become a slave to them – and that is a lesson that applies both to love and work. It is very difficult to prevent this from happening, because we are always ready to please somebody, or to start a war when we are provoked, but people and situations are the consequences of the life that I have chosen, not the other way around.
via The everyday Masters – Part 4 at Paulo Coelho’s Blog.

March 12, 2009

Had To Share:Nice Story On Injustice:Guilt and forgiveness – Part II at Paulo Coelho’s Blog

: Image via Wikipedia

Nice story read the whole thing!
Guilt and forgiveness – Part II
Published by Paulo Coelho on March 6, 2009 in Stories

Here is a beautiful story that illustrates precisely what I mean:
When he was small, Cosroes had a teacher who helped him to become an outstanding student in all his subjects. One afternoon, the teacher punished him severely, apparently for no reason.
Years later, Cosroes acceded to the throne. One of his first actions was to summon his former schoolmaster and demand an explanation for the injustice he had committed.
‘Why did you punish me when I had done nothing wrong?’ he asked.
‘When I saw how intelligent you were, I knew at once that you would inherit the throne from your father,’ replied his teacher. ‘And so I decided to show you how injustice can mark a man for life. Now that you know that,’ the teacher went on, ‘I hope you will never punish another person without good reason.’
Guilt and forgiveness – Part II at Paulo Coelho’s Blog.

March 11, 2009

rePost: Hope They Find A Good Resolution For This:GMANews.TV – Federalization in N Marianas shatters Filipino families' dreams – Pinoy Abroad – Official Website of GMA News and Public Affairs – Latest Philippine News – BETA

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Federalization in N Marianas shatters Filipino families’ dreams
HAIDEE V. EUGENIO, GMANews.TV
03/10/2009 | 10:40 AM
SUSUPE, Saipan – All that Jenica G. Atalig, 13, and Beda G. Mundo, 12, want is for their Filipina mother, Camila, to be granted US citizenship when the federal government takes over the immigration system of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) by June 1.
Their mother’s immigration status is that of an immediate relative (IR) of a US citizen under CNMI law.
But because US immigration laws do not recognize the CNMI’s IR status, thousands of these individuals will lose their immigration status by June 1 and may be forced to depart the CNMI unless the US government grants them a status that will allow them to continue to work and live in the CNMI.
Their mother, who worked at a hotel for some seven years until she was laid off due to economic hardships, is married to a US citizen. The couple’s children are US citizens for being born in the CNMI, a US territory whose capital Saipan is only about three hours away from Manila on a direct flight.
Jenica and Beda’s mother could apply for a green card or permanent residency, but the fees rack up to thousands of dollars, which the family cannot afford at this time.
“Fees for applying for green card are unaffordable. We strongly favor an enhanced status for aliens living here and have US-born children. Let this concern of ours be heard,” Janice and Beda said in a statement.
GMANews.TV – Federalization in N Marianas shatters Filipino families’ dreams – Pinoy Abroad – Official Website of GMA News and Public Affairs – Latest Philippine News – BETA.

March 11, 2009

rePost:Public Transpo Rant!:Business – Prius to hit Philippine roads by June – INQUIRER.net

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The mortgage of my parents latest vehicle is going to be paid by next year that’s why in total consumer cliche behavior we are beginning to think of our next car. The Prius is probably going to be very expensive hope my parents can afford it. As for me. Public transport is still the best way to bring people with the least amount of carbon emissions and gas usage. I may only be one but I vote with my peso and ride only the best busses to promote investment in this underserved sector of the Philippine services part of the GDP. Hope more people do because as long as we tolerate overburdened, second rate, second hand 20 year old buses from Japan, people who can buy cars would always prefer buying one.
If public transport:
-ran just a little late (10 minute car ride becomes 20, versus the now, 10 car ride is an hour ),
-meant I get to sit down during rush hours(versus the forced to stand up)
-meant standard fares and intelligible fare matrices, so I don’t get irritated by rider and bus conductors fighting over 1-4 peso difference in fare.
-meant exclusive lanes or congestion pricing. Because the volume of traffic in manila is unsustainable and old cars are just too cheap, we must discourage these jalopy or at least level the playing field. I like the way Singapore handles this. You have to have a garage and your car can only be used for a fixed number of years.
-meant less pollution , which means the Department Of Health would no longer warn the public from biking to work because of the health risk associated with lung/repiratory diseases.
I could go on but I detect a mild rantiness in my writing probably due to me being very sick with fever and flu yesterday, and the ton of work I have to Do

Prius to hit Philippine roads by June
By Abigail L. Ho Philippine Daily Inquirer First Posted 03:41:00 03/11/2009
Filed Under: Automotive Equipment
MANILA, Philippines — Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. plans to bring the Prius hybrid car to the Philippines by June, amid global efforts to come up with ways to limit carbon dioxide emissions, a company official said.
The company “very recently” got the go-ahead from Toyota Motor Corp. in Japan to bring the Prius over, its vice chairman Alfred Ty said.
Business – Prius to hit Philippine roads by June – INQUIRER.net.