The Why and What of Web Archives | The Signal: Digital Preservation ... continue reading

Trusteeship voting groups as “…agents who can vote in a far-seeing and impartial way” — clever idea. It could be a more useful way to accomplish what our senate is supposed to do. Perhaps this sort of system would make abolishing the senate even more palatable. Of course, Harper’s Conservatives are too busy trying to restrict voters and make elections unfair (http://www.cbc.ca/news/pol ... continue reading

This covers existing publishing problems with access to academic research and then points to exciting examples, such as open access, changing the system, along with libraries’ roles in it all. A World Digital Library Is Coming True! by Robert Darnton ... continue reading

The logic of Buddhist philosophy –“ Graham Priest –“ Aeon ... continue reading

Quite an interesting project: digitizing tens of millions of news records. I’m curious to know criteria for determining what to digitize. Plus, the access strategy sounds like a good model. The British Library Is Spending $55 Million on News Archives ... continue reading

Stability: how life began and why it can’t rest –“ Addy Pross –“ Aeon ... continue reading

When a government frees access to data, interesting things like this can happen. Danish government releases geographic data by way of 1:1 Minecraft map ... continue reading

Why isn’t there more recognition for the potential of co-ops as a better form of economic system? Their goal is the well-being of their members (the communities they serve) instead of ever-increasing profit (even though they can be very profitable). Isn’t that a more rational goal? I keep reading about many examples of well-operated coops, which outperform traditional business structures (though I imagi ... continue reading

Digital preservation must receive ongoing care from a person or people. The author of this post,  Roy Tennant, proposes a neat idea: a commitment marketplace. Although there is probably a unique requirement for this in long-term digital preservation, I could imagine it being useful in other scenarios. The Only Preservation Strategy is Commitment – The Digital Shift ... continue reading

Bad, commercial “research” journals that accept hoaxes and would publish things as though it was solid science. Blinded by scientific gobbledygook ... continue reading

#Psilocybin (and related #entheogens) are getting increasingly recognized for their value to self-understanding as well as their medical safety. The end of this article includes the quote: “At the hospital they gave me Xanax for anxiety,” he said. “Xanax doesn’t get rid of your anxiety. Xanax tells you not to feel it for awhile until it stops working and you take the next pill. The beauty of ... continue reading

How strange that seeds must be released under a license the allows freedom. This is the natural position. It’s only because our weird society has allowed perverse practices to occur (companies engineering seeds for distribution under restrictive licenses) that we need open source seeds. In any case, I’m glad to see people counter-acting restrictive seed licensing through open source techniques! Plant ... continue reading

It’s Charlie Chaplin’s birthday. Here are some links to see his great work! http://www.openculture.com/2011/12/free_charlie_chaplin_films_on_the_web.html The Kid : Charlie Chaplin : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive ... continue reading