TheWorld
Yesterday we had a nice earthquake (Richter 5.1) here in Lausanne, the epicenter is located near Besancon (France). The first map below is the geographical map with the epicenter. The second shows the location of people who witnessed the earthquake and called the civil protection.
Sorry I just have the data for France :( it's a shame they don't put data for germany and switzerland... do eartquake stops at borders? ... do the customs stop them?
Seen on Poe News, numerous fighting techniques used by Donald Rumsfled: Drunken Temple Boxing, Lion Claw Technique, Crouching Tiger, Quacking Duck Hand, Pressing Palms Style... My favorite move is certainly "Fist of the West Side!".
Via Evalu8:
Michael Gordon is a Vancouver skaterboy (...)Mr. Gordon's devotion to skateboarding runs deep. As a planner, he was instrumental in the liberalizing of local bylaws this month that made Vancouver the most skateboard-friendly city in North America. It's one of the very few big cities that allow skateboarding on the street. In most municipalities, doing so brings a stiff fine, if not the confiscation of the board -- something Vancouver police can no longer do.
Although proud of the nod to skateboarders, Mr. Gordon says the issue isn't just him and his passion for the sport; it's the kind of city he wants Vancouver to become.
Skateboarders are, as a rule, creative and individualistic, he says, adding that cities friendly to them are generally more interested in cultivating an artistic, innovative population, the kind that makes a city thrive. (...) Such thinking is very much in keeping with the new theory of urban renewal outlined in last year's bestseller The Rise of the Creative Class by Richard Florida. This theory, which prizes original thinking as a city's greatest resource, is the planning flavour of the moment in city halls from coast to coast. (...) The bohemian index (used by Florida to evaluate the creative potential of cities) gauges how tolerant a city is toward its gay and lesbian population, and Mr. Gordon said the same could be done for its attitude to skateboarders. "How you treat your skateboarders is symptomatic of how you're going to embrace a creative class of people."
After google, technorati offers his own "zeitgeist". You can check the top products discussed in the last 24 hours ('« Best links products on the blogosphere today »') on blogs, websites. Technorati looks for links on this product and sort them on this list.
With this nice tool, you can create your own mug shot !
I like Loic Le Meur's idea of checking brand's reputation with technorati. He tried with "http://www.orange.fr": 5 inbound and 5 outbound links. Of course, links came from blogs but still...
I do think tools like technorati are tomorow's google. That's a meme (or a cliché).
National Institute of Statistics propose a nice website that propose statistics and indicators about data from 224 countries. Those data ranges from countries inhabitants to more fuzzy things like the following on I like:
Cats and Dogs in Belgium: Survey we know that in 2000 Belgian households kept about 1.1 million dogs and 1.7 million cats. .
Via boingboing, there is now a course on Google:
Google--it's not just a search engine any more. Now the most popular way to search the web, Google has become a cultural phenomenon. In this course, we'll look at how it started and how it works, compare it to other search mechanisms (web-based and otherwise), look at its business model, technologies and competition, and examine its broader uses and significance.
At the end of this course, it is expected that students will: - understand how Google works, and how to use it effectively as a search tool - know more about its technology, business plan, cultural and social impact - be able to think about Googleand by extension other information toolsin a professional manner
Thank you Fab for giving me the last Wired issue (about India as the future hub/offshore place) and pointing at this statement:
Send the maintenance to India and, even after costs, 20 percent of the budget is freed up to come up with the next breakthrough app. The result: more workers focused on real innovation. What comes after services? Creativity
Eventually, the creative class as described by Richard Florida seems to be the next economic sector (after agriculture, industry and service) that will remain in occidental countries (Europe, America, Japan/Asia...).
According to a study of the World Internet Project, the typical Internet user--far from being a geek--shuns television and actively socializes with friends. News.com reports that:
the typical Internet user is an avid reader of books and spends more time engaged in social activities than the nonuser, it says. And, television viewing is down among some Internet users by as much as five hours per week compared with Net abstainers, the study added."Use of the Internet is reducing television viewing around the world while having little impact on positive aspects of social life," said Jeffrey Cole, director of the UCLA Center for Communication Policy, the California university that organized the project.
"Most Internet users generally trust the information they find online," he told Reuters via e-mail.
I was wondering about how the french minitel is still used. It was my first experience from 1989 to 1995 of forum, email-like conversation, chat.
The minitel terminal at that time was almost free (now it's something like 2euros or 3dollars per month). Connection was not free (few cents per minutes) and you had access to many services (from matchmaking things to more cultural stuff like cinema schedule or ordering things). Another point is that minitel was frequently used for university inscription or logistic (tracking the stuff your ordered). Minitel was also interesting that it supported strong on-line communities (read Howard Rheingold books The Virtual Community to get info about this topic)
Even though lots of predictions, there was still 1bn connection in 2002. Wired in 2001 stated that:
But despite the brickbats and the frequent predictions of its imminent demise, Minitel has steadfastly refused to go gently into that good night.
Minitel is a proven business model and 15 years ago, like for BBS there were chat, ebanking, videogame dowloads (you had to connect the mintel and your amstrad cpc6128), forum, on-line order. At the time, it was also used to exchange video games and video tape by mail (the minitel was used to make connections and increase your social network). Minitel services (for instance you had to dial 36-15 and then the name of the service) brought you on a portal-like page (ascii !!), then you could access all the services I mentionned above.
BUT: - resolution ! for ascii art fans only ! - a bit too bureaucratic to have your own server (you had to ask for it to the french minister of telecommunications) - there was no search engine and no web - it was too "french centered" and too french oriented (it was ok berfore the net but after 1996 it was something like "se dont' want your english internet carp, let's keep or french minitel, no offense for my readers, I am french) - no equivalent of the web - .... it sucks now...
SO: it was a nice introduction to the on-line world but I don't understand how people can keep using it nowadays (apart from cost reasons in small logistics companies that). It's been 9 years that I did not use my old minitel :)
PittsburghGround Zero is "an open network of doers, makers and creative people who collaborate on projects focused on Pittsburgh's urban environment and culture." Their manifesto is here (pdf).
The intention of the group is to create and sustain a network of resources and information that facilitates artistic collaboration and urban renewal on both individual and regional levels. We want to take positive steps toward creating an environment of artistic culture, positive urban living, and local pride. We would like Pittsburgh to be a place that is connected both physically and non physically: by modes of transport and through a shared cultural identity. We want to create a culture of inclusion and collaboration among artists and communities. We want to create and promote projects that make people feel a connection to their city. We will encourage and support the greatest possible utilization of Pittsburghs existing resources: the people, the cultural and physical infrastructure, and the untapped natural amenities.
[modificated after david monroe's smart comments]Robert Putnam wrote about the decline of social capital. I like one of his index to show the decline of community life over the last 50 years. He used the "Bowling Alone" metaphor (it's the title of his book): he found that from 1980 to 1983, league bowling declined by 40 percent, while the number of individual bowlers rose by 10 percent. This indicator (among others: party enrollment, surveys, club memberships, and on and on) shows that people seems to be less inclined to be part of civic groups.
Anyway, academics like Richard Florida disagrees with this. [NO I should modify this statement]