Who Needs Science, Anyway?

Credit - BBoomerinDenial

Credit – BBoomerinDenial

Let me be the first to offer best wishes and a bon voyage to Canada’s scientists. The government has told them to forget about their normal enquiries and concentrate on things that will help business. Yes, this government thinks that it can mandate made-to-order science. And they seem to think that our best and brightest will be happy in their new role as civil servants doing the bidding of politicians and business people. Politicians and business people. Who better to point the way to new scientific discoveries?

How could Canada be so foolish, you ask? Well, in this country we have a political system where a party can get 39% of the vote and form a majority government. Then this “majority” can dictate to the 61% who voted against it. It’s in this welter of irrationality that politicians think they can choose the science they want.

Here are some examples of their hubris:
Scientist calls new confidentiality rules on Arctic project ‘chilling’
Harper Government Stifles the Truth

Here’s what some scientists think of it:
How Science Can Help the Feds Save Face
Open for business: Refocused NRC
Outcry Grows Over Canadian Govt’s Undermining of Climate Science
Is Canada giving up on science?

Here’s what a Canadian commentator thinks of it:
Rick Mercer Says Scientists ‘Muzzled’ In Canada Again (VIDEO)

You want some science with that?

You want some science with that?

If I were a talented young scientist, I think I’d be looking for some place I could do real science. Some place where they believe in fundamental research, exploring the unknown. Some place outside of Canada.

rjb

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OpenStreetMap

Credit - OpenStreetMap

Credit – OpenStreetMap

OpenStreetMap is an online collaboration of people who are interested in creating free and open maps for anyone who wants them. Whether you’re a bicyclist planning your route for the weekend or a corporation wanting to sell maps to cyclists, you are free to use OpenStreetMap data. That’s right. You can come in, having contributed nothing at all, paying nothing at all, and use other people’s work to make money. But that’s not the point of it. The real point of OSM is people working together to make ever-improving maps available to all.

OpenStreetMap Logo

OpenStreetMap Logo

The way they make the project and its data open and free is through the use of a special copyright license, the Open Data Commons Open Database License. It’s similar to the Creative Commons Attribution and ShareAlike license used by Green Comet. To quote from their FAQ: “You are free to copy, distribute, transmit and adapt our data, as long as you credit OpenStreetMap and its contributors. If you alter or build upon our data, you may distribute the result only under the same licence.”

OpenStreetMap is growing

OpenStreetMap is growing

OpenStreetMap is built in the way of a wiki. Anyone can become a member and contribute to the database. If you know of a road or a trail that you think should be included, you can put it in yourself. In this way OSM grows. Lately there are even apps for tablets and phones to help make it easy, and OSM provides an editor that you can use right in your web browser. With GPS, what could go wrong?-)

rjb

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Day Against DRM

Credit - Defective by Design

Credit – Defective by Design

May fourth is the international day against digital restrictions management, led by the organizations Defective by Design and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, among others.
Stop the Hollyweb! No DRM in HTML5.Defective by Design – “This is a critical moment in the fight against DRM. A proposal currently being considered by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) would weave DRM into HTML5 — in other words, into the very fabric of the Web.”

EFF – “DRM software restricts the way users can interact with content, which hits close to home for an organization like EFF. Even worse, “anti-circumvention” laws that regulate whether users can bypass DRM, like section 1201 of the DMCA, effectively give that software the force of law.”

Day against DRM

Day against DRM

Here’s how to identify DRM, according to the EFF.
“Digital Rights Management (DRM) technologies attempt to control what you can and can’t do with the media and hardware you’ve purchased.
-Bought an ebook from Amazon but can’t read it on your ebook reader of choice? That’s DRM.
-Bought a DVD or Blu-Ray but can’t copy the video onto your portable media player? That’s DRM.
-Bought a video-game but can’t play it today because the manufacturer’s “authentication servers” are off-line? That’s DRM.
-Bought a smart-phone but can’t use the applications or the service provider you want on it? That’s DRM.”

Another definition from DRM.info.
“Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) is any technology that is built into an electronic product or service with the aim of limiting its range of uses after purchase. It is designed to prevent customers from using digital technology in ways that do not correspond to the business agenda of a content provider or device manufacturer.”

Here’s where you can find products and artists who are against DRM. And of course here on Green Comet. All files made available for download here are guaranteed DRM-free.

rjb

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