Friday, November 07, 2003
THAT much information? You're kidding!
You might have seen this story making its way around the Internet last week. On one hand, it's kind of hard to believe but on the other hand, considering the growth of the
Web, not difficult at all: according to the How Much Information 2003 study done by the University of Berkeley, "Print, film, magnetic, and optical storage media produced about 5 exabytes of new information in 2002." What is an exabyte? "..." the nineteen million books and other print collections in the US Library of Congress would contain about ten terabytes of information; five exabytes of information is equivalent in size to the information contained in half a million new libraries the size of the Library of Congress print collections."
Information explosion? The Berkeley researchers estimate that new stored information grew about 30% a year between 1999 and 2002.
You might have seen this story making its way around the Internet last week. On one hand, it's kind of hard to believe but on the other hand, considering the growth of the
Web, not difficult at all: according to the How Much Information 2003 study done by the University of Berkeley, "Print, film, magnetic, and optical storage media produced about 5 exabytes of new information in 2002." What is an exabyte? "..." the nineteen million books and other print collections in the US Library of Congress would contain about ten terabytes of information; five exabytes of information is equivalent in size to the information contained in half a million new libraries the size of the Library of Congress print collections."
Information explosion? The Berkeley researchers estimate that new stored information grew about 30% a year between 1999 and 2002.
Thursday, November 06, 2003
A new prayer for Parliament
Progressive MP Matt Robson must feel terribly upset that no-one has responded to his call for a new prayer for Parliament, to replace the Christian prayer that he feels does not belong in this multicultural age.
So to help him out, I propose the following:
“To whom it may concern :
Agreeing that from time to time we need a bit of help from outside, we ask for the occasional “ah hah!� experience to reassure us that god (however we may conceive her to be) has not abandoned us completely. For the rest of the time, may our collective wisdom guide us in our decisions, as in diversity we trust.
Help those on the opposition benches to lay aside all private and personal interests, so that we may conduct the affairs of this House and our country to the best of our ability.
May integrity reign in all we do, and may those without integrity be exposed in time for the six o’clock news.
In the name of true tolerance, expose and humiliate the religious fundamentalists who would try to obstruct correct governance and impose their will on this nation.
Wishing for justice, a quiet exit of the monarchy, a growing public welfare system, peace and tranquillity, we lift up diversity, through which no truth beyond party dogma can claim itself superior,
A-person�
Note: The current (outdated) prayer reads: “Almighty God, humbly acknowledging our need for Thy guidance in all things, and laying aside all private and personal interests, we beseech Thee to grant that we may conduct the affairs of this House and of our country to the glory of Thy holy name, the maintenance of true religion and justice, the honour of the Queen, and the public welfare, peace, and tranquillity of New Zealand, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
Progressive MP Matt Robson must feel terribly upset that no-one has responded to his call for a new prayer for Parliament, to replace the Christian prayer that he feels does not belong in this multicultural age.
So to help him out, I propose the following:
“To whom it may concern :
Agreeing that from time to time we need a bit of help from outside, we ask for the occasional “ah hah!� experience to reassure us that god (however we may conceive her to be) has not abandoned us completely. For the rest of the time, may our collective wisdom guide us in our decisions, as in diversity we trust.
Help those on the opposition benches to lay aside all private and personal interests, so that we may conduct the affairs of this House and our country to the best of our ability.
May integrity reign in all we do, and may those without integrity be exposed in time for the six o’clock news.
In the name of true tolerance, expose and humiliate the religious fundamentalists who would try to obstruct correct governance and impose their will on this nation.
Wishing for justice, a quiet exit of the monarchy, a growing public welfare system, peace and tranquillity, we lift up diversity, through which no truth beyond party dogma can claim itself superior,
A-person�
Note: The current (outdated) prayer reads: “Almighty God, humbly acknowledging our need for Thy guidance in all things, and laying aside all private and personal interests, we beseech Thee to grant that we may conduct the affairs of this House and of our country to the glory of Thy holy name, the maintenance of true religion and justice, the honour of the Queen, and the public welfare, peace, and tranquillity of New Zealand, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
Wednesday, November 05, 2003
Special character shools under threat
New Zealand’s special character schools are under huge threat. The Minister of Education wants to take them back over and put them under central control.
The Ministry of Education recently – and very quietly – released a discussion document An Education with a Special Character: A Public Discussion Paper on the Consolidation of the Private Schools Integration Act 1975 into the Education Act. Submissions on the paper have already closed.
In brief, the Minister wants to disembowel the Private Schools Integration Act. Arguing that “elements that were originally included in the Act to safeguard the special character of integrated schools from a possibly unsympathetic central bureaucracy seem unnecessary now�, the paper proposes that the Minister be given power to reorganise and close integrated schools, something he cannot currently do. With over 300 integrated schools in the country, some 600,000 parents, employees, pupils and interested parties ought to be very worried. If the proposal turns to reality more anguish is on its way.
The demise of the Integration Act would be a terrible blow. At its heart it recognises that there is a case for justice in education—that parents who already pay taxes to the state for their children’s schooling should not be expected to pay again to send their children to schools of special character.
The Integration Act recognises parental preferences in education. It honours their decisions, and the investment they have made through taxes. In an otherwise heavily regulated sector, this is truly remarkable. If the Private Schools Integration Act 1975 goes, many parents will lose the freedoms they enjoy in education as integrated schools are reorganised and closed. In a merger, an integrated school will simply lose its special character.
The fuss over school closures and the pending fuss over the Integration Act’s burial highlight a growing trend in Wellington: a passion for centralised power. A new aristocracy with separate bloated ministerial fiefdoms is emerging. Local communities and parents are being ignored by ‘kings’ in their ‘palaces’ who tax and then ‘govern’ from afar. Parents, school boards, principals, teachers and their wishes are not rated.
New Zealand’s special character schools are under huge threat. The Minister of Education wants to take them back over and put them under central control.
The Ministry of Education recently – and very quietly – released a discussion document An Education with a Special Character: A Public Discussion Paper on the Consolidation of the Private Schools Integration Act 1975 into the Education Act. Submissions on the paper have already closed.
In brief, the Minister wants to disembowel the Private Schools Integration Act. Arguing that “elements that were originally included in the Act to safeguard the special character of integrated schools from a possibly unsympathetic central bureaucracy seem unnecessary now�, the paper proposes that the Minister be given power to reorganise and close integrated schools, something he cannot currently do. With over 300 integrated schools in the country, some 600,000 parents, employees, pupils and interested parties ought to be very worried. If the proposal turns to reality more anguish is on its way.
The demise of the Integration Act would be a terrible blow. At its heart it recognises that there is a case for justice in education—that parents who already pay taxes to the state for their children’s schooling should not be expected to pay again to send their children to schools of special character.
The Integration Act recognises parental preferences in education. It honours their decisions, and the investment they have made through taxes. In an otherwise heavily regulated sector, this is truly remarkable. If the Private Schools Integration Act 1975 goes, many parents will lose the freedoms they enjoy in education as integrated schools are reorganised and closed. In a merger, an integrated school will simply lose its special character.
The fuss over school closures and the pending fuss over the Integration Act’s burial highlight a growing trend in Wellington: a passion for centralised power. A new aristocracy with separate bloated ministerial fiefdoms is emerging. Local communities and parents are being ignored by ‘kings’ in their ‘palaces’ who tax and then ‘govern’ from afar. Parents, school boards, principals, teachers and their wishes are not rated.
Cybersecurity under threat
Everything (except the weather – and they’re working on it!) is controlled by computers these days. Nations depend on them to run power supplies, nuclear plants, defense systems, government, you name it. If your household is like mine, if your email goes down, you feel like your right arm is cut off. So how secure are the world’s computer systems?
Richard Clarke, a former White House cybersecurity czar, has bad news. During his tenure at the White House, Clarke was frequently criticized for his "sky-is-falling" attitude. Indeed, Clarke claims that the Sobig attack brought down a chunk of sky and that his warnings should have been taken more seriously. If current trends continue, Clarke told attendees at a major symposium this week, the cybersecurity situation isn't just going to get worse. It's going to get exponentially worse.
Noting that the conference's location (Disney World) might be appropriate because "only in fantasy land can everything you have be secure," Clark identified five trends that don't bode well for those trying to deal with cyber attacks.
Everything (except the weather – and they’re working on it!) is controlled by computers these days. Nations depend on them to run power supplies, nuclear plants, defense systems, government, you name it. If your household is like mine, if your email goes down, you feel like your right arm is cut off. So how secure are the world’s computer systems?
Richard Clarke, a former White House cybersecurity czar, has bad news. During his tenure at the White House, Clarke was frequently criticized for his "sky-is-falling" attitude. Indeed, Clarke claims that the Sobig attack brought down a chunk of sky and that his warnings should have been taken more seriously. If current trends continue, Clarke told attendees at a major symposium this week, the cybersecurity situation isn't just going to get worse. It's going to get exponentially worse.
Noting that the conference's location (Disney World) might be appropriate because "only in fantasy land can everything you have be secure," Clark identified five trends that don't bode well for those trying to deal with cyber attacks.
Monday, November 03, 2003
Is it about time we gave the church a decent burial?
The church is dying – at least the Christian church is – if we are to believe the news items. For instance, Statistics New Zealand reported that in the last Census the number of people stating they had no religion grew by 18%.
The almost constant barrage of church sex scandals makes very sorry reading, and any day you can drive past former churches now converted to community centres, private homes, or just boarded up.
However, to paraphrase Mark Twain, the rumours of the church’s death may be greatly exaggerated, largely because we are looking only at what is happening in the dying civilisation of the West.
According to Patrick Johnstone, director of research at WEC International, in the past 25 years, the total number of Christians worldwide has grown by 60% from 1.25 billion to 1.95 billion and is by far the world's largest religion. The reason we have not noticed is because 58% of Protestants now live in Africa and Asia. As an example of what’s going on developing countries, Johnstone says in 1960 there were only 25 baptized Christians in the Hindu Kingdom of Nepal. Today there are 200,000 Christians out of a population of 20 million that is 89% Hindu, 7% Buddhist, and 3.5% Muslim. The Nepalese Christians are striving to reach the goal of one million Christians by the turn of the century.
One of the often-heard comments since Sept. 11 is that Islam is growing so rapidly it soon will become the world's largest religion, overtaking Christianity in just a couple of decades. Many of these projections are traceable to the work of Harvard University scholar Samuel Huntington, who has put forward the idea of a "clash of civilizations." But a new book about Christianity in the Third World says Huntington and others are missing the global demographic picture.
Islam is indeed expanding as Christianity loses its force in the Western world, particularly Europe, says historian and religious studies scholar Philip Jenkins, author of "The Next Christendom." But the numbers of Christians are exploding in the southern hemisphere, he reports. In his book, published by Oxford University Press, Jenkins argues that the post-Sept. 11 commentaries have overlooked the dramatic upsurge of Christianity in places like Africa.
"Basically, you're talking about Africa being 9 percent Christian back in 1900 and close on 50 percent today. That's a huge change," said Jenkins, who teaches at Penn State University. "Somewhere in the 1960s, the number of Christians in Africa outpaced the number of Muslims in Africa. A great, historic change--and nobody paid attention to it."
The church is dying – at least the Christian church is – if we are to believe the news items. For instance, Statistics New Zealand reported that in the last Census the number of people stating they had no religion grew by 18%.
The almost constant barrage of church sex scandals makes very sorry reading, and any day you can drive past former churches now converted to community centres, private homes, or just boarded up.
However, to paraphrase Mark Twain, the rumours of the church’s death may be greatly exaggerated, largely because we are looking only at what is happening in the dying civilisation of the West.
According to Patrick Johnstone, director of research at WEC International, in the past 25 years, the total number of Christians worldwide has grown by 60% from 1.25 billion to 1.95 billion and is by far the world's largest religion. The reason we have not noticed is because 58% of Protestants now live in Africa and Asia. As an example of what’s going on developing countries, Johnstone says in 1960 there were only 25 baptized Christians in the Hindu Kingdom of Nepal. Today there are 200,000 Christians out of a population of 20 million that is 89% Hindu, 7% Buddhist, and 3.5% Muslim. The Nepalese Christians are striving to reach the goal of one million Christians by the turn of the century.
One of the often-heard comments since Sept. 11 is that Islam is growing so rapidly it soon will become the world's largest religion, overtaking Christianity in just a couple of decades. Many of these projections are traceable to the work of Harvard University scholar Samuel Huntington, who has put forward the idea of a "clash of civilizations." But a new book about Christianity in the Third World says Huntington and others are missing the global demographic picture.
Islam is indeed expanding as Christianity loses its force in the Western world, particularly Europe, says historian and religious studies scholar Philip Jenkins, author of "The Next Christendom." But the numbers of Christians are exploding in the southern hemisphere, he reports. In his book, published by Oxford University Press, Jenkins argues that the post-Sept. 11 commentaries have overlooked the dramatic upsurge of Christianity in places like Africa.
"Basically, you're talking about Africa being 9 percent Christian back in 1900 and close on 50 percent today. That's a huge change," said Jenkins, who teaches at Penn State University. "Somewhere in the 1960s, the number of Christians in Africa outpaced the number of Muslims in Africa. A great, historic change--and nobody paid attention to it."
