MacOS X vs Ubuntu- A Personal Assessment

Copied from my Slashdot journal:

Here's my problem: I use macs at home. Ok I admit it, it's not a really problem because I believe it's the best overall user experience for me. Even if I'm a heavy open source software user (and sporadic contributor) and enthusiast, I still haven't been convinced Ubuntu is ready for me. I don't have a lot of Ubuntu experience despite using Debian at work, but Slashdot users do! I don't want or need a flamewar, I'd like to get your informed feedback. I wrote a short personal assessment of why I stick with Macs instead of switching to Ubuntu right away. Where I am wrong? My short text quickly looks at the software I, and any average user, use on a computer: email (Apple's Mail vs Thunderbird / other), Spotlight vs Beagle, etc. To reassure Ubuntu fans, here's an extract: "I found this interrogation from one of my colleagues, "will MacOSX forever stay more advanced than Ubuntu?". I tend to believe the answer's no and as a consequence, you'll eventually see me use an open source operating system on my primary computer at home. We're not just there yet."

PASS: Product Attribute Sharing for Sustainability

Here's a few words on the Product Attribute Sharing for Sustainability (PASS) project that went back to oblivion last summer. In my opinion, it's a great project that will eventually see the light in one form or another (and I most probably won't be involved in its coming to life). I discussed the concept over 10 years ago with friends (I sure don't claim to be the first to think about it) and in spring 2007, an enthusiastic friend called me and told me he wanted to work on the project. Along with a small core group of about 5 people, we met a few times, brainstormed, gathered and shared information, discussed and wrote some documentation. At the end of the summer, when the main conceptual aspects of the project were pretty mature, we decided to halt the process. Why? Weren't we working on another Great Idea (tm)? Time. We all have (generally exciting) full-time jobs and, as much as we'd like, we could not figure out a way to keep the project alive while keeping ourselves alive. Here's a very short summary, we have a 6-pages document to share with anyone interested (in French though).

Okay, so what it is? The name "Product Attribute Sharing for Sustainability" provides a few hints. This acronym is a working title. In a few words, it's a small-size portable digital device, to be used in groceries and various stores, aimed at advising users and consumers about sold products, specifically about their quality, their origin, their health and ecological impacts, and so on. The device may have the ability to read product barcodes but it is not required. Products data and metadata would be validated, potentially using existing reliable sources and a moderated wiki system. The portable device may sync itself over the Internet (and the software will upload only relevant information to the user, based on the products he has access to and his preferences). The information provided to consumers would be tailored to his preferences (example: someone may favor local products or small producers, another one may favor healthy, vegan or nuts-free products, etc). There's much more to it, but you get the idea.

As I said, I strongly believe this project will eventually come to life. Why? Because it will be a success (if well implemented, of course ;-). One of the group even scooped that taoit are working on it, but in my opinion it's vaporware until anything tangible is released. Similar existing projects includes Barcodepedia and Skin Deep.

Altruism and Economics

After a nice discussion with friends about altruism, I stumbled on this interesting Herbert Simon 6-pages text named Altruism and Economics. Here's an extract:

"In evolutionary theory, altruism means behavior that reduces the actor's fitness while enhancing the fitness of others. If the total contribution of the altruist to the fitness of others is greater than the fitness lost by the altruist, altruism will increase the prospects of the group's surviving in competition with other groups."

The text underlines the benefits of altruism and related behavior to the economy. Amongst the elements of the discussion: do you consider yourself an altruist? Why be an altruist? Is it something we choose to be or simply are? Where lies the threshold of being too much altruistic? To which extent does altruism help us as a society?

Idée : «Livre dont vous êtes le parent»

L'idée est la suivante : un livre interactif sur la réalité d'être nouveau parent sous la formule des anciennement populaires "Livre dont vous êtes le héros". La génération des adolescents ayant lu de nombreux livre dont vous êtes le héros sont maintenant à l'âge d'être nouveaux parents. C'est une idée parmi tant d'autres mais je la trouvais amusante, pouvant tant divertir que d'informer et générer des discussions de couple pertinentes. L'idée aurait été même potentiellement lucrative si elle avait été menée à terme il y a 5-10 ans (nombreux sont ceux en mal d'offrir un cadeau original et utile aux nouveaux parents).

Pour ceux qui connaissent la formule, voici certains éléments qui auraient pu faire parti d'un tel livre :
- Caractéristiques du personnage : points de patience, points de sommeil, points air-lousse, points de bonheur, argent, etc.
- Outils : une débarbouillette, une poussette, une cuillère, etc.
- Villains : CPE, DPJ, la belle-mère, les autres bébés malades, etc.
- Épreuves et missions : trouver une place en garderie, gérer la visite, partager le congé parental, la vaccination, conserver tout au long du périple suffisamment de points de sommeil, de points de patience et de points de bonheur, etc.

L'idée mériteraient d'être développée davantage avant d'aller plus loin, mais son potentiel me semble intéressant ! Si l'idée vous enthousiasme et que vous comptez la mettre de l'avant (pourquoi pas dans l'fond ? :-), faîtes-moi signe ! Ah oui, je sais que le titre "livre dont vous êtes le parent" n'a pas le même punch que "livre dont vous êtes le héros", car contrairement à héros, nous ne sommes pas "parent" du livre... mais n'ayant pas trouvé mieux, appelons ça un working title ;-)

MISE À JOUR - 080430 : un bon copain m'a fait part de cet intéressant outil pour aider à générer de tels livres interactifs.

Del.icio.us bookmarks migration completed

I'm happy to announce this minor task finally completed: my bookmarks are now fully migrated to my Delicious account. More precisely, they have been imported to Delicious in late 2006 and what I really just completed is the initial tagging and cleaning. That never been high on my priority list, but it's a good thing done.

Here's the previous blog post on my bookmarks and my page explaining the whole thing.

Keeping Found Things Found

I just started reading William Jones' Keeping Found Things Found. I admit buying this book solely on Peter Morville's recommendation. I'm confident this will be an interesting read. Quote for the first chapter:

"Where is the Life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information? -- T.S. Elliot (1888-1965)"

Related, I've been pleased with Kimiz Dalkir's Knowledge Management I read last year, another book I feel comfortable to recommend, though I understand the topic is a little (but just a little) less universal than personal information management.

Coal Ash Is More Radioactive than Nuclear Waste

This might not be intuitive, but coal ash is more radioactive than nuclear waste. See this recent account by Scientific American. Two exerts:
"Among the surprising conclusions: the waste produced by coal plants is actually more radioactive than that generated by their nuclear counterparts. In fact, fly ash—a by-product from burning coal for power—contains up to 100 times more radiation than nuclear waste."

But don't panic just yet:
"The question boils down to the accumulating impacts of daily incremental pollution from burning coal or the small risk but catastrophic consequences of even one nuclear meltdown. "I suspect we'll hear more about this rivalry," Finkelman says. "More coal will be mined in the future. And those ignorant of the issues, or those who have a vested interest in other forms of energy, may be tempted to raise these issues again.""