ACM Tech Arcticles -- September 27, 2004

The following are links to three of the more interesting tech articles that I received in the September 27, 2004 edition of ACM TechNews:

Web tool may banish broken links

Data you can virtually touch

Green electronics

Does Home-schooling rob children?

While viewing the forums at Crosswak.com, I came across the following link discussing the topic of home schooling: Home-schooling robs children. The main premise of the post, original featured on the Holland Sentinel Community Bulleting Board, seems to be that home schooling is a detriment to children. The following paragraph taken from the aforementioned post, intrigued me the most:

I have met and talked with a variety of home schoolers, both children and parents. Many have great gaps in their knowledge. Many are incredibly naive. Some do quite well -- they would have been superstars in school. Others can't wait to leave home, knowing full well that they have been cheated.

Parents often believe that they are protecting their children from the "evils" of life. However, children cannot be brought up in a bell jar. Remember that the school day is only six hours long, five days a week. That leaves many hours during the week and summer for the parent.

Africa and the Digital Divide

The following link is to an article discussing how IT professional in Africa are working to decrease the digital divide of the country: Africans get tools to cross the digital divide . Dwayne Bailey, a pioneer in software translation, and his team are working on rewriting open source software (software in which the original source code is available for users to modify and redistribute without fear of copyright infringement) in 11 of the major languages of South Africa. According to the article, one of the major problems with rewriting or developing software in many of Africa’s dialects is the lack of a technical vocabulary. To overcome this, the developer are either making up new words or finding comparable words/phrases such as calling the recycle bin, “the dark hole in the ground”. A very good article.

Assault Weapon Ban

I know this is a few weeks old, but Black America Today had a very interesting article posted concerning the recent lifting of the assault weapon ban: Assault Weapons Ban Expires Today. According to the author, Roland S. Martin, having the ban in place was a means for “keep[ing] our streets from being damaged by savages who are more intent on using the guns for human prey”. A lot of opponents to the ban claimed that it violates the second amendment (the right to bear arms). However, I don’t believe the original founders of the constitution were intending for this to include mass killing weapons such as assault weapons. Assault weapons are designed for only one purpose: the killing of a large number of people with one pull of the trigger.

Examing Barack Obama

While reading through the posts on the Black America Today forums, I ran across the following link provided by a poster: The Messiah is Human. In this article, the author discusses how praise for Barrack Obama may be a bit premature or superfluous. The article, which presents a little of Obama’s political history and educational background, stresses that Obama’s record should be examined with a very discerning eye. In one of my previous BLOG post, I expressed feeling on Barrack Obama’s recent Democratic speech. While this article has opened my eyes a bit when judging Obama, it; however, does not tarnish my opinion of the man. While no human being is prefect, Obama does at least set a positive example, which hopefully will become more of a trend, for the next generation of black leaders. Once you read the article, let me know what you think.