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-----Original Message----- From: Tompaleo@aol.com <Tompaleo@aol.com> To: dinosaur@usc.edu <dinosaur@usc.edu> Date: Saturday, December 30, 2000 3:52 PM Subject: Re: [Re: paper request] (snip) > >I whole heartedly agree with Tracy to wit he opined, > >> >> Ah yes, the great internet and everything should be free on it for >everyone. >> So people can cut articles and post them without regard of copyrights. This >> is one reason why I don't have a site. > >It all boils down to this increasing (and increasingly annoying) trend >towards the need for _instant_ gratificatoion_. Many people these days, want >everything handed to them on a silver platter. It is symptomatic of the decay >of our culture towards fat, lazy and stupid! Never mind doing the foot work >or shedding the blood, sweat and tears RESEARCHING or _working towards a goal >just whine loud enough and long enough and maybe someone will hand it to you. >The Internet is a tool with which to communicate and to _conduct_ research. >It is not as many now seem to believe, a panacea for the lazy or the cheap. *Hey, microfilm was invented as a way to store articles in a small space, and make it easier to locate. We now have the technology of Computers to make this even easier, so why not??? I >> can`t see how going through stacks of printed journals could possibly be >> "good for you"! > >Pesrsonally, I love rummaging through libraries and stacks of journals to the >point of information overload. The fact is that doing this adds up the $$ >quickly also helps one to learn to _prioritize_ and to _focus_ more clearly >on the problem at hand. I am an older student with a wife children, bills, >mortgage and now student loans to pay. Do you think it's any easier for me? >Time is an even more limted quantity than money is. I can't get to the >library a fraction of the amount of time that I'd like to so I have learned >to network and be creative in obtaining that which I need for my work. This >passion of mine has cost me dearly but the rewards are so worth it. > >> How else are you going to find articles? Or even articles that you >> didn't even think about? I've walked the stacks for years and will >> constantly find articles that I want in volumes I hadn't thought about >> looking in before. > >Exactly! I find this is so even with my own personal library of journals >(i.e. JVP, Geology, Geotimes, and Scinece). Furthermore, careful attention >to the _BIBLIOGRAPHY_ of such papers often creates another list of refs to >find. Just like the WWW, it is a seemingly never ending process. But that's >the fun of it, pursuit of knowlege. > *Don`t you think if all these articles were listed in a comprehensive bibliography on a computer hard drive, they might be easier to search (by subject etc.?)? >> OK,...perhaps if we`re going to continue living in the >> past, and college students will continue to have to do it this way for >years >> to come but it certainly isn`t progress, and the absence of progress seems, >> (to me), not good.> I >> can`t see how going through stacks of printed journals could possibly be >> "good for you"! > >A typically myopic and selfish attitude but considering events of the last >decade But what else is new? If immediate satisfaction is not obtained, it >must not be "progress" , or it's "unfair" or "predjudicial" etc.! Thats BS! >Hell, if this (the cost of doing "science" was _easy_ and _cheap_ then of >what value is the "science" that results. *Hey! What`s wrong with wanting fast results (as far as finding papers,...which is what I`m talking about here)? Perhaps "myopic and selfish" would appropriately label an "oldtimer", who had to "hoof it", cause computers were not available, and who is jealous of a younger generation whose future seems easier in some ways due to technological progress. I once did an exterior paint job for a wealthy "senior citizen". Huge house. I went out and purchased an airless sprayer, and had the job done in about half the time it would have taken by hand. After finishing , the senior told me he didn`t like sprayers (although they do a fine job, and put on just as much paint). Somehow, cause I got it done fast, he was somehow disappointed,..maybe remembered how long it took himself once! By the way, he didn`t ask how much the sprayer cost, (and it was a fraction of what I spent on this computer!). *Hey! I`m an old timer myself,...almost 50! I went through the stacks plenty, in obtaining my undergrad and masters degrees. Now that I`m researching as a hobbie, I still think the system could be improved. A home computer should be a portal to universal knowledge. That`s why I bought it! (snip) >Time, money and long >hours of _work_ are the prime ingredients to getting to the publication >stage. Publication can and often leads to getting research money. A positive >feedback loop is created rather than a purely negative one. > >It also takes time and money to have someone digitize, create and maintain >the computers, data and websites which adds to this unseen cost just so >someone can have a freebie in almost no time! *So? I`m not talking about freebies. Pay for access websites could be set up, perhaps (and ideally) on a pay per article basis. *This is the age of the internet,.....let`s get "with it"! |