Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

Radiohead

2009-02-18T21:25:19Z

JeffP: added more on bands early years

'''Radiohead''' is a band from the [[United Kingdom]] that is very influential in [[music]], and was especially so during the 1990s. They have had six albums, five EPs and one live album. Singer/guitarist/pianist [[Thom Yorke]] has had one solo album, and guitarist Jonny Greenwood has composed soundtracks for major motion pictures such as ''[[There Will Be Blood]]''.

== Early Years ==

The band was formed in high school by Thom Yorke and bassist Colin Greenwood. Drummer Phil Selway was added shortly after forming as was guitarist Ed O' Brien. Greenwood's younger brother Jonny would tag along to band practices at their mother's request and after begging to become a member numerous times, he was added as a harmonica player. He soon moved to keyboards and eventually lead guitar. The band were originally called 'on a friday' - reflecting their practice schedule. They played together under this name throughout their school years and then during university vacations whilst the bands members were studying.

After completing their studies the band were signed to Parlaphone Records and changed their name to Radiohead. They released their debut album, 'Pablo Honey', then 'The Bends', before the highly acclaimed 'OK Computer' - a regular high placing entry in critics 'best albums of all time' lists even twelve years after it's initial release.

Due to the success of 'OK Computer', the band were given absolute artistic freedom to record anything they liked for their next release. The band went against expectations, and rather than record another guitar based 'britpop' style record, released the electronica influenced 'Kid A', later albums continued this trend throughout the remainder of their recording contract with Parlaphone.

== Digital Sale ==

No longer signed to a major label, the band decided not to sign with another big label for their next album. Radiohead's 2007 album ''In Rainbows'' is notable for being the first major blockbuster release by a major band to be released for free. Upon the album's release, the record label sold it through InRainbows.com, where customers had the option to enter whatever price they wanted to pay (including $0). Similar practices have since been used by other major artists such as [[Nine Inch Nails]] and [[Girl Talk]], and is rapidly becoming standard.

== Releases ==
===Albums===
* ''Pablo Honey'' (1993)
* ''The Bends'' (1995)
* ''OK Computer'' (1997)
* ''Kid A'' (2000)
* ''Amnesiac'' (2001)
* ''Hail to the Thief'' (2003)
* ''In Rainbows'' (2007)

===[[EP]]s and B-Sides===
* ''Drill'' (1992)
* ''My Iron Lung'' (1994)
* ''No Surprises / Running From Demons'' (1997)
* ''Airbag / How Am I Driving?'' (1998)
* ''Com Lag'' (2003)

===Live Albums===
* ''I Might Be Wrong'' (2001)

[[Category:Bands]]

GNU Free Documentation License

2009-02-18T16:28:40Z

JeffP: /* Uptake of the GFDL */ Expanded this. I have a few software manuals that use the GFDL but no one in their right mind (except Wikipedia) would use it for anything else!

The GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) is promoted by the Free Software Foundation, Inc. as a way supposedly to facilitate the free use and modification of textual information.<ref>http://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl.txt</ref> It is modeled after the approach taken by free software developers to encourage improvements and use of free software, despite fundamental differences between editing and using text rather than software. But in fact its red tape and tricky restrictions have limited its usefulness.

== The rules of the GFDL ==
The GFDL license is complex and burdensome, and difficult for teachers to use.
* '''''Every''''' person who has worked on the text must be credited whenever it is published. There are several obvious problems with this:
*# It can obviously lead to '''huge''' lists of authors being included with every copy of the document, even if they only made minor changes (spelling, punctuation etc).
*# Simple copy-editors are given the same amount of credit as the people who potentially spent years writing the text.
*# Traditionally published books give clear and simple credit to the main author(s). GFDL documents don't
* '''''Every''''' change must be logged, no matter how trivial. A situation could easily result, where a short document is accompanied by hundreds of pages of "change logs".
* All derivative works are '''''forced''''' to use the GFDL. This obviously cripples the chances of small organisations (schools, church groups etc...) protecting their intellectual property under copyright law if they choose to incorporate GFDL material in their work.

== Uptake of the GFDL ==
The GFDL was only ever intended to be used in software documentation,<ref>http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Talk:GNU_Free_Documentation_License&oldid=626654</ref> and it is quite widely used by the GNU project for this purpose. It is rare, however, to see books or educational material (except for a few software manuals) that make use of the license.

Wikipedia, the "free" encyclopedia controversially uses the GFDL, despite the fact it was never intended for use with such a project.<ref>http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Talk:GNU_Free_Documentation_License&oldid=626654</ref> This forces the users of Wikipedia to include vast lists of "authors" and the text of the license whenever they copy its content. In this respect, GFDL documents are very similar to a [[chain letter]]. In stark contrast, [[Conservapedia]] has rejected the GFDL as unnecessarily complex and too restrictive. Instead, <ref>http://www.conservapedia.com/Conservapedia:Copyright</ref> they believe that good faith use should not be hindered by red tape.<ref>http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Talk%3AGNU_Free_Documentation_License&diff=626785&oldid=626777</ref>

== References ==
<references />

[[category:law]]
[[category:copyright]]

Talk:GNU Free Documentation License

2009-02-18T16:16:16Z

JeffP: some protection is useful

Andy, my impression of the GFDL is different. I've actually talked on the phone with the director of the FSF, specifically about Wikipedia.

Note that it is a "[[documentation]]" license. As originally conceived, this meant manuals telling people how to use computer software - specifically, [[free software]] released under the [[GPL]]. They never intended it for multiple-author collaborative projects like an encyclopedia.

We ought to take a look at the [[Creative Commons]] licensing scheme. It is much simpler. --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] <sup>[[User talk:Ed Poor|Talk]]</sup> 07:58, 18 February 2009 (EST)

: Hi Ed, I hope this is the right place to reply to your message on my talk page! I agree that the CC licenses are much better than GFDL for an encyclopedia. I guess the GFDL probably makes some sense for software documentation, where it's necessary to keep track of stuff that was relevant to old versions of the software, etc...

: However, CC licenses are much more flexible and a lot simpler. I'm the trustee for a charity supporting a hospital set up by [[Mother Teresa]] in [[Calcutta]]. We use CC licenses for all our public documentation and it works wonderfully. The local churches give out single-page leaflets to families in high-poverty areas near the hospital. In theory, if we used GFDL we would need to also provide a leaflet explaining the silly chain-letter style rules of the GFDL, another leaflet with a list of everyone who sat in the meetings going through the text, and another leaflet explaining exactly what everyone contributed!

: CC licenses simply say that everyone is free to use and distribute the documents, but they have to give credit to the author (this credit can be given in any form you like, such as "This text came from <link> at Conservapedia". Note that you don't have to give the GFDL-style ridiculous list of EVERY author!). You can choose to "bolt-on" any of the following options:
:* '''NoDerivatives''' - Prevents people from changing the document. Our charity uses this option because local Hindu extremists who object to Christians helping their community(!) have previously distributed modified versions of our leaflets, packed full of lies and scaremongering.
:* '''ShareAlike''' - Forces people to release derivatives under the same license. This wasn't relevant for us, because we don't allow derivatives!
:* '''NonCommercial''' - Prevents people from using it for commercial gain. We didn't use this option, because we believe that free trade needs to be promoted in such a poor area and if a local business finds our work useful, then good luck to them! As long as they don't change the content, we don't mind!

: Sorry this was a bit lengthy - I saw that there's a rule here about the number of talk-page posts, so I tried to put as comprehensive an answer in a single post. [[User:JeffP|JeffP]] 10:45, 18 February 2009 (EST)

:: I agree that CC is much better than [[GFDL]], which should be discarded as soon as possible. A teacher cannot even easily use [[GFDL]] material to educate his students! That's an outrage.

:: That said, I'm not convinced CC licenses are worth the trouble either. Knowledge and the truth should be available to all. At Conservapedia, we welcome good faith uses by others without any red tape.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 10:49, 18 February 2009 (EST)

::: I'm so pleased that other people see some faults with the GFDL. I think it's essential to have ''some'' formal legal protection against bad-faith use, though. The lies propagated by the Hindu group I mentioned above did some serious damage to people's perception of the hospital we support. That was when we simply stated that people could use our work completely freely. With CC, it sets some simple boundaries! [[User:JeffP|JeffP]] 11:16, 18 February 2009 (EST)

Talk:GNU Free Documentation License

2009-02-18T15:45:10Z

JeffP: I like CC too

GNU Free Documentation License

2009-02-18T12:36:18Z

JeffP: Started adding some explanation of the red tape - the article didn't actually say ''why'' the GFDL is so complex and burdensome!

Lemur

2009-02-17T20:27:59Z

JeffP: They are in zoos in other countries!

In biology, the term '''lemur''' applies to a variety of small [[primates]] found exclusively (in the wild) on the island of [[Madagascar]].

[[category:primates]]

Ubuntu

2009-02-17T20:24:52Z

JeffP: Added info about the other versions

Ubuntu is a community-developed, free, [[Linux]]-based operating system. The word "Ubuntu" means '[[Humanity]] to others', or 'I am what I am because of who we all are'.
[[Image:Gnomesword large.png|right|thumb|250px|Screenshot of Ubuntu [[Christian]] Edition.]]

Ubuntu [[Christian]] Edition, an enhanced free version of Ubuntu, offers many features for devout Christians. The Christian Edition includes parental controls and a rich selection of [[Bible]] [[software]]. It also comes with office and productivity software, financial management programs, and inspiring Christian artwork.

The standard version uses the GNOME desktop environment. Other official versions include "Kubuntu", which uses [[KDE]] and "Xubuntu", which uses [[XFCE]].

==External Links==
* [http://ubuntuce.com/ Ubuntu Christian Edition]
* [http://www.ubuntu.com/ Official Site]

[[Category:Computer Science]]

User:JeffP

2009-02-17T20:21:40Z

JeffP: Started my page!

My name's Jeff and I'm a History teacher. I live in [[Huddersfield]] in the North of [[England]] and I'd like to help out!

I can probably be of most help with articles about British History and politics. I confess to being a bit of a geek: I use the [[Ubuntu]] operating system and I enjoy building amateur electronics kits with my son. We recently made a crystal radio... maybe I'll write an article about them!