Kosovo, a new nation?

Kosovo, a small, landlocked political unit in southeastern Europe has declared its independence. The United States and some Western European countries have recognized Kosovo as an independent nation. There is a full, interesting article available through the New York Times, if you want to read more about the situation.

What does this have to do with technology and reading at SCCS, you may ask. Well, it's interesting to see the changes in the political maps as are represented by the atlases in the library. In the older ones, for example, the Soviet Union covers a broad swath of land from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean. In our current Atlas, however, Russia is quite a bit smaller and there are more than a dozen new countries! Will Kosovo show up as a country in next year's atlas, or will it still be a part of Serbia? This will be a reflection of the political thought of the publishers and countries around the world.

Remember, while Wikipedia can keep up with these rapid changes faster than the print versions, there is little editorial review, and mistakes and bias exist. Take a look at Wikipedia's article on Kosovo and compare it with the New York Time's. Do you see differences?

Transportation strikes

It's quite interesting that both France and Bolivia are having transportation strikes at the same time, though over different issues. Read this BBC article (in English) to further understand the French strike. The BBC also has a short article on the Bolivian strike. El Deber has a more indepth article (in Spanish).

To find out more about this issue, or anything else in the news, Google News is a great place to start your search.