ewg writes "Today, 2005-10-14, is World Standards Day as celebrated by the IEC, ISO, and ITU. The press release emphasizes the benefits of safety standards, but the interoperability is the true prize for information systems. How many sets of country codes and date formats do we need?" From the release: "International Standards accommodate people's desire to live in a safer, more secure world by providing a valuable safety net. 'Standards for a safer world' is the theme of the message signed by the leaders of the three principal international standardization organizations to mark World Standards Day 2005. Standards developed at the international level through IEC, ISO and ITU are available for use at the national and regional levels to meet the needs of society at large, the market and government regulators," the three leaders point out. They see standards as vital in disseminating best practices and new technologies, while avoiding new barriers to trade that national security and safety regulations may create."Ads_xl=0;Ads_yl=0;Ads_xp='';Ads_yp='';Ads_xp1='';Ads_yp1='';Ads_par='';Ads_cnturl='';Ads_prf='page=article';Ads_channels='RON_P6_IMU';Ads_wrd='tech,hardware';Ads_kid=0;Ads_bid=0;Ads_sec=0; World Standards Day 2005 Log in/Create an Account | Top | 36 comments | Search Discussion Display Options Threshold: -1: 36 comments 0: 35 comments 1: 29 comments 2: 16 comments 3: 6 comments 4: 1 comments 5: 0 comments Flat Nested No Comments Threaded Oldest First Newest First Highest Scores First Oldest First (Ignore Threads) Newest First (Ignore Threads) The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way. Okay, here's a standard I'd like to see: (Score:4, Insightful) by yagu (721525) * <yayagu@gmail.com> on Saturday October 15, @12:21AM (#13795805) (Last Journal: Friday October 14, @01:20PM) One of my biggest beefs in non-standard behavior (since this article talksabout the safety benefits of standards) is highway construction and layout. I couldgo on about bizarre practices for signage, etc., but I'll just take a couple: Warning signage: I currently live in Washington state and they have the MOSTbizarre ways for warning of construction and other hazards on their highways. Iliterally have come around a blind curve where a sign says "Flagger Ahead" and Ialmost hit some construction worker with his "SLOW" sign. Literally not enoughwarning to slow down without almost slamming on one's brakes.Another example was in Bellevue, WA, and I'm not making this up. Therewas a line of cones angling out from the curb, closing off a lane aroundconstruction of a new high-rise. Nestled behind those cones in the "dead zone"of the closed off lane was one of those generator run highway signs that said,"Right Lane Closed Ahead"! Wow! I wished for my digital camera.On the other hand, there is the state of Illinois where I also lived for along time. Their warning practices are amazing. I one time was way north of Peoriadriving south on the interstate, and I saw signs warning of "Construction Ahead,40 miles"! It may seem ludicrous, but I at least had it in my consciousness I wouldexpect delays and construction, obviously with plenty of time. I wouldn't say THATwould have to be the standard, but in WA there seem to be none.Freeways: notably, the decision to put merging ramps from the left hand side. Again,I'll cite Bellevue WA. They recently redid their I405 and N.E. 4th street interchangeand, yep, the northbound merge onto an HOV lane no less now comes in from the left!(It used to come in from the right, go figure.) Until then I'd sort of figuredleft side ramps were artifacts and had been deemed dangerous and obsolete.I could go on, but I wonder how many accidents and deaths could be prevented onour highway systems if there were more sane and consistently applied standards. (Anddon't even get me started about Europe where they've got ALL of their cars on thewrong side of the road going the wrong way! (kidding)) [ Reply to ThisRe:Okay, here's a standard I'd like to see: by fredistheking (Score:2) Saturday October 15, @12:34AMRe:Okay, here's a standard I'd like to see: by yagu (Score:2) Saturday October 15, @12:37AMRe:Okay, here's a standard I'd like to see: by Seumas (Score:1) Saturday October 15, @12:59AM2 replies beneath your current threshold. Riiiiiighht (Score:2, Funny) by Qubit (100461) on Saturday October 15, @12:24AM (#13795818) World standards day is today, the 14th. Posted on.....the 15th.Maybe we need some new standards? [ Reply to ThisRe:Riiiiiighht by parasonic (Score:1) Saturday October 15, @12:28AMRe:Riiiiiighht by diersing (Score:1) Saturday October 15, @12:30AMRe:Riiiiiighht by Seumas (Score:1) Saturday October 15, @12:35AMRe:Riiiiiighht by PornMaster (Score:2) Saturday October 15, @12:39AMRe:Riiiiiighht by Seumas (Score:1) Saturday October 15, @12:47AM Remember... (Score:3, Funny) by FatRatBastard (7583) <acentofanti&yahoo,com> on Saturday October 15, @12:26AM (#13795822) (http://www.fatratbastard.com/) ... all replies in this thread should be in Esperanto! [ Reply to This1 reply beneath your current threshold. How many country codes are needed? (Score:1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 15, @12:26AM (#13795823) .. er, one for each country.The date formats annoy me quite often e.g. 13/4/2005 compared to 4/13/2005. Please use 2005-4-13 as it is less confusing. [ Reply to ThisRe:How many country codes are needed? by Anonymous Coward (Score:1) Saturday October 15, @12:39AMRe:How many country codes are needed? by Geoffreyerffoeg (Score:2) Saturday October 15, @12:59AMRe:How many country codes are needed? by Bogtha (Score:2) Saturday October 15, @01:00AM so who doesnt celebrate it? (Score:1) by gcnaddict (841664) on Saturday October 15, @12:27AM (#13795827) (http://www.gcnaddict.com/) Well apparently the IEEE (International Electronic and Electrical Engineers) dont support it, and yet dont they carry all the standards for data transfer? (802, 1394, etc. Dont forget, 802.1 is for the internet ;P) [ Reply to This Bureaucracy (Score:2, Interesting) by redonion (843912) on Saturday October 15, @12:27AM (#13795828) This is just more bureaucracy. Why not do your best, instead of keeping to minimum standards? We need a society that tries to exceed, not just get by. [ Reply to This How I celebrate! (Score:1, Troll) by Eric_Cartman_South_P (594330) on Saturday October 15, @12:27AM (#13795829) I celebrate World Standards Day... by masterbating to Unicode Text ASCII porn. With both hands. [ Reply to ThisRe:How I celebrate! by John Nowak (Score:1) Saturday October 15, @12:58AM1 reply beneath your current threshold. HD Video release of proceedings... (Score:3, Funny) by SalsaDot (772010) on Saturday October 15, @12:30AM (#13795834) HD Video release of the proceedings will be made available on both HD-DVD and Blue-ray format discs. [ Reply to This Standards? Bah. (Score:1) by Mister White (892068) on Saturday October 15, @12:32AM (#13795837) Who needs 'em? We all know things work out better if you just build everything from theoretical or visually pleasing designs. [ Reply to This 20 minutes late, and a buck short. (Score:1) by Vorondil28 (864578) <[moc.liamg] [ta] [braejdoog]> on Saturday October 15, @12:32AM (#13795838) (http://homestylelovin.blogspot.com/ | Last Journal: Friday April 08, @05:41PM) This would have been cool to know about 16 hours ago. Oh well. Seeing as how late the "Dilbert Hiding On Your CPU" story was, 20 minutes late is certainly an improvement. :-P [ Reply to This Baby Steps (Score:3, Interesting) by Bob9113 (14996) on Saturday October 15, @12:35AM (#13795845) (http://traxel.com) How many sets of country codes and date formats do we need?Speaking as someone who has worked on a few large scale, interdepartment information systems, I think a good first step would be to get it down to one per application. [ Reply to This ITU (Score:3, Interesting) by Bogtha (906264) on Saturday October 15, @12:39AM (#13795861) It's worth pointing out that the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is an agency of the United Nations. All the bluster about the EU "taking over" the Internet is actually a move to have the Internet administered in much the same way as the international telephone service.Bear that in mind before celebrating World Standards Day today and accusing the EU of being petulant children tomorrow. [ Reply to This Let's not be too hasty here. (Score:2, Funny) by elgee (308600) on Saturday October 15, @12:42AM (#13795872) Thousands and thousands of programmers are employed trying to display the right time and date in internationally used programs. Make it too easy and those programmers will have to get real jobs. [ Reply to This Let's all hear it for the C99 standard! (Score:3, Funny) by QuantumG (50515) <qg@biodome.org> on Saturday October 15, @12:42AM (#13795873) (http://rtfm.insomnia.org/~qg/tcpsafe/ | Last Journal: Saturday August 27, @11:14AM) Oh wait, no-one actually implements the full standard because it is completely disconnected from reality and outside the scope of the committee that drafted it.Let's all hear it for the C89 standard!That's better. [ Reply to This This is all well and good... (Score:1) by John Nowak (872479) on Saturday October 15, @12:55AM (#13795895) ... but when are they going to standardize on a standards organization? [ Reply to This Important question (Score:2) by saskboy (600063) on Saturday October 15, @01:00AM (#13795907) (http://www.abandonedstuff.com/ | Last Journal: Thursday October 13, @03:34PM) Does the Day start when it's 12:00 AM GMT, or 00:00 Local Standard Time? Or Daylight Time I guess that would be right now? Does everyone celebrate it within the same 24 hour period, or do some countries get to enjoy the day before others? [ Reply to This Re:Oops (Score:2) by richdun (672214) on Saturday October 15, @12:25AM (#13795821) Depends on your time zone...ah the irony. [ Reply to This | Parent3 replies beneath your current threshold.