Have you noticed that the quality of technical papers at engineering and mining conferences these days is just not what it used to be in the old days?

It is possible that these days I know more than I used to in the old days, and that now I am more able to identify the rubbish that passes for a conference paper and presentation. 

It may be that these days there are simply too many conferences.  Every day here in Vancouver there is another conference with an interesting-sounding title and hollow, insubstantial presentations.  There just are not enough talented paper writers to go around?

But maybe a more insidious and fundamental factor is at work? I suspect that the abysmal quality of papers at technical conferences these days is a direct outcome of the absurd insistence by conference organizers and their publishers on copyright. 

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My April 1 resolution:  never again read a magazine, blog, or newspaper bedecked with a picture of a drill rig, a big truck, or worse, a young lady in a hard hat in front of a mining truck.   Imagine my chagrin and rage on seeing this photo, which accompanies a gushing article from Australia.  I cannot resist breaking my April 1 resolution and copying it here.

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