Because we do our jobs well, you don't hear about the latest scandal on Slashdot.
That's true. The typical/. reader is totally above grovelling around in the gutter to read that kind of scandalous, grubby journalism.
To get the whole nine yards about the effects computerised ninnies have on the rest of us you have to go to:- http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/risks which is a very interesting and sadly illuminating read.
So what they _really_ need is knowledge - that, btw is information which has been transferred from the transport medium into the brain - about how to look after their health. First they need to learn to read and write in whatever language they use. In this situation it would be a really worthwhile investment because texting is so much cheaper than talking.
How to persuade the illiterate that it's worth while putting in the effort to learn how to read and write is another, and very difficult question to answer. Even the so-called first-world nations have yet to find the answer.
It's just a butt-ugly brick. I pity the poor Mums and Dads who have persuaded to invest in the company which produced this hunk of stupidity. I don't think I have ever seen such a absolutely stupid thing in all my days. Boat anchor material!
This MBA thingie appears to me to be just a fashion accessory for the wealthy to flaunt - complete with a CPU installed.
When the fiscal patrician's children get sick of their latest toy, beacuse it's running at half cock, can I replace the battery and do real work in full sunlight?
I thought not - Looks to me that I'd be better off saving myself about $1400.:-)
Remember that O/S2 was a joint effort by IBM and Microsoft. I can't ever see the avaricious monopolist ever agreeing to release the sources because a huge amount of it landed up in the NT codebase. That young Bill was getting $6 for each copy of O/S2 sold by IBM. I wish I could find my original disc, 'cos I'd love to try it out inside an instance of VirtualBox or some such.
On the other hand, lets be charitable to the OLPC. Might it not be that they realize that both 'Educashun' and computers are a huge yawn in most of the English speaking first world?
If the OLPC was launched in any of them it would have probably taken off like the proverbial lead balloon. However they launched their machine in countries where education is a very sought after activity, with considerable media fanfair and the message 'No, Rich Folks, you can't have one'. Thus creating a considerable degree of envy, want, and desire. The marketing psychology is exemplary. Madison Avenue would have wanted millions for that marketing plan.
However, I suspect, somewhat cynically perhaps, that Mary Lou Jepsen's business plan has something to do with the matter.
... would keep the next batch of intrepid robots doing science for at least a decade. I'm not going to try to patent the idea because it would fail the obviousness test.
The whole reason for being of the televison medium now-a-days is to provide a medium to disseminate highly commercial advertising to the vulnerable and less than fully literate sectors of society who are the most likely to respond to the commercial messages.
In many countries the TV news is the first major program of the evening and is used competitively to 'capture' the above audience. Thus it's filled with horrific, salacious and generally mindless items designed to do just that.
In almost the entire English speaking world, television is evil, corrosive, corrupting and to be avoided as much as possible, lest it rot your soul. [10% of BBC, 20% of ABC (Aust), and 90% of mvgroup excepted].
T.V., and the advertising thereon, makes Brin and Page et al appear to be a team of top ranking saints.
More to the point: Why did the parent poster get a five when (s)he misses the main point by a million miles?
It's not "... just aren't rich enough to provide computers for their students". It is "...just aren't rich enough to provide books for their students".
Let me add to the chorus: It's an education project, not a computer project. The little green computers are just terminals to enable the kids to turn the information presented thereon into knowledge in their brains.
If J. Dvorak had the wit to be able to do so, he would have at least experimented with the software by downloading an emulator from http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads/ and the OLPC software from http://dev.laptop.org/pub/virtualbox/. The build OLPC-625.zip works for me. If J. Dvorak had actually installed it, he would have discovered that the said little green box is the work of a team of top level geniuses, instead he just confirms the fact that he is just an ignorant shill squeaking mindlessly for that (in)famous Harvard dropout.
Had he spent just a couple of hours doing that he would have discovered that Nicholas Negroponte et all really do deserve a Nobel Prize.
I'd love to try out the OLPC software on my ThinkPad, but I've futzed around with couple of Virtual Machines and image files all weekend and only got as far as a plain white window. If OLPC want their play and learn machine to take off, they have got to get their software into the hands of the world's education administrators, the target audience, and the parents and teachers thereof.
So, which VM and which image file should I d/l to attempt to make a LiveCD so I can show this off to my grandaughter's teacher and school administrator?
11. On the 1st January 2008:- Dates written in the internationally accepted format.
12. On the 1st. February 2008:- All electrical switches in the new Dominion rewired to conform to the convention of the rest of the Commonwealth. Current flows when the switch lever is Down.
13. On the 1st. March 2008:- Local planning and building laws changed, so that it is possible for everybody to walk to work.
14. On the 1st. April 2008:- All school children learn the rules and methods of playing the game of Cricket.
15. On the 1st. May 2008:- Electricity rationing introduced. 9,000 kWh per family per year. All domestic air conditioning turned off as a consequence.
16. On the 1st. June 2008:- All military activity ceases. Overseas bases abandoned. Uniforms burnt, weapons converted into ploughshears. Taxes reduced in proportion to the savings made, and you notice that the value of the New American Pound begins to rise exponentially. All ex-military officiers inducted into the teaching profession. The term 'Fossil Record' explained in schools nation-wide.
17. On the 1st. July 2008:- The New American Dominions adopt the ISO standards for domestic measurement, screw-threads, data storage format, and printing.
18. On the 1st. August 2008:- The right to bear arms revoked, the entire nation goes on holiday.
19. On the 1st. September 2008:- Return to work and school. School-day extended until 4:30pm to allow time to teach the meaning of the words 'Scientific Method', knitting and other crafts. The words 'Jersey', 'Guernsey', 'Cardigan', and 'Jumper' enter the vocabulary as items of warm clothing. All heating thermostats set to 18 degrees Celcius.
20. On the 1st. October 2008:- All cars with engines larger that 1.25 litres crushed. Commuting in private cars prohibited. It's noticed the the level of CO2 in the atmosphere falls 15%.
21. On the 1st. November 2008:- Charles appointed Governor General over the New American Dominions. 14 November established as a nation-wide holiday.
22. On the 1st. December 2008:- Savings made by permanently stopping military activities allow for the formation of Nationwide Health and Housing Services. Broadband established Nationwide.
23. During 2009:- Utah disestablished, Darl McBride escapes to Ulaan Baator.
24. The New American Dominions formally join the world-wide Family of Nations.
All in Jest you understand, but many a true word spoken therein.
What I'd like to vote on is the fact that a link I followed has either changed its content, or has simply disappeared. I am getting enough of these to make searching a much less than a pleasurable experience. Google can then remove the link from their database. In this way we can all help Google to help us.
OOOPS!! So sorry I forgot - some people think helping a Giga-Corp. to help us is morally wrong.
well. Stuffit!! Which Google employeee should I send the idea to?
The age old proverb is just so true. So, if Negreponte's OLPC folks really want to help with second and third world education, they should be going hell-for-leather to get their OLPC software to run, as best it can, on the Wintel hardware offerings. This would give a vivid demonstration of the advantages of the OPLC machine's hardware design.
At the end of the day, it will be the availability and quality of child-engaging courseware packages which will make or break _all_ these computers-in-schools projects. I wonder if the content producers and publishers of the world have even heard of OLPC, let alone seen the point of it?
FTA: "The magnets... draw most of their power from supercooled helium"
What utter bull, When are the writers about scientific subjects going to go to school? This is knowledge I'd expect every Year 12 student to have so that they do not eject this kind of howler.
Ditto, of course to the dim nitwits who took the iron things into the MRI scanning room. If the US is going to try to keep its preeminence as a world power it had better start building a few new schools, and pay the teachers sufficient to get good people to do the job.
OTOH, Speaking as a GIMP user since the 0.54 version, I find the fact that the menus and default key encodings seem to change a often as I change my socks absolutely infuriating. One just gets to the point of being slightly efficient and then, blow me, all the the key-bindings and menu layouts change yet again! Please stop doing that, and tell the users who want GIMP to be a clone of something else to just get used to the fact it's a _different_ program which works in _different_ ways.
Slashdot Mirror
To get the whole nine yards about the effects computerised ninnies have on the rest of us you have to go to:- http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/risks which is a very interesting and sadly illuminating read.
How to persuade the illiterate that it's worth while putting in the effort to learn how to read and write is another, and very difficult question to answer. Even the so-called first-world nations have yet to find the answer.
It's just a butt-ugly brick. I pity the poor Mums and Dads who have persuaded to invest in the company which produced this hunk of stupidity. I don't think I have ever seen such a absolutely stupid thing in all my days. Boat anchor material!
This MBA thingie appears to me to be just a fashion accessory for the wealthy to flaunt - complete with a CPU installed.
:-)
When the fiscal patrician's children get sick of their latest toy, beacuse it's running at half cock, can I replace the battery and do real work in full sunlight?
I thought not - Looks to me that I'd be better off saving myself about $1400.
Jest is just so wonderful.
Are the magic words, but please do prepare your brain for a roller-coaster ride.
OpenAFS
and
Kerberos
Remember that O/S2 was a joint effort by IBM and Microsoft. I can't ever see the avaricious monopolist ever agreeing to release the sources because a huge amount of it landed up in the NT codebase. That young Bill was getting $6 for each copy of O/S2 sold by IBM. I wish I could find my original disc, 'cos I'd love to try it out inside an instance of VirtualBox or some such.
I love fiddling about with that little red whatsit in the middle of the works, it's so effective.
Being straight, I just can't bring myself to get enthusiastic about having anything other than a female on my lap.
btw, Anybody know if she has any sort of relationship with Tuxie?
Patriotic, probably not.
Convenient, yes.
One of them closes in just over an hour
On the other hand, lets be charitable to the OLPC. Might it not be that they realize that both 'Educashun' and computers are a huge yawn in most of the English speaking first world?
If the OLPC was launched in any of them it would have probably taken off like the proverbial lead balloon. However they launched their machine in countries where education is a very sought after activity, with considerable media fanfair and the message 'No, Rich Folks, you can't have one'. Thus creating a considerable degree of envy, want, and desire. The marketing psychology is exemplary. Madison Avenue would have wanted millions for that marketing plan.
However, I suspect, somewhat cynically perhaps, that Mary Lou Jepsen's business plan has something to do with the matter.
It doesn't need a scientist to do that!
Plants do it, naturally, every day of their lives.
Is this yet another pork-barrel activity?
... would keep the next batch of intrepid robots doing science for at least a decade. I'm not going to try to patent the idea because it would fail the obviousness test.
> I've never registered my copy of Linux, for one.
I you should feel totally ashamed of yourself!
Deal with it.
http://counter.li.org/
The whole reason for being of the televison medium now-a-days is to provide a medium to disseminate highly commercial advertising to the vulnerable and less than fully literate sectors of society who are the most likely to respond to the commercial messages.
In many countries the TV news is the first major program of the evening and is used competitively to 'capture' the above audience. Thus it's filled with horrific, salacious and generally mindless items designed to do just that.
In almost the entire English speaking world, television is evil, corrosive, corrupting and to be avoided as much as possible, lest it rot your soul. [10% of BBC, 20% of ABC (Aust), and 90% of mvgroup excepted].
T.V., and the advertising thereon, makes Brin and Page et al appear to be a team of top ranking saints.
http://www.tug.org/
Use a front end of choice if you want. E.G.:-
http://www.latex-project.org/
http://www.lyx.org/
http://kile.sourceforge.net/
http://www.gnu.org/software/auctex
A Google search on "tex frontend" will yield many more.
Honest, before all the Deities, it's that simple.
More to the point: Why did the parent poster get a five when (s)he misses the main point by a million miles?
It's not "... just aren't rich enough to provide computers for their students". It is "...just aren't rich enough to provide books for their students".
Let me add to the chorus: It's an education project, not a computer project. The little green computers are just terminals to enable the kids to turn the information presented thereon into knowledge in their brains.
If J. Dvorak had the wit to be able to do so, he would have at least experimented with the software by downloading an emulator from http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads/ and the OLPC software from http://dev.laptop.org/pub/virtualbox/. The build OLPC-625.zip works for me. If J. Dvorak had actually installed it, he would have discovered that the said little green box is the work of a team of top level geniuses, instead he just confirms the fact that he is just an ignorant shill squeaking mindlessly for that (in)famous Harvard dropout.
Had he spent just a couple of hours doing that he would have discovered that Nicholas Negroponte et all really do deserve a Nobel Prize.
Somebody's been reading too many 'enlargement' spams.
Here's what they need.This one which is cached by Google here is from one of our anonymous friends.
Concrete Bollards set in the roadway wide enough for a car to pass through but too close together for lorry / truck would be the lo-tech solution.
Don't wait for the Local Govt. to get its arse into gear. Just Do It. There you go! Problem solved!
Goes a treat. Many thanks!
I'd love to try out the OLPC software on my ThinkPad, but I've futzed around with couple of Virtual Machines and image files all weekend and only got as far as a plain white window. If OLPC want their play and learn machine to take off, they have got to get their software into the hands of the world's education administrators, the target audience, and the parents and teachers thereof.
So, which VM and which image file should I d/l to attempt to make a LiveCD so I can show this off to my grandaughter's teacher and school administrator?
Anybody got an OLPC emulation to actually go?
11. On the 1st January 2008:-
Dates written in the internationally accepted format.
12. On the 1st. February 2008:-
All electrical switches in the new Dominion rewired to conform to the convention of the rest of the Commonwealth. Current flows when the switch lever is Down.
13. On the 1st. March 2008:-
Local planning and building laws changed, so that it is possible for everybody to walk to work.
14. On the 1st. April 2008:-
All school children learn the rules and methods of playing the game of Cricket.
15. On the 1st. May 2008:-
Electricity rationing introduced. 9,000 kWh per family per year. All domestic air conditioning turned off as a consequence.
16. On the 1st. June 2008:-
All military activity ceases. Overseas bases abandoned. Uniforms burnt, weapons converted into ploughshears. Taxes reduced in proportion to the savings made, and you notice that the value of the New American Pound begins to rise exponentially. All ex-military officiers inducted into the teaching profession. The term 'Fossil Record' explained in schools nation-wide.
17. On the 1st. July 2008:-
The New American Dominions adopt the ISO standards for domestic measurement, screw-threads, data storage format, and printing.
18. On the 1st. August 2008:-
The right to bear arms revoked, the entire nation goes on holiday.
19. On the 1st. September 2008:-
Return to work and school. School-day extended until 4:30pm to allow time to teach the meaning of the words 'Scientific Method', knitting and other crafts. The words 'Jersey', 'Guernsey', 'Cardigan', and 'Jumper' enter the vocabulary as items of warm clothing. All heating thermostats set to 18 degrees Celcius.
20. On the 1st. October 2008:-
All cars with engines larger that 1.25 litres crushed. Commuting in private cars prohibited. It's noticed the the level of CO2 in the atmosphere falls 15%.
21. On the 1st. November 2008:-
Charles appointed Governor General over the New American Dominions.
14 November established as a nation-wide holiday.
22. On the 1st. December 2008:-
Savings made by permanently stopping military activities allow for the formation of Nationwide Health and Housing Services. Broadband established Nationwide.
23. During 2009:-
Utah disestablished, Darl McBride escapes to Ulaan Baator.
24. The New American Dominions formally join the world-wide Family of Nations.
All in Jest you understand, but many a true word spoken therein.
What I'd like to vote on is the fact that a link I followed has either changed its content, or has simply disappeared. I am getting enough of these to make searching a much less than a pleasurable experience. Google can then remove the link from their database. In this way we can all help Google to help us.
OOOPS!! So sorry I forgot - some people think helping a Giga-Corp. to help us is morally wrong.
well. Stuffit!! Which Google employeee should I send the idea to?
The age old proverb is just so true. So, if Negreponte's OLPC folks really want to help with second and third world education, they should be going hell-for-leather to get their OLPC software to run, as best it can, on the Wintel hardware offerings. This would give a vivid demonstration of the advantages of the OPLC machine's hardware design.
At the end of the day, it will be the availability and quality of child-engaging courseware packages which will make or break _all_ these computers-in-schools projects. I wonder if the content producers and publishers of the world have even heard of OLPC, let alone seen the point of it?
Ditto, of course to the dim nitwits who took the iron things into the MRI scanning room. If the US is going to try to keep its preeminence as a world power it had better start building a few new schools, and pay the teachers sufficient to get good people to do the job.
Got any concrete evidence?
OTOH, Speaking as a GIMP user since the 0.54 version, I find the fact that the menus and default key encodings seem to change a often as I change my socks absolutely infuriating. One just gets to the point of being slightly efficient and then, blow me, all the the key-bindings and menu layouts change yet again! Please stop doing that, and tell the users who want GIMP to be a clone of something else to just get used to the fact it's a _different_ program which works in _different_ ways.