I would say that people who argue that paper books will go away in the short term have their heads so far up the ass of technology as to not really have a clear view of the world any more...Books have a warmth and tactile feedback that a cold, digital screen will never offer to me.
I would also add that books are more reliable than ebooks. e-media tends to be disposable and transient. How many times have you deleted an mp3 or a dvd only to download it some months later? availability makes the e-book, reliability the book.
e-books will not replace regular books, i think they will rather create yet another type of medium or genre: like pop replacing jazz replacing operas...
courseware and "best-sellers" like Harry Potter are the great frontier of the e-book.
Mass adoption of English as a second language could give Mexico the enormous economic boost that India has enjoyed in recent years. Can the OLPC fill this gap in Mexican education? Will Mexicans care to learn English? I doubt it. There may soon be a time when large numbers of Indians stop immigrating to the US because there are plenty of good jobs in India. It would be nice to think that Mexico could get to that point too.
Learning languages for educational purposes, sure. But your comment implies that Mexicans ought to learn English as a benefit to American social and economical interests. Sir, language is one of the fundamental parts of all societies: it can control how people think, or can also give them freedom.
The OLPC project is important because it allows children, in their own language, to have an education that will help develop their own communities and hopefully give them a better life. If anything, learning english would actually promote migration to the U.S. (Nigerians go to England, Congolese go to France)
The "enormous economical boost" comes from education(as in science and humanities), not from learning English(as in call centers and tagging t-shirts).
I understand your perspective on this subject, but please make an effort to understand how things look from a 3rd world perspective - ignorance and poverty.
personally, ive always thought deliberately disrupting the US economy would be counter-productive, since all the major economies are interelated.
Anyways, i just wanted to refer to this salon article that debunks that dailytelegraph post.
bottom line, the original author has no real authority on the issue and is just coming up with scary nonsense.
aside from that, the idea of botnets serving the economic interests of international corporations or countries is a great idea. could you imagine spamming ForeX servers or even the stock markets prior to the release of sensitive data, you could make buckets of money with that kind of control over speculation.
The abu ghraibhttp://www.antiwar.com/news/?articleid=2444 pictures are the perfect example of how nonphotojournalist can take great pictures. still, professionals are needed, specially to get the pictures we never see(like Darfur or Chechnya).
Slashdot Mirror
you go rovers!
I would also add that books are more reliable than ebooks. e-media tends to be disposable and transient. How many times have you deleted an mp3 or a dvd only to download it some months later? availability makes the e-book, reliability the book.
e-books will not replace regular books, i think they will rather create yet another type of medium or genre: like pop replacing jazz replacing operas... courseware and "best-sellers" like Harry Potter are the great frontier of the e-book.
Learning languages for educational purposes, sure. But your comment implies that Mexicans ought to learn English as a benefit to American social and economical interests. Sir, language is one of the fundamental parts of all societies: it can control how people think, or can also give them freedom.
The OLPC project is important because it allows children, in their own language, to have an education that will help develop their own communities and hopefully give them a better life. If anything, learning english would actually promote migration to the U.S. (Nigerians go to England, Congolese go to France)
The "enormous economical boost" comes from education(as in science and humanities), not from learning English(as in call centers and tagging t-shirts).
I understand your perspective on this subject, but please make an effort to understand how things look from a 3rd world perspective - ignorance and poverty.
this guy, like bill gates, is not a millionaire just because of good will and charity.
cheers.
and we'll party like it's 1999!
personally, ive always thought deliberately disrupting the US economy would be counter-productive, since all the major economies are interelated. Anyways, i just wanted to refer to this salon article that debunks that dailytelegraph post. bottom line, the original author has no real authority on the issue and is just coming up with scary nonsense. aside from that, the idea of botnets serving the economic interests of international corporations or countries is a great idea. could you imagine spamming ForeX servers or even the stock markets prior to the release of sensitive data, you could make buckets of money with that kind of control over speculation.
Take a look at the Spectre Gunship http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC-130_Spooky That thing fires howitzers while on air. They aim using gyros. They would probably use similar tech for the railgun. There is also the "spooky" variant http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/air craft/ac-130u.htm
The abu ghraibhttp://www.antiwar.com/news/?articleid=2444 pictures are the perfect example of how nonphotojournalist can take great pictures. still, professionals are needed, specially to get the pictures we never see(like Darfur or Chechnya).