PS: Besides, you can use a computer to learn about things other than the computer itself, right?
And I think that is what everyone here is missing. Y'all seem to think that the purpose of these machines is to teach the kids tech? I thought it was to provide them access to information and resources which they would otherwise not have because text books are EXPENSIVE.
A $300 laptop that provides educational information for 5 or 10 years is a lot cheaper than the equivalent material in textbooks. Think about it. Seven subjects per year in high school, at a very conservative $100 per textbook per subject, yields $700 for one year. Four years of high school comes out to $2800. Add in the cost for the 8 years prior to that, you are in the $10k range just for books.
Children in developing countries don't need to learn to program. They need access to the same basic education that those in 1st world countries have. They need better farming methods. They need information on how to preserve foods, clean water to stop the spread of disease, etc.
If you think the discussion should be about which OS is going to give them the best opportunity to learn computer programming when they are living in the mud, perhaps you should stop and rethink the whole project.
There have been dumber laws. California instituted an assault weapon ban back in the 90's. If you didn't turn in your "assault" weapon, you could be arrested.
The kicker was that if you were a convicted felon you could not be prosecuted under the law, because turning in a weapon would constitute a violation of your 5th Amendment rights against self-incrimination (convicted felons can not legally own firearms). So only law abiding citizens, who would not use the weapons illegally in the first place, were punished.
I think the difference here is that our Revolution did not purposely target civilians. Sure, they fought a guerrilla war against a superior military force, but they did not go over to England and set off bombs in the middle of Picadilly.
The terrorists of today are not intent on causing economic damage ala the Boston Tea Party, nor are they (solely) engaging in guerrilla warfare against an occupying force. They have the clearly stated aim of causing as much death to non-combatants as they can. It is this philosophy that the WORLD, not just the US, finds abhorrent.
The DHS machines aren't any better than yours. I seriously doubt the laptops cost the government more than the roughly $1000 you would normally expect them to pay.
The additional money actually goes to fund operations and projects which are kept off the books. It's the same with the $300 hammer or $10k toilet seats for the military. They pay the same price you do, and the extra money goes to "black ops". Special Forces operations in foreign countries, counter-terrorist measures, anything that has to be funded but can't show up on the very public Federal Budget without compromising security.
So yes, the budget shows them to be $3k, but two-thirds of that money actually went someplace other than computers.
I guess you missed the story a couple weeks back where the US petro corps were reducing production. They argued that since the high prices were reducing demand, they were reducing refinery output to match. This, of course, ensures the price of gas remains high, and so do their record breaking profits.
Supply/demand economic models are dubious in our current corporate-dominated political structure.
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And I think that is what everyone here is missing. Y'all seem to think that the purpose of these machines is to teach the kids tech? I thought it was to provide them access to information and resources which they would otherwise not have because text books are EXPENSIVE.
A $300 laptop that provides educational information for 5 or 10 years is a lot cheaper than the equivalent material in textbooks. Think about it. Seven subjects per year in high school, at a very conservative $100 per textbook per subject, yields $700 for one year. Four years of high school comes out to $2800. Add in the cost for the 8 years prior to that, you are in the $10k range just for books.
Children in developing countries don't need to learn to program. They need access to the same basic education that those in 1st world countries have. They need better farming methods. They need information on how to preserve foods, clean water to stop the spread of disease, etc.
If you think the discussion should be about which OS is going to give them the best opportunity to learn computer programming when they are living in the mud, perhaps you should stop and rethink the whole project.
The kicker was that if you were a convicted felon you could not be prosecuted under the law, because turning in a weapon would constitute a violation of your 5th Amendment rights against self-incrimination (convicted felons can not legally own firearms). So only law abiding citizens, who would not use the weapons illegally in the first place, were punished.
Saturday. Trying to find Chinese delivery. Some of us live in small towns where not every local business is on the Web.
It is certainly possible to live without the net. Just because we are all technophiles here does not mean everyone is.
I think the difference here is that our Revolution did not purposely target civilians. Sure, they fought a guerrilla war against a superior military force, but they did not go over to England and set off bombs in the middle of Picadilly. The terrorists of today are not intent on causing economic damage ala the Boston Tea Party, nor are they (solely) engaging in guerrilla warfare against an occupying force. They have the clearly stated aim of causing as much death to non-combatants as they can. It is this philosophy that the WORLD, not just the US, finds abhorrent.
Sort of like nukes, but we still went with Mutually Assured Destruction for decades.
The DHS machines aren't any better than yours. I seriously doubt the laptops cost the government more than the roughly $1000 you would normally expect them to pay. The additional money actually goes to fund operations and projects which are kept off the books. It's the same with the $300 hammer or $10k toilet seats for the military. They pay the same price you do, and the extra money goes to "black ops". Special Forces operations in foreign countries, counter-terrorist measures, anything that has to be funded but can't show up on the very public Federal Budget without compromising security. So yes, the budget shows them to be $3k, but two-thirds of that money actually went someplace other than computers.
I guess you missed the story a couple weeks back where the US petro corps were reducing production. They argued that since the high prices were reducing demand, they were reducing refinery output to match. This, of course, ensures the price of gas remains high, and so do their record breaking profits. Supply/demand economic models are dubious in our current corporate-dominated political structure.