I think you're referring to the Evan Brown vs. DSC/Alcatel case, discussed on Slashdot a few times (one is here). He made several mistakes, most importantly not disclosing he had the idea (or an inkling of it) before starting employment and then telling his boss about the idea when planning to quit.
I ran into the 'no "North is up"' phenomenon for the first time a couple weeks ago while walking around Koganei Park (one of the largest in the Tokyo area). Didn't realize until I was exiting the park that north had gone from pointing up to pointing down on the various kanji-laden park maps I'd been attempting to follow.
This has been mentioned already, but it's worth repeating for anyone looking for software in Thailand. The best place for software is Panthip Plaza (in Bangkok), despite the pseudo-crackdowns by the gov't on pirated goods that occur from time to time (depending on whatever trade agreement with the West is under consideration). The only difference you'll notice is the addition of cloak-and-dagger techniques to let you know what's available, whether that be guys not-so-chalantly sidling up to you to ask you if you want to buy a porno or vendors whisking you into a back room to look at their collection of DVDs, VCDs, music CDs, and software (in flipfiles of liners and inserts).
The going rate for a CD of any kind was 150 baht (~$4) when I lived there two years ago. DVDs were 200 baht both then and when I visited back in January, so I'm guessing the CD price hasn't increased. There are so many vendors selling the same items and so many Thais buying that you don't have to worry about the price discrimination or poor bargaining skills. If it's in Thailand, it'll be at Panthip and you'll get the best price.
MBK is a more convenient location, being right on the skytrain line, and prices are similar there, but selection is limited. Plus, you have to venture into the non-airconditioned portion of the mall and wade through a few thousand people selling cell phones.
You'll see mostly music CDs and DVDs at tourist markets throughout the country, but you'll get tourist prices in most cases unless you can speak the local lingo. Even then getting a deal will be a problem because the vendors know they can sell to the next tourist without bargaining.
I am the Peace Corps volunteer mentioned a few threads earlier. I have lived in northern Thailand four years working for the Mirror Art Group (http://www.mirrorartgroup.org), an organization that employs technology in development projects for hilltribe people. I live in a bamboo hut at our center adjacent to an Akha hilltribe village. I have high-speed access to the internet. There are no phones in our sub-district. Our center and some villages have electricity, but most of the villages charge car batteries so that they can watch TV or have lights at night.
Though I've never visited the Jhai project, but I know a lot about the situation, so I am going to give my input.
Scrolling through, I've been reading a lot about how Laos needs this and that before they should have internet. These discussions, which seem logical and valid to most people also sum up one of the biggest problems in the development world. That is, the people with the money and the say-so don't really know the all the factors in the situation.
I see a lot of concerns about housing and water. Why are you concerned about water? Laos must have more renewable water per capita than any country in the world. It also has relatively little use of pesticides and no industry, so why wouldn't the water be clean? This is not Africa we are talking about. Laos is lush. Have you been to Laos?
Bamboo huts are perfect for where these people live. They are cool, cheap and easily maintained. I have lived in a bamboo hut for a year. It's not bad. I would choose a bamboo hut over a cement house any day and twice on Monk's Day. Cement houses are like ovens. Is that what you want, poor Asians living in ovens?
You see, just because something is good for the people and the (meteorological and political) climate of America, doesn't mean that it is good for Southeast Asians. You would think that would be a lesson already learned.
What about medical care and infrastructure? These are very important areas in which Laos is truly lacking. But, you know what? These are the responsibility of the government. And you know what else? Governments in Southeast Asia, especially Communist governments, are corrupt. $25,000 wouldn't make it past the third level of the hierarchy there. Why throw your money away on road-building projects where roads don't get built? And I think we can admit to ourselves that if we want to promote the American agenda (and we do, don't we?) the internet is perfect because it would allow people to stumble upon webpages about democracy, Brittany Spears and Coca-Cola while doing research on how to cure goiter and learn English.
What I think is that the Jhai Foundation has exactly what the NY Times has said: a good idea.
Concerns:
1) Literacy. I'm not worried about literacy. Who cares if 40% of the country is illiterate? Sixty percent of the country comes from ethnicities that have no written language and only oral traditions! Why _wouldn't_ they be illiterate? And with crappy schools, why would they learn to write Lao if they are never going to leave their village? Also, there aren't many books in Lao. Lao websites are even fewer.
The key here is, however, is Thai. Laos can learn to read Thai easily because all of their television programming and karaoke machines are in Thai. Many college textbooks are in Thai and there are many, many Thai websites. That's a lot of information that Laos can use at least until they reach an IT critical mass of their own.
A lesson that people working in development should learn: People will learn to do anything (read and write, in this case) if there is a good reason for them to do it. Among Southeast Asians, masters of practicality, the inverse, converse and contrapositive also seem valid.
2) Knowledge of agricultural prices important?. So important. It is so important for farmers to know how much crops are selling for. Again, you don't know because you have never been in a village when the ginger truck rolls in and says that ginger is selling for 20 cents per kg and then you go to the market in the city 30 miles away and see that it is selling there for 40 cents per kilo. The villagers got taken...because they didn't know the current price.
3) Erosion of culture/values. That's a legitimate concern. Lao and tribal cultures are not big and don't have the inertia of, say, Thai and Vietnamese, so a little erosion of culture is very damaging. I mean, it will happen anyway what with TV, globalization, yadda, yadda, yadda,... But the internet will no doubt speed up the process. You can't have your cake and eat it, too.
[Incidentally, not having cake at all--that is getting all foreigners out of Laos--is not the worst strategy in the world. Cake makes you fat. Then again, the world would never agree to leaving a country alone.]
4) Rural exodus. I don't know about Laos, but it is a huge problem in Thailand. Entire villages and towns are devoid of the 18-35 year-old age group, because there are no jobs in the village and there are many more farmers than land to farm. Children start leaving, usually voluntarily, but often tricked, as early as 11-12. Once in a city, anything can happen to these kids and they have no recourse. They just have to take it. It's not good and it's not safe.
Because our organization makes a portion of our operating expenses from designing websites and we have local villagers help with that work, there is no reason to assume that web-site design and other telecommuting is not a viable option to counter the rural exodus.
The internet would also make it easier to register births of people in remote areas (read: most of Laos and northern Thailand). In N. Thailand this would put an end to the enormous problem of deciding who should rightfully have Thai citizenship because they were born in Thailand and who shouldn't because they just came over from Burma last year. You didn't think about that application of the internet, did you? Why would you have? Citizenship is an issue that doesn't get the attention of clean water, education, etc., but if you ask any tribal villager in Thailand what the most important issue for his village is, he will answer Thai citizenship for his villagers. Of course, because without citizenship, the villager doesn't get education or health care anyway.
In general, with the internet what you have is a cheap means of leap-frogging all of the system that holds poor people in poverty. It's got a lot of up-side which many people don't see because they don't understand all the factors at play. I hope this helps explain some of them.
Funny that you mention the Peace Corps...I have a good friend who just ended his Peace Corps tour in rural Thailand (about two hours from the Laos border). One of the main projects he worked on was writing grant proposals to fund a similar wireless infrastructure for hilltribe villages. In this case, it was mainly for use as an intranet. Having quick communication is basic economic infrastructure.
I'll add that all of this was initiated by the hilltribes themselves. They see the benefits of technology and will probably use them in ways we don't expect, probably in ways a lot more useful than our websurfing.
It's not the most user-friendly tool, but you can probably get the functionality you want out of MozillaTranslator. It's a java-based program that seems to be the recommended way to update translations. Use the English files from the Mozilla version you're targeting, and import the latest/most-applicable language pack available of the language you're targeting.
There's a bit of a learning curve when it comes to figuring out the terminology, but it does work.
Slashdot Mirror
I think you're referring to the Evan Brown vs. DSC/Alcatel case, discussed on Slashdot a few times (one is here). He made several mistakes, most importantly not disclosing he had the idea (or an inkling of it) before starting employment and then telling his boss about the idea when planning to quit.
I ran into the 'no "North is up"' phenomenon for the first time a couple weeks ago while walking around Koganei Park (one of the largest in the Tokyo area). Didn't realize until I was exiting the park that north had gone from pointing up to pointing down on the various kanji-laden park maps I'd been attempting to follow.
Oh well...live and learn.
The going rate for a CD of any kind was 150 baht (~$4) when I lived there two years ago. DVDs were 200 baht both then and when I visited back in January, so I'm guessing the CD price hasn't increased. There are so many vendors selling the same items and so many Thais buying that you don't have to worry about the price discrimination or poor bargaining skills. If it's in Thailand, it'll be at Panthip and you'll get the best price.
MBK is a more convenient location, being right on the skytrain line, and prices are similar there, but selection is limited. Plus, you have to venture into the non-airconditioned portion of the mall and wade through a few thousand people selling cell phones.
You'll see mostly music CDs and DVDs at tourist markets throughout the country, but you'll get tourist prices in most cases unless you can speak the local lingo. Even then getting a deal will be a problem because the vendors know they can sell to the next tourist without bargaining.
Anyway, if you're looking for something out of the ordinary or buying in bulk, it's worth going to Panthip...unless the girl who broke your heart has opened a shop there.
chok dee
From my friend in the Peace Corps:
... But the internet will no doubt speed up the process. You can't have your cake and eat it, too.
I am the Peace Corps volunteer mentioned a few threads earlier. I have lived in northern Thailand four years working for the Mirror Art Group (http://www.mirrorartgroup.org), an organization that employs technology in development projects for hilltribe people. I live in a bamboo hut at our center adjacent to an Akha hilltribe village. I have high-speed access to the internet. There are no phones in our sub-district. Our center and some villages have electricity, but most of the villages charge car batteries so that they can watch TV or have lights at night.
Though I've never visited the Jhai project, but I know a lot about the situation, so I am going to give my input.
Scrolling through, I've been reading a lot about how Laos needs this and that before they should have internet. These discussions, which seem logical and valid to most people also sum up one of the biggest problems in the development world. That is, the people with the money and the say-so don't really know the all the factors in the situation.
I see a lot of concerns about housing and water. Why are you concerned about water? Laos must have more renewable water per capita than any country in the world. It also has relatively little use of pesticides and no industry, so why wouldn't the water be clean? This is not Africa we are talking about. Laos is lush. Have you been to Laos?
Bamboo huts are perfect for where these people live. They are cool, cheap and easily maintained. I have lived in a bamboo hut for a year. It's not bad. I would choose a bamboo hut over a cement house any day and twice on Monk's Day. Cement houses are like ovens. Is that what you want, poor Asians living in ovens?
You see, just because something is good for the people and the (meteorological and political) climate of America, doesn't mean that it is good for Southeast Asians. You would think that would be a lesson already learned.
What about medical care and infrastructure? These are very important areas in which Laos is truly lacking. But, you know what? These are the responsibility of the government. And you know what else? Governments in Southeast Asia, especially Communist governments, are corrupt. $25,000 wouldn't make it past the third level of the hierarchy there. Why throw your money away on road-building projects where roads don't get built? And I think we can admit to ourselves that if we want to promote the American agenda (and we do, don't we?) the internet is perfect because it would allow people to stumble upon webpages about democracy, Brittany Spears and Coca-Cola while doing research on how to cure goiter and learn English.
What I think is that the Jhai Foundation has exactly what the NY Times has said: a good idea.
Concerns:
1) Literacy. I'm not worried about literacy. Who cares if 40% of the country is illiterate? Sixty percent of the country comes from ethnicities that have no written language and only oral traditions! Why _wouldn't_ they be illiterate? And with crappy schools, why would they learn to write Lao if they are never going to leave their village? Also, there aren't many books in Lao. Lao websites are even fewer.
The key here is, however, is Thai. Laos can learn to read Thai easily because all of their television programming and karaoke machines are in Thai. Many college textbooks are in Thai and there are many, many Thai websites. That's a lot of information that Laos can use at least until they reach an IT critical mass of their own.
A lesson that people working in development should learn: People will learn to do anything (read and write, in this case) if there is a good reason for them to do it. Among Southeast Asians, masters of practicality, the inverse, converse and contrapositive also seem valid.
2) Knowledge of agricultural prices important?. So important. It is so important for farmers to know how much crops are selling for. Again, you don't know because you have never been in a village when the ginger truck rolls in and says that ginger is selling for 20 cents per kg and then you go to the market in the city 30 miles away and see that it is selling there for 40 cents per kilo. The villagers got taken...because they didn't know the current price.
3) Erosion of culture/values. That's a legitimate concern. Lao and tribal cultures are not big and don't have the inertia of, say, Thai and Vietnamese, so a little erosion of culture is very damaging. I mean, it will happen anyway what with TV, globalization, yadda, yadda, yadda,
[Incidentally, not having cake at all--that is getting all foreigners out of Laos--is not the worst strategy in the world. Cake makes you fat. Then again, the world would never agree to leaving a country alone.]
4) Rural exodus. I don't know about Laos, but it is a huge problem in Thailand. Entire villages and towns are devoid of the 18-35 year-old age group, because there are no jobs in the village and there are many more farmers than land to farm. Children start leaving, usually voluntarily, but often tricked, as early as 11-12. Once in a city, anything can happen to these kids and they have no recourse. They just have to take it. It's not good and it's not safe.
Because our organization makes a portion of our operating expenses from designing websites and we have local villagers help with that work, there is no reason to assume that web-site design and other telecommuting is not a viable option to counter the rural exodus.
The internet would also make it easier to register births of people in remote areas (read: most of Laos and northern Thailand). In N. Thailand this would put an end to the enormous problem of deciding who should rightfully have Thai citizenship because they were born in Thailand and who shouldn't because they just came over from Burma last year. You didn't think about that application of the internet, did you? Why would you have? Citizenship is an issue that doesn't get the attention of clean water, education, etc., but if you ask any tribal villager in Thailand what the most important issue for his village is, he will answer Thai citizenship for his villagers. Of course, because without citizenship, the villager doesn't get education or health care anyway.
In general, with the internet what you have is a cheap means of leap-frogging all of the system that holds poor people in poverty. It's got a lot of up-side which many people don't see because they don't understand all the factors at play. I hope this helps explain some of them.
Funny that you mention the Peace Corps...I have a good friend who just ended his Peace Corps tour in rural Thailand (about two hours from the Laos border). One of the main projects he worked on was writing grant proposals to fund a similar wireless infrastructure for hilltribe villages. In this case, it was mainly for use as an intranet. Having quick communication is basic economic infrastructure.
I'll add that all of this was initiated by the hilltribes themselves. They see the benefits of technology and will probably use them in ways we don't expect, probably in ways a lot more useful than our websurfing.
It's not the most user-friendly tool, but you can probably get the functionality you want out of MozillaTranslator. It's a java-based program that seems to be the recommended way to update translations. Use the English files from the Mozilla version you're targeting, and import the latest/most-applicable language pack available of the language you're targeting.
There's a bit of a learning curve when it comes to figuring out the terminology, but it does work.