Off topic, but why on earth do they have to make it *look* like a crack-pot site? It has horrible typography, randomly bolded sentences, a color scheme that could cause seizures.. I can't even be bothered to read it (and I don't have a problem believing the basic premise).
Why do all sites critical of the "system" have to look like Time Cube?
Personally, I wouldnt let my kid have the olpc, if i wasnt in control of it.
Yes, and this is exactly the problem: this will be the reaction of most parents in cultures where sexuality is much more taboo than in our culture. And many of us think this would be bad, because we *want* the kids to have these laptops.
If the choice is between central authoritarian content filtering and the death of the whole OLPC concept, I favour the pragmatic approach of content filtering.
If God had physically come down to earth, found a man living in one of the first civilizations, and tried to explain to him the Big Bang, stellar evolution, how the Solar System developed, and biological evolution, the man would be totally confused.
I'd rather have a cyclist listen to an audiobook than a driver making a hands-free phonecall.
I didn't know the two were mutually exclusive.
By the way, you seem to be from The Netherlands, the country that taught me to stop watching out for cars and start watching out for deadly bicycles:). I still do this back in Sweden even though it is totally unnecessary here.
First Germany outlaws denial of the Holocaust, then France outlaws denial of the Armenian Genocide, and now the UK is outlawing the denial of "Service Attacks". Sure, we all know these horrible things happened, and that service attacks occur frequently, but anyone should still be free to deny... oh wait.
Yes, they can resist. But can they overthrow? To me it seems no side is winning, and the losers are the general civilian population.
Also, people who talk about how they can just get their gun if government starts oppressing them seem to take for granted that other civilians will agree with them. I'd say such actions, at least in present day USA, would bring a civil war, not a war of people against government.
Iranians are Persians, good luck getting some dialogue in with a bunch of Persians that want to "wipe you off the map."
Wtf? I admit I'm scandinavian and therefore do not perhaps share your omniscience, but all the persians I've ever met have been wonderfully respectful, intelligent and reasonable people. I'd bet that there are a lot of people in Iran today who would rather have a secular government; just not enough for a coup at the moment. How does being persian somehow automatically make you evil and unreasonable, just because their leadership has those characteristics? Maybe I should judge all americans based on Bush Jr in return.
"Why do you encourage or even force them? Let them decide naturally what they want to do."
Because men are already encouraged. We are encouraged from the moment we are born. Encouraged to pursue intellectual challenges, technical ability, and achievements. Women have traditionally been encouraged to look pretty and shut the fuck up, though this is luckily changing; but the subtle differences in encouragement are still very present, if you make a conscious effort to perceive them.
I'm the oldest of 6 siblings; 3 boys and 3 girls. When I was small, my father and to a lesser degree my whole surrounding encouraged me to be creative with lego, to learn about logic and math, and to tinker with computers and eventually start programming. My first attempt at programming (at around the age of 8) was not successful. Still, I tried again a few years later.
To the best of my knowledge, my oldest sister wasn't very much encouraged in these fields at all. It wasn't because my parents or society was evil or uncaring - it just didn't occur to them. My father has in more recent years to an extent started teaching my much younger sisters a thing or two about science. My 5-year-old sister has a vague idea of what macrophages are:).
The point being that encouraging women to do technical or technically ideological stuff is just a counterweight to the enormous encouragement society already gives to men in these areas. By making such explicit and conscious efforts, it is hoped that it will affect the invisible balance in the long run.
Yes, but this is kind of the problem, isn't it? They are still constantly and primarily seen as *women*, not as *people*. A lot of shy guys "who would do almost anything to get the attention of a normal girl" can make the normal girl feel uncomfortable too.
I'm part of a small up-start company, and we have just hired (sort of) our first female programmer, who is a close friend of mine. Unfortunately my boss, trying to be nice, spoke a lot about hiring another female so my friend wouldn't "feel alone" and stuff like that, which pissed her off; she -- quite naturally -- wants to be part of *us*, in our social circle, not having her place in the company made more comfortable by hiring some kind of female friend.
Sure, girls always have a need to be appreciated as girls, just as us guys (yeah, the 99% of slashdot readers) want to be appreciated as guys, but above that -- and especially in a semi-formal setting like a company or class or whatever -- they want to be appreciated as peers.
A quote comes to mind: "Feminism is the radical notion that women are human beings." (Cheris Kramerae)
Not wanting to destroy the joke, but most of Europe would probably pronounce it 'Wee' too. English is the only language I know where "i" has somehow come to be pronounced "ay" (and "e" as "ii", for that matter).
Slashdot Mirror
Haven't you heard? The brain is a series of tubes.
And while we're at it, we can replace the space shuttle with ordinary airplanes by FLYING HIGHER. How come noone has ever thought of this before?
.. from things like YAML and JSON?
No, they should definitely play "Komm, süsser Tod" from End of Evangelion when they turn it on.
isn't this just a list of famous people who also have an academic degree? That's hardly synonymous with "geek" for me..
It's the rest of it.
That would be something though - a testicle transplant. Anyone care to donate? You've got two!
Off topic, but why on earth do they have to make it *look* like a crack-pot site? It has horrible typography, randomly bolded sentences, a color scheme that could cause seizures.. I can't even be bothered to read it (and I don't have a problem believing the basic premise).
Why do all sites critical of the "system" have to look like Time Cube?
Personally, I wouldnt let my kid have the olpc, if i wasnt in control of it.
Yes, and this is exactly the problem: this will be the reaction of most parents in cultures where sexuality is much more taboo than in our culture. And many of us think this would be bad, because we *want* the kids to have these laptops.
If the choice is between central authoritarian content filtering and the death of the whole OLPC concept, I favour the pragmatic approach of content filtering.
"Hello. My name is Ingo Molnar. You killed my task. Prepare to die."
I don't think this is a failure of the moderation system; it's a failure of the human race.
At least no one ever fought a war over homeopathy.
If God had physically come down to earth, found a man living in one of the first civilizations, and tried to explain to him the Big Bang, stellar evolution, how the Solar System developed, and biological evolution, the man would be totally confused.
Wait, isn't God supposed to be omnipotent?
I'd rather have a cyclist listen to an audiobook than a driver making a hands-free phonecall.
I didn't know the two were mutually exclusive.
By the way, you seem to be from The Netherlands, the country that taught me to stop watching out for cars and start watching out for deadly bicycles :). I still do this back in Sweden even though it is totally unnecessary here.
First Germany outlaws denial of the Holocaust, then France outlaws denial of the Armenian Genocide, and now the UK is outlawing the denial of "Service Attacks". Sure, we all know these horrible things happened, and that service attacks occur frequently, but anyone should still be free to deny... oh wait.
Actually, doesn't this whole affair prove that it's harder?
Yes, they can resist. But can they overthrow? To me it seems no side is winning, and the losers are the general civilian population.
Also, people who talk about how they can just get their gun if government starts oppressing them seem to take for granted that other civilians will agree with them. I'd say such actions, at least in present day USA, would bring a civil war, not a war of people against government.
One can always hope that they meant "post-mortem".
Iranians are Persians, good luck getting some dialogue in with a bunch of Persians that want to "wipe you off the map."
Wtf? I admit I'm scandinavian and therefore do not perhaps share your omniscience, but all the persians I've ever met have been wonderfully respectful, intelligent and reasonable people. I'd bet that there are a lot of people in Iran today who would rather have a secular government; just not enough for a coup at the moment. How does being persian somehow automatically make you evil and unreasonable, just because their leadership has those characteristics? Maybe I should judge all americans based on Bush Jr in return.
Sounds like quantum mechanics to me.
So they'll just call them "unlawful consumers" instead and suddenly the rules won't apply.
"Why do you encourage or even force them? Let them decide naturally what they want to do."
:).
Because men are already encouraged. We are encouraged from the moment we are born. Encouraged to pursue intellectual challenges, technical ability, and achievements. Women have traditionally been encouraged to look pretty and shut the fuck up, though this is luckily changing; but the subtle differences in encouragement are still very present, if you make a conscious effort to perceive them.
I'm the oldest of 6 siblings; 3 boys and 3 girls. When I was small, my father and to a lesser degree my whole surrounding encouraged me to be creative with lego, to learn about logic and math, and to tinker with computers and eventually start programming. My first attempt at programming (at around the age of 8) was not successful. Still, I tried again a few years later.
To the best of my knowledge, my oldest sister wasn't very much encouraged in these fields at all. It wasn't because my parents or society was evil or uncaring - it just didn't occur to them. My father has in more recent years to an extent started teaching my much younger sisters a thing or two about science. My 5-year-old sister has a vague idea of what macrophages are
The point being that encouraging women to do technical or technically ideological stuff is just a counterweight to the enormous encouragement society already gives to men in these areas. By making such explicit and conscious efforts, it is hoped that it will affect the invisible balance in the long run.
Yes, but this is kind of the problem, isn't it? They are still constantly and primarily seen as *women*, not as *people*. A lot of shy guys "who would do almost anything to get the attention of a normal girl" can make the normal girl feel uncomfortable too.
I'm part of a small up-start company, and we have just hired (sort of) our first female programmer, who is a close friend of mine. Unfortunately my boss, trying to be nice, spoke a lot about hiring another female so my friend wouldn't "feel alone" and stuff like that, which pissed her off; she -- quite naturally -- wants to be part of *us*, in our social circle, not having her place in the company made more comfortable by hiring some kind of female friend.
Sure, girls always have a need to be appreciated as girls, just as us guys (yeah, the 99% of slashdot readers) want to be appreciated as guys, but above that -- and especially in a semi-formal setting like a company or class or whatever -- they want to be appreciated as peers.
A quote comes to mind: "Feminism is the radical notion that women are human beings." (Cheris Kramerae)
I was going to say an anti anti-satellite laser laser.
Not wanting to destroy the joke, but most of Europe would probably pronounce it 'Wee' too. English is the only language I know where "i" has somehow come to be pronounced "ay" (and "e" as "ii", for that matter).