According to the article, some schools have discontinued newspapers because the cost is too high. How much does it cost to provide a one-sheet to 500 students? Perhaps $10 in photocopying or laser printing?
Money goes a lot further in a poor country because the cost of living is much lower. Since most people farm, economists calculating GDP generally do not figure home-grown food into their calculations.
A computer would generally be a one-per-village feature, so the cost would be spread over a hundred or more people. Think of this as comparable to a public access computer at your local library.
Even taking all the above into consideration, it's still not clear that it's a good idea for a village to acquire a $100 computer. However, it is better than the same village acquiring a $300 computer with the same capabilities.
China, being a communist country, was considered part of the "second world" until the USSR collapsed and the idea of the "second world" became obsolete. Being mostly poor, agrarian, and self-oppressed, it fits best into the category of "third world" and will continue to do so until it becomes freer and richer. As far as I can tell, China is making progress.
Having a human brain in a body incapable of acting as a human being is cruelty matched only by the very worst examples in human history. cf comprachicos.
Actually, a porous fabric is good enough. All it has to do is hold in the gross pressure that the body will be exerting on it, skin can do the work of holding pressure on the sub-millimeter scale. The advantage to this technique is that sweat can evaporate through the suit, providing natural cooling. (Of course, this is a disadvantage too, since the spacecraft has to bring the extra water to replace the sweat.) A problem is providing a transition area around the helmet so that gasses don't escape in that region.
Provided that the material is designed so that small tears do not spread and become large holes, a small hole is not a problem. The astronaut probably has about 5 psi (1/3 atmosphere) around his head, and over the rest of the body that 5 psi is provided by the suit. Skin can hold back 5 psi easily for hours at a time without damage. 5 psi is about what a baby suckles at. At worst, the astronaut with a small hole tight against the skin will get a hickey.
As I understand it, particulates are in the air because they are produced continuously. Any substantial reduction in particulate production would quickly (1 or 2 years) reduce the quantity in the air, thus reducing the "global dimming".
Particulates are heavier than air, and consequently sink out of the air. The particles that settle on water mostly continue sinking.
Most of the weather effects of Mt. Minatubo were gone in two years.
There's nothing in High School worth studying. It's all bullshit busy work.
Let's see... Trig, calculus, physics, chemistry. I wouldn't have even gotten into MIT, let alone done reasonably well, without those subjects in high school.
Economics, history. Required to understand that most politicians are either fools or liars.
Foreign language. Never used again.
English (i.e. literature). Mostly a waste of time. Not once did a teacher explain what made some writing good and other bad. The stuff we had to read was almost always dull. I bought and read books on my own (mostly SF), and as poorly written as it was, it was better than "classical literature".
However, capitalism cannot exist without constant growth.
There is nothing in theory or in practice that says capitalism requires constant growth. Capitalism is the protection of rights, particularly property rights. Growth results from this because people's efforts provide secure returns, protected from government and private thieves. Other systems don't provide this protection, so people have less motivation to try to improve their condition.
At least here in the US, lots of people don't even have access to basic health care.
Just who doesn't have access to a free clinic or an emergency room? Just who can't walk into a pharmacy for bandaids and spectromycin? Just who can't get healthy food, clean water, clothing and a heated room? That's what basic health care is, and the fraction of people in the US who can't get it is very small.
there would be a clear class division between those that could afford it and those that couldn't.
Why do people assume that great life extension is going to be very expensive? Why do people assume it's an all-or-nothing proposition? Vitamins and other "health substances" are already available that reduce the buildup of cellular debris, and many of these are affordable for most people in the US. Choose a level of health expenditures that you're willing to pay for, and enjoy the extra decades or centuries.
Your claim for the transmission of BSE is only one of several, and does not explain how it started. Another explanation is that BSE is caused by the application of an insecticide to the spines of cattle, a practice mandated by the government in Great Britain. If this is the case, the cause is not greedy farmers (indeed some opposed the practice), but officious government.
The change from oil as a fuel is inevitable. It will occur gradually, as economic factors make other possibilities more attractive. People proclaiming "Oil is evil! (Fill in the blank) is good!" does not help this transition take place.
The articles referenced in this thread are generally deficient in that there is confusion between laser LEDs and non-laser LEDs. There's no mention of silicon carbide, which was for several years the most popular material for blue LEDs. Silicon carbide was mentioned in an RCA electro-optics data book available in the 1970s.
Slashdot Mirror
There's no necessary connection. Let me show you by example:
How am I going to understand how high explosives work when you won't let me play with them?
According to the article, some schools have discontinued newspapers because the cost is too high. How much does it cost to provide a one-sheet to 500 students? Perhaps $10 in photocopying or laser printing?
Who's sucking up all the money?
You get what you pay for.
A computer would generally be a one-per-village feature, so the cost would be spread over a hundred or more people. Think of this as comparable to a public access computer at your local library.
Even taking all the above into consideration, it's still not clear that it's a good idea for a village to acquire a $100 computer. However, it is better than the same village acquiring a $300 computer with the same capabilities.
China, being a communist country, was considered part of the "second world" until the USSR collapsed and the idea of the "second world" became obsolete. Being mostly poor, agrarian, and self-oppressed, it fits best into the category of "third world" and will continue to do so until it becomes freer and richer. As far as I can tell, China is making progress.
Having a human brain in a body incapable of acting as a human being is cruelty matched only by the very worst examples in human history. cf comprachicos.
Actually, a porous fabric is good enough. All it has to do is hold in the gross pressure that the body will be exerting on it, skin can do the work of holding pressure on the sub-millimeter scale. The advantage to this technique is that sweat can evaporate through the suit, providing natural cooling. (Of course, this is a disadvantage too, since the spacecraft has to bring the extra water to replace the sweat.) A problem is providing a transition area around the helmet so that gasses don't escape in that region.
Provided that the material is designed so that small tears do not spread and become large holes, a small hole is not a problem. The astronaut probably has about 5 psi (1/3 atmosphere) around his head, and over the rest of the body that 5 psi is provided by the suit. Skin can hold back 5 psi easily for hours at a time without damage. 5 psi is about what a baby suckles at. At worst, the astronaut with a small hole tight against the skin will get a hickey.
Not sure, but there may be utilities that allow reprogramming function keys to generate sequences.
Particulates are heavier than air, and consequently sink out of the air. The particles that settle on water mostly continue sinking.
Most of the weather effects of Mt. Minatubo were gone in two years.
Let's see... Trig, calculus, physics, chemistry. I wouldn't have even gotten into MIT, let alone done reasonably well, without those subjects in high school.
Economics, history. Required to understand that most politicians are either fools or liars.
Foreign language. Never used again.
English (i.e. literature). Mostly a waste of time. Not once did a teacher explain what made some writing good and other bad. The stuff we had to read was almost always dull. I bought and read books on my own (mostly SF), and as poorly written as it was, it was better than "classical literature".
Alas, over the periods these calculations are made the value of the dollar is falling, probably at about 3% a year.
There is nothing in theory or in practice that says capitalism requires constant growth. Capitalism is the protection of rights, particularly property rights. Growth results from this because people's efforts provide secure returns, protected from government and private thieves. Other systems don't provide this protection, so people have less motivation to try to improve their condition.
Let's see... ad hominem, complete lack of demonstration of your arbitrary claims, non sequiturs. A wholly worthless post.
Just who doesn't have access to a free clinic or an emergency room? Just who can't walk into a pharmacy for bandaids and spectromycin? Just who can't get healthy food, clean water, clothing and a heated room? That's what basic health care is, and the fraction of people in the US who can't get it is very small.
Why do people assume that great life extension is going to be very expensive? Why do people assume it's an all-or-nothing proposition? Vitamins and other "health substances" are already available that reduce the buildup of cellular debris, and many of these are affordable for most people in the US. Choose a level of health expenditures that you're willing to pay for, and enjoy the extra decades or centuries.
Gee, a post by Dan Quayle!
Your claim for the transmission of BSE is only one of several, and does not explain how it started. Another explanation is that BSE is caused by the application of an insecticide to the spines of cattle, a practice mandated by the government in Great Britain. If this is the case, the cause is not greedy farmers (indeed some opposed the practice), but officious government.
The change from oil as a fuel is inevitable. It will occur gradually, as economic factors make other possibilities more attractive. People proclaiming "Oil is evil! (Fill in the blank) is good!" does not help this transition take place.
Internal hydrogen combustion with air will still produce nitrogen oxides, so don't hand out the "no pollution" BS.
The articles referenced in this thread are generally deficient in that there is confusion between laser LEDs and non-laser LEDs. There's no mention of silicon carbide, which was for several years the most popular material for blue LEDs. Silicon carbide was mentioned in an RCA electro-optics data book available in the 1970s.
MPEG is similar to JPEG. Getting another hour of video on a DVD would be a substantial advantage
Do you not understand the meaning of the phrase "net loss"?
From whom do you intend to steal to fund your "right" to education and broadband internet? Remember that stealing is a violation of a right.