The problem I have with the Chronicles is that the allegory demands that the Talking Beasts remain secondary characters in their own world. They are bound to Narnia but they can never govern Narnia.
One random article grabbed from a quick look at Google
AbeBooks is an international clearing house for the sale of used and rare books. 100 million books on sale from 13,500 booksellers in 57 countries.
At last count, AbeBooks had sold 55 Harry Potter books priced at $1.000 or more. In August 2005, AbeBooks sold probably the world's most expensive Harry Potter book when a buyer spent $37,000 ($20,000) on an exceptionally rare first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Most Expensive Harry Potters Ever Sold on AbeBooks
To date, the Harry Potter books have sold more then 300 million copies worldwide in over 200 countries and the books have been translated into more than 60 languages - only the bible can better those statistics.
In France, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix became the first English language book to ever top bestseller list but the series has permeated almost every corner of the atlas.
The books have been translated into most Eastern European (from Albanian to Ukranian), East Asian (Cambodian to Vietnamese), and Scandinavian languages. Some countries even have books in several dialects - for instance, in Spain it is possible to buy the books in Spanish, Basque, Catalan and Galician.
But it's possible to find even more obscure translations such as Faroese (with a mere 60,000 to 80,000 worldwide speakers) and Kalaallisut (the dialect of Greenland spoken by about 54,000). Some of the books have even been translated into the dead languages of Latin (meet Harrius Potter) and Ancient Greek, the latter translation being the longest work in the language since the novels of Heliodorus of Emesa in the 3rd century AD.The Wild World of Harry Potter Books, The Harry Potter Series
The literary critic, the academic, doesn't quite know what to make of Harry Potter:
Literary manias expire with horrible suddenness. Uncle Tom's Cabin was the novel in 1852. In America, at the height of its popularity, steam-driven printing presses exploded, trying to keep up with sales demand. But, two years later, Harriet Beecher Stowe's book was dead on the shelves. Last year's book.Harry mania...and there may be more
The only problem with this particular example is that it isn't true. Stowe's novel sold well throughout the nineteenth century. Stage productions and later films embedded Stowe's most memorable images in the in the American consciousness. Simon Legree. Eliza crossing the ice. In the 1930s the WPA's Federal Theater Project produced a stinging, unsentimental adaptation that took the story back to its anti-slavery roots.
Perhaps the key to understanding Rowling's appeal to children, to adolescents, is that she like Twain, like Dickens, like Lemony Snicket, is an uncompromising moralist.
Are there people who enjoy having to run bloated software?
Entry level for Vista Basic at Walmart is a $328 Compaq with a 3.4 GHz Pentium CPU, 512 MB RAM and a 160 GB hard drive. No one gives a damn about "bloat."
A bare-bones Firefox will get the browser into more houses, increasing the Fox's market share and keeps it in novice users' eyes for when they get a new PC
Fun with numbers: W3Schools shows Vista with a 3.0% share in June. Up from 0% in January 2007. Linux at 3.4%. Up 0.4% from January 2004. OS Platform Statistics
While surfing the content-rich web - the media-rich web - in 2007 is fundamentally a middle-class experience, the demands of the browser are trivial even at entry level - and have been for years:
Trying to make bits not copyable is like trying to make water not wet." - Bruce Schneier
To geeks, this is both Gospel Truth and one of the basic Laws of Nature.
--- and to copy the bits you must first collect the bits. Not easy if the traffic is being blocked upstream - at the border. Not safe if anonymity or encryption sets off alarms.
some of those bits are supposed to be less copyable than others
"All animals are equal. But some are more equal than others."
Doklady Biochemistry and Biophysics is a bimonthly journal containing English translations of current Russian research from the biochemistry section of the Doklady Akademii Nauk (Proceedings of the Russian Academy of Sciences). The Proceedings appear 36 times per year; articles from the biochemistry section are collected, translated, and published in 6 issues per year. Doklady Biochemistry and Biophysics publishes the most significant new research in biochemistry being done in Russia today, ensuring its scientific priority.Doklady Biochemistry & Biophysics
With the price of a year's treatment for AIDS in America approaching or exceeding $100k, I wonder how long it will be before this vaccine is 1. killed, 2. publicly smeared by pharmacos NOT producing it, or 3. price jacked to infinity. I hope it's none of the above, but....
An interesting question: why the negative spin? Why report that the school which got the laptops had no power; and why report that the laptops are being used to look at porn?
maybe because a school without electricity has more problems than a wind-up laptop can solve.
maybe because the machines were distributed before teachers had the training and materials to make good use of them in class. a problem not unknown in the states.
The internet was supposed to free everyone and allow them to think for themselves.
I call this the geek's version of "Intelligent Design."
The Internet is not compelled to evolve as an expression of western values of free expression.
China has a 3,000 year tradition of centralized power and bureaucratic rule. China has not been without significant intellectual and cultural achievement. One size does not fit all.
Don't forget to export your morality with the laptops.
The right question to ask is what moral values the techno-Geek will be allowed to export.
The Islamic and evangelical Christian state of Nigeria isn't obligated to accept OLPC if the price of admission is tolerance of pornography in the home and classroom.
I don't know why the OLPC project is giving internet access anyway. If I were them I'd create a closed network with educational sites alone. They don't need access to the internet universe.
Modern Nigeria was awkwardly carved out of the British colonial empire.
There are 500 tribal languages. 250 ethnic groups. Two major religions in Islam and Christianity, competing and occasionally merging with tribal beliefs.
English is the official language - the language of the urban elite - with all the strengths and weaknesses that implies. Nigeria
In such a complex and dangerous environment I don't see how you create a closed network that satisfies everyone. I don't see how you fund it.
Christianity doesn't preach the superiority of men or the inferiority of women.
The problem is not what is preached but what is practiced. The nun does not have the authority or significance of the priest. That works to reinforce a male dominant tribal religion and culture.
So its understandable that we will start enforcing our concept of morality on others right off the bat?
Remember, morality is relative.
OLPC is a state-subsidized educational program for children.
If you want OLPC to succeed you do not create problems in the classroom, you do not embarrass its local sponsors.
Nigeria is a mix of Islam, evangelical Protestant, conservative Catholic, and tribal religion. Tolerance of pornography - and the exposure of children to pornography - doesn't figure prominently in any one of them.
Porn on the Internet is framed in terms of the Western stereotypes of the dominant male and the subservient [often promiscuous] female. In the Nigerian setting, this comes at a price:
Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa. It is a country on the brink of an AIDS disaster. And its dominant religions - traditional religion, Christianity, and Islam - all proclaim the superiority of males to females. These three aspects are closely linked.
In traditional Nigerian society, there is no separation between the laws governing secular and spiritual spheres. What the gods say is sanctioned by society and forms the norms of the community. They cannot be challenged, especially by women. This divinely ordained male dominance forms the ultimate basis of patriarchal entrenchment in Nigerian culture.
The siege of patriarchy encompasses all spheres in Nigerian society including practices like female genital mutilation, child marriage, widow inheritance, rape, and polygamy. Talk about sex is considered immoral; sexual issues are not open to discussion. This secrecy surrounding sexual relations, combined with the religious and cultural expectations that subjugate women, largely explains women's vulnerability to HIV/AIDS in the country. No effort to curb the spread of AIDS in Nigeria can afford to ignore the influence of religion and culture.Women in Nigeria: Religion, Culture, and AIDS [2002]
On a fundamental level, Christians and Muslims in Nigeria have similar views on the why HIV continues to spread: both groups see promiscuous behavior as the root cause of the HIV crisis. Promiscuity is frowned upon heavily because of religious teachings and because of underlying cultural traditions within Nigerian society. Even before Christianity and Islam were introduced, Nigerian cultural tradition emphasized the importance of sexual discretion and believed that sex should be reserved for marriage. Leaders in both the Christian and Muslim communities discourage their followers from pre-marital and extra-marital sex, and teach that procreation is the main reason for sex. Religion and HIV/AIDS in Nigeria
Secondly, you have people buying computers with Vista, deciding they don't like it, and buying a license of XP instead
I'll admit that this is pure speculation
All Microsoft is saying is that XP sales in FY08 will probably be up a little and Vista sales down a little from earlier projections.
Systems entering the consumer market this fall will be "designed for Vista."
They will perform well running Vista and will ship with DX 10 video as standard, perhaps with integrated ReadyBooost flash, hybrid hard drives, etc., as standard. They will be running second or third generation Vista drivers.
Vista Premium has the media-center features that appeal in the home market, Ultimate the security features you want in a high-end laptop.
How many of these buyers are likely to drift back to XP - and can you really believe that the numbers will be statistically significant?
It'd be a bitch to try and install two or three PCI tuner cards in one for a mythtv setup, and pretty few laptops come with digital audio out, much less HDMI ports
Or can you get your MS tax refund if you delete it and send it back? Has anyone pulled that off lately?
Try reading the bill of sale.
It will explicity describe your purchase of a PC with an OEM Vista install. Microsoft's EULA may not bind you but Walmart's contract of sale sure as hell does.
Does MS just give them away "free" to companies like Everex/Wal-Mart, just to protect their marketshare
OEM Linux tanked at Walmart. Walmart sees steady after-market sales of PC hardware and software. Windows gaming is still a billion-dollar industry. Microsoft doesn't have to give anything.
Perhaps the author of the article should...wonder how we got into the awful situation where we have to pay everybody and their brother in order to do a simple thing like listen to music on your computer.
There is nothing "simple" about listening to music on a computer: Video Game Music [History] The Sound Blaster card doesn't appear until 1989. Winamp in 1997.
In 2007 it's assummed that a PC can:
record and play MIDI music {with sophisticated wave-table synthesis) record and play digital audio play (and often record) data-compressed digital audio in any of a half-dozen or more formats, including multichannel theater sound.
When there is nothing in the budget for the $25 print cartridge and nothing in the budget for dial-up or DSL then the $250 PC is a fifty-pound paperweight.
this thread is about whether a low-specced PC is enough for students in today's computing environment.
The Geek has stereotypes of the non-technical end user - kid or adult - that make this argument futile.
In the end, "enough" is defined by what people are willing to pay for -- the brand-name laptop with midline specs or better.
The market is middle class and the middle class is profoundly wary of the bottom-feeders. Most have been burned at least once. Walmart has tried this price-point before and nothing ever comes of it.
This one has little to do with OEM Linux, it's about a low-price PC with OO instead of MSO. This isn't even about big-box retail, Walmart is a general retailer.
Seriously, though, if the choice is between a student having this $300 computer, and a student having no computer, which do you think is better?
Not every parent can afford to spend $1000 or even $500.
The $250 desktop computer without monitor or printer. No Internet service. No budgeting for consumables. This isn't a PC for the middle class or the working poor. It is a toy for the Slashdot Geek.
The real story here is the death - or still-birth - of OEM Linux in American big-box retail.
As well as the fact that for most people Windows and pirated Office Just Work(tm) (which they kinda do, come to think of it) so why change?
The Geek may someday get it pounded into his head that in Microsoft's core middle clasx market there is no need for a home user to pirate Office: Home Use Program,
Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 $122 US Three-seat license. No 1 in software sales at Amazon.com
Slashdot Mirror
The problem I have with the Chronicles is that the allegory demands that the Talking Beasts remain secondary characters in their own world. They are bound to Narnia but they can never govern Narnia.
AbeBooks is an international clearing house for the sale of used and rare books. 100 million books on sale from 13,500 booksellers in 57 countries.
At last count, AbeBooks had sold 55 Harry Potter books priced at $1.000 or more. In August 2005, AbeBooks sold probably the world's most expensive Harry Potter book when a buyer spent $37,000 ($20,000) on an exceptionally rare first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Most Expensive Harry Potters Ever Sold on AbeBooks
To date, the Harry Potter books have sold more then 300 million copies worldwide in over 200 countries and the books have been translated into more than 60 languages - only the bible can better those statistics.
In France, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix became the first English language book to ever top bestseller list but the series has permeated almost every corner of the atlas.
The books have been translated into most Eastern European (from Albanian to Ukranian), East Asian (Cambodian to Vietnamese), and Scandinavian languages. Some countries even have books in several dialects - for instance, in Spain it is possible to buy the books in Spanish, Basque, Catalan and Galician.
But it's possible to find even more obscure translations such as Faroese (with a mere 60,000 to 80,000 worldwide speakers) and Kalaallisut (the dialect of Greenland spoken by about 54,000). Some of the books have even been translated into the dead languages of Latin (meet Harrius Potter) and Ancient Greek, the latter translation being the longest work in the language since the novels of Heliodorus of Emesa in the 3rd century AD. The Wild World of Harry Potter Books, The Harry Potter Series
The literary critic, the academic, doesn't quite know what to make of Harry Potter:
Literary manias expire with horrible suddenness. Uncle Tom's Cabin was the novel in 1852. In America, at the height of its popularity, steam-driven printing presses exploded, trying to keep up with sales demand. But, two years later, Harriet Beecher Stowe's book was dead on the shelves. Last year's book. Harry mania...and there may be more
The only problem with this particular example is that it isn't true. Stowe's novel sold well throughout the nineteenth century. Stage productions and later films embedded Stowe's most memorable images in the in the American consciousness. Simon Legree. Eliza crossing the ice. In the 1930s the WPA's Federal Theater Project produced a stinging, unsentimental adaptation that took the story back to its anti-slavery roots.
Perhaps the key to understanding Rowling's appeal to children, to adolescents, is that she like Twain, like Dickens, like Lemony Snicket, is an uncompromising moralist.
Entry level for Vista Basic at Walmart is a $328 Compaq with a 3.4 GHz Pentium CPU, 512 MB RAM and a 160 GB hard drive. No one gives a damn about "bloat."
Fun with numbers: W3Schools shows Vista with a 3.0% share in June. Up from 0% in January 2007. Linux at 3.4%. Up 0.4% from January 2004. OS Platform Statistics
It is worth taking a look at W3Schools Display Statistics
While surfing the content-rich web - the media-rich web - in 2007 is fundamentally a middle-class experience, the demands of the browser are trivial even at entry level - and have been for years:
Compaq Desktop PC w/ Intel Pentium 4 Processor
Vista Basic
3.2 GHz P4
512 MB RAM 160 GB SATA HDD.
DVD Burner
Intel integrated graphics (Pathetic, but upgradeable)
$328
To geeks, this is both Gospel Truth and one of the basic Laws of Nature.
--- and to copy the bits you must first collect the bits. Not easy if the traffic is being blocked upstream - at the border. Not safe if anonymity or encryption sets off alarms.
some of those bits are supposed to be less copyable than others
"All animals are equal. But some are more equal than others."
Doklady Biochemistry and Biophysics is a bimonthly journal containing English translations of current Russian research from the biochemistry section of the Doklady Akademii Nauk (Proceedings of the Russian Academy of Sciences). The Proceedings appear 36 times per year; articles from the biochemistry section are collected, translated, and published in 6 issues per year. Doklady Biochemistry and Biophysics publishes the most significant new research in biochemistry being done in Russia today, ensuring its scientific priority. Doklady Biochemistry & Biophysics
How about we begin by naming a effective vaccine that was killed by the drug companies? How about in reporting on an AIDS we link to something more persuasive than a blog? National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases: Ongoing HIV vaccine trials
building and maintaining infrastructure demands a reasonably stable society and a healthy local economy.
otherwise "big plans" lead nowhere. case in point: Iraq.
maybe because a school without electricity has more problems than a wind-up laptop can solve.
maybe because the machines were distributed before teachers had the training and materials to make good use of them in class. a problem not unknown in the states.
I call this the geek's version of "Intelligent Design."
The Internet is not compelled to evolve as an expression of western values of free expression.
China has a 3,000 year tradition of centralized power and bureaucratic rule. China has not been without significant intellectual and cultural achievement. One size does not fit all.
The right question to ask is what moral values the techno-Geek will be allowed to export.
The Islamic and evangelical Christian state of Nigeria isn't obligated to accept OLPC if the price of admission is tolerance of pornography in the home and classroom.
Modern Nigeria was awkwardly carved out of the British colonial empire.
There are 500 tribal languages. 250 ethnic groups. Two major religions in Islam and Christianity, competing and occasionally merging with tribal beliefs.
English is the official language - the language of the urban elite - with all the strengths and weaknesses that implies. Nigeria
In such a complex and dangerous environment I don't see how you create a closed network that satisfies everyone. I don't see how you fund it.
The problem is not what is preached but what is practiced. The nun does not have the authority or significance of the priest. That works to reinforce a male dominant tribal religion and culture.
Remember, morality is relative.
OLPC is a state-subsidized educational program for children.
If you want OLPC to succeed you do not create problems in the classroom, you do not embarrass its local sponsors.
Nigeria is a mix of Islam, evangelical Protestant, conservative Catholic, and tribal religion. Tolerance of pornography - and the exposure of children to pornography - doesn't figure prominently in any one of them.
Porn on the Internet is framed in terms of the Western stereotypes of the dominant male and the subservient [often promiscuous] female. In the Nigerian setting, this comes at a price:
Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa. It is a country on the brink of an AIDS disaster. And its dominant religions - traditional religion, Christianity, and Islam - all proclaim the superiority of males to females. These three aspects are closely linked.
In traditional Nigerian society, there is no separation between the laws governing secular and spiritual spheres. What the gods say is sanctioned by society and forms the norms of the community. They cannot be challenged, especially by women. This divinely ordained male dominance forms the ultimate basis of patriarchal entrenchment in Nigerian culture.
The siege of patriarchy encompasses all spheres in Nigerian society including practices like female genital mutilation, child marriage, widow inheritance, rape, and polygamy. Talk about sex is considered immoral; sexual issues are not open to discussion. This secrecy surrounding sexual relations, combined with the religious and cultural expectations that subjugate women, largely explains women's vulnerability to HIV/AIDS in the country. No effort to curb the spread of AIDS in Nigeria can afford to ignore the influence of religion and culture. Women in Nigeria: Religion, Culture, and AIDS [2002]
On a fundamental level, Christians and Muslims in Nigeria have similar views on the why HIV continues to spread: both groups see promiscuous behavior as the root cause of the HIV crisis. Promiscuity is frowned upon heavily because of religious teachings and because of underlying cultural traditions within Nigerian society. Even before Christianity and Islam were introduced, Nigerian cultural tradition emphasized the importance of sexual discretion and believed that sex should be reserved for marriage. Leaders in both the Christian and Muslim communities discourage their followers from pre-marital and extra-marital sex, and teach that procreation is the main reason for sex. Religion and HIV/AIDS in Nigeria
pretty soon there won't be any need to plug in peripherals, it will all be done through high and low speed wireless connections.
What the University may see is a lower-cost academic network being used for academic purposes.
If high-traffic sites like Yahoo, CNN, Amazon and Disney are on the list - then the numbers are "good enough."
All Microsoft is saying is that XP sales in FY08 will probably be up a little and Vista sales down a little from earlier projections.
Systems entering the consumer market this fall will be "designed for Vista."
They will perform well running Vista and will ship with DX 10 video as standard, perhaps with integrated ReadyBooost flash, hybrid hard drives, etc., as standard. They will be running second or third generation Vista drivers.
Vista Premium has the media-center features that appeal in the home market, Ultimate the security features you want in a high-end laptop.
How many of these buyers are likely to drift back to XP - and can you really believe that the numbers will be statistically significant?
You can get close to you are looking for today:
HP 17" Pavilion Widescreen WXGA+ Laptop PC w/ Intel 2 GHz Core 2 Duo Processor
Vista Ultimate
ExpressCard ATSC/NTSC tuner
HD-DVD ROM/Multilayer DVD burner
2 GB RAM. 240 GB HDD.
Intel WiFi and Bluetooth
NVIDIA DX10 GeForce 8600 GS 256 MB/1 GB shared
GiB Ethernet. 3 USB 2 ports. S-Video. SP/DIF audio. Firewire.
Media card reader. Fingerprint reader. Integrated webcam.
$2000
A footnote:
Windows Home Server has gone gold {RTM] and there are some impressive add-ins available now. Have it your way with Windows Home Server add-ins, We Got Served
Painting does not appeal. It suggests a short-lived, labor-intensive, installation.
Try reading the bill of sale.
It will explicity describe your purchase of a PC with an OEM Vista install. Microsoft's EULA may not bind you but Walmart's contract of sale sure as hell does.
Does MS just give them away "free" to companies like Everex/Wal-Mart, just to protect their marketshare
OEM Linux tanked at Walmart. Walmart sees steady after-market sales of PC hardware and software. Windows gaming is still a billion-dollar industry. Microsoft doesn't have to give anything.
There is nothing "simple" about listening to music on a computer: Video Game Music [History] The Sound Blaster card doesn't appear until 1989. Winamp in 1997.
In 2007 it's assummed that a PC can:
record and play MIDI music {with sophisticated wave-table synthesis)
record and play digital audio
play (and often record) data-compressed digital audio in any of a half-dozen or more formats, including multichannel theater sound.
Precisely.
When there is nothing in the budget for the $25 print cartridge and nothing in the budget for dial-up or DSL then the $250 PC is a fifty-pound paperweight.
this thread is about whether a low-specced PC is enough for students in today's computing environment.
The Geek has stereotypes of the non-technical end user - kid or adult - that make this argument futile.
In the end, "enough" is defined by what people are willing to pay for -- the brand-name laptop with midline specs or better.
The market is middle class and the middle class is profoundly wary of the bottom-feeders. Most have been burned at least once. Walmart has tried this price-point before and nothing ever comes of it.
This one has little to do with OEM Linux, it's about a low-price PC with OO instead of MSO. This isn't even about big-box retail, Walmart is a general retailer.
There is no bigger box in retail than Walmart.
The $250 desktop computer without monitor or printer. No Internet service. No budgeting for consumables. This isn't a PC for the middle class or the working poor. It is a toy for the Slashdot Geek.
The real story here is the death - or still-birth - of OEM Linux in American big-box retail.
The Geek may someday get it pounded into his head that in Microsoft's core middle clasx market there is no need for a home user to pirate Office: Home Use Program, Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 $122 US Three-seat license. No 1 in software sales at Amazon.com
He may also learn that mass market pricing can make Vista Ultimate look attractive and affordable: HP 17" Pavilion Widescreen Laptop PC w/ Intel Core 2 Duo Processor"
2 GB RAM 240 GB HDD
HD DVD-ROM / Multilayer DVD Burner
HDTV Tuner Card. Integrated Webcam, Fingerprint reader, and remote control.
NVIDA DX 10 GeForce 8600 GS w/ 256 MB dedicated RAM/upto 1 GB shared
1000 GiB Ethernet, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
8 cell Lion batteru + 90 watt AC adapter
$2000