I've been working in Africa for the last three years for several education development projects (Nigeria and now Kenya).
I think the concept of the $100 computer is the best thing since the cell phone or wind-up radio.
OFCOURSE the problem with any project that uses things like computers/radios/video ect... is that its hard to make these programs sustainable. Typical projects have funding for 3-5 years in which time they distribute thousands of the things and then bam! one day the money runs out, the project ends,... and then what? That is a problem with ALL development projects. The trick is to build sustainability.
Young people in a poor village in Africa are no different than anywhere else, and if you give them access to a networked computer with access to internet the possibilities are endless.
There are many successful projects implementing cell phones to help farmers get better prices for their crops. There are radio shows that teach people about HIV with call in shows using text messaging. The possibilities are endless. The next step is to integrate computers and internet into the matrix.
The truth is, you could probably buy a lot of flour for a single village for $100 for a year-- but once they have eaten it, they will still be hungry. Give a village a cheap device such as the $100 laptop and access to a network, the possibilities to exchange knowledge, generate ideas, and problem solve for THEMSELVES is limitless. This is how you create sustainability. Give them the tools and ideas, the rest can follow.
Make it stop! Apple is taking over the world! Soon we'll all be cool and hip and 'in'. This is the Brave New World they were talking about when you were in grade school! Run away! Run FAR away! aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!
Oh yes...Allow me first to apologize for this interruption. I do, like many of you, appreciate the comforts of every day routine- the security of the familiar, the tranquility of repetition. I enjoy them as much as any bloke. But in the spirit of commemoration, thereby those important events of the past usually associated with someone's death or the end of some awful bloody struggle, a celebration of a nice holiday, I thought we could mark this November the 5th, a day that is sadly no longer remembered, by taking some time out of our daily lives to sit down and have a little chat. There are of course those who do not want us to speak. I suspect even now, orders are being shouted into telephones, and men with guns will soon be on their way. Why? Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who's to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror. I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn't be? War, terror, disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense....
Oh excuse me, I think I hear several knocks at the door...and is that a helicopter?...wait a second I think I smell tear gas.
::fumbling:: Now where did I put that damned gas mask!??:::::gagggggggasss accckkkk::: FREEDOM FOREVER!
Will Democrats turn out on voting day this time? Or will they be slackers like they have been for the last 6 years??? I have read several articles saying that the real secret weapon of the republicans and Rove is their 'get out the vote' in the final 72hours.
Will the Democrats be able to combat this, this time around? Or will they continue their sorry losing streak?
Space needs democracy too! Too long has Space been under attack from extremist's such as Mr. Blackhole and Mr. Ether, who long to dominate Space's innate right for FREEDOM.
Speech from the near future:
"I am the Shrub. And, I see a whole army of my country men, here in defiance of tyranny in SPACE. You've come to fight as freemen, and freemen you are. What will you do without freedom?! Will you fight?
Crowd of defeatist surrender monkeys:
No . . . we will run . . . and we will live.
"Aye. Fight and you may die. Run and you'll live, at least a while. And, dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance -- just one chance -- to come back here and tell our enemies, that they may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom in SPACE!"
And you shouldn't confuse the Human ability of LOGIC and IMAGINATION. Holy shit. Are you really putting us humans on the same level as a cow? I know what your argument is, but it stinks and its a copout. We have a responsibility to preserve the earth because it is our ONLY home. The more we destroy the natural environment, alter weather patterns, cause mass extinctions, the closer we get to doing ourselves in. I'm sure you would agree with this, but where are wrong is the INEVITIBILITY that because that is what we are doing now, that it is our fate. You might not want the human race to survive the next 1000 years, but I certainly do.
Oh my... have you ever heard of this little thing called a drought? In developing countries (most of which USED to be covered in rainforest) they are ALL experiencing increase numbers of droughts. This is exaspirated by the fact they have lost their protective forests. NO forest means there is NO place for water to be stored. The land becomes parched and much less productive. DESERTIFICATION is what you should learn about...go ahead look it up. Educate thy self. When you buy a cheap piece of furniture from IKEA that is made in China, realize where that wood came from (probably illegally logged in SE Asia). We are quickly turning our world into a desert. This is DIRECTLy caused by humans and nothing else. The fact that we are also pumping BILLIONs of tons of carbon emmissions into the atmosphere is increasing the magnitude of the problem...accelerating it greatly.
Open your eyes to the truth, or are you too brainwashed?
You might not think you are a troll, but your ignorance is inexcusable. For that you should apologize to your grandchildren (if you have any) for why you failed to act when you could to do your part to save the #ucking earth.
Answer, none. ALL animals establish equilibrium with their environment.
If pathetic short sighted people like you become the only voice out there the human race is indeed #ucked. If however, more rational voices and policies can be established, there is hope yet. We have about 100 years to save this planet, I don't see how that is impossible.
Ofcourse, you'll probably be dead by then anyway. Lung cancer from too much smob mb?...
Slashdot Mirror
It's good for the circuluation. ;)
I went to uni in Victoria. Call me nostalgic but, I'll really miss the urine soaked side walks downtown...It just won't be the same dammit!
OFCOURSE the problem with any project that uses things like computers/radios/video ect... is that its hard to make these programs sustainable. Typical projects have funding for 3-5 years in which time they distribute thousands of the things and then bam! one day the money runs out, the project ends, ... and then what? That is a problem with ALL development projects. The trick is to build sustainability.
Young people in a poor village in Africa are no different than anywhere else, and if you give them access to a networked computer with access to internet the possibilities are endless.
There are many successful projects implementing cell phones to help farmers get better prices for their crops. There are radio shows that teach people about HIV with call in shows using text messaging. The possibilities are endless. The next step is to integrate computers and internet into the matrix.
The truth is, you could probably buy a lot of flour for a single village for $100 for a year-- but once they have eaten it, they will still be hungry. Give a village a cheap device such as the $100 laptop and access to a network, the possibilities to exchange knowledge, generate ideas, and problem solve for THEMSELVES is limitless. This is how you create sustainability. Give them the tools and ideas, the rest can follow.
Thats right. Brown.
Make it stop! Apple is taking over the world! Soon we'll all be cool and hip and 'in'. This is the Brave New World they were talking about when you were in grade school! Run away! Run FAR away! aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!
Heh, get it? Blood shower? Ah, not funny at all really. ;(
The US hand picked the judges and the sentence was a forgone conclusion.
Will Saddam get a chance to talk about how he had US support during the war with Iran? I doubt it.
Saddam shouldn't be executed he should be kept alive in a cell for the rest of his life as a lesson for the Iraqi's to learn from.
Executing Saddam will only turn him into a martyr.
Thoughts?
Who wouldn't want to lick a fresh, cold, hard, Tasticle on a stick on a hot day to refill their manhood? Anyone? ;)
You're right he isn't inherently evil...he is worse! Bush thinks he is doing his gods bidding!
Well... that is so long he can stand the sulpur smell I guess. tee-hee...
Seriously though, Chavez is just your average guy who grew up in the slums and rising to power fighting for the little guy/gal.
Clearly Bush&Cheney would like nothing better than to introduce the harmless little fella to some friendly water boarding.
Oh excuse me, I think I hear several knocks at the door...and is that a helicopter?...wait a second I think I smell tear gas.
It was and is a big deal to us. It was a pivitol moment in our collective history and hopefully it will never happen again!
Did anyone get a delivery for a g. fox by accident? Anyone?
I for one welcome our new illustrious and infallible world leader for life.
I humbly volunteer to be a mole for the new empire Pax america.
Perhaps I could spit polish Karl Rove's shoes? Your sires? :::cowers away:::
He's so dreamy :)
Will the Democrats be able to combat this, this time around? Or will they continue their sorry losing streak?
Anyone?
They will out bid you all!
(well short of thermo-nuclear war ofcourse)
Speech from the near future:
"I am the Shrub. And, I see a whole army of my country men, here in defiance of tyranny in SPACE. You've come to fight as freemen, and freemen you are. What will you do without freedom?! Will you fight?
Crowd of defeatist surrender monkeys: No . . . we will run . . . and we will live.
"Aye. Fight and you may die. Run and you'll live, at least a while. And, dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance -- just one chance -- to come back here and tell our enemies, that they may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom in SPACE!"
And you shouldn't confuse the Human ability of LOGIC and IMAGINATION. Holy shit. Are you really putting us humans on the same level as a cow? I know what your argument is, but it stinks and its a copout. We have a responsibility to preserve the earth because it is our ONLY home. The more we destroy the natural environment, alter weather patterns, cause mass extinctions, the closer we get to doing ourselves in. I'm sure you would agree with this, but where are wrong is the INEVITIBILITY that because that is what we are doing now, that it is our fate. You might not want the human race to survive the next 1000 years, but I certainly do.
Oh my... have you ever heard of this little thing called a drought? In developing countries (most of which USED to be covered in rainforest) they are ALL experiencing increase numbers of droughts. This is exaspirated by the fact they have lost their protective forests. NO forest means there is NO place for water to be stored. The land becomes parched and much less productive. DESERTIFICATION is what you should learn about...go ahead look it up. Educate thy self. When you buy a cheap piece of furniture from IKEA that is made in China, realize where that wood came from (probably illegally logged in SE Asia). We are quickly turning our world into a desert. This is DIRECTLy caused by humans and nothing else. The fact that we are also pumping BILLIONs of tons of carbon emmissions into the atmosphere is increasing the magnitude of the problem...accelerating it greatly.
Open your eyes to the truth, or are you too brainwashed?
You might not think you are a troll, but your ignorance is inexcusable. For that you should apologize to your grandchildren (if you have any) for why you failed to act when you could to do your part to save the #ucking earth.
If pathetic short sighted people like you become the only voice out there the human race is indeed #ucked. If however, more rational voices and policies can be established, there is hope yet. We have about 100 years to save this planet, I don't see how that is impossible.
Ofcourse, you'll probably be dead by then anyway. Lung cancer from too much smob mb?...
Doesn't make it not true. Ignorance is NOT strength.