Google has a feature called Google Co-op where you can "subscribe" to certain websites, so if they have information deemed relevant (by Google) to your query, Google will display the results of your "subscribed link" first. Websites must sign up to be included in the subscribed link database, so not all your sites are available. However, it can be a good starting point on your informational quest.
Example: I subscribe to Wikipedia. When I search for Queen Anne, the first two links at the top of the page (separate from the other results) are from Wikipedia.
You can also create Custom Search Engines, which will search only the websites that you specify. Oh the fun!
It's similar to Lynn Margulis' discovery that the mitochondria were originally their own organism and have since been integrated into our cells. She first made that claim in the 1980's, and only now has it started to become accepted dogma. It takes time to change minds, and she's still working on it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynn_Margulis
in all of the poor countries I've been to, the weather would prove very detrimental to a laptop (no matter how rugged). Pervasive humidity, dryness, DUST, insects, extreme heat.. how would this hardware hold up to that challenge? i know they say it's "rugged".. but what does that really mean?
Yes, if you give a very poor family a computer, they will probably sell it for food. However, if you give a very poor family a computer and show them how to use it to their advantage, the computer has more of a chance of remaining with the family and benefiting the community as a whole. And of course it will be out of date within a short amount of time, but why should that prevent us from giving them technology? That is a poor excuse for inaction.
There has been some stories in the news about nonprofits working to provide cattle farmers in Africa with cell phones. For example: http://www.globalenvision.org/library/5/735/ Unlike the computer, the phone has advantages obvious to the consumer. It enables the farmer to get better prices for their cattle or crops, establish where there is need on that particular day, and determine the best method of transport. If anything, less money should be put into laptops (at the moment) and more into expanding the reach of the cell phone in third world countries.
i agree. some medical care is better than none, especially in the rural areas of 2nd and 3rd world countries.
i volunteered in a 3rd world country for a few months in the government run medical system. once i told them i had my bachelor's degree in science/psychology, they were ready to let me have my own practice and prescribe medicine! after a few weeks of on the job training, i actually proved useful. i can't imagine they wouldn't be able to utilize medical students, and at the same time enable those students to be trained.
in addition, we don't want to reinforce treating patients like objects. robots are objects, students practice on robots.. the impact on their thinking may be small, but it's still important.
Poor people don't deserve less quality care, but the reality is that right now they have minimal to no care, especially in rural areas.
I volunteered in a 3rd world country for a few months. When i told the hospital that i had my Bachelor's degree in science/ psychology, they were ready and willing to not only let me see patients as a Psychologist, but also prescribe medicine. In the end I proved useful after some on the job training.. if i can do it, a medical student certainly could be utilized. Why waste the labor on a robot?! Plus, in real life the students won't have the luxury of stabbing their patients' arms dozens of times. Don't teach the students that patients are objects, and maybe they won't treat us like that when the graduate!
I don't think it's the doctors that drive up the cost of healthcare. It's the entire structure, the monstrosity, known as HEALTHCARE that makes medical care so expensive. This encompasses everything from the cost of getting into and through medical school to insurance companies, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, lawyers, and the industries that support them. such a tangled web we weave...
Slashdot Mirror
The feature: http://google.com/coop/
Example: I subscribe to Wikipedia. When I search for Queen Anne, the first two links at the top of the page (separate from the other results) are from Wikipedia.
You can also create Custom Search Engines, which will search only the websites that you specify. Oh the fun!
or maybe it's because everyone's already bought one, had it break, and then switched to a different technology..
It's similar to Lynn Margulis' discovery that the mitochondria were originally their own organism and have since been integrated into our cells. She first made that claim in the 1980's, and only now has it started to become accepted dogma. It takes time to change minds, and she's still working on it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynn_Margulis
in all of the poor countries I've been to, the weather would prove very detrimental to a laptop (no matter how rugged). Pervasive humidity, dryness, DUST, insects, extreme heat.. how would this hardware hold up to that challenge? i know they say it's "rugged".. but what does that really mean?
There has been some stories in the news about nonprofits working to provide cattle farmers in Africa with cell phones. For example: http://www.globalenvision.org/library/5/735/ Unlike the computer, the phone has advantages obvious to the consumer. It enables the farmer to get better prices for their cattle or crops, establish where there is need on that particular day, and determine the best method of transport. If anything, less money should be put into laptops (at the moment) and more into expanding the reach of the cell phone in third world countries.
(sorry for the repeat.. slashdot told me the first comment was lost... anyway, you get the gist.)
i agree. some medical care is better than none, especially in the rural areas of 2nd and 3rd world countries. i volunteered in a 3rd world country for a few months in the government run medical system. once i told them i had my bachelor's degree in science/psychology, they were ready to let me have my own practice and prescribe medicine! after a few weeks of on the job training, i actually proved useful. i can't imagine they wouldn't be able to utilize medical students, and at the same time enable those students to be trained. in addition, we don't want to reinforce treating patients like objects. robots are objects, students practice on robots.. the impact on their thinking may be small, but it's still important.
Poor people don't deserve less quality care, but the reality is that right now they have minimal to no care, especially in rural areas. I volunteered in a 3rd world country for a few months. When i told the hospital that i had my Bachelor's degree in science/ psychology, they were ready and willing to not only let me see patients as a Psychologist, but also prescribe medicine. In the end I proved useful after some on the job training.. if i can do it, a medical student certainly could be utilized. Why waste the labor on a robot?! Plus, in real life the students won't have the luxury of stabbing their patients' arms dozens of times. Don't teach the students that patients are objects, and maybe they won't treat us like that when the graduate!
I don't think it's the doctors that drive up the cost of healthcare. It's the entire structure, the monstrosity, known as HEALTHCARE that makes medical care so expensive. This encompasses everything from the cost of getting into and through medical school to insurance companies, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, lawyers, and the industries that support them. such a tangled web we weave...