I've got an XO as well, and my three year old loves it. The great things about it is its almost indestructible, water resistant, and takes 20 minutes for re-install if she messes it up. Add vlc and an SD card with a bunch of movies and shows on it and you're set for travel entertainment.
I have an XO, I love it - but Sugar sucks and the file management 'Journal' is idiotic and clumsy.
I've found that the only way to get any productivity out of the thing when not simply surfing the web or checking email in the basic browser is to go to the terminal. Writing, saving, and sending a simple text document via the Sugar GUI and apps takes takes forever; I knew nothing of linux when I got it, but now do all my writing and email in the terminal with Midnight Commander, then use Lynx to email it out - I can do any text/email stuff 100x faster that way.
I'm looking forward to the rumored 'ubuntu lite' I've heard whispers of - getting an XO prompted me to switch over the home box to Ubuntu, and having a portable system that runs the same would be great.
Her mother can handle the hygiene training, but I will be able to teach her first aid and the the oncepts of santitation (I have the basis of a campaign based around the Black Plague - one of the ways to win the scenario is to come up with the concept of sewers and public sanitation, extra points if they can figure out a way to implement it using just the skills of their characters)
As for social skills, I know of many people that went from being shy introverts to outgoing sociable people because of the communications skills they picked up playing RPGs - to a certain extent I'd count myself among them. I've made more friends - most of them not even gamers - through my gaming then through religious or sabarytic(SP?) activities.
:P Sorry, I guess my thugspeak is pretty bad. My gaming group ranges from 40ish, down to a couple of 18 year olds that called tabletop (pen paper and dice) roleplaying "oldschool" when we introduced them to it. It's been interesting to see their evolution from console jockeys to tabletop afficandos - one of them even traded his old Playstation at a pawnshop for a stack of 2nd edition books!
I've been playing various games for 22 years now, and look forward to teaching my daughter ethics, politics, social skills, math, physics, chemistry, history, ecomomics, and self defence through RPGs once she gets old enough. Tabletop will never die - 'cuz there'z alwayz gonna be thoze of uz that like to do it old zcoool.
Yes, if you choose to drop out of society and live cash only without a drivers licence, health card, insurance of any kind, bank account, gun licence, access to subsidized education, Canada Pension Plan (Canadians get a pension from the government when they retire), any kind of telecommunications service in your name...
Basically, if a person decides to drop out of society then they don't have to pay taxes; but from what I've seen only the very stupid, the mentally ill, or criminals live like that in Canada. Even then, if they choose to, they can choose to rejoin at a later time. Of course, if they have been making a crapload of money without paying taxes then they would have to pay back taxes on the money they made.
Canadians do not get taxed on the first $30K or so of income, well, we do pay taxes on purchases and such, but at the end of the year if your income is below $30K or so the government refunds a portion of those taxes to you.
The whole idea behind Socialism is in its name "Social". The stucture of the Society of to serve the society - not the economy - the ecomony is a PART of society, and a healthy society will have a healthy economy. When a worker (of any kind - blue, grey, or white collar) does not have to constantly worry about being able to survive a life crisis alone, and worker knows that his government has in place programs and services to come to his aid with medical, financial, psycological and educational assistance in time of need, he will generally be happier and more productive.
I'm a Canadian.
Canada is a Socialist Democracy.
I can go anywhere in the world with FREEDOM from fear or reprisal.
I have the FREEDOM to take advantage of a guaranteed education.
I have the FREEDOM to take advantage of guaranteed health care when I need it.
I have the FREEDOM to take advantage of a subsistance income if I am unable to work due to sickness or injury.
I have the FREEDOM to take advantage of a guaranteed work or retraining if I lose my job.
I have the FREEDOM to take advantage of high speed internet (10MB), 500 channels of television and public transit that allows me to go anywhere in my county; subsidized by the state because Socialists believe that promoting the ability to participate in Society is good.
I have the FREEDOM to own land, open a business, and compete in a free market economy, because a Socialist society does not discourage Capitalism, it just demands that Corporate Entities contibute to the society that is the environment that they exist in via business taxes - Social Capitalism is about primarially allowing the Worker to profit from their work, as opposed to primarially the Company.
Any American that thinks that they have greater FREEDOM than I do is a sad, ignorant, fool.
Slashdot Mirror
I can think of only one man I'd want in the position - Cory Doctorow.
I've got an XO as well, and my three year old loves it. The great things about it is its almost indestructible, water resistant, and takes 20 minutes for re-install if she messes it up. Add vlc and an SD card with a bunch of movies and shows on it and you're set for travel entertainment.
I have an XO, I love it - but Sugar sucks and the file management 'Journal' is idiotic and clumsy. I've found that the only way to get any productivity out of the thing when not simply surfing the web or checking email in the basic browser is to go to the terminal. Writing, saving, and sending a simple text document via the Sugar GUI and apps takes takes forever; I knew nothing of linux when I got it, but now do all my writing and email in the terminal with Midnight Commander, then use Lynx to email it out - I can do any text/email stuff 100x faster that way. I'm looking forward to the rumored 'ubuntu lite' I've heard whispers of - getting an XO prompted me to switch over the home box to Ubuntu, and having a portable system that runs the same would be great.
Her mother can handle the hygiene training, but I will be able to teach her first aid and the the oncepts of santitation (I have the basis of a campaign based around the Black Plague - one of the ways to win the scenario is to come up with the concept of sewers and public sanitation, extra points if they can figure out a way to implement it using just the skills of their characters) As for social skills, I know of many people that went from being shy introverts to outgoing sociable people because of the communications skills they picked up playing RPGs - to a certain extent I'd count myself among them. I've made more friends - most of them not even gamers - through my gaming then through religious or sabarytic(SP?) activities.
:P Sorry, I guess my thugspeak is pretty bad.
My gaming group ranges from 40ish, down to a couple of
18 year olds that called tabletop (pen paper and dice)
roleplaying "oldschool" when we introduced them to it.
It's been interesting to see their evolution from console
jockeys to tabletop afficandos - one of them even traded
his old Playstation at a pawnshop for a stack of 2nd edition
books!
I've been playing various games for 22 years now, and look forward to teaching my daughter ethics, politics, social skills, math, physics, chemistry, history, ecomomics, and self defence through RPGs once she gets old enough. Tabletop will never die - 'cuz there'z alwayz gonna be thoze of uz that like to do it old zcoool.
I found magniloquents, good word - thanks; but what is machiaphobia?
Yes, if you choose to drop out of society and live cash only without a drivers licence, health card, insurance of any kind, bank account, gun licence, access to subsidized education, Canada Pension Plan (Canadians get a pension from the government when they retire), any kind of telecommunications service in your name... Basically, if a person decides to drop out of society then they don't have to pay taxes; but from what I've seen only the very stupid, the mentally ill, or criminals live like that in Canada. Even then, if they choose to, they can choose to rejoin at a later time. Of course, if they have been making a crapload of money without paying taxes then they would have to pay back taxes on the money they made. Canadians do not get taxed on the first $30K or so of income, well, we do pay taxes on purchases and such, but at the end of the year if your income is below $30K or so the government refunds a portion of those taxes to you. The whole idea behind Socialism is in its name "Social". The stucture of the Society of to serve the society - not the economy - the ecomony is a PART of society, and a healthy society will have a healthy economy. When a worker (of any kind - blue, grey, or white collar) does not have to constantly worry about being able to survive a life crisis alone, and worker knows that his government has in place programs and services to come to his aid with medical, financial, psycological and educational assistance in time of need, he will generally be happier and more productive.
I'm a Canadian. Canada is a Socialist Democracy. I can go anywhere in the world with FREEDOM from fear or reprisal. I have the FREEDOM to take advantage of a guaranteed education. I have the FREEDOM to take advantage of guaranteed health care when I need it. I have the FREEDOM to take advantage of a subsistance income if I am unable to work due to sickness or injury. I have the FREEDOM to take advantage of a guaranteed work or retraining if I lose my job. I have the FREEDOM to take advantage of high speed internet (10MB), 500 channels of television and public transit that allows me to go anywhere in my county; subsidized by the state because Socialists believe that promoting the ability to participate in Society is good. I have the FREEDOM to own land, open a business, and compete in a free market economy, because a Socialist society does not discourage Capitalism, it just demands that Corporate Entities contibute to the society that is the environment that they exist in via business taxes - Social Capitalism is about primarially allowing the Worker to profit from their work, as opposed to primarially the Company. Any American that thinks that they have greater FREEDOM than I do is a sad, ignorant, fool.