Starving children don't need candy bars
The
One Laptop Per Child project has produced some
incredible technology. It's also as incredibly misplaced.
The idea of the project is to make a laptop priced at $100 (it's currently spec'd at $175) that can be sold to developing nations to give to school children. It would need to be rugged, low power, use alternative power sources, be visible in sunlight, etc. All of this was due to the environment in which the kids lived: NO FUCKING ELECTRICITY.
These laptops are awesome. I would love one for each of my kids; they're useless to children in the "third world" who need food and shelter before they need a laptop. In many cases, these kids need schools.
The project is laudable but $100 is not affordable to the countries he wants to sell to. $100 buys a lot of rice. Negroponte should focus on selling these laptops in the U.S.; states could afford the price tag and it would allow them to get the price down to a level that is realistic for their targetted nations. It would be very reasonable to add a surcharge to U.S. sales that would help build schools and feed children in the targetted nations.
Teaching kids modern lessons about finances, biology, psychology: Good. Great, in fact. Long time coming.
Skipping over Churchill, Hitler, Facism, War of the Roses: I guess they'll also skip "Can't see the forest for the trees."
Drew Curtis speaks in Atlanta
Saturday night, I went to
Manny's to listen to Drew Curtis, creator of
Fark, discuss
his book. It isn't on my list of Must Read but I found the short talk pretty worthwhile.
In the book, he references a Frontline report which concludes that capitalism and Media (journalism) are incompatible. As an example, Drew talks about a friend's yearly review where he was asked, as a journalist, what he had done that day to improve shareholder value. For journalists, it's about truth, not stock price. Compromising for the latter means that you stop being a journalist.
But Drew's working on too narrow of a scope. Capitalism is incompatible with Producers: a Producer sees a need in the community and wants to fill it because he thinks he can improve people's lives. For a Producer, he wants to build a better mouse-trap so that people will have something of value. He wants as many people to have that mouse-trap so that more people can enjoy that value, even if he makes him less money. Revenue and profit are good things so long as they are not the sole objective. For a Businessman, he doesn't care about how good the mouse-trap is or how many people use it; his only concern is the Bottom Line. Profit. One can look at any business and see the deterioration of quality as executives work to maximize profit at the expense of customers and employees. Corporations are created with the explicit objective of maximizing profit; I don't buy the corporate view that this is legal mandate for them to screw employees and customers to turn a buck but it does define the direction of corporations and Capitalism. Capitalism cannot co-exist with any model that is guided by anything other than profit. Capitalism works to the exclusion of all other objectives.
What's the solution for journalism? Drew recommends something akin to the BBC where it is publicly funded and has no "master". While the various public media in the U.S.A. (NPR, PBS) aren't beholden to shareholders or advertisers, I don't think this would scale to become the major form of journalism or media. Dependent upon public (and government) funds, it would constantly be under attack from one group or another and less stable in the face of loss of funds. I think a more realistic answer depends upon individuals calling a spade as a spade: get on blogs, news sites, editorial pages, public media, anywhere that an individual can speak his mind and call the media out for the whores they are and push the truth. Tell people what's going on.
Truth is too important to be left to business.
Even within public media, it's suffering. Drew mentioned how the morning Marketplace segment had one fluff story sandwiched between two meaty stories. Later, he talked about how the BBC wasn't gaining younger viewers and had hired consultants to attract them. What did the consultants say? Make it look like MySpace. As I pointed out and Drew agreed, Marketplace is likely trying to straddle the fence, offering the fluff story to keep the mass appeal while still keeping as much meat as possible. Maybe it will work, maybe it won't.
Drew got onto the topic of security (prolly by discussing Fear Mongering) and someone asked why people fear something unfamiliar and rare, like terrorism, so much more than something very familiar and more likely, like a car wreck. I offer an essay by
Bruce Schneier, the
Psychology of Security, which explains this fairly well. The short answer is, "
People are Dumb".
But, I guess that's why there's a Florida tag.
Modesty or Embarassment?
People look at me like I'm a prude. I think it's called parenting. I have very strict rules about what my kids can wear; in terms of sexuality, this generally only applies to my daughter, since I have less concern my son is going to wear such inappropriate clothes.
* No
short skirts or shorts. It has to be longer than the tips of her fingers or halfway down her thigh, whichever is greater. Not a big deal until you try getting clothes and the only thing you can find are
scooter shorts.
* Nothing
written on the tush. Why would something be written on the tush? To make you look at the tush.
* No shirts with an
external bra. They're designed to draw attention to the breasts. Not on my kid.
Stuff like that. Nothing designed to accentuate sexuality. All very reasonable and I'll become less strict after my kids leave elementary school. Yeah, elementary school. Try shopping for a six year old--the clothes aren't right for a child. I'm very protective of my kids because it's my job to raise them properly. They need to learn to take care of themselves because I won't always be there to tell them what's the right thing to do. As they get older and their lives are more independent, I have to trust that they are honest with me and aren't changing clothes in the bathroom.
Yet, as much as I want my kids to have time to be kids, I read about
"modesty" movements that are really about
embarassment and shame. I want my kids to be proud of themselves both inside and out. They need to understand modesty and respect in a way that doesn't lead to shame or embarassment. Our bodies are great and sexuality is a part of that--as long as it's done when the person is mature enough to control it. Teaching kids that they need to hide who they are isn't healthy any more than putting them in hyper-sexual clothing.
Composting waste.
For a while, I've wanted to start a compost heap in my backyard. I've got plenty of space and it would be yet another step to reduce my trash and improve my
green life.
'Cept I don't know how to make a compost heap nor do I have lots of time to do it right now--I haven't had time in the last year and I don't have more time now, though I do have new priorities. So my compost heap isn't much more than a shallow hole I dug, threw some waste in and covered with a layer of red clay.
I'll see how it looks and smells this week.
Labels: compost, environment, green, yard
Some Unaccepted Truths
- People are dumb.
- People act to meet their self-interest to the exclusion of others' safety or well-being.
- People don't always act in their own self-interest.
