Crank Up Computers

[mybrainhurts]

I've got a clockwork toilet....

Does that count...?

[thebluemonkey]

It's a noble cause but how many starving subsistence farming Africans need a computer ?

[mybrainhurts]

True...I think my clockwork toilet would go down well in them there parts.....

[alfaman]

I saw this on Newsnight ...... a very misguided initiative I think . The idea is for African schools to BUY them for $100 each, seems to be a marketing drive from some company in Silicon Valley.

An African spokesperson for ChristianAid quite accurately stated that the REAL priorities for African primary school education are :

1) a roof for the school

2) walls

3) chairs

4) desks

5) blackboard

6) books

.....or perhaps some antiretrovirals so that some of the kids may have parents alive by the time they get to secondary school.

$100 would fit out a school with most of the above

The complete wit marketing bint pushing the computers then suggested that even without properly functioning schools - the laptops could encourage "peer to peer" learning !!( amongst 6 year olds ! ). I doubt she has ever been to Africa or maybe anywhere outside of California

Sure - these laptops may be of some use ....but let get the basics right first

[Nuggs]

thebluemonkey said:

It's a noble cause but how many starving subsistence farming Africans need a computer ?

Living anywhere without ready access to PH is a deep human wrong which should be righted...

[8Pack]

mybrainhurts said:

True...I think my clockwork toilet would go down well in them there parts.....

My clockwork orange has a broken spring.......... Anyone got one!

[406tm]

los angeles said:

That wonderful eccentric English inventor (someone remind me of his name)

Trevor Baylis

[focusonme]

I think the more relevant market at the moment is SE Asia and Latin America, "2nd World" countries that have a roof over the school and some semblance of literacy, but the addition of a computer would benefit people immensely.

Unfortunately, none of the poor saps are ever gonna figure out Windows. Especially if it ever crashes.

[moleamol]

focusonme said:

Unfortunately, none of the poor saps are ever gonna figure out Windows. Especially if it ever crashes.

As if that aver happens!

[Pigeon]

Load them with Linux, doesn't crash and doesn't cost anything either.

[tycho]

Do we really need more people with access to computers and the net? I already get 10 emails a day from some guy who needs help getting money out of Africa and is willing to pay me £10,000,000 to do it....

give them something that is relevant to their situation.

[r988]

Only governments can buy them at the moment and they have to commit to buying at least a million. It's mainly countries like Thailand and Brazil that are interested for their schools.

Eventually they will come on the commercial market and for that price I'd buy one, would be handy to keep around as a spare or something light and cheap to keep up with PH on holiday .

As long as they aren't all in those crap colours though, whats wrong with good old beige or black

[FourWheelDrift]

r988 said:

Only governments can buy them at the moment and they have to commit to buying at least a million.

So at $100 a go that's $100,000,000 that a 3rd world country already in debt has to fork out. Not exactly helping is it.

[alexkp]

los angeles said:

Ah, yes. That's him. Thanks. Another famous Trevor.

I can only think of Trevor Brooking as the other...

[polar_ben]

Pigeon said:

Load them with Linux, doesn't crash and doesn't cost anything either.

They're Linux-based - http://laptop.media.mit.edu/faq.html

I heard Nicholas Negroponte (the founder of the $100 laptop project) speak in Maine last month and I think it's a great initiative. The image we have (perpetrated by the western media) of all African schoolchildren being taught in mud huts without roofs is laughably misguided, and helping children become computer literate would be a huge step towards moving Africa forwards. After all, who here doesn't use a computer to communicate, to learn, or to do business?

[alfaman]

polar_ben said:

Pigeon said: Load them with Linux, doesn't crash and doesn't cost anything either. They're Linux-based - http://laptop.media.mit.edu/faq.html The image we have (perpetrated by the western media) of all African schoolchildren being taught in mud huts without roofs is laughably misguided

I take it you've not been to sub-Saharan Africa ? It's not misguided , its fact .....many if not most rural schools don't have enough chairs , desks, pencils, books or blackboards.

[Munter]

alfaman said:

polar_ben said: Pigeon said: Load them with Linux, doesn't crash and doesn't cost anything either. They're Linux-based - http://laptop.media.mit.edu/faq.html The image we have (perpetrated by the western media) of all African schoolchildren being taught in mud huts without roofs is laughably misguided I take it you've not been to sub-Saharan Africa ? It's not misguided , its fact .....many if not most rural schools don't have enough chairs , desks, pencils, books or blackboards.

What about the non rural schools?....

[steveherb]

Trevor Francis
Trevor Eve
Trevor Benjamin (ok, I'm stretching a point with this ex Leicester player)
Trevor Crapengines (or whatever his name is/was that 'invented' TVR)
Trevvi Fountain (or am I stretching a point here?)

>> Edited by steveherb on Thursday 17th November 13:02

[Cotty]

los angeles said:

crank up computer

The rumor that the internet was powered by millions of rows of hampsters on little wheels is starting to gain gravitas

[O.J.]

So they can look up on the internet how to farm properly...

Sorry, poor taste!