electricland

Via spacing, an interesting article on Toronto's street food -- why it's basically limited to hot dogs, and how that might change.

Via makinglight, the source of many good things, comes news of the $100 laptop. (I've heard about this before, but this is a nice summary, and it sounds like they're making progress.)

In November 2005, Nicholas Negroponte, head of the MIT Media Lab, unveiled a prototype of a laptop that could be sold -- in minimum orders of one million -- at a cool $100. While Negroponte now projects the price somewhat higher, around $110, he also sees the project's completion soon -- in late 2006.

How can a computer be manufactured so cheaply? According to the project's Web site, they will use "high-resolution black and white displays commonly found in inexpensive DVD players [that] can be used in bright sunlight -- at a cost of approximately $35." They also plan to save money by running open-source code like Linux and selling their computers in a minimum order of one million to governments.

The project, run by the nonprofit group One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) formed at Davos and backed by companies like Google, Red Hat, and Advanced Micro Devices, could have monumental consequences for the education and material improvement of poorer nations. Historically, technology facilitating the cheap and easy spread of information has often taken centuries to be directly seen in material progress -- from the printing press to "Poor Richard's Almanack" for example. But One Laptop Per Child, by connecting poor, rural farmers to everything from weather forecasts to educational resources to medical information, shows how this process can be sped up exponentially. Commentators have also suggested alternate uses of the OLPC laptops as cash registers and a method to document transactions or to provide the formal titles to land necessary for the poor to obtain loans.

You can visit the group's website for more info about the $100 laptop. (They have a wiki and everything!)

Perhaps not surprisingly, Bill Gates thinks it's a silly idea. (Makes me want to send them a cheque right now.)

Microsoft Corp. Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates mocked a $100 laptop computer for developing countries being developed with the backing of rival Google Inc. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

...

"If you are going to go have people share the computer, get a broadband connection and have somebody there who can help support the user, geez, get a decent computer where you can actually read the text and you're not sitting there cranking the thing while you're trying to type," Gates said.

(Then he said "You should by my new laptop, which will cost between $600 and $1000, instead!")

You know, although I curse Bill Gates on a regular basis, I think he's done a lot of good with his money -- the AIDS foundation and so on. I'm surprised to hear something so out of touch from him...

Anyway, it all reminded me of the National Farm Radio Forum, something my dad was involved with in his early days at the CBC:

The broadcasts were aired every Monday night from 1942-1965. The weekly themes of the broadcast were developed by a national planning group made up of farmers from across the country. Topics ranged from agricultural policy and international trade to community and family life. Families would gather in each others' homes, community halls, school houses or church basements to listen to the broadcast and discuss the issues presented. They were aided with a publication called the Farm Forum Guide which they received prior to the broadcast. The guide presented different sets of questions for both adults and youth to discuss. Following the discussion, the participants were encouraged to report to their Provincial Farm Forum Office the results of their discussion and these were tabulated and reported for five minutes of the following week's broadcast. This allowed the listeners to take part in their education by sharing views and ideas across the country.

Rich get better access to diagnostic imaging, even though we have a publicly funded system that should be egalitarian. Here's André Picard's take.

More evidence that we still have a ways to go with our healthcare system.

How to rebuild New Orleans -- sustainably

Well, a girl can dream. Via, of course, gristmill_rss.

ozreison just posed an interesting question: are dead bodies, or are they not, sources of disease following a disaster?

Happily, the Pan American Journal of Public Health is there for us. O. Morgan of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine -- where, incidentally, my cousin Cynthia is going this fall to do a master's -- where was I? -- oh yes, O. Morgan wrote a review article on this very subject last year:

Infectious disease risks from dead bodies following natural disasters. [see comment]. [Review] [34 refs]

( Read more... )

If you scroll down the page I linked to, you'll be able to read an editorial that comments on this study in full. Money quote:

The article’s systematic approach demystifies and rules out the risk of major catastrophic disease outbreaks as a consequence of decaying bodies remaining exposed after natural events or conflicts. The article also offers simple guidelines for those unfortunate workers having to deal in a safe but respectful manner with a large number of unidentifiable bodies. Too often the adoption of exotic precautions, such as masks and protective suits, accompanies a disregard for the basic hygiene and sanitation measures advocated in this article.

The article emphasizes that survivors are a more likely source of disease outbreak. This point is well taken, and it calls attention to an effective strategy of disaster response: a strategy focused on providing primary health care for the victims and their families. Active surveillance and rapid restoration of normal public health services, including the provision of safe water and food, should be the priority.

So, dead bodies per se are not a risk unless the people had an infectious disease of some kind. Of course, as crankygrrl mentioned, if diseases such as cholera are endemic in the area, it's entirely likely that the breakdown of services and the water flooding everywhere could lead to an outbreak.

Help the survivors by supporting the Red Cross or your favourite disaster-response organization. makinglight is keeping a great list of resources.