one laptop per child
May 28, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
The news that the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project is close to launching a $75 tablet for children is pretty remarkable. Non-profit founder Nicholas Negroponte said this week that OLPC hopes to have a working prototype of its XO-3 tablet computer by December 2010, and that it plans to debut the device at the January 2011 Consumer Electronics Show.
The sub-$100 price tag will be prove even more astounding if the XO-3 fulfills its creators’ goals of melding the iPad, Kindle, and laptop into a durable, kid-friendly package.
Why A Tablet, OLPC? Laptop Is Better For Education
But is this a realistic goal for such a low-cost device? Given the history of OLPC’s much-ballyhooed $100 laptop, which never quite hit its aggressive price point and now costs nearly twice as much (you can donate one for $199 to a child in a developing nation), I have my doubts. And don’t forget about the abandoned XO-2 touchscreen device, a project cancelled last year when OLPC realized the unit would cost too much to make, Forbes reports.
Trust deficit main issue between India and Pakistan: Singh
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Monday said that trust deficit was the main obstacle in any improvement in ties between India and Pakistan and sans addressing it no development could be expected.
Prime Minister Gilani and I agreed that trust deficit was the problem blocking progress, Singh told reporters, referring to recent discussions between the two men in the Bhutanese capital Thimphu.
Pakistan is our neighbour. It is my firm belief that India cannot realize its full development potential till we have best relations with our neighbours, he said, as he reviewed his year in power since re-election. Two weeks ago, India and Pakistan sought to build on a recent thaw in relations by announcing foreign minister-level talks in July as part of efforts to revive their abandoned peace talks.
Pakistan’s Shah Mehmood Qureshi invited his Indian counterpart SM Krishna to Islamabad on July 15. We are going to make a beginning. The composite dialogue was suspended soon after attack on Mumbai, Singh said.
amy beck
May 8, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
Amy Victoria Beck: teacher arrested for sex with teen student
Calif. — A middle school teacher who stunned authorities and colleagues when she walked into a police station earlier this year and acknowledged having sex with a 14-year-old former student for six months was sentenced Friday to two years in prison.
Amy Victoria Beck stood in court looking dejected, her head slightly bowed and her eyes either closed or fixed on the floor as Judge Patrick J. Hegarty passed sentence. She had pleaded no contest in March to one count each of unlawful sexual intercourse and committing a lewd act on a child.
The sentencing hearing lasted just a few minutes and Beck, her hands cuffed behind her, never spoke except to mumble a “thank you” when Hegarty wished her good luck.
With time off for good behavior, as well as credit for the months she has been in jail since her confession, Beck’s attorney, Michael Williamson, said she should be released in about 10 months.
Amy Beck and her husband remain married and he’s standing by her.
egyptian
May 8, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
President’s Quiet Birthday Leaves Egyptians Anxious CAIRO — President Hosni Mubarak, still recuperating from gall bladder surgery, celebrated his 82nd birthday on Tuesday at his secluded estate in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el Sheik. The president’s continued convalescence far from the capital underscored the frailty not just of the man but of a nation with no clear political plan for who will govern should he die or step down, political scientists here said.
The president has been back to work, meeting with foreign leaders and even giving a national address on Sinai Liberation Day. But he did not give his annual Labor Day speech last week,
and has not yet returned to Cairo, where protests rage daily about low wages. He continues to look relatively frail and his health remains the focus of intense speculation.
“The issue is not about his health today,” said Wahid Abdel Meguid, deputy director of the state-financed Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. “It is about the ambiguity of the future with regards to the transfer of power, be it in the near or far future. There is increasing anxiety, which used to be prevalent among limited circles of intellectuals and elites, but now it has spread throughout society.”
To address that concern, the state-owned newspaper Al Ahram ran a front page paean to Mr. Mubarak on Tuesday that not only flattered, but also offered an indication of what the public should expect. The headline beneath a picture of Mr. Mubarak said, “The Maker of the Future.”
“We shall not forget to say to him ‘happy birthday’ on this grand day that is dear to our souls,” wrote the newspaper’s chief editor, Osama Saraya. “We say it to him and our hearts flutter with happiness for his recovery after a therapeutic trip after which he returned to arduous work inside and outside to protect Egypt’s ability and place and pivotal role in the interest of all Arab brothers to prevent wars and resume peace for the sake of building nations.”
In March, President Mubarak temporarily turned over his authority to the prime minister, Ahmed Nazif, before undergoing an operation at Heidelberg University Hospital in Germany. Surgeons removed the president’s gall bladder and a growth from his small intestine, which was declared benign.
Since he returned to Egypt, the president’s allies have pressed the case that he is recovering, while there have been widespread rumors that he is more seriously ill than the state has reported. Even government officials have expressed anxiety, in private, about his ability to continue to serve.
Mr. Mubarak has led the nation for nearly 30 years. His health is so closely linked to the stability of the country and the economy that in 2007 the government charged a newspaper editor, Ibrahim Eissa, with causing the loss of $350 million in foreign investment by reporting that the president was seriously ill. Mr. Eissa was convicted and sentenced to prison but later pardoned by the president.
The local news media have not reported on questions of the president’s health in recent weeks, a fact attributed to the Eissa case and to a law that makes insulting the president a crime, said Gamal Eid, executive director of The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information.
Mother’s Day
May 8, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
My heart breaks when I get emails from proud cat owners about their cats’ new litters of kittens, knowing that for every kitten they’ll give away “free to a good home,” a shelter cat may lose its life. (And knowing that those “free kittens” may not fare so well.)
I get very angry when I hear the phrase, “My cat got herself pregnant,” because the blame rightfully belongs to the ignorant person who failed to spay the cat, then allowed her to roam free. And I’m sickened by
the knowledge that one day this person will likely either dump the cat and her kittens at an animal shelter, or abandon them on the street, or if they’re “lucky,” in a park, where they will have to fend for themselves along with other abandoned and feral cats.
Mothers Day is Sunday, and this year I’ll celebrate it as I have every year since my own Mom passed away: by donating for the spay/neuter of a rescued cat. This year my donation will go to H.A.L.O. (Homeless Animals Lifeline Organization), a rescue group in my area of our Planet. I talked to H.A.L.O.’s President, Verlene Edwards, last Saturday at their weekly adoption event at my favorite pet supplies store. She told me she is personally caring for 19 kittens, which represents a number of spays already done, so I know that even my small donation will be welcome.
New Zealand announce Squad for Dunedin Test
New Zealand have picked a 13-man squad to face Pakistan in the first Test at Dunedin which begins on the 24th of this month. The New Zealand team is bolstered with the re-entry of Shane Bond who gets to play Test Cricket after a gap of two years!
The hosts are unlucky to miss one of their key players in Jesse Ryder who is still recovering from an abductor strain which he picked up during his stint in the IPL. Ryder’s place has gone to Peter Fulton who has a mediocre average of under 25.00 and just a fifty in the 8 Tests so far in his career. It could be a toss up between Fulton and Tim McIntosh in the end. McIntosh is fresh from a century against Pakistanis at Queensland which could give him the nod ahead of Fulton.
Apart from Bond, medium pacer Daryl Tuffey makes a comeback in the Test team after similar adventures in the rebel Indian Cricket League. Most likely Tuffey could sit out with New Zealand already having Chris Martin and Iain O’Brien in the ranks to partner with Bond.
New Zealand Squad for first Test at Dunedin : Daniel Vettori (Captain), Tim McIntosh, Daniel Flynn, Ross Taylor, Peter Fulton, Martin Guptill, Grant Elliott, Brendon McCullum (wk), Iain O’Brien, Shane Bond, Jeetan Patel, Daryl Tuffey, Chris Martin
? 2009, CricketMove.Com. All rights reserved. Partner with APakistanNews.com
New Zealand announce Squad for Dunedin Test was first posted on November 22, 2009 at 12:19 pm.
South Africa Vs England – 1st ODI Abandoned
The opening ODI of the 5-match Series between South Africa and England was abandoned due to heavy rain. This ODI was supposed to be a day night affair at the New Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg. None of the players had even left their hotels to the ground. The second ODI is on the 22nd at the Centurion Park in Pretoria.
? 2009, CricketMove.Com. All rights reserved. Partner with APakistanNews.com
South Africa Vs England – 1st ODI Abandoned was first posted on November 22, 2009 at 12:19 pm.
