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One of the most touching news stories I have come across in the past few years was the fairly recent (April/May) 60 Minutes TV segment on The $100 Computer being developed by the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) — a U.S. based, non-profit organization founded by Nicholas Negroponte and other former faculty members of the MIT Media Lab to design, manufacture, and distribute this laptop and its software to children of developing countries around the world (Nigeria, Rwanda, Cambodia, Brazil, Libya, Egypt, etc.).

While I was not able to find the supporting article on the 60 Minutes web site, with a quick Google I did come across the official web site for the OLPC (www.laptop.org) and an informative, but unofficial write up on Wikipedia and reading these two sites I was warmed by the beauty of the vision all over again so thought I would share it here.


“It's an education project, not a laptop project.”
— Nicholas Negroponte



Our goal: To provide children around the world with new opportunities to explore, experiment and express themselves.


Back in February I wrote this post about the finalists for an on-line vote for the 7 New Wonders of the World. Well, on July 7, 2007 the votes were finally tabulated and the 7 winners were decided. The New 7 Wonders of the World are:

• Chichén Itzá, Mexico
• Christ Redeemer, Brazil
• The Great Wall, China
• Machu Picchu, Peru
• Petra, Jordan
• The Roman Colloseum, Italy
• The Taj Mahal, India

This is not so far off my self-chosen list although I thought Tikal is the far more impressive (though more rarely seen) Mayan site than Chichén Itzá. I also thought the Christ Statue in Rio was chosen for unfair sentimentality as I really do not think of a concrete statue really constitutes a structural wonder, even when built in 1931 and 105 feet tall. Although not in my top 7 picks, the Roman Coliseum and the Taj Mahal were both in my top 10 picks. I can live without Angkor Wat making the top seven, so the only real glaring omission in my humble opinion is the the great temple of Abu Simbel that was built by the greatest Pharaoh of all, Ramses II.

For more information on the selections, see the New 7 Wonders Web Site and the unofficial Wikipedia entry.

[Edited: Note that although it did not win, the Great Pyramid of Giza was one of the original Seven Wonders of the World, so in my mind the pyramids could have reasonably been excluded entirely from the finalists.]