The Nobel Prize Committee Gets It Right This Year

The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded,and this year it is shared by two very deserving people -- Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan and Kailash Satyarthi of India.

Malala Yousafzai, 17, is the young lady who was shot by the Taliban for trying to get an education. But she didn't back down after recovering from her wounds. She has become one of the world's most prominent spokespersons for the education of girls/women.

Kailash Satyarthi, 60, has dedicated his life to fighting for children's rights.

In giving the award to these two brave individuals, the Nobel Committee said:

 ". . .their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education."

"Children must go to school and not be financially exploited. In the poor countries of the world, 60% of the present population is under 25 years of age. It is a prerequisite for peaceful global development that the rights of children and young people be respected."

(The photo of Malala Yousafzai is from marie claire.)

(The photo of Kailash Satyarthi is from kailashsatyarthi.net.)

World's Smallest Car ?

A little over a year ago, I posted about a new car coming out in India that would be the smallest and least expensive car in the world. It was called the Nano, and was made by the Indian automaker Tato. The Tato Nano was supposed to cost about $2000, but is really being sold for around $3000. Now it looks like Tato may have some competition in the small inexpensive car market.

Another Indian car company, Bajaj (who has previously been known for two and three wheeled vehicles), is introducing a car that will directly compete with the Tato Nano. It is the Bajaj RE60 (pictured above), and it is slightly smaller than the Nano and should sell for about the same price or a little less.

The RE60 has a rear-mounted 200cc engine that delivers about 20 horsepower, giving it a top speed of about 43 mph. It is designed to be a city vehicle, and seats four people ( or 14.1 cubic feet of cargo space with the rear seats folded flat). It should get about 80 mpg, and comes in variations that can run on gasoline, liquid propane, or compressed natural gas. The total weight of the car is only about 880 pounds.

But like the Tato Nano, don't expect to see any Bajaj RE60's on American roads. Neither of these tiny inexpensive cars come close to meeting the rigorous safety requirements of cars approved for sale in the United States.

India Reveals New $35 Computer

A couple of years ago the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) announced they had developed a prototype for a $100 laptop computer. Nicholas Negroponte, of the MIT Media Lab, created a nonprofit organization called One Laptop Per Child that was dedicated to getting these new cheaper computers into the hands of poor children (and put them on a more even level with the rest of the world).

But there were a couple of problems with that vision -- as wonderful as it was. First, it turned out that the computers actually cost closer to $200 than the originally estimated $100. Second, even the $100 price would have put the computers out of range of affordability for most of the world's poor children. The organization depended on donations or governments to purchase the computers and give them to poor children (usually through school systems). So far, this has only had limited success.

Now it looks like the government of India has done even better. They claim to have developed the prototype of a computer that will only cost $35 (see picture above). The computer was developed by students in IT colleges in India.

The new computer is a touch-screen tablet computer that operates off solar power (so it can be used even in homes and communities with electric power). It uses a Linux operating system and has no hard drive (using a memory card instead). And it has the capability to do word processing, web browsing and video conferencing.

The government says it is now looking for a company to manufacture the new low-cost computer. They also hope to get the price down to $20 or even less in the near future. If they can get the computer mass-produced at a price of $35 or less, this would be a real boon to poor children. It would make it much cheaper and easier for school systems to get the computers into the hands of their students. Even more important, that would lower the price enough so even the poor could save up enough to purchase the computer.

I hope they can get this done. It could be a giant step forward for much of the world's population.

Jesus With A Beer And A Cigarette

Meghalaya is a state in the northeastern part of India. Unlike most other Indian states, about 70% of its citizens are christians. A few days ago they got a surprise, and it was not one they liked. The state's government is considering legal action over it.

It seems that a private christian school in the state capital of Shillong found a picture they didn't like in their new level I cursive writing textbooks. It was a picture of Jesus holding a beer and a cigarette. After perusing all of their other textbooks, they found the same picture in the level II, III and IV writing textbooks also.

They were horrified at this so-called desecration of Jesus' image. Since they had already passed out the books to their students, they are in the process of trying to get them all back. Meanwhile, the Pope has ordered the schools to not use any textbooks from the publishing company -- regardless of the subject.

As for the government, they have seized all the offending textbooks from schools and bookshops. State Education Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh said, "We are now considering legal action against the Skyline Publications of New Delhi who published the controversial textbooks."

The Archbishop of Shillong was very upset, and said, "We are deeply hurt by the insensitivity of the publisher. How can one show such total disrespect for a religion." So far, the Skyline Publishing Company has not commented on the controversy, and it is unknown whether this was done intentionally by the publisher or was a bad practical joke snuck through by an employee.

I can see why they wouldn't want to use the textbooks, but as an unbeliever I think there making a bit too much of the controversy. Jesus never opposed the use of alcohol anywhere in the Bible. In fact, he turned water into wine for his friends at a wedding. Even the Puritans, a very conservative christian sect, drank beer, and one of their first acts on reaching the New World was to brew a fresh batch. It's not at all illogical to think Jesus might have enjoyed a cold beer if he'd had access to one.

As for the cigarette, there probably was no tobacco available at the time in Palestine (since it was introduced to the area from Europe who had gotten it from the Americas). But there were other smokable herbs in that part of the world. Maybe a wine-drinker like Jesus would have been open to smoking a "doobie".

The picture causing the controversy is above.

A New Car For Less Than $2000

Today, the world's cheapest car is to be introduced in Mumbai, India. The Tata Motors car named the Nano (pictured above) will be priced at 100,000 rupees -- or $1979 dollars brand new. India's Tata Motors is the company that bought Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford last June. So now they have the world's least expensive car to go with their ownership of two of the world's more expensive cars.

The Nano is a whole 10 feet long, and yet it is configured to seat five passengers. But it will do so without the comforts and extras most Americans and Europeans expect when they buy a car. There are no air bags, no air conditioning, no radio and no power steering or automatic transmission. It is no frills transportation for the world's poor who until now have not been able to afford an automobile.

The price is comparable to the price of a new Volkswagen "Bug" about 45 years ago. But don't expect to see the Nano on any American streets. In addition to no air bags, I'm sure it lacks many other safety features required on cars sold in this country.

However, if the car proves to be popular in other parts of the world, they might decide to enter the American market in a few years. With the basic car priced at under $2000, they could probably put in the required safety features and a slightly more powerful engine (it's currently 33 bhp), and still sell it for quite a bit less than $10,000. That would be half the price of an American car (or less).

It just goes to show what a car company can accomplish when they put their mind to it.

Not All Economies Are Hurting Like Ours

The United States economy grew less than 3% last year, and is facing a recession this year (at least two quarters of negative growth). Many Americans think this is a world-wide economic slowdown, but that is just not true.

India's economy is booming. The Indian economy grew at a rate of 9.6% in 2006/07, and is currently growing at a rate of 8.7%. In fact, India's economy is growing so fast that the government is trying to slow it down a bit to prevent it being accompanied by inflation. In the last year, they have raised interest rates and reduced the supply of rupees.

What is the Indian government doing with the increased revenue this enormous growth is generating? They are cancelling the debt of small farmers with less than two hectares of land (200 acres). They are also increasing health funding by 15% and education funding by 20%. What a novel idea! They are actually using that money to help their citizens.

Contrast this with what Bush did when he inherited a robust economy and huge budget surpluses. Instead of acting to help the average citizen, Bush cut taxes for the rich and the corporations. Then he underfunded Medicare, and tried to destroy Social Security. He radically increased government spending, but none of it went to help the working and middle classes.

Now the U.S. has huge deficits, growing inflation, and an economy sliding into recession. The Bush presidency hasn't just been a foriegn policy failure. It has also been an economic failure.

Outsourcing Hurts Workers In Two Countries

In the last few years, American corporations have laid off millions of American workers and sent their jobs to lower-paid workers in foreign countries. The corporations can make even larger profits by selling their products in this country, but shipping their jobs to other countries.

It goes without saying that this is harmful to workers in America. Now we learn that it may also be harmful to the foreign workers also.

More than 1.6 million of these jobs have been sent to India. Most of the jobs, such as in call centers, are filled by young people in their 20's and 30's. They make a little more than many others in India, but they are beginning to experience health problems related to the work.

According to many Indian doctors (and several industry surveys), these young people are facing sleep disorders, strokes and diabetes, depression and family discord. These already cost the Indian economy $9 billion, but it is believed the outsourcing jobs could push this to over $200 billion in ten years.

It's time to put a stop to outsourcing. It's not good for anyone but the corporate billionaires.

Villagers Fight Elephants With Hot Chilies

Villagers in India have a problem with marauding elephants. They not only destroy homes and crops, but in the last 16 years they have killed over 600 people. Some villagers have killed the elephants to the horror of conservationists.

But villagers have a new weapon to use against the elephants now, and it's a weapon that drives the elephants away without harming them. This new weapon is the hot Indian chili called the "ghost chili". It's real name is the bhut jolokia, and it's the hottest chili in the world -- about twice as hot as the habanero.

The villagers are using the chilies in a couple of different ways. They make a paste from it and smear the paste on their fences. They also dry the pepper and mix it with straw and burn it. The very strong odor of the smoke drives away the elephants without harming them.

Oddly enough, this same pepper that is too strong for elephants, is one of the most sought-after peppers by humans for use in cooking. Just goes to show, there's nothing humans won't eat.