Remembering the OLPC

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A few years back I bought a YouTube subscription and it totally transformed my video consumption habits, realizing my fear of spending more time on my phone, something I'd been trying to get a handle of. Which is not to say that I can go back to sitting through commercials, that bane of modern life. Now, instead of listening to podcasts, I listen to YouTube videos, whether in the background of washing dishes or while farming monsters in Path of Exile 2; I'm exposed to more media than ever, for better or worse.

My daily journey along the YT algorithm can go to some interesting places, and the other day I encountered one such place: Why Western Designs Fail in Developing Countries, a video discussing the problems with the OLPC or "One Laptop Per Child" campaign/device, an initiative I myself funded some seventeen years ago. The "interesting" part to me is having the failure spelled out, precisely and incontrovertibly, a lesson I hope that is heeded by all such endeavors. Good intentions and technology are not enough!

Today I went into Toronto for some errands, taking the GO train, a transit joy I highly recommend. I do find myself assailed by pangs of nostalgia when I'm there, like a spirit visiting their former haunts... faces remembered, potentialities left to wither, deeds left undone. Every crumbling sidewalk step, every gleaming TTC tile, every CP24 chyron -- oh, how they invigorate my every step. It seems Toronto still flows in these old veins.

Well, 2025 has started with a bang! Two bangs. Folks, it's safe to be Great Again! Wish us luck as we put all of our eggs in one basket case.

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