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Good News You Might Have Missed in 2013

thegatesnotes.com

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Re: Good News You Might Have Missed in 2013

#141

Post by roel_v »

techtivist wrote: post #96

It's a little unfortunate that rather than discussing the contents of the piece we are focusing on the individual But I would like to comment on the substance because that is the link that was shared; and avoid all the on and on conflicts about the author of the piece. I hate to be that guy, but while I appreciate the optimistic note (no pun intended), I think we really should introspect on how 2013 was actually a ye…

So basically you're saying that things have improved but that we're not there yet, and that we haven't achieved the ambitious goals set out a decade ago. Still sounds great to me. It took Europe centuries to get from where most developing countries were at two decades ago to where we are now. Said developing countries are doing it at a 10x rate. Your characterization of 2013 being a year of setbacks doesn't follow from the points you raise to substantiate that claim.

Re: Good News You Might Have Missed in 2013

#142

Post by Daishiman »

robotys wrote: post #63
Daishiman wrote: post #5

I wish he were to post something similar regarding climate change and energy developments.

Why it must be him? Why not me? Why not YOU?

Because Gates is an exceptionally well-informed man on the subject matter, and I'm very interested in what one of the wealthiest persons in the world has to say about action to prevent the world's biggest ills.

Re: Good News You Might Have Missed in 2013

#143

Post by wmkn »

kamaal wrote: post #122
shutupalready wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Over last 10 years, the sex workers in this area have reduced. Hardly anyone wants to ask if that is an overall benefit to society? The sex ratio for India is 108 men per 100 women [1]. For those under 15, the ratio is 113:100, so the problem is set to get much worse in the near future. If India (pop. 1.2 billion) were to have maximal monogamous relationships and no sex workers, you'd have 577 million happy couples…

The ratio is actually far worse! A lot of 'adjustments' go on during census times. The net ratio is close to ( The main reason for that is dowry and extremely bad treatment meted to women in India. Most people prefer to not have girls at all given these scenarios. Imagine having to spend money on your daughters education, tending to physical safety and then only to find the boy's family asking for big money gifts dur…

> The net ratio is close to (With a shortage of women, shouldn't the groom's parents be paying instead?

Re: Good News You Might Have Missed in 2013

#144

Post by kamaal »

wmkn wrote: post #143
kamaal wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ratio is actually far worse! A lot of 'adjustments' go on during census times. The net ratio is close to ( The main reason for that is dowry and extremely bad treatment meted to women in India. Most people prefer to not have girls at all given these scenarios. Imagine having to spend money on your daughters education, tending to physical safety and then only to find the boy's family asking for big money gifts dur…

> The net ratio is close to ( With a shortage of women, shouldn't the groom's parents be paying instead?

Having the ability to kill somebody before they were born is a recent medical advancement. Before that you had to simply accept what ever was born to you.

Dowry system has been going on India since ancient times. The system works like this. By and large Indian society still works in a system where your parents choose your spouse. So when a boy is of marriageable age, their parents go a matchmaker- and put forward their clauses. There are some typical things they look in a girl, The girl must be fair, beautiful, not taller than the boy, shy, and obedient. She must not be too intelligent, or bold or sometimes not working or well educated.

Apart from these behavior and cosmetic demands. They also put down financial clauses- Generally the demand is in gold, or real estate. Or a car, Or just hard cash. The demands for gifts never really ceases. Women are harassed, many women set themselves on fire unable to bear the torture and harassment. Dowry deaths are common and you will often hear of them in the news papers. In many cases women commit suicide, or worse there are cases where the mother in law burns the girl alive. As much as shocking to you all this may seem, it happens all the time here.

This has been happening since a long time. There are trends of these demands. If the boy is a doctor/Civil Servant the money demanded is highest, engineers/rich business men come next and so on... And this is so common, if you have to marry off your daughter you have to often pay up!

So you need to undo that much of cultural thing. I don't think it will go away anytime soon.

Re: Good News You Might Have Missed in 2013

#145

Post by prawn »

simias wrote: post #10
paul_f wrote: post #2

I am proud that the technology industry, of which I am a part, has created Bill Gates, a living saint.

Mmmh, I'm trying really hard not to be contrarian for the sake of it but "a living saint" seems a little too strong an expression. I mean, of course what he does is awesome and I'll probably never be in a position to do anything remotely that significant in my life but I feel it's easier to do that kind of stuff when you're that insanely rich. That being said he could probably as easily not do it, so props to him for…

So many saints are considered as much for far less than he's helping accomplish.

Re: Good News You Might Have Missed in 2013

#146

Post by rbanffy »

bluekitten wrote: post #99
rbanffy wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems you need a history lesson: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stac_Electronics#Microsoft_law...

I already knew about that, but not sure what you're implying here. The link says this: >in 1994, a California jury ruled the infringement by Microsoft was not willful, but awarded Stac $120 million in compensatory damages, coming to about $5.50 per copy of MS-DOS 6.0 that had been sold. The jury also agreed with a Microsoft counterclaim that Stac had misappropriated the Microsoft trade secret of a pre-loading feature…

So, you think Microsoft developed DoubleSpace by itself, without knowledge of Stac's technology? I'm not sure exactly how they got away with unwilling patent infringement after that. Maybe they formed a new team and never let them read Stac's patents, or something like that. Still, they got US%5.5 for every copy of DOS 6 sold, which is, IMHO, the judge saying that, while there is not enough evidence to rule the infringement was deliberate, Microsoft didn't play nice.

Then you throw a smokescreen by mentioning Apple and Google. We are not discussing Apple and Google, we are discussing Bill Gates and his past as a sub-criminal bully and how he is trying to erase that image by high-profile charity.

As for disk and file compression, you can't sell something like it for Windows Phones either. Or Windows - because NTFS already supports file compression. You can do it for Linux, on servers and desktops, but that's another question. I'm not sure if there is stable support for file compression on any current filesystem. Probably yes, but storage is cheap these days.

Re: Good News You Might Have Missed in 2013

#147

Post by rbanffy »

bluekitten wrote: post #113
rbanffy wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, your argument is that it's right to make Walmart employees poor in order to maximize profits because they are not nearly as poor as the poorest people in the world? If there is something poor here, it's the excuse.

How does buying a lot of Walmart shares make Walmart employees poor? I am frankly baffled here. Walmart buyers should probably get more blame here. Have you ever spared a thought about who made the electronics you own and under what conditions?

When you buy shares you send the signal the company is doing the right thing. It says you support the company and its business practices and, ultimately, enables the company to continue them. If everybody refuses to buy their shares, their stock will plummet and prompt changes.

As for my electronics (and consumables), yes, I try to avoid manufacturers and brands that are associated with poor working practices. Nice try attacking me to try to disprove my argument against the Gates foundation.

Re: Good News You Might Have Missed in 2013

#148

Post by smaddali »

wmkn wrote: post #143
kamaal wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ratio is actually far worse! A lot of 'adjustments' go on during census times. The net ratio is close to ( The main reason for that is dowry and extremely bad treatment meted to women in India. Most people prefer to not have girls at all given these scenarios. Imagine having to spend money on your daughters education, tending to physical safety and then only to find the boy's family asking for big money gifts dur…

> The net ratio is close to ( With a shortage of women, shouldn't the groom's parents be paying instead?

Logically you would think this may help women but .. Let me explain. I come from a part of India which supposedly experienced bad sex ratio in 1920s-40s. I learnt from my parents and Grand Parents that the greedy parents of Women were 'selling' their daughters for higher money to older widowers. Also women were bought from other states. These were captured well in Telugu Drama 'KanyaSulkam' as an effort to get rid of evil. Apparently changes in sex-ratios don't result in correction of power balance.

Re: Good News You Might Have Missed in 2013

#149

Post by mcv »

kamaal wrote: post #122
shutupalready wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Over last 10 years, the sex workers in this area have reduced. Hardly anyone wants to ask if that is an overall benefit to society? The sex ratio for India is 108 men per 100 women [1]. For those under 15, the ratio is 113:100, so the problem is set to get much worse in the near future. If India (pop. 1.2 billion) were to have maximal monogamous relationships and no sex workers, you'd have 577 million happy couples…

The ratio is actually far worse! A lot of 'adjustments' go on during census times. The net ratio is close to ( The main reason for that is dowry and extremely bad treatment meted to women in India. Most people prefer to not have girls at all given these scenarios. Imagine having to spend money on your daughters education, tending to physical safety and then only to find the boy's family asking for big money gifts dur…

> Imagine having to spend money on your daughters education, tending to physical safety and then only to find the boy's family asking for big money gifts during marriage. And not just that, in most common cases the demand for gifts just keep coming infinitely even after marriage.

Why? Why would the bride's family give these gifts? What basis is there for these demands?

Tradition and culture perhaps, but if the situation is so screwed up, then maybe it's time to abandon or fix those traditions. Spend money on education and teach her independence, and if she wants to marry out of love, she can do so without any dowry.

Re: Good News You Might Have Missed in 2013

#150

Post by onebaddude »

carona wrote: post #135
rwmj wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have any evidence for this assertion?

This is about one Foundation and how it was used as vehicle by CIA to launder money into other countries as "Aid to Developing nations", and achieve its political ends. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Foundation#Relationship_wi... The CIA had been laundering its funds for dozens of organizations and events, and the foundation served as one of its main fronts. If you look around you will find a lot of such covert ch…

>If you look around you will find a lot of such covert channels.

And if you look around you'll find far, far more examples of honest foundations, filled with honest people, doing honest work. What's your point?

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