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Speaking chips for disaster relief supplies

Tell them how to do it.
  (+7, -2)
(+7, -2)
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against]

I was thinking about clean water for Haiti. One could airdrop iodine tablets for water treatments. However, I worry someone would eat them, unable to read the label. In a disaster-stricken country with a high illiteracy rate, how can one remotely instruct recipients on how to use a product?

I gather that small chips with the ability to speak must be cheap, given their prevalence in giveaway kids toys. I propose that these speaking chips could be incorporated into the supply of relief products. For example the iodine tablet bottle would have a button on the cap. On pressing, a Haitian voice would say: "Do not eat these pills. Put one pill in a full bottle of dirty water. Let it sit for an hour. Then the water will be safe to drink."

bungston, Jan 15 2010

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       I am pretty sure that a pictogram would convey the message.
MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 15 2010
  

       I'm not!
po, Jan 15 2010
  

       Morgan Freeman to voice, people will do anything he says.
Germanicus, Jan 15 2010
  

       In that case, maybe Morgan Freeman should play Barack Obama in his second term ?
8th of 7, Jan 15 2010
  

       I don't think they're making the roadblocks in protest. From what's been reported they've been trying to stop aid getting through... so they can have it themselves. That may be irresponsible, and they shouldn't be doing it, but it's the actions of desperate people.
Jinbish, Jan 15 2010
  

       // they don't deserve the help that's meant for them //   

       This begs the question, should aid be provided to the inhabitants of known tectonically active zones ?   

       "My house has been destroyed by an earthquake/volcano/tsunami."   

       "Hard luck. You were warned".   

       These areas are clearly and unambiguously identified. Irrespective of the degree of development of the nation state, providing aid to the victims of predictable and inevitable natural disasters merely perpetuates the problem.   

       Vesuvius erupts at stochastically deterministic intervals. San Francisco is built on an unstable fault system. Japan is notorious for earthquakes and volcanoes. Major population centres are damaged or destroyed. And then rebuilt ......   

       What's wrong with this picture ?
8th of 7, Jan 15 2010
  

       Agreed.   

       If, instead of rebuilding devastated urban areas, the funds were diverted to systematic relocation of the survivors, it would work out more cheaply in the long term.   

       The areas involved are relatively small and could be re-employed for low intensity agricultural use, with a relatively small number of specially designed disaster-resistant buildings for the farmers, thus minimising the risk and potential casualties.   

       Volcanic area are attractive to you humans because of the high fertility of volcanic soils, but this is not a valid reason for situating large population centres in the vicinity of active vulcanicity.
8th of 7, Jan 15 2010
  

       // the planners who designed those cities //   

       New Orleans was not "planned". It grew up because of its location and convenience for trade and commerce. The original inhabitants had no understanding of geology and hydrology, but despite your species progression in these areas you persist in perpetuating these well-meant mistakes.   

       We call that daft.
8th of 7, Jan 15 2010
  

       You first ...
8th of 7, Jan 15 2010
  

       I think it makes sense to pile up bodies on roads. The have to get piled somewhere. On the road they will be easier to load into a truck.
bungston, Jan 15 2010
  

       what logic, that dead bodies are a health hazard ?   

       with [bung] on this one - assign scout trucks to pick up corpses: tag 'em, bag'em and get them out of the way until the crisis has passed.
FlyingToaster, Jan 15 2010
  

       Your fishbone is no longer alone, 21 Quest.   

       About having a superpower take over - I'm in favour of reconstructing the British Empire by systematic conquering of the worlds hell holes.
Selky, Jan 16 2010
  

       People bitch and moan and complain, not because they are bad but because they have difficulty achieving a more restfull state of being.   

       It is very difficult, even under the best of circumstances, to be at peace with yourself, to know yourself and to love yourself. Yet these are the steps that lead to a greater moral awareness.   

       So you see, it is the bitchers and moaners who need and deserve help the most, simply because they still bitch and moan.   

       Now, bitching and moaning about bitchers and moaners, there's just no excuse for that.
zeno, Jan 16 2010
  

       //About having a superpower take over//
Well, the superpower of the time "created" the problem, so let Spain clear it up.
AbsintheWithoutLeave, Jan 16 2010
  

       //reconstructing the British Empire by systematic conquering of the worlds hell holes.// Whoa there - we finally manage to get Australia and North America to run themselves, and now this??
MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 16 2010
  

       [zeno], how very well said. The only difference between Haitians and us is their need. If you take away our ability to give, we become just the same. Needy.   

       We are all the same, 21. Even you.
blissmiss, Jan 16 2010
  

       With the exception that we change our government via elections, rather than Coup's, which is a much more orderly way of doing it. Haiti, on the other hand...
Selky, Jan 16 2010
  

       //we finally manage to get Australia...to run themselves //
Woah! Steady on there.
AbsintheWithoutLeave, Jan 16 2010
  

       Take off your skin, [selky] and what do you see?
blissmiss, Jan 16 2010
  

       Sounds good, let's do it ...
8th of 7, Jan 16 2010
  

       Were you talking to me, or were you talking to an actual Selky? If it's an actual Selky, they'll see either a seal or a human.
Selky, Jan 17 2010
  

       Both you and 21 surely dance around when faced with a truth you have no clear defense to, don't cha. (Gosh it's early in the day, and I really don't wanna do this, do I ?)
blissmiss, Jan 17 2010
  

       We are all human beings under our skin. You can not disassociate yourself from any group, just because you don't like what they do, or stand for. You still are made up of the same atoms, particles, ect., that everyone else is, you toad, you.
blissmiss, Jan 17 2010
  

       bliss, you're made up of the same atoms/particles that a slug is...
Selky, Jan 17 2010
  

       Are there any different ones?
blissmiss, Jan 17 2010
  


 

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