So You Can Laugh If You Want To

I'm generally a big fan of One Laptop Per Child. It's not that I'm overly optimistic about this particular project - it's that I think plenty of experimentation is called for when it comes to development efforts. It might not "work" in the sense of solving all the educational problems in developing countries, or even in the sense of being a worthwhile use of the money ex post, but it does seem to be worth a shot. It has the potential to help people a lot.

Nevertheless, it's an eminently mockable idea. Here are my two favorites: a blog post by Steve Jobs and an alternative project (which I also learned about on Steve Jobs' blog).