Religous texts

In Wake County (NC, US), Superior Court Judge Paul Ridgeway ruled 24 May 2007 that individiual witnesses or jurors in the North Carolina’s courtrooms may hold their hand on any religious text when they swear to tell the truth. The case arose when the American Civil Liberties Union challenged a state law (North Carolina General Statute § 11-2) limiting the swearing-in ritual to use of the “Holy Scriptures,” meaning the Christian Bible. The ACLU later added a Muslim woman, Syidah Mateen, as a plantiff, because she was denied the option of using the Quran when being sworn in to testify. The ACLU argued that people of non-Christian faiths be allowed to use religious texts other than the Christian Bible.

XO laptop

The XO Laptop will actually come in at about $130 each rather than the hoped-for $100, but it’s a wonderful achievement. The effort represents a valuable bit of collaboration among many big companies, has introduced nifty new things, will probably drive some changes in the production of computers (e.g., lower power requirements), and cause some headaches (what technology doesn’t?). Still, the major accomplishment is that it’s aimed at putting computing in the hands of billions of children.