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53 Comments
- bossm4n, on 04/01/2008, -1/+25Where can I get some of these kids they speak of to power my devices?
- EatingPie, on 04/01/2008, -4/+24Indeed, it is *like* child labor, but not "child labor" per se.
Typically raising well water gets solved by a beast of burden -- a donkey, burro, horse -- but in these poor nations, nobody has one to spare. So the ONLY solution is human labor. Given that the women and en being pretty burdened already, child "labor" is where to turn.
However, these children are at school. That's a hugely important fact. The children are learning to read and write, to have a better chance at life. NOT sacrificing schooling to spend their young years laboring for a scant few cents to help their families -- a typical child-labor scenario, decidedly NOT fun or helping children's futures. They use this device during recess, a time when kids are supposed to exercise. So their exercise break, between the classes that help them have a better future, STILL goes to help their families and community.
As already stated, an ingenious solution -- but for so many more reasons than one!
-Pie - gambyt13, on 04/01/2008, -1/+14***** to you "child labor" whiners. Maybe if we in the US actually made our children EARN some of their pampered lifestyle, they would grow up to appreciate all the blessings that this country has. My kids have CHORES that they must do to maintain themselves and participate in the running of their home. They also might appreciate how precious natural resources are and how much work and energy goes into commonplace things like water, power delivery, roads, etc. and practice conservation.
- Ganja420, on 04/01/2008, -12/+25This is slavery don't be fooled by the smiles
- Rotzooi, on 04/01/2008, -1/+13Hey, if Angelina Jolie can do it...
- fisj139, on 04/01/2008, -9/+20Nothing like child labor disguised as playground fun...
- ZeroFive1, on 04/01/2008, -1/+11Thanks, I never could have noticed you wrote that comment until I saw the -Pie at the end.
- GeorgeStone2, on 04/01/2008, -1/+11And a small adopted vietnamese child to power here career.
- Dumbledorito, on 04/01/2008, -2/+11This is an ingenious idea that's been around for years.
I'm always pleased when the media or bloggers or whoever re-discovers it. - aladrin, on 04/01/2008, -0/+8I'm amazed that anyone could find evil in this. It's obviously meant well.
- coolgeek61813, on 04/01/2008, -0/+8this is more like a playground toy than it is work for the children. and its not like its adding any work the pumping would still have to be done by hand or water would have to be retrieved by bucket from sources of water that can often be up to a mile a way and contain contaminants
- inactive, on 04/01/2008, -5/+12Great idea!
- BoneheadFarker, on 04/01/2008, -1/+8The next logical step is to attach generators to them and install them in playgrounds around North America. It's about time the little bastards here started pulling their own weight...
- Gonasadude, on 04/01/2008, -0/+6Some of you are yelling about child labor in a country that barely has any water. Hell, I'd make my kid work 18 hour days if it meant that he didn't thirst to death. Think people!
- Digger1218, on 04/01/2008, -0/+6Didn't you ever do chores when you were a kid?
- acroyear2, on 04/01/2008, -0/+6Beautiful.
- purplehaze420, on 04/01/2008, -0/+6We need more ideas like this.
- OutThisLife, on 04/01/2008, -0/+5I lol'd at the amount of dickotry you managed to pull off, and then dugg you down.
- Smills, on 04/01/2008, -0/+4He is being sarcastic...
- seattle98104, on 04/01/2008, -0/+4Say hello to my block button.
- moofer, on 04/01/2008, -0/+3You need to spend less time smoking weed and more time in the real world.
- ZeroFive1, on 04/01/2008, -1/+4That wasn't in the least bit relevant.
- jocnnor, on 04/01/2008, -0/+3Actually, after read an insightful and well written post, seeing -Pie at the end just kind of took something away. It's hard to take someone serious when they have a name like Zinglebert Bambledack or Yingeebert Dangleban, or Zanglebert Dingleback...or Pie even.
- gak001, on 04/01/2008, -0/+3Sounds like a win-win situation to me.
- HSaraiva, on 04/01/2008, -0/+3Our school raised funds and built one of these. We're quite proud, it's actually a very good and useful program.
Instead of walking a couple of miles of water, kids just have to play during their free time. - stygyan, on 04/01/2008, -1/+3Now listen to me, people. Are we really talking about child labour here?
Let me remind you: I'm not american, but I think i had seen a bit of America on TV. I mean, if that's child labour, how would you call getting your young ones to rake the garden? Or to take out the garbage? Or to clean up their messes?
I mean, I think it's funnier to be on a merry-go-round or whatever it's called than to be in the garden making piles of fallen leaves... - grimward, on 04/01/2008, -1/+3Actually, I find the title of the article to be very offensive, it implies indirectly that africans are so lazy that without children to power their water pumps, they would all die of dehydration instead. As for the child labour thing, people, COME ON, are you truly that deluded that you think this device is the same thing as working in a cramped factory 12 hours a day with hazardous machinery?
- TnTBass, on 04/01/2008, -0/+2I'm pretty sure they are banking on kids actually wanting to use it, therefore becoming a toy, not a child labor situation.
Frankly, they should do this in playgrounds today, but use it for electricity generation instead of pumping water. However, I don't think kids actually get outside anymore these days, so it might not be worth it.
For these screaming about child labor: would you rather the kids didn't drink fresh, clean water? If they don't pump it using this method, they would need to use a regular pump, which doesn't seem like fun at all to me. Its not like there are guards there with whips making the kids use the merry go round.
Jebus, people will find a way to complain about anything these days. - Ganja420, on 04/01/2008, -3/+5Yea she's got a hamster wheel that powers her HDTV
- Tyr7BE, on 04/01/2008, -0/+2No we're not. But this site is largely full of idiots who don't realize that.
- Kyan, on 04/01/2008, -0/+2You are a bonehead, aren't you?
- pintomp3, on 04/01/2008, -0/+2mowing the lawn once a week isn't the same as working in a factory for 12 hours and not getting an education. i don't think this merri go round is child labor. unless they force the children to spin it all day and prevent them from going to school.
- HairyFotr, on 04/01/2008, -0/+2Junior, you have 2 choices:
a) die of dehydration
b) make that thing spin - swimmin00, on 04/01/2008, -0/+1Water? Like out the toilet? Brawndo’s got what plants crave! Brawndo’s got electrolytes. And that’s what plants crave. They crave elecrolytes. And that’s why plants crave Brawndo. Not water, like from the toilet.
- HairyFotr, on 04/03/2008, -0/+1Ofcourse child labour is wrong... but dying of thirst is well... very very very wrong.
Also, here it's about survival, not profit. - BoneheadFarker, on 04/01/2008, -0/+1"...so the water pump would only work sporadically."
Like during the day when the parents are working the fields? Isn't that nice..."You kids go and play" instead of "You kids come and pull this plow". You can't deny a technology just because it might be abused. Otherwise we would never have discovered a whole lot of things that you take for granted... - elementop, on 04/01/2008, -0/+1Did you even look at the article? I know, I know -- that's against tradition here at Digg. The drawing at the top of TFA clearly shows that water is pumped into a storage tank which then, via gravity, feeds the water outlet. So no, it doesn't just work sporadically.
- senixon, on 04/01/2008, -0/+1my point was... they are kids!!! You have no issue with that, do you?
- Gemfinder, on 04/01/2008, -0/+1I saw this on Nat Geog TV a year ago, and thought, "What a great idea." It is a great idea. Let's implement it and spread it all over!
And why stop at merry-go-rounds? Swing sets...put piezo-electric motors under basketball and tennis courts and football fields... - WiretapStudios, on 04/01/2008, -0/+1If you haven't heard about it, somewhere they hooked up some stuff to a busy revolving door, and that powered stuff all day long while people walked through it. I mean...how long is it going to take for people to catch on to the fact that there are other ways to power things?
This isn't the door in use (I couldn't find it), but similar:
http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/02/07/generate-energ ... - WiseWeasel, on 04/01/2008, -2/+3Africa.
/ducks - cawpin, on 04/01/2008, -3/+3Old idea.
- Adamlite, on 04/01/2008, -1/+1The child labor issue aside, that doesn't look like fun at all. If that was installed at a park near my home as a child, I doubt it would win me over.
- purplehaze420, on 04/01/2008, -4/+3If you don't have anything constructive to add.... Why bother.
- BoneheadFarker, on 04/01/2008, -1/+0*****...this isn't slavery. This is extracting energy from an activity that they do daily anyways. We should seriously look into ways of doing the same thing here. Our energy demands are only going to increase in the future, and no one wants to create more coal or nuke plants. Children are a renewable resource...
- senixon, on 04/01/2008, -2/+1The questions is are they "playing" voluntarily?
- rlvis, on 04/01/2008, -1/+0Yah whatever, water... what is that going to do for them. What they REALLY need is a OLPC laptop so they can chat with their friends, and draw pictures on the screen.
- purplehaze420, on 04/01/2008, -5/+3how is this slavery.... Would they rather die due to lack of water?
At least the merry-go-round isn't attached to a shoe factory like in China... - Nhmarine, on 04/01/2008, -3/+0This does not seem a very good idea. It isnt child labor, they are having fun of course, but the flow of water depends only on children's whim.... if they want them to play 24/7 it would then develop into child labor, or forced playtime, hehe. But they cant expect children to be constantly playing on this, so the water pump would only work sporadically. Hmm.... I am thirsty.... what time is recess?
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