I have a feeling it may be that the rest of the world largely looks at your mainstream "news" such as CNN, Fox, CBS etc, as edutainment instead of reporting. I'd say about 99% of the folks I know here in Canada do, at the very least. And when all your major information channels (TV, newspapers, radio, now internet) have been crapflooded with corporate "news lite," and when all your *real* reporters can't find work anywhere, unless they sell out, your country as a whole loses out.
*I* don't see any real mainstream freedom of the press down south (and don't forget, mainstream is the only thing that really counts). And it's only getting more and more scarce up here.
Thing I like about this and these folks is that, from what I gathered from the article, the indy folks are actually going to be setting these computers up themselves as they go to Ecuador to protest. Seems to be the best way to do it -- rather than just pure dumping the computers without any setup.
Article also said that Freegeek is basically training a bunch of Americans -- who otherwise wouldn't have a chance -- on putting together computers. Maybe not rocket science at that level, but hey they even get a free computer in the process!
but an obscure dusty book on a dusty shelf out of reach halfway across the country from me isn't going to help me much on my college thesis
You can get pretty much any book from pretty much any university in North America through Document Delivery or similar dept. at your library. They check out OCLC (IIRC), and as long as the book isn't in a special collection (and sometimes even then) they'll get it for you. Special Collections books will even be photocopied for you, usually for a small fee, by the other library.
Up here at the University of New Brunswick one of our libraries (www.lib.unb.ca) has a pretty big collection of sci-fi already. It also has a ton of beat lit. -- apparently, both collections are due to the efforts of one English prof in particular who uses the stuff in his classes, but I don't know what kind of pressure he had to exert to get our library admin to buy "non-academic"... of course, the library in question is at the satellite campus an hour and a half away:(
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It's ok, Taco.
Really.
I have a feeling it may be that the rest of the world largely looks at your mainstream "news" such as CNN, Fox, CBS etc, as edutainment instead of reporting. I'd say about 99% of the folks I know here in Canada do, at the very least. And when all your major information channels (TV, newspapers, radio, now internet) have been crapflooded with corporate "news lite," and when all your *real* reporters can't find work anywhere, unless they sell out, your country as a whole loses out.
*I* don't see any real mainstream freedom of the press down south (and don't forget, mainstream is the only thing that really counts). And it's only getting more and more scarce up here.
Thing I like about this and these folks is that, from what I gathered from the article, the indy folks are actually going to be setting these computers up themselves as they go to Ecuador to protest. Seems to be the best way to do it -- rather than just pure dumping the computers without any setup.
Article also said that Freegeek is basically training a bunch of Americans -- who otherwise wouldn't have a chance -- on putting together computers. Maybe not rocket science at that level, but hey they even get a free computer in the process!
IIRC, Blockbuster is owned by Disney. Which explains why they would promote "familiness." (Reference somewhere in "No Logo")
Also explains why they stock so much of their own crappy new releases.
You can get pretty much any book from pretty much any university in North America through Document Delivery or similar dept. at your library. They check out OCLC (IIRC), and as long as the book isn't in a special collection (and sometimes even then) they'll get it for you. Special Collections books will even be photocopied for you, usually for a small fee, by the other library.
Up here at the University of New Brunswick one of our libraries (www.lib.unb.ca) has a pretty big collection of sci-fi already. It also has a ton of beat lit. -- apparently, both collections are due to the efforts of one English prof in particular who uses the stuff in his classes, but I don't know what kind of pressure he had to exert to get our library admin to buy "non-academic" ... of course, the library in question is at the satellite campus an hour and a half away :(