Echo Chamber

Thanks Hugh!

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Preserving History

The man who collects seeds to save mankind — and promote justice

By Christina Hernandez | Apr 5, 2010 | 0 Comments

For Cary Fowler, saving thousands of seed varieties in a fail-safe vault in a remote Norwegian mountain is about more than life and death. It’s about justice.

A former university professor and an agricultural diversity expert, Fowler is the executive director of theGlobal Crop Diversity Trust, which runs the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Nicknamed the Doomsday Vault, the project launched in 2008 to “to serve as the ultimate safety net for one of the world’s most important natural resources.”

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iPad Exclusivity

I won't be buying an iPad.  I can't.  I am not affluent enough.

I suppose if I scraped and scrimped and scrounged couch change I might come up with the asking price.  But even then I couldn't afford one.  For the same reason I drive a 15 year old beater.  Or that I am pounding this out on an IBM R51 - the copyright date on the bottom says 2004 - ancient by laptop standards.  Quite simply I do not circulate in the ... ahem, circles ... of affluence that are important to the iPad Apple folks.  Very possibly the "A" folks would rather I not purchase one of their iPads.  ("There goes the neighborhood ...  and all that")

The iPad is priced to sell to folks who have money.  The iPad is priced to engage affluent folks in a culture that will inevitably cost them more and more money.  The iPad is priced to sell to the folks who can afford to pay for the "A" culture. 

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