Love2Learn Consilium Conveniet

Over the past few years Love2Learn mom has enlisted the help of several Internet friends to assist with love2learn.net. During the past week and a half I had a chance to meet some of them in South Dakota.

Wow!

What excellent people! I knew already that I would respect them. I was not expecting to so quickly and unequivocally add enjoy and admire to the list. Those are not things that generally happen quickly. However, I was privileged to see them in action as they discussed the site - from principles down to details. I also met husbands (also great) and kids. I was overwhelmed. I am sure they are cringing at this because among the impressive attributes was that of humility. In deference to which I should probably stop gushing. :)

However, if you ever want to go on a great vacation make sure Love2Learn mom makes the plans.

I also have to mention that we did more. In fact we met wonderful folks at other stops along the way which she has chronicled over at studeo (in a number of posts) if you are interested. It was great to meet Dr. Thursday*. - and others at the Chestercon. Minn. Mom was a great host. Great friends from college were not only good hosts, fun to catch up with, but also helped us enjoy Chestercon by watching the kids. Even met someone new in Sturgis who was most interesting and kind. It all wrapped up to a most wonderful vacation. Thanks!

One of the wonderful things was how well the families met and were instant friends. The kids instantly had friends. (BTW, in case you are wondering, a fresh batch of kittens helps break the ice REALLY well!!)

* Dr. Thursday I promised to send you a link about how to see polarization WITHOUT a film. Here it is. Check out the larger site. This guy is as excited about polarization as you are about Chesterton ;)

Library: $16,000

This is pretty neat! Cliff Missen has made it his pet project to bring libraries to African communities in a unique way. Since much of Africa lacks decent infrastructure (and it costs big$$$ to get it!) many communities can't possibly get on the internet he brings the internet to them.

Using a simple backup drive from Seagate Technology, he started loading as much educational information as he could. After two years, he is now on his fourth version of the eGranary. It can hold more than 10 million documents, including thousands of instructional videos and audio files. By hooking it via network cable to a computer, anyone can access the data.

http://www.mercurynews.com/businessheadlines/ci_6026753?nclick_check=1

Here is his site:
http://www.widernet.org/digitallibrary/

And here's the pricelist. For $16k - a comlete lab including the server and 12 stations the town can access the best the english language has to offer. If they already have a computer or two then it can be as little as $750. This is 10 million documents!!!! That's more than your local library probably has on it's shelves. Brilliant!

It will be great to see Africa bloom again - this man's crude-but-effective actions may be a key to that! 1 person with a plan can surely make a difference.