Dialing for Answers Where Web Can’t Reach

By RON NIXON

Published: September 27, 2009










"Question Box connects operators like Phiona Joyo Tee, left, Lydia Apio and Charlene Rwemereza Abireebe with people who have questions, especially about agriculture.

KAMPALA, Uganda — "The caller was frustrated. A new pest was eating away at his just-planted coffee crop, and he wanted to know what to do. Tyssa Muhima jotted down notes as the caller spoke, and promised to call back in 10 minutes with an answer.

Each day, Ms. Muhima and two other young women at this small call center on the outskirts of Uganda’s capital city answer about 40 such calls. They are operators for Question Box, a free, nonprofit telephone hot line that is meant to get information to people in remote areas who lack access to computers. " continue reading

Two News Stories About the USA: Change is Within

What a co-incidence, two today's news stories, one in India and another in America, both talk about the change that has to be within (aka think externally, act internally):

• US needs to change lifestyle to save planet: India,
  Betwa Sharma, Press Trust Of India,United Nations, September 22, 2009
  
  
  
• Tom Friedman's Take On "Wimps" and "The Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys" in Huffington Post
  Bottomline from Real Men Tax Ga @ NYTimes.com: "We are hardly a nation of wimps. Sadly, we have a government that is barely functioning. We have a government class too readily looking after its own interests and those of their campaign paymasters, rather than the nation as a whole. This has not always been the case. The American people are and have shown themselves to be capable of extraordinary accomplishments throughout their history. But today, in this world, given the leadership of other societies, much needs be done to change the way we govern ourselves and the way our government functions." Full story: Real Men Tax Gas, By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
  
  
  Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/raymond-j-learsy/tfriedmans-take-on-wimps_b_294370.html

• See on the same shelf: When did America become a nation of frightened wimps?

A tale of two countries' libraries - Canada versus USA

[TARA WALTON/TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO

Jane Pyper, Toronto's chief librarian, in the stacks; books are "the perfect format," the others are ever-changing.]

Click here to read the news story:

A tale of two countries' libraries - Canada vs USA