pitter patter on the keyboard

The Corporation is a landmark documentary, possibly the first to bring the notion of corporations as pathological psychopaths to the common discourse. The film begins with the corporation’s roots and traces them through its evolution into personhood under the 14th amendment – intended to protect the rights of former slaves – then into the modern era of globalization, examining the consequences this has had for workers abroad and democracy at home.

A short talk by Bill Abram  about how – despite the fact that we do not suffer under an American-style private central banking system – Canadian politicians were persuaded to turn their backs on the Bank of Canada in favour of private loans. The result is a situation not unlike that of the Americans with their Federal Reserve and a national debt that is over 90% compound interest.

The first run of Raspberry Pis sold out in a matter of seconds. Farnell and RS are now going through their long list of backorderers. I received this 3 days ago:

Farnell/Newark/Element14/whatever the hell ever won’t begin shipping until June for we stragglers who were a couple hours late. The pre-order gives me a CAD price of $48something and the only shipping option for Canadians at the time is $12. The whole appeal of this thing is that it’s supposed to be a $35 computer; I’m quite sure I can put my $60 to much better use in the three months I’d be sitting on my hands waiting for it anyway.

Thanks but no thanks.

So far it seems like they have their operation together a little better than RS, but time will tell who will actually be ready to ship first. I received this today:

Dear Customer

Thank you for joining the Raspberry Pi revolution and registering your interest in Raspberry Pi’s Model B board from RS Components.

We have received extraordinary levels of demand for this product. To help ensure as many people as possible can experience the Raspberry Pi concept, we are initially limiting boards to one per customer, and we will send you regular updates on availability. As boards arrive into stock, they will be allocated on a first-come first-serve basis, in order of when requests were received.

Thank you for your patience; we will be in touch as soon as possible with more details.

Not holding my breath.