Underground Newspapers from 1960s

If you get a chance before class Wednesday, check out these 1960s Underground Newspaper web sites. They have digitized the original papers.

The Avatar
The Rag
Liberation News Service (a centralized news service to the underground press)

Monday April 2

I am giving you Monday during class time to meet with your zine group. If you have not been in contact with your group this past week please find out where they plan to meet and make sure to be there. The deadline for completing the zine is fast approaching.

We will meet in our regular classroom H.0100 next Wednesday (April 4) to discuss the Smoking Typewriters book. So remember to bring your book to class Wednesday.

Group Meetings

I have been reading your posts in the group discussion boards and it appears that trying to get everyone together for a group meeting is a bit problematic. So, I have decided to cancel the lecture/discussion on Theosophy next Monday (March 5) and give you all the time to meet as a group. Since everyone is supposed to be in class during that time it will be a time for all of you to meet. So make sure to be healthy next Monday and meet with your group.

To make up what I was going to cover in class I will give the Theosophy group the class session during finals week for their presentation, which gives them up to 2 hours, rather than the 75 minutes the other 2 groups have during the last week of the class. I will also be bringing goodies to eat that day, so we can discuss Theosophy over treats.

Anti-union ad

I was just on YouTube watching a segment from Young Turks about Congress' "contraception hearing panel" and how there is not a single woman sitting on the panel or even a woman being used as a witness/expert to discuss contraception.

But before viewing that, I had to sit through this unbelievable anti-union ad:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahvDnPY5rsY

Apparently there a bunch of them. These are ads for the Employee Rights Act that Tom was talking about last Monday.

Here's a new article from Noam Chomsky on AlterNet.
http://www.alternet.org/world/154133/noam_chomsky:_america%27s_decline_is_real_--_and_increasingly_self-inflicted?page=1

A Miner's Life, by Solas

This is a very relevant song for what we are currently covering in class from one of my favorite Irish bands.

Show your love for Minnesota's children

Love Minnesota’s children? Help protect their health from toxic chemicals in toys, shampoo and other products. Join Clean Water Action and the Healthy Legacy Coalition on Valentine’s Day at the Minnesota Capitol!


Event: Healthy Legacy Day at the Capitol

Date: Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Time: 9:30 AM Welcome and Overview, 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Deliver Valentines
Location: Room 300 South, State Office Building, MN State Capitol, St. Paul
Description: Do you want toxic chemicals out of children’s toys, shampoo and other products? Join Clean Water Action and the Healthy Legacy Coalition on Valentine’s Day at the Minnesota Capitol! We will be talking to state lawmakers about how they can protect children’s health by supporting state policy that identifies toxic chemicals in children’s bubble bath, toys, and other products.
RSVP: Be sure to let us know you are attending! RSVP here

Change of Due Date for Group Action Plan

I have changed the due date for the Group Action Plan to 11:59 p.m. Friday February 10. That gives you four extra days to complete it. I see that all of you are trying to coordinate schedules and times to meet to work on the plan, so I thought I'd give you the rest of next week to complete it and submit it to the D2L dropbox.

Jason Read quote

Wealth & Income Inequality

Here is some additional information about income and wealth inequality, both in the U.S. and globally.

• A report by Prof. G. William Domhoof entitled "Wealth, Income, and Power" on his "Who Rules America?" web site. Last updated in December 2010.
• A report on economic inequality in the United States by the Economic Policy Institute entitled "Income inequality continues 25-year growth trend."
  
• A series of reports and stories from National Public Radio entitled, "Haves and Have-Nots: Income Inequality in America."

Here is some information about U.S. and World military spending.

• Data produced by GlobalFire.com. Military Defense Spending and Budgets by Country
• Article on U.S. and world military spending by Glenn Greenwald. "The Bipartisan Consensus on U.S. Military Spending."
  

Good discussion on the Daily Show that relates to class

                   
Good discussion between Jon Steward and Senator Jim DeMint that demonstrates some of the issues I was talking about regarding communications the other day. It provides a good example of two people that start from different places and who mean different things when using the same words. I also thought that Steward did a good job of pointing out where DeMint's theories and claims don't translate into reality and tried to get him to see if as a result he would be willing to modify his arguments and language.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Exclusive - Jim DeMint Extended Interview Pt. 1
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

                       

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Exclusive - Jim DeMint Extended Interview Pt. 2
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Exclusive - Jim DeMint Extended Interview Pt. 3
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

Welcome to INFS 2520

You are viewing this page as the homepage of the course in D2L. However, this page is actually a blog that you can view at anytime by going to the Alternative Knowledge blog at <http://altknow.blogspot.com/>.

I will be adding information to this blog often, so please take time to check it at least weekly. You will also notice links to videos and web sites to the right. Some of these videos we will be viewing in class (see the syllabus for details). I have put links to the online versions here so that you can refer to them if you are writing a video reaction paper. Some of the videos are here for your own personal viewing if you are interested. If you want to view these after the class is over you should bookmark the links. After the first week I will be emailing you an invitation to join the blog. If you sign up you will be able to contribute postings to the blog which will appear in the homepage of D2L. This will allow you to share topics related to the course with me and your classmates. (Note: the topics that you share must be related to the course.)

The D2L Content area contains the syllabus, the assignments, and all the other required course material.I am also using the D2L grade book, so check there for your grade status.

I will cover all the course requirements the first day of class on January 9.

I look forward to spending time with all of you this semester.