[Tfug] Worldcare

[johngalt1]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Eric Christian" <ericdanc>
To: <tfug at tfug.org>
Sent: Saturday, May 10, 2008 12:47 AM
Subject: [Tfug] Worldcare


> Date: Thu, 8 May 2008 12:18:02 -0700 (PDT)
>> From: Bexley Hall <bexley401>
>> Subject: [Tfug] Ezgo "book-PC"
>> To: tfug at tfug.org
>> Message-ID: <652967.68762.qm at web32903.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I rescued an Ezgo E7041 at WorldCare last week.
>> It's a cute little machine -- about the size
>>
> what's this "WorldCare"? didn't seem to be around as i was
> there.
> Eric

Suppose you are a dumb ass. (like I am)

Perhaps we could presume Don Bexley is a World Care
humanitarian relief recipient. Toward the aim of self
sustainability he rescued a cute little computer.

No, World Care is an independent, secular, 501(c)3
organization dedicated to raising consciousness in the local
and international arenas of education, health, environment,
and community service.
http://freewcare.bitsonthewire.com/default.asp

But how does this relate to the thrift store? Yeah, what
thrift store? lets see:
http://www.google.com/search?q=store+site%3Aworldcare.org
Oh, buried in a PDF is mention of the store.

What about the link Paul Scott provided
http://freewcare.bitsonthewire.com/About/default.asp?ID=521
Oh there I see it: Another little mention of the thrift
store. But where is this thrift store?

This link provides location and hours of their facility
http://freewcare.bitsonthewire.com/Tools/default.asp?ID=534
But where is mention of the store on that page?

Clearly for dumb asses like me, finding out about World
Care's thrift store entails tying together a couple of
indirect references in bitsonthewire.com and worldcare.com

Let's suppose you work for a living? Hours 9-3 Mon-Sat
Saturday is the day you should plan on going to WorldCare;
before mid-afternoon.

But back to Don Bexley Hall's cute computer... Every
computer I saw (only been there once) was working and loaded
with an operating system. From this:
http://www.tfug.org/pipermail/tfug/2008-March/018211.html
it appears that World Care has the resources to build
computers for people to buy as working systems.

But what if you want to buy a computer from WorldCare as
every other thrift store sells them: WYSIWYG?
Apparently, you have to know someone.
http://www.tfug.org/pipermail/tfug_tfug.org/2008-March/018163.html
http://www.tfug.org/pipermail/tfug_tfug.org/2008-March/018171.html

This is the World Care thrift store paradox. They have the
resources to make working systems available but they don't
have the resources to make most of the computers available
(working or not) and consign them to the old electronics
hades of materials recycling.

So how did Don Bexley Hall procure a computer without the
power supply brick? Was it one of those behind the scenes
units that non-volunteers don't see?

If I have mis-portrayed the perception of World Care's lack
of zeal to make its thrift store known please set me
straight.

Also what about this perception of World Care's 
perfectionism to build systems, but its disregard of 
potential paying customers who are willing to take a chance 
on buying something that passes a power up test? This is how 
every other thrift store operates. Why is World Care's 
thrift store different? The paradigm shift is confusing.