A sensible reply to Slashdot blustering over OPLC’s Nicholas Negroponte’s superficially-nutty statement “Paper books are really dead — they’re gone. And they’re not being killed by tablets, they’re creating tablets”: …living in a 3rd world country where access to book is diffucult and “piracy” normal (including on books) I think he might be “righter” than [...]
From the New York State Constitution: Article 1, Section 17. Labor of human beings is not a commodity nor an article of commerce and shall never be so considered or construed. As a result of this Newshour report on the Mott’s worker strike: “Workers who feel they’re now being treated as a commodity in a land [...]
While referencing something in David Boyle’s The Little Money Book (my current read), I came across another Lewis Hyde essay, this time entitled “Some Food We Could Not Eat” included in Money and Faith, edited by Michael Schutt. This essay is also an adaptation of the first chapter of Hyde’s The Gift; I have quoted [...]
Douglas Rushkoff wraps up Life, Inc. with the clearest conception of “act local, think global” I’ve read (and usually seems to be misinterpreted). Instead of fighting corporations with corporations of our own [like nonprofits–Ben], or working through corporations to reduce their negative impact on society, we’re better off reinventing ourselves as humans. We live on [...]
I am continuing to enjoy Douglas Rushkoff’s Life, Inc. Adding to my enjoyment is its parallelism with Fred Turner’s From Counterculture to Cyberculture from which I have quoted before. By the 1960s, the German philosopher Herbert Marcuse had revived much of the spirit of [Wilhelm] Reich—this time for an audience already dissatisfied with the spiritual [...]
“They aren’t charities. They have shareholders to report to,” he [Robert Hammer, an industry consultant] said, referring to banks and credit card companies. “Whatever is left in the model to work from, they will start to maneuver.” This wonderful rhetoric is in regards to beginning to charge annual fees and remove grace periods from people [...]
I really like this post from Entry Level Living about the need for nonprofits and for-profits to collaborate in these dicy economic times. She lays out some good examples of collaboration and ties it into a compelling sandwich. But it also begins with a an false cliche (nonprofits war with the for-profits) and doesn’t actually [...]
A New York Times article on paying kids based on their standardized test scores: City of Angels dvd …a seventh-grade English class was asked one morning if there were too many standardized tests. Every hand in the room shot up to answer with a defiant yes. But at the same time, the students all agreed [...]
Investors aiming to buy stock in Thai Beverages Pcl may have to settle for a bottle of its Chang beer after billionaire owner Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi’s plan to sell shares was blocked for a third time amid protests led by orange– robed Buddhist monks. The monks and other protesters argued a share sale by the company, [...]
I Love Trouble film I saw the movie King Corn last night at Harvard. It was ok. The best part I thought was when they interviewed Earl Butz, a Secretary of Agriculture in the 1970s that instigated a major food production policy shift. Earl said that his change in policy led to a decrease in [...]
Deregulation in the utilities industry results in higher costs whenever those costs are not expected to greatly affect consumption (also in the oil industry), contrary to the consequentialist arguments of deregulation proponents. The same thing is happening in the communications sector. From a BoingBoing comment on a broadband penetration related post. I have no clue [...]
