Thanks to my brother Elbert for pointing out that Billy Collins has put MP3's of his live reading of "The Best Cigarette" up for free download (under a Creative Commons license). If you're not familiar with his work, you definitely need to check it out. There's a ton of good poems in this package, but particularly I remember the first time I heard "Purity" at an informal literary salon with some friends and we were all laughing very hard. I heard him read at the MLK Library (downtown DC) a year or two ago so I feel I can recommend this collection even though I haven't listened to it all yet...and it's always nice to hear a poet read their own work.
A week ago last Saturday I went down to the Mall for the anti-surge rally and I brought my camera to try to capture a little bit of the spectacle that always accompanies a big protest. I'm especially fond of some of the large scale puppets that show up. Here are a few of the best images I came away with.
I ran across a link to a book called Capitalism 3.0 and while I haven't read it, it seems to suggest an interesting concept in terms of infusing the idea of the commons into capitalism-as-we-know it. In fact, he's also put his money where his mouth is by providing the entire book as a free PDF download in addition to selling it in paper form. ("Wryly acknowledging the oddity of giving away a book with the word 'capitalism' in the title, he writes, 'I invite you to peruse the downloadable version, and if you’re so moved, engage in a commercial
transaction that microscopically boosts GDP.'")
Barnes proposes a revised operating system—Capitalism 3.0—that protects the commons while preserving the many strengths of capitalism as we know it. His major innovation is the commons trust—a market-based entity with the power to limit use of scarce commons, charge rent, and pay dividends to everyone.
While we were watching the football games Sunday (on our fuzzy, 20 year old TV) I saw a commercial which was a reminder of why I am glad I don't work for a corporate design firm. It had a somber mood with a voiceover about how bad life was due to a scourge afflicting many people, and it was a call to action--do your part to help stamp it out. Sounds like something I might be able to get behind (despite the melodrama of the advertisement), right? Perhaps a campaign to help with the worldwide HIV/AIDS crisis? A call to get involved in Darfur? Except it was ostensibly an advertisement about the global crisis of low-definition TV. Help "stamp out low def in our lifetime" by buying an HD TV? Can you get much lower than trying to appeal to people's charitable instinct (I don't care how "humorous" it is supposed to be) to sell more product? How depressing. Another advertiser just sold their soul for a mess of pottage.
I'm a day late with this, but I was out of town yesterday so I give myself a pass.
In 1965, a Rabbi named Max Nussbaum asked Martin Luther King Jr. to address his congregation at the Temple Israel in Hollywood. King's sermon at Temple Israel was recorded onto an old-fashioned, reel-to-reel audiotape ... recently made available to the public for the first time since 1965.
Thanks to my brother Elbert for pointing out that Billy Collins has put MP3's of his live reading of "The Best Cigarette" up for free download (under a Creative Commons license). If you're not familiar with his work, you definitely need to check it out. There's a ton of good poems in this package, but particularly I remember the first time I heard "Purity" at an informal literary salon with some friends and we were all laughing very hard. I heard him read at the MLK Library (downtown DC) a year or two ago so I feel I can recommend this collection even though I haven't listened to it all yet...and it's always nice to hear a poet read their own work.
A week ago last Saturday I went down to the Mall for the anti-surge rally and I brought my camera to try to capture a little bit of the spectacle that always accompanies a big protest. I'm especially fond of some of the large scale puppets that show up. Here are a few of the best images I came away with.
I ran across a link to a book called Capitalism 3.0 and while I haven't read it, it seems to suggest an interesting concept in terms of infusing the idea of the commons into capitalism-as-we-know it. In fact, he's also put his money where his mouth is by providing the entire book as a free PDF download in addition to selling it in paper form. ("Wryly acknowledging the oddity of giving away a book with the word 'capitalism' in the title, he writes, 'I invite you to peruse the downloadable version, and if you’re so moved, engage in a commercial
transaction that microscopically boosts GDP.'")
While we were watching the football games Sunday (on our fuzzy, 20 year old TV) I saw a commercial which was a reminder of why I am glad I don't work for a corporate design firm. It had a somber mood with a voiceover about how bad life was due to a scourge afflicting many people, and it was a call to action--do your part to help stamp it out. Sounds like something I might be able to get behind (despite the melodrama of the advertisement), right? Perhaps a campaign to help with the worldwide HIV/AIDS crisis? A call to get involved in Darfur? Except it was ostensibly an advertisement about the global crisis of low-definition TV. Help "stamp out low def in our lifetime" by buying an HD TV? Can you get much lower than trying to appeal to people's charitable instinct (I don't care how "humorous" it is supposed to be) to sell more product? How depressing. Another advertiser just sold their soul for a mess of pottage.
I'm a day late with this, but I was out of town yesterday so I give myself a pass.