Unfortunately, the nose dive has also brought to light a whole bushel-load of corporate, business practices that underline, perhaps more pointedly than anyone would’ve expected, how money is the only God big business respects. Perhaps the best example of this is the story about how Goldman Sachs were betting against the long-term future of US corporate giant AIG, making money on their eventual demise and then further recouping from the US government’s bail-out of AIG (when AIG had to pay Goldman Sachs back all the money it owed them). Douglas Rushkoff, the author of Life Inc, told Bookmunch that he understands how people can be overwhelmed by the scale of the problem. ‘The problem is just too big,’ he writes in his book. ‘Concern becomes cynicism, cynicism becomes despair and despair becomes self-preservation. Maybe I can insulate my family from the problem.’ But there are things we can do.

more…

• A board member who conducts or participates in an unlawful meeting is subject to a civil penalty of $50.
• A board member who knowingly violates the law is subject to a civil penalty of $500.
• A board member who violates the law twice within a year is subject to a civil penalty of $500.
  

Here’s one of the places we got:

Let’s talk about technology. In terms of administering a shared goods-and-services system, the internet might be a good match. But it also seems that the internet, and machines and technology in general, can stand in place of actual relationships, and can be a stumbling block. How do you negotiate between those ideas?

The word that describes digital for me is discrete. For example, take sounds. With an actual sound, no matter how hard we zoom in, it’s still a real thing. There’s still more fidelity, more information to be found. If I scan or sample it, I’ve now translated that sound in the real world into a number. Something that was an event, in nature, in the world, is now a number. It’s a derivative of reality. That number encapsulates as many metrics and as much information about the sound as I’m capable of including, and I can then make copies of the number and manipulate them. So there’s greater choice in that way. But the only things the number can reproduce about that sound are the things I’ve told it to reproduce.

It only knows what it’s supposed to measure.

The reproduction process also involves a sampling rate, which necessarily leaves stuff out. Even if the sampling rate is so good, so super-mp3, that

And while I’m glad people think there’s a book in this, I really do want them to know I’ve actually already written one. So it seems my fear of “over marketing” and thus distorting the purpose of my book has actually led to under-communicating its very existence. Live and learn.

I’m going to try erring on the other side and see what happens. Anyway, here is the link to the Life Inc Dispatches page. We’ll be creating a way to subscribe via rss and iTunes as soon as we can figure that part out. In the meantime, subscribing to the rss of this blog will certainly get you links to those dispatches when they come out. Here’s #1: “Crisis as Opportunity”

• Hired guns shoot up Open Meeting law, an op-ed by Larry McDermott, publisher of The Republican.

• Our opinion: Open meeting loopholes tarnish solid reform effort, an editorial in The Patriot Ledger.

• Express clarification that a meeting can take place through "an oral or written communication through any medium, including electronic mail."
  
• Express clarification that "preliminary screening" for purposes of filling a job vacancy ends once the public body is provided with "a list of those applicants qualified for further consideration," thereby requiring all

The brilliant Ann Althouse interviews me about Life Inc on BloggingHeads.TV. Here’s a bit on how regulation actually helps prevent small businesses from competing with the big boys.

Life Inc. Dispatch 06: Why Corporations Hate the Free Market from Douglas Rushkoff on Vimeo.

Life Inc. Dispatch 05: Markets Love Selfish People from Douglas Rushkoff on Vimeo.

mediasquat.net/

We are looking for people to call into our hotline voicemail and leave a
very short ’shout out’. The idea is to have a collage of voices saying
things, whether it’s the name of the show or a short sentence or even
sound.

Here are some particular phrases we are looking for, but not limited to:

1. The Media Squat
2. The Media Squat on WFMU
3. Free Form Radio
4. Open Source
5. Find the others

But as I mentioned, feel free to say anything. Be creative. The intro is less than
a minute, so if you leave a longer message I’ll just sample a piece of
it.

Here is the number to call:

646-825-8879

(try and make sure the call is complete and it goes through properly so we don’t end up with dropped messages)

Blue Stockings, book reading 7pm
172 Allen St, New York, NY 10002

Sutra Lounge AfterParty - 8:30p onward
16 1st Ave, NYC.

For more information about the after party including musically guest and venue:
click here

also:
Facebook Invite

Going to be a blast!

• RGMP 13: Edit your video with iMovie or Windows Movie Maker. Mindy McAdams is up to chapter 13 in her Reporters Guide to Multimedia Proficiency. This is an outstanding series of how-tos.
• Why journalists deserve low pay. I’ve already had a Twitter discussion about this with one journalist who profoundly disagrees with Robert Picard’s arguments and proposals.
• Twitter’s Difficult Gift To Journalism. Twitter is getting lots of attention, some of it overblown, some of it curmudgeonly. Julie Posseti’s piece is nicely nuanced and spot-on. Related: Q&A with Clay Shirky on Twitter and Iran. Shirky is one of the smartest thinkers on media. Also, Kristine Lowe’s Tienanmen + Twitter = Teheran. Journalistic balance + Social Media = Toast?
• What local newspapers should do to survive and thrive in these challenging times. John Temple, former editor, publisher and president of the late Rocky Mountain News, has kicked off a in-depth series of 10 ideas for strengthening local newspapers. Lots of good conversation in the comments.