Teach History Through Song
Revolution - with John Lennon, The Beatles and Craigslist.
HEAR THE
BEATLES
"YOU say you want a REVOLUTION well
. . . you know we're gonna save the
world"
Yes it is finally called a revolution and that is what it is.
It is this very "REVOLUTION" that scares those in power and prevents us from helping our citizens
navigate the web intelligently and thoughtfully.
The power base will argue that the citizens aren't ready for it or do it wrong, they are right because
they have taken the power away from us, the power to educate and show all sides of an issue. The bad IMHO is
created by this very censorship. The web is a double
edged sword and our problem is our sword is sheathed. What the Time tribute tells me is that we are a community and we should embrace it and let the web help us coexist
and yet we have restrictions placed on us first by the leaders of a democratic country and then by lawyers
on
a feeding frenzy, while the citizens languish and do what they have to to be heard and to read.
Viva la revolution!!
Those Hippies! known for sex, drugs, rock & roll also gave you the WWW 9th Wonder of the World. This anti-authoritarian impulse is a Hippie trait
YOU ARE THE PRODUCT AND YOU ARE THE SHARECROPPER
YOU ARE PERSON ON THE YEAR 12/2006
recognized by TIME magazine
"YOU" have been named the Person of the Year by Time magazine, http://www.time.com. I find it ironic that the very tool that made YOU the person of the year is the very tool censored in schools the place where discussion must happen to make better citizens. My favorite quote from the tribute to YOU: "It's about the many wresting power from the few and helping one another for nothing and how that will not only change the world, but also change the way the world changes."
COMMERCE WITH CONSCIENCE Character Education
Years before Phil Gramm was a McCain campaign adviser and a lobbyist for a USB Swiss bank at the center of the housing credit crisis
AMERICAN CULTURE MAKERS
Craigslist Meets the Capitalists 12/8/06
Jim Buckmaster, the chief executive of Craigslist, caused lots of head-scratching Thursday
as he tried to explain to a bunch of Wall Street types why his company is not interested in “monetizing” his
ridiculously popular Web operation. (Union Bank of Switzerland - these are the
folks that demonstrated their human values by seizing bank accounts of Holocaust victims and later
diddling when it came time to 'fess up. ” They (and banks they own a percentage of) are also likely
suspects in the laundering of selected African regime and other looted money.) Appearing
at the UBS global media conference in New York, Mr. Buckmaster took questions from the
bemused audience, which apparently could not get its collective mind around the notion that Craigslist
exists
to help Web users find jobs, cars, apartments and dates — and not so much to make money. Wendy Davis of
MediaPost describes the presentation as a “a culture clash of near-epic proportions.” She recounts how
UBS analyst Ben Schachter wanted to know how Craigslist plans to maximize revenue. It
doesn't, Mr. Buckmaster replied (perhaps wondering how Mr. Schachter could possibly not already know
this). “That definitely is not part of the equation,” he said, according to MediaPost. “It's not part of
the goal.” “I think a lot of people are catching their breath right now,” Mr. Schachter said in response.
The
Tech Trader Daily blog ponders this question: “If YouTube was worth $1.65 billion, who
knows
what Craigslist would be worth if Jim and [site founder] Craig Newmark ever considred becoming — what's
the word? — capitalists.” Craigslist charges money for job listings, but only in seven of the cities it
serves
($75 in San Francisco; $25 in the others). And it charges for apartment listings in New York ($10 a pop).
But
that is just to pay expenses. Mr. Schachter still did not seem to understand. How about running AdSense ads
from Google? Craigslist has considered that, Mr. Buckmaster said. They even crunched the numbers, which were
“quite staggering.” But users haven't expressed an interest in seeing ads, so it is not going to happen.
Following the meeting, Mr. Schachter wrote a research note, flagged by Tech Trader Daily, which suggests
that
he still doesn't quite get the concept of serving customers first, and worrying about revenues later, if
at all (and nevermind profits). Craigslist, the analyst wrote, “does not fully monetize its traffic or
services.” Mr. Buckmaster said the company is doubling in size every year, as measured by page views and
listings. Larry Dignan, writing on Between the Lines blog at ZDNet, called Mr. Buckmaster “delightfully
communist,” and described the audience as “confused capitalists wondering how a company can exist without
the
urge to maximize profits.”
The Free Software Foundation (www.gnu.org) has been doing the same thing
for over 20 years. Craigslist is the same, just with classifieds instead of software.