Craigslist: Libertarian Newspaper Slayer!
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
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PDF I haven't a clue what any of this means. Is one engaged in "economic activities" if, by and large, no money is changing hands? If there is no intention of making a profit; no advertising; and limited fees for those posting ads? (Small fees were first introduced as a way of preventing double posting of real estate listings from spamming New York brokers). So why is Wal-Mart (a company I defended here) not "libertarian," while Craigslist, which is run by the left-liberal Craig Newmark and basically provides its services for free, is? It is unclear how Jim Buckmaster's non-strategy strategy counts as sinister and free market, but YoungSmith adds this bit of clarification:While Wal-Mart is bent on maximizing returns for its shareholders--an appropriate goal, for a corporation--Craigslist is not. Instead, [Big Money's Mark] Gimein explains, Craigslist doesn't even try to profit from its economic activities, because its owners are devoted to a form of libertarian ideology:
For all the stories written about Craigslist and the profiles of its founder, the company can still baffle anybody trying to make sense of it. A telling episode was the performance of Jim Buckmaster, the CEO who runs Craigslist day to day, at an investor conference where he was asked to explain the company's strategy for maximizing revenue. Buckmaster answered that it didn't have one... or want one because that wasn't the point.
[Ellipses in the original.]
Instead of profits, Gimein shows, Craigslist's owners manage the organization in the service of an idea.Shorter YoungSmith: A business that facilitates yardsale-like transactions, that eases the process of unloading your excess junk on neighborhood hoarders, is working in service of a libertarian idea. And by destroying a key newspaper revenue stream, those Craigslist libertarians are, in turn, destroying those who valiantly defend democracy at the Los Angeles Times, Rocky Mountain News, and Lowell Sun. Or something.A lesson that it was hard for [me] to learn," [founder Craig] Newmark told Charlie Rose, "was that people are good and trustworthy and moderate." Craigslist is Newmark's vote of confidence in that lesson. ... Bad things don't come from what two individuals decide to do together. They come from the institutions that stand between them.
Craigslist: Libertarian Newspaper Slayer!
[Source: Good Times Society - by The American Illuminati]
Craigslist: Libertarian Newspaper Slayer!
[Source: Murder News]
Craigslist: Libertarian Newspaper Slayer!
[Source: Murder News]
Craigslist: Libertarian Newspaper Slayer!
[Source: Kenosha News]
Craigslist: Libertarian Newspaper Slayer!
[Source: 11 Alive News]
Craigslist: Libertarian Newspaper Slayer!
posted by 88956 @ 8:04 PM,
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Last Week's 5 Greatest Hits at Reason.com
PrintEmailPDF Here are the top five most popular articles that ran at Reason.com from May 24-31. Read 'em once again or for the first time.
Sonia Sotomayor on Gun Rights and Racial Preferences: Why libertarians-and everyone who believes in limited government-should worry about Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee Damon W. Root (5/26)
California's Silent Big Spenders: Political class refuses to explain why the state requires hysterical spending growth Matt Welch (5/28)
Is the Abortion Debate Changing?: Understanding the latest opinion poll results David Harsanyi (5/27)
Nostalgianomics: Liberal economists pine for days no liberal should want to revisit. Brink Lindsey (5/26)
What Norm Coleman & Al Franken Have Taught America: The Senate is carrying more dead weight than an Uruguayan rugby team Nick Gillespie (5/29)
Last Week's 5 Greatest Hits at Reason.com
[Source: Good Times Society - by The American Illuminati]
Last Week's 5 Greatest Hits at Reason.com
[Source: Wb News]
Last Week's 5 Greatest Hits at Reason.com
[Source: Boston News]
Last Week's 5 Greatest Hits at Reason.com
[Source: News Article]
Last Week's 5 Greatest Hits at Reason.com
[Source: News Headlines]
Last Week's 5 Greatest Hits at Reason.com
[Source: Kenosha News]
Last Week's 5 Greatest Hits at Reason.com
[Source: Cbs News]
Last Week's 5 Greatest Hits at Reason.com
posted by 88956 @ 6:37 PM,
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The other Susan Boyle
PrintEmailPDF The global success of the Britain's Got Talent star has had an unlikely impact on one unassuming Texas artist. Stuart Jeffries hears how
There is, you might think, room in the world for only one Susan Boyle. But you would be wrong. The American artist, Susan K Boyle, was living her quiet, unassuming life in the pretty hill country of Kerrville, Texas, when a friend sent her an email.
"It was a link to Susan Boyle's YouTube performance a few days after her audition," recalls Susan K. "I thought she was wonderful - what a beautiful voice and what a compelling story. But I thought it was just an interesting coincidence, nothing more."
Except that back in 2002, Susan K Boyle had set up a website, susanboyle.com, to display her artworks. That site had been rusting in cyberspace for a couple of years - until the Britain's Got Talent finalist sudenly came to the global consciousness last month, and something rather strange happened. "A journalist called me and said, 'Do you know your site is getting 1,800 hits per hour?' I had no idea - I hadn't upgraded the site for a couple of years." Yesterday, she calculated the cumulative total of hits to be more than 172,000.
Susan K's website shows her figurative line drawings and head studies in oil. Like her namesake, she has got talent, though not the sort to irrigate Simon Cowell or Amanda Holden's tear ducts.
And then the madness, as it does in such cases, began in earnest. "A couple of Susan Boyle fans emailed me to say they thought I sang beautifully. Another thought I sang beautifully and liked my artwork! Among the emails were inquiries for price quotes on a couple of my art pieces. However, I have had no sales as a result of this. Yet."
So is Susan K expecting a surge of sales as a result of the sudden celebrity of an unglamorous though sweet-voiced woman who lives on the other side of the Atlantic? "That would be too weird, wouldn't it?"
Next, she started getting calls and emails from people wanting to buy her website's domain name. "One guy, within a minute, had increased his offer from $100 to $500,000. I'm not sure how serious he was, but that sort of thing is very strange to happen to someone like me." She consulted a company called Sedo that sells domain names and, following their advice, has now put her web address up for sale for a cool $25,000. She hasn't sold it. Yet. (She has moved her artwork display, though, to sboyleart.com).
Surely she'll be rooting for her namesake to win tomorrow night's final? "I haven't heard the other finalists, so I can't say." Admirably diplomatic - but Susan K now has a pecuniary interest in the other Susan's success. According to Sedo's director of business development, Nora Nanayakkara: "The value of the domain name really depends on the sustainability of Susan Boyle's popularity."
I ask if Susan K's life story is as heart-rending as her namesake's. "I don't know much about her biography," she replies. I'm thinking of the fact that the 46-year-old singer from West Lothian claimed - apparently as a joke - never to have been kissed, at least until Piers Morgan made her life story even more harrowing by kissing her backstage last week. "Oh, I've been kissed," Susan K replies finally.
The 64-year-old from Kerrville is an art major who has drawn and painted throughout her life, while working mostly in the airline industry. "I was a stewardess, as they were called in the 60s, for PanAm. I left just before Lockerbie [the PanAm crash in 1988]."
In addition to Susan K's new website, her work can be seen in a show called Turning Point at the Hill Country Arts Foundation in Ingram, Texas, from 6 June. She is understandably eager for the media circus (ie me calling her at the prearranged time of 7.30am from London) to move on, so she can walk her "lovely old dog" and then get back to her art.
After the interview, she sends me a disarming email: "Please be kind to me in your article. Another outfit in the UK wrote about me yesterday and made me sound stupid AND greedy - and they hadn't even spoken with me!! Egads!"
For the record, Susan K Boyle is neither of those things (and I'm always a sucker for a woman who exclaims "egads"). She is, like her namesake, a breath of fresh air. The last thing the "other" Susan Boyle says sounds sweet coming down the line to this celeb-crazy nation. "I am an artist and am happiest in my studio working on my art. I don't deserve, or want, fame".
guardian.co.uk ? Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
The other Susan Boyle
[Source: Good Times Society - by The American Illuminati]
The other Susan Boyle
[Source: News Argus]
The other Susan Boyle
[Source: Television News]
The other Susan Boyle
[Source: Cnn News]
The other Susan Boyle
posted by 88956 @ 5:59 PM,
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Primetime Emmys Moved Up a Week
PrintEmailPDF 
The TV gold rush will start earlier this year. The 61st Primetime Emmy Awards has been rescheduled to Sunday, Sept. 13, a week earlier than the original date, CBS announced.
The move was made to accommodate ...
Primetime Emmys Moved Up a Week
[Source: Good Times Society - by The American Illuminati]
Primetime Emmys Moved Up a Week
[Source: News Headlines]
Primetime Emmys Moved Up a Week
[Source: Wb News]
Primetime Emmys Moved Up a Week
[Source: Abc 7 News]
Primetime Emmys Moved Up a Week
[Source: Kenosha News]
Primetime Emmys Moved Up a Week
posted by 88956 @ 4:05 PM,
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Coburn Will Run for Re-Election
PrintEmailPDF Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) announced he will seek another term in the Senate, Tulsa World reports.
Coburn Will Run for Re-Election
[Source: Good Times Society - by The American Illuminati]
Coburn Will Run for Re-Election
[Source: News Article]
Coburn Will Run for Re-Election
[Source: News Leader]
Coburn Will Run for Re-Election
posted by 88956 @ 3:55 PM,
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