Art critic Robert Hughes and The Mona Lisa Curse
posted on Sep 22, 2008 - View this thread

In 1943, while the Allies were busy battling the Axis Powers and the Nazi Regime, there was another kind of war that was being waged against a helpless populace (living on the Indian Sub-continent). A war that has been largely ignored by the mass media and the history books of our time. It is known as the Great Bengal Famine, and ended up causing the death of an estimated 1.5 million to 4 million people.
posted on Aug 30, 2008 - View this thread

Wrath, Greed, Pride, Gluttony, Lust, Envy, Sloth

Don't forget your display!

Made by: Hamilton Design

(via)
posted on Jun 11, 2008 - View this thread

What market has grown from $900 billion in 2000 to more than $45.5 trillion and is completely unregulated? Welcome to the world of Credit Default Swaps. Speculative derivatives have been described as "financial weapons of mass destruction" by some guy named Warren Buffet. Some people wonder how you can have "$1 trillion in swaps bet on the success or failure of GM when the entire market cap of GM is a mere $15 billion." Credit Default Swaps are being triggered from Northern Rock in the UK to ANZ Bank down under as the "subprime" crisis unravels. AIG's CDS loss portfolio has already climbed to $5 billion from a previsouly estimated $1 billion.
posted on Feb 18, 2008 - View this thread

U2FU? Paul McGuinness, longtime manager of the band U2, has called on governments to compel ISPs to introduce mandatory French-style service disconnections to stop unauthorized downloading.
posted on Jan 28, 2008 - View this thread

HorribleEconomicNewsFilter: Rogue trader costs his bank 7 billion dollar. Take that, Nick Leeson!
posted on Jan 24, 2008 - View this thread

The Lorax by Dr. Seuss. [25 min Google Video.]
posted on Mar 27, 2007 - View this thread

William Blake's Grave. Museums and galleries only have a few weeks left to save William Blake’s long-lost watercolour illustrations accompanying Robert Blair’s poem “The Grave”, before they are dispersed at auction in New York on 2 May.
posted on Mar 17, 2006 - View this thread

Lawyers appear to missing out on the growth of the leisure class. Despite American's growing leisure time, and despite another round of pay increases for starting associates, lawyers seem to be working more hours than ever. As long as lawyers are tied the billable hour, it seems that greater salaries for associates inevitably means longer hours for associates. Law professor Pat Schiltz argues [pdf] that the longer hours for new associates combined with the high pressures of law practice means that those lawyers often suffer from depression, anxiety, alcoholism, drug abuse, and suicide at very high rates, and are often forced into unethical practices just to meet the requirements of the law firm.
posted on Feb 13, 2006 - View this thread

A few years back ASCAP, the performing rights agency that collects fees on behalf of songwriters and publishers, attempted to collect licensing fees from summer camps for songs sung around the campfire by Girl Scouts. This week, PRS, the UK equivalent of ASCAP, flexed its muscles by demanding a licence fee from a guitar shop owner for customers who play copyrighted riffs while testing instruments. Jimmy Page must be rubbing his hands together.
posted on Dec 18, 2005 - View this thread

An Evaluation of Federal Tax Policy Based on Judeo-Christian Ethics An evangelical Christian law prof. evaluates Bush admininistration tax policy and finds it immoral.
posted on Dec 11, 2005 - View this thread

Outrage in Deadheadland: fans are furious since the Grateful Dead pulled thousands of freely available concert recordings from Live Music Archive. Some threaten boycotts. Are the Dead really looking out for "Grateful Dead Values" or simply protecting their commercial interests? Have Deadheads been spoiled by free access to the music? Bassist Phil Lesh says he had no say in the matter, Barlow thinks it's "like finding out that your brother is a child molester," and heady bloggers are torn. Or is it all moot anyway? "The idea that they could stop people from trading these files is absurd... It's no longer under anyone's control. People have gigabytes of this stuff." (Previously on Mefi.)
posted on Nov 30, 2005 - View this thread

I'm the 24,519,565 richest person on earth! According to the Global Rich List, which says I make more than 99.506% of the people alive today. Only 24.5 million people between Bill Gates & myself...
posted on Oct 21, 2005 - View this thread

With this year's Pulitzer Prizes announced, the award for Investigative Reporting went to Nigel Jaquiss of Williamette Week, a Portland alternative newsweekly. Jaquiss' story revealed the "30-year Secret" that led to the downfall of one of Oregon's most influential politicians, helped foster a public backlash against corporate greed, and exposed a conspiracy of silence, favoritism, and scandal among the powerful in Oregon.
posted on Apr 4, 2005 - View this thread

1. Glom onto wannabe Hollywood scene
2. ???
3. Profit!

posted on Jan 28, 2005 - View this thread

Greed May Not Be Good, But It Sure Comes Easy And Feels Lovely, Thank You Very Much: Just how greedy are you? Lately I've been rereading Rabelais's outrageous, politically incorrect, magnificently written Everyman's edition of Gargantua and Pantagruel, in Thomas Urquhart's and Peter Anthony Motteux's no less magnificent translation [pdf file]. Everything in this 16th Century book seems to address us and challenge us to be - how shall I put it? - up to it. It's rolicking; bawdy; irresistible. Too much is not enough, indeed. Just how valuable is excess of all sorts? Very, I'd say. And this century presents unique opportunities for overdoing it in the most delightful way, wot, wot?
posted on Jun 27, 2003 - View this thread

WorldCom goes boom. (NY Times link.) Another big firm with accounting, ahem, "issues" declares bankruptcy. If you're comparing these disasters by size, this one completely blows Enron and Global Crossing out of the water.
posted on Jul 21, 2002 - View this thread

Someone we trust says something reassuring. Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan, arguably the most powerful man in the world, blames "infectious greed" for the recent panic-like tail-spins on Wall Street, but says that the economy is on the way to recovery. One comment held that Greenspan was finally able to let out how he feels about what's going on, without shrouding his opinion in economic jibber-jabber.

"For once he really spoke his mind. He usually tends to obfuscate things quite a bit."

But really, how many of you expected Greenspan to say anything other than "the fundamentals are in place for a return to sustained healthy growth"? Does Greenspan actually feel this way? Could it be that he is actually majorly pessimistic, but is using his soothing sweet-song voice and obvious clout and earned respect to somehow buck recent trends? Bush's speech didn't do much for our faltering economy, but will Greenspan's? Can one man's mere words possibly change the course of history? Well?
posted on Jul 16, 2002 - View this thread

Tearing Apart The Fast Company 1990's From Salon.com. A superb critique of management à la the 1990's and a really good explanation of Enron, rolled into one.
posted on Feb 15, 2002 - View this thread

Gasoline price gouging reported. In the wake of yesterday's tragedies, I'm not surprised by the courage and resolve many have demonstrated. I'm also not surprised by the nauseating greed evidenced by others. What's the price of gasoline (or other goods and commodities) doing in your part of the country?
posted on Sep 12, 2001 - View this thread

The problem isn't too much greed, but too much cowardly greed. "Spineless lenders, weak-kneed investors and meddling regulators intent on reducing risk pose a greater threat to the global economy than the volatile financial markets... 'The critic's image of the global financial markets as a giant casino is wrong," [writes British financial writer Daniel Ben-Ami], 'On the contrary, the modern financial markets are more often characterized by a fear of risk-taking than a reckless disregard for danger.'"
posted on Aug 2, 2001 - View this thread

Aslan gets a makeover? (NYTimes link, reg. required, sorry.) Apparently Harper-Collins and the C.S. Lewis estate see a Harry Potter-style merchandising bonanza in the Narnian Chronicles -- if they de-emphasize that pesky Christianity, that is, and write a few more Narnia books, and produce some plush toys of the Narnian characters. I feel queasy.
posted on Jun 3, 2001 - View this thread

So we think we're free? Bill Moyers tells us that we're in the grip of the mega-corporate media who know how to lavishly butter their own bread. And if we like jam? Too bad.
posted on Apr 22, 2001 - View this thread

Good Greed? If any of you hypocritical snobs think the Christmas season has been ruined by consumerism, University of Florida Prof James Twitchell is here to set you straight - A century ago, Twitchell says, people relied on family ties, professional status or religion to provide them with...a sense of meaning in life... Today...an expensive handbag can mean as much as a college degree or membership in a church...And that, Twitchell says, is a good thing.
posted on Dec 23, 2000 - View this thread

Capitalism to the extreme in Russia. A Russian Grandma was caught trying to sell her grandson for $90,000. No she wasn't selling him to some adoption agency so he could go to a 'caring family' somewhere in the west. She was selling him for his organs. She even rips off her other son (the boy's uncle). His excuse, "I wanted to buy a house and a new car and some clothes. It was my dream." I'm sure it was his nephew's dream as well to be sold for his organs.
posted on Nov 28, 2000 - View this thread