Thursday, January 01, 2004

The Economy According to eBay by By Kevin Maney in USA Today There are many ways to analyze 2003. You can sift through major news events. You can chart best-selling books and top-rated TV shows. You can dissect the stock market. But if you want the gestalt of America - the unified essence of this nation at this time - there might be no better place to turn than the massive databases that run eBay. EBay is the perfect manifestation of everything the Internet makes possible, says Aliza Sherman, a Web pioneer now teaching and writing in Laramie, Wyo. It is for and by the people. It is organic. [Smart Mobs ()] 4:28:18 PM    comment []

Two winners in $221-million Powerball. CNN via NewsIsFree: Popular Items. Think of it as a companion to the Neil Bush note. 2:13:05 PM    comment []

Neil Bush makes $798K on three trades. CNN by way of NewsIsFree: Popular Items. 12:21:11 PM    comment []

Bush-Bashing Ads Move Online. Call them America's most anti-Bush home videos. Contestants submit more than 1,000 amateur films to a competition organized by left-wing advocacy site MoveOn.org in an effort to unseat President Bush. By Jason Silverman. [Wired News] 10:26:06 AM    comment []

Avoiding Previous Blunders. Economists would be better off checking their theories against the reality of the past. A new encyclopedia of economic history can help. By Virginia Postrel. [New York Times: Business] 10:23:38 AM    comment []

Make a Movie in 24 Hours. Could you write, cast, shoot, score and edit an entire movie in a day? The 24 teams that competed in New York City Midnight Moviemaking Madness think they can. By Xeni Jardin and Choire Sicha from Wired magazine. [Wired News] 8:19:59 AM    comment []

Coaches Receive Both Big Salaries and Big Questions. At least 23 college football coaches now earn $1 million, but many wonder how healthy it is to pay a coach more than the president of a university. By Joe Drape. [New York Times: Education] 8:18:01 AM    comment []

R.I.P., David Bale. David Bale was a businessman, environmentalist and animal rights activist and the husband of feminist author Gloria Steinem. By Paul von Zielbauer, in the New York Times. 8:16:23 AM    comment []

Naked Barbie walks free Court rules on Naked Barbie: We know art when we see it An artist's use of the iconic Barbie doll in photographs depicting the Mattel toy without clothing and being assaulted by kitchen appliances is protected as "free speech" says a US Circuit Court. Upholding a decision by a lower court, the court of appeals said the works are obvious parodies and do not infringe on the company's copyright and trademark protection. Mattel had claimed people might think they were responsible for the caricatures and that their availability to the public could damage the brand and even hurt sales. At issue was a 78 image series by Utah artist Thomas Forsythe, shot in 1999 and titled "Food Chain Barbie." Once widely available online, the series has been the subject of intense legal action by Mattel and only a few images remain available for download. In the latest ruling, a three-judge panel of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously upheld an August 2001 ruling by US District Judge Ronald Lew. Following that earlier decision, which Mattel appealed, Mr Forsythe's attorney, Simon Frankel, told the press, The ruling doesn't mean it's open season (to exploit products by) Mattel, it means there is a certain amount of breathing room for artists who want to use a commercial symbol that has tremendous cultural meaning, for purposes of artistic expression. (Via John Parres and Xeni.) 8:13:09 AM    comment []

New Year's Wishes, Revised. Last year, we offered wishes for the new year that seemed important and eminently doable. Alas, none of them came true. A few updates seem in order. [New York Times: Opinion] 8:09:23 AM    comment []

Happy New Year! 12:16:55 AM    comment []