Saturday, December 10, 2005

Economic View: What's the Return on Education?. Schools' costs are easy to gauge. Their economic value is not. By ANNA BERNASEK. [NYT > Education] 10:18:48 PM    comment []

Richard Pryor, comic voice of black America, dies. Arts: Richard Pryor, one of the most influential American comedians of the last four decades, dies at the age of 65. [Guardian Unlimited] 10:18:39 PM    comment []

Great list of fun online games. Mark Hurst of Good Experience has put together a list of high-quality, free, online games. Link. [Boing Boing] 8:06:14 PM    comment []

Saturday Links of the Week - Dec. 9/05.  . . . Consumerism and the Myths of Surplus and Scarcity: A fascinating article from 2001 by Paul Lutus explains the enormous con job -- the "big lie and the little lies" that the 'consumer society' is based on, and why we've fallen for them. Thanks to reader Brad Mills for the link.  . . . [How to Save the World] 8:05:53 PM    comment []

Ohhhhhh. Sad news: R.I.P., Richard Pryor, and R.I.P. Eugene McCarthy. Aaron's on it. 8:01:28 PM    comment []

Update: Inuit Defend Their Right To Be Cold. The Inuit Circumpolar Council -- a group representing the Inuit of Canada, Alaska, Russia, and Greenland -- announced that it is suing the U.S. to defend the Inuit right to exist -- followng through on the intention it announced last year. In the petition submitted to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the ICC charges that U.S. inaction on curbing greenhouse gas emissions is a major cause of Arctic warming -- which is destroying the environment that has both formed and nutured the traditional Inuit way of life. This petition has the potential to transform the politics of global warming. As I wrote while on assignment with this story this earlier in the year, While human rights have usually been considered in local contexts -- violations of a person's rights by fellow citizens or one's own government -- the Inuit petition to the Inter-American Commission makes connections in a global context, arguing that the actions of one nation can violate the rights of people beyond its own borders... The petition is unique, says Wagner [Martin Wagner of Earthjustice, one of two environmental lawyers who have assisted the ICC with the petition] "in that it's making this connection between climate change and human rights. It's unique because it's raising an environmental claim against the United States. It's asking the commission to recognize the international obligation of the United States for its failure to take action to protect the environment, and to recognize the implications of U.S. inaction for people both [inside and outside] the United States." (Posted by Emily Gertz in at 03:43 PM) [WorldChanging: Another World Is Here] 6:40:25 AM    comment []

Plastic figurines' guide to building a website. This guide to building websites is lavishly illustrated with photographic tableaux of colorful plastic figurines acting out each step. Pictured here: storyboarding. Link And also from Cory: Anti-P2P company decides to focus on selling music instead. Loudeye is an online music company with two businesses: selling music and spoofing P2P networks to make them suck. The former makes them money. The latter doesn't work and costs them money. They're shutting down their anti-P2P arm. Just more evidence that selling stuff is good for business, while attacking your customers isn't: As a result, Loudeye has reduced its quarterly consolidated cost structure by approximately $1.6 million, or 10%, compared to third quarter 2005 levels. Overpeer expects to incur approximately $200,000 in severance and related payroll costs associated with the closing of its operations, which is expected to be paid during December 2005. In addition, Overpeer may incur additional wind-down costs to terminate property or equipment leases, and other contracts. The cessation of the Overpeer operations may also result in the acceleration of depreciation or amortization or the impairment of certain fixed and intangible assets. Loudeye anticipates that the net assets and results of operations for Overpeer will be presented as discontinued operations in its consolidated financial statements. Link (Thanks, Phil!) [Boing Boing] 6:39:55 AM    comment []