What is worth paying for?
In the world of an information economy, information is effectively free. This, of course, has broad implications for anyone generating intellectual property, such as writers, musicians, and media makers.
Effectively free means this: it is possible to mass produce and mass distribute information at near zero cost, laws and artificial scarcity notwithstanding. [...]

Popularity: 5% [?]

Scratch troubled, we are screwed as a country
I read with great alarm on CFO.com that as the housing and mortgage crisis deepens, people are dipping into or even cashing out retirement funds.
“In the last four or five months we have seen an absolute onslaught of people trying to do hardship withdrawals and loans out of [...]

Popularity: 13% [?]

Rogers Canada is modifying Web pages. Take a look at this Wired article.
Is this a marketing dream? A marketing nightmare? Bit of both.
If you searched for a student loan, I could buy a modification of the results you get from your ISP. Even if you wanted a loan from my competitor, if I paid enough, [...]

Popularity: 12% [?]

Just when you thought the real estate market couldn’t get any more desperate:

I don’t know who to feel more sorry for - the person posting the ad or the sucker who buys a house in metro Phoenix, Arizona, where prices are falling on average about 30%. I guess it depends on whether you think US [...]

Popularity: 14% [?]

Politicians Need Illegal Immigrants
Why, you ask, do politicians need illegal immigrants? Simple: economics. Illegal immigrants don’t show up in labor statistics or the official work force. Thus:
- when the economy is good, illegal immigrants provide a labor boost, increasing productivity without increasing official payrolls. Illegal immigrants also don’t get health insurance or any other benefits, [...]

Popularity: 11% [?]

2008 Recession or Depression is Likely
I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately. Most of it has not been of good news and all of it has been about the economy. The economic issues that have caused disruption and disorder in 2007 - the credit crunch, housing bubble bursting, and high fuel prices - are, [...]

Popularity: 16% [?]

I’m always amused when I see someone bill themselves as a thought leader in their field (heck, my own company’s marketing department does it to me), mostly because the term thought leader is a joke. You are either a leader or you are not. It’d be like having a thought quarterback in the NFL, a [...]

Popularity: 13% [?]

Die In A Fire
Of the many expressions online that I really dislike, topping the list has got to be “die in a fire”. Like virtually every other Internet expression, it’s bandied about carelessly, and the people who use it probably don’t think about it a whole lot. So here’s a bit of perspective in the [...]

Popularity: 11% [?]

Let’s talk briefly about polyethylene - specifically, high density polyethylene. It’s a dense plastic that is extremely strong and resistant to a bunch of things. Things like Tupperware are made from it. It in turn is made from petroleum - oil - in a lossy process that consumes 1.75 units of petroleum to produce 1.0 [...]

Popularity: 8% [?]

Close your eyes when you don’t want to see
Stay at home when you don’t want to go
Only speak to those who will agree
Yeah, and close your mind when you don’t want to know
- Billy Joel, “Everybody Loves You Now”
This is a picture of the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans, captured by Europa in 2007. [...]

Popularity: 11% [?]