It is base usury to regard a benefit as an investment. Seneca on On Benefits.
"I have a dream," said Martin Luther King as the crowd stretched to the horizon. But the dream died. Now we have social capital markets, and increasingly efficient and effective research, metrics, and implementation to support the movement of money through a transactional system to a measurable result.
Professor David Sturm lectures brilliantly on immersive story-telling, truth and fiction, and the formation of community in this 45 minute YouTube video. At How to Save the World Dave Pollard reflects on his avatars online (at his blog and in Second Life in particular) and his "real life" and how over time his identities and communities have begun to fuse, not without unease among some who know him in one role or another.
When the Puritans closed the theaters in London, saying poets lie to us and lead us astray from truth, Sir Philip Sydney wrote his Defense of Poesie. He suggests that history, philosophy, and sermon may help us know the truth, but poetry transforms us so that we might act and live in truth, in virtue. We may be inspired by a hero with whom we identify; our hearts may be lifted to emulate what we admire, or we may by the satirist, be made ashamed of our vices, and laughed out of our folly.
"Once upon a time there was a little boy. All he knew of story was what he saw on television. Mostly it was brands and cartoons. Being a precocious child he graduated at age 12 to the financial news, the story of who made a killing. He dreamed that he would some day grow up and turn the whole world into an efficient market...." Is that not the saddest story you ever heard?
Dear Friend,
A group of researchers at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, are investigating effects of Weblogs on “Social Capital”. Therefore, they have designed an online survey. By participating in this survey you will help researches in “Management Information Systems” and “Sociology”. You must be at least 18 years old to participate in this survey. It will take 5 to 12 minutes of your time.
Your participation is greatly appreciated. You will find the survey at the following link. http://faculty.unlv.edu/rtorkzadeh/survey >http://faculty.unlv.edu/rtorkzadeh/survey
This group has already done another study on Weblogs effects on “Social Interactions” and “Trust”. To obtain a copy of the previous study brief report of findings you can email Reza Vaezi at [email protected].
Posted by: Reza | January 17, 2008 at 07:23 PM
You know, spamming blogs isn't the best way to conduct a survey. Phil might even post you message if an actual human being asked him nicely (via email would be preferred so he gets to decide whether to publish it or not).
If you are an actual person, then join the conversation before dropping a request without preamble.
Posted by: Gerry | January 17, 2008 at 07:52 PM
I guess they wouldn't have done it, if they hadn't already sent me two unanswered emails. The study might include a section of spam, social networks, blogs, and trust.
Posted by: phil | January 18, 2008 at 12:27 AM
Yeah, and I'm guessing that their sample will be skewed towards spam loving morons. Do any of those exist?
Posted by: Gerry | January 18, 2008 at 06:05 AM