On the 8 Spot

I wonder what philippine law has to say with local currency? must find a lawyer, must ask!

(link from Freakonomics blog)

The Brooklyn Torch project is a local currency project aimed at providing Brooklynites with a tangible medium of exchange that will circulate and support the resident community. We are starting the Brooklyn Torch project in North Brooklyn. In these uncertain economic times, the Brooklyn Torch Project aims to create a local currency to benefit both local area businesses and artists. The Brooklyn Torch will bring together both artist communities and immigrant communities in our area to improve integration of social groups and economies as well as boost our pride.

What is a Local Currency?

A local currency is a method of trading goods and services meant to supplement other means of trade while improving the community wealth. Local currencies circulate in a defined region. Money does not leave the area because trade is restricted by the currency boundaries.

Where have Local Currencies Succeeded?

In Ithaca, NY since 1991. Founder, Stephen Burke describes, “An Ithaca HOUR will generate 30 times more economic activity than [a dollar] will,” This means more money for their community. Some communities even have wages paid in the local currency because the local money is worth more in the community than Federal dollars.

Is a Local Currency Legal?

Yes. Law professor Lewis Solomon states in his book, Rethinking Our Centralized Monetary System, that there is no legal prohibition to creating a local currency system in the United States. The IRS, FBI, US Secret Service, Federal Reserve and Treasury Department have all declared the printing and use of local currencies to be legal.

via Brooklyn Torch Project.

I see people playing rockband with an intensity that could split a hair in half and I weep. When (I believe it was an MIT lab) created rockband they thought they were bringing music to the masses, what they brought was another way to to fool ourselves that we are doing “something” while the world beckons to be changed. I love technology , but I sometimes act like a Luddite, Its simple,  I see people playing rockband and the like , what 1-3 hours a day, time better spent on learning an instrument or the like.

Given that our culture is fundamentally consumerist, every countercultural movement is by definition anti-consumerist, a quixotic attempt to create an imaginary space that exists outside of and in opposition to the marketplace. Counterculturalism is a doomed attempt to maintain innocence in the face of the market’s all-consuming cynicism. Once the Beatles, and particularly John Lennon, became aware of their power, they dedicated themselves to sustaining the countercultural dream of the sixties, even after the dream had evaporated. Rock Band in general, though especially the Beatles edition, makes a particularly good vampire. The blood it sucks is the blood of the innocent.

via Rough Type: Nicholas Carr’s Blog: Paul is dead.