Open Market

Midterm Nailbiting

Now that the polls on the East Coast are closed and we're all waiting to see which way the balance of power will fall, follow unfolding events at the Bureaucrash Live Election Night Forum.

--Richard Morrison

Another American Bird Species Faces Extinction

It's been a popular visitor and resident in many American front yards for decades, but there is now the very real chance that the pink flamingo may be going the way of the dodo. AP business writer Mark Jewell reports that the Massachusetts company which has manufactured the iconic plastic lawn ornaments since the 1950s may be going out of business:

[T]he original version of the plastic flamingo may be singing its swan song after inspiring countless pranks — and being alternately celebrated as a tribute to one of nature's most graceful creatures and derided as the epitome of American pop culture kitsch.

 

Union Products Inc. stopped producing flamingos and other lawn ornaments at its Leominster factory in June, and is going out of business Nov. 1 — a victim of rising expenses for plastic resin and electricity, as well financing problems.

 

The small privately held firm has been in talks with a pair of rival lawn ornament makers interested in buying the molds and resuming production of the flamingos, designed in 1957 by local son Don Featherstone.

 

Here’s to hoping that some creative financing and nostalgic marketing can bring the plastic flamingo back from the brink. If we work together as private stewards of lawn ornament biodiversity, I know we can succeed.

Thanks to CEI alumna Liz for passing along.

--Richard Morrison

SEJ 2006: Open Source Journalism

There was yet more cool action from the Society of Environmental Journalists' conference this afternoon as Amy Gahran and Adam Glenn explained what Gahran called "open source journalism." She and Glenn encouraged their audience to become more involved blogging (and commenting online) on issues that they cover, both for professional development and to begin turning their readership into an extended community. Both of those goals, of course, come with significant personal rewards.

A journalist who blogs, they explained, will reap the rewards of the distributed intelligence of everyone interested in their topics. Comments on  reporter's posts are a great way to suggest story ideas or introduce a corrective point of view. This is also true in the policy world - a think tank or advocacy person who is engaged (and engaging) online will be better informed, and at a lower cost, than someone who limits their experience with "conversational media" to reading the letters to the editor in The Wall Street Journal.

They also suggested a number of inexpensive tools for getting one's message out there, including TypePad (which Open Market is built on) and blog search sites like Technorati and Icerocket for finding out what people are talking about, and making sure you end up as part of the conversation.

The techno-gurus are all smiles after finishing their panel.

--Richard Morrison

Politics Nerds Rejoice

Students at my alma mater, Claremont McKenna College, have created a very wonky alternative to the season’s popular fantasy football leagues: fantasy Congress. As The New York Times reports today, hundreds of people have already joined the fun:

Just as in fantasy football or baseball, each player picks a team — in this case, 4 senators and 12 House members of varying seniority levels — and competes with other players in a league typically managed by a friend or a co-worker. Members determine whether to play for money or the thrill of victory. But that is where the similarities end.

 

On the Fantasy Congress Web site, www.fantasycongress.us, leagues have names like “We the Peeps” and “Foley4Prez,” in addition to the usual school and workplace affiliations.

 

Players accumulate points as the legislators they have chosen go about their business on Capitol Hill. A House member or senator earns five points for introducing a bill or an amendment, and more points for negotiating successfully each step in the legislative process.

 

Players can change their team members once a week, so if a scandal-plagued lawmaker resigns there is an opportunity to pick someone new. As of now, legislators can be on multiple teams within a league, but the site’s creators plan to introduce an exclusivity rule that would limit a legislator to playing for only one team.

 

Just remember, as Mark Foley has taught us, unrestrained congressional fantasizing can be hazardous to one’s career prospects.

--Richard Morrison

They're Coming to Audit Your Avatar

Fox News this morning raises the alarming prospect of the IRS taxing financial transactions taking places in online virtual communities like Second Life and World of Warcraft. So far people like Rep. Jim Saxton of the Joint Economic Committee are giving the proposal the thumbs down, but I guarantee we haven't heard the last of it.

--Richard Morrison

Decoy Files on P2P Sites Become Ad Vehicles

From The Wall Street Journal, via \.

 

The unusual alliance demonstrates a new tack being taken by the music industry to deal with the challenge posed by widespread music piracy. For years, the industry has been suing individual downloaders and file-sharing services, hoping to discourage the practice. In a tactic little known outside the music industry, record labels have also started to hire outside companies to plant "decoy," or fake, files on the sites. (One such company, ArtistDirect Inc.'s MediaDefender, says it has deployed decoys for as many as 30 of the top 100 Billboard songs at any given time.) The decoy files frustrate users because they fail to download even though, thanks to the companies' technical expertise, they often claim the top spot in search results for a tune.

 

But now there's a growing recognition among some record executives and performers that the people who are downloading illegally are frequently huge music fans and that marketing to them may be more desirable in the long run than suing or otherwise harassing them.

 

Oddly enough, that’s what p2p users have been saying since the earliest days of Napster. Of course, it wouldn’t be the first time entertainment executives have been several years behind the curve in cultural developments. More on creative responses to copyright challenges can be found in the Jamie Plummer study we published last year.

--Richard Morrison

Great Modern Economists, Podcast Style

Thanks to Fred for passing along (by way of Don Boudreaux) the link to the EconTalk podcast for this week. Host Russ Roberts interviews Walter Williams about his influences, his intellectual journey and his choice of grocery stores.

--Richard Morrison

She's Huge in Europe

More fame for Angela! Her concise and pithy assessment of the EU's proposed chemical regulations made it as environmental news service Greenwire's Quote of the Day:

"Quite frankly they have no idea what they are doing in Europe."

— Angela Logomasini of Competitive Enterprise Institute, on a sweeping European Union plan for regulating chemicals.

Read about the most recent developments with the program here.

--Richard Morrison

Update: Foley to Move to Amsterdam, Run for Parliament

News out of the Netherlands this week is bearing an odd parallel to DC's most talked about scandal involving a now-former Congressman from a certain peninsular state. In what must be a not entirely unexpected setback, a political party founded earlier this year by Dutch pedophiles looks as though it has insufficient support to compete for seats in the parliamentary general election next month. Children's rights groups sued to have the party banned outright, but a Dutch court ruled that the nation's freedom of expression guarantees extended even to the euphamistically-named "Brotherly Love, Freedom and Diversity party (PNVD)." Maybe this two-party system isn't such a bad thing after all.

--Richard Morrison

The Bureau is Exactly 37.1973% Incompetent

You really have to give it to the U.S. Census Bureau. Even when they prove they're pathologically unable to keep track of important computer equipment containing potentially sensitive data on millions of Americans, they're still able to produce exact data on how many they've lost: 672. For all of the Commerce Department, of which Census is a part, the total is 1,137.

--Richard Morrison