European Central Bank: Virtual Currency Schemes (2012)
Filed under report | Tags: · banking, bitcoin, economics, electronic money, money, p2p, second life
“Virtual communities have proliferated in recent years – a phenomenon triggered by technological developments and by the increased use of the internet. In some cases, these communities have created and circulated their own currency for exchanging the goods and services they offer, and thereby provide a medium of exchange and a unit of account for that particular virtual community.
This paper aims to provide some clarity on virtual currencies and tries to address the issue in a structured approach. It is important to take into account that these currencies both resemble money and necessarily come with their own dedicated retail payment systems; these two aspects are covered by the term “virtual currency scheme”. Virtual currency schemes are relevant in several areas of the financial system and are therefore of interest to central banks. This, among other things, explains the ECB’s interest in carrying out an analysis, especially in view of its role as a catalyst for payment systems and its oversight role.” (from the Executive Summary)
Publisher European Central Bank, Frankfurt am Main, 29 October 2012
ISBN 9789289908627
54 pages
discussion (Bitcoin Forum)
discussion (Bitinstant via Reddit)
Saul D. Alinsky: Rules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals (1971/1989)
Filed under book | Tags: · activism, community, politics, radicalism, tactics
The father of modern community organization, Saul Alinsky taught a generation of activists and politicians how to effectively construct social change. In Rules for Radicals, Alinsky writes with passion and intelligence, carefully outlining “the difference between being a realistic radical and being a rhetorical one.” Indispensable since its first publication in 1971, this book continues to inform and inspire all those who believe that political engagement is the key to maintaining America’s democratic tradition.
Originally published by Random House, New York, 1971
Publisher Vintage Books, a division of Random House, New York, October 1989
ISBN 0679721134, 9780679721130
224 pages
Michael P. Jeffries: Thug Life: Race, Gender, and the Meaning of Hip-Hop (2011)
Filed under book | Tags: · gender, hip hop, music, music criticism, race, rap
Hip-hop has come a long way from its origins in the Bronx in the 1970s, when rapping and DJing were just part of a lively, decidedly local scene that also venerated b-boying and graffiti. Now hip-hop is a global phenomenon and, in the United States, a massively successful corporate enterprise predominantly controlled and consumed by whites while the most prominent performers are black. How does this shift in racial dynamics affect our understanding of contemporary hip-hop, especially when the music perpetuates stereotypes of black men? Do black listeners interpret hip-hop differently from white fans?
These questions have dogged hip-hop for decades, but unlike most pundits, Michael P. Jeffries finds answers by interviewing everyday people. Instead of turning to performers or media critics, Thug Life focuses on the music’s fans—young men, both black and white—and the resulting account avoids romanticism, offering an unbiased examination of how hip-hop works in people’s daily lives. As Jeffries weaves the fans’ voices together with his own sophisticated analysis, we are able to understand hip-hop as a tool listeners use to make sense of themselves and society as well as a rich, self-contained world containing politics and pleasure, virtue and vice.
Publisher University of Chicago Press, 2011
ISBN 0226395855, 9780226395852
280 pages