Museums forced to sell pricey items to keep the doors open

Some of the items are super-expensive. Many museums are finding that they need extra cash, so they’ve been selling some of their items. It comes with caveats, though: The American Association of Museums says they can only use the proceeds to acquire more items or directly care for the items they already have. Even so, though, it’s not stopping fire sales like these:

$3.2M the amount that Cleveland’s Western Reserve Historical Society has earned from selling collection items
$81k the amount that the Beloit, Wis. Historical Society made by selling a page of an Abe Lincoln State of the Union draft
$1M the amount an Oregon museum stands to make by selling a 1880s-era hotel; they’ve faced deep budget cuts source

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97 number of bills Kucinich has sponsored in Congress since getting elected 14 years ago
three number of those bills that actually became law, and all three were nothing laws source

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Judge: Let’s outlaw linking! In this corner: Seventh Circuit Appeals Court Judge Richard Posner, based out of Chicago. A pretty smart guy.
His argument: Posner, in an argument on his blog, says that “Expanding copyright law … to bar linking to or paraphrasing copyrighted materials without the copyright holder’s consent, might be necessary to keep free riding on content financed by online newspapers.”
Why he doesn’t get it Because his idea is against the very nature of the Internet and nobody would support him. Plus, his article has a trackback function enabled to encourage linking!
Columnist: Let’s tighten laws! In this corner: Connie Schultz, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, still a solid print product.
Her argument: Schultz says that there’s too many free riders on the journalism bandwagon and they’re coming at the cost of newspaper revenue. She subscribes to David and Daniel Marburger’s theory that copyright law needs to force aggregators to share ad revenue with producers.
Why she doesn’t get it While her idea is less crazy than Posner’s (she’s not advocating the blocking of linking), it’s cut from the same cloth. Also, you can share her column on Reddit and Digg!

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Silicon Valley’s drying up Despite the bevy of great ideas out there, one area can apparently handle so many great ideas, and venture capital in Silicon Valley is starting to dry up. And we’re in the Internet era, remember. You can be innovative anywhere!
Toledo’s giving grants Fortunately for startups willing to move their entire business to the Midwest, municipal governments are offering to give significant financial help. But those purses close if they’re not willing to invest in the community.
Rust belt tax breaksYou can guess why cities in Ohio and Michigan are so aggressive about getting tech companies in their cities – two good reasons, in fact, GM and Chrysler. Which is why they want startups to stick around. No fly-by-nights. source

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The band was one of the headline acts of yesterday’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremony; Run-DMC were cooler. source

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24 May 2010 10:34