The site Tongal, a platform that helps brands crowdsource content under the framework of contests, launched a promotion this week with the upcoming Rouge Pictures film MacGruber.

To promote the film, which originated as a Saturday Night Live sketch series and is due out domestically on May 21, fans are being encouraged to submit ideas for a video based on a line from MacGruber; in the second round, people will be able to submit videos based on one of five selected concepts. (There’s a bit of sweet irony in that MacGruber itself has worked with brands, as seen during last year’s Super Bowl.)

With $10,000 in prize money to hand out, Tongal has come up with a multitiered system for winners to earn at least a little cash — not only will each of the five finalists win some cash, but those who submit winning concepts receive a 5 percent residual payment on future winnings, and the most-viewed video will receive a cash bonus as well.

Launched in 2008, Tongal made a big push at SXSW this year for both the MacGruber contest and a separate, conference-specific contest that asks attendees to submit B-roll video for the Ultimate SXSW video, including buying the front inside covers for the interactive and film conference programs as ad space. So far, 36 concepts have been submitted to the MacGruber contest, and co-founder Mark Burrell believes that number will climb to about 100 when this round ends next Wednesday.

UGC contests at times can feel exploitative — a way for a music label or a brand to solicit a lot of free ideas without offering them much reward in return. But in this case, where the money one might win is clearly specified, and the contest itself is framed as a fun way to engage with the world of the brand, Tongal might be onto something.

Related GigaOm Pro Content (subscription required):

Fact or Fiction: Where Is Branded Online Video Going?

If you thought that wearing fur was outdated - what with all those green movements and animal rights activists who put this cruel sense of fashion in its right place with the likes of Cruella de Vil - fashionista's say, think again.

Last month the fashion world went literally “wild” in New York, Paris and Milan during the unveiling of their fall collection. They had models strutting the catwalk in so much fur, it was scary enough to make animal rights activists and environmentalists jump out of their skins.

In this era of global warming and dwindling animal species, one would think that we humans would come to our senses and rethink our actions. Not so, it seems, as there is a whole other world out there - the fashion industry of the west - whose endorsement and use of fur and exotic animal products simply encourages the mass slaughter of many endangered species.

A dealer's bounty at the Quartzite annual show for art and crafts. Image by Flickr user cobalt123. Used under a Creative Commons License

To name a few, the Chiru or Tibetan antelope, whose underbelly fur is used to make “Shatoosh” the world's most expensive shawls, also known as “shawls of death”. It takes 3 dead antelopes, to make one shawl, so fine it can fit through a finger ring, and each one can cost between $5000 to $20,000 in the international market. Even babies, and mother's who have just delivered, are not spared.

According to WWF, the population of this species has declined by over 50 percent in the last 20 years and the Tibetan Plateau Project says that it was the fashion-driven demand for Shatoosh in the U.S that resulted in as many as 20,000 antelopes being slaughtered. It is alarming to know that the animal could become extinct in the next three years at this rate.

In a blog run by Uma and Hurree called Animal Rights India, they argue how farming of Chiru's - like Eider ducks in Iceland for eider (as an alternative), will not make a difference to the dwindling numbers.

But hello: Eider ducks are now a protected species, and farmers in iceland use a technique of collecting the down without harming the bird. And no, it is not possible to obtain the shahtoosh wool without killing the chiru.

They go on to say:

It's impossible to justify killing three beautiful wild animals every time you want to push a length of shawl through a ring, blah blah. And to farm them just to kill them for shawls?

Raja Basu, another blogger said:

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) – which controls the trade in endangered species products – has completely banned international trade in Tibetan antelope products (including Shahtoosh). It is illegal to import Shahtoosh into many countries, including the USA (ironically, Shahtoosh products are so popular in the US fashion industry). Unfortunately, despite such laws being in place, the Shahtoosh trade is going on in full swing. This is because it is not enough to have laws. There must also be a strong public protest across the board against every person who is by any means related to the Shahtoosh trade. There should be a widespread public sensitization campaign to educate the common people.

Bloggers in the west, however, were giving this some thought and debated:

Rachel Menashy wrote on her blog:

1. People eat rabbits at restaurants. These rabbits have been killed to provide ‘dinner' for people like us (I would like to point out that I have never eaten rabbit and by ‘us' I mean people who eat in restaurants). Why is it right that rabbits can feature on a menu in a restaurant but wrong to wear a fur coat? These rabbits inevitably are skinned in preparation to be cooked - what else should we do with the fur?

2. Is it more acceptable if the coat is Vintage? Why?

3. Is rabbit fur better/worse than Mink? Some argue that rabbit fur is not as bad because rabbits are not in danger of becoming extinct, unlike mink which is. Then again, people keep rabbits as pets so is it more cruel to wear rabbit than mink?

4. If a fur coat is hanging on a rail at a store and one customer refuses to buy it, somebody else will…

5. Should role models such as Kate Moss be seen wearing fur? Kate's style is copied by millions of girls (and women) - is she giving a bad impression?

To which Denise replied:

1. I would personally be more likely to wear rather than eat rabbit. The eating of it seems less acceptable somehow.
2.Vintage coats have been around for a while and should be recycled - which I'm definitely into.
3. Mink are feral creatures and even though their fur is more desirable, mink are not aiming for extinction, so why not wear it?
4. Agreed.
5. I don't mind fur being worn by anyone, and Kate Moss is just showing that this is acceptable. Too many people are on the “fur is bad” bandwagon. I bet most of these people eat meat and wear leather, so what's the difference?

But there is a difference as Barry Williams responded to a thread: Wearing Fur is not immoral on www.helium.com

If we go around killing cattle for leather, alligators for shoes, deer for chamois and see nothing morally wrong in that , why it is immoral to wear fur. What I see as immoral is the killing of animals simply for the fur alone. It really is such a waste, isn't it? Apart from the leather we obtain from cattle not much of the animal is wasted. Beef cattle supply our meat.

There are a multitude of arguments out there, but in the meantime the Humane Society for the United States, says that Canada will slaughter 388, 200 harp, grey and hooded seals this year, an increase of 50,000 from 2009. This, because of the overall demand for fur. The site of the Fur Council of Canada shows styles and celebrities modelling various furs in what it describes as a fashion trend of 2010.

And unfortunately in the U.S, and much of the west, where Global Fashion trends are set, laws don't seem to be enough to curb their greed. According to the International Fur Trade Federation Blog:

..the shift in the attitude towards fur can be attributed to “changes within the fur trade, such as the introduction of the new Origin Assured initiative, which guarantees that fur bearing the label comes from a country with animal welfare regulations”. This shows that the fur trade efforts and initiatives to challenge the outdated ideas of our industry have been noticed. We are a transparent and well-regulated industry that supports high animal welfare standards and we welcome the confidence and support shown by the fashion designers as well as the European Commission, who recently recognised the importance of the Origin Assured label.

Fashion designers who have been courted by Furriers say they are “confident using fur after examining the chain of production and finding it humane. But could this confidence be based on a lack of investigation or knowledge? According to an endangered species handbook :

The New York luxury department store, Bergdorf Goodman, advertised shahtoosh in 1995 as a “royal and rare” fabric, making incorrect statements about the wool having been obtained from the Mountain Ibex goat of Tibet which “sheds its down undercoat by scratching itself against low trees and bushes” from where it is gathered by local shepherds (Schaller 1998)

And if the clubbing of baby seals and mass slaughtering of Chiras, mothers and babies, is “humane” then its sad to think of what “humane” means anymore, and what we are willing to condone in the name of “Fashion”.

read more

Sales of digital downloads have not been enough to make up for the decline of CD sales since its peak in 2000. Universal Music Group plans to soften the fall of CD sales by dropping prices across the board, to a maximum of $10.

The company plans to test lower prices beginning next month and continuing throughout 2010. Nearly all of UMG's CDs will priced between $6 and $10. UMG is hoping that increased volume will make up for the price drop, and the company plans to create more higher-priced "deluxe" versions for more hardcore fans.

"We think [the new pricing program] will really bring new life into the physical format," Universal Music Group Distribution president and CEO Jim Urie told Billboard.

Retailers have been clamoring for lower retails prices, with many believing that $10 is the magic number to spur sales. (I'll admit, I rarely buy a physical CD for more than $10 these days). A recent test from Trans World Entertainment showed that a $9.99 price point doubled CD sales in over 100 of its stores.

Forrester analyst Mark Mulligan thinks labels may have to consider pushing prices as low as $5 to further slow the decline of CD sales. "The CD is a dying music product format, but it has some life left in it because downloads haven't generated the format replacement they were expected to," he wrote. "With all previous music formats the successor format was firmly in the ascendancy by the time its predecessor was in terminal decline."

However, digital downloads won't ever generate format replacement. Music on CDs is already in digital format—if you own the CD already, there's no benefit in "replacing" it with a digital download. Furthermore, it will be hard to justify spending $10 on a compressed digital download over $6 for an actual physical disc that can be ripped into iTunes or any other media software in a matter of minutes, and can be done using lossless encoding (if so desired).

iTunes LP, thought by the record labels to helpsave the digital album from succumbing to single track downloads, isn't making much of a splash with consumers, either.

Effectively what UMG is doing—and what other labels will do if they also decide that lowering prices will prop up dying CD sales—is giving consumers the expectation that albums should cost even less than $9.99. Because once consumers become accustomed to getting a whole album in physical form for $6, you'll have a much harder time convincing them to buy downloaded albums for more money later. Lowering prices on CDs will increase sales in the short term—good for labels because CD sales still account for about 65 percent of their revenue—but it will only slow its demise, and slow the uptake of digital as a primary format.

Read the comments on this post

With so many female-driven films and strong roles at this year's fest, and in the spirit of the opening night film, we'll be profiling some of the most kick-ass females representing at SXSW this week. Next up: Kick-Ass star Chloe Moretz.

Filed under: Action, SXSW, Interviews, Comic/Superhero/Geek

Continue reading Kick-Ass Females of SXSW: Chloë Grace Moretz

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Gallery: Mazda MX-5 Matte and Black Special Edition

Mazda MX-5 Matte and Black Special Edition is darkened hotness originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Harman Kardon and JBL will be introducing fresh meat for this spring, with the MS-8 being the first car audio tuner that was specially designed for owners themselves, since it brings together a digital audio processor with adjustment controls and headphone monitors which will help tune a car's existing speaker system. Included is a step-by-step process that theoretically improves bass, dynamics, frequency response and other factors in a mere 10 minutes - now how about that! Expect the MS-8 to ship this April for $799. Apart from that, there will also be a range of iPod and iPhone speaker docks, 5.1-channel surround sound kits and home theater systems. If you're a huge fan of either label, then you might just want to wait until April before making that upgrade jump.

Permalink: Harman Kardon and JBL refreshes spring lineup from Ubergizmo | RSS Sponsor: Win a Fellowes Microshred Paper Shredder!

Das Freiburger Label Waggle-Daggle feiert sein siebenjähriges Bestehen mit einer feinen MP3-Compilation (einen hörbaren Überblick über die Waggle-Daggle-Künstler gibt es auf dieser Seite). Der Download ist kostenfrei, wem aber die Musik gefällt, der sollte auch ruhig mal ein paar Euros springen lassen, das Label ist u.a. auf diversen Download-Plattformen vertreten, CDs gibt es hier.

Support your local Popstars!

Hier geht’s zum Download der Compilation.

Robert Eden, vigneron bio en Languedoc Roussillon, pousse un ras le bol, joyeux et positif, contre le label bio.Et pourtan, en bio il s’y connait : Aucun adjuvant, aucun pesticide, des percherons pour le labour, des tracteurs (là où les chevaux ne peuvent passer) avec des systèmes récupérant les éventuelles fuites d’huiles pour qu’elles ne souillent pas les sols... Jusqu’au bâtiment qui est entièrement végétal : une cave construite en blocs isochanvre (brique de chanvre et en chaux), qui consomme du co2 (voir les vidéos). Fort de son expérience en  culture biodynamique du vin, il peste contre la concurrence déloyale de l’agriculture conventionnelle. Selon lui, un label devrait être appliqué à ceux qui utilisent des pesticides et non l’inverse. Explications…

Le bio, une philosophie : le bio n’est pas une démarche qui s’arrête au produit. C’est avant tout une philosophie, le fait de considérer que l’homme dépend de ce qu’il consomme et de la manière dont il produit. Le respect de l’environnement, des sols, des animaux, des plantes, et de l’énergie vitale est essentiel. C’est ce que Robert Eden pratique dans son exploitation du Languedoc, Château Maris.

Attention au label bio!
Robert Eden souligne en outre  l’effet pervers du label bio, mettant en exergue 3 points.
1. Le label bio ne prend pas en compte l’ensemble de la démarche.
En effet, il s’arrête au produit final lui-même et non à l’environnement plus général. Que dire ainsi des raisins bio, en barquette plastique, que l’on trouve dans les supermarchés français et qui arrivent par avion du Chili ?
2. Le label bio peut induire le consommateur en erreur.
Ce dernier peut être perturbé ; il peut avoir l’impression de payer plus cher, il peut avoir des doutes sur la qualité du produit, pour un label, dont il ne maîtrise pas les contours. La qualité gustative est-elle la même ? Et par ailleurs, nombreux sont les vignerons qui produisent dans le respect de la vie et qui ne font pas les démarches d’homologation, longues et compliquées.
3. Le bio est l’arbre qui cache la forêt.
Et c’est là le cÅ“ur du discours de Robert Eden. « Le label bio est une étape, qui amène producteurs et consommateurs vers une recherche de produits sains. Mais ce n’est qu’une étape. Le bio ne devrait pas être un label, mais une norme. La logique voudrait que les producteurs qui utilisent des adjuvants chimiques l’indiquent sur leurs vins. Ce n’est pas le label « bio » qu’il faut mettre en avant, mais le label « non naturel », afin d’informer le consommateur. Mes collègues et moi-même qui travaillons dans le respect du vivant ne devrions pas avoir à nous justifier. Le vin est avant tout un plaisir, il doit le rester, et nous ne devons pas amener le consommateur à avoir une approche trop technocratique de sa consommation. Indiquons-lui ce qui est mauvais pour sa santé, cela suffira. Pour le reste, son goût, ses envie, son plaisir, sauront faire la différence ».

Un label pour les « pollueurs »
Et si l’on inversait la tendance ? Et s’il y avait un label appliqué à ceux qui utilisent des pesticides ?
Car on ne dit pas toujours ce qu’il y a derrière des produits non bio. Pourtant il faut dénoncer tout le mal que certains agriculteurs font à nos terres au lieu de mettre en avant le bien que la culture bio peut faire. Pour cela, il faudrait que le label bio soit la norme et que les « pollueurs » soient labellisés. Les consommateurs seraient ainsi informés des produits non respectueux de l’environnement.

A propos de Robert Eden et de Château Maris
Château Maris est un domaine entièrement bio. Robert Eden est allé au bout de sa démarche, et a créé un vin 100% en ligne avec ses convictions. Mais c’est un vin qui sait séduire : son Old Vine Syrah 2006 a obtenu la note de 18/20 chez Jancis Robinson en août dernier, faisant de ce vin le vin bio du Sud de la France le mieux noté. Château Maris est labellisé avec 3 organismes de certification : Ecocert, Biodyvin et Demeter, (organisme de certification pour la biodynamie)

http://www.mariswine.com/fr/accueil

We’ve been following Magnatune since it launched in 2003 as a record label that embraced the net, including giving fans the legal right to do what comes naturally given the net — share an remix music noncommercially — by offering all label music under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license. At the time a fairly radical position. Fast forward nearly 7 years to Magnatune founder John Buckman’s update on the label’s business:

So really, it’s not so much that we’re changing business models, but rather that we introduced “unlimited memberships” two years ago, and they’ve been so successful we’re deciding to focus on that.

Some things that are not changing:

• We’re still not evil: we have always paid 50% of membership fees to our musicians, been DRM free, and used Creative Commons licensing. All that stays the same.
• We will continue selling commercial use licenses of our music, though in a few months we will be moving that business to a new music-licensing web site we’re building (iLicenseMusic.com).

I’m personally really excited with the change, because 4 years ago I noticed that our download sales were declining, and it wasn’t until 2 years ago that I finally figured out what people wanted. Magnatune has been going since 2003, and the future looks rosy.

Also see John’s immediately previous post with an update on the label’s work with and support of free software media players, which we first noted here in 2008.

We applaud Magnatune’s long-term commitment to CC licenses and their willingness to constantly innovate based on fan and customer feedback rather than the unfortunate standard practice — treat fans poorly and hope they continue as customers anyway. Recall Mike Masnick’s Connect With Fans (CwF) + Reason To Buy (RtB) = The Business Model ($$$$) formula for a general treatment.

This post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark.

Name: Next Big Sound

Quick Pitch: Next Big Sound is a tool that gauges the popularity of bands and artists via fan activity on a variety of social networking sites.

Genius Idea: As the music industry and the online world become more and more enmeshed, tracking band popularity via album sales — and even digital downloads (Hello, piracy!) — seems rather arcane. Just because a band isn’t moving a ton of CDs at any given time doesn’t make it less buzzworthy — especially as services like Pandora and Spotify continue to take off.

That’s where Next Big Sound comes in. The website is basically a tool for fans, artists, music industry professionals and journalists to track the popularity of an artist across 16 sites: Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, Twitter, iLike, Wikipedia, Soundcloud, Reverb Nation, Pure Volume, OurStage, Vimeo, Bebo, Amie Street, Jam Legend and Virb. Fan interaction counts as plays, fans, views, likes, downloads and comments — depending on the site.

As of right now, the site functions like a wiki; you can add bands that have not yet been included (I added Everyone Was in the French Resistance… Now!). Currently, there are 699,328 artist profiles.

We tested out the service with YouTube darlings OK Go, banking on the fact that the social media space has been buzzing about them as of late.

As you can see, there’s a pretty visible spike in online activity around March 1, when OK Go’s new video premiered.

You can also compare bands to see who’s getting the most buzz. This could be a great tool for determining the breakout band during a festival like SXSW — or for bitter, insecure musicians to employ when their rivals hit the big-time. We tried it here with OK Go and smaller (yet perhaps more rad) band Surfer Blood.

Surfer Blood’s social media cache isn’t quite as big as OK Go’s, but there’s a visible spike in recent activity, which makes sense considering the band is playing SXSW today.

Next Big Sound makes it pretty easy for you to get in on the action — as least as a fan, I’m not in a band, so I haven’t tried out the “verify your band’s account” feature — you can star your favorite bands and have updates on their stats sent your inbox at whatever time you choose (either daily or weekly).

Right now, the site is collecting data on media mentions of SXSW bands to determine which are getting the most attention — it even has as online playlist of hot bands. This data is sure to be a godsend to music journalists, concert venues and labels following the fest, which is considered one of the top arenas for breakout bands to make their mark.

We’re down with Next Big Sound — as both a tool and toy for musicians and music enthusiasts. It’s cool to see a company change how it thinks about the music industry, which seems to be more in flux every day.

BizSpark is a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.

Entrepreneurs can take advantage of the Azure Services platform for their website hosting and storage needs. Microsoft recently announced the “new CloudApp()” contest – use the Azure Services Platform for hosting your .NET or PHP app, and you could be the lucky winner of a USD 5000* (please see website for official rules and guidelines).”

Tags: bizsparks, facebook, MARKETING, music, myspace, social media, twitter, youtube

Introduction

Offstumped’s post attempts to chart a course for the future of what he calls the “broad political space opposed to Left Liberalism.” As laudable and difficult the endeavour is, the ideas he espouses in the piece leave many gaps in clarity, ignores crucial areas, and casually dismisses many vital points that need to be accounted for.

A few words about some specific items on the recently-concluded online debate before getting into a detailed response of the post. I don’t really have any view on that debate except for what Offstumped says here:

Untamed Internet Activism remains a sore point [.] There is no clear intellectual leadership visible on the horizon for taming this Activism and for taking it beyond the Internet

I’m not sure I agree with the usage of “untamed Internet activism.” He probably means well, but to “tame” generally means “to control, to rein in.” Used in the context of the Internet, this lends itself to the conclusion that we need to come up with ways to control what he calls “Internet activism.” If this taming is what is called for, it’s self-defeating, and it directly contradicts his general principle of upholding the right to free speech. This is not to argue for having the freedom to abuse/insult somebody without provocation but it does smack of censorship. However, in the absence of more information/complete context, I’m not aware what the said activism implies.

I’m all for having clear leadership but everything has its own place. The idea of creating a common platform is good but “taming” something by trying to bring in some sort of standardization doesn’t bode well. It could eventually degenerate into toeing some line—however good or bad the line maybe.

The Future can’t be Separated from the Past

The section titled Its about the future stupid says:

First time voters in 2019 will be a generation born in 2001 around or after 9/11 who are right now studying in 4th grade

The past maybe an inspiration and a guide, the West maybe a case study, but end of the day this exercise has to be about the future. Standing where we are today, if we are not thinking ahead on the challenges, opportunities and the sense of history with which todays 4th grader and the many who probably are not even in school will be making political choices 9 years from now, then we will be irrelevant even before 2002 makes it to History text books [...] We must draw a line to

• #2 make this about the challenges and opportunities of the future and not about righting history’s wrongs

I broadly agree about the challenges etc that the future presents. However, the “past as an inspiration” and “sense of history” present some problems. If you want to look to the past for inspiration, you need to know it thoroughly. Also, a sense of history means that we know our history really well. What percentage of this broad political space know it, and more importantly, can understand its impact on the future? Apart from a vocal fringe, nobody really is interested to avenge (or “right”) historical wrongs. A sense of history therefore, also means understanding the past accurately so we can discard the wrongs and vow to never repeat it. Yet, what’s the kind of history that these 4th graders are being taught?

Also, framing this in terms of votes/voters is shortsighted. The idea is to create an intellectual climate where everybody is unafraid to openly debate everything without attaching labels and trying to figure out “which side somebody is on.” And this has to shorn of concerns such as getting votes. The Nehruvian Congress party—and later, the Left—created precisely this sort of “intellectual” climate with eyes always on the ballot box. I’m unsure if this is the approach Offstumped recommends.

Essentially, this approach—mindshare, 2014 generation, etc—falls in the realm of strategy, not ideology (a term I’m both queasy and careful to use) for want of a better word. This note about generational/age/franchise aspect makes eminent sense if Offstumped was talking about an electoral strategy. Unfortunately, he seems to mix this up with other things I’ve noted above.

Denouncing Hindutva without understanding it

After this, interestingly, Offstumped characterizes “political” Hindutva thus.

#1 at its core was the product of deep insecurity and victimhood

This is quite easy to say offhand but I’d rather Offstumped had given irrefutable evidence in support. Can he deny that the Indian state actively discriminated (and continues to do so) against Hindus for the better part of post-Independence India? Can he deny the fact that Hindu institutions and value systems were systematically derided by the state? Can he deny the fact that the Indian state spawned an education system that showed Hindu history in unflattering light? The said insecurity and victimhood are real. The words are not “insecurity” and “victimhood” but threat and discrimination. But for this kind of state-sponsored discrimination against Hindus, what was the need for a movement like “political” Hindutva, where Hindus felt they needed a political voice?

#2 has been tainted by Adharma committed in its name.

I’d be more careful before using words like “Adharma” without understanding its complete meaning. Adharma is not merely the English equivalent of “injustice” or “crime.” If you look at the history of violence perpetrated by Hindus, it has always been in retaliation to an attack/provocation. Plus, Hindus have taken to the streets because the Indian state has proved beyond doubt that it is incapable of both preventing original offenders from hurting Hindu sentiments, temples, etc as well as proved ineffective in punishing the original offenders. Characterizing this as Adharma shows an ignorance of the meaning of Adharma. This is not to defend violence committed in the name of Hindutva/Hinduism but there is such a thing as spontaneous, natural retaliation. A group of citizens picketing and stoning an MLA’s house for his misdeeds after it has tried all peaceful and legal methods is not Adharma.

#4 was intellectually hollow in its failure to evolve an Intellectual Political Tradition geared for the challenges of this Century drawing on the rich tradition of Kautilya’s Arthashastra and others who followed him

In a post that approvingly talks about drawing from Kautilya’s rich tradition, it is surprising that there’s not a single mention of what that tradition is. Supporting Kautilya is a double-edged sword for I can show a host of material in the Arthashastra that’d qualify Kautilya for the selfsame label of the “political” Hindutva brand that Offstumped asks us to abandon.

In essence, the “political” Hindutva of the 1990s didn’t arise from a vacuum. Hindutva as I suppose he’s aware, has a long history. Ignoring this history and coining a new term “political Hindutva” is not a good approach. However, because he has called upon us to abandon it, the burden of proof lies on Offstumped to show us—by tracing this history—why it makes sense to abandon Hindutva. Instances of demolishing buildings, disrupting lovers on Valentine’s Day, burning posters, etc don’t count. I shall respond to him where I stand on this once I get his response.  

And then in a most interesting (and startling) paragraph, Offstumped lays down this prescription:

Just as Rajadharma as articulated over the Centuries was the Constitution for the State,  the Indian Constitution is the Rajadharma in this day and age. The only “Warrior Spirit” to protect Dharma is that which the has Constitutional sanction. The only Right to bear Arms is that which is sanctioned by the Constitution. Even the Kshatriya of yesteryears had no blanket immunity to use their arms but for the protection of Dharma which in today’s context is the Indian Constitution.

For the record, Rajadharma was not the Constitution for the State. The Indian kingdoms of the time Offstumped speaks about had no Constitution in the sense we understand it today. The definition of a Raja is Ranjanaat iti Rajah (He is the king who entertains/keeps his subjects happy). The closest equivalent to the word “Constitution” is Smriti. Till date, we have 40 Smritis, the earliest dating some thousands of years ago. We can vaguely liken the Indian Constitution to the 41st Smriti but only after it passes some tests as we shall see.

Rajadharma is an entire subject in its own right and very simply, it involved the king to always uphold Dharma and ensure that his subjects were always happy and that his coffers were always full. In the times of the Ramayana, it was to uphold this Rajadharma that Rama had to forsake Sita. The King had sanction to employ any and every means to achieve these twin objectives and relied on the smritis and his council of ministers to guide him. The smritis in turn dealt with every conceivable aspect of Dharma in minute detail including giving us such things as the kind of bodily ailments caused by excessive gambling. Space doesn’t permit me to elaborate further but equating Rajadharma with the Constitution of the State is wholly incorrect.

Equally, the Indian Constitution is not the Rajadharma of today. It is one thing to say that the Constitution is a noble document and one of the pillars of our democracy and other nice things. However, superimposing Rajadharma upon it is misleading to say the least. One of the first tests of whether the Indian Constitution is indeed the Rajadharma of today is to find out whether the Constitution itself upholds Dharma.

A marked feature of a Smriti (I’m using the term very loosely here) is its fluidity, its adaptability to changing times because Dharma varies from age to age. There have been pitched battles to amend whole portions of the Indian Constitution to accommodate the changing needs, and aspirations but such portions have remained in a time warp. However, amendments that injure both the Constitution and Dharma are passed nonchalantly. The other test is how a Smriti treats other/minority groups/religions. The Indian Constitution places minority institutions almost beyond the scrutiny of law. A fourth test is how it treats the cultural icons, symbols, and literature of the nation. The Indian Constitution makes it illegal to kill the peacock and the tiger and also punishes an insult to the national flag. Yet, it doesn’t accord the same status to our epics, which are now reduced to literary lab pieces for anybody to maul at will. The Ramayana and the Mahabharata are not merely Hindu epics—they are Indian epics. They define the Indian way of life and continue to influence people of all major religions in the country. Neither can you argue that a secular/democratic nation has nothing to do with religion because as we see, there’s nothing secular about Indian democracy. Additionally, the word “secular” itself was an ugly aberration that Indira Gandhi introduced and hasn’t been erased till date. This is the nature of Adharma. I can cite several other instances but the point remains that the Indian Constitution doesn’t entirely adhere to Dharma. If Offstumped argues that this is the Rajadharma, we all need to follow, I have nothing further to say.

Besides, there’s another aspect to this. A king who fails to perform his Rajadharma properly faces the prospect of his own subjects rebelling against him—in other words, of taking the law into their own hands. Pretty much what’s happening today. Successive Indian governments have failed to carry out their Rajadharma properly, and worse, in many cases, actively encouraged Adharma—votebanks, subverting the Constitution, the Emergency, etc. If they had discharged their Rajadharma properly, we wouldn’t have had the “violence unleashed by the political Hindutva” people.

Offstumped leaves me with no choice except to say that equating Dharma and Rajadharma with the Indian Constitution stems from a deep ignorance of the concept of Dharma. As a friendly note, anybody who wishes to talk about Dharma and make sense needs to invest serious time and effort to understand its basics. Merely being well-intentioned and supportive of Dharma isn’t enough.

...Continued in Part 2...

A WorldNetDaily article distorted a passage from a book by Rev. Jim Wallis to falsely claim that he "previously labeled the U.S. 'the great captor and destroyer of human life.' " In fact, Wallis, a member of President Obama's faith council, referred to "the powers of the world" that "demand unconditional allegiance and obedience" when he wrote that, for the Christian community, "the modern state is the great power, the great seducer, the great captor and destroyer of human life."

WND: "Obama's new controversial pastor" has "labeled the U.S. 'the great captor and destroyer of human life.' " A March 15 article on WorldNetDaily by Aaron Klein was headlined, "Not again! Meet Obama's new controversial pastor: Champion of communism, socialism called U.S. 'destroyer of human life.' " The article reported, "Rev. Jim Wallis, a member of President Obama's 'faith council' who is described as a spiritual adviser to the president, is a socialist activist who has championed communist causes and previously labeled the U.S. 'the great captor and destroyer of human life.' " Klein appeared on the March 16 edition of Radio America's The G. Gordon Liddy Show, where he asserted of Wallis, "Jeremiah Wright is back in a new form." Klein further stated, " I started looking into him earlier this week and I found out that Wallis is a socialist activist who openly champions communist causes, and he's labeled the United States, quote, 'the great captor and great destroyer of human life.' "

Wallis actually wrote that "the modern state" -- not the U.S. -- "is the great power, the great seducer, the great captor and destroyer of human life." Contrary to WorldNetDaily's distortion of his book, Wallis did not label the United States "the great captor and destroyer of human life." From Pages 72-73 of Wallis' 1976 book Agenda for Biblical People:

When the powers of the world demand unconditional allegiance and obedience that assumes human beings should assign them ultimate value, then the worship of God and the assigning of ultimate value of God's kingdom becomes a radical act, a political threat. In fact, worship is where the vitality of the life of the Christian community is most clearly manifest and where the claims and purposes of the idolatrous powers are most clearly threatened. This is contrary to the political "use" and therefore abuse of worship which is so common to ideological religion. Rather, it is the simple, joyous, purely offered worship and praise of God who alone is the source, author, and giver of life that is the single greatest threat to the powers which worship and serve death. Biblically understood, the worship of God is to be the definition of our lives. Worship is not to be conceived as mere ritual and ceremony apart from ethics, politics, and other parts of life. Instead, worship and praise become the style of life for the gathered community living in faithful obedience to the Word of God in the midst of the blasphemy of the fallen powers [emphasis in original].

The Christian community must always be asking which of the powers are now most aggressively seeking to bring human life under their control. Discernment is the spiritual gift employed to understand where and how a particular power is on the offensive in the effort to impose conformity and slavery upon the lives of men and women. For us, the modern state is the great power, the great seducer, the great captor and destroyer of human life, the great master of humanity and history in its totalitarian claims and designs. The state as a power or principality has subsumed and subordinated even other powers of nation, tradition, racial and ethnic cultures, common and constitutional law, local community institutions and groupings, the media, information, education, religion, the professions, movements and causes, the economic system -- other principalities which would rival and compete with the state and, perhaps, inadvertently limit its power in benefit of human life.

WND paints Wallis as a "controversial" figure who is connected to "radicals." As Media Matters for America noted, the right-wing witch hunt against Obama's advisers has turned to Wallis, a member of the president's faith council who has worked with numerous conservative and mainstream religious leaders. The WorldNetDaily article uses a series of falsehoods and distortions to portray Wallis as "Obama's new controversial pastor" and a "champion of communism" whose magazine "has published a slew of radicals."

If you’re seeking a job in social media, we’d like to help out. For starters, Mashable’s Job Lists section gathers together all our resource lists, how-tos and expert guides to help you get hired. In particular, you might want to see our articles on How to Leverage Social Media for Career Success and How to Find a Job on Twitter.

But we’d like to help in a more direct way, too. Mashable’s job boards are a place for socially-savvy companies to find people like you. This week and every week, Mashable features its coveted job board listings for a variety of positions in the web, social media space, and beyond. Have a look at what’s good and new on our job boards:

The Senior SEO Strategist and Provider develops and provides effective Search Engine Optimization strategies for client websites, with the goal of generating increased targeted Web traffic and higher lead generation.

Read more about this opportunity here.

An Intermediate Social Media Marketing Specialist works with our search marketing and optimization senior leads and teams as well as client agencies, support people, and in some cases the clients themselves.

Read more about this opportunity here.

BBMG is seeking a high energy and creative Community Manager to lead, moderate and engage BBMG’s online community.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Zynga is looking for a Product Manager who can help drive the creation of new features on some of Zynga’s top games

Read more about this opportunity here.

Our ideal candidates will have at least two years experience in a marketing/new media agency or similar experience.

Read more about this opportunity here.

TheStreet.com, a digital financial media company, is seeking web-savvy, innovative social media interns to aid our Audience Development team.

Read more about this opportunity here.

As a result of continued growth and expansion, we are currently seeking a Website Project Manager – a highly organized individual that can manage multiple interactive efforts in a fast-paced ever-changing environment.

Read more about this opportunity here.

As a result of continued growth and expansion, we are currently seeking a Social Media Analyst.

Read more about this opportunity here.

The Sr. New Media Manager role serves as a coordination point for all corporate social activities.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Share Our Strength is currently seeking an Online Community Director to lead all aspects of the organization’s web-based activism and constituent engagement.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Share Our Strength is currently seeking a Web Producer to manage all online production tasks relating to the organization’s online presence.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Now we’re searching for someone with both textbook industry experience and a familiarity with social media who can help us design and run our next product: a social network for textbook authors and adopters.

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We are looking for an exceptional front-end web developer/designer.

Read more about this opportunity here.

We are looking for an experienced software engineer with a strong background in Ruby, Rails, and Javascript to help design and develop a web application that supports heavy traffic.

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Looking for a new email marketing/social media coordinator for a private Back Bay consultancy.

Read more about this opportunity here.

As a Social Media Online Marketing Manager, you will lead the development of strategies and objectives for building and executing year-round brand engagement via social media.

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IMRE, an agency of marketing experts in the Healthcare, Home & Building and Financial Services industries is seeking a dynamic and fearless Social Marketing Strategy Manager to join our growing team.

Read more about this opportunity here.

We’re looking for excellent technical support engineers to provide email and phone-based support to customers from our Austin, Texas office.

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Nolo, the nation’s leading provider of self-help legal, business and consumer information is looking for a Publicist for Trade & Online PR

Read more about this opportunity here.

TMG, a leading custom media firm based in Washington, D.C., seeks several expert drupal programmers.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Responsibilities include research, assistance with graphics and promotional initiatives, lead generation, creating new business presentations and proposals, and more.

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Comedy.com, the “guide to what’s funny right now,” is looking to hire a Director (or VP depending on experience level) of Sales and Business Development in its Santa Monica office.

Read more about this opportunity here.

The position offers complete account responsibility from first contact to end negotiations, and account management.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Anjunabeats, one of the UK’s leading independent dance labels, is recruiting for a Digital Manager (Technical).

Read more about this opportunity here.

One of the UK’s leading independent dance labels is recruiting for a Community Manager.

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Mashable has a variety of web 2.0, application development, business development, and social networking job opportunities available. Check them out at Mashable’s Job Board.

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Depuis le début des années 2000, les Parisiens Gildas Loaec et Masaya Kuroki marquent de leur griffe l’electro rock avec leur label dénicheur de talents (Two Door Cinema Club, Delphic, La Roux...) et la mode avec leurs lignes de vêtements classique chic. Les deux racontent ici leur folle aventure.

A l’occasion de la sortie de l’album de Charles Schillings “Like a Radio” (prévu le 22 Mars) contenant dans sa version double un album dédié aux remixes dont un de Diese, voici le 51ème numéro du Fubiz Broadcast toujours disponible en streaming et téléchargement dans la suite.

Playlist FB51 - A emporter ici

• Charles Schillings - Fashion Sense (Diese remix)
• Tommy Sparkles - Miracle (Grum remix)
• Diese – Crush
• Vitalic – Second Lives (Lifelike remix)
• Luther Vandross – Never Too Much (ODahls K-love remix)
• Charles Schillings – Tell me (Jaffinson remix)
• Savage – See U

Album : “Charles Schillings - Like a Radio - Like a Club”. Label : Pschent

Sélectionné par Diese. Durée Totale : 32:47
Abonnez-vous au podcast avec le flux rss Fubiz Broadcast.
Previously on Fubiz

• Fubiz Broadcast #50
• Fubiz Broadcast #48
• Fubiz Broadcast #45