Living On A Meme

Living on a Meme - How Anti-Corporate Activists Bend the Truth, and You, to Get What They Want is about the NGOs and activist groups that engage corporations adversarially and how they use "meme" to further their anti-corporate agendas. What's meme? Say the word as meeeeeem. The dictionary says that a meme is an idea that spreads from one person to another. And thanks to today's Internet, memes get started, spread, and believed in a flash, whether they are true or not, making them formidable tools for groups that damage company reputations. Here in his fifth book, author Richard Telofski takes an in-depth look at anti-corporate NGOs and activist groups that use memes cleverly to "compete" with the image of the companies they target. These groups unabashedly use unchallenged memes to bribe people to their side of their anti-corporate argument. Bribe? Yes. By leveraging a meme, these groups bribe people with something, a way to feel better about themselves, often with scant or no support of the meme. Through their "meme-mangling," adversarial NGOs and activists can impose undeserved damage on corporate reputations, costing market share, revenue, and jobs, maybe one of them yours. These organizations are truly competitors, not only to the individual corporations that they target, but also to the economic system in general. Living on a Meme is compiled from a selection of articles published on Richard's Web site, Telofski.com, between August 1, 2009 through August 3, 2010. But, many of these writings are more essay than article. Within the essays in this book, you'll find insights, theories, as well as specific facts and analysis on how certain NGOs and activist groups operate online and offline to sap companies of their vital reputation. By reading this book, you'll discover how these "irregular" competitors make use of existing cultural memes, true or not, and how they contribute to those memes, strengthening them and contributing to the degradation of a company's image. Don't worry. This book isn't just a repackaging of blog postings. You're going to get more than that. At the end of each chapter you will find bonus "Take-Aways." Those Take-Aways are critical analyses of the essays in the chapter, pointing out for you how what was just discussed relates to an NGO's or activist's reliance of living on a meme or their hope that YOU are living on THEIR meme for them. You'll also find in this book 23 exclusive essays that appear only in this book. So, start your journey now into the understanding of how anti-corporate NGOs and activists bend the truth, and the beliefs of people, to get what they want.

No one can argue against wanting a better quality of life—and Principles of Sustainable Living: A New Vision for Health, Happiness, and Prosperity provides keen insight into how to achieve that so that individuals, communities, and the environment all come out winners. This transdisciplinary text presents principles of sustainability, develops environmental literacy, and expands awareness of sustainable practices that will steer readers toward a lifestyle that they, as well as the entire planet, will benefit from. Author Richard Jurin, an expert in sustainable living, has written numerous publications on sustainable development, business leadership for sustainability, and related issues. He takes students beyond sustainability’s traditional “triple bottom line” of people, profit, and planet to a quadruple paradigm that includes economic, sociocultural, psychological, and ecological aspects of sustainability. This text is supported by its own website, which includes an instructor guide, test package, study guide, and presentation package. The book’s 36 illustrations and tables are all included in the presentation package. The text offers • principles of sustainability that support a range of university courses in multiple disciplines; • a systems approach to sustainability that reflects worldwide views and values; • case studies, personal reflections, and applications that help students understand their status and the challenges of the future; and • guidelines for developing sustainable living through daily choices. The book explores the mind-sets that have created the modern, consumer-based world we live in, exposing environmental and societal global problems as it does; lays out new ways of thinking, championing sustainable thinking as a prerequisite for living a healthy, happy, vibrant life that benefits the planet; and details positive options for living a sustainable lifestyle. Readers will be able to understand sustainability from a broad perspective—how it can improve their lives, resolve environmental problems, and improve the condition of the planet for all life. Principles of Sustainable Living points out the problems and challenges we face individually and as caretakers of our planet and offers lifestyle approaches that can sustain quality of life long into the future.

Book 8 of the much-loved My Life series Derek Fallon loves making funny memes, but when he finds himself the joke of a viral meme, he realizes how easy it is to offend others using this platform. Derek decides to confront the creator of the hurtful meme, all during the backdrop of a fire evacuation that has put him in the same place as his meme bully. Here is another thoughtful, funny, and timely adventure in the life of the ever-loving, ever-mischievous Derek Fallon. Christy Ottaviano Books

Science need not be dull and bogged down by jargon, as Richard Dawkins proves in this entertaining look at evolution. The themes he takes up are the concepts of altruistic and selfish behaviour; the genetical definition of selfish interest; the evolution of aggressive behaviour; kinshiptheory; sex ratio theory; reciprocal altruism; deceit; and the natural selection of sex differences. 'Should be read, can be read by almost anyone. It describes with great skill a new face of the theory of evolution.' W.D. Hamilton, Science

My wife and I love our sons unconditionally and equally. Talking with one of them about his atheism has brought me to a new dimension in my relationship with him, to a review of my own christian beliefs, to a more critical examination of the church, and to a different understanding of ministry in today's world. As personal as I make this all sound, my family represents a thousand families, a hundred thousand and more, who have sat in painful silence because religious differences have taken away their voice. They tire of confrontation, angry discussions, verse hurling and jabbing one another with theories over every conceivable divisive issue. It is a powerful idea that those who do not share our faith should know that we do, not so much in our argument as in our love. It is time to listen.

Most thoughtful people live in an interregnum between science and religion. Traditional religious answers concerning the beginning, purpose, and end of life are questioned by the natural sciences, with neuroscience conceivably constituting the last frontier where skeptics and believers explore common ground. The question concerns the nature of reflective and creative moments in life. Can these be reduced to the intersect between the nerve cells and molecules of the physical brain? Does this account for the human sense of mystery, or even spirituality? Is there a nexus between the physical and unknown dimensions of existence? The mutation in the history of theism suggests that progressive theology in the West may be set for further change.

Digital Virtues and Memes focuses upon the consequences of being involved with the Internet in many ways. Increasingly marketers are using the Internet to test and craft creative ways of extracting money from your pocketbook. Companies are building profiles of you and your activities. And cybercriminals are breaking into companies and finding out too much about you. Yet, the Internet and mobile devices like smart phones are increasingly useful. This is the first book to address best practices in defending yourself on the Internet, avoiding spending too much money and regaining control of your life.