College Being

I believe alternative energy is a must for our future, and if we don’t get on this wagon we are going to be left behind. We should be proactive and not leave it up to politicians or the corporate empire to decide when is the right time to switch energy sources. By the time their interests coincide with the general human population, it will be too late.

The informative video below is an episode from “Big Ideas for a Small World.” It covers some of what is happening on the front of alternative energy development. The benefits of solar, wind, and methane are discussed as well as the problems with coal.

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Yesterday, the Supreme Court of the United States heard oral arguments in the case of Heller v. District of Columbia, in which a security guard named Dick Anthony Heller is suing DC’s government over its ban on handguns, which has stood since 1976, on the grounds that the law violates his Second Amendment rights. A full text of the oral arguments is available here for those of you who enjoy reading such things. This is the first time the Supreme Court has heard a meaningful case on the Second Amendment since 1939. The main issue is whether the Second Amendment (“A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed”) applies only to government-run militias like the National Guard, or whether it is meant to bestow upon individuals the right and responsibility to defend the nation in case of invasion or tyranny. Right now, it’s looking as though at least five members of the Court (Roberts, Thomas, Scalia, Alito, and Kennedy) agree with the latter interpretation. My thoughts after the jump. Click to continue reading…

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As Chris just reported, the Nine Inch Nails album released independently via download has garnered $750,000 so far. A similarly released Radiohead album made about $10 million recently. The recording industry is unsure what to do, but thus far has mostly seemed to ignore these successes and continued to focus on music piracy, which they blame for loss of profit. To combat piracy, they’ve taken measures such as encrypting CDs with Digital Rights Management (DRM) software, which in Sony’s case included a rootkit, which presented serious computer security issues to users. However, as of last year, all major record labels had dropped DRM due to its cost and ineffectiveness at preventing piracy. Why the record labels are on their way down, after the jump. Click to continue reading…

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