The BBC Tracks Down A Facebook Troll

Now that’s what I call good journalism.

What They Don’t Want You To Know About Weed

Some important and little known truths about weed.

What Wikipedia Won’t Tell You

The Article: What Wikipedia Won’t Tell You by Cary Sherman in the New York Times.

The Text: The digital tsunami that swept over the Capitol last month, forcing Congress to set aside legislation to combat the online piracy of American music, movies, books and other creative works, raised questions about how the democratic process functions in the digital age.

Policy makers had recognized a constitutional (and economic) imperative to protect American property from theft, to shield consumers from counterfeit products and fraud, and to combat foreign criminals who exploit technology to steal American ingenuity and jobs. They knew that music sales in the United States are less than half of what they were in 1999, when the file-sharing site Napster emerged, and that direct employment in the industry had fallen by more than half since then, to less than 10,000. They studied the problem in all its dimensions, through multiple hearings.

While no legislation is perfect, the Protect Intellectual Property Act (or PIPA) was carefully devised, with nearly unanimous bipartisan support in the Senate, and its House counterpart, the Stop Online Piracy Act (or SOPA), was based on existing statutes and Supreme Court precedents. But at the 11th hour, a flood of e-mails and phone calls to Congress stopped the legislation in its tracks. Was this the result of democracy, or demagoguery?

Continue Reading

The Generosity Of Banks

The only thing they’ll raise up is their fees.

How The NFL Is Like Socialism

Bill Maher on how the popular sport is a lot like collective decision making.