Tobacco Lawyers Fees - Did the plaintiff tobacco lawyers in Texas make too much money when they sued on behalf of the state? The former AG of Texas thinks so.
10:00:20 PM
"Are you my Caucasian?". "Are you my Caucasian?" Loyal viewers of the HBO series "Curb Your Enthusiasm" simply can't do that when it comes to the show. It's far too funny, and in a highly intelligent way. Take for example the recent episode entitled "Krazee-Eyez Killa. [via How Appealing]
Howard's right! I've become a big fan of this show. HBO's ability to consistently develop great programming is amazing.
12:35:26 PM
Our National Spectrum - this week's Forbes has a great article about efforts to open up our airwaves to innovative and efficient technologies. There appears to be an entrenched belief on the part of those who have been allotted a portion of the spectrum that they "own" it. And the last thing they want is for the spectrum to be allocated in the usual capitalist method. Where's Joe McCarthy when you need him?
FCC policy is wildly out of sync with reality (as Chairman Powell seems to be admitting), and efforts to force "solutions" through legislation make the Keystone Cops look like a precision marching team. Look at what is happening with television. TV broadcasters control 15% of the prime spectrum and serve 11 million homes, while cable and satellite, which serve virtually all of the remaining homes, use 0% of the prime spectrum (and cellular carriers, by the way, who serve 137 million customers only get half as much prime spectrum as TV). And under the "must carrry" rules cable companies have to rebroadcast every local VHF and UHF channel that is put into the air (so if you want to get the cable companies to carry your signal just start beaming into the air, even if it is schlock).
One big reason why we tolerate this crazy condition is that the airwaves are invisible, so average folks don't "see" that there are huge swaths of it that are not being used, or that are being used with the sort of desk-in-the-mud-house-with-flies-buzzing inefficiency that you would expect from a third world country. And this stealth mode plays right into the hands of people who have a vested interest in the way things are. And legislation is going to make them give up their gold? Right.
