What is Life Worth?

Four different cases where a life was worth very different amounts, but all decided in the past week:

Nathaniel Robinson, died from "excited delirium," a condition in which the person suddenly stops breathing after being forcibly restrained. He was only worth a $600,000 settlement.

Nachshon Wachsman, who was kidnapped and executed by Hamas in 1994, turned out to be worth about $25 million. We all know that this will never happen... but the best part was the tenacity of the judge to figure that $3 million is due to lost earnings due to the estate because he planned to become a doctor one day.

Jesse Williams, a janitor in Portland who started smoking during a 1950s Army hitch and died in 1997, six months after he was diagnosed with lung cancer, turned out to be worth about $80 Million. While only $800,000 was in actual damages, the punitive damages make up the rest.

Wally, my fish. $3.95 at Walmart.

Why Pay for Music When You Can Move to China?

I refuse to pay for MP3s or any other music on line. I don't download it "illegally" either, so don't worry RIAA. So I only listen on the radio, live venues, and to bands that want me to listen to their work (i.e. they give it away). Meanwhlie sites like Hulu and major networks have figured out how to make money on me... ad supported free video watching. What a concept!

Intersetingly, this doesn't exist in the music realm. Despite that radio is just that! But in the meantime, Google and major music labels have teamed up to reward illegal downloading in China by putting just such a system in place!

"Google and the Big Four music labels have launched an ad-supported music service in China in an attempt to make online music profitable there. The venture, launched along with 14 independent labels, will have to compete with search engines that point users to thousands of copyrighted music files for free, but Google hopes that this will make it even easier for users to find what they want online while ensuring artists get paid for their work."

So to sum it up... if everyone downloads "illegally," we all win by getting free music. So I encourage you to do so... or at least stop paying for MP3s you fools!

Getting Louder with Steven Crowder: Obama Song

PSA: Earth Hour

Houston Joins International Earth Hour Have you heard of this before? I haven't...

Help "us" join an estimated 1 billion people throughout the world in turning off our lights and conserving energy for one hour this Saturday night, March 28, 2009, at 8:30 p.m. Depending what area of town you live in, you may want to keep a flashlight and weapon handy.

This Earth Hour celebration marks the City of Houston 's inaugural participation in this event and we will be joined by over 1,430 cities and towns in 80 countries. Hmm, wonder how many of these cities are in the middle of no where and don't have many lights to turn off.

Everyone in Houston is encouraged to participate in this historic event - turn off your lights, celebrate the planet and enjoy the moment. Darkness helps celebrate the planet? Mkay...

Earth Hour will be followed by Lights Out Houston on Friday, April 24, 2009. Lights Out Houston , started in 2008, is aimed at saving energy by eliminating unnecessary lighting for all building types. Wait... so we do this twice rather than just co-ordinate to do it once?

Last year, commercial building participation totaled nearly 105 million square feet, representing more than $67,580 in savings on their electrical bill for that weekend alone! On an annual basis, it is expected that participating building owners and tenants who continue their efforts in reducing unnecessary lighting will save over $8 million in lower energy bills. Well, I am all for saving money on my electric bill... that's why I sit in the dark on my computer most of the time!

For more information please visit www.earthhourus.org Or watch there snazzy video bellow...

If the blue man group is in... I'm in!

Getting Louder with Steven Crowder: Illegal Aliens

The One Where the Writer Refuses to Use "Red" or "Blue"

According to the Buffalo News (Motto: "Bringing you yesterday's news tomorrow"), Democrats, "for the first time in anybody's memory," have a registration edge over Republicans in non-New York City New York state.

"Statewide and upstate numbers tell the story. While Democrats outnumber Republicans by about 2.5 million voters across the state today, they trailed by only about 800,000 when Alfonse M. D’Amato won the statewide Senate election in 1980.

Upstate—the area that excludes New York City, plus Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester and Rockland counties—counted 1,332,306 Republicans and 1,034,963 Democrats in 1980. Today upstate Democrats have vaulted ahead—1,524,697 to 1,492,309.

In Erie County [home of Buffalo] in 1980, Democrats outnumbered Republicans 241,427 to 171,656. Today Democrats hold an edge of 294,051 to 160,051."

As political territory (district, county, state, etc.) changes allegiances, voter registration is always the lagging indicator of the partisan shift. Voters who live in an area for many years mature and change their political outlook and change their voting habits accordingly. Many do not bother to update their voter registration.


This is only the latest piece of data to confirm what's been obvious for sometime. How else could Hillary Clinton win a Senate seat in a state she only visited when giving speeches at the United Nations?

As the tax/job base shrinks in Western and Upstate New York, the citizens grow more and more dependent on government for employment and financial aid. (According to the Census Bureau, Buffalo is the second-poorest large city in the United States.) Are these citizens the ones most likely to listen to a GOP message about limited government? Likely not.

A GOP restoration in New York will likely wait until a Democrat implosion, and maybe not even then.

PSA: Yuri's Night Houston Space Art Contest

Do you know any kids in grades K-8? (and not in a creepy way!) Do you live in the greater Houston area? (or better yet, do they?) There is a space art contest underway! (and we all love contests!)

Yuri's Night is an annual celebration of space, and
Houston has a 3-part Yuri's Night celebration. There is a Charity 5k Fun Run / Walk, a SpaceFest Education Event, and a Celebration to finish off the evening.

This year, Houston is celebrating Yuri's Night on April 4th instead of April 12 due to the MS-150 and Easter. (Gee, thanks guys for making us shift the day)

One aspect of the SpaceFest Education Event is The Future of Space Art Contest for kids in grades K-8.

The Future of Space Art Contest is designed to spark public interest in the future of space with artwork inspired by Human Spaceflight. Click here for Rules and Participant Entry Form. Prizes will be awarded to the top 2 artists in each category: K-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8. Artwork must be received no later than March 31, 2008.

If you have any questions, feel free to email us at YNHouston.Art@gmail.com

Other places for YN Info:

• Main YN website
• YN Art Contest Facebook page
• YN Facebook page
• 5K Fun Run Sign Up page
• 5K Fun Run Facebook page

Note: This PSA can be found in its unaltered version here, but not to worry, I just added commentary, I did not change anything significant to the announcement!

Getting Louder with Steven Crowder: Torture and Gitmo

PSA: Get Your Hoe Ready!

It's that time of year again folks. Daylight Savings Time. Thank the lobbying efforts of William Willett for why we do this.

It's spring time... so lets "Spring Forward." A la set your clocks forward for an hour in some vain attempt to rule over nature. History shows that for hundreds of years (even the Romans did it) people would shift some of that extra sun time from the early morning (when I'm still sleeping) to the evening (when I'm procrastinating).

Winston Churchill argued that DST enlarges "the opportunities for the pursuit of health and happiness among the millions of people who live in this country."

As some of you may remember, the Day the Clocks Moved Forward was on the first Sunday in April, but our U.S. Congress put that straight by moving it to this morning back in 2005.

What will Daylight Savings Time do for you as an individual? Other than making you late for something today or tomorrow, or gyp you of an hour of sleep... not to much.

Getting Louder with Steven Crowder: Guns, Guns, Guns!

Are We Doomed? Doutbful...

Ok, the economy is in the dumps, we might see an end to Black History Month, and North Korea may attack us, but is this really the end for the United States?

"If you're inclined to believe Igor Panarin, and the Kremlin wouldn't mind if you did, then President Barack Obama will order martial law this year, the United States will split into six rump-states before 2011, and Russia and China will become the backbones of a new world order." You just have to read this for yourself.

Seriously? I know that there are some crazies out there that will write anything, but this man is both an academic and a government official. Imagine if James Baker had predicted that the Soviet Union would collapse? Who would have believed that! Oh ... wait... hmm...

Well, at least the U.S. isn't using Barry Manilow as a weapon so at least we have that going for us. But not to worry... it seems that more scholars in Russia are worried that their own country will colapse first!

Happy Independence Day! - Texas Style

Texas Independence Day is the celebration of the adoption of the Texas Declaration of Independence on March 2, 1836. The Texas Declaration of Independence was created by the Convention of 1836, which took place at Washington-on-the-Brazos. Texas Independence Day is an official holiday in the State of Texas.

Rather than regergitate what other people have written... just check out Noah Coad's blog entry

The Not So Fair Copyright in Research Works Act

Yet another attempt for people who make money based on things being copyrighted trying to screw over the public. This comes from Peter Suber's blog:

"Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) re-introduced the Fair Copyright in Research Works Act. The Fair Copyright Act is to fair copyright what the Patriot Act was to patriotism. It would repeal the OA policy at the NIH and prevent similar OA policies at any federal agency. The premise of the bill, urged by the publishing lobby, is that the NIH policy somehow violates copyright law. The premise is false and cynical. If the NIH policy violated copyrights, or permitted the violation of copyrights, publishers wouldn't have to back this bill to amend US copyright law. Instead, they'd be in court where they'd already have a remedy. For a detailed analysis of the bill and point by point rebuttal to the publishing lobby's rhetoric, see my article from October 2008."

Needless to say that anything that leads to more copyright laws is a bad thing in my book... Start yelling at your congressman now or all the government reports created with your tax dollars will soon no longer be available for free online. (Not that you read them anyways... )