Pay & Sit Park Bench Is A Libertarian Dream

Whenever we write about investing in bike lanes or sharing the road, drive-by commenters invariably complain that they are paying road taxes and they will share the road when cyclists and pedestrians contribute. Let's ignore the fact that cyclists and pedestrians subsidize drivers since road taxes only cover a small portion of the cost of maintaining our highways and roads, and suggest that in these tough times, everyone has to share the load. After all, any Tea Partier would tell you that nothing in the Constitution says that it is the job of the government to, say, provide a pedestrian with a place to sit.

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U.S. Court Rules Consumers Never Have the Right to Copy DVD Movies

Making one copy is stealing one copy, says MPAA

This week a landmark verdict was handed down to RealNetworks with deep implications for fair use and personal property in America. The ruling wasn't about filesharing, piracy, or malicious computer use. Rather, it was fight over whether users should be able to make copies of digital content that they legal own. And in a precedent-setting decision, the media companies beat a small software vendor and fair use advocates and laid down an imposing decision -- copying DVDs that you own is illegal.

The suit filed against RealNetworks centered around the company's RealDVD software, which ripped through protection technology to allow users to make digital copies of their legally-owned content. RealNetworks had plans to release a DVD drive/software bundle called Facet, which would make the process even quicker and easier.

The company's business model, though, was put to the legal test. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) filed suit against the company over alleged violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and breach of contract in a lawsuit filed last fall. The MPAA's assertion was simple -- consumers do not have the right to copy DVD movies -- ever.

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Some Secret Settings on Your Windows

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Is this woman really 157 years old?

This photograph taken on June 1, 2010 shows Turinah, the Indonesian woman believed to be 157-years-old, chopping onions at home in a village in South Sumatra.

Officials disccovered the woman during a national census and they believe Turinah's claim to have been born in 1853. Which means she was born before the World Wars, much before the aeroplane, telephone, cars, televison were invented.

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