The Modern Age

I feel like this service is extremely important in the world of Web 2.0.

Free Education on the Internet

The fact that such a service is available tickles me to my very core. Charging people to take a hold of their own education is the goal of the education system as a whole, I think. Or at least it should be. Unfortunately, such a simple mission is one of the hardest to achieve.

The ready access of cheap (free!) information available for everyone to use as needed, to update and to modify and to contribute their own expertise is one of the greatest contributions folks have made for the advancement of humanity. And it is a practice that goes back to the dawn of humans. From people simply asking how to hunt or make bread, to libraries to the internet the availability of information seems to be one of the most important aspects of a free society.

Anyway, I think it's cool.

Also, this Scientist, Richard Lindzen, almost makes an interesting point about Global Warming here. And then he's full of shit. There might not be an ideal temperature for the planet, but there is most certainly an ideal temperature for humans.

Also, people have been complaining about the upcoming regulations that will be made on Carbon Dioxide as a greenhouse gas. Arguing that since it is a naturally occurring substance, one that we ourselves release with every exhalation, it is illogical to regulate it. On that ground, it would be just as illogical to regulate marijuana, food or any just about any other drug. The fact of the matter is that there are any number of "naturally occurring" chemicals, compounds and whatnot that we produce in unnaturally large quantities. Carbon Dioxide is just one of them. Plutonium is another. I don't think it's a bad idea to regulate these chemicals. They're dangerous.

And people running around with free reign on releasing these chemicals amplify that danger to a great degree.