Today on the IT Facts Blog there was a statistic from In-Sat that claims there will be 50.8 million PC-TV tuners sold worldwide by 2011. Why is this wildly naive? It assumes that people will still be getting their television by way of terrestrial signals, satellite, or cable. I.e. good old fashioned wastes of bandwidth.

No, by 2011 anyone who has a fast enough connection will be getting their “TV programming” over the Internet. No “tuner” required. It is the ultimate delivery mechanism: infinite channels, a world-wide audience, your choice of on-demand or streaming, extremely low startup costs, and you don’t have to go through any regulatory hurdles to start broadcasting or receiving video. All it takes is either a PC or a video appliance (like the Neuros OSD) and you’re good to go.

Update: jer insightfully pointed out in the comments that Internet-based distribution also removes competition for timeslots. Internet-based video distribution drastically increases your potential audience, but not having to compete for timeslots has the potential to both increase ad revenue and might allow shows that “can’t compete” on regular TV to continue operating since they don’t have to worry about competition. Here’s some examples of (great) shows that might not have been canceled if they didn’t have to compete for timeslots:

• Family Guy (returned to the air after DVD sales went through the roof—oops!)

• The West Wing

  Wikipedia actually has a page talking about this phenomenon dubbed the, Friday night death slot

It is often said that “the market will sort it out.” What is often not said is that “this is not necessarily a good thing.” As an example of why this is, I’d like to point out Charlie Crist’s announcement yesterday regarding the critical water shortage in south Florida.

South Florida has undergone some of the most rapid growth (population and economic) in the U.S. over the past 25 years. The amount of baby boomers moving there is enormous and the local economy benefited greatly by way of those retiree’s retirement savings. Because of the demand for living space for these retirees, huge swaths of land were clear-cut and replaced with houses, condos, strip malls, grocery stores, and golf courses (“The only sport you can play when you’re 80”). Then there’s the resources all these people take up… Electricity, gasoline, food, and water.

If you were a gambling man 25 years ago, which of those resourced would you guess would be stressed first? Surely in FLORIDA there could never be a water shortage! Especially in the south where it rains nearly every day.

As it turns out water is going to be the first resource to go. Why? People are taking water out of the aquifer faster than it can replenish itself. Not because we’re a thirsty bunch, no. More than 50% of all water used by Floridians is used for landscape irrigation (specifically, lawns). But water is a renewable resource! Surely we can cut down our usage temporarily until the water shortage goes away? It isn’t that simple and here’s why: There’s too many libertarians and old farts in south Florida who don’t give a damn about the environment. Or to put it even more bluntly, people who will “let the market sort it out” and people who are “too old to care”—about the environment OR looking when they back out of their driveway.

There you have it. But don’t you worry, the market actually will sort it out! Even if irrigation bans are put into effect these people will still demand their lush, green lawns and golf courses. They won’t comply. Even if you have a mass-marketing campaign talking about the water crisis and that they should conserve, they won’t. Even if you double the cost of water, they’ll still pay and will still keep using too much water. Then the water supplies will have collapsed and they won’t have it anymore.

Wait a minute… How can a water supply “collapse”? Surely it will just renew itself—eventually—after it runs dry? Actually, it will never run dry—it will just be infiltrated by the ocean and will be salty and useless. Once that happens, it will take a decade for the aquifer to desalinate itself. It is one of those “market forces” that just suddenly appears with no impact on supply or demand until it is gone. A perfect example of how the “invisible hand of the market” can strangle.

How will the economy of southern Florida be effected by a sudden loss of its primary source of fresh water? Well, I’m sure it will sort itself out. Of course, there will be one hell of an economic (and environmental) crash first and it will be followed up by the kind of environmental regulations that give laissez-faire capitalists nightmares.

I just received a letter from Senator Mel Martinez that states that global warming is the result of changes in land use! …and that it is perfectly natural! How out of touch with reality is this guy? I mean, next he’ll be telling me that the earth was created in six days and that humans walked with dinosaurs!

Here’s the full text of the letter:

Thank you for contacting me regarding our nation’s initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. I appreciate hearing from you and would like to respond to your concerns.

According to the National Academy of Sciences, the recent warming trend of the Earth’s surface temperature can be attributed to the effect of natural occurring and human-generated gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. Yet, long term temperature data maintained by the National Aeronautical and Space Administration’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) suggests that changes in temperature might be more closely related to changes in land uses.

In addition, researchers have found that environmental awareness and initiatives are stronger when people enjoy a higher standard of living, which is in turn a result of steady economic growth.

When addressing the complex questions surrounding this issue, we need to make decisions grounded on sound science to ensure our nation’s continuous economic growth and the welfare of the most vulnerable in our communities is not put at risk. Developing a comprehensive climate change policy must include strategies to deal with the growing emissions and energy consumption of large industrial nations such as, India and China; where energy consumption is growing at more than four times the global rate.

25 years ago, China was largely energy self-sufficient. According to the International Energy Agency, demand for oil in China and India will double by 2030. We must continue to engage developing nations to ensure that scarce energy supplies are being used efficiently and that we support new technologies that promote cleaner-burning fuels.

On February 2002, President Bush unveiled a comprehensive strategy to reduce greenhouse gas intensity in our nation by 18 percent within a decade, thus preventing the release of 500 million metric tons of carbon-equivalent emissions to the atmosphere. The President’s budget for fiscal year 2006 includes nearly $3 billion for the development of environmentally sound technologies, and $200 million for climate-change-related international assistance programs.

On June 21, 2005, I joined a strong majority of my Senate colleagues in approving an amendment (S. Amdt. 817) to the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (H.R. 6) introduced by Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE). This amendment promotes the adoption of new technologies that reduce greenhouse gas intensity and the transfer of these technologies to developing countries. The amendment also offers credit-based financial assistance and investment protection for projects employing advanced climate technologies in our nation.

Recently, I was pleased to learn about the President’s initiative to achieve pollution reductions, energy security, and responding to climate change concerns by joining the New Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development. Another five countries have joined this initiative including Australia, Japan, South Korea, as well as developing nations such as China and India, in an effort to enhance cooperation to accelerate the development and deployment of cleaner, more efficient energy technologies.

Rest assured that I will keep your thoughts in mind should the full Senate address our nation’s environmental laws. As always, I appreciate hearing from you. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any additional comments or questions. In addition, for more information about issues and activities important to Florida, please sign up for my weekly newsletter.

Sincerely,

Mel Martinez
United States Senator
Next time he’s up for election (in four years?) I’m going to campaign like hell to get him out of office. It isn’t just that he’s stupid, it’s that he is actually harmful. To spread bullshit like this is absurd. He also fully supports the war in Iraq (and sending more troops/having it go on forever), lied about his campaign contributions to the tune of $500,000 dollars (corruption), is responsible for the Schiavo Memo, is against gay marriage (and appears rather homophobic in general), is against comprehensive sexual education, supports the No Child Left Behind program, wants to turn federal parks into hunting sports attractions, is against a single-payer system for healthcare, and is a general all-around trickle-down economics conservative Republican.

I just read a Slashdot article talking about a giant mud volcano that has erupted in Sidoarjo, Indonesia. WTF?!? I know! So here’s how it happened… An oil company was utilizing faith-based drilling (apparently) without…

1. Appropriate surveys by qualified geologists.
2. Practicing safe penetration (properly encased drill heads).

1. Brains.

   So they ended up drilling through a thick layer of clay that was sitting on top of superheated (and pressurized) mud. As we all know, Indonesia is within the “ring of fire” which encompasses most of the world’s volcanoes. This leads me to believe that someone wasn’t thinking clearly, or thinking at all when they came up with this plan.

   So mud is spewing out of the ground, big deal—right? Actually, ”…the volcano has spewed out up to 126,000 cubic metres of mud a day, flooding an area of more than 4 square kilometres.” More importantly,

   Some 10,000 people have been left homeless and 20 factories have closed. Another 200,000 homes could be at risk if the mudflow combines with the rainy season—which has just begun—and weakening dams to flood more land.

   So it is a big deal. Now the question remains, “What to do about it?” The Slashdot article talks about how they plan to drop giant concrete balls (it takes balls?) into the volcano in order to slow the flow of mud (images of the world’s largest projectile come to mind) but that wasn’t the first thing that they tried… What did they try beforehand? Here’s a hint:

   Army Sergeant Sumariyanto, who is in charge of granting permits for rituals, says firstly it was gruesome and many animals were running amok trying to escape their fate. It didn’t work either, he adds drily, saying that in some cases the mud got worse immediately after a sacrificial ceremony.

   Animal sacrifices! Specifically, “350 paranormals and psychics” were brought in to solve the problem in man’s latest attempt at mind-over-mud. “Cows, goats, chickens and even monkeys have been sacrificed live into its boiling hole.” Which begs the question, “What did that look like?” (Note the official uniform of Team Paranormal)

   
   

   The caption of this image from the Courier Mail says, “HOPEFUL … paranormals sacrifice a live cow into the boiling mud volcano.” Besides the fact that the image is of a calf and not a cow (nitpicking, I know), there is something even more ridiculous about this whole story:

   The government of Indonesia has an official military position that is in “charge of granting permits for rituals” and these animal sacrifices were officially licensed!

   Aside: I wonder where I can get one of those official psychic uniforms.

I was discussing the infamous teapot analogy a few days ago and decided I’d post the original:

“If I were to suggest that between the Earth and Mars there is a china teapot revolving about the sun in an elliptical orbit, nobody would be able to disprove my assertion provided I were careful to add that the teapot is too small to be revealed even by our most powerful telescopes. But if I were to go on to say that, since my assertion cannot be disproved, it is intolerable presumption on the part of human reason to doubt it, I should rightly be thought to be talking nonsense. If, however, the existence of such a teapot were affirmed in ancient books, taught as the sacred truth every Sunday, and instilled into the minds of children at school, hesitation to believe in its existence would become a mark of eccentricity and entitle the doubter to the attentions of the psychiatrist in an enlightened age or of the Inquisitor in an earlier time.”
– Bertrand Russell

Check out this (brief) story about a Polish student that traveled to the U.S. to study abroad:

“When I got out of the plane in Greensboro in the US state of North Carolina, I would never have expected my host family to welcome me at the airport, wielding a Bible, and saying, ‘Child, our Lord sent you half-way around the world to bring you to us.’ At that moment I just wanted to turn round and run back to the plane.

Things began to go wrong as soon as I arrived in my new home in Winston-Salem, where I was to spend my year abroad. For example, every Monday my host family would gather around the kitchen table to talk about sex. My host parents hadn’t had sex for the last 17 years because—so they told me—they were devoting their lives to God. They also wanted to know whether I drank alcohol. I admitted that I liked beer and wine. They told me I had the devil in my heart.”

I just came across a petition to Wal-Mart to stop selling the Bible (aka the “Holy Bible”). “What the heck?” Well, in case you were unaware, Wal-Mart has a long history of refusing to sell products that it deems offensive. It only seems logical that the Bible would fall under this policy.

Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t see anything wrong with selling the Bible. I’m vehemently against censorship. However, I’m also pro-consistency and I can’t stand hypocrisy, religious discrimination, and institutionalized favoritism. Especially from an organization that wields so much power in the U.S.

I signed the petition. Why? Because the Bible is probably the most offensive and hateful book Wal-Mart sells. Here’s an example from the petition (just for fun, you can follow along in your own Bible if you have one):

In Leviticus 24:16 the Bible demands: “Anyone who blasphemes the name of the LORD must be put to death. The entire assembly must stone him.” See also 2 Chron 15:12-13 and Deut 13:12-16. In the “New Testament” of the Bible, the man known as Jesus also condemns all unbelievers.

Surely such text is more offensive than John Stewart’s book, “America” which Wal-Mart recently banned from its shelves.

I just finished reading “a Sydney Morning Herald article” about the state of religion in Australia. Apparently it is on the decline:

“Increasing numbers of people are looking for the intellectual content in religion. If they find intellectual flaws in it, obviously they start to look at it as superstitious and ancient stories rather than being something of divine origin.”

That’s a quote in the article from Keysar Trad, a fellow at the Islamic Friendship Foundation. Here’s another interesting blurb, the money quote:

The study, The Spirit of Generation Y, found just 48 per cent of Generation Y, defined as those being born between 1976 and 1990, believed in a god.

52 percent? How did they pull that off? I’d be happy with 20 percent in the U.S., but we seem to be hovering around 9.

I was curious about other major dissimilarities between the U.S. and Australia so I had a look at NationMaster. Here’s some of the more interesting statistics:

• Australia has twice as many plastic surgery procedures per captia
• The U.S. spends twice as much on healthcare
• The U.S. teenage pregnancy rate per capita is more than twice as high as Australia
• Australia is 6% happier than the U.S.
• Australia is #1 in charity group volunteers at 18% of the population. The U.S. is #2 with 15%
• Australia is #1 in educational group volunteers at 25% (wow). The U.S. is #2 at 16%
• The U.S. is #1 in political party involvement (volunteer) at 12%. Dwarfing Australia which is #6 at 3%
• The U.S. has more people who think their neighbors are emotionally unstable: 47% VS 38%
• The U.S. has way more cable TV subscribers
• U.S. citizens watch an average of 6 more hours of television per week

• The U.S. divorce rate is almost double that of Australia

  Note: It is impossible to know whether these are symptoms, causes, or absolutely meaningless =). However, I suspect elevated television viewing is a large factor.

Just saw this in my feeds today…

Many people realized early on that George W. Bush’s so-called faith-based initiative suffered from two serious flaws. First, it would likely violate the Constitution. Second, it would create a means for the Republican Party to reward Christian Right supporters – churches and non-denomination organizations – with huge government contracts and monetary awards. Both have come true.

Apparently “true believers” thought that giving government funding to faith-based groups would guarantee there would be no corruption. So much for that idea.

I’ll go even further and suggest that the President’s budget shouldn’t be funding any groups or charities. Our budget deficit is big enough as it is! Why are we donating money we don’t have? It is very irrational to donate borrowed dollars.

I have a few quotes from my collection I think are extremely relevant to this topic:

• “Absolute faith corrupts as absolutely as absolute power.” -Eric Hoffer
• “The Establishment Clause prohibits government from making adherence to a religion relevant in any way to a persons standing in the political community. Government can run afoul of that prohibition in two principal ways. . . . . The second and more direct infringement is government endorsement or disapproval of religion. Endorsement sends a message to nonadherents that they are outsiders, not full members of the political community, and an accompanying message to adherents that they are insiders, favored members of the political community.” Justice O’Connor
• “Political freedom cannot exist in any land where religion controls the state, and religious freedom cannot exist in any land where the state controls religion.” -Samuel James Ervin

• “A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion. Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider god-fearing and pious. On the other hand, they do less easily move against him, believing that he has the gods on his side.” -Aristotle (over 2000 years ago! When will we learn?)

This is so great, I just had to point it out. Here’s a sample of some questions you should ask entertainment industry representatives next time you get the chance…

Music industry questions:

2. The RIAA has sued over 20,000 music fans for file sharing, who have on average paid a $3,750 settlement. That’s over $75,000,000. Has any money collected from your lawsuits gone to pay actual artists? Where’s all that money going?

3. The RIAA has sued over 20,000 music fans for file sharing. Recently, an RIAA representative reportedly suggested that “students drop out of college or go to community college in order to be able to afford [P2P lawsuit] settlements.” Do you stand by this advice? Is this really good advice for our children’s futures?

Movie industry questions:

5. In several lawsuits, the MPAA has repeatedly said that it’s illegal to make a back-up of a DVD that I purchased. Why is this illegal?

8. If the MPAA-backed “broadcast flag” bill passes, I won’t be able to move recorded TV content digitally to my current video iPod. Why should TV studios get to take away my ability to lawfully time- and space-shift?

Be sure to check out the rest of the questions.