LimeWire, Finally Shut Down...

After a four year long legal battle with a federal judge in New York, LimeWire, a file trading database, is forced to disable it's software. The company has most commonly been used for illegally sharing music, with billions of dollars in losses for the music industry. Sharing music illegally is common knowledge amongst teenagers and young adults. It is hard to find someone who has not used an illegal service for free music. Here is an excerpt from the New York Times article that reported on what happened on Tuesday:

 Although LimeWire, the file-sharing service that allows users to swap music that is a major descendant of Napster, is on the verge of vanishing in its current form, the company will continue negotiations with the major music companies about a licensing deal to offer music legally for sale with a subscription service.

LimeWire will no longer allow illegal downloading and follow the path of fellow companies such as Napster. Clearly, this path of legality is the righteous one. The losses the music industry has had are astronomical in size. However, the weight put on the company for the money lost seems exorbitant because it is mostly the fault of internet users who took absolute advantage of the database. If LimeWire did not exist, there would, and are, hundreds of other ways to get illegal music on the internet. I am not sure how this legal hit will affect the company in the long run, but in the short run they are surely going to go through some rough times.

Mental Health Break

Toilet Paper Is Now Greener Than Ever Thought Possable

MSNBC reports that there is a new green breakthrough that might catch on. Toilet paper is not being marketed without the brown cardboard roll inside of it. Though on a small scale, this will most likely save the use of much paper which does not need to be used.



If you think about it, the roll inside toilet paper is completely unnecessary. So what if the paper does not come off the roll as neatly? It is all going to be used in the same fashion. On a serious note, this minor breakthrough is just one step towards cleaning up our act and living our lives with the most efficiency.

Here is a video about our plastic waste from VBSTV, an independent internet news site. Even if you do not believe in global climate change / global warming, this is a problem that no one can deny.

Africa: The Common Misperceptions

In the past few years I have, as well as many others I know, thought of Africa as a backwards country. Personally, I receive this idea most likely by viewing discovery channel or the history channel specials on Africa. These shows need interesting subject matter so they focus on primitive African tribes or the vast ranges of land inhabited by wild animals. Thomas Friedman's book Hot, Flat, and Crowded talks about the problem of Americans being "as dumb as we wanna be". Many people in America do not know much about Africa and just take the one visual of the country displayed in media as a main source. This makes people generalize about Africa. This is an excerpt from an article by CNN correspondent Robyn Curnow.

     It was Chris Karanja, who is corporate communications manager from Kenya Airways. He phoned to point out that one of the recent interviewees on Marketplace Africa misrepresented the airline industry in Africa. The guest said that you couldn’t fly across Africa from west to east or east to west and that if you wanted to travel across Africa you would have to fly to Europe and back.
     Now, this was a real problem some time ago but he says Kenya Airways now operates many flights across the continent. Besides his commercial interest in pointing out the guest’s error, he also stressed that it made Africa seem backward.
     Now, the perception that Africa is 'backward' is something that irritates and worries many businesspeople on the continent, particularly those working for world-class companies or in highly developed industries.

The common misconceptions of Africa are definitely not helping them. The African marketplace is not one to look down upon. Africa may one day pull itself out of negative perceptions and dampen the worries of industries invested in the country. This picture is proof that Africa is now more modern than ever before.

Johannesburg Skyline

White House Scramble

As election day closes in (8 days until election) the white house is becoming increasingly panicky. Obama has been going around the country to endorse candidates and promote his party. Newsweek reports:

Despite the White House’s repeated insistence that it is in control, the president's public schedule suggests an administration in panic mode. Late last week Obama did a campaign blitz through five states—Oregon, Washington, California, Nevada, and Minnesota—to endorse candidates and appear at fundraisers.

The administration is trying to motivate voters more than ever, relaying that the democrats will continue to have control. the republicans on the other hand continue to appear serious and enthusiastic.

Current polling shows the GOP poised to pick up as many as 80 new seats in the House of Representatives (it would need only 39 to win control of the chamber) and up to eight Senate seats.

The amount of urgency the administration has appears serious and capable of continuing the current trend of control. We will just have to wait and see as the number of days until election day decreases even more.

Mental Health Break

The recession hit millions hard in 2008, but it also hit rich people. Some say they feel left out and forgotten. People must not forget about the rich.

"It's just not fair," said the 49-year-old real estate developer and grandson of oil baron Duncan Chandler. "Everyone is worrying about an uncertain future and coming together to express their outrage, and I don't get to be a part of it."
Staring out at the ornate garden where workers were installing a large marble fountain, Chandler sighed and added, "It's like I don't even exist."

Read more about this catastrophe at The Onion.

Lagalizing Pot a Good Stimulus Bill?

Over 60,000 arrests related to marijuana? Not only would the legalization of pot help our destroyed economy, but it would save money by saving time and space. The decriminalization of marijuana would simply be a great push for the state of California.
The legalization reminds me of the prohibition, where all alcohols were illegal by federal law. Well, after legalized again, there was a decrease in underground markets and crime. In addition, the legalization of alcohol also increased taxes contributed to the U.S. government. I have no doubt that the legalization or decriminalization of pot would follow on the same path as prohibition in the early twentieth century.

Wal-Mart doing some good.

Wal-mart, a massive supermarket chain with over 2 million employees that rivals some countries, is going to double the percentage of local produce. The "local" refers to any produce grown in the state, this is quite general, but it would help smaller economies and farmers. The NY Times article by Stephanie Clifford says:

Wal-Mart Stores announced a program on Thursday that focuses on sustainable agriculture among its suppliers as it tries to reduce its overall environmental impact.
The program is intended to put more locally grown food in Wal-Mart stores in the United States, invest in training and infrastructure for small and medium-size farmers, particularly in emerging markets, and begin to measure how efficiently large suppliers grow and get their produce into stores.

  This program would help local economies and reduce pollution from transportation. This new plan, which should be enacted by 2015, will be a significant step towards a greener America.

U.S trade deficit is not really looking up...

New York Times reports that the trade deficit between the U.S. and China is still widening. The capitalistic nature of America is pushing American business to outsource and to buy products from China because of the lower prices of labor.

"The trade deficit grew to $46.3 billion, up from a revised $42.6 billion in July and exceeding forecasts for a gap of around $44 billion. The deficit with China accounted for $28 billion of the August shortfall, up from $25.9 billion the month before.
The widening gap with China comes amid rising concerns in Washington about China’s trade dominance and its effect on the global economic recovery. The Obama administration and some lawmakers are pressing China to allow its currency to appreciate more quickly, hoping it will temper Chinese exports by making them more expensive"

The article continues with:

“The only way this works in reducing the U.S. trade deficit is if U.S. consumers shift their consumption of Chinese goods to U.S.-produced goods,” said Dan Greenhaus, the chief economic strategist for Miller Tabak & Company. “You need to increase the appeal of U.S.-based goods.”

Even the thought of making U.S. based goods more appealing is difficult to conjure. Looking around my house, I bet three fourths have a label saying "made in China". Simply, American goods are more expensive in general and may by worse than their Chinese counterparts. One classic example is the automobile industry where Ford is having a horrible time while companies like Toyota are thriving in relation. The better reliability and price do drive home the unfortunate idea that America is not the best at everything.

Political Philosophy

The Quiz

The following are your scores. They are based on a gradual range of 0 to 12. For instance, a Conservative/Progressive score of 3 and 0 will both yield a result of social conservative, yet 0 would be an extreme conservative and 3 a moderate conservative

Conservative/Progressive score: 3
You are a social conservative. You believe in traditional values, and care first and foremost about your country, your family, and your religion. You dislike the agenda of the left because you see them as trying to destroy these things.

Capitalist Purist/Social Capitalist score: 5
You are a Moderate Capitalist. You support an economy that is by and large a free market, but has public programs to help people who can't help themselves or need a little help. Pretty much you believe in the American economy how it currently is.

Libertarian/Authoritarian score: 3
You are libertarian. You think that the government is making way too many unnecessary laws that are taking away our innate rights. You believe that the government's job is primarily to protect people from harming other people, but after that they should mind their own business, and if we give the government too much power in controlling our lives, it can lead to fascism.

Pacifist/Militarist score: 2
You're a Pacifist. You are angered that the United States thinks it should dominate the world through its military force. You think that the only time war is necessary is when we are in direct danger of being attacked. You also believe the US spends way too much of its money on defense, as we can practically cut it in half and still easily defend ourselves, and use that money to fix all our economic problems.

Overall, you would most likely fit into the category of Republican