Blackmoor Vituperative

This is cool. HP will send you a postage-paid envelope to send back empty inkjet and laserjet cartridges to be recycled.

it’s disheartening — actually downright disgusting — that the Mayor, the City Council and the Attorney General of our nation’s capital would flagrantly flout a constitutional decision from the highest court in the land — not to mention bragging about it to the media. But that’s exactly what happened earlier this week.

On Tuesday, the D.C. City Council unanimously enacted new firearms restrictions on an emergency basis in response to the Supreme Court’s decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, No. 07-290.

(From D.C. Disses Supremes on Gun Law, CFIF.org)

Disgusting is a good word for it. In a sane world, enacting a law or regulation in violation of the US Constitution would be a felony.

Please contact your representative and urge him or her to support the repeal of the D.C. gun ban and to sign the Souder discharge petition. You can visit the Gun Owners Legislative Action Center at http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm to send your reps a message.

The best news, for me, is that a Knights Of The Old Republic MMO is on the way.

Also, I dig Cory Doctorow.

I do not dig the death of the Public Domain. I thought Europeans were smarter than this. Or at least, less under the thumb of the media robber barons.

The head of the Federal Communications Commission said Thursday he will recommend that the nation’s largest cable company be punished for violating agency principles that guarantee customers open access to the Internet.

[…]

“The commission has adopted a set of principles that protects consumers access to the Internet,” FCC Chairman Kevin Martin told The Associated Press late Thursday. “We found that Comcast’s actions in this instance violated our principles.”

Martin said Comcast has “arbitrarily” blocked Internet access, regardless of the level of traffic, and failed to disclose to consumers that it was doing so.

(from FCC chief says Comcast violated Internet rules, Yahoo! Finance)

That is remarkable. I am not used to seeing the FCC as the good guys.

The 5 real reasons to avoid iPhone 3G

• iPhone completely blocks free software. Developers must pay a tax to Apple, who becomes the sole authority over what can and can’t be on everyone’s phones.
• iPhone endorses and supports Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) technology.
• iPhone exposes your whereabouts and provides ways for others to track you without your knowledge.
• iPhone won’t play patent- and DRM-free formats like Ogg Vorbis and Theora.
• iPhone is not the only option. There are better alternatives on the horizon that respect your freedom, don’t spy on you, play free media formats, and let you use free software — like the FreeRunner ().

We can trade our freedom and our money to get something flashy on the surface, or we can spend a little more money, keep our freedom, and support a better kind of business. If we want businesses to be ethical, we have to reward the ones that are. By not enriching companies that want to take away our freedom and by rewarding those that respect us, we will be helping to bring about a better future.

In solidarity,

John, Josh, Matt, and Peter

(from Defective By Design)

A very sad article about plastic.