It is an idea that has been successful in London, and is now being whispered in the ears of City Hall officials after months of behind-the-scenes work by the Partnership for New York City, the city's major business association: congestion pricing.

This is on the table in SF as well. Apparently, its been rather successful in London.

Driving Around Manhattan, You Pay, Under One Traffic Idea

The nation's major cellular phone carriers said yesterday that they had adopted a content rating system for video, music, pictures and games that they sell to cellphone users - a development that could pave the way for them to begin selling pornography and sex-oriented content on mobile devices.

Carriers Adopt Content Rating for Cellphones

Bridget Dehl shushed her 21-month-old son, Gavin, then clapped a hand over his mouth to squelch his tiny screams amid the Sunday brunch bustle. When Gavin kept yelping "yeah, yeah, yeah," Ms. Dehl whisked him from his highchair and out the door.

Right past the sign warning the cafe's customers that "children of all ages have to behave and use their indoor voices when coming to A Taste of Heaven," and right into a nasty spat roiling the stroller set in Chicago's changing Andersonville neighborhood.

As far as I'm concerned, there's only one side to this issue. It is completely inconsiderate to take small children that can't be quiet, sit still, etc, into an adult establishment like a coffee shop where they proceed to irritate the piss out of everyone else there.

At Center of a Clash, Rowdy Children in Coffee Shops

Polio was pronounced dead in the Western Hemisphere years ago, after one of the most successful public health campaigns in history. But now it is stealing through a tiny Amish community here in central Minnesota, spreading from an 8-month-old girl to four children on two neighboring farms.

Do you have the right to risk creating a major public health problem by not being vaccinated against preventable disease? Do you have the right to make that decision for your children?

Five Cases of Polio in Amish Group Raise New Fears

In Panama, Mr. Bush appeared merry as he toured the Miraflores Locks of the Panama Canal and then threw pitches to Einar Diaz, a catcher for the St. Louis Cardinals. Mr. Diaz was part of a small crowd of Panamanian baseball greats, including Mariano Rivera of the New Yankees, assembled with junior baseball teams on a local diamond to meet the president.

Mr. Bush, a former managing partner of the Texas Rangers, threw two pitches to Mr. Diaz. The first was a bit inside and the second was high, but both had some pop, according to the assessment of a small pool of reporters traveling with Mr. Bush.

Great. Just great.

Bush Endorses Widening of Panama Canal in Speech

Mark's lapse into the third person - "He's ... on the outside, looking in" - helped me realize what had disturbed me about him from the start.

He seemed fake, as if playing a role.
...
Everything about him, down to his carefully chosen, probably pricey, "worn out" clothing felt scripted.

It is a kind of identity disorder I believe has its roots in a society that has drifted free from reality and is creating adolescents (and, I would venture, people of many ages) who are at most participant-observers in their own lives, with little genuine emotion - like actors playing themselves.

Speaking in the Third Person, Removed From Reality

In a step toward reconciliation on the divided Korean Peninsula, North and South Korea agreed today to compete as a single nation for the first time at the 2006 Asian Games and at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, a South Korean Olympic official said.

This is positive, if superficial.

The endgame for Korea is reunification, just like Germany. Sooner or later, the DPRK regime is going to fold. Just get it over with, already!

Two Koreas to Compete as Single Nation at Olympics

Welcome to CopyrightWatch.ca, Canada's home for common sense and the straight goods on digital copyright law. This blog is supported by a team of academics, public interest advocates, and creators concerned that copyright serve the interests of ordinary Canadians.

Linked from Lessig's blog.

CopyrightWatch.ca

Iran's new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, told a group of students at an anti-Israel event on Wednesday that Israel "must be wiped off the map" and that attacks by Palestinians would destroy it, the ISNA news agency reported.

Iran's New President Says Israel 'Must Be Wiped Off the Map'

The price of gold is higher than it has been in 17 years - pushing $500 an ounce. But much of the gold left to be mined is microscopic and is being wrung from the earth at enormous environmental cost, often in some of the poorest corners of the world.

And unlike past gold manias, from the time of the pharoahs to the forty-niners, this one has little to do with girding empires, economies or currencies. It is almost all about the soaring demand for jewelry, which consumes 80 percent or more of the gold mined today.

The extravagance of the moment is provoking a storm among environmental groups and communities near the mines, and forcing even some at Tiffany & Company and the world's largest mining companies to confront uncomfortable questions about the real costs of mining gold.

Not just diamonds.

Behind Gold's Glitter: Torn Lands and Pointed Questions