Life of Smiley

Soldier admits murdering Iraqi detainees The soldiers first told investigators they shot the detainees because they were attempting to flee -- a story they now say they made up -- and that commanders had given them orders to kill all military-age males on the mission. See, this is why we're never going to "win" a war on terrorism. Because you just can't do stuff like this. And yet, if you're determined to fight a conventional war against an unconventional enemy, it's probably the only thing you can do. An Unpopular Opinion?

It's been just over seven years since Shawn Fanning introduced the world to the Napster file sharing protocol, signaling the beginning of the end for the music industry's traditional brick-and-mortar business model. Now, after 18,000 lawsuits (?!) and undisclosed millions paid to lawyers, the record labels may finally be coming around to the realization that they have only two choices: join us or die. Ironically, this may also cause heartburn for the company that has been most successful in pioneering on-line music sales. Remember, the fundamental enabling technology for digital music sharing was not P2P networking, but MP3 encoding, which enables the compression of music files to about one tenth of their original size with no appreciable loss in sound quality. Apple's iTunes currently uses a proprietary AAC encoding format with built-in digital rights management (don't get me started ). For the record, I love iTunes and I buy music on a regular basis. As I type thi...

Hunt for planet same as ours Search is vital, says Hawking Today: “Is it entirely fanciful that human beings might find another home out there somewhere and, if so, should we be planning for it?” Prof Hawking: “The long-term survival of the human race is at risk as long as it is confined to a single planet. “Sooner or later disasters such as an asteroid collision or nuclear war could wipe us all all out. “But once we spread out into space and establish independent colonies our future should be safe." Good idea, Dr. H. Too bad Project Genesis won't be complete for another 280 years or so....

I've had it with people trying to assume the moral high ground by saying they approve of executions, but only if you're polite about it . As I've said before , I am philosophically opposed to state-sanctioned execution, even for a-holes like Saddam. But I'll tell you what: if I ever wind up being hanged, feel free to insult me first. Names will never hurt me, but that broken neck hurts like a bitch.

Lawmakers Keep Gay-Marriage Ban Proposal Alive I am totally in favor of gay marriage, or marriage equality. It just seems like a no-brainer to me, as I'm sure it does to most people who have grown up in today's climate of understanding and acceptance. I'm embarrassed and a little sad for anyone who is fighting to prevent this. But I have to pause at statements like this one: "The rights of minority groups should never be voted on by a majority of people. It's just not equality," said Ryan Brown, who supports gay marriage. Uh, Ryan? It may or may not be equality, but it is democracy. There is a vocal minority of Americans who would prefer unrestricted access to firearms. Is that a good idea? The good of the many outweighs the good of the few. Hopefully in time the majority can be persuaded that marriage equality is good for everyone.