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I am so zeitgeisty I frighten myself. After a shamefully long pause, I just mentioned the “brilliant and exquisite” Virginia Postrel the other day. The “brilliant” part has always been self-evident, but now the “exquisite” part is on more prominent display than ever. Go vote for which of her three …

Reuters reports: Reducing the size of the on-off switch in the transistor, known in the industry as gate length, boosts chip performance and speed, and lowers manufacturing cost and power consumption, IBM said. The proof-of-concept transistor measures six nanometers — about 20,000 times smaller than the width of a single …

Copyright scholar Neal Netanel has written a thought-provoking paper on compulsory licenses and P2P. He views P2P networks as valuable in themselves, but threatened by copyright law, the ultimate purpose of which is to make information available to the public. For the purpose of compensating artists AND promoting use of …

N.Z. Bear’s Weblog Action Center has chosen a not just worthwhile, but indeed inspiring Cause of the Week: the protesting students of Iran. Let’s make sure they don’t end up under tanks like the Chinese students of 13 years ago. Go to the site and express your public support for …

AP reports that Australia’s highest court granted an Australian businessman the right to sue for defamation in Australia over an article published in the United States but posted on the Internet: Analysts believe the ruling against international news service Dow Jones & Co. – believed to be the first by …

Equivocators, dissemblers, Western self-loathers, self-styled sophisticates, David Warren writes very loudly for all to hear: If the United States and allies cannot eliminate so obvious a malefactor as Saddam, the “war on terror” is over, and we lost. The future of state-sponsored terrorism is secure, the proliferation of weapons of …

Steven Landsburg writes in Slate on the economics of spanking, without normative comment: Spanking, by contrast, is an equal-opportunity punishment; it works equally well whether you’re rich or poor. So simple economics suggests that the very poor, with fewer alternatives available, should spank their kids more – and they do. …

Our old bloggy pal Justin Sodano is back with thoughts on his new marriage, a condition that strikes one in two Americans: Tell us a little about your wedding ceremony. Our wedding was nearly perfect, as was the honeymoon (one week at the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas, highly recommended). …

Bruce Springsteen to be scrutinized in Rome according to Launch: Bruce Springsteen Day will be held in Rome, on Tuesday (December 10) at the Centro Studi Americani (Center for American Studies). [that would be the place for it] Scheduled events include seminars and speakers on the rock icon’s songs, a …

This could hold down the online sales profits: A flaw in popular shopping cart software allows customers to modify the price of items that they purchase, a security firm has warned. ShopFactory, from 3D3.com in Australia, stores prices in cookies on the customer browser, and customers can change those prices …