The Net Neutrality Coup

WSJ: The campaign to regulate the Internet was funded by a who's who of left-liberal foundations.

"The Federal Communications Commission's new "net neutrality" rules, passed on a partisan 3-2 vote yesterday, represent a huge win for a slick lobbying campaign run by liberal activist groups and foundations. The losers are likely to be consumers who will see innovation and investment chilled by regulations that treat the Internet like a public utility."

The FCC Should Not Regulate the Internet

CATO: "A premise of net neutrality regulation—and much other regulation—is that consumers can’t be relied on to defend their own interests. Taking that premise, which I don’t, it follows that regulators must step in. But that syllogism skips over an additional premise: that regulators can do a better job."

via Instapundit.

Wednesday stuff

Klingon Christmas Carol.

The Platypus: Nature’s "Swiss Army Knife"

How Mariah Carey makes goats produce more milk.

Why the other line likely is moving faster.

Top Ten Weirdest New Animals of 2010.

A Serbian man reportedly has become a hero in Egypt by accidentally killing a shark with his butt while drunk.  Anatomically related: Buttock-cupping: A New Form Of Alternative Medicine.

Snow Crystals Under a Microscope.

Laurel and Hardy meet Santana.

Strange Foreign Pick Up Lines.

The camel beauty contest.

Roadrunner vs. Coyote: In Live Action!

2004 Dave Barry column: Who named these guys wise men?

“Musical chills” explained.

Flowchart: Explain the Internet to a 19th Century Street Urchin.

Urinal-Based Gaming Interface.

Your Apps Are Watching You

WSJ: iPhone and Android apps are breaching the privacy of smartphone users.

"An examination of 101 popular smartphone "apps"—games and other software applications for iPhone and Android phones—showed that 56 transmitted the phone's unique device ID to other companies without users' awareness or consent. Forty-seven apps transmitted the phone's location in some way. Five sent age, gender and other personal details to outsiders."

Asian Megacities, Free and Unfree

At City Journal: one finds the most striking evidence of how politics shapes the new Asian megalopolises in the differences between Seoul, South Korea’s capital, and China’s leading cities. After all, the Korean and Chinese cultures are similar. Both are founded on the hierarchical Confucian philosophy; both have been influenced by Buddhism. But Seoul is democratic, and the political debates of an open society have profoundly influenced its development. China’s cities, by contrast, reflect the autocratic and corrupt rule of the Communist Party.