BambisMusings

The chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben S. Bernanke told skeptical lawmakers on Thursday that the Fed should be put in charge of regulating the nation’s biggest financial institutions.

What a bunch of horse hockey!

In an interview after his speech, Chu was asked about Old Dominion Electric Cooperative, which announced last year it intended to build a $6 billion coal-fired power plant in Surry County. Several nearby residents and environmental groups oppose the project.

Chu said he favors delaying new coal plants until companies further reduce harmful emissions, such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, at existing plants. He said that in many cases, upgrading existing plants can be more cost-effective than building new ones.

Back in August, the BBC sent a quiet notice to Ofcom asking for permission to cripple the next generation of digital television broadcasts. The BBC had apparently been meeting “third party content owners” who had “made it clear” that they expected the corporation to find ways to violate the regulation that forbids it from encrypting free television, and it thought it had found a way.

Some background: licence-fee-paid television must be free to receive in the UK. Unlike cable and commercial satellite signals, free-to-air television is carried on public airwaves, which broadcasters are allowed to use for free. In return, broadcasters are expected to provide programming on those airwaves, for free. And not just free as in “free beer”, but also free as in “free speech.” The terms and conditions for free-to-air telly are “Do anything you want with this, provided it doesn’t violate copyright law.”