Breakin' the Law, Breakin' the Law

Everybody believes what they will, and things that are taken as fact by some are taken as theory or pure conjecture by others. I myself don't believe plenty of things that others take for fact. Still, there are certain things most people don't argue on, like the laws of physics. Consider this example:

Would you argue with someone if they told you they could throw something up in the air and it wouldn't come down?

There are certain assumptions we have been making about the world around us for a very long time. Among the foremost assumptions we have had are the Laws of Thermodynamics:

The First Law states that energy cannot be created or destroyed. It just changes forms, so the universe is a closed system.

The Second Law states that putting energy into a system will always result in a loss in potential output, i.e., that no system can be 100% efficient.

Well, somebody would like us to disbelieve these laws. Steorn, an Irish technology company, claims to have invented a method of creating free energy with no emissions. According to their website, this technology is "based on the interaction of magnetic fields and allows the production of clean, free and constant energy." They go a step further and state that this technology can be applied to pretty much any energy-consuming device, from cellular phones to cars.

So, debunking a couple of well-established laws of physics seems like either a huge boast or an enormous hoax. Or maybe a PR ploy designed to take advantage of the world's current oil shortage/renewable energy hysteria. Steorn is unfazed by public perception, though, and issued an ad in The Economist this week that will "attract the attention of the world’s leading scientists working in the field of experimental physics. From all the scientists who accept Steorn’s challenge, twelve will be invited to take part in a rigorous testing exercise to prove that Steorn’s technology creates free energy." Even though I wonder about the validity of the statement that says the company itself will pick who gets to evaluate their new technology, this is still a ballsy move, and implies that they really are onto something.

Assuming this is the real thing, Steorn plans to license the rights to its technology to energy companies worldwide, and allow royalty-free licensure for water and rural electrification projects in Third World countries.

Let me say that I'm not a bandwagon-rider in any way. I've been talking ceaselessly about renewable energy sources since I was a kid, and so I'm crossing my fingers and hoping this might be more than a PR hoax. I wouldn't mind having some of my assumptions about physics shaken a little if we can start using our abundant resources that don't kill the planet. Let's hope it's the beginning of a new, greener, world for all of us.

What's Your Freedom Worth?

We all see those MasterCard commercials that tell us those little moments in life are truly "Priceless." But the state of Illinois doesn't think so. They think all those little moments we can't replace are worth a grand total of (drum roll, please)...

$6000 a year.

According to the Chicago Tribune yesterday, Michael Evans was compensated a grand total of $162,000 for the 27 years he was imprisoned, before being exonerated by DNA evidence in 2003. He had been arrested at 17, and thus spent every day of his adult life in prison for rape and murder. His conviction rested largely on the questionable credibility of one witness' testimony. In 2003, after DNA evidence showed someone else had sexually assaulted the victim, he was released...and that's it. No apology. No help with work, education, health benefits, nothing. It actually took him two years of fighting and a governor's pardon just to get the $6000 a year that his award amounts to. Gee, I hope he has to file income taxes on it, because that yearly amount is exempt! Finally he gets to screw the state back a little. Last Tuesday he lost a $60 Million civil suit against ten former Chicago police officers he accused of conspiring to manipulate evidence and coerce an eyewitness in his criminal trial. Wouldn't somebody make more than $6000 a year working in a fast-food joint? I'm pretty sure I made almost that much in a summer during college in a warehouse...it's nice to know that Illinois is so apologetic and interested in righting its wrongs.

Let's look at some statistics, which the article was kind enough to provide. According to California's Life After Exoneration Project,:

More than 90 percent of the people who have been released after a false conviction have lost all their assets, including cars, savings and homes.

Of those who land a job, 43 percent earn less than they did prior to imprisonment, 39 percent find work at similar pay, and only 17 percent are paid more than they did before prison.

Twenty-one states, the District of Columbia and the federal government have laws governing compensation. Many states require that the person get a pardon, which can be difficult to obtain, or proof of innocence, which can be nearly impossible in cases that don't involve DNA evidence.

Other states are far kinder on compensation than Illinois, too.

Massachusetts has a cap on the reimbursement at $500,000, but also offers social services and education.

New Jersey pays $20,000 for each year spent in prison or twice the income made in the year before incarceration, whichever is greater.

Pennsylvania does pretty well; it pays $50,000 for each year spent on Death Row. The state also provides health care coverage for up to 10 years after release. It also compensates for services to help reintegrate into the work world.

Californians, though, have it the best. California pays $100 for each day spent behind bars. Federal prisoners are entitled to $50,000 a year; $100,000 for each year on Death Row.

DNA evidence is really changing the way some of these things work now. I saw a statistic somewhere recently that said as many as 25% of the people we put to death in the US before DNA testing could have been innocent of their crimes. That's really scary, both because it means we've killed innocent people and because it means the guilty could still be out there.

I'm all for the idea of punishment fitting the crime, so in some cases I do support the death penalty. But it sure makes you think twice about wanting to flip the switch, doesn't it?

Wait, HE said THIS?

I don't like to quote Ronnie Ray that often, but I came across something interesting today, and thought I'd share it. It seems at once surprisingly prophetic and incredibly ironic that this was said by Ronald Reagan, the guy who made ketchup a vegetable in school lunches, who supported George H.W. Bush's election, and whose party supported Our President's election...twice. Anyway, here goes:

"Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves."

Geez, I've never said it that well myself.

A Couple of Items of Note

Both of these come to us courtesy of the good folks at Reuters:

A Japanese man was arrested this week after making 37,760 silent calls to directory inquiries because he "wanted to listen to the 'kind' voices of female telephone operators." On its website, the daily paper Mainichi Shimbun says the 44-year old has plead guilty to obstructing the operations of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation...it turns out he made up to 905 calls a day from his mobile phone. He says, "When I made a complaint call once, the operator dealt with it very kindly, so I wanted to hear these women's voices."
Police allege that he caused psychological distress to more than 100 telephone operators between March and July of this year.

The part I don't get is, we're talking about the phone company. They know who's calling, because they see your number when you call. Caller ID isn't a new thing at all; it's just new to the masses. Companies have had it for years, particularly the phone company. You'd think they'd have blocked his number, or gone after him a little sooner, wouldn't you? Over 900 calls a day also makes me think this guy may have other problems besides an obsession with telephone operators...like maybe unemployment.

Okay, story two: A retiree just made history in Arizona in one of the bigger seizures border police have seen. An 81-year old man was arrested on Tuesday while crossing from Mexico into Nogales, Arizona with 80 kilos of cocaine stuffed into his car. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Brian Levin said, "It is pretty much the limit of what I have seen. I don't remember encountering someone quite this old trying to smuggle drugs into this country ... and he was driving an unusually large amount of cocaine." The man is a resident of Nogales, and this place is a big entry point into the U.S. for many Mexican drug cartels. Levin said border police rarely see loads of more than 70 to 80 pounds (32 to 36 kg) of cocaine in passenger cars.

Well, if we've got to pay old folks to smuggle drugs into the country, obviously there's a problem. Maybe we should think of another way to handle them, instead of having to deal with smugglers. Then we might make money off of them, instead of having to pay police to pretend they can stop the flow...