Researchers demo self-replicating molecular machines. JohnnyVon project described in an article in Artificial Life via Mike Martin, NewsFactor Network via Roland Piquepaille. Cool.

Twenty-two percent of children in the United States live in poverty.

The top 20% income bracket in the US makes 49.6% of the total income, while the bottom 20% makes 3.6% of the total income.

Fewer than 6% of the RIT freshman class are women.

These are hard numbers.

To me, they tell a story of a nation that is unfair. 1 in 5 children are going to bed hungry, arriving at school hungry. If there is a class war, the poor are losing. And the only legal path to upward economic mobility, education, is failing more people.

The American Dream, hope itself, denied.

So I'm sad. Frustrated. And angry.

I want my President to share my feelings. I want all my elected officials to know and understand the reality behind those numbers. I want them to sweat bullets every day that these numbers don't improve.

Argue over methods. But I'm pretty sure more tax breaks for the richest, public school funding cuts, teaching to the test, increased censorship, and prison build-outs are not part of the solution.

The European Union is pushing a law that prohibits e-mail marketers from sending spam to individuals unless they have asked to receive promotions, an approach described as opt-in.

Is the freedom to send email a human right? A civil right? Should you defend the right to send unpopular email as strongly as popular email? If so, perhaps this is a case for Electronic Frontier Foundation advocacy?