Morning Roundup

A couple blogs I read have a regular or semi-regular round-up feature. I'm going to do that this morning because there are several items that I want to comment on, but don't really warrant a full post. I'm not sure if I will continue to do this, but who knows

1. Ed and Elaine Brown have barricaded themselves in their hilltop compound in order to avoid serving a 63-month prison sentence for tax evasion (to the tune of almost $2 million). Now, I know that when people like this don't pay their taxes it increases the burden on those of us who do (or more accurately just increases the loss margins under which our Enron-esque government operates), but tax evaders have always been my anti-heroes (well, tax evaders and vigilantes). Plus, this kind of stuff--holing up in a compound, taunting SWAT teams with references to Ruby Ridge and Waco--while crazy, is still kind of fun to watch.
2. In the "neato" category, physicists have been able to turn waste energy into sound, and then electricity. Note also that the research was funded by the army (I would have loved for it to be private), but since it could have legitimate national defense applications, I am not sooo annoyed. Also, it looks like there would wonderful private sector applications, so perhaps there is a chance here for investment. Regardless of who's footing the bill, I continue to be amazed at the ingenuity of man.
3. Courtesy Towleroad: this Homo History looks like it might be an interesting read; also our friend Sully makes an appearance. The piece appeared in the Seattle Stranger, and although I haven't had the chance to go through it might be worth a few minutes time.
4. Also from Andy Towle, Columbia's Same-Sex Union Bill is thrown out after being approved by a lower house of the Columbian legislature. I'm mixed an this. On the one hand it's upsetting that gay couples are still not afforded even semi-equal rights in Columbia; on the other it looked REEEEEEALLY bad when The United States was falling behind Columbia in terms of equal rights for gays. Of course if we don't want to look bad, optimally the US would stop dragging its feet rather than hoping that Columbia fails.