The Supreme Court granted cert in DC v. Heller today. Here is Alan Gura's take.

The question presented is the question that Gura, Levy, and Neily wanted. "Whether the following provisions, D.C. Code §§ 7-2502.02(a)(4), 22-4504(a), and 7-2507.02, violate the Second Amendment rights of individuals who are not affiliated with any state-regulated militia, but who wish to keep handguns and other firearms for private use in their homes?"

SCOTUS is going to decide if a federal enclave can ban functional long guns and all handguns in private homes. I'll be in DC in March of 2008... You can also read my previous tea leaf reading about how the Court would decide this case.

I'm staying at a fabulous hotel in Zurich called the Widder at the recommendation of Myron Gushlak. The hotel is constructed inside of a group of town homes that date from the 17th century. It's visually stunning, but what made me post is the elevator security. To access most floors on the elevator, guests have to put their key in and turn. I dutifully did so and looked over at the open stairwell that follows the elevator all the way up and down with no access restrictions... To see what I mean click on the Widder website and choose the flash link "Hotel Info" and then "Architecture." Maybe its similar to Spencer Burn's comment that nice neighborhoods are up hills because drunks don't stumble uphill...

Update: To save the flash and soundtrack, here is the image:

Eric at Classical Values points to some climate skepticism and it leads him to ask a question that I too have been pondering a bit at times. Do humans need ideas to be considered heresy to survive in some essential way? I don't have a lot of conclusions for that question yet, but it is very interesting to think about belief and heresy as structural process that have some utilitarian purpose in social order. Maybe its just that I tend to have some heretical beliefs and ways of living that makes me extra curious on this point.