I just spoke with Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora, and he told me a SoundExchange exec just promised — in front of Congress — that SoundExchange will not enforce the collection of webcaster royalties under the new rates that would have driven many of them out of business.

Great news for internet radio, and it makes me glad that I actually took the time to call my senators and representative yesterday.

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So the denied the plea to delay the massive royalty hike that could easily devestate webcasters, such as my personal favorite, Pandora.

So the only choice left is to bombard senators with calls to advocate the Internet Radio Equality Act.

 I called both Arizona Senators McCain and Kyle, and neither have yet taken a position on this issue.

I called Congressman Mitchell as well and found out he already is a co-sponsor of the bill. Woot!

 If anyone else is calling their senator I’d love to know the responses that you are getting. To get the numbers for your representative go here:

http://www3.capwiz.com/saveinternetradio/alert_9738601.html

Also they have a nice script that you can use to talk about the issue if you want. I know I always get nervous about what I should say exactly.

The Bush Administration has spent a whopping $80 million since November to promote performance based compensation programs for teachers. But not everyone is willing to stand behind the idea of a merit pay system. Here are the top ten reasons why merit pay for teachers is a terrible idea.read more | digg story

Improving the education system is something I’ve always had an interest in. And I’m pretty sure the performance in our schools is very closely related to how much money we put into them. So you’d really think throwing in bonus income would help but this article shows how it could hurt when done on a merit system.

I think the best point of the article is the distinction it makes between what teachers at a low performing school with more issues wouldn’t make as much as teachers at better performing schools. Issues that might affect performance of the schools would be drugs, gang violence, etc.

During a recent conversation with some coworkers a manager commented that the biggest problem teachers have is that they are in a teachers union and that’s why that field isn’t considered “professional” or “white-collar” and therefore get that pay scale. But you know what if we’re going to consider teachers to not be a “white-collar” profession then we should give them hazard pay to work in “bad” schools. That would help give troubled schools a larger group of teachers to choose from so they can get the better pick of the crowd.

A puppy has been born in Japan with a large, clear, love-heart-shaped pattern in his coat. The chihuahua was born in May as one of a litter to a breeder. Shop owner Emiko Sakurada said it was the first time a puppy with the marks had been born out of a thousand she had bred.

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When Turkey itself is debating the role of Islam in its political life, Germans are starting to ask how — or even if — the 2.7 million people of Turkish descent here can square their religious and cultural beliefs with a pluralistic society that enshrines the rights of women. The new mosque would put Islam in plain sight — all the more so because the design calls for a domed building with glass walls.

One interesting thing is that one of the people that the article mentions as speaking out against the mosque is a german jewish author who is a holocaust survivor. He says that the mosque isn’t a religious statement but a political one. Can Islam live in a pluralistic society? It depends, I think secular Islam can but I don’t know about the stricter sects that would wish to self enforce Shia(sp?) law. Just like the stricter sects of Christianity are at odds with aspects of secular society.

But I do think it is a very good idea for Americans to keep an eye on Europe and what’s going on with the increasing number of Islamic immigrants. If Europe can figure out how to get everyone to coexist peacefully then maybe that model could help us work out our issues in the middle east.

I did find it kind of amusing when the comment was made about the immigrants not learning German. Wow, that reminds me of some of the debate going on here about immigration.

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Suicide bombers are sexually frustrated Muslims, beautiful people have more daughters, humans are naturally polygamous, sexual harassment isn’t sexist, and blonds are more attractive.

This article really has a fixation on polygamy. Of course when I read the part that human’s are naturally polygamous my first thought was oh so that’s why the draenei males are so much bigger than the females. (Sorry for the WoW refrence.)

Oddly knowing why guys like blondes better doesn’t really change my thoughts that they suck for that.

I still think it’s an interesting article cause i’m always interested in the way our society and our behaviours have evolved. Though now I really wonder what lead the judeo-christian culture to shift from polygamy to monogamy.

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Money Magazine gives advice about how to gold dig on the Today Show.

I understand the temptation that money magazine obviously had to maybe do a bit of research into the topic, and I guess they would want that research to pay off so the write an article about it or do an interview of it. But is it really good financial advice? I don’t think so. Divorce settlements don’t always go in the favor of the woman, and money isn’t the right reason to get married. Tempting but still a bad idea. Marriage shouldn’t be treated like institutionalized prostitution. But come on, gold digging has to be the ultimate con. And that’s what this article reads like. A how to find a rich man and con him into marrying you.

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