It's Friday!! So here's a little music to start off your morning: Slate shows why Germany is supreme in techno. (Probably not for those of you who don't like "music without words" but as I have mentioned before, techno makes me nostalgic for my childhood...) And Japan has developed a female android (check out the picture, it is quite amazing). But I guess the lap pillow was just step an early step that culminated in this. I'm thinking that with a little collaboration, you could get the android to dance to techno...

In less fun news, there's an article on the economics of why zoning laws may be causing a housing bubble. Also, I heard about this yesterday, and was appalled, but Today's Papers does a nice job summing it up: "The WP goes Page One with the Senate getting ready to give gun-makers sweeping immunity for civil suits stemming from gun-related crimes. The bill is supported by most Republicans as well as a dozen Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid. The Post misses a bizarre—and not widely reported—angle of the story: GOP Senate leaders brought the gun bill to the floor as part of a (successful) maneuver to block a bipartisan effort to set standards for treatment of military detainees. The blockage also resulted in the Pentagon's whole appropriations bill being shelved for now." Clearly, we have our priorities straight... Pentagon appropriations bill? Not so important. No civil liabilities for gun makers? Critical.

Finally, as a follow up to the Salmon issue yesterday: Chocolate Thunder will not be happy to hear that he may be stuck with more salmon, because global warming and overfishing are leaving us with far fewer varieties of fish.