(From The Overland Monthly, Jan-June 1892, p. 61, via Google Books.) Last week, Google Book Search announced a settlement agreement in the suit against it by the Authors Guild, the Association of American Publishers, and others.  In addition to paying some $125 million in royalties for "snippets" of copyrighted books it displayed, the agreement makes more books available than ever before.  Though there are critics of the agreement (and of the database in general), for those of... Read Full Story

(Aturkus photo.)The Salt Lake Tribune reports, "More than 70 percent of the state's residents believe the president's actions have either hurt the nation's economic situation or had little effect in improving things, according to a Salt Lake Tribune poll of registered voters conducted earlier this week.  That stands in sharp contract to the 46 percent of Utahns who were optimistic prior to the president taking office that his policies would help end the nation's trying times."Some econ... Read Full Story

(Jonieofarc photo: Wal-Mart on Black Friday)Last week, President Obama warned Asian nations that (in the words of the Wall Street Journal), "the global economy can no longer count on the U.S. consumer to keep it afloat."Does that mean consumerism is dead?  Will the federal government eliminate all those subsidies that make it cheaper to buy something made in China than to buy the same item made by your neighbor?  Not likely.  From fuel subsidies to taxes to "free trade," the st... Read Full Story

There's something powerful about the cast of Godspell singing and dancing on top of the World Trade Center. The song they sing: "It's all for the best," a song with two themes: God knows better than we what should happen, and Many of the negative things that happen to us result from our own arrogance. Am I saying the destruction of the World Trade Center resulted from our own arrogance and was somehow intended by God, perhaps to knock the self-proclaimed "most powerful nation in the w... Read Full Story

(EIA photo: Ice Harbor Dam)U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu says hydropower could double in the U.S.  He says we could gain 70,000 MW by installing generators on existing dams and using "damless" technology.This follows an Idaho National Labs report indicating that the U.S. has 300,000 MW of hydro potential, but because of land use restrictions and access problems, about 30,000 MW could be feasibly developed using existing damless technology.  According to the EIA, 70% of our r... Read Full Story

(DOE photo.)Like much of the West, Arizona gets plenty of sun-- over 300 days each year.  The Mohave County Landowners Association (Newsletter #723) notes that recent state legislation, combined with funds from the federal stimulus package, are making renewable energy plants popular in northern Arizona.  They list:  The 340-Mw Hualapai Valley solar thermal plant.  The City of Kingman plans to sell water recycled from its wastewater treatment facility for cooling the turbi... Read Full Story

(Cedar Breaks National Monument, Iron County, Utah)Utah is the happiest state in the union, and Cedar City Mayor Gerald Sherrat believes Iron County may be the best place to live: Where a medium soft drink in the local movie theaters costs $3.25 (in Las Vegas... [it] costs $5). Where a gallon of gasoline can run 30 cents cheaper than it does at thje big gas stations in Fillmore and Scipio. Where you can attend a Division I basketball game at about a third the price of what... [it] runs... Read Full Story

Over the weekend, I visited Flaming Gorge in northeastern Utah.  It is unbelievably beautiful, and a reminder that I live in one of the most beautiful places in the world. Read Full Story

(DBaron photo.)Financially-strapped California cut a popular conservation program, the Williamson Act.  The act funds counties to contract with landowners to provide property tax relief for keeping their agricultural or wildlife land undeveloped for a minimum of ten years.  Many farmers say they wouldn't be able to continue farming without property tax relief.What California did could be considered insidious or brilliant, depending on your point of view: they didn't actually cancel ... Read Full Story

(Grrrr123 photo.)Live Science reports that scientists have found a correlation that helps explain why some states are happier than others: "U.S. states with wealthier, better educated and more tolerant residents are also happier on average." There's just one problem: all of the three happiest states are exceptions to the rule. Neither Utah, Hawaii, or Wyoming rank among the wealthiest, nor among the best educated. And for tolerance, one wouldn't expect Utah at the head of the class (though... Read Full Story