Few members of the mass media understand how the technology industry actually works. Michael Malone does, and offers a clear explanation of technology booms.

Marriage is a loaded word, with thousands of years of cultural and religious associations behind it. In the eyes of the state, though, a marriage is really just a contract. The two parties agree to a set of mutual obligations covering such things as medical decision-making, inheritance of property, and financial support, with the state serving as enforcer of the contract in case of difficulties. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling in favor of gay marriage is simply a recognition that any two people should be able to assume the obligations and receive the benefits of that contract. Somehow that doesn't seem like a terribly radical idea to me. If letting a gay man's life partner of twenty years stay by his hospital bed and inherit his estate is an apocalyptic threat to the institution of (heterosexual) marriage, then the institution was in deep trouble to begin with.