Monday, August 05, 2013

Monday's Child

1.  Zenn car.  Again, lefties discover that regulation sucks.  Why they don't generalize this conclusion escapes me.

2.  Your help?  It hurts.

3.  If someone robs you, you don't have to show receipts to prove the property was yours.  But if a bank makes a mistake and takes your house, YOU have to prove that you owned the stuff they stole, sold, or threw away.  Now....why, exactly?

4.  Not sure this is really true.  A little too pat.  On the other hand....there are people who think this way.

5.  The EYM is moving to NY, to attend NYU, in just over two weeks.  This doesn't look very fun.  (He has a dorm for the first year, but then...)

after the jump...more



6.  For female scientists, the best time to have children is....not ever.   To be fair, though, if what you mean by "have children" is (a) stop working for two years, (b) publish nothing for three years, and (c) let your grant support and knowledge of the field drop off for three years, then the optimal time for men to have children would be never, also.  The question is how to have children without having to do (a), (b), and (c).  Since that is what men are forced to do.

7.  If you make something more expensive, you'll get less of it.  And so it is with visas and tourist travel.

8.  I have always been a big fan of Marc Levinson's book, The Box.  This update is almost as good.

9.  "Nudge" run amok.  No RAA could be extreme enough, no slippery slope implausible enough.  It's actually happening.

10.  P-Bet on why Public Choice is hard.

11.  There are good Bud Light commercials.  And then there are GREAT Bud Light commercials.

12.  Why so much trolling on Twitter?  Because there is not enough of this here.

13.  This was big news, internationally and on the US networks.  Why?  I agree he's an ass for that whole "do you know who I am?" thing.  And going "nowhere in particular" is odd.  But...seriously?  A lead story on ABC Good Morning America?  A LEAD STORY?

14.  An interesting set of links, from Mark Thoma.  (Yes, this is a list of links, and I'm linking to a list of links)

15.  July 31 was "National Orgasm Day."  (Really).  In honor of that day, some top movie moments.

16.  The US prison system is being operated as a for-profit corporation.  There are no stock-holders, but in every other way it's a for-profit system. It's right out in the open, fergoshsakes.  The appalling thing is that now the violent, overcrowded prison is actually a money-maker, so they can shake down people who can buy their way out.  Prison rapes and gang violence are ADVERTISING for the system, not a problem for the system.

17.  So cute it hurts.  My eyes leaked a little.  BONUS:  Duck!  On the other hand, this is giving Angry Alex fantasies I don't really want to think about.

18.  Interesting post on min-wage.

19.  Sprawl and mobility.  It's complicated.

20.  Oh, man, this is no way to live.  Women in India often face pretty awful times when they menstruate.

21.  Google "press*re cook*rs" (I'm afraid to spell it out, for fear that armed thugs will break down my door in the middle of the night....)

22.  Question:  If someone gathered up bird poo and then charged people a fortune to rub said poo on their face, would people buy it?  Answer:  Yes, in New York, they would.

23.  Latinos already have assimilated into US politics:  They hate Latinos.  And of course Chileans NEVER hold the mayo on their completos or italianos.

24.  Sheldon Richman on subjective marginal utility, economic methodology, and the early untimely death of the good Bastiat.

25.  I'm too sexy to be laid off, too sexy.... By Right Said Boeing.

26.  The last name of the royal family is "Wales"?  Clearly, knowing that, the first name for the young lad should have been "Save D." or "Outlaw Josey."  Instead, they go with George Alexander Louis.  What a waste of a good opportunity.

27.  A remarkably nuanced and sensible view of racist language.  By Harry Edwards, on the Riley Cooper kerfuffle. For my own part, I have to say, there is really just one point.  White people cannot use that word, ever.  Maybe black people shouldn't use it.  But white people CAN'T use it.

28.  Cause or effect?  That is, do you have to be crazy to go to Harvard, or does it make you nuts?   Since you'll never meet an actual professor at Harvard, and they don't give real grades, I lean toward the former explanation.  You'd have to be nuts to go there, as an undergrad.

29.  George Will does his best to school the apparently unteachable Chris Christie.   What I think is odd about this whole thing is that Christie is NOT using conservatism to attack Obama.  Instead, he is using conservatism to DEFEND the "GW Bush Fourth Term" foreign policy of Obama.  And he is defending Obama against the (admittedly sparse)  sensible elements of the GOP.  Christie should just stop pretending and admit he's a Democrat and an Obama as*-kisser. This denial is pretty lame.

Headlines:

1.  Fire Brigade to "50 Shades" Handcuff Users:  Don't Get Stuck!

2. Drunk US tourist who insisted on singing with band in Thailand bar stabbed to death by one of the musicians.  (Am I a bad person, because I could easily imagine the band member being acquitted?  "Your honor, he NEEDED killing.  He wanted to sing 'Journey'!" )


5 comments:

John Covil said...

Re #2: I think our sinful pride causes us to confuse costs and benefits all the time with charity. Think about it: "I just spent 14 hours on a plane, flying to some disease-ridden hellhole, to sweat for 12 hours a day building a home for someone while laying awake on a cot in 90+ degree, mosquito filled nights, and you mean to tell me the guy who clicked a few times on his mouse to throw some disposable income into an investment fund is doing more good than I am?"

Not hard to see why the idea is met with resistance.

Anonymous said...

White people cannot use that word, ever. Maybe black people shouldn't use it. But white people CAN'T use it.

Of course. Because the answer to racism is to make sure you treat people differently based on their race.

The manufactured outrage over the use of "nigger" is ridiculous. You know why no one talks about how racist "honky" is? Because it's not a news story.

And I haven't heard "honky" in years. Probably because white people aren't really offended by it and don't go on national television crying about it and major pieces of legislation aren't held captive to phantom uses of the word.

aclynch1978 said...

George Wales (wails). This is even better, as he's said to cry loudly pretty often.

Old Odd Jobs said...

Ken, you get it.

Anonymous said...

Old Odd Jobs,

Too bad Mungo doesn't. He's your standard SWPL whitey who pretends he's a libertarian. He's just another limousine liberal who favors free economic markets, but looks down on people who are truly different from him, preferring different things than he does. That he would say "White people cannot use that word, ever" shows you clearly that he doesn't believe in freedom of speech, when it's not he SWPL tripe he prefers.