Friday, September 30, 2005
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Google buys Nasa. Or something.
Roberts confirmed and sworn in by Stevens. Dem's votes 23-22 in favor. More news tomorrow?
Nope: The pretty consistent word at this point is that the President is unlikely to announce a nomination tomorrow. Look for Monday or Tuesday - scotusblog.
Roberts confirmed and sworn in by Stevens. Dem's votes 23-22 in favor. More news tomorrow?
Nope: The pretty consistent word at this point is that the President is unlikely to announce a nomination tomorrow. Look for Monday or Tuesday - scotusblog.
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Word for the day: Gooble.
New York Times does an article on goobles, the unit of google's new future predicting gizmo, and doesn't even bother to mention it's patri friedman's project. It's not just his, but he's on the team.
New York Times does an article on goobles, the unit of google's new future predicting gizmo, and doesn't even bother to mention it's patri friedman's project. It's not just his, but he's on the team.
via sploid, "don't give to the red cross." One tidbit: the red cross makes half its income selling blood that was donated to it. But if you sell blood, plan to go to jail. This blog calls for the legalization of the sale of blood and other body parts. I'd like to see more data, tho. Has the ban on blood sales helped or hurt the spread of HIV? I don't know, and don't know where to look it up.
Brown and Root, better known to you folks as Halliburton, has landed its first billion in no-bid contracts for Katrina clean up. NYT.
Saturday, September 24, 2005
Crescat feedback, two things.
Sudeep points to some opera, but the links are to amazon.
These operas would be in the public domain by now, although a given recording would belong to its performer. I'm committed to the open source post-scarcity movement. Rephrased, I don't have disposable income; I have few ties to the old economy where people bought and sold stuff. Is there open source opera, that is perforances dedicated to the public domain? My soon to be roommate likes opera, so it's soemthing I'm willing to learn a bit about.
Will writes about a bourbon, which is some sort of yucky whiskeyish stuff. I drink foofoo drinks like gin and tonic. He mentions this brand is only available in 4 states. That got me thinking about IJ's other case, the wine shipment one. Is there a new niche for a company to nationally distribute obscure bourbons? It would require expertise in the law and in bourbons.
IJ could start an on-line gift shop, with stuff like out of state wine, caskets, shoeshine kits...
Book 38 is going slowly. I'm 300 pages into it after a couple of weeks. Reckless Youth by Nigel Hamilton. So it's not a pageturner, but I haven't set it aside for something else either. It's a bit more detailed about the early JFK than most of what I've read, but the basic story is familiar. I'm at about 1940, after August but before November. I've seen criticisms of this book before, but I think it holds up well. It's post-Camelot, that is, it's an honest portrayal, and looks for and finds some dirt, without making stuff up. I should be taking better notes - I run across new facts I want in my fact file, but I'm not even dog-earing the pages or underlining. 500 pages to go.
Sudeep points to some opera, but the links are to amazon.
These operas would be in the public domain by now, although a given recording would belong to its performer. I'm committed to the open source post-scarcity movement. Rephrased, I don't have disposable income; I have few ties to the old economy where people bought and sold stuff. Is there open source opera, that is perforances dedicated to the public domain? My soon to be roommate likes opera, so it's soemthing I'm willing to learn a bit about.
Will writes about a bourbon, which is some sort of yucky whiskeyish stuff. I drink foofoo drinks like gin and tonic. He mentions this brand is only available in 4 states. That got me thinking about IJ's other case, the wine shipment one. Is there a new niche for a company to nationally distribute obscure bourbons? It would require expertise in the law and in bourbons.
IJ could start an on-line gift shop, with stuff like out of state wine, caskets, shoeshine kits...
Book 38 is going slowly. I'm 300 pages into it after a couple of weeks. Reckless Youth by Nigel Hamilton. So it's not a pageturner, but I haven't set it aside for something else either. It's a bit more detailed about the early JFK than most of what I've read, but the basic story is familiar. I'm at about 1940, after August but before November. I've seen criticisms of this book before, but I think it holds up well. It's post-Camelot, that is, it's an honest portrayal, and looks for and finds some dirt, without making stuff up. I should be taking better notes - I run across new facts I want in my fact file, but I'm not even dog-earing the pages or underlining. 500 pages to go.
Friday, September 23, 2005
According to Time, Newsweek and others,
it turns out that Bush is in fact fidgety, cold and snappish in private. He yells at those who dare give him bad news and is therefore not surprisingly surrounded by an echo chamber of terrified sycophants. He is slow to comprehend concepts that don't emerge from his gut. He is uncomprehending of the speeches that he is given to read. And oh yes, one of his most significant legacies -- the immense post-Sept. 11 reorganization of the federal government which created the Homeland Security Department -- has failed a big test. http://blog.masson.us/
Sounds like a classic bully. I have issues with bullies, because of my dad. I suppose Bush has issues with his. Somebody should write a book comparing Bush to LBJ. LBJ at least knew the value of a dollar, and was smart and hardworking. I don't ike LBJ, although I'm fascinated by him. If Clinton was Kennedy repeated as farce, maybe Bush is LBJ repeated as farce?
it turns out that Bush is in fact fidgety, cold and snappish in private. He yells at those who dare give him bad news and is therefore not surprisingly surrounded by an echo chamber of terrified sycophants. He is slow to comprehend concepts that don't emerge from his gut. He is uncomprehending of the speeches that he is given to read. And oh yes, one of his most significant legacies -- the immense post-Sept. 11 reorganization of the federal government which created the Homeland Security Department -- has failed a big test. http://blog.masson.us/
Sounds like a classic bully. I have issues with bullies, because of my dad. I suppose Bush has issues with his. Somebody should write a book comparing Bush to LBJ. LBJ at least knew the value of a dollar, and was smart and hardworking. I don't ike LBJ, although I'm fascinated by him. If Clinton was Kennedy repeated as farce, maybe Bush is LBJ repeated as farce?
An Indiana Republican fundraiser has been sentenced to 1 1/2 years in jail for filing false campaign forms and theft, in a plea bargain. Hiller was a member of the Indiana Election Commission. His offenses are not related to his conduct on the commission. The allegation are that over three years he stole about $100,000. He's agreed to pay it back. It isn't clear to me whether he actually stole the money - likely but not certain - or just did a sloppy job of accounting.
Disclosure: Until earlier this month, I've been in litigation against the commission, although never Hiller specifically. oops wrong blog, this was for my election law blog, I'll leave it here as well.
Disclosure: Until earlier this month, I've been in litigation against the commission, although never Hiller specifically. oops wrong blog, this was for my election law blog, I'll leave it here as well.
Thursday, September 22, 2005
New threat to Homeland Security: Vegans!
For the complete legal filing, complete with the pictures taken by homeland security visit http://www.acluga.org/
Homeland Security Officials Wrongly Arrested Peaceful Protesters in
Georgia, Charges ACLU
Vegans Targeted for Protesting Outside Honey Baked Ham Store
Friday update: Volokh is on the case.
For the complete legal filing, complete with the pictures taken by homeland security visit http://www.acluga.org/
Homeland Security Officials Wrongly Arrested Peaceful Protesters in
Georgia, Charges ACLU
Vegans Targeted for Protesting Outside Honey Baked Ham Store
Friday update: Volokh is on the case.
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Placeholder for a post that won't get written.
As is often the case, crescat sententia, like volokh, offers a dozen interesting topics. Volokh has added comments and I am an occasional commenter there.
One valuable proof of concept for comments is the volokhian puzzleblogging.
Puzzles of various levels of difficulty, less than fermat's, get solved there routinely. There's a case for not having comments, and crescat usually doesn't.
This blog would have comments, except that if I push the buttons that might fix the lack of comments, I am concerned the blog would vanish or become muddled for reasons beyond my own muddlement. There was a time when this blog consisted largely of feedback to crescat. Currently it's more even mix of volokh, crescat, instapundit, slashdot, websnark, a few others, most of which can be accessed via the blogroll.
Anywho there are at the moment easily 6 threads at crescat worthy of further commentary , that I probably won't get to, even though I'm not really doing anything else.
One problem is if I started writing about them, I'd be tempted to go back to review, and then I'd find six more topics posted.
Today's menu includes state constitutional structure, street harrassment, a book 35,
.. it's like kim's game. Look away from the box, and see if you still remember the 25 things in the box. [Kim is maybe my favorite Robert Louis Stevenson book, and it should be free online somewhere.] RLS reminds me of another topic, talk like a pirate day.
Presidential candidate Dean received millions in federal funding for his adventure. Sure, that comes with strings attached, he can't spend it all on say cheese or ferraris or hookers. But, even given inflation, for a pirate to get millions in booty and loot is non-trivial. So I contend Dean is a successful pirate.
State constitutional structure: well, it's true the states tend to mimic the fed pretty closely, perhaps in a subserviant echo sort of way; it would be fun if we had more states like Louisiana that have their own unique (well around here anyway) structures. Two minor variations do stand out: some states require a constitutional convention every 20 years, and some states have constitutions amendable by initiative.
Section 8: What Baude fails to take into account are the negative externalities of section 8. One section 8 home can destroy the delicate ecology of a two-block radius in a poor working class neighborhood. A public housing project you can at least plan to avoid. I'm speaking from my experience here.
Street harrassment: Not sure what my take on that is. Last night I had planned to have out of town guests over. They arrived, in a big truck, and, based on some street harrassment type comments, decided my neighborhood isn't safe, and went and got a hotel room. That's what usually happens when I have offer hospitality. It's not just me. We then went and enjoyed the evening as planned, good time had by all.
I guess I see street harrassment as, as assertion of territoriality, backed up by implicit force - possibly microgovernments at work. And as a continuation of low intensity urban guerilla warfare. Partly cowboys versus indians, partly MauMau's fighting the war of african liberation from colonialism. Partly a gender thing.
Some of the gender dynamic comes down to an expectation that a man being harrassed if pushed too far will fight, and that a woman won't. A harrasser can expect to win any given conflict, but the cost to benefit ratio, if they lose one fight in 4, doesn't pay off well. A woman will more likely seek a rescuer or use words. I'm not sure what the optimum way to change the dynamic is. Maybe the cameraphone has a role.
Somebody could put up a web page for idiot harrassers, to shame them and help identify them. All for now. I think I'll have a 5th cup of coffee, maybe not the best choice at this hour.
As is often the case, crescat sententia, like volokh, offers a dozen interesting topics. Volokh has added comments and I am an occasional commenter there.
One valuable proof of concept for comments is the volokhian puzzleblogging.
Puzzles of various levels of difficulty, less than fermat's, get solved there routinely. There's a case for not having comments, and crescat usually doesn't.
This blog would have comments, except that if I push the buttons that might fix the lack of comments, I am concerned the blog would vanish or become muddled for reasons beyond my own muddlement. There was a time when this blog consisted largely of feedback to crescat. Currently it's more even mix of volokh, crescat, instapundit, slashdot, websnark, a few others, most of which can be accessed via the blogroll.
Anywho there are at the moment easily 6 threads at crescat worthy of further commentary , that I probably won't get to, even though I'm not really doing anything else.
One problem is if I started writing about them, I'd be tempted to go back to review, and then I'd find six more topics posted.
Today's menu includes state constitutional structure, street harrassment, a book 35,
.. it's like kim's game. Look away from the box, and see if you still remember the 25 things in the box. [Kim is maybe my favorite Robert Louis Stevenson book, and it should be free online somewhere.] RLS reminds me of another topic, talk like a pirate day.
Presidential candidate Dean received millions in federal funding for his adventure. Sure, that comes with strings attached, he can't spend it all on say cheese or ferraris or hookers. But, even given inflation, for a pirate to get millions in booty and loot is non-trivial. So I contend Dean is a successful pirate.
State constitutional structure: well, it's true the states tend to mimic the fed pretty closely, perhaps in a subserviant echo sort of way; it would be fun if we had more states like Louisiana that have their own unique (well around here anyway) structures. Two minor variations do stand out: some states require a constitutional convention every 20 years, and some states have constitutions amendable by initiative.
Section 8: What Baude fails to take into account are the negative externalities of section 8. One section 8 home can destroy the delicate ecology of a two-block radius in a poor working class neighborhood. A public housing project you can at least plan to avoid. I'm speaking from my experience here.
Street harrassment: Not sure what my take on that is. Last night I had planned to have out of town guests over. They arrived, in a big truck, and, based on some street harrassment type comments, decided my neighborhood isn't safe, and went and got a hotel room. That's what usually happens when I have offer hospitality. It's not just me. We then went and enjoyed the evening as planned, good time had by all.
I guess I see street harrassment as, as assertion of territoriality, backed up by implicit force - possibly microgovernments at work. And as a continuation of low intensity urban guerilla warfare. Partly cowboys versus indians, partly MauMau's fighting the war of african liberation from colonialism. Partly a gender thing.
Some of the gender dynamic comes down to an expectation that a man being harrassed if pushed too far will fight, and that a woman won't. A harrasser can expect to win any given conflict, but the cost to benefit ratio, if they lose one fight in 4, doesn't pay off well. A woman will more likely seek a rescuer or use words. I'm not sure what the optimum way to change the dynamic is. Maybe the cameraphone has a role.
Somebody could put up a web page for idiot harrassers, to shame them and help identify them. All for now. I think I'll have a 5th cup of coffee, maybe not the best choice at this hour.
Once upon a time, (early nineties) I was sitting in a holiday inn lobby in Jefferson City, which, although it is the state capital is a very small town. I got talking to a young black woman next to me - I'm pathologically shy and don't usually talk to young black women next to me. Said she was Octavia Butler and wrote science fiction. (Not totally coincidence; we were both at the hotel for the con, but could have been mistaken for mundanes.) Some time later I read one of her books and was impressed - I've forgotten the title [Kindred], but it reminded of Toni Morrison's Beloved, which, outside the science fiction ghetto, is considered an important book. So I was pleased to read today on Boing-Boing that Butler was awarded the McArthur prize, which comes with a half million dollars, as was Richard Stallman. Several years ago, I'm just finding out about it now. Actually 1995, not too long after I met her. Update: this Tyler Cowan post at marginal revolutions points to her newest stuff.
Plan for world domination by cuteness continues.
Saturday, September 17, 2005
Singularity watch: Instapundit cites to an extrapolation from current trends showing a computer with the brainpower of 6 billion people by 2060. In 2060, I'll turn 100. I think it should be possible to ride the curve of advancing medical technology to live to be a 100, given that my grandmother was 98 and I have an ancestor who was 100. Unless I get hit by a bus, or come down with something like cancer in the next ten years while I'm poor and the technology is still primitive. So this computer should be able to create some sort of simulation of me.
Meanwhile it looks like the death toll from Katrina is around 1000. Bad, but not so bad. How many people lived in New Orleans? If it were 1 million (no clue), and all 1000 dead were from the city (not so), that's a tenth of 1%, a 1 in 1000 shot of dying. around here, I have a higher than 1/1000 shot at being killed by burglars. I wonder how many people die in New Orleans in a typical week. This is not to downplay the property damage, or ongoing health concerns due to flood damage. Instapundit again points out that avian flu could kill thousands or millions. I saw a couple people at the bar who might know how my friend in New Orleans is doing, but I didn't go up and ask.
Meanwhile it looks like the death toll from Katrina is around 1000. Bad, but not so bad. How many people lived in New Orleans? If it were 1 million (no clue), and all 1000 dead were from the city (not so), that's a tenth of 1%, a 1 in 1000 shot of dying. around here, I have a higher than 1/1000 shot at being killed by burglars. I wonder how many people die in New Orleans in a typical week. This is not to downplay the property damage, or ongoing health concerns due to flood damage. Instapundit again points out that avian flu could kill thousands or millions. I saw a couple people at the bar who might know how my friend in New Orleans is doing, but I didn't go up and ask.
Friday, September 16, 2005
Am reading things online, currently discussion of the Roberts hearings. Both Senator Feinstein and Judge Roberts get US v Miller wrong on the meaning of the second amendment. Feinstein says Miller said there is only a collective right. That's wrong, and Roberts corrects her. But then Roberts gets it wrong.
I know the Miller case side-stepped that issue. An argument was made back in 1939 that this provides only a collective right. And the court didn't address that. They said, instead, that the firearm at issue there -- I think it was a sawed-off shotgun -- is not the type of weapon protected under the militia aspect of the Second Amendment.
That's not what Miller said. Miller said that the court below had failed to hold an evidentiary hearing on that issue, and remanded for such a hearing, at which point the case went away. Miller may be the best example out there where a case name is used to stand for a principle that is not supported once one actually reads the case.
What Miller did do, somethingRoberts calls a hybrid right, is find some connection between the militia clause and the right to bear arms clause. That's nowhere in the text of the amendment, so it would seem to be the kind of judicial activism some people complain about.
But that Roberts is aware of Emerson and the split between the circuits is a good thing.
Ok, he goes on to clarify a bit: [no, that's the blogger, not Roberts.]
Miller, after all, reverses and remands in order that evidence be taken on the sawed-off shotgun.
If anybody's wondering, a sawed-off shotgun is a traditional militia weapon. During revolutionary times, the functional equivalent of a sawed-off shotgun was called a blunderbus. These sorts of weapons are known as alley-sweepers or scatterguns. They were used by the military in jungle warfare against the Huk insurgents in the Phillipines. Had the hearing been held, there's no reason to think the gun in question wouldn't have been covered by the second amendment.
I know the Miller case side-stepped that issue. An argument was made back in 1939 that this provides only a collective right. And the court didn't address that. They said, instead, that the firearm at issue there -- I think it was a sawed-off shotgun -- is not the type of weapon protected under the militia aspect of the Second Amendment.
That's not what Miller said. Miller said that the court below had failed to hold an evidentiary hearing on that issue, and remanded for such a hearing, at which point the case went away. Miller may be the best example out there where a case name is used to stand for a principle that is not supported once one actually reads the case.
What Miller did do, something
But that Roberts is aware of Emerson and the split between the circuits is a good thing.
Miller, after all, reverses and remands in order that evidence be taken on the sawed-off shotgun.
If anybody's wondering, a sawed-off shotgun is a traditional militia weapon. During revolutionary times, the functional equivalent of a sawed-off shotgun was called a blunderbus. These sorts of weapons are known as alley-sweepers or scatterguns. They were used by the military in jungle warfare against the Huk insurgents in the Phillipines. Had the hearing been held, there's no reason to think the gun in question wouldn't have been covered by the second amendment.
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
I had a not-unexpected defeat with the courts today - one of the last of my two cases in Indiana was dismissed on a technicality yesterday, one more to go. But I had an interesting experience along the way. I was rushing to get some paperwork in before the offices closed. I was going through the metal detector, and found I still had my bike padlock with me, and was told I could bring it in, and couldn't leave it, so the guard stole it. I went and took care of my business and came back. I asked nicely if maybe I could have it back. He said no. I asked if I could see the written rules covering what they are allowed to take. They didn't have any. The rent a cop referred me to the deputy. I went through my routine again. He didn't have any. He radioed his supervisor, who eventually came. He said that of course I could have a copy of the rules, and went off to get them. Long wait. He came back, no rules, said the rules did exist but I couldn't have a copy. I asked if I could see the rules, and he said sure. While walking to the office where the rules are alleged to be, we got into conversation, he found it was just about a bike lock, I took a hint and asked if maybe it would be easier if they just gave the lock back. Both of us were friendly, smiling, avoiding confrontation. He gave me the lock back, and a long lecture about terrorism, to which I agreed politely and pointed out that's why it's so important to have clear written rules. he had told me no one's ever asked to see the rules before. I've been asking for two years. I stopped by the office of the rent a cops a few blocks away, where I had been told I would be able to see the rules. Lady there said that wasn't true and she didn't have them, and took my email to get back to me. This actually the furthest I've gotten in several years of asking to see the rules. I'm not a big fan of unwarranted seizures, and if there is a warrant, signed by a judge, I'll be interested to know how general or specific it is. I am sure that there has been some case law upholding such searches generally - my concern is that a lack of written standards converts the searches into an area that is arbitrary and capricious and unreasonable.
War on flowers:
One of my ongoing skirmishes with the city is about whether I have the right to grow flowers and hay on my land, or whether they have the right to conquest-by-lawnmower, which they've been using to seize my land. This guy used his lawnmower to send a message. In Indiana, his expression would be protected undeer the state constitution, Price v Indiana. Via Fark. Oh, it turns out the city agrees this is protected speech.
War on flowers:
One of my ongoing skirmishes with the city is about whether I have the right to grow flowers and hay on my land, or whether they have the right to conquest-by-lawnmower, which they've been using to seize my land. This guy used his lawnmower to send a message. In Indiana, his expression would be protected undeer the state constitution, Price v Indiana. Via Fark. Oh, it turns out the city agrees this is protected speech.
Actor Russell Crowe has been naughty, and faces assault charges for throwing a phone during a temper tantrum. But, charging him with possession of the phone is over the top. Prosecutors charged Crowe with second-degree assault and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon - the telephone. Fark.com.
People are pitching in to respond to Katrina from each according to their abilities.
From each as they choose, to each as they are chosen.
http://www.webcomictelethon.com/d/1033.html
Volokh conspiracy is asking for $1000 donations, and getting them.
Wil Wheaton is playing poker at PokerStars, and raising money, by rigging the odds, and it's working. Websnark and other cartoonists are making cartoons.
My thing is that I can rant.
There are three paradigms for filling demand, here, demand for good and services that come up when your city gets washed away.
One is primitive communism, where people just help each other.
Advantages - it works, and the donors feel better.
Disadvantages - tends to work based on sensationalism, and can miss the day to day boring catastrophes. Fosters dependency and helplessness, or worse, a sense of entitlement to live off the efforts of those who have more, because they work for it.
Wildly inefficient (sp?) but kinda fun.
National Socialism - The King, or government, taxes everybody, say to the tune of 100 billion, and uses some to provide relief, while other funds are use to take guns away from homewowners, and "voluntarily" drag people from their houses.
Disadvantages - the few pennies that go to relief are propaganda for a war machine.
BTW in using the term national socialism i'm not talking about nazis (although hitler rose to power by raising funds for milk for hungry german children.) Nation = usa,
socialism = government spending.
Coercive taxation ruins lives, and at best is like having a tapeworm. Taxes provide a strong disincentive to productive work - the more you make, the more they take.
Fosters dependency and helplessness among those who get relief. Inefficient - more goes to the salaries of the relief workers than to the so called needy. Funds tend to get hijacked for other purposes, such as war and building prisons and highways to nowhere.
Free enterprise -
People manage risk by buying insurance. This is a form of gambling - I'm gonna bet that I'll get sick, die, crash my car, or my house will burn and my stuff get stolen.
People obtain credit from banks to finance unexpected expenses like starting over in a new city.
Disadvantages include that the insurance company has little incentive to actually pay out when the time comes, just to preserve an image of looking like they would pay out. I had a car wreck 4/15/02 and finally this year got my $400 check after I had to sue my insurance company. But auto insurance isn't really insurance, it's a government-compelled protection racket, so this isn't a good example.
This system isn't perfect, and it may be that a little primitive communism helps keep the wheels of free enterprize moving. But that's part of the system too. In a free society, productive people are free to blow their earnings donating to charities.
So based on this third model, how can you help Katrina "victims"?
Buy more insurance, and save money in a bank. The insurance company will take your money and use it to pay out the Katrina victims who bought insurance. The bank will take your money, make loans to people to build new houses, buy new cars and so forth. Oh, and then when it's your turn (earthquake, asteroid strike, wild pig attack) you'll have insurance and money in the bank.
What else can you do? Instead of donating, consider selling stuff to the Katrina victims, like food or housing or that old car. And if they don't have cash, make a loan. Sure, it'll probably never be paid back, there's some risk. But I'm only talking about what you were willing to donate anyway - so it's really risk free.
Speaking of risk, one of the advantages of the market approach is that it is very efficient at managing risk, which charity and government are not.
For example, don't build your houses under sea level! Or if you do, think of that structure as very temporary, and have a backup plan. The Japanese have a culture based on living around earthquakes and tsunamis. They live in tiny shacks made from sticks and paper, and expect to rebuild them often. And they save like crazy. This culture made them able to deal with nuclear devastation and shug it off and rebuild.
That's the kind of can-do spirit that gets squashed in New Orleans public housing projects. Yes, I'm part of that plague of locusts that only goes to New Orleans during mardi gras. Been three times. Hitchhiked, flew, drove. I guess that was the last time I flew, pre 9-11, back when I used to have money. Ok, enough rant. I just wanted to do my part. Don't donate. Invest. Better for them, better for you. Don't pay any taxes you can avoid through careful financial planning. Invest. Better for them, better for you.
Ok, a bit more. "We should donate to those poor helpless Katrina victims because after all they were stuck in New Orleans and didn't have any way out." Bull. Granted, this rant brings up some class privilege issues, but I'll stick with it. I was 22, just me and my girlfriend and the clothes on our backs. We put our thumbs out, and in 72 hours were back in Colorado. Sure, we had our backpacks stolen in Missouri and caught a snowstorm in Kansas, but we made a choice not to stay in New Orleans. It's a choice anyone can make. It does help to be 22 - I no longer have that kind of sense of adventure. But the whole charity and taxation game is about subsiding bad choices, which in the end isn't doing anybody any favors.
From each as they choose, to each as they are chosen.
http://www.webcomictelethon.com/d/1033.html
Volokh conspiracy is asking for $1000 donations, and getting them.
Wil Wheaton is playing poker at PokerStars, and raising money, by rigging the odds, and it's working. Websnark and other cartoonists are making cartoons.
My thing is that I can rant.
There are three paradigms for filling demand, here, demand for good and services that come up when your city gets washed away.
One is primitive communism, where people just help each other.
Advantages - it works, and the donors feel better.
Disadvantages - tends to work based on sensationalism, and can miss the day to day boring catastrophes. Fosters dependency and helplessness, or worse, a sense of entitlement to live off the efforts of those who have more, because they work for it.
Wildly inefficient (sp?) but kinda fun.
National Socialism - The King, or government, taxes everybody, say to the tune of 100 billion, and uses some to provide relief, while other funds are use to take guns away from homewowners, and "voluntarily" drag people from their houses.
Disadvantages - the few pennies that go to relief are propaganda for a war machine.
BTW in using the term national socialism i'm not talking about nazis (although hitler rose to power by raising funds for milk for hungry german children.) Nation = usa,
socialism = government spending.
Coercive taxation ruins lives, and at best is like having a tapeworm. Taxes provide a strong disincentive to productive work - the more you make, the more they take.
Fosters dependency and helplessness among those who get relief. Inefficient - more goes to the salaries of the relief workers than to the so called needy. Funds tend to get hijacked for other purposes, such as war and building prisons and highways to nowhere.
Free enterprise -
People manage risk by buying insurance. This is a form of gambling - I'm gonna bet that I'll get sick, die, crash my car, or my house will burn and my stuff get stolen.
People obtain credit from banks to finance unexpected expenses like starting over in a new city.
Disadvantages include that the insurance company has little incentive to actually pay out when the time comes, just to preserve an image of looking like they would pay out. I had a car wreck 4/15/02 and finally this year got my $400 check after I had to sue my insurance company. But auto insurance isn't really insurance, it's a government-compelled protection racket, so this isn't a good example.
This system isn't perfect, and it may be that a little primitive communism helps keep the wheels of free enterprize moving. But that's part of the system too. In a free society, productive people are free to blow their earnings donating to charities.
So based on this third model, how can you help Katrina "victims"?
Buy more insurance, and save money in a bank. The insurance company will take your money and use it to pay out the Katrina victims who bought insurance. The bank will take your money, make loans to people to build new houses, buy new cars and so forth. Oh, and then when it's your turn (earthquake, asteroid strike, wild pig attack) you'll have insurance and money in the bank.
What else can you do? Instead of donating, consider selling stuff to the Katrina victims, like food or housing or that old car. And if they don't have cash, make a loan. Sure, it'll probably never be paid back, there's some risk. But I'm only talking about what you were willing to donate anyway - so it's really risk free.
Speaking of risk, one of the advantages of the market approach is that it is very efficient at managing risk, which charity and government are not.
For example, don't build your houses under sea level! Or if you do, think of that structure as very temporary, and have a backup plan. The Japanese have a culture based on living around earthquakes and tsunamis. They live in tiny shacks made from sticks and paper, and expect to rebuild them often. And they save like crazy. This culture made them able to deal with nuclear devastation and shug it off and rebuild.
That's the kind of can-do spirit that gets squashed in New Orleans public housing projects. Yes, I'm part of that plague of locusts that only goes to New Orleans during mardi gras. Been three times. Hitchhiked, flew, drove. I guess that was the last time I flew, pre 9-11, back when I used to have money. Ok, enough rant. I just wanted to do my part. Don't donate. Invest. Better for them, better for you. Don't pay any taxes you can avoid through careful financial planning. Invest. Better for them, better for you.
Ok, a bit more. "We should donate to those poor helpless Katrina victims because after all they were stuck in New Orleans and didn't have any way out." Bull. Granted, this rant brings up some class privilege issues, but I'll stick with it. I was 22, just me and my girlfriend and the clothes on our backs. We put our thumbs out, and in 72 hours were back in Colorado. Sure, we had our backpacks stolen in Missouri and caught a snowstorm in Kansas, but we made a choice not to stay in New Orleans. It's a choice anyone can make. It does help to be 22 - I no longer have that kind of sense of adventure. But the whole charity and taxation game is about subsiding bad choices, which in the end isn't doing anybody any favors.
Foundation and Umpire
I haven't looked at the Roberts hearing transcripts, just some of the liveblogging at scotusblog. But Senator Cornyn quoted Volokh, an odd 15 seconds of fame, on the question about umpires. Meanwhile Biden asked a question in which he bungled the strike rule - something about baseball. Volokh, of course, is one of the elect, having clerked for SDO'C, who Roberts was to have replaced. He's also some guy I've known online for ten years and we've corresponded a bit and I often comment at his blog.
Getting email from Cornyn was weirder - when he was texas AG, I wrote to his office for some complaint forms, and the email came back with the address john.cornyn@whatever. I didn't ask, but have always assumed it was some flunky, and using his name for the account is a campaign tactic or pr thingy. Biden I've actually met, when we taped a commercial in his living room for the Carter campaign - it taught me how to do a sound bite. Baude has written a paper on this umpire thing - the question has something to do with objectivity and intersubjectivity. Professor Sandra Harding stressed that stuff a lot in her philosophy of social science class. It's late, I'm babbling. I'm stressing over an upcoming hearing in one of my few remaining cases in Indiana.
I haven't looked at the Roberts hearing transcripts, just some of the liveblogging at scotusblog. But Senator Cornyn quoted Volokh, an odd 15 seconds of fame, on the question about umpires. Meanwhile Biden asked a question in which he bungled the strike rule - something about baseball. Volokh, of course, is one of the elect, having clerked for SDO'C, who Roberts was to have replaced. He's also some guy I've known online for ten years and we've corresponded a bit and I often comment at his blog.
Getting email from Cornyn was weirder - when he was texas AG, I wrote to his office for some complaint forms, and the email came back with the address john.cornyn@whatever. I didn't ask, but have always assumed it was some flunky, and using his name for the account is a campaign tactic or pr thingy. Biden I've actually met, when we taped a commercial in his living room for the Carter campaign - it taught me how to do a sound bite. Baude has written a paper on this umpire thing - the question has something to do with objectivity and intersubjectivity. Professor Sandra Harding stressed that stuff a lot in her philosophy of social science class. It's late, I'm babbling. I'm stressing over an upcoming hearing in one of my few remaining cases in Indiana.
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
25 or 6 to 4.
is the refrain to a song by Chicago Transit Authority, aka Chicago, one of those famous but sad bands that once played at my high school. Will Baude, himself an authority on Chicago Transit, writes about new anti-food rules for the loopers, which naturally Segways into a mention of the French Fry case. Baude calls the case meritless. I can't agree. Roberts is bright and persuasive, and there was no dissent to highlight the other side of the coin, but I found the case as troubling as anything I know about Roberts. What will the Roberts court do with the concept of equal protection under the laws? In the French Fry case (is it French fry, french fry?) Roberts said that a person who is arrested may be detained, and there is no right under equal protection not to be detained just because one is 12. But that gets the analysis backwards. There is a fundamental right to personal autonomy and freedom from restraint. If she had been 24 instead of 12, she would have been given a ticket. Historically, minority has the subject of oppressive laws and second class citizenship. (The rule did not specifically say arrest Black kids. But who else rides the DC subway? I'm guessing white tourist kids are less likely to be arrested for eating a freedom fry.) Where there is a fundamental right at stake, equal protection demands strict scrutiny. The "arrest the kids" rule was arbitrary and capricious, lacking rational basis, where adults so situated were not arrested. Maybe Roberts was right under precedent, maybe he wasn't. But the case certainly wasn't meritless. Once he can make the precedents, rather than just abide by them, will "equal protection" become part of the constitution in exile?
is the refrain to a song by Chicago Transit Authority, aka Chicago, one of those famous but sad bands that once played at my high school. Will Baude, himself an authority on Chicago Transit, writes about new anti-food rules for the loopers, which naturally Segways into a mention of the French Fry case. Baude calls the case meritless. I can't agree. Roberts is bright and persuasive, and there was no dissent to highlight the other side of the coin, but I found the case as troubling as anything I know about Roberts. What will the Roberts court do with the concept of equal protection under the laws? In the French Fry case (is it French fry, french fry?) Roberts said that a person who is arrested may be detained, and there is no right under equal protection not to be detained just because one is 12. But that gets the analysis backwards. There is a fundamental right to personal autonomy and freedom from restraint. If she had been 24 instead of 12, she would have been given a ticket. Historically, minority has the subject of oppressive laws and second class citizenship. (The rule did not specifically say arrest Black kids. But who else rides the DC subway? I'm guessing white tourist kids are less likely to be arrested for eating a freedom fry.) Where there is a fundamental right at stake, equal protection demands strict scrutiny. The "arrest the kids" rule was arbitrary and capricious, lacking rational basis, where adults so situated were not arrested. Maybe Roberts was right under precedent, maybe he wasn't. But the case certainly wasn't meritless. Once he can make the precedents, rather than just abide by them, will "equal protection" become part of the constitution in exile?
Some tech news.
Big ass lasers cannons in fighter planes developed - this interests me because they are a step closer to the really big-ass lasers (another order of magnitude larger) that can push spacecraft.
Malasia is the next country into the space club. Moon launch planned for 2020, austronauts training shortly in Russia.
A guy from Jersey is hitching a ride from the Russians for the usual 20 million in order to spend some time on the space station. He's not just a tourist, he's a scientist paying his own way. That's cool.
That Japanese mining ship has reached its asteroid.
Bigelow Aerospace, the ones with the $50 million prize, is sending up a test model of their inflatable space habitats, again hitching a ride with a Russian/Ukraine rocket company.
The US government won't get in the way of space elevator testing. The elevator fans will put a ballooon a mile up, and practice with their cable-crawling transport thingy. The last couple years have seen a real change in attitudes about the elevator as something that will be tried, not just a what if pipe dream. Some computer developments at google, hp, apple. China is sending up another astronaut soon. Lots of signs a viable non-nasa space infrastructure is happening. In the bad news department, more popups are finding their way around firefox's popup blocker - used to just be drudge.
Meanwhile, I'm having one of my writer's block panics - I had some paperwork to do for a hearing Thursday, that should have been filed yesterday, that I haven't started, so an important case is likely to be dismissed. I had thought I'd recovered more of my ability to function than this by now. But I've had the writers block since I was 8 - college took me 12 years.
There's been a praying mantis flying around the room tonight.
Big ass lasers cannons in fighter planes developed - this interests me because they are a step closer to the really big-ass lasers (another order of magnitude larger) that can push spacecraft.
Malasia is the next country into the space club. Moon launch planned for 2020, austronauts training shortly in Russia.
A guy from Jersey is hitching a ride from the Russians for the usual 20 million in order to spend some time on the space station. He's not just a tourist, he's a scientist paying his own way. That's cool.
That Japanese mining ship has reached its asteroid.
Bigelow Aerospace, the ones with the $50 million prize, is sending up a test model of their inflatable space habitats, again hitching a ride with a Russian/Ukraine rocket company.
The US government won't get in the way of space elevator testing. The elevator fans will put a ballooon a mile up, and practice with their cable-crawling transport thingy. The last couple years have seen a real change in attitudes about the elevator as something that will be tried, not just a what if pipe dream. Some computer developments at google, hp, apple. China is sending up another astronaut soon. Lots of signs a viable non-nasa space infrastructure is happening. In the bad news department, more popups are finding their way around firefox's popup blocker - used to just be drudge.
Meanwhile, I'm having one of my writer's block panics - I had some paperwork to do for a hearing Thursday, that should have been filed yesterday, that I haven't started, so an important case is likely to be dismissed. I had thought I'd recovered more of my ability to function than this by now. But I've had the writers block since I was 8 - college took me 12 years.
There's been a praying mantis flying around the room tonight.
Previously there was a picture here of a flying spaghetti monster stained glass window, but I guess they don't want it linked to.
< img src="http://jimmiethescumbag.cliche-host.net/photoshops/fsm.jpg" height=300 width=230 > Flying spaghetti monsterism, I mean Pastafarianism, seems to be one of the world's fastest growing religions this year, or maybe it's just that I hang out in the places it's stronger. It's a sign of the coming singularity, when a religion can rise, and maybe fall, in months instead of millenia.
< img src="http://jimmiethescumbag.cliche-host.net/photoshops/fsm.jpg" height=300 width=230 > Flying spaghetti monsterism, I mean Pastafarianism, seems to be one of the world's fastest growing religions this year, or maybe it's just that I hang out in the places it's stronger. It's a sign of the coming singularity, when a religion can rise, and maybe fall, in months instead of millenia.
Monday, September 12, 2005
Another week's productivity lost to elf porn. http://www.elfonlyinn.net/
Now off to http://gdk.gd-kun.net/ our home planet.
Now off to http://gdk.gd-kun.net/ our home planet.
Sunday, September 11, 2005
http://www.stripcreator.com/comics/Externalization/309872
It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents--except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness. - Paul Clifford. http://www.wordorigins.org/wordord.htm
Fun site found while googling for whether or not dork means a certain thing.
Fun site found while googling for whether or not dork means a certain thing.
Saturday, September 10, 2005
Paypal introduces micropayments. TFA. Article.
The usual paypal deal is 2-3% plus about 30 cents.
The new micropayment set up is five cents plus 5%. So if you charged $0.10 you'd get 0.04, $0.60 you'd get $0.52, and so forth. Paypal, at 70 million users, is the biggest online payment system (possibly amazon?) Www.e-gold.com is much smaller.
Micropayments have long been proposed as a commerce model for the web, ranging from a spam solution to a revenue source for blogs and online magazines. Are there other working systems cheaper than paypal? What are your successes or failures with micropayments? Will paypal's new arrangment help any? Credit for the link goes to brad at http://www.stripcreator.com.
The usual paypal deal is 2-3% plus about 30 cents.
The new micropayment set up is five cents plus 5%. So if you charged $0.10 you'd get 0.04, $0.60 you'd get $0.52, and so forth. Paypal, at 70 million users, is the biggest online payment system (possibly amazon?) Www.e-gold.com is much smaller.
Micropayments have long been proposed as a commerce model for the web, ranging from a spam solution to a revenue source for blogs and online magazines. Are there other working systems cheaper than paypal? What are your successes or failures with micropayments? Will paypal's new arrangment help any? Credit for the link goes to brad at http://www.stripcreator.com.
Sheepless in Wyoming:
Brokeback Mountain (imdb) is about a couple of gay caber..caba.. cowboys, heath leger and jake gyllenhaal, directed by ang lee (crouching tiger). Just won top award in Venice, should make a bit of a stir when it opens here.
Brokeback Mountain (imdb) is about a couple of gay caber..caba.. cowboys, heath leger and jake gyllenhaal, directed by ang lee (crouching tiger). Just won top award in Venice, should make a bit of a stir when it opens here.
Friday, September 09, 2005
Happy Canadian Thanksgiving, at some point.
This next quote comes from the comments on a websnark snark of a Jack Chick tract.
Tisquantum (Squanto) certainly did speak English. He learned in after being kidnapped in 1605 by George Weymouth and taken to England.
He got back to America in 1613; was kidnapped again, sold as a slave to Spaniards; managed to get to England in 1618; and managed to get back to America again in 1619.
Back home, he discovered his tribe had been decimated by smallpox when he was away. So he wandered a bit, found the Pilgrims, and hooked up with them as an interpreter.
This next quote comes from the comments on a websnark snark of a Jack Chick tract.
Tisquantum (Squanto) certainly did speak English. He learned in after being kidnapped in 1605 by George Weymouth and taken to England.
He got back to America in 1613; was kidnapped again, sold as a slave to Spaniards; managed to get to England in 1618; and managed to get back to America again in 1619.
Back home, he discovered his tribe had been decimated by smallpox when he was away. So he wandered a bit, found the Pilgrims, and hooked up with them as an interpreter.
Comic relief: http://www.badlydrawnkitties.com/d/20050907.html
CNN report New Orleans death toll between 1000 and 10,000. "Voluntary" evacuations finished: Although no one was forcibly removed Thursday, some residents said they left under extreme pressure.
"They were all insisting that I had to leave my home," said Shelia Dalferes, who said she had 15 minutes to pack before she and her husband were evacuated.
"The implication was there with their plastic handcuffs on their belt. Who wants to go out like that?" Now on to the involuntary. Still no word about whether troops are being quartered in homes.
"They were all insisting that I had to leave my home," said Shelia Dalferes, who said she had 15 minutes to pack before she and her husband were evacuated.
"The implication was there with their plastic handcuffs on their belt. Who wants to go out like that?" Now on to the involuntary. Still no word about whether troops are being quartered in homes.
At Scotusblog, Lyle Dennison covers the funeral of the chief justice. Us bloggers can learn something about how to blog from Lyle, who useta be a print journalist. I've heard Beneath the Robes also has a take on the story.
Apparently New Orleans is now experiencing a police riot on a scale not seen in this country since, well, a long time.
One question: Is Bush quartering soldiers in private homes?
One question: Is Bush quartering soldiers in private homes?
Thursday, September 08, 2005
Wil Wheaton at suicidegirls (it's a goth porn site, but one with a technology column)points to this article about schizotypic personality types and creativity.
Until a couple of months ago I'd never heard the term schizotypic, and I have a fairly sizable vocabulary. The doc says this is a possible tentative diagnosis for what I have. The link with creativity makes sense. I describe myself as an idea person with no followthrough. I was going to type more, but I noticed it's 3 am and I have plans to meet with an investor tomorrow so I'd better pack it in instead of, say, making webcomics till dawn. 3:40, been making webcomix.
Until a couple of months ago I'd never heard the term schizotypic, and I have a fairly sizable vocabulary. The doc says this is a possible tentative diagnosis for what I have. The link with creativity makes sense. I describe myself as an idea person with no followthrough. I was going to type more, but I noticed it's 3 am and I have plans to meet with an investor tomorrow so I'd better pack it in instead of, say, making webcomics till dawn. 3:40, been making webcomix.
Katrina department: Boing-boing has amazing coverage of the refugee situation. It's a like a little iraq out there. I would find this stuff hard to believe except for my own experience a year ago when I spent some time in a government institution with mostly poor young black men. Mostly not my favorite people, but the systematic human rights abuses were horrible. Take that attitude, add in a genuine emergency, and you get a mess.
Penny Arcade reminds us drugs are bad, kids.
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Parsing puzzle:
I saw this on slashdot, and had to read it a few times to sort out the likely intended meaning.
Try Bush as an adult!
It was in the comments to this article on a business plan for Mars mining.
I saw this on slashdot, and had to read it a few times to sort out the likely intended meaning.
Try Bush as an adult!
It was in the comments to this article on a business plan for Mars mining.
Catching up on some of my regular blogs, Wil Wheaton has a lumberjack joke, some geeky rss tips, some katrina angst, a liveblogged poker tournament, some geeky gmail hacks, and an angsty thing about why do we blog anyway. Keeps me coming back. And I caught up at friendly hostility, and filthy lies is still doing it's harry potter thing, and ivy finally got fired from walmart.
OK, Wheaton, I can do that angst thing too. Just had another chat with my roommate, reminding myself of the drama levels here which is why I went away.
Where I was for a week was quiet, clean, safe, uncluttered apartment, no roaches, no drama. It's what I want and need, but I can tell I'm going to go stir-crazy during the long snowed-in winter (October thru May.) The problem I'm having is that I know one person there, a good friend, where here I have 500 people I know but am not close with any of them. There were several people on the bus I would have liked to talk to, but didn't get up the nerve. It's going to be hard to rebuild a social network starting from almost zero. I guess the main thing the new situation has going for it is that he needs me, in a personal-trainer financial-counselor sort of role, and it makes me feel good to be needed.
(mixed feelings about posting this to my blog, in which i try not to be too livejournal-ist.)
OK, Wheaton, I can do that angst thing too. Just had another chat with my roommate, reminding myself of the drama levels here which is why I went away.
Where I was for a week was quiet, clean, safe, uncluttered apartment, no roaches, no drama. It's what I want and need, but I can tell I'm going to go stir-crazy during the long snowed-in winter (October thru May.) The problem I'm having is that I know one person there, a good friend, where here I have 500 people I know but am not close with any of them. There were several people on the bus I would have liked to talk to, but didn't get up the nerve. It's going to be hard to rebuild a social network starting from almost zero. I guess the main thing the new situation has going for it is that he needs me, in a personal-trainer financial-counselor sort of role, and it makes me feel good to be needed.
(mixed feelings about posting this to my blog, in which i try not to be too livejournal-ist.)
Book 38, maybe 39.: Reckless Youth: another jfk bio. Nigel Hamilton. I'm at least 100 pages into it, greyhound inspired.
It's readable, snarky at times, detailed, anti-camelot. I've seen it criticized before, not sure why.
When it uses the term rape to describe the first sexual encounter between Joe Kennedy and Gloria Swanson, I thought it risked credibility. It's stronger when showing the financial manipulation of Swanson - show, don't tell, as my actor buddy says.
Meanwhile Tedward is in the news today:
What the American people have seen is this incredible disparity in which those people who had cars and money got out and those people who were impoverished died," Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) said in an interview . The question for Roberts, he said, is whether he stands for "a fairer, more just nation" or for "narrow, stingy interpretations of the law to frustrate progress."
The more I learn about his upbringing, the more grudging respect I have for the guy.
If Jack spent his adult life trying to be Joe Junior, Ted is trying to be Bobby.
But bad choice of words. Ted lied, Mary Jo died, as they say these days.
And we'll take narrow and stingy for 200 Alex.
It's readable, snarky at times, detailed, anti-camelot. I've seen it criticized before, not sure why.
When it uses the term rape to describe the first sexual encounter between Joe Kennedy and Gloria Swanson, I thought it risked credibility. It's stronger when showing the financial manipulation of Swanson - show, don't tell, as my actor buddy says.
Meanwhile Tedward is in the news today:
What the American people have seen is this incredible disparity in which those people who had cars and money got out and those people who were impoverished died," Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) said in an interview . The question for Roberts, he said, is whether he stands for "a fairer, more just nation" or for "narrow, stingy interpretations of the law to frustrate progress."
The more I learn about his upbringing, the more grudging respect I have for the guy.
If Jack spent his adult life trying to be Joe Junior, Ted is trying to be Bobby.
But bad choice of words. Ted lied, Mary Jo died, as they say these days.
And we'll take narrow and stingy for 200 Alex.
Rehnquist, Gilligan, voted off island.
I was out of town for a week, and couldn't log in to blogger, so I have some catching up to do. Hurricane in New Orleans, Roberts for Chief Justice, gas back below $3/gallon. I need to sleep for a day first. X Done!
Websnark weighs in: "George Bush doesn't care about black people." Yeah, no shit. He doesn't care about white people either. In fact, the one population we know he cares about in all this is Haliburton. Fucking Haliburton. They have a half-billion dollar government contract out of the disaster.
Websnark weighs in: "George Bush doesn't care about black people." Yeah, no shit. He doesn't care about white people either. In fact, the one population we know he cares about in all this is Haliburton. Fucking Haliburton. They have a half-billion dollar government contract out of the disaster.
