Harry Potter... a book on tape
Michael 2Blowhards talks about the culture of the book and publishing industry:#
Hey, an even-more-general question: are martyr-like superego-wannabe types especially drawn to certain fields? If so, which ones? It seems to me that the arts and the media -- with their glamour, and their soft requirements and qualifications -- must be especially attractive to such people. What percentage of the general population would you guess consists of superego-wannabes? 2%? What prcentage of people in the arts and the media might qualify? 30%? God, they're annoying. I suppose I should be more tolerant of them, although at the moment I can't imagine why.
Don Boudreaux writes on why democratic elections don't necessarily describe what the people "want."#
The illicit move that the modern mind makes when it encounters the concept of democracy is the following: When people vote, they choose; therefore, the results of fair, majoritarian elections reflect the wishes of the people — in the same way that the results of my strolling into a department store and choosing to buy a pair of black leather shoes reflects my wish to own such shoes. The only difference is that elections reveal and implement the wishes of 'the people' as a whole, while my choices in a department store reveal and implement my wishes as an individual.
Ask: if you saw me sleep-walk into a shoe store to buy shoes, would you conclude that, having purchased a pair of shoes, that I really want these shoes?
Chip Gibbons has his first experience with the idea of a "public good."#
Yikes! What the fuck is a "public good?" And what makes a "public good" qualify as "genuine."
There is not one shred of scientific evidence that such a thing as a "public good" exists. "Good" is a value judgment made by individuals who are biologically equipped to make judgments. The public is a collection of individuals, not equiped with a mind to make such judgments. Although it is common practice among mystics, collectivists, communists and socialists to talk in terms of a "public" good, the concept is based on the fallacy of composition, where characteristics of individuals are assigned to the collection of individuals.
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A PUBLIC GOOD! The concept itself is fraudulent and therefore can never be "genuine."
Public Goods Fallacies: False Justifications for Government, by François-René Rideau
Don Boudreaux quotes Bob Higgs on different definitions of pollution.#
Economists and noneconomists have different conceptions of pollution. The noneconomist supposes that whenever people emit some substance, usually a by-product or waste associated with producing or consuming goods and services, into the physical environment and thereby alter the preexisting natural state for the worse, that emission constitutes pollution.... For the economist, however, the distribution of property rights has prime importance: if I deposit wastes on my own land, I do not pollute — I hold the right to decide how the area will be used, for better or worse — but if I deposit wastes on your land without your consent, I do pollute.
Turn down the headlights and look my way.
We'll tell our parents the best of things no matter how awful they seem.
The sickness of a family.
Trace your eyes, wake and retrieve,
The morning sun can look so mean - the color.
Kiss your head don't say a thing
We'll live forever in books darling.
It's the secrets beneath the leaves I keep with me. I'm falling up and down.
And I'll never write the letter, I wish you could read the words perfectly.
Joel Spolsky: How Microsoft Lost The API War.#
Tony Pierce: "14. remember: nobody cares which N*Sync member you are, what State you are, which Party of Five kid you are, or which Weezer song you are. the second you put one of those things on your blog you need to delete your blog and try out for the marching band. similarilly, nobody gives a shit what the weather is like in your town, nobody wants you to change their cursor into a butterfly, nobody wants to vote on whether your blog is hot or not, and nobody gives a rat ass what song youre listening to. write something Real for you, about you, every day."#
Richard: "Note to self: be awesome." (And he is!)#
Russell Roberts links a cute animated movie about competition and oil.#
The real story behind the Terminal, from 101-280.#
Arnold Kling explains how to turn around the Left's "tactical weapons" of Compassion and Corruption in favour of more Right ideas.#