FRIDAY MORNING RAMBLE: The Montessori edition

Sorry I’m late.  I spent the morning observing at a Montessori school—something everyone should try to do themselves at least once in their life.  Anyway…

Overseas this week there’s been murmurings about mutterings in Rio, more Euro-calamities, and the future becoming steadily less bright throughout the Middle East. So at least some folk have enjoyed had some soccer to watch.
Locally we’ve been hearing legerdemain about league tables, sop on superannuation, mixed messages around mixed ownership, and about the full-on FUBAR that is ACC—surely the least responsive health insurance monopoly anywhere on the planet.
Oh, and Anne Tolley crushed a car.

On with the show:

Cactus Kate points out a few home truths about National’s mixed ownership models, partial privatisations and the dogs and dogs’ breakfasts to which any money from the partial privatisations will be directed.
Asset Sales Bogey Needs Picking – CACTUS KATE

David Farrar disagrees. But David Farrar blogs for the National Party.
Fisking Cactus – KIWIBLOG

State super “is a six-generational Ponzi scheme” says visiting academic.
Larry Kotlikoff talks to Interest.co.nz about The Clash of Generations, a six-decade generational Ponzi scheme, and why John Key should take notice – INTEREST.CO.NZ

In central Christchurch what you own is threatened by government confiscation. And in outer Christchurch what you own is barred from being developed at all by government bans. No wonder it’s becoming the worst Christchurch winter in living memory.
But it’s not hard to fix…
Anchor Projects  - OFFSETTING BEHAVIOUR
Whoa.....are these guys slow learners ! - Hugh Pavletich, CANTABRIANS UNITE
Free Advice - OFFSETTING BEHAVIOUR

The need for real RMA reform? Desperate. The chances of it ever happening under the Blue Team? Remote.
Maimai reflections – RMA reform remote – STEPHEN FRANKS

So if Kiwisaver is such a gosh-darned success, how come nearly half are not actually contributing to their accounts?
KiwiSaver membership approaches 2 million mark; Close to half aren't contributing. – INTEREST.CO.NZ

Once youngsters realise they’ll be paying for their elders’ debts for the rest of their lives, you’d think they’d be embracing austerity, no?
Young should embrace austerity now – WHALE OIL

Oh, the difference that an S makes!
I Love Hores Too – NOODLE FOOD

Two most likely outcomes in Egypt? Either sharia or civil war. Certainly not the Arab Spring many were hoping for.
Egypt: Generals say they'll "hand over power to the elected president at end of month" – Robert Spencer, JIHAD WATCH

Journalists have been interviewing their typewriters about how new Fairfax owner Gina Rinehart is going to “destroy” the business. Message from Planet Earth: only in the fevered imagination of journalists do businessmen and women buy businesses to destroy them.
Why Would Rinehart Do Any Worse Than Fairfax? – DAILY RECKONING

Waiting for QE3? Turns out the Federal Reserve may never stop monetizing!
As Part Of Its NEW QE Q&A, Goldman Warns Of Possibility For $50-$75 Billion "Flow" Program 
– ZERO HEDGE

Yes, it’s true. We’ve witnessed twenty years of phony growth.
The Disconnect Between Household Wealth and GDP Growth – Bill Bonner, DAILY RECKONING

Before George Carlin, there was Lenny Bruce:

I really don’t think you can credibly argue that feudalism was good for property right, could you?
When are ‘secure’ property rights bad for growth? – MARGINAL REVOLUTION

Pete Boettke calls it "the best blog post ever written." And apart from some ethical confusion [WARNING: Contains Kant] it's, well, it's not bad.
Factual Free-Market Fairness – Deirdre McCloskey, BLEEDING HEART LIBERTARIANS

James Lovelock isn’t worried about sea-level rises. So why should you be?
I’m not worried about sea levels, says climate change expert – JUNK SCIENCE

A lot of people say they can’t succeed because they face impossible barriers. You know what? That’s bollocks.
Whether You Fail Or Succeed, It’s Your Fault: An Interview With Brian Tracy 
– Don Watkins, LAISSEZ FAIRE

Why does McDonalds food always looks less visually attractive on your plate than it does in photographs? Because it is, that’s why.
Behind the scenes at a McDonald's food photo shoot – KOTTKE.ORG

Here’s something else I bet you didn’t know: NASA took Playboy Playmates to the moon!
NASA Astronauts Took Playmates to the Moon – DISCOVERY NEWS

This is what I tell my clients: “Nature has a myriad of incredible positive effects demonstrated by research”:
6 reasons why a better life is just a few steps away – BARKING UP THE WRONG TREE

Christian charity in action here from the US: Atheists should get the hell out, says friendly local pastor.

But isn’t America a Xtian nation? Um, no. It’s not.
Is the United States a Christian nation? – Diana Hsieh, PHILOSOPHY IN ACTION RADIO [AUDIO]

Grammar gaffes invade the office in the age of e-mail, texting and Twitter…
This Embarrasses You and I* – WALL STREET JOURNAL

That picture above by Georgia O’Keefe? It’s an orchid, isn’t it. Yes, of course it is.
Erotic Symbolism in 21st Century Painting – Michael Newberry, NEWBERRY’S BLOG

“A research study has concluded that contrary to the belief that great art is often born from intolerable mental suffering, deliberately torturing an artist can actually lead to a marked deterioration in the quality of their output.”
Tortured artist ‘didn’t produce any better art’, reveals torturer – NEWS BISCUIT

So what exactly is craft beer anyway?
Of rooms and the elephants who dwell therein – Greig McGill, BREWRACRACY

You know what it’s like when you have a song in your head for weeks … like this one, Born Again Idiot, The Verlaines:

If you missed NZ Opera’s Rigoletto recently, you only have yourself to blame. Here’s a lesser performance from Siena of the famous Quartet, in which young Gilda realises she’s been betrayed:

Bugger. Deborah Voigt has cancelled her Australasian shows in July, to be replaced by Christine Brewer. Who? Christine Brewer, that’s who:

It’s Jumping at the Woodside, with Count Basie and Oscar Peterson!

[Hat tips and thank yous to Diana Hsieh, Geek Press, Home Paddock, Robert Wenzel, Lyndon Hood]

Thanks or reading,
Peter Cresswell