Not PC: FRIDAY MORNING RAMBLE: The “many a slip twixt cup and lip” edition

Friday, 20 September 2013

FRIDAY MORNING RAMBLE: The “many a slip twixt cup and lip” edition

"It is never wrong to be on the side of freedom - never."
-- Victor Davis Hanson

It’s the politician versus the economist versus the philosopher. Greens’s Russel Norman denies taxation is a burden—reckons it is “the price we pay for civilisation.” Economist Eric Crampton reckons “burden” has a specific economic meaning. Philosopher Tibor Machan reckons taxation should simply be recognised as what it is--a most uncivilized way of obtaining funds, given that it boils down to nothing less than extortion.”
Russel Norman thinks tax is not a burden! – KIWIBLOG
Ladies and Gentlemen... the Greens' would-be Finance Minister – Eric Crampton, OFFSETTING BEHAVIOUR
A Note on Taxation – Tibor Machan, TIBOR’S SPACE
What's Wrong with Taxation? – Tibor Machan, MISES DAILY

Just in time…
Cats That Look Like David Cunliffe

The billion-dollar downside of a win.
Waterfront would need upgrades for Cup, says Joyce – NZ HERALD
Of Free Riders and Forced Riders: America's Cup edition – Eric Crampton, OFFSETTING BEHAVIOUR
Cup may be a poisoned chalice – STUFF
Economists versus the cup, 2 – ANTI DISMAL
If We Host The America’s Cup, Kickstarter Financing Is The Only Responsible Choice – BRENNAN McDONALD

Could this be the only one Peter Dunne has ever had?
Electoral Amendment Bill good idea – HOME PADDOCK

“My gut feeling is the public supports charter schools. That's because they need no persuading public schools are failing a good percentage of pupils.”
Cunliffe calling it wrong already – LINDSAY MITCHELL

Juts imagine if all he could attend was Ulan Bator High?
The Boy Genius of Ulan Bator – NEW YORK TIMES

It’s too late for New Zealand, but read and learn.
A Brief History of Software Patents (and Why They’re Valid) – Adam Mossoff, CENTER FOR THE PROTECTION OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

So what’s all this about a “living wage”?

Assad has gone from an outlaw butcher who "must go" to now a partner in disarmament. How? By using chemical weapons.
A Very Productive Chemical-Weapons Attack – WALL STREET JOURNAL

It’s surely better than a foreign policy of self-sacrifice.
Jonathan Hoenig and Wayne Rogers: Regarding Syria, Americans Should Be Selfish – OBJECTIVE STANDARD

"I can see Russia from my knees"
The best one-sentence description of Obama’s post-Syria foreign policy position.

“Assad says he can't decommission his chemical weapons quickly because that
would harm the environment. Huggers of trees and dictators nod approvingly.”
- Oren Kessler

Harry Binswanger has news for the 99%.
Give Back? Yes, It's Time For The 99% To Give Back To The 1% – Harry Binswanger, FORBES

America was a shambles in the 70s. Obama is bringing it all back.
Obama Brings Back the Carter Malaise – Doug Reich, THE RATIONAL CAPITALIST

The perils of transparency? Or the inability of too many economists to understand the whole the Fed is really in?
CREDIT SUISSE: The Great Irony Of Ben Bernanke’s ‘Transparency’ – BUSINESS INSIDER

“Wonders if I was the only one whose jaw hit the floor when
Bernanke said he's confident the Fed can stop QE when it
wants to. Does this sound like a drug addict or what?”
- Keith Weiner

It’s not that our currency went up this week; it’s that the US currency was further devalued. It’s a currency war, stupid.
No taper brings back talk of currency war – CNBC

Who wins in a currency war? Not consumers—Japanese consumers, for example, just discovered that devaluing their currency to “make it easier for exporters” just makes everybody poorer. “Costs of imported fuel, which comprise more than a third of all imports, rose nearly 18 percent in August, despite a slight decline in volume. The value of total imports of food, raw materials and manufactured goods also rose at a double-digit pace from the same month a year earlier, while import volumes of most declined.”
Yes, Virginia, this is what a plughole looks like.
Japan trade deficit swells 25 percent in August – NZ HERALD

“One thing that Japan helps us to grasp is just how resilient
advanced economies are. Japan's edifice of debt should arguably
have toppled already, but it just keeps on ticking. Impressive.
There is a limit, but it's fascinating and instructive to see how
far down the road the can be kicked ...”
- Scott Powell

Macroeconomist leaves a trail of policy disaster. But don’t blame him. Blame his alleged discipline.
Jeffrey Sachs meets Hayek – Terence Corcoran, FINANCIAL POST

What’s the basis for the Fed’s faith in money-printing? It’s another word starting with ‘m.’
A Money Printing Advocate Offers His Confession of Faith – Bionic Mosquito, ECONOMIC POLICY JOURNAL

If economics is really a science of consumer choice, then where does consumer choice come from? Answer:
Teleological Measurement – M. Northrop Buechner, OBJECTIVE ECONOMICS

Five years ago they were the canary in the global financial crisis coal mine..
Lehman Brothers... Where Are They Now? – ZERO HEDGE

“When Julia ~~implemented her carbon tax~~ forced Australia to bend over,
Google News was all over it. Australia was going to save the planet.
But now that Australia has broken their chains and is dismantling
their climate mafia at record speed, the story is completely off the radar.”
- Steven Goddard, Real Science

How would you describe the first few items from Australia’s post-election newspapers?
Good – Judith Sloan CATALLAXY FILES

Mind you, the cronies are already their with their buckets out.
Holden first in line with hand out – ANDREW BOLT

“If you would like to understand the new Australian Government’s approach to the economy,” says a hopeful Steve Kates, “it seems to me you cannot do better than this.”
J.R. McCulloch on economic management – Steve Kates, CATALLAXY FILES

“While it may be a good day for the Australian taxpayer, it is far too late now to recoup the billions which have already been wasted…”
Australia shows us all the way by sacking its useless, pointless Climate Commissioner Tim Flannery – James Delingpole, TELEGRAPH

“Everything you need to know about the dilemma the IPCC faces is summed up in one remarkable graph”:

IPCC

Consensus?
Contrary to reports, global warming studies don’t show 97% of scientists fear global warming – THE HOCKEY SCHTICK

Oops. Again.
Global warming is just HALF what we said: World's top climate scientists admit computers got the effects of greenhouse gases wrong – SUNDAY MAIL

Get the report with integrity, before the UN issues the one that won’t. “The number one antidote to the corrupt alarmist cabal is the Non-Governmental International Panel on Climate Change.”
A realistic view of the climate – POWER LINE

The whole pseudo-scientific scare story amounts to a claim that parts of the world will get submerged in water unless governments force carbon reduction upon us. “But a look at natural ocean variation shows that official sea level measurements are nonsense.”
Sea level rise: Climate change and an ocean of natural variability – Steve Goreham, WASHINGTON TIMES

“One of the things I’ve learned in the climate research business is that it is really easy to be wrong, and really difficult to be right. There are many competing theories of what causes climate change, and they can’t all be correct.
But recent events are quite exceptional.”
A Turning Point for the IPCC…and Humanity? – Dr Roy Spencer, GLOBAL WARMING

Such sad news for the fellow who failed high school science.
Al Gore’s Incredible Shrinking Climate Change Footprint – BUZZFEED

They are unproven computerised hypotheses with zero predictive power.
New paper finds current climate models are 'unable to reproduce present or future climate accurately' – THE HOCKEY SCHTICK

So … what’s the mainstream’s reasons for the pause in global temperature rise?
Article in Nature offers 3 natural explanations for the halt in global warming – THE HOCKEY SCHTICK

So...what is the cost of reducing global temperatures by a measly one-fourth of one degree?
Those Stubborn Facts: The Gargantuan Cost of Reducing Global Temperature By Measly 0.25°C - C3

“One lesson of the Pentagon Papers and Snowden's
leaks is simple:secrecy corrupts, just as power corrupts.”
- Daniel Ellsberg, WASHINGTON POST

The NSA gives Brazil a reason to practice protectionism. Possibly the only good one.
Brazil data plan aims to keep US spies at bay – BBC

Want your government to listen to you? Yes, these are the hashtags to use.
How the cops watch your tweets in real-time – ARS TECHNICA

Chicago, Murder City? Maybe not.
Our inner cities became the safest places. Let's export urban safety – Doug Saunders, GLOBE & MAIL

“The only man never to be redeemed is the man without passion.”
- Ayn Rand

Perception is reality? Is it bollocks.
Facts Don’t Matter, Or: The Art of BS – JERRY KIRKPATRICK’S BLOG

Come on, admit it. These are a great party trick.
Drawing Personality Tests – VILLANOUS COMPANY

"We are some distance from understanding the jet stream well enough to manage the natural risks associated with structural integrity.” Still, how cool would a tower be that’s 20km high!
The Tall Tower Project aka "pie in the sky" - ARCHINECT

“Looks like it would be an ideal book to encourage the your scientist in your family.”
Helping kids to wonder – OPEN PARACHUTE

How the founders of Dropbox want you to lose your hard drive.
In Sync – WIRED

I agree.
We could all learn a lot from the way tradies live their life – NEWS.COM.AU

A useful productivity aid for your new career: who knew that inexplicably bad property photographs were that simple?
Terrible real estate agent photographs

This is going to bugger up the weekend for a few of you.
"The Feynman Lectures on Physics" are now available online for free.

Speaking of … at some stage, put time aside for Stephen Hicks’s 2.5 hour video lecture on Objectivism, including its relation to Montessori education--Part 12 of his Philosophy of Education course. Other “isms” in the series include Pragmatism, Behaviorism, Idealism,Realism, Existentialism, Marxism, and Postmodernism.
Objectivism and philosophy of education – STEPHEN HICKS

“A new nanostructured material with applications that could include reducing condensation in airplane cabins and enabling certain medical tests without the need for high tech laboratories has been developed by researchers at the University of Sydney.”
Controlling Wettability: 'Sticky Tape' for Water Droplets Mimics Rose Petal – SCIENCE DAILY

To update , or not to update?
iOS 7, thoroughly reviewed – ARS TECHNICA

If Monty Python’s Holy Grail were marketed today…

Stephen Fry: “Wanted posters aren’t just for Wild West outlaws, composers may have a price on their head too”:

For those who missed her in Wellington or Auckland … “Let me make it clear. Amanda Palmer and the Grand Theft Orchestra is the best live act in 2013 by a long way.”
Live Review: Amanda Palmer – Enmore Theatre, Sydney, 14/10/13 – SOMETHING GOLD, SOMETHING NEW
Amanda Palmer & The Grand Theft Orchestra – Kings Arms September 6, 2013 – Catherine Hamilton, THE 13TH FLOOR

Can’t wait!
STAGE DESIGNER ZOE ATKINSON INTERVIEWED (2013): Getting to grips with Wagner's Flying Dutchman – Graham Reid, ELSEWHERE

When Duke Ellington took his band to play Kabul.
When Duke Ellington played Kabul – BBC
How the Middle East became a jazzy place – YOUR MIDDLE EAST

This prank about true friendship from New Zealand has gone global!
Pranksters replace friend’s home plumbing with beer [VIDEO] – DAILY CALLER

But this guy is!
Man’s body brews its own beer, gets him drunk without drinking – PHILLY.COM

The world’s most libertarian Preliminary Finals start tonight. Watch them live on Sommets Sport. The winners (Cats and Sydney) get to experience this…