Friday 12 September 2014

Friday Afternoon Ramble

Cartoon by Nick Kim

The joy of MMP, Case #567: Did you know that a National win in Epsom could elect a Labour government?
Read This One Post To Understand MMP Better Than A Political Science Professor – Peter McCaffrey, KIWIBLOG

Long overdue.
Whyte says shopkeepers should be free to arm themselves – HERALD
Shop killers – NOT PC
Shop owner cleared . . . but to police he’s still a criminal – NOT PC

“Metiria and Green co-leader Russel Norman will illogically spend $400 million on paying the In-Work child credit for children born of parent(s) not ‘in work.’ Logically this can only result in babies that … will automatically fall into that statistical category of children living in poverty.”
Using the Tax State as a Weapon against Our Humanity.Mark Hubbard, LIFE BEHIND THE IRON DRAPE

Much-needed fact checking.
Election choices: A brief examination of child poverty claims – LINDSAY MITCHELL

More much-needed fact checking:
Internet Mana's job creation figures don't add up – LIBERTY SCOTT

And yet more…
Conservative's Fact Check – ACT.ORG.NZ

There’s a phrase I never thought I’d read from Eric:
English Gets It – Eric Crampton, OFFSETTING BEHAVIOUR

Nor this from Scott:
I'm voting ACT – LIBERTY SCOTT

And…
Is it really too hard for people to bother to feed their kids? – Eugene Rush, WHALE OIL


Cartoon by Nick Kim

A young man discovers he needs new friends.
Rich People: Fuck 'em? – Rory Sweeney, SOLO

Do we really and truly need one new law every 7.7 hours!?
Some parliamentary stats – KIWIBLOG

The Greens released their energy policy yesterday. Less a policy, than a detail-lite fantasy.
Green Party launches plan for cleaner, cheaper energy – SCOOP
Smart green failure – NOT PC

image“At this point in technological and economic history, wind and solar are ‘alternatives’ to coal, oil, natural gas and hydro in the way that wood is an ‘alternative’ to steel and cups attached to strings are ‘alternatives’ to iPhones.”
Real Alternative Energy – Alex Epstein, CENTER FOR INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS

I’m inclined to think no-one should.
The left should not support prison slave labour – Idiot/Savant, NO RIGHT TURN

Guess how Muslims around the world reacted to the September 11 atrocity? “The politically correct version of the September 11 attacks holds that the Muslim world rejected such violence as un-Islamic and condemned the attacks.  This is not true….”
Muslims Celebrated the Sep 11 Attacks – BLACKFIVE

And so did Internet Mana’s Annette Sykes …
Conversation at Greens's blog – FROG BLOG

So if China has also been overpaying for NZ farms, will our xenophobes still damn them for it?
China estimate of the day – MARGINAL REVOLUTION

“So the latest chatter on the NZ right is that strategic voting for the Conservatives is a great idea. I'm going to disagree.”
Strategic voting on the right – Eric Crampton, OFFSETTING BEHAVIOUR

“Asking liberals where wages and prices come from
is like asking six-year-olds where babies come from.”
- Thomas Sowell

Not everyone deserves free re-entry.
Five Reasons Why We Should Not Welcome British Jihadists Home – James Brandon, BREITBART UK

“But when we look around in Europe today, we see that not only is Europe not whole and free, we see the ghosts from the painful 20th century returning to our midst. Ghosts that we thought we’d never see again, that we had buried deep in history’s trashbin.”
25 Years After, Europe Still Not Whole or Free – Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves, THE INTERPRETER

“Large government projects often double in cost between when they are first considered and when they are finally completed. This pattern—call it “Edwards’ Law”—is revealed in story after story…”
Edwards’ Law of Cost Doubling – Chris Edwards, CATO AT LIBERTY

global

“The excellent chart above is “Climate Science Explained In One Simple Graph” from Steve Goddard’s Real Science blog, and helps to graphically illustrate some key points Matt Ridley makes in his WSJ op-ed today “Whatever Happened to Global Warming?

But I was told more warmening meens more droughts! 
New paper shows the Holocene Climate Optimum ~6000 years ago was much wetter and warmer – THE HOCKEY SCHTICK

Q: When will we ever stop running out of resources? A: …
Limits to Growth is a pile of steaming doggy-doo based on total cobblers – Tim Worstall, THE REGISTER

“In theory, the Federal Reserve was created to reduce volatility in the economy.  In fact, the
Federal Reserve reduces volatility in the short term, but increases volatility in the long term…
    “When the Federal Reserve steps in and uses monetary policy to stop the downside correction
process, all it achieves is to defer problems to the future and make them worse.  Its action
delays and distorts the natural market correction process, thereby reducing the long-term
productivity of the economic system by encouraging a misuse of capital and labour.”
- John Allison, The Financial Crisis and the Free Market Cure

“…a nifty interactive chart of real (i.e., inflation-adjusted) interest rates since the 1960s that explains a lot about today’s world.”
Real Interest Rates and Future Chaos – John Rubino, DOLLAR COLLAPSE.COM

“Social scientists sometimes have an irritating habit of devoting a lot of resources and time to the rediscovery of the blindingly obvious… Cass Sunstein’s latest combines banal insight with pernicious intent.
    “There is something quasi-religious about the use of behavioural economics to indict people for failing to make the kind of choices approved by the author and his expert colleagues. ‘Behavioural economists have shown’ is one of Sunstein’s favourite phrases – it’s the functional equivalent of the biblical expression ‘The Lord said’.”
Nudge: A War on Moral Judgement – reviewed by Frank Furedi, SPIKED ONLINE

“Today I talked to Deirdre McCloskey, the author, most recently, of The Bourgeois Virtues and Bourgeois Dignity, about how the West got rich, and why the traditional explanations don’t work. Very interesting and important stuff.”
How Did the West Grow Rich? – TOM WOODS SHOW

What is the best starter explanation of "negative numbers"?

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Turns out good magic is based on good human psychology. “The smaller, quieter half of the magician duo Penn & Teller writes about how magicians manipulate the human mind.”
Teller Reveals His Secrets – SMITHSONIAN.COM

Just what it says.
The Lazy Person's Guide to a Happy Home: More Sneaky Cleaning Tips for People Who Hate to Clean – APARTMENT THERAPY

“More than 6000 were made, but fewer than 3500 were launched and around 2000 hit their targets. The sad irony, says Neufeld, is that as many as 12,000 prisoners in concentration camps may have died making the V-2 compared with the 5500 or so who died in the direct hits.”
Myths and reality of the Nazi space rocket – NEW SCIENTIST

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“In a big step toward driverless automobiles, General Motors has announced that it will introduce a new Cadillac model in 2017 that features hands-free driving.”
Hands-Free Driving By 2017, Says GM – Ronald Bailey, HIT AND RUN

“Adam Smith understood the appeal and obsession we have with the Apple Watch…”
How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life: An Unexpected Guide to Human Nature and Happiness – Russ Roberts, AMAZON

“This one is so simple it is stupid, yet you hardly ever hear it.  If anything it is mocked, but I will go on record…”
A simple rule for making every restaurant meal better – Tyler Cowen, MARGINAL REVOLUTION

[Hat tips Geek Press, Leighton Smith, Cafe Hayek, Watts Up With That, Scott Powell, Montessori Homeschol. Kevin Whipp , Russell Roberts, Famous-Quote.net, A Man out of time, Eric Crampton, Samizdata]

Thanks for reading,
Have a great weekend!
PC

PS: Tuatara O’Clock is never a bad time

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