Friday Morning Ramble–4.12.15

“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you
want to test a man's character, give him power.” 
~ Abraham Lincoln

“If only more folks had realised this 5 years ago.” ~ Eric Crampton
Central Christchurch risks becoming 'vacuous money pit' – Johnny Moore, THE PRESS

Governing body confirm third umpire made an error but “followed the correct procedure.” So that’s okay then.
Llong got DRS decision wrong: ICC – CRICKET.COM.AU

Good. Get a hobby.
Despairing obesity battler quits fight – RADIO NZ

“Noah Smith argues that increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour in the USA will induce innovation that will, in time, mitigate much of the costs of the minimum wage increase to employers.”
Can the LivingWageNZ model close the 30% wage gap with Australia? – Jim Rose, UTOPIA: YOU ARE STANDING IN IT

“’Admit it, the ballot paper is still sitting on the sideboard while you wonder what to do.’ No it isn't. It's been binned.”
Don't tell me what to do about the flag – LINDSAY MITCHELL

“When the Syrian refugee crisis hit its peak, New Zealand’s civil society yearned to help… But, it was all rather useless. The government’s cap on refugees is the government’s cap on refugees…
“In Canada, the response to the crisis was rather different … In Canada, groups of five individuals, or churches, or other organisations, can pledge to support an incoming refugee for a year. When they do that, one more refugee is allowed into the country. Instead of running campaigns to lift an arbitrary cap on numbers, civil society organisations could work to build the resources to let more refugees come.
“By letting communities put their money where their hearts are, Canada simply is able to do more to help. We could learn a lot from that here.”
Eric Crampton on … refugees, red tape …& more – INTEREST.CO.NZ

“He who passively accepts evil is as much
involved in it as he who helps to perpetuate it.”
~ Martin Luther King Jr.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg makes headlines for being a on-percenter “giving back” 99 percent of his wealth.
“Too many believe that billionaires are ‘takers’ and therefore have a duty to ‘give back.’ That turns reality — and morality — on its head. These people have been wildly successful because they have made the lives of millions of human beings wildly more productive, secure, healthy and even fun… Their affluence is a measure of their contributions to society, not their impoverishing of it. As laudable as it is that Mark Zuckerberg and other participants in the Giving Pledge direct their wealth toward charitable enterprises that reflect their goals and values, what should truly be celebrated is that they were able to earn those fortunes to begin with.
Zuckerberg: Not Giving Back, Just Giving – Ross Kaminsky, DOLLARS & CROSSES

“Mark Zuckerberg used 2,234 words to describe the things he values most in the world. None of those words was ‘freedom.’
“Every problem that Zuckerberg says he cares about has been solved by political-economic freedom: the liberation of individuals from coercion by one another and by government. If that freedom existed in the impoverished world then the impoverished world would quickly become prosperous.
“What will not make the impoverished world prosperous–or free–is for billionaires to dole out huge sums of conspicuous charity to unfree people while doing absolutely nothing to fight for their freedom.”
The Truth About Mark Zuckerberg's Letter To His Daughter – Alex Epstein, FORBES

George Reisman interviewed on “How the 1% Provides the Standard of Living of the 99%.”
INTERVIEW: “How the 1% Provides the Standard of Living of the 99%.” – John O’Donnell & George Reisman, POWER TRADING RADIO

“If concern for human poverty and suffering were one’s primary motive, one would seek to
discover their cause. One would not fail to ask: Why did some nations develop, while others
did not? Why have some nations achieved material abundance, while others have remained
stagnant in subhuman misery? History and, specifically, the unprecedented prosperity-explosion
of the nineteenth century, would give an immediate answer: capitalism is the only system that
enables men to produce abundance—and the key to capitalism is individual freedom.”
~ Ayn Rand | Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal

Q: “Why should we care about inequality in the first place? Economic inequality, after all, can result from the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer…but also from everyone getting richer, some more rapidly and others less so.”
Piketty’s Unanswered Question – Don Watkins, CLAREMONT

“Japan’s economic and demographic situation is different from the rest of the West. But what is not different is that an economy hooked on the love of debt suffered greatly.”
I Think I’m Turning Japanese, I Really Think So – Vern Gowdie, DAILY RECKONING

“First and foremost, Ayn Rand remains among the few that recognises with crystal clarity, that we will not win the battle through just proving that freedom and capitalism works. It has already been proven beyond discussion. Nevertheless, we are still facing new attacks on freedom every day.”
What is the broader relevance of Ayn Rand for society? – Lars Seier Christensen

“Paris is currently hosting a UN conference aimed at waging war on climate change little more than two weeks after suffering the largest terrorist attack experienced in France since 1944.”
Climate change, not ISIS, is the “greatest threat” for Obama: The real threat, of course, is that the UN will actually succeed in this fraud – Larry Bell, CFACT

“From the “magic number is always 97%” department…”
The Paris effect: 97% Of Americans Don’t Believe Climate Change Is Top Concern – WATTS UP WITH THAT

“The Pause lengthens yet again. One-third of Man’s entire influence on climate since the Industrial Revolution has occurred since February 1997. Yet the 225 months since then show no global warming at all.”
No global warming at all for 18 years 9 months – a new record – The Pause lengthens again – just in time for UN Summit in Paris – CLIMATE DEPOT

“The climate change debate has been polarized into a simple dichotomy. Either global warming is “real, man-made and dangerous,” as Pres. Barack Obama thinks, or it’s a “hoax,” as Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe thinks. But there is a third possibility: that it is real, man-made and not dangerous, at least not for a long time.”
Paris Climate Summit: Why climate policies are doing more harm than climate change – Matt Ridley, THE RATIONAL OPTIMIST

“Like many I noticed Prince Charles repeating the claim that climate change is responsible for the rise of Islamic State…”
Syria rain history – I think they have other problems – Warwick Hughes, ERRORS IN IPCC CLIMATE SCIENCE

“'Demonization of CO2 is irrational at best and even modest warming is mostly beneficial.’”
Prominent Scientists Declare Climate Claims Ahead of UN Summit ‘Irrational’ – ‘Based On Nonsense’ – ‘Leading us down a false path’ – CLIMATE DEPOT

Reminder.
'97% Of Climate Scientists Agree' Is 100% Wrong – Alex Epstein, FORBES

“The consummate sleazebag, thief and corruptocrat who launched and shaped the UN effort to rid the world of CO2 has died, appropriately enough as his heirs gather in Paris to rob the world blind. Good riddance.”
Maurice Strong, Climate Crook – John Izzard, QUADRANT

“It is evident from history that periods of global warming led to health, welfare, and prosperity. Global cooling led to crop failure, disease, and hardship. That's why warmists want history expunged.”
Warming radicals blind to science and history – Kelvin Kemm, CFACT

The seen - innovations in biotechnology -- enabled by the unseen – the intellectual property rights that protect them -- have led to the ‘Gene Revolution,’ where scientists use genetic engineering to dramatically improve human life.
How IP fuelled innovations in biotechnology have led to the gene revolution – Amanda Maxham, CENTER FOR THE PROTECTION OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

“We have all heard it. We all know it happens. Large company takes a look at what small company is working on, refuses to do a deal and then miraculously thereafter starts to infringe. . . .Unfortunately, Congress and the Courts seem singularly focused on protecting helpless large multinational corporations who, as the story goes, are getting bullied by patent owners. That just isn’t the reality I see.”
The story of the bullied patent owner, more widespread than bad acting patent trolls – Gene Quinn, I.P. WATCHDOG

“A civilised society is one which tolerates
eccentricity to the point of doubtful sanity.” 
~ Robert Frost

“Children are significantly more likely to prefer fact over fiction … than were adults… Barnes and colleagues offer a compelling explanation: Children are still learning about the real world. What's routine for us might be novel for them.”
Children Want Factual Stories, Versus Fantasy, More Often Than Adults – NPR

“Freedom and responsibility are linked together.”
Freedom Within Limits Of Responsibility – Maren Schmidt, MONTESSORI ROCKS

Unexpected links between the great city and the great novel. “It is all the more intriguing to note how Melville’s Anglophilia was the yeast out of which this great American novel emerged – especially given that the book failed spectacularly in his homeland and it was left to British writers to recognise first its wilful, prophetic genius.”
White whale in the big smoke: How the geography of London inspired Moby-Dick – Philip Hoare, NEW STATESMAN

The Parthenon, lit for Japanese TV as it supposedly looked centuries ago in Ancient Greece.
Except, of course, for the lights.

 

[Quips from and hat tips and thanks to Maria Montessori Education Foundation, Marsha Enright, Yaron Brook, Joseph Kellard, Famous-Quote.net, Steve Milloy, Jords, Hark The Herald Ange, Joe Bastardi, Paul McMahon, IBDeditorials, Vebjørn Koksvik]