Friday 4 April 2014

Friday Morning Ramble: The ‘News Drought’ Edition

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This week’s ramble is brought to you by … oh, hang on .. who’s this idiot?

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Good metaphor for every politician that.

And how about this principled fellow?

What’s been in the news this week? “We're into the second week of news drought here in NZ. Nothing continues to happen. In lieu of news, mirages are common.”
News Drought – GONZO FREAKPOWER BRAINS TRUST

So let’s debunk some mirages, and share some real news…

Personal freedom in NZ: Not as bad as we thought? “Vote with your feet,” Eric tells Americans.
Personal Freedom: NZ is choice – Eric Crampton, OFFSETTING BEHAVIOUR

Fair question:
Why does the support stop short at overseas holidays? – LINDSAY MITCHELL

Message to no-longer-holidaying beneficiaries :

"Any government big enough to give you everything
you want . . . is big enough to take it away again."
 
- Anonymous

“All parents have a fundamental, inalienable right to direct the course of their own children's education and the spending of their own money. In particular, the opportunity for low-income families to get their children out of the worst government schools and into private schools—or at least charter schools—is a moral imperative of our time.”
Poverty Doesn't Cause Bad Education – PRINCIPLED PERSPECTIVE

“Although different in purpose and in magnitude of harm to its victims, public education, like slavery, is a form of involuntary servitude. The primary difference is that public schools force children to serve the interests of the state rather than those of an individual master.”
The New Abolitionism: Why Education Emancipation is the Moral Imperative of our Time 
– C. Bradley Thompson, OBJECTIVE STANDARD

“A major problem with our current one-size-fits-all education is the gaps that occur in learning.”
Filling the Swiss Cheese Holes – JERRY KIRKPATRICK’S BLOG

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Nothing like a gee-whiz graph to show up severe statistical miseducation.  Or lies.
Why barcharts must start at zero – Thomas Lumley, STATS CHAT 
How to Lie With Statistics – NOT PC, 2007

“Apparently the only U.S. government department without a military force at its disposal is the military. So when a lone shooter opens up at an army base, Fort Shock'n'Awe has to call 911 and "shelter in place" until the county sheriff arrives… Years ago, American comics used to mock the unarmed British constabulary. Was it Robin Williams who did that routine about the copper in pursuit of a ne'er-do-well? "Stop! Or I'll shout 'Stop!' again..." The United States Government has taken it to the next level: everyone's armed except the army.”
Johnny, Get Your Gun-Free Zone – Mark Steyn, STEYN ONLINE

“Fascinating essay on the informal arrangements that professional comedians use to create and enforce property rights in their jokes.”
No Joke: Law Does Not Require Legislation for Its Creation or Enforcement – Don Boudreaux, CAFE HAYEK

“"What they want is the resignation of Maduro, the liberation of all political prisoners, and a complete change of government."
Why the Struggle Continues in Venezuela: Regime Change and Nothing Less – Fergus Hodgson, PANAMPOST.COM

Europe mapped, according to the Russians, and the Germans…

“The new United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report released Monday, March 31 confirms   "economic growth, including greater concentrations of people and wealth in periled areas and rising insurance penetration, is the most important driver of increasing losses... loss trends have not been conclusively attributed to anthropogenic climate change."
IPCC Sides With Roger Pielke, Jr.: New AR 5 Report Confirms Pielke's Conclusions on Disasters 
– THE BREAKTHROUGH
Disasters Cost More Than Ever — But Not Because of Climate Change – Roger Pielke, Jr., FIVETHIRTYEIGHTSCIENCE

“Green ideologues working for the British government helped "sex up" the latest Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change (IPCC) report in order to make its conclusions sound more scary than the evidence warrants, it emerged today.”
Green Ideologies from UK Govt Sexed Up IPCC Climate Report – James Delingpole, BREITBART

“Millions will die and species will die, was the claim. 2010 was going to see a million people dead from warming. Didn’t happen, now the species claim is going away too.”
Millions will die, Species will Disappear? Well, guess not – JUNK SCIENCE

“Scientist behind the Gaia hypothesis says environment movement does not pay enough attention to facts and he was too certain in the past about rising temperatures.”
James Lovelock: environmentalism has become a religion – GUARDIAN

“There is no scientific proof of man-made global warming and a hotter earth would be ‘beneficial for humans and the majority of other species’, according to a founding member of environmental campaign group Greenpeace.
Humans are NOT to blame for global warming, says Greenpeace co-founder, as he insists there is 'no scientific proof' climate change is manmade – DAILY MAIL
Ex-Greenpeacer Patrick Moore questions climate change, challenges liberals – WASHINGTON TIMES

“The idea that climate change poses an
existential threat to humankind is laughable.”

- resigning IPCC scientist Richard Tol

Meanwhile, columnist and warmist irritant Mark Steyn is in court, sued by Michael Mann, the inventor of the IPCC’s alarmist Hockey Stick. There is commentary.
“I was reading through the latest submission in the quagmire otherwise known as 'legal proceedings' in the Mann versus Steyn case. Clearly, there is some good news and bad news with respect to Steyn's new team of lawyers. The good news is that they clearly understand that what is at stake is free speech. The bad news is that they clearly understand that what is at stake is free speech.”
Mann versus Steyn Update: Kick-Ass Lawyer Edition – Laura Rosen Cohen, END OF YOUR ARM.COM
The Steyn Route to Insanity - Mark Steyn, STEYN ONLINE
What Kind of Fool Am I?- Mark Steyn, STEYN ONLINE

Mark Steyn: “The BBC, meanwhile, put together a "debate" on the "issues" raised by the case. You can hear the show here - the main segment starts about 29-and-a-half minutes in, but there's a couple of soundbites at the top of the show and about 14 minutes in. The host's framing of the topic - should there be limits to what one is permitted to say about "climate change"? - sounds slightly nutty to those of on the free-speech side of this thing. But it's a useful reminder that, increasingly and in many of the most respectable institutions in the western world, there is no deference to freedom of expression. Oh, sure, it's somewhere in the mix, but, as a priority, it's subordinate to all kinds of things - from multiculturalism to climate change.”
Transcript: Should there be "any limits on what can be said about climate change?" 
– MYTRANSCRIPTBOX
Summary: Trial of the century? – Judith Curry, CLIMATE ETC.

“The U.S. Federal Reserve will be in a situation shortly where it has to choose
between the dollar and everything else - the economy, the stock market, the real
estate market—because if the Fed continues with the tapering as scheduled, and
then begins to raise interest rates, we will have a worse financial crisis than in 2008.”
- Peter Schiff, “The Federal Reserve Is In A Corner

“Janet Yellen has a plan. The plan is to exit the ultra-loose policy of the Federal Reserve, and to do so very slowly and very carefully. And by slowly I mean very slowly.”
Janet Yellen’s game of Jenga – Detlev Schlicter, THE SCHLICTER FILES

There’s little difference between Australian sailor humour and the pontifications of central bankers and Pau Krugman.
Government sneaks through the 'Affordable Boat Act' – SAIL WORLD.COM

Another fair question.
To YB: Would Bitcoin exist in a free market? – Yaron Brook, LEONARD PEIKOFF.COM

‘The Seen and the Unseen’: “John Stossel, along the way to making a "seen-and-unseen" type of analysis of the machinations of the FDA, reminds us of the actual nature of one of its past "successes.”
Bullying Isn't the Half of It – GUS VAN HORN

Actually, Germany is more like what a proper housing market looks like.
Governments force up housing costs – LINDSAY MITCHELL

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“Scientists have grown living muscle in the lab that not only looks and works like the real thing, but also heals by itself - a significant step in tissue engineering.”
Self-healing muscle grown in the lab – BBC NEWS

“Two cabins in Northland have taken the $15,000 prize, but some pretty hard-case locals are not convinced they're deserving winners.”

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More here:
20 Jokes That Only Intellectuals Will Understand. – TICKLD

Because you asked.
This is What Happens When You Build a Cube Out of One Way Mirrors – THE MIND UNLEASHED

“Love them or hate them, two tiny cabins in Northland have been named 2014 NZ Home of the Year.”
Home of the Year faces backlash – STUFF
”Given all the attention our Home of the Year is getting, we thought many of you might be interested in hearing some of the thinking behind the jury's decisions.”
Amanda Levete on the Home of the Year – HOME

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“Zero waste, lower transport costs and recyclable materials – is 3D-printing the future of housebuilding? Dutch architects are putting the process to the test for the first time in Amsterdam.”
Work begins on the world's first 3D-printed house – ARCHINECT

Technology transforms human lives.
How one man battled the bureaucrats to save a billion lives – Marc Sidwell, CITY A.M.

Technology transforms human lives. The most wonderful video you’ll see today: “Watch as a deaf woman, Joanne Milne, is overwhelmed by hearing for the first time after having her cochlear implants switched on.”

The Black Death may not have been caused by fleas on rats. It may have been airborne, and the result of poor mediaeval health.
Black death skeleons reveal pitiful life of 14th-century Londoners – OBSERVER

“"Witnessing the light bulb go on in someone's head when they realise, and begin to fully understand, the benefits of cannabis legalisation, is a good buzz. A really good buzz.”
No, legalizing medical marijuana doesn’t lead to crime, according to actual crime stats – WASHINGTON POST

More stuff you know that isn’t so:
Southern California not so sprawling after all – ARCHINECT

“When I think about why this is so, I reach the contradictory conclusion that it is because Israel is both safer and more dangerous.”
Why 'helicopter parenting' doesn’t work in Israel – Allison Kaplan Sommer, HAARETZ

Beer. Much better for you than cider.
Hidden levels of sugar in alcohol revealed – TELEGRAPH

Mind you, it depends on the beer.
List of legal beer additives includes fish bladder, MSG, high-fructose corn syrup and insect dyes – NATURAL NEWS
The Shocking Ingredients In Beer – FOOD BABE
Craft Beer and Your Health – CRAFT BEER


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Source: “Climate in northern Europe reconstructed for the past 2,000
years: Cooling trend calculated precisely for the first time”
Johannes Gutenberg Universitat, Mainz

New Wire, sounding strangely like old Wire!

Still reckon it’s sheer brilliance to have a harpsichord playing hot swing.

Eat your heart out Horowitz.

Oh, okay then:

And finally:

[Hat tip Russell Beaumont, Richard Goode, Andrew B.. Paul Carfoot, Screwed by State, pete602, Lenore Skenazy, Richard Tol , Richard Calhoun, Tom Nelson, Andrew Frey, Wladimir Kraus, Scott DeSalvo, Keith Weiner, Capitalism, Geek Press, Lindsay Perigo]

Thanks for reading,
Have a great weekend,
PC

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